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DIGITAL ISSUE

www.outlookindia.com June 8, 2020

What After Home?

Lakhs of migrants have returned to their villages.
OUTLOOK tracks them to find out what lies ahead.

Mohammad Saiyub’s
friend Amrit Kumar died
on their long journey
home. Right, Saiyub in
his village Devari in UP.

R N I N O. 7 0 4 4 / 1961

FROM
THE
EDITOR
RUBEN BANERJEE
EDITOR IN CHIEF
I
NDIA is working from home;
Bharat is walking home—the short
tweet by a friend summing up
what we, as a locked-down nation,
have been witnessing over the past
two months was definitely smart.
The wordplay was interesting and
impressive. But I am not too sure if
it was still adequate to encapsulate
the scale of a disaster that has befallen mil-
lions of migrants frantically attempting to
reach home in distant towns and villages
that lie beyond urban India. We have not
seen this in our living memory—certainly
not since Partition. It is not easy to fathom
the misery that the profusely sweating and
mostly starving mass of people find them-
selves in. I, for one, am at a loss for words in
trying to articulate their tragedy.
What I can safely presume, though, is
that their sufferings are manifold more
than our middle-class angst. As the
migrants trudge home, they are negotiat-
ing unthinkable odds. The absence of
proper transport is simply appalling.
Cocooned inside our urban comforts, we
have been forced at the most to change
our daily routines. Though our own
future looks uncertain amid job cuts and
mounting economic losses, COVID-19
has not yet exacted any toll other than
primarily confining us to our homes. In
comparison, the migrants are battling to
survive in the open, braving hunger, heat,
and intermittent police high-handedness.
What is inexplicable is the way they
have been left in the lurch. A hurriedly
enforced lockdown left them without
money and work. Soon, they ran out of
food and were forced to seek the per-
ceived safety of homes in the back of
beyond they were born into. Insensitivity
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
MANAGING EDITOR, OUTLOOK
Returning to
the Returnees
and apathy have been their constant companions since
then. As entire families—the old, infirm and the ailing
included—attempt to plod back home, they have been sub-
jected to ill-treatment and untold indignities by the police
for violating the lockdown. Humiliation after humiliation
was heaped upon them endlessly as they walked, cycled and
hitchhiked long distances. They were sprayed with disin-
fectants and fleeced by greedy transporters for painful
rides on the back of trucks and tempos. When they thronged
railway stations and bus terminals in a mad rush for a seat,
they were almost always treated like cattle. It was truly
colossal the way a callous system failed them.
The collective outrage over how badly the migrants were
let down has been equally huge. Though those in the gov-
ernment may still be in denial and reluctant to acknowl-
edge the tragedy, there has been no dearth of debates and
discussions on the migrants and their plight.
Among the defining images of the agonising lockdown
has been that of Ram Pukar Pandit from Bihar’s Begusarai
weeping inconsolably on the phone upon hearing his child’s
death as he attempted to return home; or that of Moham-
mad Saiyub, a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh, whose
friend Amrit Kumar died in the middle of their arduous
trek. Their stories have seared our heart. They have even
touched an emotional chord in distant places. US President
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka tweeted recently about
the indomitable spirit of a young Bihar girl who tirelessly
cycled more than a 1,000 km to carry her ailing father home.
It is but natural that the migrants’ march, with its atten-
dant struggle, is hogging the headlines.
But we would be failing them all over again if we forget
them now. For the likes of Pandit and Saiyub who have
finally reached home, a more uphill struggle to survive awaits,
minus assured livelihood. Though the media’s attention span
is notoriously limited, Outlook does not give up on a story mid-
way and several of my colleagues—Salik Ahmed, Giridhar Jha,
Sandeep Sahu, G.C. Sekhar, Suresh Kumar Pandey and Sandi-
pan Chatterjee—displayed exemplary enterprise to reach out
to the migrants in their villages. This issue’s cover story is a
reminder of the challenges that the returnees face, and our
collective responsibility towards them.
(Ruben Banerjee)
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 3
 ‹ NAVIGATOR›
S U R E S H K . PA N D E Y
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ruben Banerjee
MANAGING EDITOR Sunil Menon
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Satish Padmanabhan
FOREIGN EDITOR Pranay Sharma
POLITICAL EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora
SENIOR EDITOR Giridhar Jha (Mumbai)
CHIEF ART DIRECTOR Deepak Sharma
WRITERS Lola Nayar, Qaiser Mohammad
Ali (Senior Associate Editors), G.C. Shekhar
(Associate Editor), Jeevan Prakash Sharma (Senior
Assistant Editor), Ajay Sukumaran, Puneet
Nicholas Yadav, Jyotika Sood, Lachmi Deb Roy
(Assistant Editors),
Naseer Ganai (Senior Special Correspondent),
Preetha Nair (Special
Correspondent), Salik Ahmad (Senior
Correspondent)
COPY DESK Rituparna Kakoty (Senior Associate
Editor), Anupam Bordoloi, Saikat Niyogi,
Satyadeep (Associate Editors),
Syed Saad Ahmed (Assistant Editor)
PHOTOGRAPHERS S. Rakshit (Chief Photo
Coordinator), Jitender Gupta (Photo Editor),
Tribhuvan Tiwari (Deputy Photo Editor),
Sandipan Chatterjee, Apoorva Salkade
(Sr Photographers), Suresh Kumar Pandey (Staff
Photographer) J.S. Adhikari (Sr Photo Researcher),
U. Suresh Kumar (Digital Library)
DESIGN Saji C.S. (Chief Designer),
Leela (Senior Designer),
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DIGITAL Neha Mahajan (Associate Editor),
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Graphic Designer),
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COVER STORY
GENERAL MANAGERS Sasidharan Kollery,
Shashank Dixit Millions of bedraggled migrants marched their way
CHIEF MANAGER Shekhar Kumar Pandey
MANAGERS Shekhar Suvarana, Sudha Sharma back from the cities to their villages. Outlook caught
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 LETTERS FEEDBACK › OUTLOOK@OUTLOOKINDIA.COM

1/6/2020

NAVI MUMBAI
C.K. Subramaniam:
The Prime Minister’s speech
boosted one’s motivation—
the Rs 20 lakh crore package
shows empathy for the
country in these challenging
times. On the flip side, the
implementation of these
goals is important. It is
also disappointing to note
that the package includes
liquidity measures an-
nounced by the RBI earlier.
The Centre has to focus on
reaching out to migrants,
especially since they lack
documentation. Also, the CALCUTTA
economic package has to be Avik Debnath: On
disbursed without corrup- page 23, there is a quote
tion. But Modi is right when of Vikas Srivastava, who
he says that India can lead has been erroneously
the world—we have a young, associated in the article
capable population. Our Rs with “IIM-K”. He is an
20-lakh-crore dream will esteemed faculty member
come true soon. of IIM-L (Lucknow).
D I G I M A G . O U T LO O K I N D I A . C O M

Grease
The Wheels FROM THE Daak Room
MUMBAI Hello mr lynes
Ashok Goswami: This refers to your
thank you very much
cover story The Flu Shot (June 1, 2020).
YO U T U B E . C O M / O U T LO O K M A G A Z I N E

The economy is no doubt in a tailspin, biographical information

but only spin doctors have come to the
rescue. Economic pundits and stock
markets have given the economic stimu-
lus a thumbs down. It failed to put
money where the mouths are and did
nothing for demand generation. Giving
fodder to the horse is of no use if you put
it behind the cart. The Opposition has
FAC E B O O K . C O M / O U T LO O K I N D I A
my life couldn’t fill a penny postcard
i was born in pittsburgh in 1928 (like everyone else –
in a steel mill)
i graduated from Carnegie Tech
now i’m in NY city moving from one roach infested
apartment to another.
Andy Warhol

failed to corner the government over

this failure. RBI’s undeserved and
unwarranted rate cuts will have no effect
apart from bleeding senior citizens who
are staring at fixed deposit rates of less Me, Myself And I
than six percent and no social security In 1949, when Russell
pensions. The government should reach Lynes, managing Editor,
out to MSMEs, help them woo back the Harper’s magazine,
T W I T T E R . C O M / O U T LO O K I N D I A

workforce and arrange for working capi- asked Andy Warhol

tal. The dead can’t be resurrected, but for biographical
the dying can be saved. Instead of information, the 21-year-
announcing big numbers, the govern- old artist responded
ment must ensure that the stimulus with this postcard.
greases the jammed wheels of industries.

00 O U TLOOK6| MAY
OUTLOOK | JUNE 8 , 2020
4, 2020
 LETTERS
News / SLUGGG/SUBSLUG
Farewell
GOA
M.N. Bhartiya: This refers
to the cover story Things
That Got Covided (May 18).
History has witnessed many
curses of nature as well as
manmade disasters, but
humanity has not changed.
People greedily exploit those
who are weak and keep them
suppressed. Any improve-
ment in the standards of
education, hygiene, habits
etc of the poor is not in the
interest of upper classes sim-
ply because they will not be
able to exploit them. Kings,
emperors and those leaders
concentrating power by sin-
ister designs while donning
the garb of democracy
ensure the poor remain poor.
Labour laws have to be more
stringent to suck the blood of
the poor. There is a vacuum
in the leadership of the
unorganised working class.
Migrant labour will silently
return to commercial hubs
once they exhaust their
NEW DELHI
Gaurav Pant: The photoes-
say Ahead Is Home, Behind
Is Hunger (May 18) aptly
depicted how the COVID-19
crisis has thrown the lives
and livelihoods of workers
into disarray. There is no
doubt that COVID-19 has
plunged millions of people
into extreme poverty and
uncertainty, but those
working in the informal
economy, with fragile
sources of income, are the
worst affected. Loss of
wages, lack of employment
and rising casualties have
prompted the mass return
of these migrants to their
native places. What they had
saved for their beautiful
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
remittances. And things will
continue as before.
NEW DELHI
Sangeeta Kampani: One of
the most enduring sights and
sounds of India is the red-
hued spittle mark and the
jarring ‘thoo’. While the
threat the pandemic poses is
predicted to bring about a
paradigm shift in our hygiene
habits, the end of spitting
seems nowhere in sight. I say
this out of personal experi-
ence. Sometime back, a col-
league walked into my office
with this mouth-watering
delicacy in his mouth. The
gentleman happened to be a
dreams is getting spent in
their fight for survival—all
that remains is a blank fu-
ture. The world might learn
to live with the virus, but the
hardships and pain people
had to go through will
remain engraved in the
bosom of humanity.
FEEDBACK
senior government officer, so
superciliousness took the
better of him and he kept
sermonising for more time
than his ‘paan’ permitted. As
I and my friends watched
anxiously, the red liquid
trickled from the corners of
his mouth. He comfortably
picked up a saucer from my
table and spat! While shock,
dismay and ridicule followed,
my friend amusingly ex-
plained that ‘Sir’ was helpless
for he had only two options
to get rid of the fluid: down or
out! And it is the ‘out’ option
he exercised like everyone
else. In case COVID-19 could
leave its imprint on this
unsightly habit, it would be
quite a gain in these ungainly
times. It would be a story I
would love to narrate to my
grandchildren—how the red
fluid finally got covided!
LUCKNOW
M.C. Joshi: UGC’s sugges-
tion of shifting the new
academic session in colleges
from July to September and
to postpone all tests
GURGAON
Kamna Chhabra: This
refers to Small Screen, Big
Locha (June 1). The pan-
demic has left its mark on
the way films are being
released. In the present
uncertain times, releases
cannot be put on hold indefi-
| PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES |
› OUTLOOK@OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
conducted by the National
Testing Agency may seem
too dire, but the COVID-19
pandemic in India might not
have peaked yet. Dr
Randeep Guleria, the direc-
tor of AIIMS, has said that
according to modelling data
and the way our cases are
increasing, it is likely that the
peak can come in June and
July. He further said that
there are many variables
and only with time, will we
know how effective the lock-
down has been. Obviously,
right now, everything is
uncertain. There is a need
for reinvention, innovation
and maximisation of all
available digital resources to
reach out to students and
continue education. That is
the way forward for us.
Nowadays, many students
are getting their scheduled
classroom work on a smart-
phone. After COVID-19, it is
going to be a changed world—
online classrooms and
work-from-home may
become the norm for
education and employment.
nitely. This is all the more
true of the not-so-big ban-
ners, which look at quick
recovery of costs and profita-
bility to stay in the game.
Theatre owners and multi-
plexes may not like the idea
since it puts their earnings in
jeopardy, but at the same
time, they do not have any
valid reason to cry foul. With
‘social distancing’ the new
norm, even after the virus
bids us goodbye, the circum-
stances that have driven us
to switch to OTT platforms
are here to stay. The boom-
ing sound and the big 70 mm
screen in a packed theatre is
going to be replaced by TV
and mobile screens. ‘Small’ is
the new ‘big’ now.
MJAY
U NE 2 ,0 2 0 2| 0OU
4, 8 | OU T LOOK0 0
T LOOK 7
THE
NEWS
Around 300 nurses have left Calcutta
for Manipur after resigning from their
jobs. Earlier, it was reported that 185
Heads That Bow
Put at the centre of the COVID fight by the Odisha
CM, the sarpanch remains a figurehead
Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneswar anomalies that undermine the sar-
panch’s authority to take a call on some-

nurses have quit their jobs in Calcut­
ta hospitals and returned to Imphal.
Cristella, a nurse said: “We are not
happy that we left our duties. There
was a huge shortage of PPE kits. We
also faced discrimination and racism.
People sometimes spat on us. They
questioned us everywhere we went.”
On May 23, Delhi Police arrested Nat­
asha Narwal and Devangana Kalita of
student group Pinjra Tod for participat­
ing in anti-CAA protests. They got bail,
but were arrested again in a separate
case and put in remand for two days,
which was extended by two more days.
The Amphan cyclone has damaged the
world’s largest banyan tree—one of the
two ‘kalpvriksha’, also known as Indian
olive—in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra
Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah.
The circumference of the 342-year-old
tree’s core stem once measured 15
metre and that of its peripheral stem
is over 1.08 km. The core stem was
removed in 1925. The Botanical Survey
of India uses the picture of this tree as
its logo. Banyan is India’s national tree.
O
N April 19, Odisha CM Naveen
Patnaik announced on TV what
he described as a “historic
decision”. He said his government had
put sarpanches (elected heads) of gram
panchayats at the centre of the fight
against COVID-19, conferring on them
the “powers of district collectors” for
effective management of quarantine
centres for migrant workers
returning from other states.
This was done vide Section 51
of the Disaster Management
Act, 2005, and the Epidemic
Diseases Act, 1897, read with
COVID-19 regulations, 2020.
A month later, the sarpanch-
es, far from enjoying the
powers of a collector, are still
at the mercy of the local block
development officer (BDO)
and panchayat extension
officer (PEO) for just about
everything. With almost no
financial powers, the elected
panchayat heads are not even consulted
when babus take administrative
decisions. Each panchayat has been given
Rs 5 lakh for running quarantine centres,
but the sarpanches have to run to the
PEOs for sanction of every little expense.
“What collector’s powers? The PEO
insists on bills for the smallest expendi-
ture. Do we look after the needs of the
inmates of quarantine centres or keep
running to the PEO?” asks the sarpanch
of a panchayat close to Bhubaneswar.
Some sarpanches say they are asked to
get ration and other stuff for quarantine
centres on credit with the promise that
the amount spent would be reimbursed.
“Given the snail’s pace at which the gov-
ernment machinery moves, you never
know when the reimbursement will be
done,” complains a sarpanch.
There are also legal and administrative
thing within his/her jurisdiction.
Neither the CM’s April 19 announce-
ment nor the notification issued later by
the revenue and disaster management
department spelt out the financial and
administrative powers supposedly dele-
gated to the sarpanches. In fact, a Febru-
ary 17 notification issued by the
panchayati raj and drinking water
department continues to bar sarpanches
Naveen Patnaik at an online
interaction with sarpanches
from incurring any expenditure without
the BDO’s sanction, regardless of the
CM’s declaration of April 19. Moreover, a
May 11 circular asking collectors and
BDOs to ensure strict adherence to
guidelines regarding management of
quarantine centres makes no reference
to sarpanches nor is copied to any of
them. “These orders are in conflict with
the announcement made by the chief
minister on April 19,” says a senior jour-
nalist who heads the Citizens’ Action
Group. “More importantly, they under-
mine his appeal on May 11 for greater
decentralisation in the approach to fight
COVID-19. That’s why the orders must
be withdrawn.” O

8 O U TLO OK | JUNE 8, 2020

CAUTION !!! INDIAN STOCK MARKET 2020
AGAIN STARTED FACING A BIG CRASH. VERY
SOON NIFTY WILL HIT MINIMUM 2500 LEVEL
Caution !!! Indian stock market 2020 again started facing a big crash.
Very soon Nifty will hit minimum 2500 level in the upcoming days.

Tmarket.
his crash is going to be the biggest crash
registered in the history of Indian stock
We can see a sharp fall in this crash.
In this crash NIFTY will fall up to 80% which is
calculated from the LIFE HIGH. It is going to
be the consecutive crash in the year 2020 that
our Indian stock market got corrected nearly
40% from life high in the month of March
2020. During the fall investors and Traders
Wealth will get affected badly. So investors
and Traders of our Indian stock market must
be careful to deal with this Crash said by
RESEARCH ANALYST Mr. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN
SUNDARAM.

LAKSHMI NARAYANAN SUNDARAM

Research Analyst (Sebi Certified).

