Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Fuel On Fire

By
Bharat Hiteshi
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About 90 per cent of the refining cost involves crude oil alone. The spike in crude prices could cause a major headwind for Indian markets and upset the country’s macroeconomic balance in the financial year 2019.

By the time we write this report, crude had risen above $76.45 a barrel to its highest level since November 2014. This could be due to production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), strong demand or the prospect of renewed US sanctions on Iran. But the fact remains that petrol and diesel price rise could be a major headache for the present government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it was for the earlier UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh.

In its latest Monetary Policy Review, the RBI has cautioned about volatile crude oil prices impacting inflation. “International crude oil prices have become volatile in the recent period, with a distinct hardening bias in the second half of March. This has adversely impacted the outlook for crude oil prices,” RBI said adding that there is upside risk to inflation.

It is a historic fact that the present government gained significantly from post 2014 oil windfall, which allowed them to raise excise duty on fuel nine times. Now that oil prices are again surging, the chorus for reducing taxes has grown as clouds of deadly inflation loom large. The present Narendra Modi government has a fiscal deficit target of 3.2 per cent for the fiscal year 2018-19. The government was going gaga over the constant fall in crude oil prices internationally. Little doubt the government did not budget the risks of rising crude oil price in the Budget 2018. Naturally, the rising crude oil price, in itself, is going to have an impact on government’s fiscal deficit. The crude prices have surged 11.92 per cent so far this year. An increase in oil prices is likely to put pressure on fiscal and current account deficits in the year ahead as India imports more than 70 per cent of its oil requirement.

The petroleum and natural gas ministry estimates India’s crude oil import bill may increase by 20 per cent to $105 billion in the 2018-19 financial year from $88 billion in 2017-18.

 Historic facts

If we look at the immediate past history we find that in July 2008, when international oil prices had touched an all-time high at $142 per barrel, petrol and diesel were sold in the country at 50.62 per litre and 34.86 per litre, respectively. Currently, the global crude oil prices are comparatively low, at around $76.45 per barrel, but fuel rates are at record levels, the petrol is 76.57 per litre and diesel 67.82 a litre. Even after factoring in the massive subsidies of the UPA regime — about 15 per litre on petrol and 25 per litre on diesel — fuels were relatively cheaper a decade ago.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel have been seeing an increase for the past month, pushing them to record levels despite the international crude price being nowhere near the level it was four years ago. In Delhi, retail petrol and diesel prices were 77.96 a litre and 68.97 a litre respectively. Such sharp increases choke Modinomic or what is the economic growth, stoke inflation reminding people of last days of UPA government, hurt consumers and household budgets. The promised achhe din seem to be paling in the current season’s heat fueled all the more by the fuels on fire. The current spell is inopportune as it comes at a time when there are discernible signs of a recovery in economic growth after disruption induced by demonetisation. The global economy is on a rebound but Indian economy seems to be hit on the wrong side because of oil price hike.

To prevent these fallouts, the immediate solution is for governments at all levels to lower taxes and to bring out the oil prices under the GST regime so that taxes are well defined, uniform and limited. The Centre levies a fixed excise duty on petrol and diesel. It used the window provided by the weakening of crude soon after NDA assumed power to raise duty and the result was oil companies, the PSUs came out of red and became cash rich. Excise duty on unbranded petrol was raised nine times and it is now more than twice the rate which existed when NDA came to power. In the case of unbranded diesel, the duty is more than four times what existed in mid-2014. The outcome of an increase in duty has been a sharp rise in revenue collections from petro products at the cost of consumers or end users. Revenue, which was 88,600 crore in 2013-14, increased to 2,53,254 crore by 2016-17.

Wither oil prices?

For sure, the main cause of the current spell of increase in retail price is the hardening of international crude price which was at their lowest in 2013-14 and suddenly started shooting up in 2017-18. But that should not be an excuse to avoid proactive measures. The Centre must move to significantly slash excise duty. The Modi government should also persuade all states administered by BJP and other parties to lower their fuel taxes which are a percentage of an ever-increasing retail price. There is a strong mechanism in Unitary-Federal relations for doing that. This will make it politically difficult for non-BJP states to hold out. For almost four years, governments have used revenue from fuel taxes to offset the fallout of lacklustre economic growth. This cushion has allowed them to postpone much needed economic reforms.

In the recent past, private consumption expanded at a disappointing pace. Any measure which puts money in the hands of consumers at this moment will push up the growth rate in private consumption. This expansion will help governments garner more tax, not less. A reduction in dependence of fuel taxes will also create an incentive for the GST Council to hasten the pace of reforms, one of which must be to bring petroleum products within GST’s ambit. This  incongruous pricing is because of the growing tax burden on petrol and diesel.

Why oil outside GST?

A Delhi-based consumer pays about 47 per cent taxes on petrol and more than 37 per cent on diesel. In most of the other states, these levies are higher. Both, the Centre and states have calculatedly kept petroleum products outside the GST purview because they are cash cows. Local levies on fuels vary from state to state. A permanent solution to this problem, however, lies in the inclusion of auto fuels under the GST. This move will uniformly cap taxes on petrol and diesel at a maximum of 28 per cent. This is not impossible considering the BJP is in power in 20 states while other non-BJP ruled states would be forced to follow suit in view of forthcoming general elections.

It is a fact that a steep decline in the international oil prices after the BJP came to power made it sanguine. As a result, it was caught unprepared ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. Little doubt that immediately after the Karnataka results, the oil companies affected a price hike hurting the people. Under a tacit directive, state-run oil retailers froze the daily hike of petrol and diesel prices for almost three weeks, only to recover their losses with a vengeance. Instead of mopping benefits of low oil prices to achieve fiscal deficit targets, the government should have created a price stabilization fund to shield consumers from the highly volatile international oil market. Another vital reform this sector requires is an explicable pricing mechanism. The government has announced that it was looking at a permanent and lasting solution but at a time when Modi Government completes its four years on May 26, 2018, people became all the more restive as no steps to contain petrol and diesel prices have so far been announced.

For the record, the Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had earlier said that the government will intervene to reduce prices.

Common man left out

Post Karnataka elections, the clamour grows for a cut in central excise duty to bring down skyrocketing petrol and diesel prices has grown across the country. It may not be forgotten that oil marketing companies (OMCs) seem to have got the most bang for their buck ever since the Modi government came to power. While the rise in fortune for the OMCs in the past four years was mainly on account of lower crude oil prices. The common man was left out from the party as the government had hiked tax levies on fuel on several occasions. Despite the astounding profits that OMCs have made in the last few years, fuel prices for consumers have gone from bad to worse. Excise duty on petrol was hiked by 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government came to power in 2014. After moving to the daily revision of fuel prices in June last year, the government had cut basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by 2 per litre in October last year.

History of PSUs

A peep into the profits of these downstream companies gives an idea as to how their financials have improved. This year fiscal 2017-18, the Indian Oil Corp, country’s largest fuel retailing giant, reported 40 per cent jump in the March quarter net profit on the back of higher refining margin and inventory gains. Its net profit rose to 5,218 crore in the January-March period compared with 3,720.62 crore in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal year. The HPCL, another state-owned OMC, recorded a drop of 4 per cent in its March quarter profit, the overall FY18 net profit was highest ever for the company at 6,357 crore. The profits for the financial year 2017-18 have more than double from what HPCL made in 2014-15, the same year when PM Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.

For Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest company by revenue, the windfall is even more staggering. The IOC’s profits have jumped more than four times since the financial year 2015. During 2017-18, IOC’s net profit was at an all-time high of 21,346 crore on a turnover of 5.06 lakh crore. Though the government-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited or BPCL is yet to announce its quarterly earnings, its profit after tax had shot up to 8039 crore in 2016-17 from 5085 crore in 2014-15. Perhaps a part of this bonanza could be due to the new refineries which are way more efficient. Also, with rising consumption of fuel, the volumes or the overall refining capacity of OMCs have gone up. To meet the rising demand, the IOC alone is planning to invest 70,000 crore to raise its oil refining capacity by about a quarter by 2030.

Future is bleak

However, the current situation appears bleak for oil producing firms. With global crude oil prices hovering around $80 a barrel this year, state-run upstream companies like ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are fearing a possible return of under-recovery sharing system as the Modi government looks for ways to placate fuming middle class ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Petrol and diesel prices continue to soar and touched another peak when petrol was hiked by 36 paise to 85.65 per litre in Mumbai. This was the 12th straight hike in a row. Diesel prices, on the other hand, were hiked by 24 paise to 73.20 per litre in Mumbai. Petrol prices in Delhi were increased by 36 paise to 77.83 per litre and diesel by 22 paise to 68.75 per litre. Petrol prices have risen by 11.02 while diesel has risen by 7.27 in the past 12 days in Mumbai. As for Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices traded at $78.76 a barrel on the ICE.

The way out

According to Moody’s Investors Service, ONGC and OIL could be asked to bear a part of government’s fuel subsidy for oil, if prices stay above $60 per barrel for the fiscal year ending March 2019. The credit rating agency added that the government is unlikely to reverse fuel pricing deregulation because of its commitment to reforms.

“States have the capacity and must reduce the duty on petrol, while the Centre should create fiscal space to deal with the impact of spurt in oil prices, There is merit in reducing the duties but both by the states and the Centre. More so for the states as they tax the oil on ad valorem basis … So states can take that cut much more and better than the Union government,” according to NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar.

He further said that it is important for them (states) to agree 10-15 per cent duty cut and take home the same amount of tax revenue as budgeted. “Not doing that means being exceptionally greedy at the cost of not just the people but also the economy,” Kumar added.

The states, he said, on an average tax petrol at 27 per cent. As regards the Centre, the NITI Aayog vice chairman said they have the fiscal space and need to create more to deal with the problem of rising oil prices. “The centre has fiscal space and it can create more fiscal space on the non-tax revenue side. Because last year we did very well. We exceeded the Budget target. Maybe this year also we can do that,” Kumar said.

He also said the centre could consider reducing the additional excise duty on petrol. It should not temper with infrastructure cess which is being directly used for developmental activities, Kumar added. He also opined that not only petrol but electricity should also be brought under the goods and services tax (GST).

Petrol and diesel prices were raised for the 11th day in succession today as the state-owned oil firms gradually passed on to the consumer the increased cost of international oil that had accumulated since a 19-day freeze was imposed just before Karnataka elections.

The government raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by 2 a litre. The Centre levies 19.48 as excise duty on a litre of petrol.

letters@tehelka.com

Breaking sex talk taboo in Indian culture

By
tehelka
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When it comes to sex talk or sex education in India, the government brazenly ignores it, schools disregard it and the adults firmly push it under the carpet. The demographic diversity, in terms of age, sex, marital status, class, religion and cultural context, add the final nail in the coffin. What is absurd that in India where Khajuraho, known as the land of sex temples, is open for the world to worship, visit or make movies inspired from its sex sculptures,discussion on the subject sex, on the other hand, is sidelined considering morally disgraceful in the same society.

Jyoti (name changed) is an 18-year-old newly married girl from Agra. Jyoti shares the same predicament as most young married Indian girls in semi-urban areas. She narrated, “I don’t want to have kids right away. I have heard about contraceptives like Nirodh and Mala-D. But, I dare not bring it up with my husband. He might think I am too forward or that I have a promiscuous past. My mother will also be very pissed if she gets a whiff. Also, I must get pregnant within a year or people might think I am baanjh (infertile).” Such stories echo throughout north India. It is a built-up on multiple social phenomena, almost unique to South Asia and entrenched through its social institutions.

In a country where half the pregnancies are unplanned, a third of which are terminated by choice, the need for unmet contraception is huge. Government-run programs are often cosmetic in nature, only concerned with achieving their targets. In 2012, after a botched up female sterilisation camp in Bihar, resulting in complications experienced by several patients, activist Devika Biswas filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India. The Court finally ruled that such incidents violated components of Article 21 of the Constitution, i.e. the right to health and reproductive rights. The Court also ordered the discontinuation of such sterilisation camps, ensuring that no such fixed targets exist. Adult Indian women, let alone adolescents are mostly unaware about their sexual and reproductive rights.

Dr. Shefali Wadhwani Sharma, a gynaecologist at GMCH, Chandigarh reveals, “We often get girls in critical condition, who come in with a perforated uterus due to mishandled D&C abortions, done by unqualified caregivers like midwives, etc. Such is the social stigma that adolescent girls admitted with ruptured ectopic pregnancies refuse to admit that they have been sexually active. Young girls seldom get intimate checkups done until faced with acute medical emergencies. To avoid such cases, it is imperative that education about menstrual hygiene and sexual health becomes a part of school curriculum. Sexual health is a vital part of holistic healthcare and healthy women a keystone of women empowerment.”

The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2015-16, bears some good news. Use of contraception in single women has gone up from 2 per cent to 12 per cent in the last decade. Female sterilisation (36 per cent) is still the most popular form of modern contraception used, permanent or otherwise. However, women, especially adolescents, still lack sufficient knowledge about the dangers of unsafe sex and intimate infections. Religious and cultural obligations often dissuade them from practicing proper sexual/menstrual hygiene and/or using contraception. Most women still use ‘traditional’ contraceptive methods like monitoring menstrual cycles and ‘pulling out’, unaware that these methods are not only unreliable tools of family planning but also leave them vulnerable to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs).

Even in urban setups, girls admitting to sexual needs are slut-shamed. Trisha (name changed) is a 26-year-old single, financially independent woman who resides in New Delhi. “Once I dropped my bag at my workplace, spilling out a condom amongst other things. After that, the double entendres and indecent proposals continued for a month. I finally changed the job after a few months due to various reasons, this incident being one of them.” said Trisha. She continued, “When I visited a gynaec at a private clinic to get checked for late periods, I was welcomed with questions about my sex life, marital status and warnings about my biological clock ticking away. She also wanted to know if my parents knew! She ignored me when I tried giving background of my general health.” Such moral policing from healthcare providers, misconceptions and lack of trust about regular contraception methods, have led to rampant impetuous use of over the counter emergency contraceptives.

