📰 Celebrations begin to mark 150 years of iconic artist Abanindranath Tagore
‘His unique interpretation of swadeshi themes created a new awakening and heralded a revival of Indian art’
•Year-long celebrations marking 150 years of Abanindranath Tagore will kick off on Saturday, with a host of online workshops and talks paying tributes to the leading light of the Bengal School of Art.
•Abanindranath, a nephew of Rabindranath Tagore and a decade younger to the poet, helped shape modern Indian art and was the creator of the iconic ‘Bharat Mata’ painting. The celebration, titled Abanindranath at 150: Bichitra Revisited, is being organised jointly by Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, and DAG.
•This collaboration, according to the organisers, is in the spirit of experimentation and exchange that took place at Abanindranath’s Bichitra Studio at Jorasanko (the ancestral home of the Tagore family in Kolkata). The iconic south verandah of Jorasanko was established as a studio and laboratory by the artist and his brothers Gaganendranath and Samarendranth and it hosted art classes, plays, performances, addas, and magic shows.
•“Abanindranath Tagore was arguably the first major exponent of an artistic idiom that sought to modernise the Mughal and the Rajput styles in order to counter the influence of Western models of art under the colonial regime. His unique interpretation of swadeshi themes created a new awakening and heralded a revival of Indian art,” Jayanta Sengupta, secretary and curator of Victoria Memorial Hall, told The Hindu.
•Victoria Memorial Hall is the custodian of the Rabindra Bharati Society collection, the single-largest collection of works by the artist. For DAG, the artist is central to its exhibition on the National Art Treasure artists at the Drishykala Art Museum in Delhi as well as the foundation of the galleries on the Bengal School of Art at Ghare Baire, Kolkata.
•Sumona Chakravarty of DAG said: “Abanindranath’s work is timeless, we continue to be amazed and delighted by it. He witnessed an important point in the nation’s history when there were questions around the identity of India, and he responded by creating a new language for art that was so wide-ranging and diverse that even today it is a powerful reminder of the syncretic tradition we have inherited and need to safeguard.”
•On Saturday, four events will be held — over Zoom — through the day with special workshops for children, performative dialogues, and conversations. These events also mark the launch of a year-long celebration of the artist through digital projects, films, performances and workshops by contemporary artists who are re-engaging with his oeuvre and the spirit of the Bichitra Studio.
It upholds validity of Singapore arbitrator’s award
•The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favour of e-commerce giant Amazon against the proposed ₹24,713-crore merger deal between Future Retail Limited (FRL)and Reliance Retail.
•A Bench of Justices Rohinton F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai upheld the validity and enforceability of a Singapore-based Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award, which restrained Future Retail Limited (FRL), India’s second largest offline retailer, from going ahead with the disputed transaction.
•Justice Nariman recorded that the Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (MDA) Group, which owns Reliance Retail, was among the “restricted persons” or “prohibited entities” with whom FRL, Future Coupons Private Limited (which owns 9.82% shareholding in FRL) and the Biyanis could not “deal”. This was according to agreements based on which Amazon would invest money.
•Despite these agreements, the court noted that FRL entered into a transaction with the MDA Group. The deal envisaged “the amalgamation of FRL with the MDA Group, the consequential cessation of FRL as an entity, and the complete disposal of its retail assets in favour of the group”.
•The EA, in the award in October last, injuncted FRL “from taking any steps to complete the disputed transaction with entities that are part of the MDA Group”
•The 103-page judgment authored by Justice Nariman dismissed FRL’s argument that the “Emergency Arbitrator is not an arbitral tribunal” under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996. Senior advocate Harish Salve had argued that the EA, which functions under the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, is ”‘a foreigner to the Indian Arbitration Act”. He had contended that Amazon, represented by senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, by urging to enforce the EA award, was trying to “fit a square peg in a round hole”.
•Mr. Subramaniam, on the other hand, had argued that the EA award can never be characterised as a nullity and ignored. It must be obeyed, he had contended.
•Justice Nariman upheld the validity of the EA award. The judgment laid down that the award is “exactly like an order of an arbitral tribunal” contemplated under Section 17 of the 1996 Act. Hence, an award by the EA was like an order under Section 17(1) (interim measures ordered by an arbitral tribunal) of the Act.
•Besides, Justice Nariman observed that a party (FRL) “cannot be heard to say, after it participates in an Emergency Award proceeding, that it will not be bound by an Emergency Arbitrator’s ruling”.
Delhi HC judge order
•The apex court said the EA orders were “an important step in aid of decongesting the civil courts and affording expeditious interim relief to the parties”. It further held that the order passed by a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court to enforce the award was not appealable.
