Stay on Kejriwal Bail Brings Rapid End to Post-Election Glasnost; Swanky Campus and ‘Net Zero’ Academics is Modi’s Model for Nalanda
What kind of ripples will the Patna high court’s decision create? Indian farm labourer dies in Italy after arm severed by machine,
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
Snapshot of the day
June 21, 2024
Siddharth Varadarajan
The post-election glasnost ended before it even began, with a politically diminished Narendra Modi leaving nothing to chance. Today, his government went to extraordinary lengths to ensure Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal does not come out on bail despite the trial court on Thursday ruling that there were no grounds to keep the Aam Aadmi Party leader in jail pending his trial in an alleged case of money laundering.
Modi was assisted in this task by an over-solicitous Delhi High Court bench staying an order that it had not even read – since the trial court judgment hadn’t even been uploaded when the Enforcement Directorate approached it.
On Friday, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju appeared for the ED and asked for an urgent stay, saying that he was not given the opportunity to present his arguments. “I am moving for an urgent stay. The order was pronounced yesterday at 8 pm. The order is not uploaded. We were not given a clear opportunity to oppose bail,” he said.
Interestingly, the trial court order – now available – accuses the ED of bias against Kejriwal. According to LiveLaw, vacation judge Niyay Bindu of the Rouse Avenue courts said the ED has failed to provide anuy direct evidence against Kejriwal “in respect of the proceeds of crime”. The order notes:
“The court has to take a pause to consider this argument which is not a potable submission that investigation is an art because if it is so, then, any person can be implicated and kept behind the bars by artistically procuring the material against him after artistically avoiding/withdrawing exculpatory material from the record. This very scenario constrains the court to draw an inference against the investigating agency that it is not acting without bias.” As Sanjay Hegde notes, the HC stay is yet another instance of the higher judiciary in India weighing in against personal liberty. Earlier. the Supreme Court was quick to move against GN Saibaba. A person enlarged on bail can always be sent back to custody if a higher court finds legal fault with the original order. But the speed with which constitutional courts are acting in cases the government considers a political priority is incongruous, he says.
The young scholar and activist Mahesh Raut has been in jail for six years now pending trial in the dubious Bhima-Koregaon case. Today, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court for two weeks to attend the death rituals of his grandmother.
The Election Commission has announced it will be completing the revision of Jammu and Kashmir’s electoral rolls by August 20, an indication that the poll body is preparing to hold assembly elections in the Union Territory by the Supreme Court-stipulated deadline of September. The EC has also set the assembly election ball rolling for Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand too. The new assemblies in these three states have to be in place by November 11, November 25 and January 5, 2025 respectively.
As many as eight ‘runners up’ in the Lok Sabha election have sought ‘verification of burnt memory of EVMs’ as per the procedure mentioned by the Supreme Court when it heard petitions questioning the sole reliance on the EVM count during the campaign.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday was forced to skip Delhi University’s Yoga Day event where some students held a protest against the recently exposed irregularities in various competitive exams. Pradhan, who was the chief guest for the Yoga Day event could not attend it due to “some urgent work”, Delhi University (DU) officials said. The All India Students’ Association (AISA) unit of the Delhi University claimed that the minister did not attend the event at the North Campus because of the protest. “In response to the sheer audacity of Pradhan to even think of coming to DU while he and his NTA have jeopardised the future of students, AISA activists along with students of Delhi University raised black flags and protested against his presence in the university,” the association said in a statement. Pradhan now seems to have taken moral responsibility for the NEET errors. Does that mean his resignation is due? Or do such words have no meaning?
A third-party review of the NEET undergraduate exam on May 5 uncovered significant non-compliances at multiple centres, reports The Indian Express. Notably, many exam rooms lacked the mandated two working CCTVs, and strong rooms, meant to securely store question papers, were left unguarded. The National Testing Agency (NTA), responsible for NEET-UG, was officially informed of these findings on June 16, 12 days after the results were announced. The review covered 399 out of approximately 4,000 centres, shedding light on the NTA’s alleged irregularities, including claims of paper leaks.