Government and private NGOs are now resorting to innovation to get the message across. Comedian Abish Mathew recently released a funny animated short film about the importance of maintaining good sexual health. Agents of Ishq, a multimedia project about ‘sex, love and desire’, is sprinkled liberally with humour to make it appealing for this generation. Population Foundation of India (PFI) is an NGO which has partnered with Doordarshan to spread awareness about sexual health, contraception and other taboo subjects, through a soap opera titled Mai Kuchh Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon..

Inclusion of Men

Although government programs and even NGOs that focus on youth reproductive and sexual health often limit their focus to females alone, men/boys play key roles as fathers, brothers, and partners. Often the male members of the family are key decision makers of the household in the largely patriarchal Indian society, necessitating participation of the male population in these programs. The patriarchal narrative also restricts men/boys from addressing their own reproductive and sexual health issues, the admission of which can render them weak in a society that teaches them to be macho. Information, education and communication about male sterilisation are inadequate, not only in society but the public health system as well. In the absence of a credible source of information and lack of inclusion in public awareness initiatives, men often ignore their sexual health issues which in turn can lead to mental trauma, male fertility issues and infections.

During the decade (2006-2016) between successive NFHS surveys, condom use declined by 52 per cent while the number of vasectomies conducted fell by 73 per cent, indicating a greater reluctance amongst men to use birth control. Only 5 per cent Indian males use condoms and male sterilisation forms a dismal 0.3 per cent of modern contraception used. Most Indian men consider vasectomy as an equivalent to castration. Majority of them are unaware about the ease of the procedure and the reversible nature of it. India is one of the few countries in the world where female tubal ligation is more popular form of permanent contraception than vasectomies, despite the fact that the ligation procedure is more complicated and requires greater post-operative care. The pitiful picture is worsened by the fact that men are taught from an early age that reproduction and subsequently, fertility, contraception and maternal healthcare are a ‘woman’s affair’.

As Dr. Sumeet Devgan, a consultant urologist at the Grecian Hospital, Mohali points out, “Young Indian men lack the open peer discussions prevalent in women and are reluctant to seek professional medical help for their sexual health needs. We often get cases with mismanaged self-medication for STIs, etc. We need to stop referring to sexual and reproductive health and rights as women’s issues; they are men’s issues as much. Given that use of contraceptives in India is riddled with social barriers, a systematic institutional approach with inclusion of men is required to result in better uptake of contraceptives and safe sex. On-ground work to engage men in taking shared responsibility, while still promoting women’s rights, is vital for sustained behavioural change.”

Half-hearted solutions

To spread sexual health awareness and establish dialogue between sexes, we need comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) at school level. CSE teaches the young about affirmative sexuality, informed consent, safe sex, etc. A similar program called Adolescent Education Program (AEP) was introduced by the government in India in 2007. But after several protests and moral policing, citing ‘inappropriate content’, the program was banned in several states. It was rolled out in select government/private schools with limited implementation. Though it covers issues like body image, gender and sexuality, violence and abuse, STIs, etc, it leaves out issues of negotiation and consent in intimate relationships. Even urban educational institutions are reluctant to include these programs to avoid ‘unnecessary sexualization’ of kids, according to an owner of a reputed private school.

The government also has a National Adolescent Reproduction and Sexual Health (ARSH) strategy, released in 2006 and various states have implemented their own versions of it; e.g. Himachal Pradesh has set up Yuva Paramarsh Kendras (YPKs) which work with health institutions, schools/colleges, youth festivals, etc. In 2008, the National Population Stabilization Fund (Jansankhya Sthirta Kosh) started a helpline (Ph: 1800-11-6555) to provide confidential counselling services regarding sexual and reproductive health problems. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram launched in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a health program for adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years, to provide preventive, curative and counselling services with routine check-ups at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Last year, the government also started an online distribution service of condoms which met with a good response. Several NGOs like PFI, Mamta and Haiyya are working extensively to raise awareness and remove the stigma attached to discussing sexual health and needs. But a large chunk of our population is unaware of the existence of such programs.

Technology has also helped bring these issues out of the closet by providing anonymity and peer participation. Online portals like Menstrupedia and ‘She and You’ provide a safe and anonymous environment to discuss taboo subjects like menstrual hygiene, STIs, contraception methods, etc. ‘She and You’ has started an initiative #JustSayIt, through which they want to break the awkwardness by hosting a series of events and making women open up about the very things they shy away from like sex, menstruation and their intimate health.  The start of such programs is a welcome change. Sadly, it is restricted to small pockets in India with limited public awareness. The recent government restrictions on advertising for condoms and emergency contraceptive pills don’t help. The lack of proper implementation, poor quality of resources and inadequate training and sensitisation by the government has led to policy failure. According to a 2013 UNPF review, delaying childbearing could reduce India’s projected 2050 population of 1.7 billion by 25.1 per cent. With an ever burgeoning young population, India cannot afford to stay silent about its sexual health anymore.

letters@tehelka.com

The queen of Kathak will continue to rule hearts

By
tehelka
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Eight years ago, the beautiful Kathak dancer and Guru, Rani Karnaa, rang me from Kolkata which had been her home since 1978 and asked me to interview her for her “documentation” for the Sangeet Natak Akademi. A “documentation” is a long and detailed interview and recordings of the artistic work done over a lifetime. I felt privileged that she had chosen me for this archival recording.

She had at that time injured her leg and didn’t want to be rushed around. She asked if she could stay with me which would allow us to prepare better for the interview. This turned out to be a God sent opportunity to learn more about her personal history, the person she was and about the many wonderful people who were the wind beneath her wings. We visited one of them, Dr SK Saxena, a great scholar of the form, for whom she was the muse around whose dance he had considered many questions that he addressed in his landmark book, “Swinging Syllables: Aesthetics of Kathak Dance”.

Rani was born to an aristocratic family that hailed from Larcana. In 1942, barely three years old, Rani accompanied the family when her father, Assandass Karnaa  relocated to Delhi. The original family name was Karnamalani, which was first abbreviated to Kanaani and then to Karnaa. Rani’s spelling of her name with a double ‘a’ did not have anything to do with numerology!

Here the little girl was fascinated with the sound of the dancer’s bells and so small ghunghroos (musical anklet)were bought for her from the market. This was only the first step as she next insisted on joining dance classes, and from Sangeet Bharati where Birju Maharaj’s father, Acchan Maharaj had taught Kapila Vatsyayan, Rani Karnaa commenced her training under the tutelage of Jaipur Gharana’s senior Guru, Mohanlal ji. Rani Karnaa had found her calling.

Later Rani was to learn from other Kathak maestros including Nrityacharya Narayan Prasad, and Pts. Hiralal  and Sundar Prasad, in the Jaipur gharana, and under Pt. Birju Maharaj she learnt the finesse of the Lucknow gharana. “There was not so much division between the gharanas at that time. Sundar Prasad ji had learnt himself from both gharanas”, Rani ji had added, on seeing my surprised look, given the fact that we know gharana rivalries to be rather strong.

