India Doesn’t Want ‘War’ in G20 Communique; Inconvenient Voters in Bengaluru Could Lose Franchise
Trade deficit $270 bn, 51% over 2021, Guwahati HC fines official for wrongful foreigners’ tribunal ruling, why Jet can’t lift off, ANI brings hollow men, spectral institutions to mainstream press
A newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas | Contributors: MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia, Sushant Singh and Tanweer Alam | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal
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Snapshot of the day
February 24, 2022
Pratik Kanjilal
The Congress party will not hold elections to its executive body – the Congress Working Committee – and has instead mandated its president, Mallikarjun Kharge, to handpick members. The last time the party had elections for the CWC was in 1998. Though the Election Commission has repeatedly reminded parties of the need to have internal elections, the Congress and the BJP – which also allows the party president to select members of its National Executive Committee – have not bothered to listen.
Neutral on the Ukraine war, India does not want additional sanctions against Russia to be discussed at the G20 meetings, reports Reuters. India is also pressing participants to avoid using ‘war’ in communique language, G20 officials said. But US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the communique was still under discussion and that she would like to see a “strong condemnation” of Russia’s invasion, and the damage it has caused to Ukraine and the global economy.
For the sixth time, India abstained on a UN resolution involving Ukraine. This one castigated the attack on Ukraine, and abstention helped no one. It went through with 141 demanding that Russia quit Ukraine. India, whose Prime Minister famously observed last year that ‘this is not the era of war’, was among 32 countries which could not make up their mind about this particular war.
US President Joe Biden yesterday nominated Indian-American business executive Ajay Banga to be president of the World Bank, lauding his experience in forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change. Schooled in Hyderabad’s Begumpet, St Stephen’s College and IIM (Ahmedabad), and now a US citizen, Banga is vice chair of US private equity firm General Atlantic. He retired in December 2021 after 12 years at the helm of Mastercard.
The BBC will continue to report without fear or favour, Director-General Tim Davie has said in an email to staff in India, after tax searches at BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. Davie thanked staff for their courage and said nothing was more important than reporting impartially. The BBC, which has said it is cooperating with the investigation, recently aired a documentary critical of PM Narendra Modi. India’s government called it “hostile propaganda” and attempted to block it from being viewed domestically.
On the Hindenburg report on Adani, the Supreme Court said this morning that it will not pass any injunction order against the media. Who else, but petitioner ML Sharma had moved to ask for a media gag. He had also sought an FIR against Hindenburg’s founder.
Gautam Adani recently said his group had “laid the foundation to seek a broader expansion beyond India’s boundaries”, and his ties with PM Modi have spurred the scrutiny of overseas deals, reports the Financial Times. In recent years, it has clinched deals from Myanmar to Israel. Modi’s supporters deny that the PM is intervening on Adani’s behalf, but they acknowledge that efforts to promote Indian groups like Adani overseas have strategic value.
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka has announced its first major foreign investment since it declared bankruptcy ― a $442 million wind power project by Adani. Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment said Adani Green Energy will set up two wind farms worth $442 million in the north, which will supply power to the national grid “by 2025”. Sri Lanka awarded Adani a $700 million strategic port terminal project in Colombo in 2021, to address New Delhi’s growing concern over China’s influence in the region. The Modi government had nominated Adani as the contractor. Last summer, the chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board had told a parliamentary panel that PM Modi had pressed Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a renewable energy project in the north to Adani, but was forced to retract later.
At the close of trade yesterday, falling Adani Group scrips sent LIC’s investments in Adani firms into the red. CNBC reports that “the value of LIC Holding in Adani companies has eroded by another Rs 500 crore.” The network said that until Wednesday, LIC had a profit of Rs 94 crore on its Adani investments, but by noon yesterday, it had lost Rs 500 crore, turning LIC’s investment into a net loss in book value terms. Business Today reported that LIC witnessed “an enormous notional loss of Rs 49,728 crore”. It says that “the cumulative market value of LIC’s investment in Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Ambuja Cements and ACC declined to nearly Rs 33,242 crore on February 23, 2023, from around Rs 82,970 crore on December 30, 2022.” This based on shareholding data for the quarter that ended on December 31.