In Haryana, a school run by a BJP leader’s family has come under the spotlight after producing six NEET ‘toppers’. Despite this, local police and administration in the BJP-governed state remain unaware of the specifics surrounding the achievement. Ankit Raj and Shruti Sharma provide an in-depth report from Jhajjar on these unfolding events.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to delay the NEET-UG retest scheduled for June 23, for the 1,563 candidates who were awarded “grace marks” in this year’s exam. The NTA had earlier decided to recall the controversial decision to award grace marks for those who apparently did not get the full amount of time set aside for the test, and gave these students the option to take a retest. The court also said it would examine pleas against NTA chairperson Pradeep Kumar Joshi heading the committee that will probe the paper leak, as he was in charge of holding the examination. The bench issued notice to the NTA and the Union on plea to form an independent enquiry committee to investigate the paper leak. The case will be heard again on July 8.
The NTA’s credibility has been questioned across the board – even from within the Sangh parivar. National general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP – the students’ wing of the RSS) Yagywalkya Shukla told The Indian Express, “There is a perception of mismanagement by NTA. How is it that question papers are reaching 15-20 minutes late in certain centres? How is it that 7-8 students from the same centre get 100% marks? How did 67 students get 720 marks? There is a question mark on NTA’s credibility. Aur jab praja ke taraf se sawaal hai, to sarkar ke taraf se jawab hona chahiye (When citizens are asking questions, the government must respond).”
At a time when the Union government – and the students of India – are facing a serious crisis of competitive exams, leading to uncertain futures, a Right to Information Act response has revealed that the Union government’s spending on ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’, Modi’s interactive session with students who are about to give exams, has gone up nearly 175% in the last six years.
“The current NEET crisis is symptomatic of a failed state that is unable to ensure high-quality school education,” writes former Union health secretary Sujatha Rao:
“Like in most countries, standardised schooling of good quality enables admission to colleges based on marks obtained in the school final examination. But in India, since standards are so varied and quality not assured, examinations for most professional courses are centralised. Due to the tough competition, committing irregularities for monetary gains becomes a great incentive. Clearly, the long-term solution is improving schooling quality, decentralising examinations, and institutionalising strict oversight and governance to restore confidence and credibility. Till that is done, the leakage of papers will continue to plague us.”
Talking about education, the number of Indian students residing overseas has surged to approximately 1.5 million, a 38% increase from pre-COVID-19 levels. In the United States alone, the number of Indian students studying at colleges and universities has grown by 37% over the past five years, reaching 270,000. Additionally, in the first ten months of 2023, 760,000 Indians went abroad for studies. But it is also a fact that Indian students are more likely to want to live and work in their host countries than Chinese ones. Economically this could be a boon for labour markets, but politically it could provoke more heated reactions around immigration in the West, writes The Economist.
Speaking about immigration, Reuters and Columbia Journalism Investigations have “traced two new intercontinental migrant smuggling routes”:
“One route starts in West Africa, with migrants paying up to $10,000 for multi-stop commercial flights to Nicaragua, before continuing by land to the U.S.
“The second, serving migrants from India, offers charter flights to Central America and overland transfers to the U.S. border for between 6 million ($72,000) and 8 million rupees ($96,000) per person – in many instances with full payment due after arrival in the U.S.”
Although originally intended to prevent ghettoisation along communal lines, Gujarat’s Disturbed Areas Act is now actively promoting it. The law says that transfers of immovable property in areas declared ‘disturbed’ need to have sanction from bureaucrats and be subject to verification by police, who ask neighbours if they object to the sale. Maitri Porecha reports on how Hindus and Muslims of Vadodara’s communally segregated areas face difficulties in transferring property between each other. One dejected man told her: “Instead of sending buyers and sellers into a paperwork spiral, the law should have simply banned Muslims and Hindus from buying property from each other”.