Actually, she began her training in dance when there was a new energy of a young nation and everyone was united in their efforts “to take their art to the level of the ‘falak’”. Somehow I was not surprised to hear her use this Arabic etymology word, which means ‘heaven’, in her otherwise impeccable sentence in English. That is how she was- multilingual, multicultural, embracive and open minded.

Though even at an early age, in the spirit that represented the discovery of India, Rani learnt other dance forms, including Manipuri, which she learnt from the legendary Guru Amubi Singh, and Bharata Natyam, which she learnt from Kalakshetra trained Delhi based guru Lalitha Shastri, it was Kathak that was her life. “From Pt. Narayan Prasad ji I learnt the correct ‘ang’ body lines, and from Pt. Sundar Prasad ji I learnt a vast repertoire”.

She recalled that just before he passed away, Naraya Prasad ji had started telling her about Chatushpadis on Krishna, particularly, he described his beauty in such a dazzling way that even cupid was amazed- ‘Hey, lajat Anang…’.As the Guru died before he could teach her this composition, she went to the patriarch of the dagar Baani, Rahimuddin Dagar, who composed it for her in four different ragas, and that is how she was not only able to include it in her repertoire but also display “how the ‘purana tareeka’ ( the old way) was taken forward”.

Few people know that she was one of the first winners of the gold medal at the Shankar’s Children’s Dance Competition, initiated by India’s then leading cartoonists, Keshava Shankara Pillai, who had started a children’s magazine, Children’s World and the Dolls museum, apart from the International Children’s Competitions, one of which was the Dance Competition. The training in dance and the winning of laurels in dance, happened along with her studies, first in school and then in college. She pursued her graduation in Botany from Hindu College. She enrolled for her masters in Kirorimal College but had to give up her academic life to pursue her passion for dance.

Soon after the Shankar Gold medal, the “big deal” in her life was when “Bharatiya Kala Kendra invited a young Birju Maharaj to create dance dramas and I was invited to join the ensemble” remembered Rani Karnaa with eyes that sparkled. The experience of working with the young Birju Maharaj began to mature her creative mind, but her “Jigyasu mind” — the curious mind, as she called it, needed the intellectual guidance of Dr SK  Saxena.

“The year 1955, 1956 and 1957, while I was in college, I was selected to participate in the Inter-University Youth Festival, representing Delhi University. In 1955, I was in Hindu College and the programme was conducted by Birju Maharaj. I was awarded the first prize.” In 1956 and 1957, Rani was selected consecutively from Kirorimal College, as she continued to represent Delhi University. The recital was conducted by the late Pandit Narayan Prasadji of Jaipur gharana while Delhi University’s Professor of Philosophy, Dr SK Saxena, took a deep interest in the preparation. “The rehearsals used to take place at Dr Saxena’s residence under his supervision” recalled Rani ji in a subsequent interview when I was at the Inter-University Youth Festivals.

“Guruji was so enthusiastic that he composed a special piece for me, the scintillating ‘Rangmanch pravesh’, wherein I entered the stage spinning continuously”, an entry that earned Rani thunderous applause. “These chakkars were very difficult as they were executed on the toes, giving an impression of floating in the air. We would begin practising for it many months in advance, as first there were college- level selections followed by the inter-University competition. There used to be rigorous rehearsals in summer on the terrace, with scant concern for the blisters on my feet.”

Dr. Saxena was a friend, philosopher and guide to her. He advised her, chose, selected and pointed out details regarding presentation. I have been witness to the intellectual closeness between Saxena and Rani Karnaa. When she felt that Kathak had inadequate representation on Shiva, Saxena helped her add to the repertoire by finding appropriate poetry, including penning some afresh.

Fellow dancers, who met Rani Karnaa at the Inter-University Youth Festivals, like senior Kathak Guru Bandana Sen, testify to her generous and nature non-competitive. She interviewed Sen for her college magazine and shared a Ganesh Kavitt with Pune based dancer Prabha  Marathe.

It was in her second year of participation that Rani Karna saw Priyambada Mohanty perform what later came to be named Odissi. “Priyambada Mohanty’s bhangimas, …her posture in dhanur asana was just stunning, very sculpturesque. It was an imprint on my mind for a long time. Much later, after I was married into an Odia family, I went on to learn the form.”

Rani Karna was trained in Odissi by Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra and for long danced both styles. She even participated in the Pradakshina Festival, organised in July 2001, to felicitate Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra on his 75th birthday, a few years after which he passed away.

In 1973, she had moved to Kolkata from Delhi, following her husband, a Government of India bureaucrat, whom she had married in 1963. This city was to be her home until the end of her days.

In 1978, she was invited, by the eminent Sitarist Jaya Biswas to join the Indian Music section of the Calcutta School of Music, as a teacher of the Kathak dance, a position in which she stayed till 1993. Ahana, the Centre of Art and Culture, the music and dance wing of Kolkata’s Aurobindo Bhavan, owes much to Rani Karnaa, who founded and headed the dance department.

Rani Karnaa performed till 2008, after which her health deteriorated. Since then she concentrated on teaching. Her relationship with her students was warm and open-hearted, and she was genuinely respected and deeply loved by them.

The secret to being a good teacher she felt was by “giving them longitudes and latitudes”. Her disciples like Sohini Debnath, Debashree Bhattacharjee and Vikram Iyengar will undoubtedly keep her faith in them, and the lamp she handed over to them, lit with a glowing flame.

letters@tehelka.com

Hiding income from spouse doesn’t pay well in long run

By
tehelka
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Now there is no use hiding salary slips from your wife. Going by the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s latest verdict, it is illegal. The court on May 28 ruled that a woman has the right to know the remuneration of her husband. Clubbing this judgement with an earlier Supreme Court ruling may offer a broader picture. The apex court had set a benchmark in April 2017 for maintenance to be paid by a husband to his estranged wife, stating that 25 per cent of his net salary might constitute a “just and proper” amount as alimony.

The court had directed a resident of West Bengal’s Hoogly, earning 95,527 a month, to set aside 20,000 as maintenance for his former wife and their son. The legal bench was of the view that the amount of maintenance or permanent alimony must be sufficient to ensure that a woman lived with dignity after separating from her husband.

The latest case involved a petition by one Sunita Jain, who had moved the court seeking a higher maintenance from her estranged husband. Sunita highlighted in her plea that Pawan Kumar Jain was giving her a monthly maintenance of just 7,000 while he was earning a high salary. A trial court had earlier turned down Sunita’s plea to see her estranged husband’s salary slip. She later filed a Right to Information application to seek his salary details.

The matter reached the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) doors. It directed the Central Public Information Officer of BSNL, the employer of her estranged husband, on July 27, 2007, to provide the required details to Sunita. That order was challenged in the Madras High Court by Pawan. A single-judge bench had then set aside the CIC order in March 2015. Jain then reportedly approached a two-judge bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which said a wife has the right to know the pay details of her husband. The whole process of seeking justice took more than a decade.