Yields on overseas bonds of the Adani Group continued to rise since the Hindenburg Research report flagged concerns about high debt and accounting irregularities, suggesting a selloff of securities in the secondary market. Since a bond’s yield moves in the oppposite direction to its price, this means Adani bond prices are falling. The yield on the overseas bond of Adani Electricity Mumbai Infra rose to 9.2261% on February 22 from 7.2451% on January 24, according to Bloomberg. Adani Green Energy’s bond yield rose to 19.9714% from 7.4802% on January 24. Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone and Adani International Container Terminal bond yields rose to 9.201% and 6.943%, respectively, from 6.7% and 5.693%. The Adani Group has redemptions of Rs 90,000 crore in the next few years, including overseas bonds and commercial paper, according to Prime Database.
Violence broke out between supporters of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh and the police outside the police station in Ajnala in Amritsar district yesterday. The trigger was a standoff between the police and Amritpal’s supporters over the arrest of his aide Lovepreet Singh aka Toofan Singh. On February 18, the Amritsar police picked up Lovepreet Singh in connection with a kidnapping.
The car used by cow vigilantes to murder two Muslim men on the Rajasthan-Haryana border is a recidivist, Alishan Jafri finds.
What started as a remarkable tale of cross-border love ended up as a warning about mass surveillance in India. On Sunday, India deported a 19-year old Pakistani woman, Iqra Jeewani. Jeewani had eloped with an Indian man, and had been living in Bengaluru for four months. The Indian authorities located her through the WhatsApp calls she was making back home, leading cybersecurity experts to infer that WhatsApp metadata is being used for mass surveillance. While WhatsApp encrypts user communications, several instances have now shown that it still collects enough data about its users to allow governments to mount highly effective surveillance.
Physical harm and being humiliated on the basis of caste are equally damaging, says academician Yashpal Jogdand. Dalit students must endure both on their journey through India’s higher education institutions. Jogdand, Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Delhi, told Scroll in an interview that there are no systemic efforts to address casteism at institutions.
Noted filmmaker Saeed Akhtar Mirza has been appointed KRNNIVASA chairman by the Kerala government. The National Award-winning director replaces Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who stepped down after the institute’s director, Shankar Mohan, resigned.
Filippo Osella, the British-based anthropolgist deported from India upon arrival last year was engaged in research on ‘sensitive subjects’ like ‘caste and religion’, said the Union government in an affidavit to the Delhi High Court justifying his expulsion. Osella will file a counter-affidavit soon.
Narendra Modi called Gandhiji ‘Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi’ in 2013 and regularly mocked Manmohan Singh as ‘Maunmohan’ but no one ever sent out a posse of policemen to arrest him the way BJP’s Assam chief minister did yesterday to congress leader Pawan Khera. We’d crack a joke about the need to have a thicker skin but someone may take offence at that too.
ANI quotes hollow men, spectral institutions
An EU DisinfoLab investigation has revealed a number of non-existent organisations, bloggers, ‘experts’ and journalists who are regularly quoted by Asian News International (ANI). ANI plays a pivotal role in India’s information ecosystem, providing content for many well-established media outlets, and is seen as a favourite of the Modi government. The latest investigation concludes that ANI has been repeatedly quoting a think tank that was dissolved in 2014, and it has been quoting a journalist, several bloggers and geopolitical experts who do not exist – such as ‘James Duglous Crickton’ and ‘Ms Valentin Popescu’ – on topics such as Pakistan’s army doctrines and China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy.
ANI was previously accused of reporting the Indian government’s version by Caravan. Moreover, two previous EU DisinfoLab investigations have revealed that ANI regularly quoted the defunct EP Today and EU Chronicles, two fake media outlets supposedly specialising in EU affairs that were, in fact, created to push anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India.