A group of 362 students, 70 alumni and 21 faculty members from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad have written to the university administration asking it to cut existing ties with two Israeli universities – Tel Aviv University and the Radzyner School of Law – as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. “As of today, there is not one University left standing in Gaza. All universities in Gaza are now dust and debris. The resounding silence of Israeli universities in defending the Palestinian people’s basic right to education, let alone ‘academic freedom’, and failure to strike a strong note against the Israeli government’s onslaught on Palestine’s universities is very telling of the legitimacy of their claim to ‘academic freedom’,” the letter states.
‘Vote for me and I won’t mess with you’ is the philosophy Bishnu Pada Ray, the BJP MP of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, seems to have espoused in a speech he gave right after the election results. Claiming the voters of the Nicobar Islands didn’t vote for him, Ray is heard saying in a now-popular video: “Car Nicobar, think about what is going to happen to you now … In the name of Nicobar, you will take money, drink alcohol, but not give votes. Stay alert, stay alert, stay alert. Now, your days are bad”, Deeptiman Tiwary quotes him as saying.
Growing clout among right-wing Hindu forces preceded the Bakrid clashes in Telangana’s Medak, Balakrishna Ganeshan reports, also finding that both the BJP and the area’s Muslims have blamed the police in the aftermath of the violence.
China’s government and airlines have been pushing India to resume flights between the two countries, but the latter wants to wait until the situation along the border improves, Krishn Kaushik, Aditi Shah and Lisa Barrington report. Flights between China and India peaked in late 2019, and even though both countries have since lifted COVID-related travel restrictions, only direct cargo flights currently operate. The recovery in Chinese overseas travel continues to lag.
The Netflix film, Maharaj, can now be shown on the OTT platform after all, with the Gujarat High Court deciding that the film is “based on the 1862 Maharaj Libel Case and was not targeted on hurting the sentiments of any community.”
Modi faced food policy dilemma after electoral setback
Following recent election losses, Modi faces a policy dilemma: how to control food inflation without angering farmers through export curbs and increased imports, reports Reuters. Despite retaining power in a coalition, Modi's BJP faces crucial provincial elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, key agricultural states with strong farm lobbies. Losses here could weaken BJP's influence in the coalition, challenging Modi’s ability to push policy initiatives as he navigates his first decade in office. “It is true that farmers have been angry with the government,” said Rampal Jat, national president of the Kisan Mahapanchayat, or farmers’ council. “Knee-jerk policy decisions to ban exports and allow cheaper imports into the country have undercut meagre agricultural incomes.”
Indian farm labourer dies in Italy after arm severed by machine
Satnam Singh, 31, an Indian farmer was allegedly left to die by the roadside by his employer after his arm was severed and his legs were crushed while working on a farm in rural Italy. Singh suffered severe injuries while working on heavy machinery on a farm in Latina, a rural area close to Rome on Monday. Singh’s employer, Antonello Lovato, is accused of driving the injured worker and his wife in a van and leaving them on the road near their home in Borgo Santa Maria. “He was left on the road like a bag of rags, like a sack of rubbish … despite his wife begging [the employer] to take him to hospital. Here we are not only faced with a serious workplace accident, which in itself is already alarming, we are faced with barbaric exploitation. Enough now.” His severed arm was placed in a fruit box, according to Italian media.
The tragedy of Indian farm labourers in Italy gets so little attention unlike infantile Melodi memes. Zero outrage or protest in India, by the way.
What kind of ripples will the Patna high court’s decision create?
How will Nitish Kumar and his party react to the Patna high court’s decision invalidating his government’s attempt to hike reservations? Nitish has always advocated greater representation for EBCs and Dalits, but he’s in the NDA now, and the Modi government may not be a fan of appealing the decision. Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta writes on what the judgment means for Bihar’s as well as India’s politics, including how it could be an opportunity for the opposition to retain momentum after the polls and why it may make pro-reservation movements in the rest of the country more belligerent.
