📰 Understanding Bhima Koregaon
•Bhima Koregaon in Pune, Maharashtra, the seat of unrest now, is a tiny village, but is associated with an extraordinary phase of Maratha history. Two hundred years ago, on January 1, 1818, a few hundred Mahar soldiers of the East India Company, led by the British, defeated the massive Peshwa army, led by Peshwa Bajirao II, in Koregaon. This battle has, since, attained legendary stature in Dalit history. Ambedkarite Dalits do not see this from the narrow lens of nationalism versus imperialism. Over the years, as the battle came to be seen as a victory of the Mahars against the injustices perpetuated by the Brahminical Peshwas, thousands of Ambedkarites have been gathering in Bhima Koregaon on January 1 to pay their respect at the Vijay Sthamb (victory pillar). The pillar was erected by the East India Company in memory of those who fought the battle and includes the names of the Mahar soldiers who unknowingly brought an end to the Peshwa rule in 1818.
The past and the present
•Dalits are unanimous in drawing inspiration from the victory. In recent years, particularly in Maharashtra, since the Bhima-Koregaon Ranstambh Seva Sangh (BKRSS) was formed, Dalits regard the pillar as a site of positive memory of their valour and a symbol of their renewed political aspiration. Their denunciation of the Peshwas is strategic; it helps them relate to their social and political marginalisation in contemporary times. The debate here, however, is whether such invoking of history is effective in hoisting Dalit politics to a new level.
•What happened on the day of the battle’s 200th anniversary which led to the death of one? Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of B.R. Ambedkar and a prominent Dalit leader from Maharashtra, has said that a few Hindutva organisations planned and perpetuated violence against the Dalits in Bhima Koregaon. He has named Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, prominent Maharashtrian leaders who have been actively promoting organisations that advance the cause of Hindutva, as being responsible for bringing the State to a halt. These organisations have been polarising the political landscape on religious and caste lines, particularly against Ambedkarite Dalits who are seen as impediments to their political project.
•A recent, and crucial, illustration of this was at Wadhu Budruk, a village not far from Bhima Koregaon. Vadhu Budruk is where Sambhaji, the eldest son of the Maratha ruler Shivaji, was cremated after being killed by the Mughals in 1689. As the legend goes, Sambhaji’s body was mutilated and thrown into a river by Aurangzeb. It was Govind Mahar (Gaikwad), a Dalit resident of Vadhu Budruk, who then gathered the body parts together and made arrangements for the last rites. Sambhaji’s memorial was said to have been erected by the Mahars of that village. Consequently, Govind Mahar’s tomb was also erected in the village after his death.
A planned attack
•A few days ago, upper caste Marathas, who refuse to acknowledge the role played by Govind Gaikwad and other Mahars in the last rites of Sambhaji, objected to a sign at the site that recounted the story. Complaints were filed with the police by both sides. In Maharashtra, there has been a consistent effort to situate Maratha history within the anti-Muslim Hindutva framework — in fact, this even predates the rise of the political right-wing in the State. Maratha youth, who are facing unemployment and a lack of educational opportunities, are now being easily pulled into these conflicts by Hindutva organisations that are consequently built by invoking past Maratha glory. The violent clashes in Bhima Koregaon were an extension of the conflict in Wadhu Budruk. All indications are that this was a pre-planned attack.
•Being the 200th anniversary, that gathering in Bhima Koregaon this year was much larger than usual. Many Dalit and Bahujan groups collectively organised a big public conference in the name of Elgar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada, which was the seat of the Peshwas until 1818. The agenda of this conference was evidently against Hindutva politics which was powerfully manifested by projecting Hindutva politics as the neo-peshwai (new Peshwas). Jignesh Mevani and Prakash Ambedkar were invited.
•The conspicuous politicisation of Dalits against Hindutva, particularly after the Una violence in Gujarat, has been a cause of concern for those who propagate the latter. The Elgar Parishad helped consolidate their apprehensions against the politicised Dalits. The new political articulation of the Dalits (by equating Hindutva with the Peshwai) has annoyed the right-wing forces and exposed the fault lines we are seeing today.
📰 WHO okays Bharat Bio typhoid shot
Hyderabad firm’s Typbar typhoid conjugate vaccine can now be supplied globally
•Bharat Biotech has received a pre-qualification from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Typbar Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine.
•This paves the way for supplies of the vaccine to UNICEF, Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and Gavi supported countries, chairman and managing director Krishna Ella told mediapersons here on Wednesday.
₹150-crore investment
•The Hyderabad firm, which had invested ₹150 crore in the product and is positioned to supply up to 50 million doses a year, is working to expand the manufacturing capacity to 200 million doses. Mr. Ella said he expected the first deliveries, following the pre-qualification, to begin this year. In India, the product is being marketed for two years now.
•Typbar TCV is the first typhoid vaccine clinically proven to be administered to children from 6 months of age to adults, and confers long-term protection against typhoid fever.
•A release said the product had been evaluated in human challenge studies at Oxford University and typhoid conjugate vaccines had been recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had supported efforts that helped generate data for the pre-qualification.
•With WHO-SAGE recommendation, for use of TCV for use in infants between 6 and 23 months of age and catch up vaccinations for children between 2 and 15 years of age, countries could introduce the vaccine into their immunisation programmes.
•“With the recent Gavi Board approval of $85 million funding window to make the typhoid conjugate vaccine available in Gavi-supported countries, we now expect the first introductions to take place as soon as the first half of 2019,” Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said.
•The company has priced Typbar TCV at $ 1.50/dose for procurement for GAVI-supported countries. “We announce a further reduction to around $1.0 or below/dose, post procurement of 100 million doses for LIC’s and LMIC’s,” Dr. Ella said.