NIFTY TARGET LINE

 POLIGLOT
M I X E D S H O T S
SNAPSHOT
Certified to Belong
Naseer Ganai in Srinagar
Since coming up with the
J&K Jammu and Kashmir
Grant of Domicile Certif-
icate (Procedure) Rules, 2020, defining
the procedure to obtain domicile in the
Union territory, the J&K government
has announced 10,000 vacancies and
made domicile certificate a criterion
for applicants. Permanent residents of
the erstwhile State of J&K who were
issued the Permanent Resident Certif-
icate (PRC) before August 31, 2019,
shall be eligible for receiving domicile
certificates on the basis of the PRC
alone. The government has set a 15-day
deadline from the submission of appli-
cation for local revenue officers to
issue the certificate and would deduct
Rs 50,000 from the officer’s salary as
penalty in case of further delay.
Critics say the process for Kashmiris
is similar to the contentious updating
exercise of the National Register of
Citizens. “The new regime of domicile
rights strikes at the roots of the notion
of who belongs to Kashmir,” says for-
mer J&K finance minister Haseeb
Drabu. “The rules obliterate, through
redefining, the ethnic conception of
belonging that was sought to be pro-
tected by the domicile law in the first
10 O U TLO OK | JUN E 8, 2020
PTI
Villagers shift from a flooded
locality following heavy rainfall in
Goalpara. Hundreds of villages are
under water in Lower Assam.
UMER ASIF
statements every day mentioning
visits by people welcoming the new
domicile rules, including former and
serving top government officials.
Besides children of J&K residents
living outside J&K and West Pakistan
refugees, the April 1 order has made
eligible for domicile all
Srinagar city, a those who have resided in
house maze J&K for 15 years, or studied
for seven years and
appeared in the Class 10th
or 12th examination from an
educational institution there. The
order says children of central
government officials, including
officials of PSUs and banks, who have
served in J&K for 10 years will also be
eligible. Domicile will also be granted
to all migrants and their children
registered with the relief and
rehabilitation commissioner.
place. Unless there is some hidden When Jammu-based Panther’s Party
agenda, it makes no sense to recruit leader Harsh Dev Singh warned that
tens of thousands to issue domicile the domicile rules would open the
certificates to those who already have a floodgates of people to J&K, the BJP
PRC. Those who have been living in described such criticism as alarmist.
Kashmir for 5,000 years are on the “This will not add a large chunk of peo-
same footing as those seeking to ple to the J&K population,” says the
acquire the domicile certificate now. BJP’s J&K president Ravinder Raina.
Both have to prove it—erstwhile state “Instead, the new rules are inclusive of
subjects by submitting a PRC, and oth- many sections within J&K who were
ers by submitting a ration card. That a being denied their fundamental rights,
‘state subject’ residing here for genera- including the right of domicile. The
tions has to regain his ‘domicile’ is order has by and large been welcomed
adding insult to injury. Does it not by a large section of people.”
strike anyone in the governance sys- In Kashmir, both the People’s Demo-
tem that the PRC should have been cratic Party and the National Confer-
deemed to be a domicile certificate?” ence came out against the order.
J&K Lt Governor Girish Chandra “Demographic change and disenfran-
Murmu, meanwhile, has been seeking chisement will further complicate the
public approval of the new domicile J&K issue, which has claimed thou-
rules opposed by all political parties in sands of lives. This will be resisted
J&K, barring the BJP. His office issues through all democratic peaceful
means,” said the PDP in a statement.
“This is the first time in history that
“Mughals, Afghans, the Kashmiri identity is facing a real
threat,” says political analyst Riyaz
Sikhs, Dogras…nobody Ahmad. “This identity has survived
except democratic 400 years under various brutal
regimes—Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs,
India tried to change Dogras—because none of them tried to
J&K’s demographic pro- change the demographic profile of this
place. But that is exactly what is being
file,” says Riyaz Ahmad. tried in democratic India.” O
 POLIGLOT
LOCUST

A Two
Punch
Combo
Outlook Bureau

T
HEY come in hordes of millions,
flying in robot-like formations
some 3km long and shearing all
forms of greenery off a landscape in a
matter of hours. Like an apocalyptic
science fiction movie—the buzzing
crepitations from their wings harmoni-
ous with the sci-fi parable. They are
locusts—tiddi in Hindi. And India, in
the middle of a pandemic, is bracing for
a biblical plague, probably the biggest
locust outbreak since 1993. The alarms
are out, amateur videos of swarms
engulfing cropland, villages and cities
are aplenty. The latest was from Jaipur,
where millenials captured an hour-long
flypast on their cellphones. People beat
utensils, burst firecrackers. The locusts,
for the din they make, hate noise.
The insects flew out of the city to
greener pasture. Wherever the wind
took them, for they fly with the air cur-
rent—covering up to 150 km a day at 20
kmph. This is summer and the wind is
flowing easterly from the hot desert, as
we all know blowing high to low pres-
sure areas and carrying with it the
migrating pestilence into the interiors
from its point of entry, the Thar along
the India-Pakistan border.
The government says the locusts are
active in Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh. The forecast is grim.
Why? The attack is “escalating the dan-
ger to food security”. A small swarm
eats as much in one day as about 35,000
people. And the UN warns that a new
wave is expected this June. A bigger
wave—a single swarm covering 1 sq km
can contain up to 80 million of the vora-
cious insects—could reach India from
Africa. Billions of the young desert
locusts are winging in from breeding
grounds in Somalia in search of fresh
vegetation springing up with seasonal
Locusts in Jaipur. Adult insects can
consume roughly their own weight in
fresh food per day.
rains. That could be a double whammy
as India is already battling waves from
spring breeding in Iran and Pakistan.
India has proposed a coordinated
approach to both nations, but experts
accuse Pakistan of inaction despite
knowing that its border with
Afghanistan is a breeding hotspot.
Earlier, locusts came from Africa, taking
ample time to reach India. Not any-
more. India is ring-fencing its locust
defence system with drones and crop-
duster planes, while villages have their
own warning system—loudspeakers.
“Tiddi aa rahi hai, apney khet bachao
(locusts are coming, save your fields).” O

brevis

Pulmonologist Indian hockey legend Casino tycoon Australian tennis An alligator that once
Dr Jitendra Balbir Singh Sr, Stanley Ho, great Ashley belonged to Adolf
Nath Pande, a a three-time Olympic whose business Cooper has died Hitler has died in the
former doctor at gold-winning empire dominated aged 83. He was a Moscow Zoo.
AIIMS, Delhi, died of centre-forward, has the former Portu- four-time Grand Slam Saturn, about 84,
COVID-19. He was 79. died in Mohali guese gambling winner—Australian had escaped from
Both Dr Pande and battling multiple enclave of Macao for Open in 1957 and Berlin Zoo in 1943. He
his wife had tested health issues. He decades, has died in 1958; Wimbledon and was found in 1946
positive. was 96. Hong Kong at age 98. US Open in 1958. and given to Moscow.

J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 11
 POLIGLOT

MixedShots
MUSTY NUMBER, MUSKY CALLS

L
TIK TOK. HE’S THERE

S
YNDSAY Tucker, a skincare consultant at a Sephora beauty store in OCIAL media network TikTok might
San Jose, California, knew all about popping pimples and unclogging be good for subjecting the world
pores, but little about vehicles. So imagine her consternation when a to your lack of talent or a few
South African businessman called her to buy 1,000 trucks. But that wasn’t giggles, but who would have thought it
the only one—commendation for a “magnificent car” followed, as did could help find missing people and
inquiries about purchasing an ATV she had reunite families! That’s what happened
supposedly “showed off during a CyberTruck when a family in Bhadradri Kothagudem
reveal”. Turns out her telecom company had district, Telangana, found a 60-year-old
reassigned Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s deaf-mute man eating food in a video a
old number to her—she receives at least three calls police constable in Ludhiana had
a day meant for Musk. Poor Lindsay, she didn’t shared. The man had been missing for
even know who Musk was until this incident, let over two years and is now back with his
alone his loony ravings on Twitter. The most family—all thanks to the app, which can
surprising thing: no one has yet called to ask what is now boast of more accomplishments
than making millions lip-sync. O
up with Musk trying to name his son XÆA-12. O

H
JACK OF ALL FALLS
UMPTY Dumpty’s experience was nowhere as dismal as
Pariyaram’s, a man from Belur in Kasaragod, Kerala, who
climbed a jackfruit tree for a bountiful harvest. Not only did
he fall from the tree, a jackfruit fell on his head, cracking his spine.
He had to go for surgery, but his troubles did not end there. As per
protocol, doctors at Government Medical College, Kannur, tested
him for COVID-19 and the results came positive. If that wasn’t bad
enough, he has no idea where he contracted the disease from, rais-
ing fears of possible community transmission in the state. O

LOCKDOWN, LADDOO DOWN

I
MAGINE sitting on Rs 14,000 crore and eight tonnes of
gold and still not being able to pay your employees! Such
has been the fate of TTD, the poor rich trust that manages
the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. So it is with some
confusion that hungry devotees welcomed its decision to sell
QUARANTINE
its famed laddoos for Rs 25 instead of the earlier Rs 50 across QUEENS

W
Andhra Pradesh and in neighbouring state capitals. The
reason behind this largesse? The HEN a request for spirits to lift their
trust’s ‘e-hundi’ received spirits was turned down, a group of bar
electronic donations of dancers from Mumbai did what they do
Rs 1.97 crore in April 2020, best—dance. Only their stage was the corridor of a
Rs 18 lakh more than quarantine centre in Moradabad. They might have
what it last year. After won the approbation of beer-goggled customers in the
all, in tough times, who past, but couldn’t dance their way into the hearts of
wouldn’t want to curry the police on duty. Instead, the cops booked them
divine favour, even if it under six sections of the IPC and refused to let
entails lavish monetary them leave. Too bad no one’s watching that
inducements? O scene, digging the dancing queens. O

12 O U TLO OK | JUN E 8, 2020 I L LU S T R AT I O N S : S A A H I L

 Masterspeak
A Webinar Series

strateGies
for start-Ups
with

K Ganesh Serial Entrepreneur

Watch the complete
discussion between
K.Ganesh, and
N Mahalakshmi, Editor,
Outlook Business on
strategies start-ups can
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to deal with the disruption
caused by Covid-19
To watch the video, visit

@outlookmagazine

Presented by C0-Sponsored by
FOREIGN/CHINA-INDIA

Patrol Bombs
Border tensions spike suddenly along the LAC, as sections in India join
others in criticising China’s handling of COVID-19. Yet the two have
enough reasons to resolve all issues peacefully.

Pranay Sharma the past week begun to pitch tents and gone farther than usual,” he adds.
enforce their respective positions along Raghavan refers to incidents that

T
HREE years ago, a prolonged
stand-off between Indian and
Chinese troops on Bhutan’s
Doklam plateau had sparked alarming
speculation about the proximity of an
armed conflict between the two Asian
giants, and how such a frightening
possibility would destabilise the
sub-continent and the region beyond.
That crisis, however, was resolved in
73 days without a shot being fired.
But similar worries have started
clouding minds of policy planners as
Indian and Chinese soldiers have over
Indian and Chinese soldiers march at the
border post at Bumla, Arunachal Pradesh
strategic points in Ladakh, in the west-
ern sector of the Line of Actual Control
(LAC). The build-up at the border—
triggered by aggressive posturing and
‘transgressions’ by soldiers of the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into
the Indian side of the LAC—coincides
with a marked rise in anti-China feel-
ings in India as sections make common
cause with the anger against the
Chinese leadership across the world in
the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
The question arises if the two devel-
opments are linked. “This seems to be
a coincidence; there is no connection
between the two,” says historian
Srinath Raghavan. “The LAC has its
own seasonal dynamic and this is part
of it. Though both sides seem to have
started from May 5-6, when Indian
and Chinese soldiers were injured
while trading punches and throwing
stones at each other in a departure
from past norms underlining the
avoidance of physical violence.
Barring 1962, when the neighbours
went to war over their disputed bound-
ary, not a single bullet has been fired
across the Sino-Indian border since
1975. In the intervening period, there
have been skirmishes and face-offs. But
they were all peacefully resolved.
The 3448-km Line of Actual Control,
behind which soldiers of the two coun-
tries stand, remains disputed and
un-demarcated, yet is not considered a
‘hot border’ like the one between India
and Pakistan. Moreover, despite their
PTI
FOREIGN/CHINA-INDIA
simultaneous rise within the same
geographical space, Indian and
Chinese leadership have so far
skilfully managed to avoid situa-
tions that could lead to another
armed confrontation. But height-
ened tension in the past weeks,
following hectic activities of
patrolling soldiers of India and
China in key points along the
LAC, has increased unease.
Indian officials have recorded
‘transgressions’ along the LAC in
Pangong Tso Lake, Trig Heights,
Burtse, the Doletango area and the
Galwan river valley in Ladakh and
also at strategic points in Sikkim.
“Better infrastructure, enhanced
transportation and communication
facilities have increased the proba-
bility of Indian and Chinese patrols
coming face-to-face,” explains
Gautam Bambawale, former
ambassador to China. Coupled with
aggressive patrolling, this could lead to
the kind of situation we now witness, he
explains. Bambawale reminds that there
are standard operation procedures that
the two sides have agreed to and if their
soldiers adhere to them the border could
be relatively peaceful. But if there are
attempts to change the ‘status quo ante’,
it could lead to trouble, he warns.
Experts say the stand-off in strategic
points at Ladakh, like Galwan, is con-
nected to Indian construction activi-
ties, including building a road from
Dharchuk via Shyok to Daulat Beg
Oldie, which is now the revamped
advance landing ground that would
allow C-130J aircraft to land and boost
strategic airlift capabilities. In addi-
tion, a series of roads are being built in
the area to enhance India’s access to
the Karakoram highway—an area of
immense strategic importance for
both Pakistan and China.
It is the building of this access road
that is being vehemently opposed by
China but India seem determined not
to abandon its plans of building the
required infrastructure—as the Chinese
have done on their side—to enhance
better access to the armed forces.
Away from the border, the mood in
political circles in New Delhi and else-
where has undergone a significant
change. Political leaders, including those
from the ruling BJP, like its national
general secretary Ram Madhav and
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Recent summits between PM Modi and
President Xi have sought to iron out
fissures in Sino-India ties
Union minister Nitin Gadkari, made
critical remarks about China in public.
“I don’t see any special change in
India’s approach towards China,” says
C. Raja Mohan, director of the
Institute of South Asian Studies,
National University of Singapore. “The
worldwide concern is about China get-
ting assertive in its responses to ques-
tions on its handling of the COVID-19
crisis,” he adds. Raja Mohan points out
that in India the public debate, espe-
cially from the political class, has
always been free-flowing; there have
been voices that have always been
critical of China and those who reso-
lutely supported Beijing irrespective
of the merits involved.
“But the section that is responsible
India’s building
of access roads
to the Karakoram
highway is being
vehemently and
unfairly opposed
by China.
for the China policy, especially the
MEA, remains careful and meas-
ured in its response,” he says,
indicating that Beijing should
look through the clutter to make
sense of the Indian government’s
stance in this prevailing interna-
tional mood.
Raghavan feels joining a
Western chorus of criticism of
China makes it easier for some in
India to express displeasure at
China’s handling of the pandemic.
“At a time when many others are
talking tough with China, it’ll be
difficult for Beijing to target
India,” he says.
Hardliners, however, are disap-
pointed with the government’s
stand. “India is not adopting a
policy that is assertive enough
towards China,” says former
Indian foreign secretary Kanwal
Sibal. “China’s provocations that
touch our core interests continue,” he
adds. According to Sibal, China has
not only repeatedly attempted to put
Kashmir on the UN Security Council
agenda, but also challenged India’s
sovereignty in Arunachal Pradesh
and Ladakh.
“On the latest provocations in Sikkim
and Ladakh, our initial reaction was
mild and even apologetic,” feels Sibal.
“But the MEA spokesperson corrected
the earlier mistake by accusing the
Chinese side of hindering normal
patrolling patterns, affirming that all
Indian activity is on the Indian side
and that India was committed to pro-
tect its sovereignty and security.”
Bambawale, who has been part of
crafting the China policy, makes it
clear that there was nothing new about
India’s stand. “India has for many dec-
ades taken strong positions vis-a-vis
China where our fundamental inter-
ests were involved,” says the former
envoy. He cites examples to explain the
Indian stand—referring to the 2017
Doklam stand-off, the Sumdorong Chu
incident in the late 1980s or the 1998
decision to test a nuclear device. “India
has always taken strong, difficult deci-
sions when its fundamental interests
were involved. I think this continues to
be true today,” he adds.
Bambawale also refers to the recent
guidelines India announced for invest-
ment from China, saying, “The recent
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 15
FOREIGN/CHINA-INDIA

Indian, Chinese soldiers in a face-off

near the Pangong lake in Ladakh

change in FDI flows from China is in

India’s basic interest. Even then, we
will continue to welcome Chinese
investment but through the govern-
ment route.” Stressing his initial point,
he says, “I believe there is more conti-
nuity than change in India’s policy
toward China.”
But the current developments play
out at a time when the US and China
are locked in a major battle for
supremacy and influence at the
global stage. How will it affect India,
whose ties with Washington have
been growing steadily over the years?
“The US affects all major bilateral
relations in the world,” says Raja
Mohan. “As the second most impor-
tant power, China does the same
today.” Referring to developments of
the 1970s, when the US engaged
China diplomatically, Raja Mohan
points out how it forced New Delhi to
lean more towards Moscow.
According to him, after four decades
of deepening economic integration,
America and China are drifting apart.
Domestic politics in the US, awaiting a points out, there is a desire to call out risen over the past decades, while the
presidential election, has certainly Chinese handling of COVID-19 and economic relationship has become
complicated the dynamic. It can also try to position India as an alternative unbalanced, with a massive trade defi-
be presumed that domestic political destination for global value chains. cit against India that has been difficult
considerations make it ever more On the other, there seems to be an to overcome. “But the stakes for both
important for President Xi Jinping to awareness of the need for continued countries are only higher now,” he
be seen as standing up to American investment flows from China and the says. “One hopes the current tensions
pressure. “All countries will now have importance of not getting into a hos- will not escalate into a major crisis.”
to cope with worsening ties between tile fracas with a stronger neighbour. Former foreign secretary Sibal has no
US and China,” says Raja Mohan. “The tensions between these compet- illusions about the future of Sino-
Indian ties with China must navi- ing imperatives needs to be managed Indian ties. “The impact of China’s
gate these choppy waters, with India better,” adds Raghavan. hegemonic ambitions on India will
ensuring that much-needed invest- So far, India and China have done remain a serious problem, requiring,
ment from China continues to pour well to manage the contradictions in as before, engagement and hedging,”
in. “The step to change the approval their relations. As Raja Mohan indi- he observes in an opinion piece.
route for Chinese investments was cates, border tensions have steadily Bambawale is more pragmatic.
necessary to prevent China’s preda- “India-China relations have been
tory economic policies,” says Sibal. He complex. It is likely to get more so
points out that there is no bar to now”. He feels India needs to keep its
Chinese investments per se, the “Better infrastructure relation with China on track while
intent is to prevent China’s acquiring and communica- furthering its national interest. He
assets on the cheap as a result of their points out the need for a new tem-
fall in value owing to the pandemic. tions have increased plate, as the underlying realities have
Raghavan is sceptical whether chances of opposing changed. “This was the effort made at
future ties between the two neigh- the Wuhan Informal Summit. But it is
bours will be smooth. “I think New patrols coming still a work in progress,” says the
Delhi needs to be clear about the kind former envoy to China. That work, it
of relationship it wants with China,”
face-to-face,” says is to be hoped, must never be hostage
says Raghavan. On one hand, he Gautam Bambawale. to border tensions. O