It is sad that the wives are being forced to use the RTI Act to get to know the salary of her husband. As Central Information Commissioner Professor Madabhushi Sridhar puts it, “The law, which is supposed to be a tool to secure transparency and accountability, has to be used to make husbands responsible.” In most cases, the husbands do not share the particulars of their salaries with their wives, while they exclusively operate the salary accounts of their spouses if they are employed. The wives, in most cases, hand over whole salaries either to the husband and seek allowances to go to office every day. Many times, a husband takes home loan and his wife pay the instalments.

To quote the CIC’s Sridhar, “Sharing love does not fall under RTI or personal laws. But ignoring responsibility would bring spouses to courts and tribunals. Then it is no more an issue of love but that of law and duty.” In some rare cases, wives too hide their actual salary from their spouse. One of my friends was under the impression, for years, that his wife gets only up to Rs30,000 per month. Only recently he discovered that her actual pay was 90,000. It may be fine to hide one’s salary slips for a month or two to surprise your spouse on his or her birthday or marriage anniversary. But cautiously keeping them secret for years may hurt the trust and relations between the two.

letters@tehelka.com

AJEET COUR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY DRAWS OUT VARIOUS HUES OF HER OWN LIFE

By
Humra Quraishi
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If you are under the assumption that it is just your life which has been overburdened with far too many turns and twists then it is about time you pick up a copy of the recently launched autobiography of Ajeet Cour. ‘Weaving Water’ (Speaking Tiger) where this novelist has weaved in the varying patterns to her life.

Written in the most uncomplicated of ways, its one of those autobiographies which bare the utmost. In the Indian scenario, this comes as a refreshing change. In the last few years, I have read autobiographies of several personalities who insist on harping only on the positives of their professional lives and shy away from mentioning any of the personal lows. But, Ajeet Cour, has written details about her abusive marriage, her fallout with her own family, the struggles she faced as a single mother trying to raise two girls and then the loss of the younger daughter, Candy.

What is interesting in the book is the starkness with which she has narrated each one of the turning points in her life. Her words have such an impact that one is compelled to sit back and reflect on how hard it gets for a divorced woman to survive in a society like ours.

It is also a survivor’s story. She learnt to face each one of those hurdles and sorrows with not just a strong conviction but with an undying determination. The reasons behind Ajeet Cour’s survival could be several but during my interactions with her what struck me the most was her very personality. If she wasn’t equipped with grit and determination she couldn’t have had the nerves to take the decision to walk out of an abusive marriage and manage to live life at her own terms.

It was only after a while that Ajeet Cour managed to find a suitable place to call her own and it’s best to quote her on ‘how’ this happened. ‘Indira Gandhi had asked me to compile a directory of Indian women in April 1975, for a women’s conference in Mexico. During that period, I met Gandhi several times, and one morning she invited me for breakfast. She asked me what I did, and I told her about my writing and also about the school for girls from the slums that used to run in a DDA flat in Saket, which Daarji had bought for Candy. Gandhi told me to visit a vocational school in Nizamuddin and see how they ran it. I became very interested in starting a similar school. Gandhi wrote to Jagmohan, who was the vice — chairman of DDA at that time (1975), and asked him to allot a plot of land in the Siri Fort area, which was then a jungle…’

After I completed reading Ajeet Cour’s autobiography, I kept sitting and introspecting how only a few amongst us manage to fight. To quote Ajeet Cour on this, “Pain and loneliness hold in them the ultimate truth of what life is. Regrettably, the essence of either of the two is
not easily amenable to being shared with others. Every individual has to endure his or her own pain, and loneliness, in a way pertinent to him or her alone. The only difference lies in how each one of us carried our cross while manoeuvring the pathways of our moral existence.”

She deftly describes her own struggles in these hitting words-‘In actuality I was perched like a mutilated falcon on the highest, leafless branch of an old, denuded tree humiliated, intensely ashamed by the wounds I bore, trying desperately to  keep them under cover, traumatized by the terrifying quiet, the overwhelming emptiness, the muted solitude, when unbeknownst  me, my story found voice, my thoughts urged articulation.’

letters@tehelka.com

Talkies-on-truck become new craze in rural India

By
Humra Quraishi
-

I recall the very first time I met Sushil Chaudhary, I felt as I was facing one of the Bollywood’s leading hero of the 60s and 70s, Biswajit Chatterjee, a yesteryear’s heart-throb. The resemblance was so stark that I had to actually ask that does he have any direct or indirect connection with Biswajit? “No…not at all…I am a trained computer engineer, hailing from Uttar Pradesh and now residing in New Delhi.” Thereafter, we met on a couple of occasions and each time, Sushil came across as one of those quiet introvert sorts engrossed with work and his family. 

Recently, when I saw his photographs flashed in the national dailies, sitting with Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and film director Satish Kaushik, I got in touch with him. After all, this unassuming man has launched ‘PictureTime’ which is about driving talkies on modified trucks to the rural belts of India!

To know about PictureTime in details, I asked Sushil about his off-beat projects. How and when he thought of taking entertainment to the people living the rural belts of India or taking films right at their doorstep in a remarkably affordable way?

Sushil explained that he had been observing for the last few years how “India is a severely under screened nation and the high real estate prices and cumbersome regulatory process to set up the cinema theatre pushed me to think beyond. Hence, the product DigiPlex came into being. I wanted to have portable, real estate independent, low on regulatory compliances and ready to have new release films platform and PictureTime is a solution to the above.”

With hundreds of films and millions of filmgoers, it seems unbelievable that we are lagging behind in terms of film screening platforms! But Sushil argues with facts and figures, “If you look at the current screen density in India, it is very low. And, the numbers have come down drastically from 25,000 screens to around 11,000 at present. While cable television and digital revolution played their role has declined, the main reason in my view was that single screen cinema theatre business could not adapt itself to the changing times. So, in rural India, the ‘tambu talkies’ format started dying. While multiplexes have taken over the market in the metros and mini metros, it’s not penetrated in rural India which is deprived of the grand cinematic experience. With the mobile DigiPlex concept, I am attempting to revive the cinema experience in every town and village in the remotest part of India.”

PictureTime was launched in 2015 at the Goa Film festival and thereafter, operations were running, that is when PictureTime started screening films in the rural belts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan. But, the big formal start-off of PictureTime was held on May 9 in New Delhi with the screening of two movies: A Billion Colour Story by Satish Kaushik and Pinky Beauty Parlour by Akshay Singh.

It was heartening to know from Sushil that PictureTime is already expanding its base, taking movies to our countrymen living in the so-called conflict zones of the country. “We are in the planning stage for expanding in the Northeast, J&K and other Naxal impacted states and will roll out our DigiPlexes in a couple of months to these areas.”

Talking about the hurdles he and his team face, he said, “The biggest challenge is operations in the rural belts. We are trying to hire locals, wherein, we train local staff to learn the setup operations and slowly with the help of Local ITI’s we are overcoming this challenge. We have an end to end monitoring system for all the screenings.”