Inconvenient voters in Bengaluru could lose franchise
Hundreds of voters, particularly Muslims and Dalits, in Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar constituency could fall off the voters’ list with the Election Commision initiating action against them on the basis of a complaint by BJP activists. Described by the Opposition as malicious and communally motivated, it was filed in October and alleged that 26,000 fake voters had been identified as either shifted out or dead in the constituency. Election authorities sprang into action in January, when the final voters’ list was being prepared, and issued notices to 9,159 voters. This is seen as a violation of the SOPs laid down by the ECI on September 13, 2021, which said that suo motu deletions cannot be made in the last six months of an Assembly.
The SOP is prescribed in order to avoid last-minute chaos before polls, which could erode voters’ faith in the process. But in the case of Shivajinagar, the ECI has sought refuge in a vague clause which allows deletions under ‘special circumstances’. “How is a complaint filed by a political party, that too with enmasse names, a special circumstance?” asked MG Devasahayam, retired IAS officer and chairman of the NGO, People-First.
Covid robbed children of schooling
Three years after Covid-19 began, its impact is still visible. Scroll’s reporting from Agra suggests that many children and adolescents whose education was disrupted by the pandemic were absorbed into the footwear industry. They spoke to 25 kids who were of school-going age at the time the pandemic struck. Only nine were in school. Sixteen had dropped out during the pandemic. Twenty were engaged in the footwear industry, including six who worked after attending school.
Guwahati HC fines official for wrongful foreigners’ tribunal ruling
The Gauhati High Court has set aside a foreigners’ tribunal’s ruling that declared an 85-year-old Gorkha resident of Assam as an illegal immigrant and ordered Rs 10,000 compensation for Jagat Bahadur Chetri, who was first classified as a ‘doubtful voter’ (D-Voter) by an election official. The High Court told the election department to identify the official who classified Chetri as a D-Voter and get him to pay Rs 10,000.
“If Chetri was born in 1937 and his birthplace is Dibrugarh, and there is no material (to demonstrate) that subsequent to his birth, he migrated to the specified territory (Bangladesh) and thereafter re-entered Assam subsequent to March 25, 1971, we are of the view that it was an absolute non-application of mind on the part of the ERO (electoral registration officer),” the High Court said on Monday.
NSCN-IM threatens voters
A local leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) ‘Ao Region’ has been arrested for issuing a letter threatening villagers in Nagaland’s Alongtaki constituency not to vote for state BJP chief Temjen Imna Along. NSCN-IM’s Lanuwati Jamir allegedly issued the letter circulating on social media that directed all villages in the constituency not to vote for Along for his “anti-Naga characters” and threatened “stern action” against “defaulters”. “In 2022 at Amsterdam, the GOI has recognised the uniqueness of the Naga History, but Mr. Temjen Imna Along without any hesitation said in Nagaland Assembly that Nagas are Indians,” the letter said.
Along, who is the state higher education and tribal affairs minister, is contesting the February 27 election from the Alongtaki Assembly segment and is pitted against the Janata Dal-United candidate. The NSCN (IM) steering committee distanced itself from Jamir’s action.
The Long Cable
Why G20 seems less legitimate and effective now
Deepanshu Mohan
The G20 finance ministers meet this week in India. Back in November 2020, in a pandemic-era panic, they had announced a final blueprint for the US, China and relatively new creditor countries like India to cooperate on debt relief for more than 70 low-income nations facing a $326 billion burden, and agreed to deliver it in a “timely and orderly” way.
Two years later the agreement, historic as it was, looks fragile, and debt relief is a factor in a bitter geopolitical tussle between the US and China. If the G20 FMs can break the deadlock this week, restructurings and aid to Sri Lanka and Zambia would follow, while renewing hope for nations like Ghana and Pakistan, which are desperate for relief.