16 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020


O P I N I O N / Lt Gen. (retd) Subrata Saha
The Abusage Of Rhetoric
Judicious diplomacy can resolve any boundary issue through the hitherto
successful mechanism between India and Nepal for the purpose
time-honoured India-
THE Nepal relations are going
through yet another test—
this time around it’s about
the interpretation of the two-century
old Treaty of Sagauli, ratified on March
4, 1816 between the King of Nepal and
the British East India Company.
On May 8, 2020, Union Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh, through a
video event, inaugurated the road link
from Dharchula (Uttarakhand) to
Lipulekh (on the border with China).
The road would help boost trade and
economic growth in this border region
and facilitate the Mansarovar Yatra.
The road, constructed by the Border
Roads Organisation, has taken some
time to build due to heavy snowfall,
steep slopes, extremely low
temperatures, restricted working
season, besides numerous flash floods
and cloudbursts causing disruptions
and loss of lives and equipment.
The Government of Nepal reacted to
the inauguration by unveiling a new
political map of Nepal, placing the
areas of Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and
Lipulekh as part of their territory.
Concomitantly, there were caustic and
unreasonable remarks made by the
prime minister of Nepal in parliament.
According to the 1816 Treaty of
Sagauli, Nepal renounced all claims to
the disputed Tarai, or lowland country,
and ceded its conquests west of the
river Kali and extending to the Sutlej.
Effectively, river Kali was accepted as
the Western boundary of Nepal with
British India, and post 1947, between
India and Nepal. At the root of the
current controversy are Nepal’s recent
claims stating that the source of the
Kali lies at Limpiyadhura, hence
Kalapani and Lipulekh, to the east of
the Kali, belong to Nepal. The Survey
of India maps since the 1870s showed
the area of Lipulekh down to Kalapani
as part of British India. The British
used the Lipulekh pass for trade with
T H E AU T H O R I S M E M B E R , N AT I O N A L S EC U R I T Y
A DV I S O RY B O A R D , A N D FO R M E R D E P U T Y C H I E F O F
A R M Y STA F F A N D K A S H M I R C O R P S C O M M A N D E R .
Tibet and China. Both the Rana rulers of Nepal and the Nepalese kings
accepted the boundary and did not raise any objection with the
Government of India after India’s Independence.
In a media interview the defence minister of Nepal exacerbated the spat
with an attempt to incite the Gorkha soldiers who serve in the Indian
Army. In doing so, he is trying to harm the special bond that exists
between India and Nepal. India, Nepal, and UK had signed the tripartite
agreement in 1947, according to which 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 Gorkha Rifles
joined the Indian Army and 2, 6, 7 and 10 Gurkha Rifles joined the British
Army. Over the years, UK has
reduced the complement of Gurkhas
substantially. India, on the other
hand, has increased the number of
Gorkha units, with new raisings from
time to time. According to an IDSA
article of 2017, there are
approximately 1,27,000 pensioners
(90,000 of the Indian Army and
37,000 of the Central and state
governments as well as
paramilitary), in Nepal. Some
members of the Communist Party in
Nepal have tried in the past to strike
at this special bond. The institutional
strength of the Army and the
qualities of the soldiers ensured that
they have weathered through crises
like the Maoist insurgency in Nepal,
Nepal’s sudden and the occasional standoff in the
past. In today’s hyperactive social
territorial claims media environment, extra
precautions against disinformation
notwithstanding, would be in order. An outreach to the
the Ranas and the pensioner community, to sensitise
them about the vested interests, may
kings had no issue also help.
with the boundary According to reports appearing in
the media, the Nepalese parliament
both before and after has not passed the constitutional
amendment for the new map. This is
Independence. a positive development, as there are
mechanisms in place to settle
boundary issues between India and Nepal. Set up in 1981, the India-Nepal
Joint Boundary Working Group has been able to complete almost 98 per
cent of its mandate—to resolve boundary issues, demarcate the
international border and manage boundary pillars. Perhaps an
expeditious resolution of the remaining two per cent, through diplomatic
means, should take care of the issue. India-Nepal relations are much too
precious to be frittered away in rhetoric. O
(Views expressed are personal.)
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 17

O P I N I O N / Rathin Banerjee
What the Otter Knows
About the Cyclone
The Sunderbans is safe—as is the tiger. Nature has no
intention to create disharmony within itself
SURFACE reality can often
so batter our
lifeworld, and so
overwhelm our
senses, that it’s difficult to grasp a
deeper reality. Remember how we
were able to think contrarian about
the COVID-19 pandemic—over and
above our natural species-level dis-
may—as a chance for nature to heal
itself? On May 20 at around 1730
hours, we got another chance to revisit
our assumptions as the cyclone
Amphan entered over the gloomy
expectant skies of Calcutta and its
adjoining areas. We know the basics by
18 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
T H E AU T H O R I S A R E T I R E D I N D I A N FO R E ST S E R V I C E
O F F I C E R . H E H A S N U M E R O U S P U B L I C AT I O N S I N
SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS IN INDIA AND ABROAD.
PTI
Boats capsized
and sunk in
surging waves
during the storm
now. To recap, the formation—an estimated width of 40 km at the eye
and 120 km for the whole wall cloud—descended from the south of
coastal Digha on the Bay of Bengal, at a speed of 30-40 kmph. Its moist
core held the gigantic energy of a super storm rotating anti-clockwise at
a speed of 160-180 kmph, accompanied by
As a natural gusts up to 200 kmph. It left in its wake a
trail of destruction as localities and
barrier, the streets cowered and lay blanketed in
darkness as power was switched off to
Sunderbans avoid accidents. Soon, water from over-
took the full brunt flowing drains merged with the street to
resemble one large stream of gushing
as it checked the water. It had rained a full 244 mm in
speed of cyclone approximately five hours.
Now let’s zero in on a key site: the
Amphan. Sunderbans forest, 120 km south-south-
O P I N I O N / Rathin Banerjee

east of Calcutta. As a peripheral

human habitat, it was as exposed and
vulnerable (if not more) as the city and
its suburbs to the huge cyclonic core of
Amphan. But as a natural barrier, it
took the full brunt as it checked the
speed of the cyclonic formation. This
is as was to be expected. In seasonal
low-pressure situations, gusty winds
and thunderstorms approach Bengal
from the south over the Sunderbans in
a unidirectional path; so the mangrove
forests act as efficient wind-breakers.
The havoc that Amphan caused to
Calcutta is there for all to see. But what
drama or tragedy was taking place in
those mangroves—the arcane depths
of Sunderbans? The sparse human set-
tlements there were torn asunder. But
what about its other denizens? After
all, it’s home to the largest and most
dangerous crocodile in the world, the
Crocodylus porosus, and the heartbeat
The Sunderbans
and pride of any Indian forest, the
tiger is a strong
charismatic tiger!
swimmer
First, a brief map. The total area of
Sunderbans is 9,630 sq km, containing
a constituted forest area of 4,260 sq
km of evergreen mangrove forest— An overall recorded in 1707, and an earthquake in
indeed, the single-most extensive 1737. Water rose by 40 feet and most
mangrove forest in the world, which balance is areas were depopulated.
has been under scientific management Now, numerous studies have been done
for over a century. The area outside it
maintained to study the effects of natural calamities
is land reclaimed from the delta in as a web of on human populations and chart out a
phases with government approval, course of action to help secure the fringe
beginning as far back as Warren interrelated population settled in Sunderbans—even
Hastings in 1770. Even those early
records show the prime objective for
factors. Take the if observed tragically in the breach. But
measuring the strains on its true deni-
reclamation to be human settlement tiger, for instance. zens, its wildlife, has never been easy.
and agriculture. We can start with what is apparent: the
The terrestrial and anthropogenic forest survives in all its pristine glory. It
(human impact on environment) foot- is as if natural calamities and storms like Amphan have made a deal with
prints on the Sundarbans reveals a the natural world. That it will save its harshest strike for the
tumultuous history. It has always been anthropogenic element, or on human activity that pollutes the
subjected to periodic ravages of environment. The natural world has no intention to cause disharmony
nature in the form of cyclones, inun- within itself. Some damage is expected—a tiger, for instance, was found
dation by tidal bores, earthquakes, dead on the forest floor following a storm in 1991. It had apparently fallen
erosion and degradation of soil when into the current of a large estuary amid incessant rain and strong winds,
estuarine rivers changed courses, as when a steep shoreline gave away under its weight. The tiger could have
also land subsidence. Early evidences managed to swim ashore but was injured by a sharp, broken stem of a tree
of human presence were mostly swept that jutted out at an angle from the river bed. Submerged and hence
away owing to subsidence in the whole unseen, the stem pierced the tiger’s abdomen—the strong current
of lower Bengal during the middle of bringing about the impalement.
6th century AD. Many popular ports But accidents do not give us a rule. An overall balance is maintained as a
and cities have thus disappeared from web of interrelated factors. Take the Sunderbans tiger. It’s a strong swim-
our maps! Even in 1688, Sagar Island mer. Its tail base is thicker and more muscular than that of other Indian
had a population of 2,00,000 people— tigers, since it habitually uses it as an oar. Plus, the high grounds of the
but land subsidence and inundation forest archipelago are not always submerged for a long period. Water
swept away the entire population that drains out to the sea quickly, unlike the stagnant, rancid pools we see in
year. A major subsidence was again cities. On the flip side, if the peaking time of the cyclonic surge coincides

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 19
O P I N I O N / Rathin Banerjee
Amphan destroyed
homes and inundated
fields in Sunderbans
with the lunar phase, that triggers a
bore tide—and things are on tenter-
hooks for the entire wild population.
On May 20, it was the phase of the
waning crescent, just one day to the
new moon…the time for very high
natural tides! So the threat from
Amphan was extreme—the tidal surge
would have swallowed more and more
high ground. And seawater did indeed
push 25 km inland. Shrinking high
ground would mean no ‘social
distancing’. Putting prey within
reaching distance of predator, with no
escape route, sounds like nature
playing a cruel joke on one species. But
again, a tiger is not a wanton killer. It
only kills when hungry. This writer has
seen tigers pass by bait without
making any attempt to kill them.
Under Amphan, the universe of both
predator and prey was equally
threatened. No one would have been
thinking of just a meal, literally.
Talking of meals, the day after, the
20 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
PTI
Amphan holds fast receding waters of the estuary leave
ample fish in the eddies created on the
no bias...pulling shoreline and on the large cavities on the
forest floor left by uprooted trees. It
down the high happens in the cities too. In an incident
branches for the reported to the BBC on May 21, 2020, a
unique sight had been spotted near the
herbivores to gates of Presidency University on College
Street, Calcutta. A small catfish,
feast on leaves on marooned as the street waters receded
the forest floor. back to the Hooghly, was being preyed on
by a street dog. So imagine places where
nature is bountiful! Tigers, fishing cats,
otters having the time of their life; free meals literally, with no workload
on their shoulders. The Amphan holds no bias, like a herd of elephants
passing through a forest, and pulling down the high branches to the
ground, scattering succulent leaves on the forest floor that would
otherwise have been out of reach for the herbivores. As fresh rainwater
trickles down the trunks of trees and drips off the tips of cupped palms of
leaves, all take turns to sip at the nectar, for they had been drinking
saline water till then.
Why should humans be left out of their share of nature’s bounty? The huge
cache of freshwater received by coastal river systems offers a chance for a
sizeable influx of the dream fish of Bengal, the Hilsa! Wait for it to happen. O
(Views are personal.)
 #BollywoodTalkiesOutlook

Bollywood
TALKies with

Episode - 5

Actor
nimrat kaur
On her experience of working
in Homeland and Lunchbox
and what lies ahead.

in conversation with

Watch on
June 5, 2020 (Friday), At 9 PM

Mitrajit Bhattacharya
@outlookindia
Columnist & Author @outlookmagazine
 SANS FRONTIERS
WORLD TOUR
UNITED STATES Donald Trump
threatened to shift the Republican
National Convention from North Carolina
because of restrictions on the crowd
size due to the coronavirus pande­
mic. The event is due for August 24-27.
Trump has threatened to relocate the
convention to some other state if the
Democrat governor of North Carolina
does not guarantee “full attendance”.
ISRAEL The country’s longest serving
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
made history when he was made to
stand trial for corruption—the first Israeli
leader to be tried while holding office. The
70-year-old denied charges of bribery,
fraud and breach of trust. He was sworn
back to office last week in a rare unity
government with his rival Benny Gantz.
RWANDA Felicien Kabuga, who
outwitted prosecutors of the Rwandan
genocide tribunal for two-and-a-half
decades, using 28 aliases and powerful
connections across two continents,
was arrested from a Paris suburb. The
84-year-old wealthy businessmen
evaded arrest for so long that the
international tribunal set up to bring to
justice those responsible for the
genocide, had ceased to function.
22 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
FOREIGN
HAND
T
RAINING to compete in the Olympics could Go granny This
be every athlete’s dream. But some are now septuagenarian
training to achieve an equally challenging takes up the
milestone—the Centenarian Olympics. Unlike centenarian
the Summer, Winter or Para-Olympics that are challenge
held every four years, the Centenarian Olympics
has no fixed date. It is a milestone reached by
individuals. Since living to be a 100 is not a given, a new concept about
training for one’s own milestone of a century is becoming a popular
trend among people over 50 in the US and Canada.
Susan Winder, 57, is training for 2062—the year of her own
Centenarian Olympics. When that year comes, she still wants to travel,
garden, play with her great-grandchildren and move around
comfortably. These are things she does now. But she’s getting fit to
make sure she can still do them in 43 years. “I walk two to five miles
every day. I do some strength training and flexibility work,” Wilder,
CEO and founder of a family medicine practice in Arizona, US, told
BBC. “Every choice I’m making I’m thinking about things that work in
my favour. It’s about self-preservation.” When just surviving for a
century is a worthy goal for most, others like Susan have set themselves
targets for when they reach 100: staying healthy, active and able.
Peter Attia, a 47-year-old Canadian-American surgeon with a
medical practice focused on longevity and an aspiring centenarian,
said he came up with the idea during the funeral of a friend’s parent,
who was unable to do the things he loved, like golf and gardening, in
his final years.
“We’re sitting there at the funeral, and I don’t know, I’m just
thinking there’s got to be a way to stop this,” he told a podcast. “We
do all this amazing training for athletes who are trying to go to the
Olympics…but why aren’t we training to be kick-ass 90-year-olds?”
Attia listed 18 things he wanted to do when he turned 100:
everyday tasks like carrying groceries up flights of stairs, putting a
suitcase in an overhead bin and getting off the floor with a single
point of support—all challenges for a century-old body. That’s why
he wants to start practising now.
Unlike the quest for gold in Olympics, one’s Centenarian
Olympics are different: they’re a personal competition against the
body’s natural decline. What can be a better prize when you are still
living your best life, even after a century? O
 Episode - 5

The Pandemic
Politics of Maharashtra

Shaina NC Bhavna Vij-Aurora

National Spokesperson Political Editor,
and Treasurer, Outlook
Maharashtra BJP

Nawab Malik Sudhir Suryawanshi Mirza Arif Beg

NCP Leader and Cabinet Author of Checkmate Special Correspondent,
Minister, Maharashtra Outlook

join us on
@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
on
May 30, Saturday, 6:00 pm
COVID/CONGRESS
Rahul Gandhi
interacts with
migrant labourers
Unlocking the Pandemic Vote
The lockdown has given the Gandhi siblings enough ammo against the BJP, but
scripting a Congress comeback demands much more.
Puneet Nicholas Yadav
“L
ET us hope this isn’t
another transient hobby to
pass the otherwise dull
hours of the lockdown,” says a senior
Congress leader, referring to the
vociferous interventions made by
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra over the past two months on
various issues linked to the COVID-19
pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
This period has seen Rahul address
three pressers and promise more. He
has also started an ‘in conversation’
series on social media platforms
featuring experts and common
citizens. He ventured out to directly
interact with migrant workers forced
to return to their native villages for
lack of jobs, money and food. Pre-
24 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020
sented as constructive suggestions
rather than political criticism, Rahul’s
potshots at the Centre, over its alleged
mishandling of the health, economic
and humanitarian crises in the wake of
COVID-19 have continued unabated
on Twitter.
While Rahul has been vocal about the
big national picture, Priyanka has been
focused on Uttar Pradesh, where she is
in charge as a Congress general secre-
tary. She extended a cooperative hand
to the Yogi Adityanath government for
bringing back migrant workers from
other states in buses sponsored by the
Congress. The offer, though, was
spurned and her close associates,
including personal secretary Sandeep
Singh and state Congress chief Ajay
Kumar Lallu, were booked for alleg-
edly forging the registration numbers
of the buses she promised.
PHOTOS: PTI
Since the Congress’s drubbing in the
Lok Sabha polls last year, the Gandhi
siblings had rarely exercised their
vocal chords with such alacrity and
persistence for a public cause—barring
a few speeches during assembly poll
campaigns and protests against the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Now,
the two have found their own
interpretation of the prime minister’s
call for being ‘local ke liye vocal’. While
Narendra Modi asked Indians to speak
up for locally made products, Rahul
and Priyanka have made it clear that
they prefer to speak out for India’s
voiceless locals such as migrant
workers and others worst hit during
the lockdown.
Congress media cell chief Randeep
Surjewala insists “no politics should be
seen in the actions” of Rahul and Pri-
yanka, and that the duo has “always
COVID/CONGRESS
spoken for the national and public
interest”, but the political messaging
this time is unambiguous—that the
Gandhi siblings have taken up cudgels
for migrant workers and the poor even
as the BJP-led Centre continues to
gloss over the hardships faced by this
mass of humanity. The Wayanad MP’s
demand for direct cash transfer of Rs
7,500 and free distribution of 10 kg of
food grains to every household
excluded from the income tax bracket,
both for a period of six months, was
recently backed by leaders of 22 oppo-
sition parties in an online meeting
called by interim Congress president
Sonia Gandhi.
For the electorally beleaguered
Grand Old Party that was, until
recently, unable to articulate its stand
on politically sensitive issues and was
often embarrassed by its leaders
publicly airing divergent views, Rahul
and Priyanka seem to have provided a
simple narrative that is hard to
criticise—that “the poor need
immediate help”. And, within this
narrative, migrant workers have
primacy of place. “No political party
has ever treated migrant workers as a
composite vote bank,” says political
analyst Prof Badri Narayan. “In the
current situation, this community is
united by suffering and it appears that
the Congress wants to rebuild itself by
reaching out to this mass, which
incidentally has a significant presence
in Hindi heartland states like Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar, where the party is
the weakest. Rahul and Priyanka can
improve their party’s position by
recasting the old ‘garibi hatao’ (remove
poverty) politics in a ‘pravasi bachao’
(save the migrants) narrative.”
The bus row also drew flak from
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo
Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav’s
Samajwadi Party—‘secular’ outfits
with which the Congress wanted a
grand alliance just a year ago. Narayan
says the sharp criticism from the BSP
and SP indicates growing political
insecurity among the two dominant
regional parties of Uttar Pradesh. “By
pitting herself directly against
Adityanath when both Mayawati and
Akhilesh were silent on the crisis,
Priyanka has already scored a political
point. The Congress is trying to effect a
shift in politics by appealing to
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
migrants as a whole. If this strategy
works, the reliance on multiple
strategies to appeal to Dalits, OBCs,
Muslims or adivasis will be reduced.
The BSP and SP will certainly be
worried if migrants rise above the
Dalit-ST-OBC divide to vote en
masse,” adds Narayan.
While all this sounds like sound
political strategy for the Congress,
party leaders are cautious about pre-
dicting the implications of this new
“If we have no cadre
and no leaders, who
will Priyanka or Rahul
rely on to mobilise
support?” asks a
former Congress MP.
experiment by the Gandhi siblings. “As
of now it appears that we are the only
party taking on the BJP over its mis-
handling of the crisis, but the impact of
what we are doing right now can be
assessed only when normalcy is
restored,” says a Congress functionary.
“Press conferences, interaction with
experts and social media activity are
no substitute for real grassroots poli-
tics and that is where the Congress
loses out.”
Many in the party feel both Rahul and
Priyanka will have to lead a sustained
campaign on the ground to extract
maximum electoral returns from the
“clear articulation of a strategy for the
poor and for the period after the lock-
down”. “You cannot afford to go off on a
vacation the moment international
flights are resumed,” says a former MP,
one of those who wonder whether
Rahul’s ongoing interventions are a
“transient hobby”. Priyanka too will
“have to be more visible, accessible and
vocal” in Uttar Pradesh, he adds,
because “the state still has no cadre to
work for the party in the assembly
polls” due early 2022.
“Once Priyanka takes up a challenge,
she does not abandon it. Her responsi-
bility is to revive the party in Uttar
Pradesh and she has been working at it
with complete dedication,” says
Aradhana ‘Mona’ Misra, Congress leg-
islature party leader in the UP assem-
bly. “Our commitment is to the people
of Uttar Pradesh and we will not let
them down.”
Many Congress old-timers, however,
feel Priyanka is making the same mis-
takes in Uttar Pradesh that Rahul has
previously been criticised for. “Ever
since she took charge of UP, loyal par-
tymen who have worked for decades
have been sidelined,” says a UP Con-
gress leader. “She disbanded the dis-
trict committees after the Lok Sabha
results and later sidelined many sen-
iors to appoint her own nominees.
Also, anyone who wishes to meet Pri-
yanka has to first win over her personal
secretary (Sandeep Singh). We faced
the same problem with Rahul when
everyone had to go through Kanishka
Singh (Rahul’s secretary till 2014) or
other non-political members of his
coterie.” Complaints against Sandeep
Singh’s behaviour with Congress work-
ers in the state are aplenty. Singh, a
former JNU students union president
who was with the left-wing AISA dur-
ing his varsity days, had joined Rahul’s
team in 2018 and was later moved to
Priyanka’s office.
Party leaders insist that the Gandhi
siblings must use the lockdown period
to work on a strategy to rebuild the
cadre in states where the party has
been pushed to the fringes; particu-
larly in UP where Priyanka hopes to
lead the Congress in the 2022 assem-
bly polls without allying with a
regional party. “There is no doubt that
the humanitarian crisis caused by the
lockdown has given us a plank for
revival, but if we have no cadre and no
leaders, what will Rahul or Priyanka do
when things get back to normal? Who
will they rely on to mobilise support?”
asks another former Congress MP. O
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 25
CRICKET/BCCI

Sourav Ganguly
and Jay Shah will
be able to continue
as BCCI president
and secretary
respectively if the
SC agrees to the
proposed changes
in the petition

THAT NAGGING LINE

The BCCI seeks to loosen the tight knots of its new constitution; the SC’s decision
will impact the future of Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah as cricket administrators

Soumitra Bose of the betting scandal. Srinivasan finally had to step aside.
The BCCI held its general elections in October 2019, 33

T
months after its affairs was overseen by the Supreme
HE Virat Kohlis, M.S. Dhonis, Mithali Rajs or Shafali Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), who
Vermas fill the bleachers and headlines, but most of were to put in place the Lodha committee reforms. Now, the
the cogs in the giant wheel that’s Indian cricket are BCCI is again at the doorstep of the apex court to know the
made of officials and administrators . At times, prominent future of its office-bearers, including former India captain
officials have grabbed headlines too, often for wrong Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah, the son of Union home minis-
reasons. In March 2014, during the ter Amit Shah. The richest cricket asso-
early days of the 2013 IPL match-fixing ciation of the world faces a power
and betting case, Justice A.K. Patnaik The BCCI wants the SC vacuum as its president, vice-president,
had famously commented that N. secretary and joint-secretary have
Srinivasan’s continuance as president to waive the three-year either resigned, stopped functioning or
of Board of Control for Cricket in India cooling off clause that at the end of their tenures as per the
president was “nauseating”. Srini- new BCCI constitution approved by the
vasan, then one of the most powerful stops Ganguly, Shah, SC in August 2018. It’s an unprece-
men in world cricket, was in soup dented situation, where the Board’s top
because his son-in-law, a team owner
George from holding office-bearers are technically staring at
of Chennai Super Kings, was in the eye on to their posts. an uncertain future.