•“No appeal would lie under Section 37 of the Arbitration Act against an order of enforcement of an Emergency Arbitrator’s order made under Section 17(2) of the Act,” Justice Nariman wrote.
•The court said the provision in Section 17(2) that an arbitral tribunal’s order should be “deemed” to be an order of the court of law and enforceable under the Code of Civil Procedure was a “legal fiction… created only for the purpose of enforceability of interim orders made by the arbitral tribunal”.
•With this, the court upheld the orders of the Single Judge to FRL to maintain ‘status quo’ on the sale of its retail assets to Reliance.
•The Single Judge twice upheld the EA award. On February 2, the judge restrained the continuation of the FRL-Reliance Retail deal. Again, on March 18, the judge passed a detailed judgment upholding the validity of the EA award under the Arbitration Act.
•Both the orders were stayed by a Division Bench successively on February 8 and March 22. Following this to and fro between the Single Judge and the Division Bench of the High Court, the Supreme Court had stayed the proceedings in the High Court on April 19 and decided to hear the case by itself.
•“The judgments of the Division Bench, dated February 8 and March 22, are set aside,” Justice Nariman ordered in the judgment.
📰 Biden administration non-committal on support for permanent UNSC seat for India
U.S. says it does not support expansion of veto
•While the U.S. has in the past backed India’s bid for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Biden administration has continued to remain non-committal on the issue.
•“Well, we value working with India at the United Nations, including in the context this month of the Security Council. We believe that a reformed Security Council that is representative, that is effective, and that is relevant is in the best interest of the United States and all of the UN member states. And we look forward to the opportunity to working very closely with India in the context of the Security Council in the coming weeks,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in response to a question on the U.S. position.
•The Obama and Trump administrations had supported a permanent seat for India on the Security Council.
•Mr. Price said the U.S. offered qualified support for building a consensus for enlargement of the UNSC – in terms of permanent and non-permanent members. However, the U.S. would not support an expansion of the veto – given to the P-5, the current five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the U.K and the U.S.
•“Well, we support building a consensus for modest enlargement of the Security Council for both permanent and non-permanent members, provided it does not diminish its effectiveness or its efficacy and does not alter or expand the veto,” he said.
•At her Senate confirmation in January, the U.S.’s U.N Ambassador, Linda Thomas Greenfield, had also refrained from saying the U.S. supported India and other members of the G4 (Japan, Germany and Brazil) for a permanent UNSC seat, citing regional disagreements on who should get the seat.
•Ms. Thomas-Greenfield was possibly alluding to the Uniting for Consensus (UFC) group – Pakistan, South Korea, Italy and Argentina – which opposes the G4 plan. China also opposes the bids of India and Japan.
•India is currently (in 2021 and 2022) a non-permanent member of the UNSC and is president for the month of August.
📰 India, Sri Lanka and Maldives to collaborate on security
India’s deputy NSA attended meeting hosted by Sri Lanka.
•India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have agreed to work on “four pillars” of security cooperation, covering areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cyber security, in a recent virtual meeting of top security officials of the three countries.
•The Deputy National Security Adviser-level meeting was hosted online by Sri Lanka on Wednesday, and chaired by General LHSC Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of Army of Sri Lanka. Pankaj Saran, Deputy National Security Adviser of India, and Aishath Nooshin Waheed, Secretary, National Security Adviser’s Office of the Maldivian President participated.
Intelligence sharing
•The discussion comes nine months after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Colombo for deliberations with Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence, Kamal Gunaratne, and Defence Minister of Maldives, Mariya Didi, in which the three countries agreed to expand the scope of intelligence sharing.
•Their meeting marked the revival of NSA-level trilateral talks on maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region after a gap of six years.
•Following up on that, the Deputy NSA-level meeting this week identified “four pillars” of cooperation in Marine Safety and Security, Terrorism and Radicalisation, Trafficking and Organised Crime, and Cyber security, a press release from the Indian High Commission here said on Friday, adding “specific proposals” for cooperation in each area, including joint exercises and training were discussed.
•The ‘Colombo Security Conclave’ among the three neighbouring countries seeks to “further promote” maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, and was initiated by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2011, when he was Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, according to a media release from the Sri Lankan Army.
•The initiative, grounded in military and security collaboration, assumes significance in the region, in the wake of the current geostrategic dynamic that India shares with Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Earlier this year, India aired security concerns over China being awarded development projects in an island off Sri Lanka’s northern province, close to India’s southern border.