The Long Cable
Swanky Buildings and ‘Net Zero’ Academics is Modi’s Model for Nalanda University
Murari Jha
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University campus this week. He gave a speech and peppered his X account with a series of posts. The media, without ever asking how much taxpayers’ money was being spent on this uncertain project, began to flash images of the buildings, the artificial ponds and the so-called net-zero campus. It is well known that all the construction costs are being borne by the Indian treasury.
In 2016, after the Modi government undermined Nalanda’s autonomy, former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo resigned as its chancellor. Soon after, international faculty began to leave or were kicked out. International collaboration was envisioned at the East Asian Summit to revive Nalanda University in 2007 and again 2009. However, after 2016 contributions by the participating countries became “Net Zero”. A parliamentary committee report found this out in 2019.
Narendra Modi’s X post boasts that the Nalanda University campus is based on a “Net Zero Energy, Net Zero Emissions, Net Zero Water and Net Zero Waste model”. Perhaps he should have added that it will also be a “Net Zero Academia” campus. The University has not had a regular vice-chancellor for more than a year. Most members of the Governing Board, the apex decision making body, come from the government bureaucracy with a few from academia. It is chaired by an economist known more for making casual and insensitive statements such as “unemployment is not a problem”.
Unsurprisingly, a majority of faculty profiles on the university’s website are opaque. Very little is known about their degrees, publications, awards and recognitions. All these should be more open to public view and scrutiny. For the students who wish to pursue their Master’s degree, such limited information does not help. Opacity, or lack of transparency, has been a hallmark of the Modi regime. It also reflects in the functioning of the University. The recruitment of faculty members on a temporary or contractual basis further discourages qualified faculty from joining the University. In 2014 and 2015, Nalanda had done remarkably well in attracting high-calibre scholars and faculty from across the globe. However, most of these “founding faculty” have already moved on because of a lack of transparency, breach of contract and authoritarian approaches.
Since the Modi government appointed a Vice-Chancellor in 2017, students have turned away from the University. The University’s flagship Master’s programmes struggle to find adequate students. There are not many who are willing to enrol at the university and pay the fees. After all, a university is known for its academic reputation, built up over many years. The quality of its buildings and campus infrastructure is not all that makes a university. Nalanda may still have a few good faculty members, but the academic environment as a whole appears to have deteriorated. This impression emerges from a website that conducts a university ranking survey. This website says Nalanda University ranks 19 out of 24 universities in Bihar. This means that there are 18 much poorly funded universities in Bihar that are ranked above Nalanda!
If the above survey is correct then it is an alarming situation. In such a scenario, it is not hard to see why Nalanda University may be a reluctant destination for regular full-time students. Nonetheless, it draws a good number of monks from countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
The University has started diploma and certificate courses, perhaps to increase the number of Indian students so that no one complains about low enrolment. However, as a research university, Nalanda was primarily meant to provide postgraduate education and conduct advanced research and produce knowledge. By handing out diplomas and certificates, Nalanda has become indistinguishable from the predatory institutions that are mushrooming across the country. These institutions hand out a useless piece of paper as a certificate without adequately backing it up with academic rigour, good training and skills required by students for employment. Unfortunately, the ritual of handing out certificates is contributing to an increase in the number of unemployed youth. But there are many people in responsible positions who peddle the idea that unemployment is not a problem.
Perhaps Nalanda University is a good example of the Modi Model. Things appear bright and shiny, but there is a dark truth lurking underneath. Asking why there has been no convocation of full-time regular students at Nalanda University ever since the first batch of students graduated in 2016 sheds some light on the dark truth. Convocation is a public ceremony. It will expose the university’s failure to attract a reasonably good number students to study on campus. The failure to attract students has its roots in the way the university prioritises mundane things over academics.
In 2010-11, the UPA government sanctioned Rs 2,710 crore for a period of ten years. The Indian taxpayer deserves to know whether the University has managed to educate 2,710 full-time students.
(Murari Jha is a historian. He has held research positions at the National University of Singapore and at Harvard University.)
