Author: Harini Calamur

Should India legalise marijuana? Making it legal can do more good than harm

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It seems that many people in Mumbai and Delhi are somewhat buzzed as they go about their everyday lives. According to the Weed Index ,New Delhi consumes 38.26 metric tonnes of cannabis, making it the third largest consumer of the weed in the world (after New York and Karachi); and Mumbai ranks sixth in the world, consuming 32.38 metric tonnes of the stuff on an annual basis. An average joint, according to research, is about 0.32 grams, so a gram will give you 3 joints. That makes it a whopping 114 million joints a year in Delhi, and 97 million joints a year in Mumbai, that is happily consumed, if not legally.

Cannabis has been part of Indian consumption for as far back as when history begins. The Atharva Veda talks of ‘bhang’ as bringing joy. Shiva, in his mendicant form, is depicted as consuming ‘bhang’. sadhus and pirs partake in the communal chillum to try and find the supreme being. Bhang is consumed as part of religious and cultural festivals – on Maha Shiv Ratri and during holi; opium drinks are traditional in parts of Rajasthan, and opium poppy is used in sweets. And as the consumption in Delhi and Mumbai shows, it is not just about cultural mores, people in India seem to enjoy their smoke-ups – and a fair few of them seem to be indulging.

Cannabis and its derivatives have been illegal in India only since 1985, with the passing of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. In part a commitment to the international treaty, the Single Convention in Narcotic Drugs, and in part pressure from the United States for a global agreement on its ‘war on drugs’ policy – saw India follow suit in banning something its people had been consuming for ages. And, at the stroke of a pen, a large number of people became law breakers.

And, that is in part one of the reasons why many countries and provinces across the world are legalising marijuana. The fact that there aren’t enough jails to lock up everyone who smokes up, and that it seems relatively harmless compared to some of the other things people get up to. The second reason is associated with the first. If marijuana is relatively harmless, then does it make sense to build up pockets of criminals who will traffic in the substance, putting up militias, and bribing cops to make sure that their wares are protected and reach the customer. If people are going to consume despite knowing health risks, then should the government not regulate the transaction in terms of quality, price, and consumer rights. And, should it not charge tax for providing this service? After all, our overstretched police departments have a lot more crime to catch, than some middle-aged commuter who decides to work off the day’s pent up road rage with a marijuana joint.

The total worldwide cannabis market – that includes both the illegal and the legal parts of it – is estimated at $344 billion. It is estimated that the legal market is worth $66 billion. Over 250 million people around the world consume it, and go back for more every single day. And, these 250 million people are spending their hard-earned, tax-paid earnings on marijuana. The money goes straight to those who run and manage the production pipeline – from the farm to the smoke.

Legalising marijuana, and regulating it has a four-pronged advantage. The first is that it may help farmers in certain regions to grow a much-in-demand cash crop. The second is much-needed revenue from the tax on marijuana. The third is the ability to curb the illegal trade in cannabis and clipping the wings of the mafias who undertake this work. And lastly, the biggest advantage of all – it has long been believed that terrorist groups make their money from the drug trade. Legalise it, and you will cut off a source of funding for terror. And, curbing terror maybe one of the unintended consequences of legalising marijuana.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Investing in climate adaptation can stimulate trillions in benefits

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Unless you are the President of the United States or some such exalted position that allows you to be out of touch with reality, it is really impossible for sane and rational people to ignore the impending impact of climate change.

Because it is not really impending anymore. Climate change is here, disrupting our lives, changing crop cycles, and bringing about destruction, drought and death in various parts of the world. Impacted are the most vulnerable. Farmers, marginalised people, women, children – as nature wreaks havoc on everything in its path.

In a recent report by the Global Commission of Adaption (GCA), the Commission led by the former UN Secretary-General  Ban Ki-moon also has the head of the World Bank – Kristalina Georgieva, and Bill Gates – the head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – amongst others. The Commission is convened by 20 countries, including India.

The commission says that the world has a moral responsibility to ensure that people are adequately able to adapt to the change brought about by changing climatic patterns. And part of this ability to adapt includes the role of government and corporations who take active steps in enabling measures that will help people go about their everyday life, without too much major disruption.