Engagement with Quad
•On the other hand, the Maldives’s engagement with members of the India-United States-Japan-Australia grouping, known as the ‘Quad’, has been growing over the last year, especially in the area of defence cooperation. The Ibrahim Mohamed Solih government signed a ‘Framework for a Defence and Security Relationship’ agreement with the United States last year, an initiative that India welcomed.
•In November 2020, the Maldives received a Japanese grant of $7.6 million for the Maldivian Coast Guard and a Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center. Meanwhile, Male’s foreign policy choices are increasingly being challenged by sections, mostly opposition groups, wary of “Indian boots on the ground”.
📰 Rewind to fast forward: On retrospective tax
Delayed reset on retrospective tax is only the first step to regaining investor confidence
•A tortuous taxation tale that began with global telecom major Vodafone’s $11 billion entry into India, is nearing its climax 14 years on, with the company having frozen fresh investments for a few years and its Indian operations now on the brink of collapse. On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced tax law changes to scrap the retrospective provisions brought in by the late Pranab Mukherjee in the Union Budget 2012-13. I-T demands have been made in 17 cases, including from Vodafone and Cairn, using those retro-active clauses in the I-T law. That this government took so long to undo Mr. Mukherjee’s gambit after losing a tax pursuit against Vodafone is disappointing. Even before 2014, the BJP had called the retrospective provisions ‘tax terrorism’. Yet, it did not walk the talk despite a resounding parliamentary majority, while promising global investors that it does not approve of such measures. Whether this was a result of political dithering, bureaucratic bungling or ill-informed legal advice, the ‘sore point for potential investors’ remained on the statute. This should now lead to a formal burial of a matter that has cost India dear.
•In Cairn’s case, the tax department began action in January 2014, but the assessment orders were passed, and its shares sold off to recover ‘retrospective’ tax dues under this regime’s watch, pending international arbitration. By December 2020, the Vodafone and Cairn arbitration cases had been lost and investors hoped the Government would abide by the legal process and close this sordid chapter. Instead, appeals were filed, with the Government asserting as recently as May that it will ‘vigorously defend’ its sovereign right to tax and had ‘never agreed to arbitrate a national tax dispute’. On Friday, Ms. Sitharaman said the Government was waiting for those cases to ‘reach their logical conclusion’; now that they have, the BJP is fulfilling its commitment that it does not believe in retrospective taxation. If that were indeed the case, the Government could have introduced these changes in the Budget instead of wasting more legal resources on filing appeals. It is quite clear the U-turn has been prompted by Cairn Energy’s relentless pursuit to enforce the arbitration award. That it has sought to get Air India labelled as the Government’s ‘alter ego’, creating fresh doubts for the airline’s potential buyers, and a French court has permitted it to freeze Indian assets in Paris, must be significant triggers. Whether Cairn will back down from those claims or forfeit the interest and damages, as offered by the Government to close the chapter, will likely depend on its institutional shareholders. Irrespective of the outcome, global capital is unlikely to immediately forget the ‘ad-hoc’ approach to this critical policy issue and rush in. Be it fluctuating trade tariffs or shifting GST rates and rules, India needs to demonstrate greater clarity and consistency in policy across the board to fix its broken credibility.
📰 South Asia’s emerging digital transformation
There is evidence that the region’s post-pandemic adoption to digital life will shape its future prosperity
•COVID-19 has forced South Asia to take a quantum leap in digitalisation. The shift to remote work and education has propelled an unprecedented spike in Internet penetration, with even smaller nations such as Nepal recording almost an 11% increase in broadband Internet users. For a region with threadbare public health infrastructure, the digitisation of health-care services was a watershed moment, providing novel solutions to the public health crises.
•In India, COVID-19 accelerated the launch of the National Digital Health Mission, enhancing the accessibility and the efficiency of health-care services by creating a unique health ID for every citizen. The pandemic-induced suspension of bricks-and-mortar businesses spurred South Asia’s embrace of e-commerce, boosted by digital payment systems. Bangladesh alone witnessed an increase of 70-80% in online sales in 2020, generating $708.46 million in revenues.
The yawning divide
•As one of the world’s poorest regions, a wide digital divide persists in access and affordability, between and within the countries of South Asia. Despite having the world’s second largest online market, 50% of India’s population are without Internet with 59% for Bangladesh and 65% for Pakistan.
•With monetary and health assistance schemes distributed online, 51% of South Asian women were excluded from social protection measures during the pandemic. Children too were at the receiving end, with 88% lacking access to Internet powered home schooling. This disruption could permanently put children out of school, place girls at risk of early marriage, and push poor children into child labour costing economies billions of dollars in future earnings.