On the Bollywood’s reaction on the PictureTime, he said, “Bollywood has loved PictureTime, famous actors like Shraddha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Tapsee Panu, Satish Kaushik, Boney Kapoor have appreciated the concept after experiencing it… Satish Kaushik is planning his next release on PictureTime… Film producers feel that this is going to be boon for this industry, especially for regional cinema and producers …Annually 2,000 movies are produced across India and less than 400 find theatrical release. We hope to have 3,000 trucks by the end of this year and the numbers will keep increasing. Then we can help with more films being released and producers are happy with this prospect.”

Seeing the overwhelming response, he plans to expand, taking entertainment to as many rural stretches as possible. “In cities, people rarely watch a movie more than once. In the rural areas, they watch a movie many times over. We have 55 percent occupancy…when I am asked, what is the milestone I see in next three years? My answer is 3,000 units in three years and issuing IPO in 2021.”

PictureTime does carry essential ingredients to attract the masses-average price of the tickets between 30 and 50, sitting arrangement akin to that of an air-conditioned theatre and popcorn and cold drinks available at market price.

What a journey for this young man. Starting off from a small town of Uttar Pradesh, Sushil Chaudhary first travelled to Latin America to work in the IT sector and then came back to New Delhi and set up PictureTime…However, even now one more role is left to be played by him, that of young Biswajit Chatterjee! Yes, the resemblance is so stark that any Bollywood producer could sign him! I am more than tempted to forecast his future: ‘Picture Man’ manning ‘PictureTime .

As I end this column, I sit wondering why young men and women of our country don’t try to reach out to those living in the conflict zones and rural belts of India. We should reach out to them in any given way-low cost entertainment, sanitation, healthcare, literacy, counselling, food and drinking water facility or simply spread around the basics to a secure and peaceful and  hassle- free day to day living.

letters@tehelka.com

A Puppeteer’s Quest

By
tehelka
-

Puppetry styles range from simple rod puppets to larger-than-life figures. Tell us briefly about the different styles.

​There are basically four styles or techniques- string puppets, which are suspended from above, rod puppets which are held from behind the puppet or below, glove puppets are worn on the palm of one’s hand and shadow puppets are projected on a surface. Traditionally we used cut out from leather for shadow puppets but these days these days card, acetate and other materials are also used. Besides those mentioned, processional figures could be effigies or giant puppets moved by rods or worn by the puppeteer. Mixed media is a mix of techniques using a combination of actors, objects, masks, dance, etc. There are many hybrid techniques as well. Muppets, made famous by Jim Henson and string puppets in Karnataka.
Essentially, the technique depends on the puppeteer or puppet maker and the kind of story the puppet will play.

Your puppetry goes beyond the usual string and hand-puppets to “semi-sculptural puppets” attached to actors’ bodies and carried across stage. Tell us more about this medium.

​There was a blurb for a performance we had based on the Vetalpanchvinasati or Vikram-Betaal cycle of stories and Thomas Maans’ continuum of the same transposed heads. We used large torso figures of puppets attached to the puppeteers’ waist with rods attached to the puppeteers’ heads and rods on the arms for movement. This style was used in our performance transposition based on the above stories, as the archetypes were puppets and their inner voices were human dancers. I had also used this technique in the early 1980s at the Sutradhar Puppet Theatre at the Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi in a performance of the Ramayan.

Tell us about the challenges involved in adapting traditional Indian theatre, like the story of Ram and Sita or the adventures of Vikram and Betaal, into a puppetry format.

Every story has to be adapted to the medium. We do not have people in India who understand or write only for puppet theatre. I use the visual language first — a synopsis of actions, events and drama in the theme and then follow the script. I also use a recorded poem or narration. One of our major scripted plays is ‘Heer Ke Waris’, written by Mahip Singh. We showed ‘Gone Grandmother’ by Chatura Rao in our festival in February. Puppets do not need long spoken text lines. They must emote through their movement, manipulation and actions to synergise with spoken text. Music can also be text as it is in many of my performances.

Ishara creates puppet events, conducts workshops and performances on social awareness themes. Tell us about some of your recent events and what to look forward to.

We do a lot of workshops for students, teachers and adults. We conducted a workshop through SPICMACY for almost 90 participants. In August, we could have a workshop on creating elephant puppets using shadow or other techniques. We cross the bridge as per the requirements of the collaboration. What matters is how we can fit the medium and message together keeping in mind the participants and their age groups.

In 2014, Ishara created puppets for the opera ‘A Flowering Tree’ directed by Vishal Bhardwaj at the Theatre du Chatelet Paris, and also puppets for the song ‘Bismil’ in ‘Haider’. How was the experience of working in Bollywood?

I wouldn’t like to just term Vishal Bhardwaj as Bollywood. I think his work is quite different from what we know as Bollywood. The experience of working with choreographer Sudesh Adhana on the song ‘Bismil’ was really exciting. Incidentally, Sudesh was one of the first dancers in our production of transposition. The puppets added to the storytelling aspect of the song in both ‘A Flowering Tree’ as also in ‘Bismil’. In 2006, we had puppets in a full puppet and actor film ‘A Belly Full of Dreams” directed by Prakash Kovelamudi in Hyderabad. The puppets for film and television need to be made in a different way from those for stage. One can adapt stage puppets for film. However, materials and detailing have to be precise.

Performances of the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust are not just for children. Some also address adult themes such as HIV/AIDS and substance use. Tell us more about some of these performances.

​I believe that puppetry is not only for children. One can say a lot through it which a human actor may not be able to — especially about sensitive issues such as HIV and substance abuse in our cultural context. We collaborated with UNESCO and the EU on a HIV project where we spoke about the modes of transmission and what one should be aware of, discrimination faced by HIV persons, substance addiction and peer pressure among the youth. We have held workshops and trained community workers of Save the Children, Myanmar in the use of puppetry in their communities, tackling disability issues, education, discrimination due to physical disability, etc.

You have worked extensively with street children, including the Salaam Baalak Trust project (2007) for UNESCO Paris and the EU on projects. Tell us more details.

​This was the HIV project mentioned above through which one of the first groups of seniors coming out of the Salaam Baalak Trust shelter got involved in both as a profession as well as into civil society. They have gone on to create their puppet groups and were involved in TV shows like ‘Gali Gali Sim Sim’. Ishara Puppet Theatre’s core group is from the original Salaam Baalak Trust kids leading their own lives now.

Having performed and taught at several countries across the world, what has the cultural exchange been like?

​I can only say that it has taught me a lot — the exchange of ideas, acceptance of others’ values and cultures and being able to reverse the prism in then seeing what is valuable in my own work and tradition — but above all, the humility in understanding that we all strive and come from a single source. We may believe in varying ideologies but eventually at the core we are nothing but human.

Since 2008, you have been elected as the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA)’s first non-European president in the organisation’s 80-year history. Tell us about some of the work you did.

I was elected in 2008 at the UNIMA Congress in Perth, and am still in my third and last term as President, which will end in the 2020 UNIMA Congress in Bali. The Executive Committee consists of 19 members from various continents. Diplomacy is not always easy but when one has some 90 countries as member national centres, one needs to abide with the Constitution of UNIMA and at the same time be able to adapt to the situation. Next year, we will celebrate our 90th anniversary.

What needs to be done to revive puppetry in India?