📰 Money talks: on U.S.-Pakistan ties
Pakistan is worried less by U.S. withdrawal of aid than the overall downslide in ties
•That the U.S. will continue to withhold $255 million in Foreign Military Financing to Pakistan this year suggests it is prepared to downgrade its ties with Pakistan further in an effort to hold it to account on terrorism. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley cited Pakistan’s “double game” of cooperating with the U.S. and harbouring terrorists who attack its troops in Afghanistan. Mr. Trump’s own tweet, a day earlier, on January 1, was less temperate in its wording. He accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit” and of treating the U.S. leadership as “fools”. Pakistan has reacted, but without the same heat in its words. After a National Security Council meeting of top generals and ministers convened by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, it issued a statement expressing “disappointment” over the U.S. statements, and referring to Pakistan’s record in fighting terrorism and providing support to the U.S. effort in Afghanistan. One reason is that the U.S. decision to hold back the $255 million was not unexpected. In May last year, the Trump administration had decided to cut the annual outlay for 2018 from $255 million to $100 million. In August, it notified Congress it would withhold the current tranche due for 2016 as well, while a decision on 2017 was still pending. Second, while the overall downslide in ties with the U.S. will be a major worry for Pakistan, the cancellation of funds may not be that alarming. American assistance to Pakistan is at its lowest levels since 2001. Third, Pakistan’s confidence that it has an alternative in China has grown, with Beijing’s pledge of more than $100 billion in loans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure, power projects, and so on. The question, then, is whether the U.S. will consider stronger measures, such as stopping all funding, sanctions, or cancelling Pakistan’s ‘major non-NATO ally’ status.
•From India’s point of view, any attempt to hold Pakistan’s feet to the fire on its support to terror groups is a positive development. It is particularly important that the U.S. follow through on its ultimatums in this respect. However, all American statements so far focus on Pakistan’s support to terror groups that threaten Afghanistan, and more particularly, the U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Therefore, action against the groups that threaten India is unlikely to be an immediate priority. New Delhi must also be mindful of the impact of a more fractured U.S.-Pakistan relationship on regional security. Above all, the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, like that between India and the U.S. and India and Pakistan, is a long-standing bilateral one. While welcoming all moves to address India’s core concerns on terror, New Delhi must ensure it doesn’t get ensnared or triangulated in the equation between Washington and Islamabad.
📰 Indo-Pacific quad may soon have a gaping hole as China re-engages Japan
Visits by Xi and Abe to each other’s countries and a Japan-China-South Korea summit lined up early in the New Year.
•The much-talked-about quad group of India, Japan, Australia and the United States in the Indo-Pacific may soon have a gaping hole as Tokyo and Beijing appear set to revamp ties in 2018.
•A Japan-China-South Korea leaders’ summit is planned in Japan early in the New Year, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe making an official visit to China, the Nikkei Asian Review is reporting.
•Those two events will open the door for Mr. Xi arrival in Japan on his first official visit. Considerable groundwork has already been done to re-set ties between the two Asian heavyweights.
•Toshihiro Nikai, number two in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is spearheading a diplomatic push to achieve a breakthrough. Last week, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and invited him to visit Tokyo, the Kyodo news agency reported.
‘Mutually beneficial relationship’
•In a rare address to the elite Communist Party of China (CPC) Party School, Mr. Nikai underscored that that the two countries must forge a future-oriented cooperative relationship.
•He said that a bilateral “mutually beneficial relationship,” should transition to shape peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond.
•Significantly, the senior Japanese politician, who led a ruling party delegation, backed joint forays by Beijing and Tokyo on Asia infrastructure projects, in tune with Mr. Xi’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
•Kyodo is also reporting that apart from North Korea, the BRI was a major topic of discussion between Mr. Nikai and China’s state councilor Yang Jiechi, ahead of the call on Mr. Xi.\
•“It is true that there were cold days in Japan-China relations but we overcame them,” Mr.Nikai told reporters after the meeting with Mr. Xi. “Today, we can feel spring-like warmth.”
•The Chinese side is also demonstrating much enthusiasm for a Beijing-Tokyo reengagement in 2018. People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of China's Communist Party, front-paged a photograph of Mr. Nikai’s call on Mr. Xi.
•The state-run China Daily paraphrased remarks by Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, that Mr. Nikai’s call on the Chinese President shows the great importance that Mr. Xi has attached to China-Japan ties.
But China has to overcome resistance
•Mr. Xi’s decision not to speak at the December 13 ceremony of the Nanjing massacre, is also being read in sections of the Japanese media as a signal of China’s intent to build bridges with Mr. Abe’s government.
•The Nikkei article, however, points out that Mr. Xi may have to curb resistance from hardline sections of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to rebuild ties with Japan.
•It highlighted that anti-Japanese sentiment had been strong in the former Xuzhou military corps, which was part of the previous Nanjing Military Region. But under Mr. Xi’s military reforms, the Xuzhou military corps has been renamed as 71st Group Army, and has been packed by loyalists.
•Just before and after the Nanjing massacre ceremony, Mr. Xi visited the 71st military group. The write-up underscored that “Mr. Xi's visit to the 71st Group Army was aimed at projecting a new message: That the former Nanjing Military Region is now in Xi's grip.”
📰 Israel's Rafael says India has cancelled order for Spike anti-tank missiles
The deal had been worth about $500 million
•India has called off an order to buy Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel’s state-owned defence contractor Rafael, the company said on Wednesday.
•The deal was worth about $500 million and its termination came ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India.
•However, India will buy 131 Barak surface-to-air missiles built by Rafael.
•An Indian Defence Ministry spokesman declined comment on the cancellation.
•Local media reported that India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation was developing a domestic anti-tank missile the government was keen to support.
•“Rafael regrets the decision and remains committed to cooperating with the Indian Ministry of Defence and to its strategy of continuing to work in India, an important market, as it has for more than two decades, to provide India with the most advanced and innovative systems,” the firm said in a statement.
•However, India’s Defence Ministry said separately it had cleared a plan to buy 131 Barak missiles. The 4.6-billion-rupee ($72 million) order follows up an earlier purchase of Barak missiles, meant to protect Navy vessels against sea-skimming missiles and aerial threats.
•The two countries have grown closer since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, widening commercial cooperation beyond their longstanding defence ties.
•Mr. Modi became the first sitting Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel last summer, and Mr. Netanyahu will fly to India on Jan. 14.