26 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020

CRICKET/BCCI

Ever since the BCCI’s private broadcast partners,

ESPN-STAR Sports, won a landmark Supreme Court Woxsen University:
case against Doordarshan on sharing of live sports feed
in 2013, the Board has seldom lost a major case in the Telangana’s very Own
Global Education Hub
apex court. Flushed with billions of dollars from the sale
of broadcast rights and patronised by major political

A
parties, the BCCI has never shied away from flexing its
financial muscle. Its utter arrogance can be gauged from n autonomous institution, Mr. Veen Pula
the fact that it has repeatedly refused to come under the started in the year 2014, Founder &
Chancellor
RTI Act. The SC might have spoken harshly about its comprising of 3 diverse
affairs during the hearing of the 2013 IPL match-fixing schools, Woxsen School of Business,
and betting case, but no court or government, over 90 Woxsen School of Arts & Design,
years, have tamed the BCCI fully. Woxsen School of Architecture &

T
Planning, will now be operational
HE appointment of Ganguly and Shah as BCCI under the umbrella of Woxsen
president and secretary respectively, immedi- University.
ately after the end of the CoA’s stint, was an auda-
Mr. Praveen Kr. Pula, Founder & Chairman, always had the
cious riposte to R.M. Lodha, the former Chief Justice of
bold vision of building an Institution of excellence in Higher
India who was instrumental in scripting a new constitu-
tion with stringent rules on the tenure of a cricket
education, where we innovate & transform the conventional
administrator. Knowing fully well that Ganguly, Shah educational processes through application of knowledge,
and joint secretary Jayesh George can function for less research & industry feedback to further scale up community
than 12 months each, the Board’s AGM elected them benefit.
unanimously on October 23, 2019. The Board members Woxsen University will be built on 4 Core Pillars of Applied
were certainly not naïve—senior BJP leaders worked Learning, Academic Excellence, Global Outlook and Diversity
dramatically behind the scenes to pitchfork Ganguly, & Inclusivity.
Shah and minister Anurag Thakur’s brother Arun Singh
Dhumal to the hottest seats in Indian cricket. Top posi- Woxsen University will always remain centred around our
tions in BCCI almost always come with certain promises students and shall bring some of the most disruptive PG &
and guarantees. UG programs in emerging technologies like Data Sciences,
In March 2020, Mahim Verma quit as BCCI vice-presi- Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Robotics. Woxsen
dent after being elected as secretary of the Uttarkhand has already invested in setting up a State-of-the-Art AI and
cricket association. With the COVID-19 pandemic Robotics Lab to provide simulated case studies & Live projects
wrecking BCCI’s plans to organise the IPL 2020, cricket to make its students Industry ready.
administration lost steam till the BCCI honchos appar-
Woxsen will be blazing the Education field with some of
ently discovered mid-April that the days of the
the unique, First of its kind Programs in Entrepreneurship
office-bearers were numbered. Since CEO Rahul Johri,
Development. Centred around giving a whole new global
who enjoyed sweeping powers under the Vinod Rai-led
business perspective, the programs will provide students an
CoA, had already been sidelined, treasurer Dhumal
became the de facto in-charge since Shah had ‘officially’ opportunity to win a seed capital of USD 2000 to help nurture
stopped functioning early May. their idea to a monetizable product.
The BCCI finally filed an online application in mid-
May, seeking direction from the Special Bench of CJI
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justice Nageswara
Rao on a slew of amendments made to the constitution.
Conspicuously, its petition urges the SC to waive the
three-year ‘cooling off’ clause that restricts Ganguly,
Shah and George from operating as BCCI office-bearers
for two full terms of three years each. The new constitu-
tion, approved in August 2018 by the SC on the basis of
the Lodha reforms, prohibits anyone who has served six
years in either a state association or BCCI from contin-
uing as an office-bearer. BCCI now wants to delink their
officials from any time they might have spent in a state The vision of our Hon’ble Chief Minister & Hon’ble
cricket association.
Education Minister, Govt. Of Telangana, to make Telangana
Prominent among the reforms that Justice Lodha had
feature on the Global map when it comes to making Global
suggested was one that sought to curb the noxious ‘con-
Quality Education accessible within Telangana state aligns
flict of interest’ in Indian cricket—preventing sons and
perfectly with the aspiration of Mr. Praveen Kr. Pula, who has
daughters of erstwhile administrators to occupy posi-
set his eyes firm on taking Woxsen University to the FT Global
tions of power. “The fact that someone’s son, or some-
list of Top 100 Ranked Universities in the world.

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
CRICKET/BCCI

PHOTOGRAPH: BCCI

As BCCI president,
N. Srinivasan had
great rapport with
then India captain
and CSK skipper
M.S. Dhoni

one’s brother, or someone’s daughter have been elected status quo and deliberate at a later date. “Status quo is a
unopposed obviously means that the spirit of the reforms likely option as then BCCI work continues. In all fairness,
has been seriously dented. Of course, the letter of the Ganguly or Shah should get a full term,” says a senior advo-
reforms has been followed, but the spirit has been dam- cate. There are about six amendments suggested in the
aged,” Lodha had said in an interview to Outlook in Octo- 30-page BCCI petition. Apart from the ‘cooling off’ clause,
ber last year. Lodha had also taken umbrage to the fact that the Board wants sweeping powers for the secretary and
when the new constitution was cleared by the SC, quite a asks that age should not be made a factor in choosing a rep-
few reforms were toned down. resentative to the ICC.
Indeed, if the SC special bench approves the changes The decision of the bench will not only have its conse-
sought in the BCCI’s aggressive petition, there will be very quences in the BCCI but ICC as well. With incumbent
little impact left of the original reforms recommended by Shashank Manohar not keen on a third two-year term as
the Lodha panel. “I don’t feel like speaking on BCCI ICC chairman, the position will be up for grabs. Although
affairs,” says Justice Lodha, when asked to comment on the England’s Colin Graves is pitted to succeed former BCCI
fresh application. chief Manohar, Ganguly’s name has done the rounds in
Legal experts feel the BCCI petition is “not a priority” for recent weeks. ICC directors are each allowed to nominate
the special bench. Justice Bobde has never been keen on one candidate, who has to be either a present or past ICC
the BCCI matter; it is learnt that Justice Rao’s role will be director. Nominees with the support of two or more Full
crucial. He was part of the Justice Mukul Mudgal commit- Member directors are eligible to contest the election. It
tee when the probe into the IPL betting and fixing case had leaves Srinivasan with an outside chance too. Ganguly
started. “He knows this case from its won’t mind a stint in this coveted posi-
roots. BCCI will really have to tion, given his goal of winning India
convince him to win a favourable order If elected ICC chief, the largest share of ICC’s revenue and
and it’s not going to happen in a jiffy,” keeping Test cricket alive.
says a legal expert. “It also depends on Ganguly would aim The next three months will be preg-
who is arguing from the other side.” to win India the nant with possibilities. While cricket-
The BCCI application may come up ers wait to return to action, power
for hearing in June, since Ganguly has largest share of ICC equations are set to change as winds
to vacate his chair by July-end. Legally with strong under-currents sweep the
speaking, the bench could either allow
revenue and keep cricketing world. A favourable wind
the changes straight away or order a Test cricket alive. can get India or BCCI what it wants. O

28 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020

Join the
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PTI COVER A P O O R VA S A L K A D E

COVID-19
STORY

AT
WORLD’S
END

A P O O R VA S A L K A D E S U R E S H K . PA N D E Y
 Salik Ahmed

How do you trace the outlines of pain on a gigantic, sub-

continental scale…a cartography of pain, if you like? Take as
your sketching ink some extremes of the human condition. As
it happens, it’s available in plenty in the real world. The basic
facts will do. On May 23, a 48-year-old migrant labourer died
on the Shramik Express—minutes before the train from
Mumbai pulled into the last station, Varanasi. A fabled last
station, civilisationally. But why did Jokhan Yadav die? First,
there was the heat. Then, he had gone without food or water
for over 60 hours, as he moved over the northern Indian
plains, like lakhs of others, trying to reach his hometown
Jaunpur. No food or water was served on the train during the
entire journey. And stick-wielding GRP personnel wouldn’t
let anybody get down from the train. It thus became, in a per-
version of how it was intended, a moving concentration camp.
Now take such a picture and paint it again and again, or photocopy it a
few million times for efficiency. Then we can begin to fathom pain that
comes in the size of a country. Of course, given the swiftness with which
agony is being cast as heroism, Jokhan too may have been hailed as an icon
of endurance, if he had survived. For, trauma is also felt by the classes that
have occasion to consume this explosion of dismal news along with their
650 km
takeway food, delivered by gloved hands, and Dalgona coffee—and still Mukesh Maurya,22, a daily
have appetite left over for messianic signs of heroism. Only the softest
nudge is required. Ask Jyoti Kumari, the 15-year-old who cycled 1,200 km
wage labourer, travelled from
from the parody spires and glass boxes of Gurgaon to her real world— Delhi to reach Musafirkhana,
Darbhanga in Bihar—with her ailing father on the pillion. The Cycling his village in UP’s Amethi dis-
Federation of India offered her a trial! The girl refused the offer citing the
primacy of her studies. What can connect the pain in her limbs, the unre- trict, 650 km away. He set off
quited hero fetish of Indians who can afford to stay locked down, and the on March 28, determined to
sparse economy of north Bihar that her family had fled in the first place?
What brand of sociology can unpack the paradoxes?
be home to see his baby
Something must. For, now we have an embarrassment of riches in terms being born. It took many
of samples. India has turned into a giant lab of extreme sociology ever hours of walking, more hours
since the lockdown happened: lakhs of labourers in the cities made a dash
for their homes, often hundreds of miles away. Braving—not braving, suf- of waiting and three gruel-
fering—heat, hunger and the assault of police batons. On foot, on cycles, on ling, crowded bus rides. “I
rickety rickshaws, often crossing forests and rivers. At least a hundred died
in accidents, run over by trains, hit by speeding trucks, or when their vehi-
reached just in time. My wife
cles overturned. Some succumbed to sheer exhaustion—in all the glory of was in labour and we had to
the Indian summer. get an ambulance to take her
Amrit Kumar, all of 25, suffered a heat stroke while travelling on the back
of a truck, from Ahmedabad to his native village in UP’s Basti. His friend to hospital,” Maurya said.
from the village, Mohammed Saiyub, got down with him midway and took

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 T R I B H U VA N T I WA R I

him to a hospital, but the severe dehydration

proved fatal. Other passengers had urged Saiyub to
leave the friend. In a sane society, this would have
been a story of hardy friendship, but in our mine-
field of a society, it attained the semantics of reli-
gious amity. Amrit, ironically named in retrospect,
leaves behind those who had conferred that name
on him: his not-so-able-bodied father and mother,
besides four younger siblings.
Among those millions in Brownian motion, there
were those who made it home and those who could
not. There was a third kind too: the likes of Saiyub,
who reached home but marked by such deep loss
that the torment of the journey paled in compari-
son. Ram Pukar Pandit, whose weeping face bec­
ame a symbol of migrant misery, reached home but
could not see his year-old son even in death—he
hadn’t seen the child in life either. The little body
was flown down the waters of the Budhi Gandak by
the time he reached.
The loss and the voiding will be evened in the full-
ness of time. For now, they, and their compatriots in
suffering, have reached the villages where they feel
safe, and protected, and as Egyptian writer Naguib
Mahfouz noted, where all their attempts to escape
cease. Out of four crore migrant labourers, 75 lakh
have returned homes, we were informed last week.
For those who have crossed the hump, questions of
more earthly character loom large. What will they
do in their villages and towns, the very places they
left for reasons of want?
They have the promise of an infinitely basic meal
at home, but their needs will mutate. The lockdown
might lift soon, at least partially, but will those
scarred by this summer ever return? At the other guarantees 100 days of work and a daily maximum
end, the comfort and cushion of home might wear wage of Rs 220 to every person in a village. In 50
out soon too, and the limitations of the village econ- days beginning April 1, NREGA received applica-
omy might start gnawing at them. For some, it could tions from 35 lakh new workers across India.
be a question of if, but for most, it’s a question of Compare with financial year 2019-20: in all its 365
when. They are merely waiting for an opening. days, there were only 15 lakh new applicants.
Why? Avinash Kumar, assistant professor at The figures are, in a real sense, a statement on
JNU’s Centre for Informal Sector and Labour the terrible paucity of work options in rural India.
Studies, takes us back to the basic driver of migra- It’s not only the returnees, even locals who are out
tion: the local economy, deficient and unequally of work because of the lockdown are opting for it.
distributed, is unable to sustain its working popu- Two weeks ago, the Centre pumped in Rs 40,000
lation. “They are forced to go out and work. crore to strengthen NREGA, in addition to the exi­
There’s also social mobility: better job, better edu- sting budget of Rs 61,000 crore. In the usual
cation, better quality of life. So there’s forced mig­ scheme of things, NREGA is often seen only as a
ration as well as that driven by a pull.” Mostly, he means of supplementary income and a viable opt­
says, it’s the landless and small and marginal farm- ion for women who can’t go out of the village for
ers who migrate to cities. “Within those classes, work for a number of reasons. It didn’t stand up
we see people from all castes moving. The more for contest as a primary option because a) the
privileged castes, however, have a greater degree of wages are considerably low as compared to city
choice in work because of their social capital. You wages, and b) it gives only 100 days of work
won’t usually find a savarna carrying bricks at a whereas cities offer plentiful, if irregular, work
construction site. You are more likely to find them throughout the year. But in this Covid-bitten sea-
working as security guards,” says the professor. son, it has become an option of the last resort.
Back in the village, one new variable is NREGA: Rajasthan has the highest number of NREGA
the numbers opting for work under the social secu- workers at the moment: 40.3 lakh, as of May 26. In
rity scheme are quite telling. As a basic safety net, it the first week of March, that stood at only 10 lakh,

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STORY
A P O O R VA S A L K A D E
then fell further to 62,000 by mid-April. That was
because guidelines weren’t clear on NREGA during
the first lockdown (March 25-April 14), which res­
ulted in low labour engagement.
But the second lockdown guidelines made it very
clear that NREGA work could be opened in
non-containment zones. “The numbers have
soared since then,” says Purna Chandra Kishan,
NREGA commissioner, Rajasthan. He attributes
Rajasthan’s top rank in enrolment—despite having
only 1.07 crore job cards—to better implementation.
UP, on the other hand, has 1.83 crore job cards but
lags behind in the numbers enrolled. “Of the 10-11
lakh labourers who have returned to Rajasthan,
7-8 lakh are already working under NREGA,”
says Kishan.
The scheme’s success in Rajasthan could also be
ascribed to the state being the karmabhoomi of
the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a
people’s organisation that spearheaded the cam-
paign for NREGA legislation. Aruna Roy, one of
its oldest members, had in an interview to
Outlook earlier this month suggested that the
government needs to ensure a minimal level of
livelihood and income security to labour, farmers
and workers in the informal sector, and that
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
NREGA was an obvious tool for it. “There is no
alt­ernative to ensuring a regular cash flow to all
those affected. The Employment Guarantee Act
would provide work with dignity, and perhaps be
the most inexpensive way to rebuild a shattered
economy,” she said. Roy had also put forward
ano­ther interesting idea. “…an Urban Employ­
ment Guarantee should also be put in place. The
shock of the lockdown, and the loss of employ-
ment, will be countered only with guaranteed
tenure and security of income to help persuade
workers to return to their former places of work,”
she said.
Returning also means forgetting the injustices.
Being sprayed with chemicals, being cooped up for
days without even food in ad-hoc quarantine cen-
tres and errant trains—indeed, their trains being
cancelled by chief ministers when wealthy realtors
wanted plentiful ‘supply’ of labour. But when have
they not forgotten—or should we use the moral
word, ‘forgiven’? Many are not even angry with the
government; their sense of rights and citizenship
too have been economised by the economy of their
resources. That’s the other paradox. Are the ordi-
nary days in the lives of a migrant worker signifi-
cantly better than these days of lockdown? Their
years have been filled with the hardest living—the
naturalness with which they responded to the crisis,
millions opting to walk and cycle for hundreds of
miles, speaks of familiarity with physical extremes.
Enduring injustice too was perhaps a way of life for
them. It was only the accumulated mass of it that
made it visible to the privileged classes. Often, the
shock and outrage belongs there. As does any sense
of the collective betrayal of rights. O
100 km
Migrant labourer Jatin Ram’s
pregnant wife, Bindia, who
walked over 100 km from
Ludhiana, delivered a girl
child after reaching Ambala
in Haryana on May 23. But the
baby died shortly after birth.
It was the first child of the
couple in their early 20s.
They were on the way
home in Bihar.
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 33
 PTI

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STORY

HOME
BITTER
HOME
A viral photo of a weeping man put
the spotlight on his dire circumstances.
But by then, it was too late.