​We have more traditional puppet theatres in India compared to urban puppet theatres. The government needs to be aware of the situation. They should just not sponsor festivals but set up puppet collection museums, conduct workshops and education programmes for puppeteers and artists. We need a platform to nurture good performances from both traditional and modern puppetry. This can happen only if we upgrade the skills and production quality of traditional and young puppeteers. To some extent, the Sangeet Natak Academy(SNA) and UNIMA India have been striving for the same. Hopefully, the Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal in Udaipur will see a renaissance as one of the major steadfast puppet centres in the country. The SNA gives awards for the same but an impetus also needs to be given to the younger generation as is done in Indonesia and other South Asian countries.

letters@tehelka.com

US withdrawal from Iran nuke deal to hit India hard

By
Syed Nooruzzaman
-

The controversial US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has for the first time caused a huge gap between Washington and its European allies — the UK, France and Germany — which were signatories to it besides the European Union (EU), China and Russia. The Donald Trump administration’s decision has exposed the US as an undependable nation, which can disown any commitment made to the international community when it comes to protecting its global interests, seen differently by a new administration. The European allies of the US have declared that they will do all that is required to save the deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and China and Russia are as strongly supportive of the JCPOA as they were when it was signed during the days of the Barack Obama administration. Yet President Trump has gone for disowning the deal, which, in his opinion, was clinched with most of its terms and conditions favouring Iran. He now wants it to be renegotiated which is not acceptable to Iran.

It was a major achievement for the Obama administration in the sense that Iran got barred from producing the ultimate weapon, the primary objective of its nuclear programme. The deal was hailed by the international community as it had ensured that the balance of power in West Asia would remain undisturbed. The reformist Hassan Rouhani government in Iran accepted the nuclear deal as the JCPOA was designed to boost the country’s economy, reeling under economic sanctions imposed by the US, the UN and the EU. Iran was given an opportunity to choose between the nuclear weapon and economic advantages, and it preferred the first option.

Iran, of course, abandoned its nuclear bomb ambitions but not forever. The deal did not have arrangements for getting Teheran’s nuclear programme fully capped. It was agreed that Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium to a certain grade on its territory, though several UN Security Council resolutions were against such an activity owing to Iran being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). President Obama had committed to arranging a repeal of six major Security Council resolutions against Iran. It was also agreed that Iran would be allowed to keep much of its nuclear infrastructure intact. The deal with Iran did not prevent it from continuing with its research and development projects on advanced nuclear technology like that related to centrifuges. Iran was left to remain at least 12 months away from assembling a nuclear bomb if it decided to walk out of the JCPOA.

Iranians proved to be smart negotiators as they got more than what they agreed to forego. President Obama was in a hurry because of the fast approaching US Presidential elections and, therefore, conceded whatever he could to make the Iranians sign the deal. It suited the reformist Rouhani government, too, as the economic advantages that would accrue from the nuclear agreement were needed to control the price rise, promote the export of oil and gas and generate considerable employment opportunities to contain the people’s growing anger against the then government. The conservatives or anti-reformists in Iran denounced the deal but they could not stop it as it was the need of the hour for Iran.

As projected by the Rouhani government, Iran’s coffers began to swell with oil and gas revenues rising fast and steadily. As a result of the JCPOA, Iran had its frozen assets, estimated to be between $100 billion and $150 billion, available to it. Besides this, the lifting or suspension of sanctions in 2015 by the US, the UN and the EU led to an upswing in its oil exports — from 1million barrels to 2.5 million barrels a day. Iran now was financially well placed to drastically increase its spending on armed forces and intensify its overt and covert activities in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain to the chagrin of the US allies in West Asia. According to one estimate, Iran has been spending between $6 billion and $15 billion annually to help its Syrian ally President Bashar Al-Assad defeat or eliminate his enemies in the ongoing civil war there. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia based in Lebanon has also been getting substantial financial and other kinds of assistance from Teheran for fighting on the side of the Damascus regime, which remains discredited in the eyes of its own people.

The US and its allies in West Asia, perhaps, never imagined that the nuclear deal would ultimately enable Iran to play more effectively the power game in the region to harm the interests of the countries which have always depended on the US to help them sustain themselves. Surging oil revenues have enabled Iran to openly come to the rescue of its friends in West Asia. Russia, too, has got involved in the region militarily as an ally of Iran on the pretext of having been invited by the beleaguered regimes to silence their opponents.

The aftereffects of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal have unnerved Teheran in two ways despite the efforts to save the JCPOA by its signatories other than Washington. The anti-reformists, the conservatives, in Iran are upbeat as they now proclaim that their viewpoint — that the US cannot be trusted — as expressed during the negotiations for the controversial deal has been upheld. Under the prevailing circumstances, President Rouhani’s troubles are bound to increase manifold. The pressures mounting on him may lead to his removal from power sooner or later. Thus, the US decision is a major setback for the reformist movement in Iran. It is going to suffer the people’s wrath as the revival of US sanctions will affect the Iranian oil and gas exports considerably, leading to a substantial decline in its export revenues.

Iran, too, is going to hit India hard and in various ways. Iran is the third biggest oil supplier to India after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. India’s oil import from Iran was expected to double to about 396,000 bpd (barrels per day) in 2018-19 from about 205,000 bpd in 2017-18 after Iranian President Rouhani’s visit to New Delhi in February.

India’s relations with Iran may suffer a setback as New Delhi may find it difficult to honour its commitments on the Chabahar port project. Its total commitment for Chabahar port stands at $500 million which can go up. Last year, India sent a wheat consignment of 1.1 million tonnes to Afghanistan via Chabahar, but the US took a lenient view of it. The US now is unlikely to react the same way to any such activity involving Iran. There are some regional blocs in which India is involved along with Iran like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). India along with Pakistan will formally be inducted into the SCO next month, and there are reports that Iran too will be provided the SCO membership this year with Chinese help. Once Iran gets entry into it, the SCO may be treated as an anti-US regional grouping. Obviously, India will not feel comfortable in it, given the growing interest of Washington in New Delhi.

letters@tehelka.com

Around The World

By
Ridhima Malhotra
-

Vote to repeal anti-abortion law seen as victory for women’s rights in Ireland

In a historic referendum, the people of Ireland voted by 66.4 per cent to 33.6 per cent to overturn the country’s strict laws prohibiting abortion. A vote in favour of repeal paves the way for Dáil, the Irish Parliament, to legislate for change which would see the introduction of a much more liberal regime. Abortion has been illegal in Ireland since 1861 and was enshrined into the constitution in 1983 with the Eighth amendment, which recognises that an unborn foetus has a right to life equal to a mother’s, effectively eliminating all abortions — even in cases of rape and incest. The death of Indian-origin dentist Dr Savita Halappanavar in 2012 at the age 31 from septicemia — an infection she contracted after she was denied an abortion during a miscarriage — set off outrage across the country and gave momentum to a growing call for change. The referendum in Ireland has raised hope for changes in strict abortion laws in Northern Ireland that borders Ireland but is part of the UK. Though the UK legalised abortion in 1967, its law was not extended to Northern Ireland. The only times women are able to get abortions in Northern Ireland is when there is a risk to the mother’s life, or a permanent or serious risk to her physical or mental health.