•Rafael, whose CEO will join Mr. Netanyahu on his trip, said the cancellation was made prior to the signing of the final supply contract and despite its compliance with all of India’s wishes.
📰 Behind the ‘enemy’ line: the borders of J&K
The closer you get to the border in J&K, the greater the yearning for an end to ceasefire violations
•“Why do you want to visit our side of the Line of Control (LoC)?” a senior Pakistan army officer asked me. My request to go on a field trip to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with the Pakistan army for research on ceasefire violations along the India-Pakistan border was still being reviewed by the higher echelons of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi when this question was posed to me. He wanted to know the source of my interest (or ‘angle’). I am not sure if he was convinced by my reply about my hope that my research would contribute to bilateral peace, but an invitation came through a few weeks later.
On the other side
•Murree was under a thick blanket of snow on a cold December morning at the headquarters of General Officer Commanding of Pakistan Army’s 12 Division. There was a great deal of politeness around, probably camouflaging the disquiet at having someone over from the ‘enemy’ country. For an army that has been conditioned to view India as its existential enemy, this was to be expected. The rest of the ‘field visit’ consisted of visits to Muzzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, and the headquarters of 1-AK brigade which is deployed along the LoC facing Indian troops, the headquarters of 2-AK Brigade in Rawalakot, and finally the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
•While on our way to the Tatrinote-Chakan Da Bagh trading point from the Battal sector (which the Pakistan Army calls a ‘hot’ area due to the frequent firing there) in the frontlines of Rawalakot, the Brigadier of 2-AK insisted on taking a circuitous route. The faster road connection to the trading point was right under the Indian posts and was under constant Indian firing. “It would be a pity if you were to be shot by your country’s army,” the Brigadier said half-seriously looking up at what the Pakistan Army calls India’s ‘Jungle Post’ in the foothills of the Pir Panjal mountain range. Ducking ‘friendly fire’ while on ‘enemy territory’ seemed sensible.
•Some days later, on December 25, a Special Forces Unit of the Indian army crossed the LoC in the Poonch sector and killed three Pakistani soldiers avenging Indian casualties. The area of operation was under 2-AK brigade, close to where the Brigadier had warned of possible ‘enemy fire’.
•On day three, we drove down to Rawalpindi from Rawalakot and entered what is normally off-limits for most civilians, most certainly an Indian, the ‘sanctum sanctorum’ of the Pakistan Army, its heavily guarded General Headquarters. I handed my passport at the main entrance and the Pakistan visa in it read: “Not valid for restricted/prohibited area”. Nobody seemed to bother, not when you are a guest of the Pakistan Army. The General Headquarters is an impressive world-class campus, as are the security protocols and paraphernalia in and around it. I was ushered in to have a private meeting with the Chief of General Staff (arguably the second most powerful officer in the Pakistan Army) and his deputy. He seemed upbeat about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Pakistan Army’s ability to handle internal security challenges, and Pakistan’s return to the regional geopolitical scheme of things.
•Any visitor to either side of the LoC and the International Boundary (IB) in the Jammu-Sialkot sector would be shocked by the destruction of lives and livelihoods both sides have suffered over the years. With the rampant use of high calibre weapons such as mortars and even artillery in the borders in Jammu and Kashmir, civilian casualties and the destruction of their habitats have risen steadily. The narratives about death and destruction and how children cannot attend school due to ceasefire violations are tragically similar on both sides of the border. On the Indian side, much of this destruction is in the Jammu sector where villages fall in the range of high calibre Pakistani weapons. Notably, there is far more border population on the Pakistani side than on the Indian side which has over the years put the Pakistan Army under a lot of pressure from the local population to control the firing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have put much pressure on New Delhi.
•The one source of relief for the border population is the cross-LoC trade and transit that has persisted despite the ceasefire violations. Despite being disrupted for short periods due to the firing, it is eventually reinstated to the relief of the local Kashmiris on both sides.
•Soldiers posted on both sides also live under the constant threat of enemy firing. A senior Border Security Force officer once described this fear: “A man standing on duty at the post is always under tremendous fear of being watched by the opposite side through a telescopic rife and of being shot at any moment.” Being patriotic is one thing, dying avoidable deaths is another.
Uneven deployment
•Pakistani military deployment on the LoC is thin compared to the Indian deployment along the counterpart sectors. The Pakistani side has not erected border fences, has stationed fewer troops, constructed fewer posts, and carries out very little patrolling along the zero line. In short, Indian forces enjoy sheer physical dominance along the borders. This seems to have aided the ability of the Indian forces to carry out occassional ‘surgical strikes’, both acknowledged or otherwise, across the LoC. Thanks to its thinner presence on the borders and the asymmetric impact on its border population, there seems to be greater enthusiasm in Pakistan for confidence-building measures to reduce violations on the border. Pakistan, for instance, is keen to formalise the 2003 ceasefire agreement and to discuss other related confidence-building measures.
•Not so surprisingly, officers posted on either side of the LoC and IB (in Jammu) are far more open to suggestions of confidence-building measures than the political classes and civilian bureaucracies in the respective capitals. Three suggestions which seem to have some traction on both sides deserve mention. One sure way of reducing the destruction of civilian habitats is to lower the calibre of the violations. To do so, the two sides could consider withdrawing heavy artillery to 50 km behind the zero line. Two, the two Director-Generals of Military Operations, along with their delegations, could consider holding regular meetings every six months. Data show that every time the leaderships of the armed forces meet, ceasefire violations come down — albeit for not too long. Three, establishing more flag meeting points between local commanders and responding quickly to meeting requests could lead to better communication and reduced misunderstandings resulting in fewer ceasefire violations. That the Indian side suffers fewer casualties and lesser destruction of civilian habitats is no reason why we should avoid entering into joint mechanisms to stabilise the borders in Jammu and Kashmir. Over 30 slain Indian soldiers on the LoC and close to 900 ceasefire violations last year alone (note that each ceasefire violation could be tens of thousands of shots ranging from personal weapons to heavy artillery) should be reason enough for doing so.