As climate change hits, the world is seeing drought in some areas, and massive floods in the other, that massively impacts food production and supply, leading to worries of spreading world hunger. It also impacts lives – as violent rains, typhoons and hurricanes become more frequent. As temperatures rise – this was the hottest summer ever – the really young, and the really old get tremendously impacted. Not everyone can afford air conditioning – and if everyone could, it would add to the issue of global warming. In the report, the authors call for an emphasis on adaption. They believe it is not just about survival, but also an economic need, that holds many opportunities for the future. “Adaptation is an economic imperative as well. This report finds that investing in adaptation, and in the innovation that comes with it, can unlock new opportunities and spur change across the globe. Adaptation can provide a triple dividend: it avoids economic losses, brings positive gains, and delivers additional social and environmental benefits.”

And, as such the Commission recommends that governments across the world get geared for climate change by radically rethinking decision making. The commission calls for ‘understanding, planning, and finance’ that makes the risks of climate change visible, and takes these risks into account while making policy. The Commission calls for various degrees of adaption to cope with the crisis, based on three levels of imperatives – the human imperative, the economic imperative, and the environmental one. It calls for investment in the areas of climate change. It states that investing $1.8 trillion in 5 areas – ‘early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, improved dryland agriculture crop production, global mangrove protection, and investments in making water resources more resilient’ – in the decade from 2020 to 2030 will generate almost 4x returns – $7.1 trillion in economic benefits.

Source: Page 4, Adapt our World Report.

The cost of not doing this is too high. The report emphatically states that without this kind of adaption, global food production will decrease by 30 percent; over 5 billion people would be without adequate drinking water; coastal areas of many countries would be reclaimed by the sea, pushing people inwards to the mainland. And, of course, for countries like India that have worked so hard at moving people from poverty, we may see these people slip back into poverty.

We can no longer ignore the evidence of climate change. It is time policy included measures for addressing this change. The only way to mitigate the disaster that will be wreaking havoc in our economies and nations is to plan to mitigate the disaster. And, that means a global alliance to combat climate change. There needs, says the report, a revolution in understanding, planning, and financing to overcome this challenge. The question is whether we will be ready for it before it is too late.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

One month of clampdown: The lack of empathy for the people of Kashmir is dismaying

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It has been one month since Article 370 was abrogated, the state of Jammu and Kashmir bifurcated, and a virtual communication clampdown imposed on the people of Kashmir. On the reportage out of Kashmir there are mixed signals, with most of the Indian press suggesting all is mostly well, and the western press suggesting violence, bubbling civilian anger, and cases of brutality. Each side has strongly defended their reportage, saying that the other side is conducting a propaganda war. And, there is no way for ordinary citizens to confirm who is lying, and to what extent – because the people of Kashmir have been cut off from communicating with the outside world.

Since August 5, there has been a complete clamp down on communication from the valley – with landlines, mobile phones, and the internet shut off for most of the time. The Indian government believes that the presence of communication would help terrorists, and supporters of ‘aazadi’ congregate and create more violence. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had commented, “I would be delighted to know how do we cut off communications between the terrorists and their masters on the one hand, but keep the internet open for other people?”. However, it is unlikely that ordinary people impacted by this clampdown will see the logic in this statement.

We don’t lock up all men, just because 99 percent of all rapes are committed by men. We don’t ban cars on the road, because we haven’t figured out a way of ensuring unsafe drivers are kept off the streets – India incidentally tops the world in the number of deaths in the road. We can come up with a list of such absurd solutions to life-threatening problems, all of which involve locking up large chunks of the population to keep them safe. In the end, the fact remains, you cannot say a people are free and safe because you have them under lockdown.

There are others who defend this clampdown by claiming that people in Jammu, and Ladakh have full access to communication, and question why some of us are focusing on the clampdown in the valley. And, the answer is simple, if this can happen to some citizens in India, this can happen with other citizens in India. You need to be bothered about the rights of Kashmiris, because it has a bearing on your own rights.

What is even more dismaying is the glee with which some people, very influential people on social media, discuss Kashmir.  The “they deserve this” “but what about the Kashmiri pandits – who heard their voices?” responses are fast and furious. Also the sense of denial that there is something fundamentally wrong in gagging a whole population because some people may cause violence. The lack of empathy for the people of Kashmir is only matched by the sense of ownership of the land of Kashmir. And, that is deeply scary. Is this how a certain vocal section of India see the remaining states – lands bereft of people on which they can impose their view?