The larger concern about G20’s functioning is that countries like Zambia and Sri Lanka look like pawns in the global contest between the West (anchored by the US) and China. In a paper written almost two decades ago, Robert Hunter Wade of the London School of Economics had warned of the effects of the coercive US hegemony and the geopolitical battle for people and ideas, especially in the governing dynamics of most Bretton Woods Institutions like the World Bank, IMF and GATT (now WTO). There is a reason why the Chinese and other developing nations see these institutions as proxies of American power influence.
US hegemony over ideas vs interests
Hegemony may refer to a dominant group’s ability to make others want the same thing as it wants for itself. Wade said it rests upon (1) a substantive pillar of belief that the system of rule created by the dominant group brings material and other benefits to all or most participants, and that the feasible alternatives are worse, and (2) a procedural pillar of belief that the processes and procedures of the dominant system of rule are fair and appropriate and will be enforced on the dominant group as well as the subordinate group. But the requirements of (1) and (2) may undermine each other. This is the hegemon’s dilemma.
US intervention in multilateral organisations to strengthen the substantive pillar – their commitment to the idea of mutual benefits from free markets – came at the expense of the procedural pillar, by breaking collectively legitimated rules of, for example, personnel selection or research independence, and vice versa. This was why new, informalized, plurilateral arrangements like the G20 developed, and were expected to manage frictions and mediate between the current interests of the developing world vis-a-vis the ideas and interests of the industrially developed Global North.
We are now witnessing the culmination of a multipolar governance dilemma. The effect of inter-state conflict between bigger powers like China and the US on issues of debt relief to poorer nations in need, is a case in point. Also, climate financing remains a thorn in the flesh of hegemonic actors like the US and Europe in working towards the proportional funding of energy transition budgets for low-income nations for climate action.
Why the G20 seems less legitimate and effective now than before
The G20 group faces issues of legitimacy and effectiveness. I rely again on Wade’s earlier work, which is still relevant. G20’s critics still emphasise that its composition meets no criteria that would justify the inclusion of Argentina (population 40 million) rather than, say, Colombia (46 million), or South Africa (50 million) rather than, say, Nigeria (158 million).
In Wade’s reasoning, for most of its history, the finance ministers’ G20 functioned toward the hegemonic incorporation end of the spectrum. All the way through, it has been standard practice for the chair country to send proposals for the meeting and the communiqué (drafted before the meeting starts) to the US government first to get its views.
Developing country members have not had much role in setting the agenda but are reacting, sometimes fighting back. China has been a key factor, applying a veto on much of the West’s hegemonic influence in shaping the ideas and interests of the G20, particularly on subjects of “global imbalances” and exchange rates.
Many developing country members were active in shaping what the G20 said and did not say in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit. India’s role is critical, given its unique multi-aligned foreign policy and growing geopolitical/geo-economic influence.
Another critical concern stemming from the G20’s inability to address debt relief for other countries in need or implement its own blueprint may come to bite their own members later.
Source: Author’s calculations
The debt composition of all G20 countries ranges from nations with a high government debt to GDP ratio (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Euro Area, France, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, UK, US) to those with high private and household debt levels.
The global crash of September 2008 revived the finance ministers’ meetings and prompted the government of George W Bush in the US to call the G20 leaders (G20L) together for the first time, to constitute an ongoing leaders’ forum. Another crash ― most likely induced by a debt bubble bursting globally ― could present an opportunity for countries to work together.
Still, if the global pandemic response taught us anything, it was that ensuring multilateral cooperation in times of heightened multipolarity may lead to a brewing crisis of decision-making and implementation.
(Deepanshu Mohan is associate professor of economics and director, Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, OP Jindal Global University)
Reportedly
The recent proposal from the Union Ministry of Steel to extend the tenure of Sumit Deb, CMD of the National Mineral Development Corporation, has brought attention to the issue of extension of service for incumbents at the board level in central public service enterprises. While the proposal seeks an extension of one year beyond Deb’s retirement date, the Ministry of Personnel has raised concerns about the legality and appropriateness of such an extension. The Ministry of Personnel has noted, rules generally do not permit extension in service, the exception being board-level incumbents of sick CPSEs who contributed exceptionally well to their turnaround. Since NMDC is not a sick CPSE, Deb’s case raises questions. Concern has been expressed about the delay in advertising the vacancy to fill the post of CMD for NMDC.