📰 A new plateau
India and China must begin the task of repairing bilateral ties
•In more ways than one, 2017 marked a turning point in India-China relations. If it began with India taking a strong stance against China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it ended with China tightening its grip on South Asia. And in between was the Doklam stand-off which underscored the challenges in this bilateral relationship in ways that few would have anticipated in recent years.
A flash point
•Beijing is peeved at what it sees as New Delhi’s intransigence on the BRI as India is perhaps the only major power frontally challenging China’s attempt to redraw the global economic landscape. And this challenge is framed around a principle which China holds very dear: the foundational principle of “sovereignty”. After all, the basis of the India-China partnership at one point was premised on them being the so-called “sovereignty hawks” in the global order. This was reiterated in platforms such as the Russia-India-China trilateral and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
•India used this to counter the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an important element of the BRI, even at the cost of getting regionally and globally isolated when it decided not to attend the BRI summit in May 2017. India said: “No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar articulated this position at the 2017 Raisina Dialogue: “China is very sensitive about its sovereignty. The economic corridor passes through an illegal territory, an area that we call Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. You can imagine India’s reaction at the fact that such a project has been initiated without consulting us.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi too reinforced this point.
•India was clear that China cannot expect to evolve a India-China global partnership on the basis of sovereignty-related concerns vis-à-vis the West and at the same time disregard Indian concerns on sovereignty with impunity at the bilateral level. China got the message and, in some ways, the result was the over 70-day-long stand-off at the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction.Tensions continued to rise till an understanding was reached pertaining to disengagement.
•Despite this resolution, the underlying reality of India-China relations continues to be as complicated as ever. As the year came to an end, China’s engagement in India’s neighbourhood seemed to be growing with the Left Alliance winning in Nepal and the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between China and the Maldives. China’s relationship with Pakistan has become stronger with Beijing now openly batting for Islamabad, whether it is in scuttling Indian attempts to get Pakistan-based terror outfits banned by the United Nations Security Council or preventing India from joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
•India is pushing back in the wider Indo-Pacific. In November, on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila, India participated in the first formal official-level discussions of the ‘Quad’, the quadrilateral formation that also includes Japan, the U.S., and Australia. The idea has had a second coming. India’s ‘Act East Policy’ too has been in full gear with all 10 heads of state/ government of the ASEAN participating in this month’s Republic Day celebrations.
New realities
•As the two nations look to repair the damage done to their bilateral ties over the last few years, mere rhetoric of the past is unlikely to work. They need to find common ground to work seriously so that some tangible outcomes can be achieved. New realities confront New Delhi and Beijing. For India, China’s rise as a great power in its own vicinity presents a challenge that it has not encountered in the past. Beijing, for its part, is facing a New Delhi which, unlike before, is willing to challenge China. The Doklam crisis was as much about China asserting itself vis-à-vis India as it was about New Delhi’s determination not to cede any more ground to China.
•Old formulations and principles seem to have outlived their usefulness. Otherwise, as China continues to strengthen its forces in Doklam and India seems determined to resist it, another Doklam-like episode may be just around the corner.
📰 Expect specific action on Pak. this week, says U.S.
Experts say Trump’s tweet does not indicate any shift in policy; however, the bellicose rhetoric employed by him could be counterproductive
•Some specific actions on Pakistan, which is in the cross hairs of U.S. President Donald Trump for sheltering terrorists, could be expected in the next one or two days, the White House said on Tuesday.
•Mr. Trump had criticised Pakistan in a harshly worded Twitter post on January 1, which several commentators in the U.S. fear could be counterproductive to America’s military operations in Afghanistan.
•Multiple statements emerging from the Trump administration on Tuesday kept the pressure up on Pakistan, even as the President himself fired fresh Twitter salvoes against Iran, North Korea and Palestine.
•U.S. Permanent Representative to United Nations Nikki Haley said Pakistan had “played a double game for years”. “They work with us at times, and they also harbour the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan,Pakistan,” she said in New York.
•“[O]ur goal is that we know that they can do more to stop terrorism, and we want them to do that. That seems pretty simple. In terms of specific actions, I think you’ll see some more details come out on that in the next 24 to 48 hours,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said during the daily briefing. “The President is simply following through on a commitment that he made, because this is a President that does what he says he’s going to do. We know that Pakistan can do more to fight terrorism, and we want them to step up and do that,” she said.
•The administration has already withheld military aid of $255 million in August, which is technically still available to Pakistan, conditionally. That could be withdrawn entirely. A decision on $400 million in Coalition Support Fund — reimbursement of expenses to Pakistan related to Afghan war — for the year 2017 is also pending. This money could be given only if the administration certifies that Pakistan has taken adequate action against the Haqqani Network.
•State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Pakistan was “an important partner”. “We have a lot of issues in that region. Pakistan knows that, we all know that, and we try to work carefully together on some of those issues, but Pakistan — I don’t want to say that Pakistan can do more, but Pakistan knows what it needs to do.”
Continuation of Obama policy
•Mr. Trump’s tweet does not indicate a shift in policy, as the previous Obama administration had come to same conclusion about Pakistan, while the undiplomatic rhetoric could backfire, said several experts who spoke to The Hindu.
•“In actual terms, the policy does not appear to have substantially changed. In its final years, the (Barack) Obama administration followed through on cuts in military and economic aid when they were unsatisfied with the degree of cooperation coming from Islamabad, particularly in targeting militant organisations. This was meant to send a signal of divergent interests. The difference is that the current administration has amplified the signal with a sweeping incendiary statements and antagonistic rhetoric that is likely counterproductive,” said Sameer Lalwani, co-director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center
•“The reality is that despite all the attention to this Trump tweet, he was largely saying things he’s already said before. So the tweet itself doesn’t represent much that’s new. That said, the tweet was clearly telegraphing the White House’s intention to suspend aid, and this is an administration that appears much more determined than its predecessor to follow through on threats to cut aid,” said Michael Kugelman, Asia Program Deputy Director at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
•Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations believes that Pakistan is “actively choosing” to not acting against the Haqqani Network. Ms. Ayers, author of a new book on India’s rise, Our Time Has Come, said: “Pakistan historically reacts to any discussion of a paring back as some unjustified insult and evidence of U.S. lack of commitment to it. But I would say the opposite is true: after years and years of American patience and calls from Republicans and Democrats alike for Pakistan to take further action against all terrorists, not just a few select ones, to see a further step from the United States to pare back assistance should surprise no one. Pakistan is actively choosing not to act further on the Haqqanis, the LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba], and others, and it cannot expect Americans to see this as the behaviour of an ally.”