The core role of the state is to provide security for its citizens to go about their everyday lives. If you clampdown on everyday life and say “look how secure people are” it doesn’t really work. Being imprisoned in your own homes, without access to the outside world does not count as being secure.   The longer the clampdown continues, the more the anger and resentment will simmer. And, the more likely it is for more clampdowns to happen.

One month down, there is no sign of the clampdown being lifted, although reports suggest that the home minister has said that it would be eased in the next 15-20 days. That would be 50 days with little or no contact with the outside world – being stuck with your own thoughts, fears, and insecurities. How do you think people would respond when these restrictions are lifted? How would you react if you were placed in relative isolation for 50 days – no net. No phone. Little freedom of movement?

For people in Kashmir, their life is on pause, with little information on when it will resume playing normally. For the people in the rest of India, a little bit of empathy to your fellow citizens will help.  Seven million people isolated from their loved ones, and the rest of India is not the best way of proving that the abrogation of Article 370 will bring equal rights to the people of the land, and make them equal partners in progress and development.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Chasing the wrong priorities: Obsession with Kashmir is costing Pakistan dear

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India abrogated Article 370 and 35A, that gave the state of Jammu and Kashmir special status within the Indian Union, on August 5. Simultaneously, the state was bifurcated into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. State leaders, opposition voices in the state were taken into custody, and there has been a news and communication clampdown in much of the Kashmir part of the union territory since that time. It is difficult to judge what the people think, because apart from propogandists parroting “all is well”, there have disturbing stories of hardship and alienation trickling out. However, there is no such problem in terms of understanding what the Government of Pakistan thinks, because since August 5, they seem to be thinking of nothing else but Kashmir.

If you look at Pakistan, they have enough problems of their own. Their external debt stands at $105,841 million –37.5 percent of their GDP. Imran Khan inherited the debt problem from earlier leaders who hawked their nation to China in return for giant infrastructure projects – the key among which is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPPEC) that has seen a number of Chinese-led infrastructure projects dot the Pakistan landscape. Debt often seems the easiest way of building fast and better, but the problem with debt – as many Indian companies have also found it — is that it has to be repaid. Right now, Pakistan doesn’t seem to have the ability to pay back. Pakistan is borrowing money to just avoid default on interest payments. And, there seems to be no hope in sight.

Add to this Pakistan’s internal economy, and their woes multiply. It’s fiscal deficit is 8.9 percent — with government revenues declining, and their expenditure not showing any signs of shrinking. Last year, facing tremendous pressure to live within their means, the Pakistan government cut back on social development. The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) saw its budget slashed by over Rs 1.6 trillion – with 450+ projects being impacted – as Pakistan tried to make ends meet. The economic woes of the country are so acute, that even the military agreed to slash its rather hefty budget – but that was before India abrogated Article 370.

Pakistan has been obsessed with Kashmir. It believes that Kashmir belongs to it. And, it has spent the last 72 years trying to make sure that it puts this obsession ahead of any development. There is no reason why Pakistan could not have been an economic power house – a new nation, a new beginning, tremendous goodwill at the start – and they blew it all on an obsession. No sooner than Pakistan was created, it sent tribesmen to take control of Jammu Kashmir, that had quite the opposite effect. The kingdom acceded to India. For the next 70 years, this obsession has become the raison d’être of Pakistan. They have spent billions of dollars, that could have gone to making their own state a better place, into fuelling a permanent sense of instability in the entire region.

While one expected Pakistan to have a view on what happens in Kashmir, one did not quite expect them to derail at what happened. It is almost like the abrogation of Article 370 has unbalanced the Pakistani leadership, and they are almost frothing at the mouth, when they talk about the internal affairs of another country. As India gets diplomatic backing on Kashmir – with most world leaders keeping various degrees of mum – Pakistan is more isolated than ever.

Its role as a haven for terrorists, arms dealers, black marketeers, money launderers and other unsavoury types, has come home to bite. Recently the Asia wing of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – which looks at illegal money flows across the world  — has downgraded Pakistan and placed it on a black list. This is at a time when Imran Khan desperately needs to prove to the world that Pakistan can be trusted with money.

For India, Pakistan is an irritant next door. Someone we have to deal with, simply because we cannot move continents to get away from them. Despite the horrors of partition, the wars, the skirmishes, the blood-letting and the rhetoric, no Indian leader has obsessed about Pakistan or any part of it, for longer than a few minutes. Pakistan, on the other hand, seems to think more about India and what the Indian government is doing than focusing on the interests and development of the people of Pakistan. And, that seems totally irrational, not to mention strange.