Reportedly
Two Yoga Day videos tell their own story. Jammu and Kashmir government employees were seen walking barefoot through slush from their buses to an event where PM Modi was going to be. Was this the ‘Varanasi effect’ – a pre-emptive strike against the possibility of hurled footwear – or Yoga Day protocol? The second video shows Adityanath, who bears the name ‘Yogi’, struggling, really struggling, to hold a basic pose.
Deep dive
With the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita to be notified in July, let’s answer one big question. If the new criminal laws come into force, we will have “a legal and judicial mess, life and liberty could be in danger”, says Indira Jaisingh in an interview to Karan Thapar.
Prime number: −9%
Som Distilleries’ shares fell by as much as 9% yesterday after authorities said on Wednesday they would impound and temporarily suspend the manufacturing licences for a plant where the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights found 59 children at work, some of whom were transported there in a school bus. Here are the brands it makes, so you can avoid them.
Opeds you don’t want to miss
The eminent political theorist Partha Chatterjee writes on the results of the 2024 election: “After two ‘extraordinary’ elections where Narendra Modi was able to create a charismatic appeal, India has had a ‘normal’ election in which a Ceasarian appeal could not be generated. With a return to coalition government, the Opposition must now press for a greater balance in centre-state relations.”
Chandrababu Naidu knows Modi-Shah’s modus operandi. It’s time he stands up against it, writes MK Venu. “While Naidu may be tempted to seek revenge against Jagan, who sent him to jail, he must not forget that he is merely playing a pawn's role in Modi-Shah's playbook of divide and rule politics.”
Maya Jasanoff on Modi’s plans to redevelop Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram. Naturally it includes “leaning” on trusts to give up their land and ousting the ashram’s residents.
In The Economist’s reading of the election results, Modi’s “most telling error” in the run-up to the polls was mishandling caste.
Manish Tewari gives us eight reasons why the three new criminal laws must not enter into force as they are on July 1, 2024.
Some thought the BJP’s reduced majority after recent elections would humble it, writes Salil Tripathi, adding, “Tell that to the Booker prize-winning author” Arundhati Roy.
Amit Kapoor looks at jobless growth in India and urges the government to do something about this. Unemployment rates are higher for more educated cohorts and the rise in self-employment as a category is not a good thing, he notes.
In South Asia today, while “bilateralism appears strong, regional cooperation … seems distinctly wobbly”, TCA Raghavan says. He has some ideas on how India could move forward on the latter front.
The RSS got many of its wishes, including the Ram Mandir and abrogation of Article 370. But at what cost? It says it wants to build character among its cadre, whereas its most prominent alumnus today claims divine origins and spewed unprecedented hate during the polls. Where does the Sangh go from here? asks Jagdish Rattanani.
Listen up
“India remains instructive for global democracy, because in a way, the age of populism has come to an end.” Shruti Kapila speaks to Surbhi Gutpa about the Indian election and the future of the world’s largest democracy. Listen here.
Watch out
A Suitable Boy author Vikram Seth says a sequel – A Suitable Girl – is very much on the way, though he is unsure when exactly. Watch this interview for this and more on politics, poetry and his remarkable translation of the Hanuman Chalisa.
Over and out
A long-lost album by the renowned Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is set to release over three decades after its original recording. Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records revealed that the album, Chain of Light, was forgotten in warehouse storage and rediscovered during an archive relocation in 2021. Khan first recorded the album at Real World Studios in April 1990, and it will finally be released this September.
“When a journalist becomes a spreader of hate and lies, instigator of mob lynching, cheerleader for the govt, it becomes an instrument to kill democracy. When hundreds of news channels repeat the same, They become a weapon to kill democracy. Most of the Indian Mainstream media is a disgrace to democracy and humanity. Whenever you get a chance, please support real journalism, You will get a good democracy”. Listen to journalist Ravish Kumar accepting the Peabody Award for ‘While We Watched’ in Los Angeles.
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.