Indian Subcontinent Watch Thread

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caltrek
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Sri Lanka’s Gotabaya Rajapaksa Returns Weeks After Fleeing Island
September 2, 2022

Introduction:
(Al Jazeera) Sri Lanka’s deposed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has returned home weeks after fleeing the crisis-hit country, officials said.

The 73-year-old former leader landed in the capital, Colombo, on a Singapore Airlines flight from Thailand in the early hours of Saturday, local media reports said.

Further extract:
“What his options are in the coming days and months will remain to be seen. He’s obviously relinquished office, but he’s very much part of the Rajapaksa clan and the family and they haven’t given up, as far as we’re hearing, in terms of politics.”

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/ ... ng-island
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Modi Unveils an Extraordinary Edition of His Personality Cult
by Harish Kare
August 28, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) The prime minister who unfurled the National Flag at the historic Red Fort 75 years ago was a man whose political persona had been consecrated by nearly a decade-long incarceration in British jails, by an intimate discipleship of the greatest moral leader of the 20th century, by a joyful immersion in a soul-uplifting struggle and the comradeship of a nationalist movement.

The prime minister who presided over the 75th-year celebration is a man whose political personality has been shaped by the narrow theology minted in Nagpur, by the petty factionalism inherent in the Sangh Parivar and the Jan Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party – and by an extraordinary self-centredness.

If anybody was expecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give an honest account of our national journey these past 75 years, they would have been rudely jolted within a few minutes when Nehru was excluded and Savarkar was included from the catalogue of those whose vision steered India towards freedom. Personal pettiness and ideological partisanship continue to define the man. As a dedicated soldier of the Sangh Parivar, the prime minister naturally sought to rewrite the national narrative of last 75 years, a nuanced exercise in exclusion and inclusion.

That, of course, is a prime minister’s prerogative on August 15.

Apart from this, the overwhelming impression that Prime Minister Modi managed to convey this year from the Red Fort was that he remains the greatest demagogue this part of the world has seen in a long, long time.

Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/at-the-red-fo ... ity-cult/
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Foxconn and Vedanta to build $19bn India chip factory

5 hours ago

Foxconn and Vedanta have announced $19.5bn (£16.9) to build one of the first chipmaking factories in India.

The Taiwanese firm and the Indian mining giant are tying up as the government pushes to boost chip manufacturing in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government announced a $10bn package last year to attract investors.

The facility, which will be built in Mr Modi's home state of Gujarat, has been promised incentives.

Vedanta's chairman Anil Agarwal said they were still on the lookout for a site - about 400 acres of land - close to Gujarat's capital, Ahmedabad.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/62873520
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India’s Economic Narrative Might Be Glowing. The Economy Isn’t.
by Kaushal Shroff and Wire Staff
September 25, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) The latest, June quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures for fiscal year (FY) 23 delivered some much-needed grist for the BJP’s spin mills. Prima facie, the numbers look impressive and, to nobody’s surprise, the party machinery is leaving no stone unturned in trumpeting the figures as evidence that the Modi government is indeed grafting together an impressive growth narrative for India. However, the catch here is that under the window dressing of the GDP figures, the economy is unmistakably tottering and the growth trajectory since the pandemic has been ramshackle at best.

Contrasted with the 16.2% growth rate projection given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a median projection of 15.2% by economists surveyed by Reuters, the latest quarter growth rate numbers surprised everyone by coming in lower at 13.5%. A real GDP growth rate of 13.5% sounds incredible and this growth spurt can be attributed to the second wave of COVID-19 that devastated the subcontinent during the same quarter last year. Naturally, economic activity in large swathes across India took a beating and real GDP figures tanked. This made for a low base compared to which the Indian economy registered a 13.5% real GDP growth rate in the last quarter.

As for the claim of the Indian economy pipping the UK to become the fifth largest economy, the latest GDP figures might not be the best compass through this economic terrain. Consider, for a moment, the per capita GDP gulf between the two nations, which is staggeringly large and truly embarrassing for India. For the UK, per capita figure of $47,000, India’s per capita figures scrape in at barely $2,500. In any case, the GDP is a measure of income and not wealth. Reliance on GDP figures as an indicator to suggest that India’s wealth has shot up or its poverty levels have plummeted is a disingenuous ploy that massages economic statistics for the larger goal of creating a sellable narrative.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/indias-econom ... omy-isnt/
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Sri Lanka's Parliament Votes to Trim Presidential Powers After Widespread Protest
October 21, 2022

Introduction:
(AP via The National) Sri Lanka's Members of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment on Friday that trims the powers of the president, a key demand of protesters who are seeking political reforms and solutions to the country’s economic crisis.

Debate on the bill began on Thursday, and on Friday, 179 politicians from the governing coalition and opposition voted in favor of the motion and only one voted against it, ensuring the two-thirds majority in the 225-member house required to make the amendment law.

The amendment transfers some presidential powers, including the appointment of officials, to a constitutional council comprising politicians and respected non-politicians. The council will recommend candidates to the president for appointment.

The council’s recommendation is required for presidential appointments of senior judges, attorneys general, central bank governors, police, election commissioners, and bribery and corruption investigators. The prime minister will recommend Cabinet appointments, and the president will not be allowed to hold any Cabinet positions except defence.