Giridhar Jha
R
AM PUKAR Pandit has at last reunited
with his family in Bihar, but it is not the
homecoming he was looking forward to.
An abiding sense of loss and guilt continues to
haunt him ever since he reached his village,
distraught and heartbroken—barely a few days
after his 11-month-old son, whom h e had never
seen, succumbed to a stomach infection.
The 38-year-old from Basahi village under
Cheria Bariarpur block of Begusarai district is
yet to reconcile to the fact that he was not
around when his toddler breathed his last
or, worse, when his body was flown quietly
into a nearby river by his family members in
his absence.
Pandit’s son Ram Pravesh, who was born last
year, had brought happiness to his family com-
prising his wife Bimal Devi and three daughters,
the eldest nine years old. But he had never seen
his only son, let alone held him in his arms. His
wife was eight months pregnant when he had to
suddenly leave to work in Delhi last year. As the
sole breadwinner of his family, he knew that he
did not have the option of staying back. He had
to earn every day to support himself and his im-
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
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COVID-19
STORY
S A R V E S H K A S H YA P H
poverished family. Since he was not in the vil-
lage at the time of his son’s birth, he did not even
know what he looked like.
Busy as he was, working day in and day out as
a daily-wage labourer at a con-
struction site, he wanted to save
some money before returning to
his village and see his son. He Pandit’s son Ram
wanted to go back before Holi ear-
lier this year, but an ongoing con- Pravesh, born
struction project put paid to his
hopes. And when all activity sud-
last year, had
denly stopped due to the lockdown brought
from March 25, he was confined to
his room, which he shared with happiness
others. As the lockdown was ext­
ended in the weeks to come, his
to his family
roommates began to leave one comprising wife
after another and he found himself
all alone, with no money to pay the Bimal Devi and
monthly room rent of Rs 6,000. It
was at this juncture that he came three daughters.
to know that his son was not keep-
ing well. After receiving an SOS from his wife,
he rushed out of his house, panic-stricken,
intending to join the migrants who were out
on the highways, marching to their respective
states on foot.
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STORY
He had no idea at the time that the distance
between Delhi and his village in Begusarai was
not less than 1,200 km. “My only thought was I
would cover the distance to save my ailing son,”
he says, “Since there was no train or bus availa-
ble during the lockdown, I had no other option
anyway. I thought I would reach my village in a
few days. But officials did not allow me to pro-
ceed beyond the Delhi-UP border.”
Faced with the closure of all exit routes, he got
stranded hundreds of miles away from his son,
whose condition was worsening by the day. On
May 11, Press Trust of India photographer Atul
Yadav spotted him sobbing inconsolably on
Nizamuddin Bridge while talking to his wife on
his mobile phone. A picture of the grief-stricken
Pandit breaking down over his helplessness
soon went viral, making him a poignant symbol
of the migrant crisis during the lockdown.
As fate would have it, a few NGO workers
came to his rescue, giving him not
only food and money, but also ar-
Faced with the ranging for his return to Bihar on
a Shramik Special train. It was,
closure of all exit however, too late. His child had
already died by then.
routes, he Purohit eventually reached
got stranded Begusarai on the night of May 15
and wanted to meet his family,
hundreds of but he was first taken to a quaran-
tine centre. A few days later, he
miles away from was admitted to a nearby hospital
his son, whose for a COVID-19 test. “It was at the
hospital that I could finally see
condition was my wife and eldest daughter cry-
ing from a distance,” Pandit says.
worsening.
“I was discharged and allowed to
go to my village after the test re-
sults were negative.”
“It never occurred to me that I would never
see my son while I was leaving for Delhi last
year,” says Pandit, unable to hold back his tears.
“And when I finally returned, he was not around.
His body had been flown into the Budhi Gandak
river after his death. Due to my misfortune, I
could not come back in time to even perform his
last rites properly.”
Even as he continues to grapple with his
trauma, Pandit now vows to never return to
Delhi or, for that matter, any other place to eke
out a livelihood. “I will not go anywhere, I will
only stay with my family. I have three daughters
to marry, but I will try to find work closer to my
village.”
Pandit has since received free ration for two
months from the district administration, but he
does not know what is going to be his next
source of income at home. “In Delhi, if I got
36 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020
work regularly, I used to earn around Rs 10,000-
12,000 a month. I don’t know how much I will be
able to earn here,” he says. “But one thing is
sure—I shall not go back.”
This despite the fact that Pandit owns only
eight dhur (approx 1457 square feet) of land in
his village, where his ramshackle house stands.
A Kumhar (potter) by caste, Pandit could never
pursue his family vocation. “My father still
makes pitchers, diyas etc to make ends meet,
but I cannot do it due to an accident in my child-
hood that restricted my movement.”
Pandit hails from a poor village, which has
about 30 per cent scheduled caste members.
The areas surrounding his village are dependent
on agrarian economy—there are no employment
avenues in a government enterprise or private
industry. A large number of young people,
therefore, leave for big cities every year in
search of jobs. Except for a few families of local
landlords, most households have at least one of
their members working in faraway places.
In the face of a massive reverse migration over
the past few days, Bihar chief minister Nitish
Kumar has appealed to all workers returning
from distant cities to stay back in the state,
promising to find a job for everyone according
to their skills. Yet, it will be a daunting task for
someone like Pandit to earn enough to support
his family in the months to come. But he is
ready to brave all odds. Whatever happens, he
says, he does not want to pay the price for stay-
ing far from his family again. O
1,400
km
Razia Begum, a teacher
from Bodhan in
Telangana, rode 1,400
km on her scooty to
bring back her son—a
Class XII student—
stuck in Andhra’s
Rehmatabad, 700 km
away. She started on
April 6 and navigated
via Google Maps and
asking locals. She was
back home on April 8.
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY
Grit On The
Handlebar
Stranded in Gurgaon, Jyoti Kumar
cycled 1,200 km in eight days with her
father on the pillion to reach home
Giridhar Jha
H
ERS is an extraordinary tale of triumph
against insurmountable odds and
institutional apathy. Riding an old bicycle
with her injured father perched precariously on its
rear, a doughty 15-year-old pedalled to her native
place in Bihar in just eight days to pull off a rescue
mission that has got the world talking. Described
by The New York Times as ‘lion-hearted’, Jyoti
Kumari, a resident of Sirhulli village under
Singhwara block of Darbhanga district, and her
feat have become emblematic of the crisis the
lockdown has engendered for migrant workers
and the lengths to which they have to strive for the
comfort of home.
Ever since she returned to her village earlier
this month, people from all walks of life—from
government officials and politicians to volun-
teers of charity organisations—have been mak-
ing a beeline for her house, offering all kinds of
support, including monetary help. The Cycling
Federation of India also invited her for a trial.
Jyoti, however, has rebuffed the offer. She first
wants to complete her studies, which she had to
leave after Class VIII due to her family’s finan-
cial condition. “I want to pass the matriculation
examination now,” she says.
Impressed with her heroic feat, the district edu-
cation officials have already enrolled her in Class
IX at a nearby high school and also given her a new
bicycle. Her father, Mohan Paswan, says that she
may take part in cycling trials in the future, but at
the moment, education is his daughter’s priority.
Jyoti, of course, had not expected fanfare, rew­
ard, adulation or accolades when she set out for
an arduous journey along with her father on May
10. All she wanted to do was take him home to
mitigate his mental and physical suffering. “My
father was quite apprehensive about my plan to
return home on a bicycle during the lockdown,
but I reassured him that I would bring him back
to the village,” she says.
Jyoti, along with her mother and brother-in-
law, had gone to Gurgaon in January this year
after her father, an e-rickshaw driver, sustained
grievous injuries on his knee in an accident.
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
SONU KISHAN
While her mother, an anganwadi worker, and
brother-in-law returned home in February, Jyoti
had to stay back to look after her father. But it
was getting increasingly difficult for the fat­her-
duo daughter to survive, especially during the
lockdown. “After the lockdown was extended, my
landlord asked me to clear the rent, but I had run
short of money,” Paswan says. “I
did not know how to return home
because there was no train or bus
available at the time. But Jyoti
Mohan Paswan
suggested we could return tog­ says his daughter
ether on a bicycle.”
After convincing her father to might go for
ride pillion, Jyoti bought a sec-
ond-hand bicycle and started her
cycling trials in
journey on May 10. Pedalling fur­ future, but
iously for hours for eight consec-
utive days, at times getting help at the moment
from a tractor or a lorry driver,
she finally accomplished her mis-
education
sion to bring her father home on is Jyoti’s
May 17. “We stopped at a few
places to take short breaks,” she only priority.
says. “Many people helped us
with food and other things dur-
ing the journey.”
Hailed as a modern-day Shravan Kumar, the
mythological figure known for literally shoul-
dering the burden of his parents in their old age,
Jyoti received a grand welcome on arriving at
her village. Her father, who had to leave for
Gurgaon because of the dearth of opportunities
in his flood-prone village, has now been offered
jobs by some good Samaritans. Once he recuper-
ates, he may not have to return to Gurgaon in
search of a livelihood. And he will owe it all to
his tenacious daughter. O
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 37

As He Lay
Dying
Amrit and Saiyub’s bond of friendship, forged in
childhood, would break cruelly on a hot, dusty
highway. This is their story.
Salik Ahmad in Basti, UP
I
T was the morning of May 15. Mohammad
Saiyub (22) and Amrit Kumar (25) had been
travelling atop the roof of a truck for over a
day. They were returning from Surat in Gujarat,
where they worked in a textile unit, to their
village Devari, 1,500 km away in Uttar Pradesh’s
Basti. Amrit had developed a raging fever; his
condition deteriorated as the blazing day wore
on. The prolonged exposure to the sun had
caused a heat stroke.
38 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
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COVID-19
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SURESH K . PA N D E Y
“He lay with his head in my lap. His body was
burning, I could feel the heat,” says Saiyub. He
told his friend to hang in there and that they’d
find a doctor somewhere on the route. But, see-
ing Amrit’s condition, other
passengers in the truck started growing uneasy.
Suspecting that Kumar was a COVID-19 patient,
they told the driver to get rid of him. Saiyub
insisted that they be dropped near a hospital at
least. But the frayed nerves ranged against him
were overpowering, their demand heartless.
The two were dropped about 50-60 km from the
district hospital in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh.
As they got down, the driver told Saiyub, “Leave
him. Why are you getting down with him?” It was
a thought Saiyub couldn’t countenance even for a
moment. All he wanted was his childhood friend
to get well and their safe return to Devari—they
mostly travelled together. Fortunately, they were
dropped where a few good samaritans were serv-
ing food and water to migrant labourers in transit;
they called an ambulance for the duo.
When Amrit was wheeled into the hospital that
evening, he could barely speak. He and Saiyub
were isolated and kept in different wards. Saiyub
couldn’t sleep that night—the first of four sleep-
less nights that were to follow—haunted by
dreadful portents about his friend. In the morn-
ing, a nurse informed him that his friend died the
previous night from severe dehydration. Saiyub
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY
had to wait for another two days for their corona-
virus test reports to come negative before he
could bring his friend’s body back home.
Devari is pleasing to the eye—nestled amidst
folds of rich green, grazed on by shiny, taut-
skinned buffaloes, its morning silence broken by
the sound of a generator-powered pump and the
gurgle of water it throws into a field. Amrit’s fa-
ther, Ram Charan, is a frail man with legs too
weak for hard farm labour. Amrit was the bread-
winner for the family that includes three
younger sisters and a brother. “He was only 17
when he left the village. It wasn’t the age for
work but the situation…. Boys his age are still
roaming around, some studying, yet to start
work,” says Charan, who owns a small farm.
Amrit made Rs 480 a day—he got a small hike
last Diwali—while Saiyub made Rs 400. Both
worked on the loom and stayed together. “If we
took a holiday, which was rare, we lost a day’s
wages. We avoided going out even on holidays,
as it would mean unnecessary expenses; we
both knew the condition of our families,” says
Saiyub. It was Amrit who took Saiyub to Surat
on his own expense and got him a job. The lock-
down first guzzled their savings; the journey
back cost one of them their lives. Saiyub wishes
the government had thought of labourers, given
them some time and ran trains to help them re-
turn, as they are doing now.
The young man is not sure when he’ll go back.
“Even if lockdown is lifted, I am not going there
for at least six-seven months. Jab dil bolega tab
jayenge (I’ll only go when my heart says), adds
Saiyub. “And now that Amrit is no more, I don’t
even feel like going. Everything in the room will
remind me of him. All his clothes would be there—
he was fond of clothes and bought new ones
whenever he had extra money. He loved music
too, and had recently bought a Bluetooth speaker.”
Yet staying back is also a fraught
decision. “What will I do in the village? I’ll go to
the city and earn money.” There could be a few
labour opportunities in the village, for instance
on another person’s farm, or tending to some-
body’s animals. A day’s work could fetch Saiyub
anything between Rs 150-250 a day, but he is
unenthusiastic. “I feel a little ashamed in doing
manual labour here. All my friends are here. In
the city nobody knows me,” says Saiyub, who
has never gone to school. A friend suggests that
he could get his job card made under MNREGA
and get some work. Saiyub isn’t very keen still,
but might take it up to earn something.
The village pradhan Mohammed Wakeel says
that the number of MNREGA workers has gone
up from about 1,000 to 1,200 after the lockdown.
Devari has a population of 4,000, out of which
300 had migrated to other states for work. A ma-
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
jority have returned. “If they want to earn a liv-
ing, they’ll have to go back. They are waiting for
things to stabilise,” says Wakeel. He also met peo-
ple from a different village who bore the brunt of
the lockdown and swear never to return.
There is no industry in the area that could pro-
vide employment to people, Wakeel says; a sugar
mill that used to employ a few hundred people
shut down some years ago. “MNREGA can pro-
vide some assistance, but can’t be a proper
source of income. The good thing about it is that
women, who can’t go out of the village for work,
can also do it,” he adds.
Eastern UP, where Basti is situated, is an ex-
tremely backward region, says Roli Misra, eco-
nomics professor at Lucknow University. “The
bottom four of the 100 aspirational districts
Saiyub wishes
the Centre had
given labourers
some time at
first and helped
them return,
like they are
doing now.
(those with very poor socio-economic indica-
tors) identified by the Niti Aayog are Bahraich,
Siddharth Nagar, Shravasti and Balrampur.
Basti shares its boundary with Balrampur and
isn’t different from these districts,” says Misra,
whose area of research includes migration and
agricultural economics.
“About 80 per cent of people in the region are
dependent on agriculture, and agriculture is
largely dependent on erratic monsoons. As a re-
sult, many small and marginal farmers migrate
to cities, where they see economic prosperity,”
she says. “For those who have returned,
MNREGA can at most be a stopover arrange-
ment. There is a big difference in MNREGA and
city wages; plus, it gives only 100 days of work,
whereas cities offer work on all 365 days.” Time
will smother Saiyub’s grief. Then, he might just
have to take the long road back alone. O
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Driest
Land, SURESH K . PA N D E Y

Deepest
Salik Ahmad in Hamirpur, UP

I
F its fields were to be painted on a realist
canvas, Bundelkhand would require bold

Sea
Migrant workers who returned to Hamirpur’s
Jhalokhar village oscillate between hope and
disillusionment. There’s little work at home,
and the cities have let them down badly.
swathes of yellow and brown—the colours of
shrivelled vegetation. The region, which com-
prises of parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh, has suffered from drought for several
years. Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh lies in this
region. Scragy cows with visible ribcages forage
around a parched landscape; on the road leading
to Jhalokhar village, two wild horses are locked
in an unrelenting battle. In the village, a dog
scurries about with a stiff chapati in its mouth.
Santosh Kumar, 33, his wife, and daughter ret­
urned from Ahmedabad to Jhalokhar in the second

40 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020

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STORY
week of May. They arrived by train—the tickets
cost Rs 610 each for adults—and have quaran-
tined themselves at their home ever since.
Santosh used to work at a cloth dying unit while
his wife Parvati worked part-time at a
cloth-weaving unit. Together, they made around
Rs 16,000-18,000 a month and managed to save
about Rs 10,000. These savings would help them
survive those unpaid, lockdown weeks in the city.
In Ahmedabad, Santosh and Parvati saw and
heard reports of migrant labourers walking
hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes,
some being killed in accidents, some dying of
exhaustion, and dreaded being forced into a sit-
uation where they might have to leave on foot
for home a thousand kilometres away. “All we
wanted was to be in the village amongst our
own. If one dies in the city, there isn’t even one
person who’s going to ask after us,” says Parvati.
Santosh nods in agreement—they feel secure
here even if they have to survive on roti and
salt, he says. However, he never liked working
in the village. The wages were low and the only
job he held in Hamirpur before moving to
Gujarat in 2015 was that of a helper at a general
store. He tried his luck at MNREGA, but was
rebuffed by the village pradhan, who told him
he was too weak for the job (works under the
scheme usually do not involve heavy manual
labour). The discretion of village heads in issu-
ing MNREGA work has often been criticised.
Now, with grave uncertainty about work and
future, Santosh feels that he might have to give
MNREGA a go again. “I’ll go back only when
work gathers steam. Some are saying this crisis
will go on for a year. It’s going to get very diffi-
cult if that happens. But who has control over
the disease?” he says dispiritedly. The family’s
only land, a small portion which his wife inher-
ited, isn’t enough to sustain them. They’ll ulti-
mately go back; it’s just a matter of time. Apart
from low wages, the problem with work in
village and around, Santosh adds, is its erratic
availability. “You’ll get it for four days but for
the next six days you’ll have no work.”
Santosh, however, believes that the govern-
ment will do something for the likes of him.
On the other hand, Ramphal Prajapati, 35,
ano­ther returnee labourer in Jhalokhar, is
livid at the government for leaving them in the
lurch. “Koi saadhan ki vyavastha ki nahin,
janta bhad bhada ke marne lagi (The govern-
ment did not make any arrangements for those
going back to their homes. People started
dying in that situation),” says Ramphal, who
used to iron bedsheets for the railways in
Mumbai. About 150 labourers from various
states have returned to the village.
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
A passer-by interjects: “He [the prime minis-
ter] has an entire country to run. What all will
he do? You won’t be able to govern a village if
you were made pradhan.”
Ramphal paid Rs 4,000 for the return journey—
in a truck. All that they ate on the way were bis-
cuits and bananas offered by kind people. The
experience has left him shaken and disillusioned.
The very thought of going back produces fear.
“Haath pair phool gaya tha (My limbs swelled
and were numb). I am scared of getting stranded
again if I go back. Fear has set in.” Sitting at his
place of quarantine—a part of the house meant
for keeping animals and storing fodder—
Ramphal says he’s willing to work as a mason in
and around the village. But now, with his phone
damaged, he is bored to death and has absolutely
nothing to do. “If I venture out, people curse me
and tell me to stay indoors,” he says. One of his
neighbours, Satyendra Agarwal, who has an MA
in sociology, says that he worked as
a security guard in Gurgaon for a
few months. That’s the best he “Chief reasons
could get. He returned soon and
now works with his parents, who for migration
sell samosas in the village.
Muhammad Nayim, assistant were death of
professor of social work at industries and
Bundelkhand University, says mi-
gration from the region happened water scarcity,
chiefly because of two reasons—the
slow death of industries and the making farming
scarcity of water that makes agri- unviable,” says
culture unviable. “Jhansi’s Ranipur,
called Surat of Bundelkhand, used Prof Muhammad
to be famous for producing tricot
fabric. The industry is in a very Nayim.
sorry state now. Same is the case
with Jalaun’s Kalpi, known for
paper and carpet industry. Or Mahoba, once a
hub of betel production. Climatic conditions and
poor returns both contributed to its downfall.”
In the past ten years, adds Nayim, a trend of dis-
placement has taken root. “People who migrate
do not want to return at all. With people return-
ing due to the lockdown, some houses here have
been opened after years. Some houses had been
occupied illegally; there are reports of disputes
too,” says Nayim. Now that people are returning
after such a long time, and in such large numbers,
rehabilitating them is a big challenge. MNREGA
and Public Distribution System (PDS), he adds,
can provide some cushion but might not be a per-
manent solution. One doesn’t know for how long
those who returned would stay, and how many
will leave again after the lockdown ends. With no
work back home, Parvati, Santosh and Ramphal
have hard choices to make. O
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J I T E N D E R G U P TA STORY

130 km
Arivazhagan, 65, took his
cancer-stricken wife Manjula,
60, on a bicycle from his
village near Kumbakonam and
pedalled 130 km to reach
JIPMER hospital in Pondicherry,
so that she did not miss her
chemotherapy session. He sat
her on the carrier and tied her
with a towel to his waist. “We
started at 4.45 am and reached
JIPMER at 10.15 pm. On the way
we had tea and slept near
a pond for two hours,”
Arivazhagan, a construction
New Delhi worker, said.