Impact on Afghan situation
•How will Mr. Trump’s approach affect the situation in Afghanistan? “If it doesn’t elicit enhanced cooperation and scuttles existing mechanisms of cooperation, it will undoubtedly hurt efforts in Afghanistan. But even if Pakistan did everything the U.S. asked, it’s highly uncertain this would yield stability in Afghanistan. Kabul is plagued by many more challenges of internal fissures, corruption, illegitimacy, and incompetence. Furthermore, the Taliban may not need Pakistan to generate combat power, so even if Pakistan managed to put the squeeze on some Taliban elements, they may foreclose on what little leverage they have left while being blamed for the Taliban continuing to threaten the Afghan state,” said Mr. Lalwani.
•Mr. Kugelman believes “it’s too early to tell how this will affect the situation in Afghanistan”. “What I fear is that these U.S. pressure tactics could backfire in a big way, cause Pakistan to tighten, not ease, its embrace of Afghanistan-focused militants, and lead to even more violence in Afghanistan,” he said.
•Pakistan has reacted strongly to Mr. Trump’s statement, and how it would respond further also remains an open question. “Past U.S. withholding of assistance has been matched by declines in cooperation and U.S.-Pakistan relations. Incendiary rhetoric will be matched in kind, especially during an election year. Pakistan has plenty of tools to respond to further U.S. coercive measures including closing the G-LOCS and A-LOCS [ground and air lines of communications], ratcheting up the temperature on the Afghan border, and reducing intelligence cooperation. If the U.S. escalates in kinetic terms with drone strikes outside the established zones, Pakistan can escalate in kind and attempt to shoot down some drones,” said Mr. Lalwani.
•“The worst consequence is a decline in trust that makes recovery from a downturn much more difficult. A few days ago, CENTCOM commander General Voetel said that the U.S. was attempting quiet discussions rather than public messaging to Pakistan. The administration seems to have done a U-turn on this approach so trust in these quiet communication mechanisms will atrophy,” he said.
•“In effect, if the U.S. pressure tactics work, and Pakistan backs off on its links to militants, then Afghanistan is a big winner. But if the pressure tactics fail, stability in Afghanistan could worsen, and the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan will grow even more complicated than it already is,” said Mr. Kugelman.
📰 ‘Panchayat secretary’s certificate is no proof’
Supreme Court clarifies on citizenship
•Certificates issued by the ‘gaon’ or village panchayat secretary/Executive Magistrate is no proof of Indian citizenship.
•It is only a supporting document used for the limited purpose of establishing a linkage between the holder of the certificate and the person(s) from whom legacy is being claimed, the Supreme Court has clarified.
•The certificate merely acknowledged the shifting of residence of a married woman from one village to another, a Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi held.
•“The certificate by itself by no means establishes any claim of citizenship of the holder of the certificate,” the court observed in a recent judgment.
‘Two verifications’
•“Such proof (of citizenship) will come only if the link between the claimant and the legacy person (who has to be a citizen) is established. The certificate has to be verified at two stages. The first is the authenticity of the certificate itself; and the second is the authenticity of the contents thereof,” it observed.
•The process of verification, the court said, was bound to be an exhaustive process in the course of which the source of information of the facts and other details recorded in the certificate would be ascertained after giving an opportunity to the holder of the certificate.
📰 Mahadayi row: objection only to transfer from deficit basin, says Parrikar
Goa CM says those who think Karnataka won’t get water share are living in a fool’s paradise
•Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday that no State can object to another drawing water from a river that traverses through three States, and that Goa is only objecting to “Karnataka’s plans for transfer of water from the deficit basin of Mahadayi to Malaprabha”.
•Responding to questions on the controversy over his letter to Karnataka BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa on the water-sharing issue, at a Cabinet press briefing at the Secretariat, Mr. Parrikar said, “If someone thinks that Karnataka cannot take water, he is living in a fool’s paradise. He doesn’t understand law. When a river flows from Karnataka, how can the State be denied water? But it cannot take the water to some other basin; it has to use the water in that area.”
Water deficit
•The state has submitted documentary evidence to the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal that the Mahadayi basin had around 115 TMC (thousand million cubic-feet) water. The actual requirement in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa is about 145 TMC, and hence there is a deficit, the Chief Minister said. “Therefore, water cannot be transferred to some other river. That is the point before the Tribunal.”
•In his letter to Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Parrikar had agreed to consider Karnataka’s demand for drinking water for North Karnataka “on humanitarian grounds”. On Wednesday, he said, “If you try to speculate about my letter, that is not my concern. I am sorry. I am very clear about this, that I have written a perfectly valid letter in the interest of the State,” he said. He also accused some sections of the media of slandering him and the government.
•Mr. Parrikar had also faced criticism from Water Resources Minister Vinod Palienkar of the Goa Forward party and ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
Out-of-court talks
•The Chief Minister weighed in on the assurance given by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar that Mr. Parrikar had called for out-of-court talks with Mr. Yeddyurappa. Mr. Kumar had responded to a Zero Hour notice raised by Karnataka MP S.P. Muddahanumegowda. Mr. Parrikar said, “Have I made a statement? If they bait each other what do I do? I am not responsible for demands someone else makes. I have explained my stand to you clearly time and again.”
•He also said that none of the 21 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which have publicly demanded that he withdraw the letter, had approached him, but that he would reply to the NGOs if they write to him based on his letter.
•Mr. Parrikar admitted that he had received a letter from Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and it spoke about tri-partite talks between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, and transfer of water from one basin to other.