For Pakistan, to grow, to develop and provide a better quality of life for its citizens it needs to reset its priorities. It needs to focus on the rights of its people, not ours. Kashmir is an Indian issue, it is ours to solve. Pakistan doesn’t have a role to play. Pakistan needs to realise that.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Want to curb fake news? Tackle IT cells of political parties first

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There is a case before the Supreme Court that looks at the issue of fake news, and the proposed solution. Representing the government, Attorney General KK Venugopal is arguing the need to link social media accounts with Aadhar to prevent the spread of fake news. Which tells you two things – the first is that senior law officers of the government (and Opposition) need training in how the internet works. The second is that fake news is a serious-enough problem for the government to try and take some action — even though the action is not very well thought out.

Fake news is a huge problem, not just in India but elsewhere. It has been considered responsible for bringing Donald Trump to power, ensuring Brexit, infuriating mobs in India to lynch, and start the outbreak of the measles virus by circulating fake news about the efficacy of vaccinations. In short, fake news is not just a moral hazard – people lying – but can lead to devastating consequences for life, limb, property, and democracy. Furthermore, it is not just fake news that governments are worried about. There is the dark web too. The dark web is that part of the web that is not indexed by any search engine, and can only be accessed through special browsers – such as Tor and Onion — and offers its users complete and utter anonymity. While many activists in nations with repressive regimes are known to use the dark web to escape detection, it is also used by drug runners, paedophiles, human traffickers, arms dealers, and other unsavoury criminals. It is also this, that the system wants to check. Unfortunately for the powers that be, linking Aadhar with email and social networks is not going to solve the dark web problem. That requires a different degree of international collaboration that brings down the black markets, without taking away the safe haven of activists. Incidentally, like the internet, the dark web was created by funding provided by the US Navy. Its aim was to allow intelligence operatives to exchange information without being traced.

With fake news spreading faster than the ability of corporations, or fact checkers, to verify and put out the truth – there are measures needed to curb it. There were cases pending before Indian High courts in various states, that have all been transferred to the Supreme Court.

At one level there is the measure of privacy. Do you really want the government snooping through your dog-and-cat videos, baby pictures, and Instagram food posts? The counter to that is that the information is already available online, and anyone with the ability to search can access it. After all, those of us who use social media are broadcasting to our connection, and in that sense – the information is public. Also, corporations churning our data are able to make linkages about us and our habits with great ease. So much so, they are able to know if a woman is pregnant, based on her shopping trends. However, across the world, including India, there is legislation being planned to curb what corporations know about us, and use for their ends. Should the government have access to the same data? How will it impact you?

The second question is of practicality. There is nothing that stops a person living in Macedonia from putting out fake news about your country – either out of political belief, or to earn a few quick click bait dollars. Aadhar linkages are not going to stop them.

At the core, if the government wants to stop fake news, it needs to clamp down on its own party’s IT cell, along with the IT cells of other parties. Maybe parties that register IT cells and disseminate news on Whatsapp and other media, need to be registered as news providers, and go through the same degree of checks that normal news outfits are supposed to adhere to. And, more importantly, breach of verified news guidelines needs to be met with strict financial penalties, and maybe even jail sentences.

There are around 350 million Indians on social media, most of whom do nothing more than share terrible Tik Tok videos. The government wants to control 350 million people, without being able to control politically motivated IT cells. Maybe it needs to fix issues in its own house, instead of penalising the rest of us, for the misdeeds of a few.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

No lessons learnt: The old guard strikes back in the Congress party

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The last few years have seen a tussle within the Indian National Congress on the way the party should move ahead. On one side was the (relatively) young guard led by Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot amongst others – who looked at the party being built ground up. With local units being more empowered. On the other side were the old guard – people who had consistently lost elections but for some inexplicable reason still calling the shots in the INC – people such as Digvijay Singh, Ahmad Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad – who believe in a more centralised high command. Last week the old guard won. Instead of reposing their trust in someone younger, and more able to drive the party and unite it, the party called on Sonia Gandhi to take on the mantle until the time a new leader could be found.