30
Children were born on Shramik
Special trains till May 25. The
first was 35-year-old Mamta
Yadav’s little one, born on May
8, when she was travelling
alone from Gujarat to Bihar.
Co-passengers named the
newborn Corona Kumari. A baby
girl born May 24 on board a
special train to Uttar Pradesh
was named Lockdown Yadav. New Delhi
S U R E S H K . PA N D E Y

42 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020


Tour De
S A N D I PA N C H AT T E R J E E
Force
Sandipan Chatterjee in Bardhaman, W. Bengal
T
HERE are five of them—Lakhinarayan
Das, Rajesh Das, Biswajit Khetrapal, Arup
Singh and Bumba Dutta. Young men in
their twenties, they are from Jamalpur village in
Bardhaman district in West Bengal. Fast friends
all, about five years ago they decided to leave their
village for want of gainful work and go all the way
to Andhra Pradesh, where they heard new
factories were opening and jobs were in plenty.
They fetched up in Visakhapatnam and were
hired as welders in a factory in Malkapuram
Coromandel Gate. The work was hard but the
money was good. They had their
own rooms, food was decent and
they saved enough money every
month. But, inevitably, the lock-
The future is down lay its deadening fingers here
uncertain. They too: the factory shut down and sala-
ries were stopped. Bit by bit, their
might go back if savings were being eaten into—the
five realised the untenability of their
the factory survival. The only option, they de-
reopens. They cided, was to return home to
Bardhaman. Yet, the mode of travel,
want to start without any buses or trains, pre-
sented a logistical impasse. Decisive
businesses, but action was called for, and a bold, au-
lack capital. dacious plan was seized upon: they
would cycle it home, some 1,100
kilometres up the coast towards the
east. Brand new Hero and Hercules
cycles—costing between Rs 5,500-
Rs 6,500 each—were bought with the last of their
dwindling savings. Then they set off.
The first night they got a lift in a truck, which
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COVID-19
STORY
The indomitable five, now
quarantined in a school,
with their bicycles in the
background.
Stranded in
Vishakhapatnam,
the five friends
wanted to go home.
Their bicycle
journey up the
coast to Bengal
displayed endur-
ance and willpower.
saved them many
kilometres. “We did not face any problems in
Andhra Pradesh or when we were crossing
Odisha. In fact, Andhra Pradesh police and local
people were very helpful, they gave us food to
eat,” says Bumba Dutta.
As they approached the Odisha-West Bengal
border, it started to rain heavily, what with the
build-up of cyclone Amphan. “We found an aban-
doned tea stall where we kept the cycles and our
bags. We spent a whole night in the rain,” says
Bumba. In Odisha, people advised them to sell
their new cycles; they might be stolen on the way,
they were cautioned. But the five friends were not
letting anything hamper their last chances of get-
ting home. A good samaritan also showed them a
shorter and safer way to cross the Odisha border.
The five friends reached their village on May
21, after pedalling furiously for eight days. The
police have tested them and they are currently
quarantined for 14 days in Jamalpur’s Kashra
Kalna High School.
However, Lakhinarayan, Rajesh, Biswajit, Arup
and Bumba are not sure what the future holds for
them. “There is not much work here in the vil-
lage. If we get something to do under the NREGA
scheme, we will take it up for the time being,”
says Rajesh. “We will wait for the pandemic to get
over. If the factory opens, we will return to
Visakhapatnam,” adds Biswajit. The factory still
owes them Rs 10,000 in wages and dues, which
they plan to go back to claim. All of them would
like to start some small business in Bardhaman,
but all rue the paucity of capital. Right now, there
is nothing for it but to wait, but youth is on their
side, and the experience of five years’ work in a
distant land under their belts. They are confident
something good will turn up. O
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Dhule, Maharashtra

200 km
Kamlesh Meena, a 24-year-
old migrant tractor driver,
had walked around 200 km
mid-April from Ajmer district
to his village in Bhilwara. He
spent his mandatory 14-day
quarantine on a ‘machaan’
built on a tree. His father,
Sagarmal, brought him
food and water.
A P O O R VA S A L K A D E

2,000 km
Parents of Col Navjot Singh
Bal, a Shaurya Chakra winner
who ran marathons despite
battling cancer, made
a 2,000-km-plus road
journey from Amritsar to
Bangalore to attend their
39-year-old son’s last rites
after his death on April 9.
West Bengal-Odisha border
S A N D I PA N C H AT T E R J E E

44 O U TLO O K | JUN E 8, 2020

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COVID-19
STORY
Life’s A
Sand Bar
The pressing reasons why Ashadul is
raring to get back to Bangalore
Abdul Gani in Guwahati
I
T’S the season of reverse migration—streams
of workers on India’s highways, walking from
cities towards destinations thousands of
miles away under a brazen sun, each passing day
bringing diminished hope. Or crowds hitching
rides in trucks, clambering on to buses, praying
for a seat in a ‘shramik special’ train. Victims of
the nationwide lockdown, many migrant workers
vowed never to return to heartless metros that
made destitutes of them in a trice.
But, as with every endeavour, there are those
who run against the tide. Ashadul Ali, 19, from
Assam’s Barpeta, worked in Bangalore and is
desperate to get back. “I came home as everyone
else was rushing back in a panicked state. Now,
what will I do to survive?” Ashadul tells Outlook
sitting on an embankment near Beki, a major
tributary of the Brahmaputra.
Ashadul, who has worked in a tent house in
Bangalore for almost a year now, is not the only
one from his neighbourhood to earn his liveli-
hood in Bangalore. Fifteen other youths, he
says, shifted to Bangalore to take up various
jobs. Ashadul earns Rs 10,000 a month there—
an enormous, unattainable sum back home.
“I must get back to work as soon as possible.
We can get rid of the disease (COVID-19) but
here we will starve,” he says. Witnessing devas-
tation by the annual floods and river erosion has
hardened Ashadul. “We have seen lot of hard-
ship from a young age. Our house has been
washed away twice. We had a narrow escape
once, while the next time we were just helpless
witnesses to the devastation,” he recalls. This
last incident was in 2013; he was too little to
rem­ember the earlier calamity.
“Father is getting old and doesn’t earn much by
selling milk. It becomes difficult to feed our two
cows,” adds Ashadul. Ever since the 2013 floods
led to their ruination, Ashadul’s family has been
living in their uncle’s land; in return, his father
helps out in the relatives’ agricultural fields. “We
too had lands around five bighas, but these are
now under water,” Ashadul says wistfully.
The alternative to the humiliation of working
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Ashadul Ali with his mother at his village in Assam’s
Barpeta district
for relations for a pittance is the job card issued
by the panchayat. Yet work is not regular. “When
we get to work, we get around Rs 250 a day. But
mostly we sit idle. It’s better to move out. When
I’m in Bangalore, I can at least send Rs 7,000
home, which means a lot,” says Ashadul, elabo-
rating on the circumstances that forced him out
of Assam. Then there are the two
younger brothers, the youngest one
a nine-year-old. “I couldn’t study
much but I want my brother to
study. Another reason I have to Caught between
work extra hard,” he adds.
Not just Ashadul, hundreds like natural calamity
him from this area are waiting to
return. Most are from habitations and lack of
by rivers and sand bars (locally employment,
known as ‘chars’); all have run the
fearsome gauntlet of annual floods, youths like
erosion of land and endless misery.
Their agricultural fields broken Ashadul must
away, bit by bit, by the cruel waters, leave home.
they were forced to move out of
their villages in search of work.
“This is a reality here. If they are
scared by COVID-19, their families
will starve. Obviously, they would like to go back.
Here scope for livelihood is limited and many face
racist slurs even within the state,” says Ashraful
Hussain, a local social worker. “‘Bangladeshi’ here
is an insulting slur hurled at these poor Muslim
migrant workers. All this, apart from more job op-
portunities elsewhere, have driven them out,”
adds Hussain. Ashadul seems to have made an as-
tute, obvious decision. But then, life has hardly
given him more than one choice. O
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A P O O R VA S A L K A D E STORY

1,200 km
Prem Murti Pandey, an airport
worker in Mumbai, travelled
1,200-km to his home in
Allahabad on a truck he hired
for Rs 77,500. He set off on
April 20 with 25,520 kg of
onions, shelling out Rs 2.32
lakh, and reached the UP city
on April 23. He headed
straight to the wholesale
market, but couldn’t
find a buyer.
Dhule, Maharashtra

100 km
Jamlo Makdam, 12, died on
April 18 after travelling over
100 km on foot from
Telangana to return home in
Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur
district. She died 50 km short
of her destination. Cases are
registered against a woman
labour agent who had hired
the girl, who was among 12
people from her village
working in the chilli fields of
Mulgu district, Telangana. Nashik-Madhya Pradesh Road
A P O O R VA S A L K A D E

46 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020


G C SHEKHAR
G.C. Shekhar in Chennai
J
UST close to the famous twin arches of
Anna Nagar in west Chennai, a group of
people from the Northeast are waiting on
the footpath at a sparsely shaded spot. Surround-
ed by suitcases and bags, they are looking up the
main road for the bus that would pick them up
and take them to the Central Railway Station.
There they would board the first
Shramik Special meant for the
Northeast that would terminate at
Manipur’s Jiribam railway station.
“There is no Waiting for the bus, Namdi says
he and his elder sister, 30-year-old
point working Ling, have been working in
long term in Chennai for the past five years.
While he was employed as a sales-
Manipur as the person on the counter for a high-
end textile showroom at Phoneix
pay is not good Mall in Velachery, his sister
enough,” says worked as a beautician in a parlour
nearby. “Chennai has been kind to
Namdi. us until this lockdown happened.
We managed on our savings for a
while before deciding to return
home and stay there until things
became normal,” he adds.
Paid a monthly salary of Rs
20,000, Namdi says he could send home at least
half of the amount as he shared a flat with five
others from Manipur, who would pool their
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Silence
of the
Malls
Northeasterners who worked in
Chennai’s malls and parlours are
waiting to go back home
money for meals. “People from the Norteast com-
prise at least 50 per cent of the workforce in our
650 beauty salons across the country,” says C.K.
Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals. “While 20 per
cent have returned home, the others have stayed
back. We paid the April salary, and took care of ac-
commodation and food during May. As the gov-
ernment is permitting the gradual opening of
salons, the outward traffic would slow down.”
One reason why salons like his prefer employ-
ees from the Northeast is their disciplined work
culture and their ability to converse in English.
Namdi points out that no one from his group
would stay away from work unless they are really
ill. “Also, Chennai has a very accommodative cul-
ture, with very little of the kind of racial discrimi-
nation one witnesses in Delhi. If our parents
agree with us on working in the South in spite of
the distance, it is because it is safer here for peo-
ple from our region,” he adds.
The train, which left on the evening of April
20, reached Jiribam on the night of April 23. For
25-year-old Namdi, it took another five hours of
bus journey to reach his home outside Senapati
town. “It was a long and tiring journey, but we
are thankful for it. We must thank the Manipur
and Tamil Nadu governments for coordinating
our return trip,” says Namdi over the phone
during the last leg of the journey. There are
1,300 people from Manipur travelling with him
in the train, who are among 3,000-odd migrants
from the state working in Chennai’s beauty par-
lours and spas, in restaurants as cooks and wait-
ers, and as shop assistants in malls.
Back home, what does Namdi plan to do? “I will
help my parents with their rice farming and also
find a temporary job for a few months…maybe
earn some money under MNREGA by working in
the fields. There is no point working long term in
Manipur as the pay is not good enough. Once the
parlours and malls reopen here, most of us will
come back. This is our workplace,” he says.. O
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450 km
Constable Anand Pandey
walked and took lift for from
motorists to travel 450 km
in three days from his
village in Kanpur to join duty
in Jabalpur on March 30.
Pandey was on leave from
February 20 and got stuck in
Kanpur due to the lockdown.
New Delhi
T R I B H U VA N T I WA R I

850 km
Sonu Kumar Chauhan, 24,
bicycled day and night for a
week with three friends from
Ludhiana to reach home in
Pipra Rasulpur in Maharajganj
district of UP. Reason: his
wedding on April 15. But the
tiles factory worker landed in a
quarantine centre in UP’s
Balrampur, still 150 km away.
“Had I reached home, there
possibly the wedding would
New Delhi have taken place,” he said.
J I T E N D E R G U P TA

48 O U TLO O K | JUNE 8, 2020

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COVID-19
STORY
Cycle
Ride to
Uncertainty
He cycled 1,700 km from his workplace
to a home with no prospects
Sandeep Sahu in Jajpur, Odisha
M
AHESH Jena, a 20-year-old factory
hand in a unit making water pumps in
Sangli, Maharashtra, made national
headlines in April by cycling some 1,700 km to
reach his village in Jajpur district of Odisha in
seven days. He took up this audacious expedition
not to write his name into the Guinness Book of
Records, but to escape the hardships thrust on
him when the factory where he worked shut
indefinitely due to the lockdown, leaving him
precious little to survive on. He had been engaged
in the factory through a sub-contractor. A month
and half later, Mahesh, who emphatically rules
out working as a labourer under MGNREGA, is
not sure what he will do next. He says he would go
back to Maharashtra only if he is employed
directly by a company.
“In the seven months that I worked there, I was
engaged by three different sub-contractors and
none paid the wages due to me. If my wages
worked out to Rs 2,000, they would pay me only
Rs. 1, 500,” says the Class X dropout. “I can run
machines, do other jobs in a pump making unit
and also know a bit about electrical wiring. I may
look for a job in some factory in Cuttack or
Bhubaneswar. If that doesn’t work out, I would
try out something on my own. I would see what
works for me. But I will take a call only after the
lockdown ends and things get back to normal.”
The aunt with whom Mahesh has stayed since
childhood says he is fond of birds locally known
as ‘baramaashi chadhei’, and spends a tidy sum
feeding them. When asked if it’s just a hobby or
a possible career option, he says, “It’s certainly
on my mind as birds fetch good money. But the
business is a risky proposition and requires in-
vestment that I cannot afford. If a bird of a rare
species dies for some reason, it could mean a
loss of a few thousand rupees.” Asked if he
would not run foul of the law if he sells birds, he
says, “That should not be a problem.”
Barely a kilometre from his aunt’s place in
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Mahesh Jena at
home in Odisha’s
Jajpur district
SANDEEP SAHU
Badasuara is Mahesh’s ancestral home in
Bhanra village. For the past nine months, his
mother and three siblings—a sister and two
younger brothers—have been in Punjab. His fa-
ther, who lost one of his kidneys and has a bro-
ken hip after a mishap last year, cannot work.
Mahesh says he is persuading his mother, who
runs a hawker’s cart in Punjab, to return to the
village with his siblings and start a fast food
joint in the nearby Bari-Baliapal
town so that his father is well
looked after and he is able to do
something on his own to supple- “If nothing
ment the family income. works out, I’ll
“But a fast food unit too would re-
quire investment,” he says. “We have open a grocery
no agricultural land, so farming is
not an option. I am thinking of doing shop in the
a short-term course in computers,
which would improve my employa-
village,” says
bility. If nothing works out, I could Mahesh, 20.
open a grocery shop in the village.”
Unlike Mahesh’s family, most of
the others in his village have some land. Some of
them grow vegetables on their land. Those who
don’t have any land work as agricultural labour-
ers on the lands of others. Many of them also go
to Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and even cities in other
states in search of jobs. This is the situation
across the entire coastal region of which Jajpur is
a part. A bulk of migrant workers now trooping
back home are from this region. With uncer-
tainty looming after the prolonged COVID-19
crisis, most people like Mahesh are looking at an
uncertain future. O
J U NE 9, 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 49