📰 Citizen count: on Assam's draft NRC
The draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens is a first step, but it opens up concerns
•Prodded by an unrelenting Supreme Court Bench, Assam met its December 31 deadline for publication of the first draft of the updated National Register of Citizens. In the event, the list proved to be a draft of a draft, with 13.9 million cases remaining under scrutiny and names of only 19 million of the 32.9 million applicants making the cut. It is to the government’s credit that its repeated clarifications that missing out on the list is no reason to panic kept people’s anxieties in check. The bigger challenge lies ahead when the contours of the draft assume a firmer shape, and there is a clearer sense of the numbers that do not make it to the Draft Consolidated List of the NRC — by implication, people who are illegal immigrants in Assam. The process will be protracted, with claims and contestations even after the final draft. But, when completed, one can only hope the exercise will bring some closure to the vexed issue of foreigners in the State, one that had triggered the six-year-long Assam Agitation that ended in the mid-1980s but has continued to roil its politics. The promise of detection and expulsion of aliens has propelled two parties to power 31 years apart, the Asom Gana Parishad in 1985 and the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016.
•While the scale is debatable, border crossings into Assam and West Bengal are a reality, and political parties are to blame for turning a blind eye to the situation over the decades in order to cultivate vote banks. The issue has, however, become much larger than a cut-and-dried question of who is an Indian citizen and who is not. There are important humanitarian concerns at play, concerns that go beyond identification and numbers. Nearly five decades have elapsed since the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, and individuals who have sneaked in illegally have children and grandchildren by now. Since India is the only country they have ever known, where are they expected to go? The conditions under which some 20,000-odd doubtful, or ‘D’, voters have been confined in Assam do not inspire confidence. That the list of aliens will only increase is daunting given the absence of a deportation treaty with Bangladesh. The situation has been muddied with the Centre’s intent to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and make Hindu illegal migrants and those from certain other minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. Part of the BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 general election, the Bill, with a cut-off date of December 31, 2014, undermines the process of the NRC, which is denominationally agnostic. The BJP would do better to focus on its campaign promise of sealing the India-Bangladesh border and explore the possibility of provisions such as transparent work permits for foreigners, rather than push for this politically contentious legislation.
📰 Triple talaq bill: Inserting new section in IPC was discussed
Centre considered several options.
•Before the government introduced a bill for a separate law to make instant triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat a criminal offence, the Centre deliberated on including the violation under Section 498A(b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that pertains to “cruelty by husband or a relative of the husband”. Another option was to insert a new Section 498B in the IPC, making instant triple talaq an “offence for adultery”.
•A group of Ministers led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh deliberated the options on the table and it was decided that including instant divorce under the IPC would lead to unrest in the Muslim community as it would then “become a crime against the State”. Instead, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 was drafted and its provisions agreed upon by the group of Ministers, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
•“There was another drawback of including the offence under the criminal law — the woman would not have been entitled to compensation. Under the new bill, a woman can claim subsistence allowance and the amount is to be decided by the Magistrate,” a senior government official who was part of the deliberations said.
📰 Spat over Hindi as official language at UN
Sushma cries procedure as the biggest hurdle; Tharoor says it is not the national language
•External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday engaged in a war of words in the Lok Sabha over making Hindi one of the official languages at the United Nations.
•While Mr. Tharoor questioned the proposed move of the government, the Minister called his statement that Hindi was mainly spoken in India as ‘ignorant.’
•Replying to a question during the Question Hour on Wednesday, Ms. Swaraj said, “It is often asked why Hindi is not an official language in the UN. Today, I will want to tell the House, the biggest problem is the procedure...At least, 129 member countries will have to agree to share the cost.”
•The Minister explained that as per rules, two-thirds of the 193 members of UNwill not only have to vote for Hindi as official language but also share the financial cost incurred to do so.
‘Working on it’
•“The problem comes when apart from voting, the burden of the amount also falls on them. Economically weaker countries that support us shy away from this. We are working on it, we are making attempts to get support of countries like Fiji, Mauritius, Surinam... where people of Indian origin are there,” Ms. Swaraj said.
•Mr. Tharoor, who was a high-ranking official in the UN, asked what was the need to push for Hindi when it was not even the national language of India.
•He said it makes sense if the PM chooses to speak in Hindi but there could be a different scenario in the future. “The question is what purpose is being served by this. If indeed we have a PM or Foreign Minister who prefers to speak in Hindi, they can do so and we can pay to get that speech translated. Why should we put our future Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers who may be from T.N. in a difficult position,” he said.
📰 FRDI Bill: clearing the air on the bail-in clause
Deposits up to ₹1 lakh are insured
•The government on Tuesday issued another clarification on the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill in a bid to clear the air about the many misgivings about the proposed Bill’s most notorious clause: the bail-in.
What does the Bill seek to do?
•It is meant to consolidate all the various regulatory laws covering India’s financial institutions. It also seeks to create a Resolution Corporation (RC) that will be in charge of winding down, reviving, or resolving in any other way an ailing financial company. As such, the Bill is to work in tandem with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
•To do this, one of the tools the RC will be empowered with is a bail-in, in which a bank’s liabilities can be cancelled or modified to shore up its finances. This clause created a lot of alarm as many felt it would put depositors’ money in banks at risk.
Are deposits at risk?
•The government said that under the current Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, deposits up to ₹1 lakh are insured. Under the FRDI Bill, the RC will be empowered to increase this limit to whatever it chooses. So, at least that much will be protected.
•Further, the government said that under the FRDI Bill, the claims of uninsured depositors (that is, beyond ₹1 lakh) would be given precedence over the claims of unsecured creditors and government dues. This is currently not the case.
But what about the bail-in?
•The government has finally clarified that the bail-in clause will not be used for public sector banks (PSBs). It also reiterated its implicit guarantee of PSB solvency. In other words, it said that it “stands ready” to bail-out the PSBs if needed, removing the need for a bail-in.
•Equally important, the statement said that the cancellation of the liability of a depositor beyond the insured amount cannot take place without his or her prior consent. So, the bail-in clause can only be used in private banks, and that too only if the customers allow it.