The government says the changes will help ensure the independence of the judiciary and public service.
Read more here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/ ... -protest/
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India Added 56 Million or Whopping 79% to Global ‘Extreme Poor’ in 2020
by Prasanna Mohanty
October 23, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly)The World Bank’s latest poverty estimate delivers shocking news: India added a whopping 79% of new extreme poor to the world population in 2020. In absolute numbers, it says, the global population of extreme poor grew by 71 million and India added 56 million to this.

In this estimate, extreme poverty is redefined as per capita per day expenditure of $2.15 (earlier $1.9) based on 2017 PPP (purchasing power parity). As for estimating India’s new extreme poor, here is another shocker. It used “new household survey data” of a private entity, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), not the official data. That is because India simply doesn’t have official data on household consumption expenditure (proxy for household income) after 2011-12.

The CMIE data was, however, used after suitably adjusting it to the official National Sample Survey (NSS)-type consumption measure – last collected in 2011-12. There indeed was an NSS for 2017-18, but its data was junked after a leaked report revealed that “real” household expenditure had fallen for the first time in four decades.

This wasn’t surprising, given that it came soon after the twin shocks of demonetization and GST. Besides, the economy was slowing down in the end years of the previous UPA-II government.

Further extract:
That India’s high GDP growth has accompanied even higher inequality growth is no secret. The benefits of high growth (income and wealth) have gone to the top – the top 1% and the top 10%, at the cost of the middle 40% and the bottom 50%.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/fifth-largest ... eme-poor/
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India’s Richest 1% Own More Than 40% of Total Wealth, Bottom Half Has Just 3%: Oxfam
January 22, 2023

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) The richest 1% in India now own more than 40% of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3% of wealth, a new study showed on Monday.

Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting here, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India’s 10 richest at 5% can fetch entire money to bring children back to school.

“A one-off tax on unrealised gains from 2017–2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year,” it added.

The report titled ‘Survival of the Richest‘ further said that if India’s billionaires are taxed once at 2% on their entire wealth, it would support the requirement of Rs 40,423 crore for the nutrition of malnourished in the country for the next three years.

“A one-time tax of 5 per cent on the 10 richest billionaires in the country (Rs 1.37 lakh crore) is more than 1.5 times the funds estimated by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry (Rs 86,200 crore) and the Ministry of Ayush (Rs 3,050 crore) for the year 2022-23,” it added.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/indias-riches ... -3-oxfam/
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The Politico-Cultural Agenda Behind Renaming The Iconic ‘Mughal Gardens’ In Delhi
by P. K. Balachandran
January 30, 2023

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review) It is part of a campaign to erase the Muslims’ contribution to India’s culture. The Mughal dynasty (1526-1858) pioneered the concept of “pleasure gardens”, vast and well laid-out retreats with trees, flowers, artificial streams and fountains.

The iconic Mughal Gardens in the Indian Presidential palace (Rashtrapati Bhavan) in New Delhi, laid out by the British rulers in 1929, was renamed “Amrit Udyan” or the Garden of Nectar, by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on January 28.

Navika Gupta, Deputy Press Secretary to President Droupadi Murmu said in a statement that “Amrit Udyan” was a “common name”, presumably unlike the name “Mughal” gardens. Welcoming the change, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that with the change, “another colonial relic” has been removed “reflecting India’s aspirations for the Amrit Kaal”.

The characterization of “Amrit Udyan” as a “common name” as opposed to “Mughal Gardens” makes the latter “sectional” or “communal” in character when the moniker “Mughal” only indicates that the garden is laid in the “Mughal pattern.” True, the Mughals were Muslim invaders from Central Asia, but they cannot be considered the “other” because they settled down in India becoming natives. They cannot be considered “colonials” either, because, unlike the typical colonial rulers, they did not take away the wealth of India. In fact, they added to its wealth.

Further, shedding the name “Mughal” also does violence to the design of the Mughal gardens, which is a pleasing mix of the Mughal and the British styles, but predominantly Mughal. The garden has two channels intersecting at right angles. It is a “Charbagh” or a four-cornered garden, which is typical of gardens laid by Mughals in many parts of North India. Noted architect K.T Ravindan told The Hindu that the Mughal garden was designed in the Persian style of landscaping typical of Mughal gardens. “You will see Chajja (dripstone), the chattri (domed kiosk), the jali (pierced screen),” he said.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/30012023 ... analysis/
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Identity politics at its finest.
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Sri Lanka police fire tear gas at election protest; 15 hurt
Source: AP

By KRISHAN FRANCIS 2 hours ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Police in Sri Lanka on Sunday fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters angry over a decision to postpone local elections after the government said it cannot finance them because of the country’s crippling economic crisis.

About 15 people were treated for minor injuries, according to Colombo National Hospital.

Thousands of supporters of the opposition National People’s Power party tried to march toward the main business district in capital Colombo, ignoring police warnings after a court order barred them from entering the area, which includes the president’s residence, office and several key government buildings.

The order had been obtained in the backdrop of last July’s massive protests, when thousands of people stormed the presidential office and residence and occupied them for days. The crisis forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/politics-sri ... cb9e90ca4d
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