•Businesses too have paid a heavy price for the gap in digital solutions, whereby many South Asian firms failing to embrace e-commerce or other cloud-based technologies to survive the financial chaos of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The region recorded a 64% decline in sales, with small and women-led firms faring the worst. With COVID-19 transforming work life, the acute skills gap among youth will continue, creating unemployment.
Digital inevitability, dividend
•Digital transformation is a global imperative with adoption of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, Big Data, etc., key to success. From banking to manufacturing and retails, the role of digital technology is too important to be overlooked as countries embrace the digital revolution to drive their development agenda.
•At the forefront of Asian digitalisation are countries such as Singapore, Japan, and South Korea recognised as global technological hubs. Owing to increased smartphone and Internet penetration, coupled with the availability of trusted digital payment platforms, China’s e-commerce industry is said to reach $3 trillion in 2024. The digital boom in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies is pushing a “common market” initiative, fostering regional economic integration and enhancing global competitiveness.
•South Asia has also made significant strides in the adoption of digital technologies. The Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021 envisages transforming Bangladesh into a prosperous, digital society, whereas India’s biometric identification systems intend to improve the efficiency of welfare programmes through digital innovation. However, the region still has a long way to go.
•E-commerce could drive the post-pandemic growth in South Asia, providing new business opportunities and access to larger markets. In India, e-commerce could create a million jobs by 2030 and be worth $200 billion by 2026. Fintech could drive significant growth and reduce poverty by building financial inclusion. For instance, Pakistan’s digital financial sector could boost GDP by 7%, if faster payment gateway, lower costs and fast track licensing are put in place. A timely, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation can not only bolster productivity and growth but also serve as a panacea for some of the region’s socio-economic divides.
A checklist for change
•To reap the dividends of digital transformation, South Asia needs to address legal, regulatory and policy gaps as well as boost digital skills. A robust digital infrastructure is a sine qua non and there exists a huge financing gap. India alone needs an annual investment of $35 billion to be in the top five global digital economy and public-private partnership needs to be leveraged for the region’s digital infrastructure financing.
•Regulatory roadblocks need to be addressed as e-commerce regulations are weak in South Asia. For the sector to drive growth, issues such as customer protection, digital and market access regulation, etc. need to be addressed. There would be no digital revolution without universal digital literacy. Governments and businesses need to come together to revamp the education system to meet the demand for digital skills and online platforms. The crossflow of data and personal information calls for stringent cybersecurity measures as many have experienced painful lessons in data privacy during the pandemic.
•In South Asia, only a third of the inter-regional trade potential has been exploited, losing out on $23 billion in revenues (https://bit.ly/37ohgIr). By addressing issues such as regulatory barriers on currency flows inhibiting online payment to transport-related constraints for cross-border e-commerce activities, South Asia can emulate the European Union’s Digital Single Market Proposal.
•During the pandemic, South Asian nations joined hands to collectively battle the crises by contributing towards a COVID-19 emergency fund, exchanging data and information on health surveillance, sharing research findings, and developing an online learning platform for health workers. If the eight nations (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) can start walking the talk, partnership for a successful digital revolution is plausible. It will need vision, wisdom, and commitment at the highest level of the region’s political leadership.
Collaboration needed
•COVID-19 has rendered old ways of operating redundant. Concerted collaboration at all levels is needed to push South Asia out of stagnancy and towards a digital future of shared prosperity. The right concoction of regulatory and physical infrastructure, skill sets and regional cooperation can lead toward a digital utopia whereas, the lack of which can breed a dystopian tomorrow. Adequate support is needed for those who risk falling through the net of digital progress. A shared “digital vision” could place the region on the right track towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
📰 India’s schoolchildren need their childhood back
The country needs to stop asking whether schools are safe and start acknowledging that in-person school is essential
•The economy is open. Malls, bars, restaurants, and some offices are open, but schools have been closed for 16 months and counting. They have sporadically opened for the higher grade students, and the Board examinations have been a key discussion point. There is indeed some basis to the old joke that Indian parents have a razor-sharp focus on academics and want their children to be a doctor or an engineer. This focus is not entirely misplaced, for academic results in the higher grades are important to determine colleges and professions, and for many Indians, a chance at a better life.