O P I N I O N / K.P. Kannan
Long March to More Precarity
The pandemic has laid bare the inequities that make
our economy unsustainable
THE heartbreaking scenes of
large crowds of inter-state
migrant workers walking
hundreds of kilometres
from their places of work, mostly in
urban centres, back to their villages
could have been avoided if the lock-
down was planned and executed in a
phased and calibrated manner.
Instead, it took the form of shock ther-
apy, putting this vast segment of
India’s workforce under threat of
death by COVID-19 away from their
dear ones, or of death by exhaustion
and starvation in the company of their
near ones. With the alarming spread of
the virus, there doesn’t seem to be an
escape from either of these.
Reports by mediapersons and
researchers suggest that those who
decided to return to their places of ori-
gin were already living and working in
precarious conditions. Employed, but
with no employment security or even a
semblance of social security, they often
resided in makeshift shelters at con-
50 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020
T H E W R I T E R , A D E V E L O P M E N T EC O N O M I ST, I S H O N O RA RY F E L L O W AT T H E C E N T R E
FO R D E V E L O P M E N T ST U D I E S , T H I R U VA N A N T H A P U RA M , A N D WA S M E M B E R O F T H E
E R ST W H I L E N AT I O N A L C O M M I S S I O N FO R E N T E R P R I S E S I N T H E U N O R G A N I S E D S EC T O R .
struction sites, or rented small rooms, often in slums. Many had no ration
or Aadhaar cards. When their workplaces were closed down without even
a day’s notice, what they lost was their means of livelihood. Rents could
not be paid, daily expenses could not be met and no money could be sent
home. It was tougher for those who lived with their families. Employers
as well as neighbours and friends who could afford to stay back encour-
aged them to return to their homes, but the government stopped all
means of transport. So thousands took to the roads and walked hundreds
of kilometres.
No other country claiming to be democratic would have done this. But
the Indian government did exactly that. It did not occur to the
government that inter-state migration is its responsibility. With a
million plus army and another million plus paramilitary forces well
trained to help people in emergency situations at its command, the
government chose to sit with its lips shut and the silence was deafening.
Instead, it granted ‘permission’ to the
financially battered state governments to
Many think they arrange for transport.
will be able to What is happening to the migrant work-
ers and their families after they reach
get back their their villages is anybody’s guess. The gov-
ernment washed its hands—with sanitis-
job sooner than ers, I suppose—after declaring the
later. Hoping provision of 5 kg of grain as free ration per
person per month and a kilo of pulses per
against hope. family. When I talked to researchers who
are tracking some of the returnees, the
first thing they reported is the trauma
experienced by them. This is especially so
for those who walked hundreds of kilo-
metres—their exhaustion was not just
physical.
The second is the absence of the State in
their places. No one enquires about how
they are coping. A quick telephonic study
by a researcher focusing on Garhwal dis-
trict in Uttarakhand revealed that those
who returned found very little support.
Some of them have a piece of land not
exceeding an acre and being cultivated by
their parents or wives. No work under the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
is being restarted. Many households had
sold their cattle before migration because
there was no one to look after them. There
is hardly any healthcare service at the pri-
mary health clinic, if at all it is open.
On an average, a migrant worker from
Uttarakhand earned around Rs 12-13,000
P H O T O G R A P H S BY A P O O R VA S A L K A D E
O P I N I O N / K.P. Kannan
per month in the National Capital
Region where they have a large pres-
ence. Half of it used to be sent to the
family in the village. Now their income
is zero. Many said they were not paid
their salaries for March. Those who
had migrated with their families
reported it was to provide better edu-
cation and healthcare to their children.
That prospect is now shattered. Yet
many think they will be able to get
back their job sooner than later.
Hoping against hope.
A study of returning migrants in
selected districts of Karnataka reveals
that a state or district can be an
out-migrant and in-migrant place at
the same time. In Kerala, international
out-migrants overwhelm those who
migrate to other parts of India. The
study also reveals that migrants
include skilled workers as well as those
with higher education and drawing
monthly salaries above Rs 20,000, but
without security of employment. They
are reluctant to seek unskilled work
under MGNREGA with starvation
wages. On the other end, there are
less-educated manual workers who are
now waiting to return to the cities
where they get a higher wage. There is
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
some presence of the State in the villages
There can be no of Karnataka, with more than 90 per cent
long-term solution of the residents receiving free ration and
farmers and women getting some cash.
for migrants The desire to go back to the cities is not
until economic driven by higher wages alone. Many
spoke about opportunities for upward
transformation mobility, skill-acquisition and so on. This
is another kind of hope. But no long-
is unleashed in term solution to the vulnerable status of
rural India. migrant workers will be found until a
meaningful economic transformation
gets unleashed in rural India. That would
include an expansion of the scope and areas of work under MGNREGA,
and its convergence with other rural development programmes for
strengthening rural asset creation, expansion of the public health sys-
tem, public education and social security. Meaningful land reforms that
would also function as a fall back mechanism, rural technological
changes and skilling of people to enhance labour productivity are also
much-needed initiatives for rural india. Empowering panchayat raj insti-
tutions could facilitate design and implementation appropriate to the
local context and necessity.
These are exactly contrary to the current agenda of corporate capi-
tal-driven accumulation, lawless labour regime, authoritarian centralisa-
tion of political and economic decision-making power and a readiness to
sell out the country to international capital. COVID-19 has exposed the
raw nerves in Indian society with its co-existence of extreme prosperity
and penury, entrenched social inequality with nominal representational
democracy and a culture of doublespeak and double standards. The avoid-
able indignity and suffering of the migrant workers is but one reminder
sent out sharply by the coronavirus. O (Views are personal.)
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 51
 LeAdership
trumps crisis
How Harnil Oza CEO of Hyperlink
InfoSystem managed WFH

A
pps have become important across industries now, but
this was not the case before 2011. After that year, with
the entry of iPhone 4s, a revolution began. People went
crazy over smartphones, causing a boom in the software indus-
try. Many start-ups that created mobile apps came into being.
Mr. Harnil Oza One inspiring story from that burst of creative energy is
CEO, Hyperlink that of a 21-year-old named Harnil Oza, the CEO of Hyperlink
InfoSystem. He dropped out of an MCA programme with the
Gujarat Technological University and started the company
from his Ahmedabad home. His success story unfolds like a
movie, with starting a company in his early twenties and
meeting every challenge head on.
In the early days, the company had just four staffers.
Currently, it employs over 250. After successfully making over
3,200 mobile apps, Hyperlink InfoSystem has a client base
that spreads across the world. It is working on various
trending technologies such as AI, blockchain, IoT, AR and VR.
It owes its success to Mr. Oza’s sharp vision and unbeatable
strategies.
His is an impressive achievement because handling the
projects, meeting the client deadlines even while paying at-
tention to their every requirement, and maintaining the
company’s finances call for attention to detail. Through this
all, Mr. Oza has been uncompromising in his vision. While
COVID-19 has been destabilising for industries globally, his
company has managed to come out unscathed thanks to
his skillful management. While ensuring the safety of his
employees, he has met his clients’ requirements to the T.
The crisis could have disrupted the business
process and affected productivity of the employees,
but he placed his confidence in the team and gave
them work-from-home facility early on. Hyperlink
InfoSystem today provides every support to its
team, to complete work efficiently. For sure the
team’s support has played a big part too.
Work from home is a blessing in a
situation like the present, particularly for
the IT industry. At Hyperlink InfoSystem,
employees are provided every comfort
from a sense of financial security to
refreshments, and Mr Oza tries to
eliminate their every worry so that they
can focus on the job at hand. The
company makes itself available to its
employees and clients round-the-clock.
The organisational culture at this IT
firm is of job security, on-time salary
payment without any deductions,
uninterrupted appraisals, refreshing and
engaging activities, and a good work-life
balance. Effective communication
between teams is encouraged and quick
solutions to employee queries are given.
Employees are assured of career growth,
job satisfaction and fair renumeration.
Performance is monitored closely, and
senior management and Mr Oza take an
interest in every employee’s work. By giv-
ing support to an employee, to improve
his or her performance when needed, the
company too benefits. Regular feedback
is taken from the employees, which even
helped during this crisis.
Employees faced many challenges
initially, such as poor internet connectivity
and shortage of machines. But few CEOs
would take the effort Mr Oza has to
address each of these concerns. He called
everyone individually and listened
patiently, and offered solutions. His
leadership is truly commendable.
Hyperlink InfoSystem is working
towards meeting increasing demand
with a skilled workforce. It is set to recruit
more at various locations and to build
newer technologies with its competent
team. Even during this pandemic, the
company is getting enough orders and
that is because of Mr. Oza and his team’s
hardwork and dedication.
In India, there is set to be an increase
in demand for technologies such as AI,
blockchain, IoT AR and VR will. They will
help save precious hours and reduce the
margin of human error. They will play an
important role with increased need for
data protection, and with changing
behaviours in shopping, healthcare,
entertainment and so on. AR and VR will,
in particular, be trendsetters in many
industries such as education and gaming.
With our country’s population,
which is its strength, there will be a
greater adoption of technology. With
this increased adoption, there will be a
need for more apps and systems.
Hyperlink InfoSystem can then be the
go-to provider of good quality service.
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY
As visuals of migrants walking
on highways streamed in,
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood
began organising transport
for them. He talks to Lachmi
Deb Roy about how he helped
12,000 people reach home and
is making arrangements for
another 45,000. Excerpts:
How did this initiative
come about?
I saw the visuals of millions of
migrants walking down high-
ways with their families… the
elderly could hardly walk,
some of them were carried
on shoulders. The images
haunted me. The moment I
closed my eyes, I could see
just them. How can we be so
ungrateful to the people who
build our homes, our roads…
in fact, they run the country,
they are its heartbeat. How
can we ignore this crisis
thinking that if it’s not affect-
ing us, why should we
bother? So, I spoke to a few
migrant labourers and told
them to give me one or two
days to get permissions. I
assured them that I would
make their journey home as
comfortable as possible.
How did you arrange for
their return?
The first step was to get in
touch with government offi-
cials. It was an even bigger
task for me to win the trust of
the workers. I told them to
not lose their faith in the sys-
tem. I asked them to wait,
made arrangements for them
to stay and told them not to
walk on highways in the
scorching heat. Now, they
trust me so much, they are
willing to wait for me to make
arrangements for them. They
know there is a way for them
to reach home.
However, this is just the
beginning of the journey—
millions of migrants are still
stuck. I will continue to do
help until the last migrant
54 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
‘I won’t let
reaches home. It is my duty, my job, my responsibility and I
have to make it happen.
How many workers have you helped?
migrant Initially, I managed to send 350 migrants to Karnataka.
When I was seeing them off, I was moved by the smiles on
workers
their faces and tears in their eyes. Then, I started connect-
ing with government offices in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand. I
have helped 12,000 people reach their homes and have
lose made arrangements for another 45,000. I think I was
blessed by the almighty to carry out this hard task.
trust in
Who helped you in your mission?
I started on my own and slowly others joined. My close child-
hood friend, Neeti Goel, supported me in this Ghar Bhejo
humanity’ (send them home) campaign. We both single-handedly liaised
with government officials and arranged buses, food stay etc.
What is the arrangement you made for their food?
We are making boxes of fruits, dry snacks and water so that
they don’t feel hungry or thirsty on their journey home. We
feed 45,000 people almost every day so that their wait to go
back home is less painful.
Do the migrants try to get in touch with you once they
reach their home?
They call and make me speak to their families. They send
lots of messages and voice notes. I feel happy to see the pic-
tures they send after reaching home.
How has the experience been?
Initially, I used to get sleepless nights on seeing them desper-
ate to reunite with their families. Now, throughout the day—
“For 20 hours a day for about 20-21 hours—I talk to them and make
arrangements. This is my only job. I try to respond to every
I talk to migrants, call for help I get. This mission is very close to my heart—I am
emotionally connected to every single migrant who gets in
government touch. I won’t let them lose their trust in humanity and the
officers and make system. The best part is that it helps me sleep well, even if it is
for a few hours. There are sleepless nights too
arrangements. I because I have to get up to check my Twitter and email to see
if anybody needs help. I keep telling myself, there are many
try to respond to more still waiting on the roads. I guess I will be able to com-
every call. This is plete my quota of sleep only once I send all migrants back
home! I started helping migrants the very day the lockdown
my only job now.” started and I will not end until the last one reaches home. O
ECOLOGY/DISASTER

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y S . H . PAT G I R I

Cast Open
Abdul Gani in Guwahati

A
forest sometimes shows up in
two conflicting images. It could
be a king-size portrait in
high-definition jade—almost surreal, a Dehing Patkai, a protected rainforest in Assam, sits
place where gods descend to update on a minefield as government liberalises coalfields
their screensaver. Or a gothic single-tone
of what it could become: bedeviled,
stark, a dark hole swallowing space and
time. Dehing Patkai is one such. It’s a
wildlife sanctuary in eastern Assam
bordering Arunachal Pradesh, one huge
jungle in a cluster standing cheek by jowl
to form a mega green belt. A carbon sink;
the lungs of our land. It is the last
remaining dipterocarp-dominated
lowland rainforest. Dipterocarp? Those
tall trees found mainly in SE Asia,
harvested for resin and timber indis-
criminately to near-extinction.
It is also a place where miners come
for coal. Trucks move like a cohort of
ants; heavy excavators and muddy and

The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary; an

elephant trundles through a clearing

56 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020

ECOLOGY/DISASTER

often barefoot miners, who work in

The collieries: opencast mining near the protected forest
slave-like conditions, grind away all day,
all night. This is the colliery belt—close
to the mining towns of Margherita (after
an Italian queen) and Ledo (Stilwell
Road to China starts here). Here the
British drove the mattock into the soft
soil to prise out the ‘black gold’ for their
steam engines, power plants and tea fac-
tories. This is tea county too. The origi-
nal chaiwallahs, the Singphos, live here.
The British came to this “heathen land
of mosquitoes and leeches” for Singpho
tea, and break the Chinese monopoly.
The forests around upper Assam have
absorbed many horrors through their
history and most traces of them have
long since been allowed to vanish. So,
how come this piece of prime asset, real
estate, is now reconsecrated in the mind
of the people as hallowed ground? Why
politicians, student and farmer unions,
environmentalists, activists, teachers et
al—sequestered in their homes by a
coronavirus—launched a movement,
signed off their protestations with hash-
tags? #SaveDehingPatkai. Why an
online petition at www.change.org
attracted nearly 60,000 signatures in a

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 57
ECOLOGY/DISASTER
matter of days? Because
this is Dehing Patkai, and
human greed is showing
little sign of making con-
cessions to the possibil-
ity that the ‘Amazon of
the East’ could be gasp-
ing for life soon.
The rainforests strad-
dling the Dehing river and
the Patkai range of the
Eastern Himalayas, which
comprise the Indo-Burma
global biodiversity hot-
spot, is a complex yet delicate ecosystem.
It is not a contiguous mass, which it was
a long time ago, but a jigsaw of green
patches bound the jungles into a com-
posite whole—some ‘reserved’, thus pro-
tected by the law, and some proposed to
be reserved, where the law is lax. The
Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary cover-
ing 111.42 sq km, and protected by law, is
part of the system. Experts and the gov-
ernment say no mining was happening
within the sanctuary. But there’s ample
evidence of illegal ext­raction of coal in
the peripheral Saleki Proposed Reserve
Forest, which is a part of Dehing Patkai
Elephant Reserve, spread across 937 sq
km. The elephant reserve surrounds the
wildlife sanctuary.
Coal mining has been around in the
area since the British Raj. When coal
mines were nationalised in 1973, the
approving/proposing opencast
mining in an area, called Tikok
in Saleki, a shout away from
Dibru-Saikhowa the wildlife sanctuary. Official
National Park reports say Tikok falls within
the eco-sensitive zone—within
the court-mandated 10-km ra-
dius for a sanctuary, essen-
tially a buffer where activities
unsafe for a protected forest is
MYANMAR not permitted.
More danger hovered after
the Union government de-
cided on May 20 to open up
collieries in Assam were transferred to commercial coal mining. Any private
Coal India Ltd for a 30-year lease that entity can excavate on a revenue-shar-
ended in April 2003. It was the same ing basis. It’s a major shift from the
year when the state government noti- government’s push for
fied Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. renewable energy in place of fossil fuel.
The wildlife sanctuary was carved out India has one of the largest coal
in June 2004. But Coal India contin- reserves in the world at 300 billion
ued to mine in the area and sought tonnes, yet it imports a fifth of its
clearance only in 2012. It was rejected annual requirement. Rating agency
and a fresh application was made in Crisil says a spike in domestic produc-
2019 for 98.59 hectares in Saleki, tion can halve the annual expenditure
where the PSU was operating already on importing non-coking coal. India
in 73 hectares. The Centre gave Stage-I can save Rs 45,000 crore, while power,
clearance last December with 28 condi- cement and steel sectors will gain as
tions, including fines. Accordingly, the these are the biggest consumers of
Assam forest department slapped a coal. Privatisation brings in its wake
Rs 43.25-crore fine on Coal India for fears of the mines spilling unchecked
illegal mining for 16 years since 2003. into protected forests. There have
The coal major says it suspended oper- been accusations already of a mafia/
ations in Saleki last October and is cartel operating rat-hole mines in the
awaiting the Centre’s clearance. Dehing Patkai forests. Congress MP
Things became deeper and more com- Pradyut Bordoloi says there could be
plex after the National Board for around 5,000 of them.
Wildlife’s (NBWL) decision this April to Saleki already suffers from logging
open Saleki for mining. Environment and hunting, both against the law.
activist Rohit Choudhury found via an Giving legitimacy to the illegal collier-
RTI response that the NBWL’s standing ies will compound its problems, envi-
committee may have hidden facts while ronmentalists say. Pollutants seeping
ECOLOGY/DISASTER

GUNJAN GOGOI

A tea garden set in the backdrop of an

opencast mine. Upper Assam has the highest
concentration of tea plantations in India.

into the rivers and ponds, and floating in

the air, will obliterate the ecology. The
immediate impact, experts warn, will be
felt by the river fishes, water birds as well
as nesting sites of species like
the Austen’s Brown
Hornbill, currently
known to have a via-
ble population only in
Dehing Patkai and
Namdapha National Park,
about 80 km away in
Arunachal. “The ur-
gency with which many
projects are cleared raises doubts about
whether due processes
were followed. These decisions would
have long-term implications,” says
Narayan Sharma, assistant professor at
Cotton University.
Dehing Patkai shelters an array of wild-
life: seven species of primates like the
Western Hoolock Gibbon; seven varieties
of wildcats from the tiger, the clouded
leopard to the marbled cat. It has the high-
est diversity of wildcats anywhere in the
world. There’re more than 350 butterfly
species; above 400 different birds, includ-
ing White-Winged Duck, Assam’s coy
The White-Winged Duck, Assam’s state bird; a hoolock gibbon; a tree frog. The state bird; Hollong, the state tree, and the
wildlife diversity of Dehing Patkai is rivaled only by the Amazon rainforest. Fox Tail Orchid, the state flower. And the

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 59
ECOLOGY/DISASTER
majestic elephant. The one with the
green thumb, the tireless gardener,
clearing the forest for new trees to grow.
They move in corridors throughout the
Patkai, alt­hough much restricted by the
ever-exp­anding towns and villages, tea
gardens, coal mines and the oilfields (the
region has that too, and the nation’s old-
est refinery town Digboi got its name
from an excited British official’s com-
mand to his coolie, “Dig Boy!” After he
60 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020
sniffed oil on a porter elephant’s legs.)
Human-animal clashes are common
in the area. “If the habitat shrinks fur-
ther, expect more men-elephant con-
flicts and that won’t be good for both,”
says Udayan Borthakur, wildlife biolo-
gist and nature photographer. Even
former chief minister Tarun Gogoi has
joined the campaign to tamp down on
illegal mines that environmental
groups say have reached epidemic
The Dehing reflects on the Dehing; acidic
waste from the collieries seeps into the
water channels
scale. “Today the whole world is facing
the problem of climate change and you
are the champion for preserving ecolo­
gical balance...I, therefore, on behalf of
the people of Assam request you to
kindly withdraw the decision so that it
will remain as an Asiatic biodiversity
hotspot and elephant reserve,” he
wrote to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. Answers are sought from Gogoi
too. Why he didn’t stop the mines
when he was CM for 15 years and the
Congress ruled the country? The eco-­
warriors face similar questions. Didn’t
they know about the illegal mines? Or,
did they choose to keep quiet?
The people want the world to protect
the rainforest, a bulwark against
global warming because of the vast
amounts of heat-trapping carbon
dioxide it soaks up from the atmos-
phere. For them, Dehing Patkai has no
demarcated border. It is a vast interior
dotted with rivers, forests and tales, a
remote expanse filled with meaning.
It’s an idyll world, except for the con-
text. Those who mind don’t matter,
those who matter don’t mind. O
—with inputs from Rituparna Kakoty
 Masterspeak
A Webinar Series-Episode 2

Managing
finanCes foR
sMes
with

Rajiv Chawla
Chairman, I am SME of India

In conversation with
N MahalakshMi
Editor, Outlook Business

To regisTer, visiT
www.outlookbusiness.com
june 4,
Presented by C0-Sponsored by ThuRsday
7:00
PM
BOOK/EXCERPT

Nearly His Own Man

A gripping, behind-the scenes account of political machination and high
intrigue. The objective: power in Maharashtra

Sharad Pawar
with Uddhav
Thackeray.
As Ajit’s coup
became known,
the older Pawar
reached out to
Uddhav.

