SEBI Chief’s Hour of Reckoning Is Fast Approaching; As Wrestlers Join Congress, BJP Hopes 'Service Rules' Will Keep Them from Polls

Sep 06, 2024

Snapshot of the day

September 6, 2024

Siddharth Varadarajan

Two of India’s championing wrestlers who led the struggle against the former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh joined the Congress party today. Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia said the had party stood with them in good times and bad. The Congress may be keen to field the duo in the upcoming Haryana assembly elections but the Modi-led government is already trying to prevent that from happening. Both grapplers are employees of Northern Railways and resigned from their jobs before joining the Congress and the government has let it be known their resignation has not yet been accepted. Official sources told NDTV Phogat and Punia “cannot join any party or contest elections until that is done,” under service rules.

Having heard arguments by lawyers for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Supreme Court today reserved its judgment on his bail petition and challenge to his arrest. Kejriwal’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, wondered how the Delhi high court denied him bail in the CBI case when he has already secured bail in the Enforcement Directorate’s case, where the stringent PMLA is involved. He also opposed additional solicitor general SV Raju’s argument that Kejriwal ought to go to the trial court for bail. Raju also claimed Kejriwal’s release could cause witnesses in Goa – where the Aam Aadmi Party is accused of spending its proceeds from the liquor policy ‘scam’ – to turn hostile, Ananthakrishnan G reports.

The apex court did not appreciate Raju’s argument that giving bail to Kejriwal would ‘demoralise’ the Delhi high court, which had earlier disposed of his bail petition after upholding his arrest by the CBI. “Don’t say that”, the bench tersely said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah says Article 370 is “history” and will never come back. Both the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party are going to the polls in Jammu and Kashmir with the promise of fighting for the restoration of J&K’s special status.

If India wants to continue giving refuge to Sheikh Hasina until Bangladesh’s new government asks it to extradite her, “the condition would be that she has to keep quiet”, the country’s interim chief adviser Muhammad Yunus told PTI. The Nobel laureate added: “No one is comfortable with her stance there in India because we want her back to try her … But sitting in India, she is speaking and giving instructions. No one likes it.” He also expressed annoyance with the mood in New Delhi that everyone other than Hasina’s Awami League was Islamist and “will make this country into Afghanistan”. Yunus has also called on India to resolve issues linked to the Teesta river water-sharing treaty.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry has lodged a protest with New Delhi over the Border Security Force’s alleged killing of a 13-year-old girl a few days ago. But the BSF denied the allegations, and Ariful Islam Mithu cites unnamed Indian officials as pinning blame on the Border Guard Bangladesh instead.

A few days after the Supreme Court proposed it would draft guidelines regulating the official use of bulldozers to demolish accused people’s property, Uttar Pradesh power minister and former Modi aide AK Sharma made it clear his government has no scruples regarding the practice. “The bulldozer is being used against those involved in criminal and mafia activities through a legal process. There is nothing wrong here. Their use will continue,” he said yesterday. No surprises there – just a day prior, Yogi Adityanath had gloated over the bulldozer raj he runs in the state.

Pakistan’s army yesterday hinted that former PM Imran Khan could face military trial, with a spokesperson saying that “anyone who uses individuals subject to the Army Act for personal or political gain … will be subject to the law taking its course”, Baqir Sajjad Syed reports. The development follows the arrest of the country’s former Inter-Services Intelligence chief, lieutenant general Faiz Hameed, whom Asif Shahzad notes government officials have accused of collaborating with Khan to plan riots targeting the military after the former PM’s arrest last year. One defence analyst told Shahzad that Hameed’s arrest “will be used to put pressure on [him] to provide information that helps implicate Khan in the May 9 violence”.

“In a once-unthinkable arrangement,” reports Reuters, “the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) says its fighters have reached an "understanding" with the military not to attack each other, as they both battle the Arakan Army, the major rebel force in western Myanmar.”

Sri Lanka’s once thriving tourism industry has not recovered from the setback caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the 2022 financial meltodwn but operators hope things will improve after the upcoming presidential election.

India and Singapore yesterday affirmed the importance of peace, security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as well as the freedom of overflight above it. Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong also highlighted the need to peacefully resolve disputes in the sea “in accordance with international law, particularly the [UNCLOS], without resorting to the threat or use of force”, and supported the right of Quad countries to be active in the Indo-Pacific. On the economic front, they signed a few MoUs, of which one covers partnership in semiconductor manufacturing.

Haryana’s BJP unit is bleeding leaders, including sitting MLAs, after the party released its first list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state, Vivek Gupta reports. The party, which has dropped nine sitting MLAs as well as around six candidates from the 2019 polls from its list, faces rebellion in as many as 12 seats, Gupta says.

Curfew and internet restrictions continued to be in place in Telangana’s Jainoor village, where a mob “destroyed establishments owned by a particular community and also vandalised places of worship” and protests were also held on Wednesday, The Hindu reports, noting that the unrest was in response to the alleged attempted sexual assault of a tribal woman. The accused in the case is one Sheikh Makhdoom.