Could it be an attempt to circumvent the selection process? The view of the Personnel Ministry seems to hint at this, and the Steel Ministry’s failure to follow the prescribed timeline for advertising and recruitment is particularly troubling. The ball is now back in the court of the Steel Ministry. Deb retires as NMDC CMD in a month and a half. This is maximum governance in amrit kaal!
Prime Number: $270 billion
In 2022, India’s trade deficit is $270 billion, about 51% higher than $178 billion in 2021. India’s trade deficit with China in 2022 is $87 billion — which is about one-third (32.4%) of India’s overall trade deficit of $270 billion. Almost five years ago, it was $50-$60 billion.
Deep Dive
Why can’t Jet Airways 2.0 get off the ground? The slightly bizarre story, reported by M Rajshekhar (Part 1, Part 2), reveals what’s wrong with the much-acclaimed bankruptcy code, and what happens when political power muscles aside the logic of money.
Opeds you don’t want to miss
Two reflections on the first anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion focus on the emerging geopolitical realities. DB Venkatesh Varma argues that “as the war grinds on, India’s task is to keep our head, think and act for ourselves, be less enamoured of the big powers but also show leadership in restoring peace amongst them.” Inderjeet Parmar writes that “the war is rooted in imperial power politics with three sets of elites reckless enough to risk total catastrophe. As ever, it is working people, not elites, who pay the price of bloodshed and taxes to pay for the war.”
Sayandeb Chowdhury writes that the performance of being the strong leader one day and a crying, perambulating, helpless baby the next is part of Modi’s elaborate pantomime of power. So far, it has worked, with part of the gullible public already swayed by hate and partisan evangelism.
“India was in the top 10 countries that are most dangerous for environmental defenders, according to Global Witness. Activism or dissent of any form — not just environmental — has been criminalised through legal frameworks,” says Disha Ravi.
Himanshu writes that reducing expenditure on rural development ― particularly on employment guarantee ― and the untimely withdrawal of the free foodgrain scheme, will make food security precarious. Inflation remains a challenge, but this may be bigger still.
Gautam Bhatia writes that the Supreme Court’s examination of the ‘Maharashtra political controversy cases’ could either end up as a counterweight to political games or make destabilising governments even easier.
Ankur Bisen asks what the Smart City Mission has been working on for seven years. What is a smart city, and did the mission rightly scope the plan?
Despite repeated failures, the Congress has the strongest claim to lead any united Opposition front against the BJP as parties with national ambitions are not yet ready organisationally to challenge it, writes Amitabh Tiwari.
Vir Sanghvi writes that today, it makes no difference whether you are Alia Bhatt or an unknown citizen of India. We have lost the battle to be treated not as commodities but as individuals with rights and dignity.
Aneela Babar writes that Sridevi saved her from political disenchantment in Pakistan as her magnum opus Chandni coincided with Benazir Bhutto’s arrival in politics.
Listen up
Santosh Ram’s short film Prashna is a poignant, emotional piece of storytelling about migrant sugarcane workers and their families, told through the eyes of a mother and her son. Santosh speaks to AllIndiansMatter.
Watch out
“Certain sections of the media are probably rewarded for the hate they spread… They have very cleverly used the trump card of religion to become victorious.” Naseeruddin Shah on his new show, an old film and more.
Over and out
At this wrestling academy, young women find freedom and hope. The New York Times on a women-only institution training young wrestlers in Haryana.
This week, it was the second anniversary of the epic battle of the chat-wallahs of Baghpat. Someone has made a stirring Star Wars-themed version that’s almost better than the original.
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you on Monday, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.