Is that all protecting depositors?
•No. The use of the bail-in clause by the RC will be subject to government scrutiny and parliamentary oversight. In the event of a bail-in, the RC will have to ensure that depositors get back at least as much money as they would have if the bank had been liquidated.
📰 Comments sought on telecom policy 2018
TRAI releases consultation paper
•The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday released a consultation paper inviting stakeholder comments on the new National Telecom Policy that is expected to be finalised by March this year.
•The consultation process follows a DoT letter in August last year, requesting the authority to give its policy inputs for formulation of the National Telecom Policy-2018.
•In the paper, TRAI has sought stakeholders’ comments on structure and contents of the proposed inputs for National Telecom Policy-2018, clearly outlining the specifics, besides suggesting any other issue related to policy framework which stakeholders feel are important for the growth of the telecom sector.
•The government has targeted to finalise the National Telecom Policy-2018 by March.
Twin goals
•TRAI said, NTP-2018 “can have twin goals (i) facilitate development of communication infrastructure and services to achieve inclusive socio-economic growth in the country, and (ii) to propel India to become the front-runner in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
•This policy would set the mission and objectives to be accomplished by the end of calendar year 2022, when India will be celebrating its 75 years of Independence, it added. The deadline for the written comments is January 19, 2018.
📰 Govt. nod for revised PPP port concessions
‘Exit route’ on lines of highways sector
•The government on Wednesday approved a revised model concession pact for projects based on public private partnership (PPP) design at major ports to make the investment climate more investor friendly.
•The revised Model Concession Agreement (MCA) includes providing an exit route to developers by way of divesting their equity up to 100% after completion of two years from the Commercial Operation Date (COD), similar to the MCA provisions of the highways sector.
•“The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved amendments in the Model Concession Agreement to make the port projects more investor-friendly and make investment climate in the port sector more attractive,” the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
•The amendments in the MCA envisage constitution of the Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes - Ports (SAROD- PORTS) as a disputes resolution mechanism similar to the provision available in the highways sector. The government said under provision of additional land to the concessionaire, land rent had been reduced from 200% to 120% of the applicable scale of rates for the proposed additional land.
•“Concessionaire would pay royalty on “per MT of cargo/TEU handled” basis, which would be indexed to the variations in the WPI annually,” the statement said.
•This would replace the present procedure of charging royalty which is equal to the percentage of gross revenue, quoted during bidding, calculated on the basis of upfront normative tariff ceiling prescribed by Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP).
Operator grievances
•The government said this would help to resolve the long-pending grievances of public private participation (PPP) operators that revenue share was payable on ceiling tariff and price discounts are ignored.
•The problems associated with fixing storage charges by TAMP and collection of revenue share on storage charges, which had plagued many projects, would also get eliminated.
📰 ‘Disruptive move on H-1B will hit India, U.S.’
Nasscom flags skilled labour shortage
•Any disruptive move on the visa front would be detrimental for both India and the U.S., with reports suggesting that Washington may be mulling new rules to prevent H-1B visa extensions, software body Nasscom has said.
•Estimates show that such a move could lead to deportation of more than one million H-1B visa holders — many of them Indians waiting for their green cards. “It is not only about the Indian IT industry but all Indians who use H-1B visas... Given that there is a problem of shortage of skilled professionals in the U.S., any disruptive move will be detrimental for India and the U.S.,” Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said. He was reacting to reports suggesting that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was mulling regulations, which would prevent H-1B visa extensions during pendency of green card approvals.
📰 Key ministries disagree over CAMPA fund
•Differences between the environment ministry and the finance ministry have become a roadblock to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). This authority was envisaged as an independent body that would manage a corpus — collected from industries that have used forest land for projects — that accumulates around ₹6,000 crore annually and is already worth around Rs 42,000 crore. These funds are meant to be used by states to implement agro-forestry in non-forest land to compensate for felled forest. In spite of Parliament — after a fractious debate — signing CAMPA into law last year, it is yet to come into existence.
•Minister of State for Environment Mahesh Sharma told Parliament last week that this was because the “rules” governing the management of the fund weren’t finalised and several meetings had been held among states to fix these rules.
•Sources in the environment ministry say that while the rules have been framed, the finance ministry isn’t on board. “Power to disburse the funds should be with the CAMPA, however the finance ministry says it should be routed through the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). That’s not ideal as it could allow states to use it for purposes other than afforestation,” a source said. The CFI is the repository of government revenues and taxes and all funds channelled through it require Parliamentary approval. Currently funds collected under CAMPA directly go into the Public Account and from thereon to the states.
•By way of example, the education cess that the government collects never necessarily gets spent on education The Comptroller and Auditor General recently pulled up the government for not transferring ₹83,497 crore, collected as a ‘Secondary and Higher Education Cess’ in the Consolidated Fund of India during 2006-2007 to 2016-2017, to designated funds in the Public Account from where government routes money to schemes.
•Currently, states are able to access CAMPA funds through an “ad hoc” mechanism whereby the Centre disburses it on a needs-basis. There are, however, too few personnel entrusted with managing this fund and often there isn’t enough due-diligence done to ensure that states are given money for purposes specific to regenerating forest. This year, for instance, the ad hoc body disbursed only ₹1,827 crore to states this year as opposed to ₹2,213 crore and ₹2,057 crore in the preceding years.
•The Supreme Court, in a 2009 order, had directed that an independent authority be charged with disbursing these funds, which paved the way for the Compensatory and Afforestation Fund (CAF) Bill envisaging the creation of a permanent Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority.
•Last July, the Rajya Sabha signed into law the CAMPA Bill that allows the states to access nearly ₹42,000 crore — mostly collected from industrial projects as penalties — from CAMPA and channel it into afforestation projects.
📰 Centre approves ₹5,369 cr. for waterway project
It will help bring down the cost of logistics in the country
•The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the more than ₹5,369 crore Jal Marg Vikas Project for development of fairway on National Waterway-1 with the technical and investment support of the World Bank.