Sobhana Nair has a detailed report on how the deliberations within the parliamentary committee examining the government’s proposed Waqf law are going.

The Melbourne has became the second Australian city to recognise caste discrimination after Monash's decision in March 2024 to include ‘caste’ as a protected characteristic in a similar manner to race, religion, etc in relevant council policies and plans, NRI Affairs reports.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India will hold its AGM on September 29 but the fact that the agenda so far does not include electing Jay Shah’s replacement as secretary is raising eyebrows. Shah will head the International Cricket Council from December and cannot remain as BCCI secretary after that. But when will his replacement be elected>

Why is Modi ‘destroying every atom’ of Kashmir’s autonomy?

Surveys have shown that even over a decade after the armed insurgency in Kashmir, no more than around 7.5% of people anywhere in the valley wanted a union with Pakistan. It is also common knowledge that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has killed those Kashmiris who even “merely [suggested] that there is a road to peace with honour within India”, Prem Shankar Jha notes. He concludes that the reason behind the Modi government crushing political dissent in Kashmir despite likely knowning these things is that “for him, Kashmir and Pakistan are convenient whips with which to lash latent Hindu fury into a frenzy. To do this he has been bent upon destroying every atom of the autonomy given to Kashmir by the Indian constitution through articles 370 and 35A.”

Female relatives of disappeared persons in Pakistan find ally in social media

Tired of being ignored by the government and the mainstream media, female relatives of those who were forcibly disappeared in Pakistan have taken to social media to amplify their voices, Alifya Sohail finds. While women leading movements for the rights of the Baloch is not new, “we have never seen women participating to this extent before, neither in Balochistan nor anywhere else in Pakistan,” sociology professor Nida Kirmani said. Social media is good for visibility, but it has another edge to it: activists tell Sohail they have faced harassment from fake users and character assassination and monitoring by “state-backed accounts”.

Accounting for the MEA’s money in eight charts

How have budget allocations to the external affairs ministry changed over the years? Where has the ministry chosen to spend its grant and aid money? Armed with budget data from the last 15 years, Devirupa Mitra breaks down the answers through eight charts. Among her findings: the MEA received its largest windfall in this time frame during the last fiscal year; South Asia’s share of grants and loans the MEA has given has decreased over the years; its recent external funding highlights a strategic focus on the Indian Ocean region.

The Long Cable

SEBI Chief Madhabi Buch’s Hour of Reckoning Is Fast Approaching

MK Venu

A senior banker told me that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), as a stock markets regulator, has laid down very stringent rules for officials who work at the treasury department of banks or mutual funds which buy and sell shares on a daily basis.

For one, these officials are not allowed to buy shares in their name or in the name of their family members. This is strictly prohibited.

If SEBI could set such rules for other market players, why wouldn't it follow the same rule itself? This is the biggest question Madhabi Puri Buch will face when she is asked to appear before a parliamentary committee probing the performance of regulatory bodies.

News reports suggest that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, which is headed by an Opposition MP, has already included on its agenda a review of SEBI's performance. The SEBI chairperson will have to speak up sooner than later. Silence is not an option anymore.

So far, Buch has refused to answer myriad questions being raised on a daily basis about her conduct as a stock market regulator after the US based research firm, Hindenburg alleged she had a stake in an offshore entity which was used by the Adani group to allegedly manipulate its own group company shares.

After these allegations were levelled a few weeks ago, many more revelations have been made which make her continuance as a regulator untenable. Most of the issues relate to conflict of interest which seems all pervasive in her actions.

For instance it has been revealed that she had been holding shares of ICICI where she worked before joining SEBI, apparently as part of her post-retirement benefits from the private company. If she was holding large chunks of ICICI shares then how was she taking decisions as SEBI chair which might have affected the value the shares she was holding. There is conflict written all over this.

Past SEBI chairs are known to have sold all the shares they held before taking over as the market regulator. This seems to have been the convention. Why Madhabi Puri Buch did not follow this convention is not known.

The bigger question is why the appointments committee of the cabinet – headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself – did not raise this issue at the time of her appointment.

Buch seems to have had an implicit assurance from the political authorities that 'conflict issues" either would not matter or perhaps would be taken care of if someone were to raise them. Otherwise, a highly intelligent and successful financial market professional like her would have been acutely aware of the serious issues of conflict she was bringing into the system after her appointment as a SEBI board member first and chairperson later .

She also continued to be a shareholder of another advisory service, Agora Ltd, run by her husband during her tenure as SEBI board member and chairperson. This advisory service also earned a lot of revenue during her tenure in SEBI.

It is not clear which corporates were advised by Agora. It is also not clear whether some of the corporates advised by Agora were the subject of any SEBI inquiry or probe.

Meanwhile, Buch's husband was also advisor to, Blackstone, the largest multinational private equity firm operating in India. Blackstone would have invested in dozens of companies where Madhabi's husband might have played a role. There could be potential conflict of interest if such companies were directly or indirectly affected by any of SEBI's decisions during this period.

These are all questions which Madhabi will surely face if she appears before the parliamentary committee at a future date.