The wide-ranging impact
•However, let us not forget our youngest children. Six yearolds who have spent more time outside the classroom than inside. Five year olds who have never been inside school nor ever met their teachers or classmates. Let us not lose sight of the importance of education in the younger years as well as the overall purpose of education. In-person school education teaches children to share, wait for their turn, negotiate, and compromise; by depriving them of social contact, we are depriving them of essential learning and development. For children from economically weak backgrounds, schools are a key source of nutrition. For some, schools serve as safe spaces from the chaos of their homes. For many children, particularly those who do not have educated parents or cannot afford home tutors, the denial of education results in learning losses and, ultimately, denial of a chance to earn a livelihood. For parents, school closures have added to childcare and teaching duties. Household incomes are reducing amidst rising inflation as parents, mainly mothers, have quit their jobs.
•The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently stated that “once India starts considering, it will be wise to open primary schools first and then secondary schools. Also, we have to ensure that all support staff[,] whether it be school bus drivers, teachers and other staff in the school[,] need to be vaccinated”. Researchers do agree, however, that children are at low risk of developing severe COVID-19 compared to adults.
Expert opinion
•In June 2021, commenting on the World Health Organization-All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) serosurvey, AIIMS Director, Dr. Randeep Guleria said, “This study also looked at sero surveillance among children. In the less than 18 years of age group, it was found that more than 50 per cent of children and in some areas, more than 80 per cent of children from both urban and rural areas had antibodies. This means they were already infected and developed antibodies.” The ICMR recently released results of the Fourth National Sero-Prevalence Survey which showed that more than half of the children (6-17 years) were seropositive and sero-prevalence was similar in rural and urban areas. Given the above, it is possible to think about starting schools in areas where the community level of infection is low. A one-size-fits-all approach across India will not work. This means that in some States such as Kerala or Maharashtra, where COVID-19 cases could be surging again, students should stay home, while their counterparts in other States where positivity rates are lower, can start going to school.
•There are a host of recommendations on how to open schools safely, including by the World Bank, SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai and the Lancet COVID-19 Commission India Task Force. Schools cannot be opened overnight. There is a large amount of preparation required, and the longer we wait to begin planning, the longer it will take to implement.
•As immediate measures, governments should: call for lists of school staff and procure full vaccination for them. Scientists should confirm if the gap between doses can be made shorter akin to health-care workers; engage relevant experts to undertake public campaigns to make school staff and parents aware of the low risk of transmission in schools and low severity in children, urge them to understand the science and encourage them to commit to a social contract to be ever-vigilant and keep a sick or exposed child home; issue guidance for staggered re-opening of primary schools — e.g., 50% attendance or smaller groups of students on alternate days or weeks; upgrade school infrastructure to facilitate a hybrid system of learning where parents who do not wish to send their children to school have the choice to continue with online learning; train school teachers in hybrid learning; formulate and issue guidance on COVID-19 protocols to be adopted by schools — distancing to the extent possible, outdoor classes weather-permitting, masking, hand hygiene, and proper ventilation (scientists have indicated that even the humble pedestal fan can do wonders for ventilation); finalise logistics such as packed meals and transport; and ensure availability of medical consultation so that staff and parents need not scramble for assistance.
•Other required long-term measures, which will also require funding, time, and effort, include greater investment in health-care facilities, particularly paediatric facilities, and implementation of systems to track local level of infections.
Managing the risks
•As parents, we must recognise the costs of isolation and online learning for our young children. We cannot wait for children to get vaccinated because this may take years. According to a media report, Britain has said that “it has decided against giving mass COVID-19 vaccinations to all children and they would only be offered in certain situations such as when young people have underlying health conditions”. We cannot expect schools to provide a 100% guarantee that our children will be safe. Nothing is risk-free; risk must be managed with mitigation strategies. Instead, we must build mutual trust among governments, schools, and citizens. Each of us must implement and adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols recommended by scientists. Each of us must be vigilant and responsible, ensure all adults in our households are fully vaccinated and ensure children stay home if sick or exposed. Until a greater proportion of the population is vaccinated, we should endeavour to curtail unnecessary travel or exposure because we know from serosurveys that adults are bringing infections home.
•Parents’ groups on social media are abuzz with requests for ‘pods’ of students and home tutors. Education, like oxygen and medicines during the second novel coronavirus wave, is becoming the responsibility but also a privilege of private citizens. We cannot let status quo continue any longer — we need to stop asking whether schools are safe and start acknowledging that in-person school is essential. Extensive literature based on studies on transmission in schools is clear — children are not super-spreaders, schools are not hotspots or driving viral spread. For young children, even a few hours of interaction per week with their teachers and other children would be an excellent starting point. As Robert Jenkins, Global Director of Education for UNICEF, said, “There are many countries in which parents can go out and have a nice steak dinner, but their seven-year-old is not going to school. That’s a problem (https://go.nature.com/3rVrzND).” We need to come together to fix that problem and give our young children their childhood back.