PTI

DAY 31: SATURDAY, up the phone, but dialled Sharad Pawar
NOVEMBER 23, 2019 instead. NCP’s state president Jayant
8.00 a.m., Matoshri Patil had retired to bed late the previous
An early morning phone call woke up night after binge-watching his favourite
Uddhav Thackeray. What the caller series, Jack Ryan, on Amazon Prime.
informed him pulled the rug from under (1)* He woke up to a dozen missed calls
his feet and left him shocked and on his phone, of which eight were from
speechless. As the state was sleeping, in Uddhav Thackeray.
an early morning development, The news was too big to believe. Even
Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the before anyone could confirm or deny the
chief minister of Maharashtra. Even development, the biggest confirmation
more shocking was the name of came in from none other
the deputy chief mMinister than Prime Minister
sworn in with Fadnavis. The Narendra Modi, who at 8.16
man was none other than Ajit a.m. tweeted congratula-
Pawar, who was sitting in front tions to the new chief minis-
of him in the meeting the previ- ter and deputy chief
ous evening. At 8.01 a.m., ANI minister of Maharashtra.
tweeted about Fadnavis and The Shiv Sena and
Ajit Pawar taking the oath. Congress camps were left
Sanjay Raut, who had devastated by the news-
recently undergone angio- break, with both camps
plasty, could feel his heart pal- believing they had been
pitating. It was he who had Kamlesh Sutar backstabbed. For both of
been coordinating with Sharad them, the man at the centre
36 DAYS: A
Pawar’s NCP. He had assured of suspicion was the same!
his party president that the
Political Chronicle
NCP will not ditch the Shiv of Ambition, 6.30 a.m., Silver
Sena. And now here he was, Deception, Trust Oak Estate
trying to gather the courage to and Betrayal | An early morning phone
speak to Uddhav. Raut picked Rupa Books call woke up Sharad Pawar.
It was an urgent call from a party MLA.
The information given by the MLA left
him shocked. He was informed that Ajit
Pawar had been calling party MLAs
since late last night and a few of them
had gone with him to Raj Bhavan.
“Dada is taking oath with (Devendra)
Fadnavis,” the MLA informed Pawar.
Pawar looked at the watch, but it was
too late to do anything. He knew he
wouldn’t be able to stop the inevitable.
All he knew was that he had to stop any
further damage.
Pawar started gathering information
on who all had gone with Ajit. The previ-
ous night he had sensed that something
was not right, as Ajit had disappeared
suddenly after the meeting. Pawar now
started to make calls to Ajit’s close aides.
Dhananjay Munde, Ajit’s close confidant,
had also gone incommunicado. By this
time, the news of Ajit Pawar’s coup had
spread like wildfire. The first thing
Pawar had to do was to regain his allies’
trust. He immediately called Uddhav
and informed him that he had nothing to
do with Ajit’s move of going with the BJP.
He also made a lightning call to Congress
president Sonia Gandhi.
A senior Congress leader, Abhishek
Manu Singhvi, had already taken to

62 O U TLOOK | JUN E 8, 2020

BOOK/EXCERPT
Twitter to attack Sharad Pawar, saying,
‘Waah Pawar Sahab, Waah!!’ (This was
deleted later.) Uddhav Thackeray and
Sharad Pawar decided to meet
urgently. Meanwhile, Pawar started
gathering information on what had
happened till now....
11 pm, November 22
The game had begun almost two weeks
ago. Friday’s was the last nail. After
excusing himself suddenly from the
meeting at Nehru Centre, Ajit Pawar had
come out and changed his car.
Bhupendra Yadav and Ajit Pawar met at
an undisclosed location to finalise the
swearing-in. Ajit had already consented
to join hands with the BJP a few days
ago. Immediately after Pawar’s refusal to
Narendra Modi, ‘Mission Ajit Pawar’ was
expedited by the BJP. An NCP leader
who was friends with a top state BJP
leader had already tipped Fadnavis on
how Ajit Pawar had once insisted on the
possibility of thinking of BJP as an option
in the initial days of the political logjam.
The lines of communication with Ajit
Pawar were opened from then and there.
Bhupendra Yadav started working the
deal with Ajit. During Ajit’s visit to Delhi,
a meeting was also organised between
him and Amit Shah to give Ajit the confi-
dence that the BJP’s top leadership was
closely involved in the developments.
Ajit had since started to identify MLAs
who would join him in the coup. It was
not going to be an easy rebellion. After
all, it was going to be against one of the
most astute politicians. Add to it that Ajit
was rebelling against his own uncle and
mentor Sharad Pawar.
Like the BJP, Ajit too had his Plan B. He
knew that as the leader of the Legislative
Party, he had all the powers to issue the
letter of support. He was sure that a big
chunk of party MLAs would follow him in
his move. He started making phone calls.
First on his dialler list was Sindkhed Raja
(Buldhana district) MLA Rajendra
Shingne. (2)* “We have an important
meeting tomorrow. Reach Dhananjay’s
(Munde) Bungalow before 5 a.m. And
since this is top secret, keep this to your-
self,” Ajit warned Shingne in his baritone
voice. More such calls followed.
Raj Bhavan, Malabar Hill
The BJP, meanwhile, had already made
all preparations for the overnight takeo-
ver. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
was scheduled to travel to Delhi for the
two-day governors’ conference. He can-
celled his trip, as he was informed about
“an important development”. He was
told late in the evening that he needed to
stay back in Mumbai. Fadnavis commu-
nicated to the Raj Bhavan that he
intended to stake claim to form the next
government. After receiving the intima-
tion, the first step for the governor was
to seek the letters of support. He had to
follow the procedure or at least show
that it was being followed. Ajit Pawar
then submitted the requisite letter,
extending support for the Fadnavis-led
government. The next step according to
the rule book was to recommend to the
Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar taking oath; Uddhav with Amit Shah.
Centre to lift the president’s rule.
At around 12:30 a.m., Governor
Koshyari sent a petition to the Centre
for lifting the president’s rule in
Maharashtra. The Centre was more than
quick in obliging. At an unusual time of
1:30 am, the central government gave its
nod to the petition and without wasting
any time, it was forwarded to President
Ramnath Kovind. The president’s office
acted on the petition without any delay.
At 5.47 a.m. president’s rule in
Maharashtra was revoked, paving the
way for the swearing-in. The gover-
nor’s office by that time had already
informed chief secretary of
Maharashtra, Ajoy Mehta, to arrange
the swearing-in at 6.30 a.m.
✤✤✤
NCP MLAs started arriving at
Dhananjay Munde’s residence. When
Rajendra Shingne reached, he saw a few
MLAs sitting there already. They were
made to sit together in a vehicle.
Majority of them were told by Ajit
Pawar’s key aides that they had to reach
Raj Bhavan. Some of them had started
getting suspicious, but the key aide
ferrying them whispered in Shingne’s
ear that this move has the blessings of
‘Saheb’. Around 5.30 a.m., Ajit Pawar and
Devendra Fadnavis had already arrived
at the Raj Bhavan.
✤✤✤
A team from ANI had got a message late
last night that Devendra Fadnavis
would be giving a sound byte early next
morning. In the last few years, this had
become a norm. Whenever Fadnavis
wanted to issue a statement, he pre-
ferred speaking to the ANI. For the ANI
team, this was a routine assignment till
they reached Varsha, where Fadnavis
was still staying. The TV crew with their
live source was ferried to Raj Bhavan.
When they entered the governor’s office
with their cameras, they were stunned
to see Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit
Pawar together. Just as they were gath-
ering their thoughts, the national
anthem started playing with the gover-
nor’s arrival. Permission was sought to
start the proceedings.
At 7.45 a.m., the governor began the
swearing-in ceremony. The first name
that was called was of Shri Devendra
Gangadharrao Fadnavis.
‘Mee Devendra Gangadharrao
Fadnavis, ishwar saksh shapath gheto
ki.…,’ Fadnavis started his oath as the
CM. After he completed his oath, the
second name was called out—Shri Ajit
Anantrao Pawar. ‘Mee Ajit Anantrao
Pawar, gambhirya purvak drudh
kathan karto ki....’ NCP MLAs, who till
now had any doubt left in their minds,
now got a clear idea what they were
part of. It was a coup! O
*(1 + 2) Source-based information on
condition of anonymity
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 63
Review / ART AND CULTURE

‘We wanted to make the characters

realistic instead of perfect’
Nupur Asthana, director of Hip Hip Hurray and Four More Shots Please! Season 2, in
conversation with Lachmi Deb Roy

How is the lockdown treating you? Who’s That Girl

> Not bad at all. Since the release of Four More Shots
Mairembam Ronaldo Singh: In the
Please! Season 2, things have been quite a blur. I am in
web series Paatal Lok, I play the role
high spirits and working on a feature script now. Also, a
of Cheeni, a trans-woman aban-
lot of writing, reading and watching.
doned by her family at a young age.
How has the experience of directing the second
Her character is close to my heart—I
season been?
could easily identify with her for I
> The four women of Four More Shots Please! have
too have faced difficulties as a trans
evolved into far more confident and fierce women in
woman. The negative perception
Season 2. In Season 1, they were not sure of what they
that society has of people like us
wanted from life. For example, the character of Siddhi
makes me unhappy. Discrimination,
in Season 2 is about self-acceptance. She realises that
oppression and isolation are the
becoming a stand-up comedian is the way to go. That
challenges we need to overcome
helps her resolve many issues in
in our quest for justice. I hope to
her life. She is finally able to talk
spread awareness regarding trans
about things that have affected
issues and fight for equal rights.
her for years. This season was
I have always been passionate
about self-love for all the characters. Damini, the fierce journalist,
about acting. I used to perform and
becomes a fierce author.
mouth dialogues in front of a mirror
The characters had already been fleshed out a certain way in
before I started working with theatre
the first season. How did you improvise?
groups in Manipur. When I was audi-
> Their transformation was gradual. The creator, writer and I
tioning for the show, I never
wanted to cut a little closer to the bone. We wanted to get
imagined I would be selected.
into their minds a little more and figure out the different
Though the experience was wonder-
shades of their personalities. We constructed storylines
ful, it was quite challenging due to
that would allow us to do that organically. You see Anjana
differences of language and culture.
dealing with casual misogyny in her old office and com-
The producers had to hire a trainer
ing out victorious. Again, she encounters a rough patch
to teach me Hindi and help me
when she becomes intimate with a colleague. It wasn’t
prepare for the role. I am glad people
the right step, more so because he was married. This
liked my performance—it is definitely
kind of relationship is like heading towards a car crash.
the most unforgettable and
We tried to make the characters as realistic as
challenging role of my life. O
possible instead of perfect beings.
—As told to Abdul Gani
This is the first Indian web series depicting the
marriage of two women…
> In Season 1, Samara and Umang had a con-
nection. Samara leads an extravagant life and
Umang surrenders to love. It was lovely to see two
women getting married. Though Umang runs out of the
wedding, there was a sense of relief because she realis-
es that they are different people. But the fact that they
came to the point of getting married was powerful. And
when Umang walks out of the marriage, it was a relief
for the audience as well. She was trying to ascertain the
balance of power in the relationship. When she realised
they were not equals, she walked out.
Any plans of remaking Hip Hip Hurray?
> Everybody has asked me this question. But I feel
you shouldn’t tamper with a story that has been told
well. Let people be nostalgic about the show! O

64 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020

#BollywoodTalkiesOutlook

Bollywood
TALKies with

Episode - 3

with

Actor
Taapsee
Pannu
on her career in films
and future plans

in conversation with

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON

Mitrajit Bhattacharya @outlookindia

Columnist & Author @outlookmagazine
 la
dolce
vita

The Coolest Inferno

They make dames like this in the East, women
whose beauty and glamour wouldn’t overwhelm
their entire persona, but are in tantalising balance
with intelligence and strength of character. Such
is the way, partners, with Anindita Bose, who’s
captivating audiences with her emphatically bold
turn as Chanda Mukherjee in the series Paatal Lok. In
Bengal, she first popped eyes in the genteel, design-
er milieu of the serial Gaaner Opaare. Look into those
eyes again…fancy a descent into her netherworld?

Love In High Places

As the sun flings a tired smile over Tehran, they
leaned into each other for a kiss—legs dangling
over the edge of a highrise roof, passions teeter-
ing at the brink. The apparent daredevilry, though,
is but toffee for parkour athlete Alireza Japalaghy
and his stunt partner. As their spectacular clinch
went public, the Islamic state’s police raised a
stink and arrested them. Among the high-minded
charges were “improper and unreligious behav-
iour”, “advocating vice” that is “contrary to Sharia
law”. Liberal Iranians complained as usual, but to
little effect. God help the doughty duo.
 la
dolce
vita

Shut Your Eyes

What else holds Amyra Dastur’s attention when
she’s not donning a floral-printed swimsuit, kneeling
in a gurgling brook, showing off that jawline, making
eyes at us like that? Well, it’s an ‘evil eye’ tattoo (not,
unfortunately, in this picture) that is guaranteed
to make her feel safe from all nazar. Those who are
breaking into a smug smirk must keep this in mind:
in Bollywood, where eyes, and hands, often stray
from the straight and narrow, such prophylactic
measures are necessary armours.

Tall Boots To Fill

This one is about the guy, so pay attention. Do you see a sliver of like-
ness in that lowered, defiant gaze, the mop of hair on the forehead, the
lumbering stature? If Namashi Chakraborty wants people to compare
him favourably with dad Mithun, he ought to junk that denim coat, the
horribly sprinkled shoe and the awkwardly torn denim (if you want bling,
go watch Disco Dancer, boy). The girl is Amrin, who is debuting with
Namashi in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Bad Boy. Now that’s a weighty moniker
to bear—the possibilities are boundless. Can Namashi live up to it?

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 67
 Episode - 4

The Modi Government is

Moving Towards a Welfare State

Bhupender
Yadav
Rajya Sabha MP and BJP General Secretary
on

Six
YearS of
Modi
Sarkaar
In conversation with

Bhavna Vij-Aurora
Political Editor, Outlook

Watch the full intervieW on

@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
 AMPHAN
ta
Rituparna Sengup
at Kumartuli
Candle In The Wind
I sometimes wonder why cyclones
often have bizarre names. Fani immedi-
ately reminds one of a serpent and its
deathly fangs. Amphan, pronounced
‘um-pun’, means sky in Thai. As actors,
we accept or reject movies on the
strength of a script. But why an appar-
ently innocuous name like Amphan—a
name that Thailand proposed in 2004—
decided to strike a rather laidback and
benign city like Calcutta confounds me.
Mother Nature probably wanted to test
the City of Joy’s limit of perseverance.
The sheer destruction that Amphan has
left in its wake is there for all of us to see,
but the emotional distress it has caused is
unimaginable. The city has lost over
Rituparna Sengupta
is a National Award
winning actress and
producer who works
in Bengali and Hindi
cinema
5,000 trees—that’s almost an entire generation gone.
It is bound to upset an already tottering ecosystem.
Trees are the hallmark of some of Calcutta’s streets.
The Southern Avenue, for example, is probably the
leafiest road in south Calcutta. It abuts the Dhakuria
Lake and the two world-class golf courses—Royal and
Tolly—where Calcutta’s lungs reside.
Heart-breaking stories of tragedy abound. Two
young men electrocuted by an unseen live wire,
the asphalt sheet swept off a village street, a tree
slicing a minibus into half on the Golf Green-How-
rah route…these vignettes are simply horrifying.
When I hear that my manager Sharmistha has
been without electricity for five days and paid Rs
180 for two candles, I am aghast. When I hear that
my maids, who hail from South 24 Parganas, have
lost their huts and their humble belongings have
been washed away, my mind goes numb. We are
trained to act. We laugh, we cry, we go ecstatic
and we can sink to the depths of despair on
screen. But I am now caught in a belligerent
crossfire of emotions. This script is for real, you
don’t need to act. Mother Nature is the ultimate
producer and director.
Whom Do I Grieve For?
As an actress, there is no clear definition of
‘family’ for me. My husband, my children, my
mother, my mother-in-law, my in-laws…is that
all? Not quite. From the spot boy to the tech-
nician to the make-up artist, the directors and
producers, my co-actors and of course my thousands of fans, they are all
family. My extended family is like an ocean and my heart goes out to each
one who has suffered from the fury of the cyclone. In our lifetime,
Amphan has been the worst natural calamity we have seen. Calcutta was
certainly not prepared for it. And coming as it did at a time when millions
are suffering from a deadly virus, Calcutta’s back was broken. My profes-
sion has taken me across the world but there is nothing like Calcutta.
There is life in every leaf, every brick and every whiff of air you inhale.
That’s why Calcutta is the City of Joy. I am devastated because the city’s
heritage spots have been ruined.
I had recently shot at College Street in North Calcutta for Agnidev
Chatterjee’s Jihad with Rohit Roy. We went to the famous Coffee House
and used hand-pulled rickshaws in a few scenes. I reckon College Street
is the world’s biggest repository of old books. Every shop is unique. It’s a
bibliophile’s paradise. To see books floating in dirty water is tragic. Not
far from College Street and across the serpentine Central Avenue is
Kumartuli. We were shooting here for Sujit Mondal’s Anweshan with
Ronojoy Bishnu. It’s the place where artisans mould the clay from the
river Hooghly into shapes of the gods we worship round the year. Amphan
did not spare many sheds under which the idols of Durga and Kali are
J U NE 8 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 69
 AMPHAN
College Street,
Calcutta, after
Cyclone Amphan
made. That leaves me with a question—
why did Mother Nature attack artisans
who create gods with their own hands?
Calcutta may not keep pace with the
glitz and glamour of New York or Singa-
pore, but it’s probably the only city in the
world that has learnt to live with its her-
itage and old charm intact. College Street
and Kumartuli are fine examples. I really
don’t know if these book shops will ever
recover. The clay artists probably will.
This Night-Bitten Dawn
Sandip Ray’s Nishijapon (After The
Night…Dawn) comes close to resem-
bling the devastation Amphan has
caused. The 2005 movie was a mul-
ti-starrer and I was playing the lead role
alongside Soumitra Chatterjee,
Dipankar De and Parambrata Chatter-
jee. It was the story of a dysfunctional
family stranded in a forest villa in the
mountains for days after a sudden
earthquake envelopes the area in dark-
ness. The bridge that connects the
house with civilisation is destroyed.
Landslides and incessant downpour
70 O U TLOOK | JUNE 8, 2020
wreak havoc and as hunger and panic build up, the urge to survive reveals
the true nature of every person. People contemplate suicide as well. I
think Calcutta is facing something similar. No aid will be enough. The
mental destruction will be irreparable.
The Biggest Screenplay
I have twice come close to facing nature’s fury. But one incident that
remains vivid in my mind is a flight from Calcutta to Singapore when I
was expecting my second child. It was three hours of mayhem in the skies.
The aircraft was rocking under the impact of the storm. I have experi-
enced air pockets many times, but this was different. All the passengers
were screaming, the flight attendants were terrified, but the pilot kept his
cool. I was virtually staring at death and I was more concerned about my
baby at that advanced stage of pregnancy. Fortunately, we landed in
Singapore in one piece.
But that was only three hours of horror. I can imagine what Calcutta must
be going through. The city has looked beautiful in recent years. There has
been a lot of work done to improve the civic amenities. Now all that is lost. It
will take a lot of time to rebuild Calcutta. It was good to see the Prime Min-
ister conducting an aerial survey. This is the right time to come together—not
just for our national leaders, but for the masses too. Religion, caste, class
should not divide us. In the eyes of an Amphan or a coronavirus, everyone is
equal and only a united front can help salvage the situation. There are at least
a dozen movies either on the floor or waiting to be released. But in Amphan,
I have seen the biggest screenplay ever. It’s been a harrowing experience but
humbling too. It’s time to accept nature’s fury and move on. O
(As told to Soumitra Bose)