Of course, the primary issue will remain her role in the Adani probe given that she had a stake in an offshore entity allegedly linked to Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani.

The most damning news report over the past week has been one in which a present SEBI board member – speaking to Scroll on condition of anonymity – revealed that Buch had not recused herself in the Adani probe which was ordered by Supreme Court in 2023. This potentially puts a question mark over the entire court monitored Adani probe. The PAC is bound ask her if she was unaware that she was probing an offshore entity where she had an economic interest in the past.

Things have been made worse for Buch with a section of SEBI officers publicly agitating about the 'toxic work culture" at the Board and demanding her resignation. Clearly she doesn't seem to have much support from within the organisation.

But Madhabi Puri Buch evidently has the backing of the Modi-led government, since both the finance ministry and the PMO have maintained a studied silence on the growing controversies so far. The government has allowed her to go about her business as if nothing has happened. This state of affairs cannot persist for long.

Reportedly

Heard on the grapevine: The ongoing attack on Netflix because off the IC 814 tele-series could also be part of strategy to help make the case for Jio Cinema attaining a near-monopoly position so that ‘swadeshi’ fare can replace the ‘foreign hand’. Jio has just received conditional approval from the Competition Commission for its merger with Disney even though this creates a virtual OTT behemoth. The theory is that the more Netflix is projected as carrying "anti national content", the better it will be for the Reliance.

Deep dive

In a special issue of the academic journal Social & Legal Studies, M. Sudhir Selvaraj, Raphael Susewind bring together a set of papers that “trace Hindutva's own ideological commitments with those tracking material changes in legislation or jurisprudence and map out their differential consequences for India's minorities, culminating in a wider reflection on the rule(s) of law under autocratic circumstances.”

Prime number: ~46,000 college-educated people

When the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited advertised an unspecified number of vacancies for sweepers to clean Haryana government offices for Rs 15,000 a month, more than 6,000 post-graduates, nearly 40,000 graduates and 1.2 lakh people who passed Class 12 applied over the past month, the Times of India reports.

Opeds you don’t want to miss

Angshuman Choudhury takes stock of the recent drone attacks in Manipur.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing controversy over Netflix’s teleseries on the Kandahar hijacking, Suhasini Haidar recalls her experiences as a reporter covering the IC-814 story.
Why is India so bad at sport, asks Tej Parikh. “Turning India’s athletic woes around will take time and persistence. It notched a national record number of fourth place finishes at this year’s Olympics, but getting into the medal spots warrants ongoing investment in training and preparation. Success on the global stage, alongside continued championing of sport by India’s leaders, may then be necessary to change attitudes towards athletic pursuits.”
Aruna Vasudev took Asian cinema to the world, writes Latika Padgaonkar.
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has suggested that Cuttack’s Ravenshaw College be renamed because of its namesake’s role in the 1866 Orissa famine. But Sudhansu Mohanty, who has dug up old documents, reminds us that while TE Ravenshaw was among those complicit, he was also a man who spoke Oriya, loved Orissa and cared for its education.

Listen up

Can India really change course? Foreign Affairs Senior Editor Kanishk Tharoor speaks to Pratap Bhanu Mehta about what the recent election means for Indian democracy and where the country goes from here.

Watch out

That SEBI chair Madhabi Puri Buch retained ICICI Bank stock options into her tenure as whole-time member and head of the regulator put her in an “improper and wrong” position, Sucheta Dalal tells Karan Thapar. She adds that on the basis of “the preponderance of probability”, which Thapar notes is a criterion SEBI itself uses, Buch would have had access to unpublished price sensitive information (the use of which SEBI rules regulate) and would have taken decisions affecting ICICI that could have impacted her shares in the bank. That’s a clear conflict of interest.

Over and out

Vanessa Caru and Christophe Jaffrelot have a new book on the history of Mumbai. In an interview, Jaffrelot speaks about the city, old and new:

The gentrification of the city has resulted in pushing the poor to the outskirts of the city, ever further north, or forcing them into shanty towns whose density is dizzying - you only have to go to Dharavi to see this. The problem comes first of all from the price per square meter. This is such that today, not only are the rich the only ones who can live in the south of the city - one could say in the city center - but the shanty towns themselves are threatened with disappearance. Dharavi is thus the object of immense covetousness. The chief oligarch Gautam Adani, the businessman closest to Modi for more than twenty years, has just obtained the right to "redevelop" Dharavi. We know what this means: many of its residents will have to leave and when they move to even more precarious housing in the far suburbs, they will lose their jobs or will have to make endless journeys to get to work by train or bus, means of transport in which the city has invested little and which are saturated. Another consequence of gentrification can be seen in the rise of transport infrastructure intended for the rich, starting with toll roads and bridges.

‘In Britain, we are still astonishingly ignorant’ about the contributions of ancient India to shaping the west, writes William Dalrymple, citing the example of Brahmagupta and the invention of zero, and how it journeyed to Baghdad and then to Europe via Fibonacci where Arabic numbers replaced Latin ones.

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.

The India Cable