•The project will extend over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It will cover major districts, including Varanasi, Ghazipur, Ballia, Buxar, Chhapra, Vaishali, Patna, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Bhagalpur, Sahibganj, Musrhidabad, Pakur, Hoogly and Kolkata, according to an official statement.
•The project, which is expected to be completed by March 2023, will provide alternative mode of transport that will be environment friendly and cost effective, the government said, adding that the project would contribute in bringing down the logistics cost in the country while providing a boost to infrastructure development.
Job creation
•“NW-1 development and operations will lead to direct employment generation to the tune of 46,000 and indirect employment of 84,000 will be generated by vessel construction industry,” the government added.
•The government said that the IBRD loan component would be ₹2,512 crore, while the Centre’s counterpart funding of ₹2,556 crore would be sourced from budgetary allocation and the proceeds from a bond issue.
•Private sector participation under PPP mode would be ₹301 crore.
•The project will include construction of multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj, Haldia, Kalughat, Ghazipur and Farakka, five pairs of roll-on roll-off terminals, integrated ship repair and maintenance complexes, bank protection works, and provision of navigation aids.
•Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced JMVP in Budget Speech of July 2014, with an aim to enable commercial navigation of at least 1,500 tonnes vessels in Ganga.
📰 Towards a genomics revolution
India has the scientific resources for genetic research — all it needs is the vision at the national level to leverage them
•In 1865, Gregor Mendel discovered the two laws of inheritance that are now named after him. Almost 90 years later in 1953, the work of James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, deciphered the structure of the molecule — DNA — that stores our hereditary information and gets transmitted from parents to children over generations.
Personalised medicine
•At this point, in principle, the prospect of building individualised medicine based on the precise information stored in each human’s DNA (their genome) had come into view. But the human genome has around 3 billion base pairs and in 1953 it wasn’t possible to imagine extracting genetic information on the molecular scale and of this collective size.
•Technological advances in sequencing methods have made the possibility glimpsed 60 years ago a reality today. Already by 2001 the human genome project and its private competitor, Celera Genomics, showed that an entire genome could be sequenced.
•Since then the cost of doing so has plummeted — currently it is something like $1000 per person and becoming cheaper — and the age of genomics-informed medicine is now within sight. Perhaps this will also make interventional treatments feasible, in the not too distant future, thanks to the revolutionary advances brought about by the discovery of new gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR.
Surveying Indian variation
•What implications do these developments have for India and are there deliberate choices that would shape this coming future more advantageously for the country and its people? Are there strengths that India can bring to this task? To gain fully from the genomics revolution, India needs to collect information about the genetics of its population and train manpower capable of interpreting it. The information that is needed has to come from a large and sustained collection of data — fully sequenced individual genomes along with medical histories for the individuals who volunteer for this effort.
•This kind of longitudinal study is what would allow actual physical manifestations relevant to health, e.g. specific illnesses, to be related to features in the genome. To pick an ambitious but not impossible number, a data bank that collects this kind of information on one million Indians over the coming decade would be a feasible effort of the right magnitude. We note that the China Kadoorie Biobank has been studying half a million people since their recruitment in 2004-2008. As India is much more genetically diverse — with something like 5,000 ethno-linguistic and religious groups (castes and others), all of which probably have some degree of genetic distinctiveness — it needs a larger survey to do justice to all Indians.
•The genetic distinctiveness of different Indian groups is in part the result of endogamy. While we cannot know the full impact of endogamy in advance of a proper survey, some recent research has shown that endogamy is very likely to be medically significant. Castes are not just “of the mind”. The genetic implication of this is that there are likely to be many recessive diseases stemming from single genes specific to individual groups that can be identified.
Decreasing disease burden
•This knowledge could then also be quickly applied to the task of managing diseases in these groups as well as be used for genetic counselling that could reduce their incidence in future generations. As an example elsewhere, the founder group of Ashkenazi Jews have almost eliminated Tay-Sachs disease from their population by such means. Looking ahead a bit more, with large samples the technique of “genome-wide association studies” that compare genomes of cases and controls could be used to identify genetic risk factors related to common diseases (such as heart disease that stem from many genes) that affect the health of many more individuals. We would like to emphasise that much of this is simply a question of applying existing methods and could all be done fairly quickly.
•This is a good point at which to note that such a survey of Indian genetic diversity will be an important asset, beyond disease genetics. The data collected as part of these efforts will also help to uncover the basic biological function of genes and their interactions, which are not yet fully understood. This knowledge will be useful to humanity worldwide and also offer India a chance to claim a piece of the global medical and scientific frontier.
•As a large part of the enterprise would be the application of information technology or “bio-informatics”, the prospects of establishing viable commercial enterprises with synergies to existing IT champions are also promising.
What then is to be done?
•As things stand there is certainly progress under way. There has been path-breaking work in using genomics to shed light on Indian history, a small number of hospitals are using genetic information to help patients, and there is at least one private sequencing company in India. But all of this activity is on a much smaller scale than needed and is currently not generating the manpower required to equip the next generation of medical and research activities in the area. What is needed is a coherent push at the national level that involves government, academic institutions, the existing health-care industry, the IT industry and the nascent biotechnology industry. This coherent push should aim to set an ambitious but realistic objective of creating an Indian genetic data bank, to promote academic programmes that train scientists, technicians and doctors in this area and to create a regulatory framework that promotes broad objectives for both public and private sectors without being self-defeating.
•The fact is that both genetic data and biological samples are easily transported across borders and if Indian regulation is shortsighted, it will simply cause Indian genomics to move abroad to places such as Singapore. In this context it is worth mentioning that the GenomeAsia 100K Initiative based in Singapore plans to sequence 100,000 Asian genomes, including some from South Asia. While this is eminently worthwhile as it will provide a broader pan-Asian set of data, it would be important to make similar investments at a national scale quickly to avoid the situation that this is one of the only enterprises to which Indians can turn to.
•All in all, the time is ripe for India to begin its own genomics revolution. The technical understanding and will needed to launch this is present in India’s scientific leadership, in medicine and in industry. What is needed is a vision and leadership at the national level to leverage this and seize the day. Nothing less than the very health of the nation is at stake.