Severe political crisis unfolded in Italy, sending shockwaves from the European Union headquarters Brussels to Wall Street, as Italian President Sergio Mattarella rejected an anti-E.U. nominee for economy minister recommended by the newly elected and first-ever populist coalition government. The problem took root in March, when Italy became the latest European country to hold an election with surprisingly disastrous results for the political establishment. The March 4 vote saw mainstream parties on both the right and the left knocked down by a new generation of populist politicians fuelled by Euroscepticism and popular frustration over the Mediterranean migrant crisis. After rejecting 81-year-old economist Paolo Savona, who has openly advocated pulling Italy out of the euro, the president then asked Carlo Cottarelli, a former executive at the International Monetary Fund, to form a government instead. The populist party leaders were furious at what they considered a subversion of the will of the voters and have called for protests and even Mattarella’s impeachment.

In a bizarre turn of perhaps the most significant present-day diplomatic events, US President Donald Trump pulled out of the planned June 12 summit meeting in Singapore with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, only to express just 24 hours later that the talks might still go ahead. 

Trump had cancelled the talks after apparently being angered by a statement issued by Pyongyang’s chief nuclear negotiator, who declared that the country would never trade away its nuclear weapons capability in exchange for economic aid. The statement, while a highly familiar tactic by the North, represented a jarring shift in tone after weeks of conciliatory gestures. Trump’s announcement cancelling the summit was followed by a meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, followed by which the US president announced on twitter that the talks between Washington DC and Pyongyang might just take place and that too on June 12 itself. A process that would normally take months is now being compressed into days, with meetings taking place between North Korean and American officials all over the world, much to the distress of officials from both countries. 

 More than 100 people died in a plane crash in Cuba after a Cubana de Aviacion Boeing 737-200 crashed on takeoff from Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport. Flight DMJ 0972 was headed to the eastern Cuban city of Holguin, 700 km away from the Cuban capital, when it plummeted into in an agricultural area in the Santiago de las Vegas neighborhood. There were 105 passengers on board, including one infant. Five passengers were foreigners and 100 were Cuban. Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said two passengers were Argentine. The nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737-200 was owned by the Mexican airline Aerolíneas Damojh and leased to Cubana de Aviacion, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

Two people detonated a pail filled with projectiles inside a crowded Indian restaurant near Toronto, wounding 15 people, three of them critically. The blast took place around 10:30 p.m. at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, a large city just west of Toronto. According to police, the assailants had entered the restaurant and put down what appeared to be a pail or a paint can, which then exploded as the two fled down the street. Two birthday parties with children present were taking place at the restaurant when the attack occurred although no children were hurt.

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was arrested in New York City on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex. The legal proceedings that followed the arrest drew big crowds inside and outside the Manhattan courtroom where Weinstein appeared in handcuffs. The arrest caused a lot of jubilation on twitter by a large number of men and women, especially the victims of Weinstein who had come
out last year and had caused the massive #MeToo movement on social media unmasking incidents of sexual harassment across the world. The reporters who unmasked Weinstein earned the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for their work.

Homebuyers to be treated at par with money lenders

By
Ashok Kumar Yadav
-

The Modi government has decided to take the ordinance route to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) for saving the homebuyers from the clutches of realty developers and lending them a voice in the insolvency resolution process by treating them at par with financial lenders like banks. It would give some comfort to the clueless buyers against the defaulting bigwigs, like, Jaypee and Amrapali, among others. 

Speaking on the ordinance route, Rajesh Srivastava, Chairman of Rabo Private Equity Fund, said that though the amendments proposed to be codified would be prospective in operation, it will, however, have bearing on the on-going insolvency proceedings.

Amendments have inherent challenges

The amendments propose to install representatives of home-buyers on the committee of creditors which is empowered to finalise the resolution plan based on a bidding process and is also mandated to ensure that the banks alone do not secure only their lending amount with due interest, shredding the pecuniary fortunes of the home-buyers altogether. But, the proposed move is not a panacea as is being mooted. Nor does it come without a challenge. To say the least, even the extent of representation on the committee of creditors is not spelt out as yet. It would be curious to see how mutually conflicting claims where Jaypee Infratech raised around 13,500 crore from home-buyers by way of booking amount and instalments, which is far higher than the 9,800 crore raised from banks to construct the apartments, Taj Expressway and a hospital, are calibrated and apportioned. 

While a banker argues the move will create a situation where the home-buyers will have a greater say, a Supreme Court lawyer Siddharth Batra thinks otherwise. He holds that this may not be the case since the home-buyer is entitled only to get an apartment, along with the penalty for delayed delivery. Generally, a clause for refund is deliberately omitted in the contract, whereas, in case of bank loans, the repayment schedule is mandatorily stipulated. However, the clarity would emerge only after the relevant rules are notified in pursuance of the statutory amendment, said global reality and retail analyst, Dheeraj Dogra. An investment banker fears the insolvency resolution will become more time-consuming once home-buyers come on board.

Clarity still eludes

The government would need to stipulate how the representative home-buyers will be saddled on the committee and what criteria would be followed for the purpose. A committee headed by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, which recommended an elevated status for home-buyers, had suggested that a trustee or an agent be appointed to represent certain classes of financial creditors. Alternatively, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) can appoint a resolution professional for each category of financial creditors, such as deposit holders, those with debentures or home-buyers. While the move will also help secure the interest of mortgage players, it is seen to be making life tougher for the banks.

Conclusion

Treating home-buyers as financial creditors at the macro level will have huge ramifications on funding for real estate sector as banks will be sceptical of sharing the table with them who are likely to be more inward-looking and aggressive than viewing the larger perspective. At the micro level, managing the creditors’ committee meetings with flat-buyers will be a herculean task for insolvency professionals, said Prashant Yadav, an NCR-based lawyer. Realtors too echo the similar concern that the system must uphold the supremacy of a bank mortgage over any other claim, else banks may hesitate in lending to the sector, fears Virender Verma of Pareena Infrastructure.

While the move is likely to benefit the home-buyers in the long run, it sounds alarmed bells for lenders too. This has the tendency to adversely impact the creditors’ willingness to lend since the recovery proceedings will now have another equally-placed class of claimants, which was not anticipated at the time of granting loan to the developers. This will increase the realised haircuts for the financers. Home-buyers could hope to recover some portion of their dues in case the builder defaults as against the current scenario where buyers have to depend on the residual value after all financial creditors are serviced. In the meantime, let’s wait for the codification of the amendments and notification of the relevant rules there — under to gauge the real impact. Maybe, it churns out to be the beginning of “achhe din” for the harassed class of homebuyers.

letters@tehelka.com

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TEHELKA is the fastest growing national news group for English & Hindi news magazines. The core value of the brand is to uphold the truth with a free, fair and fearless attitude. The company has a high standard of excellence in journalism and a commitment to assist in India’s fight against corruption. News is published in the maximum number of languages to maintain a stronger circulation base across the country.
Contact us: wecare@tehelka.com