In the aftermath of the general elections rout and the resignation of Rahul Gandhi, the INC has been in disarray. It has seen its numbers dwindle, as young politicians with ambition seek greener pastures – and there is, right now, no pasture greener than joining the BJP. Priyanka Gandhi’s name popped up a few times, before she made it very clear that she wasn’t in contention. Scindia and Pilot both seemed in the running, but just as they lost out the chief ministership to the old guard in the states that they won through meticulous planning – Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – the duo’s chances seem nixed by the political back-roomers. The names of Mukul Vasnik – who last won an election in 2009 – and Malikarjun Kharge, the last leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, was floated around. Finally, the mantle fell to an ailing Sonia Gandhi to hold the party together as interim president, while the search continues for a president.

In his resignation letter, while taking accountability for the drubbing in the polls Rahul Gandhi wrote, “Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others accountable but ignore my own responsibility as president of the party,” While he has gone, others responsible for the debacle have not. Those include people responsible for ticket allocation. And, those are the same people manoeuvring and manipulating to ensure that the Congress stays in opposition. Nothing exemplifies the chasm more than the divided voices within the INC on the abrogation of Article 370.

The INC is at the crossroads. It can go back to business as usual. But it needs to realise that the rules of that business has changed completely by Narendra Modi. While Modi is backed up by the powerful organisational outreach of the RSS, it is his personal charisma that draws voters. What the RSS does is deliver the voter to the booth. But, Modi attracts them first. The Congress, in its hunt to fix the top leadership has forgotten that a party runs on its grassroots members.  And, the ability of these members to get people to the booth on election day to vote for the party. It is this grassroots that is decimated, and unless there is a clear vision to rebuild the party ground up, the Congress is going to face more defections, and more losses.

The backroom brigade of the Indian National Congress has wreaked more harm on the party than the BJP and the RSS could ever do. They have made sure that an organisation’s greatest resources – people – have had to move to other parties, to meet their aspirations. Defeat after defeat, in the states and at the centre, has not told them that their policy is wrong. That they are harping on the same issues that the electorate has roundly rejected.

To be in contention for the next elections, the Congress has to take some radical steps. The starting point is party-wide primaries for all positions, starting at the booth level, and ending at the presidency. And to achieve that you need the kind of organisational energy that the old guard cannot bring. Sonia Gandhi served her party well in the 90s. But this is not the 1990s, the world has changed. It is up to the Congress to understand the nature of the change.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Abrogation of Article 370: A new hope or a great betrayal?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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On August 6, Article 370 was abrogated. The Constitution of India was extended to Jammu and Kashmir. All the provisions, all the safeguards, all the pitfalls, everything that you and I enjoy and suffer is now theirs too.

It is also the day that Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status, statehood, and got bifurcated into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Many leaders in the former state have been taken into custody, including two former chief ministers – Mehbooba Mufti, and Omar Abdullah. Section 144, which bans the gathering of more than four people, has been applied, and internet connectivity has been cut. While Home Minister Amit Shah has promised that statehood would be restored once normality is restored, it is anyone’s guess as to how long that would be.

For many it is a day of joy – a day when Jammu and Kashmir is part and parcel of India. For others, like those in Ladakh, it is joy because their long-standing demand of being a union territory has finally come to be. For Kashmiri Pundits, it was a day that provide some balm for the wounds, caused by their forced exodus from their land, by terror groups. And, for many Kashmiri Muslims, it was a day their world fell apart. All reactions are true. All are real. And all exhibit the varied emotions that this decision has brought about.

While the integration of Jammu and Kashmir into the rest of India was long overdue, should it have been done without the consent of the people who live there, or their representatives? One of the key criticisms even by those who support the abrogation of Article 370 is this lack of consent, and the abrogation of procedure along with Article 370. After all, the government governs with the consent of the people. And, any major decision regarding their future should be consultative. It is this consent that has been breached. And, it is a bad precedent vis-à-vis the role of the centre and the states.  In a federal republic, the relationship between the centre and the states is consultative, not unilateral. But that stands nullified with this unilateral decision.

With the shutdown of internet services, it is difficult to tell how the vast majority of the people in the valley are reacting to these events. But from the little information that is trickling out the sense is that of betrayal. And, this is what the government of India has to address. There needs to be a massive confidence-building exercise. The abrogation of Article 370 should not mean the indiscriminate resettlement of citizens of other parts of India in the newly carved union territory. What most Kashmiris fear is that their culture and way of life will be overwhelmed by others. And, this is the fear that the government needs to allay.

The opportunity offered by the abrogation of Article 370 is the ability for Indian business to invest in the union territory, without the need for a local partner. There needs to be a Marshall plan for Jammu and Kashmir. A plan that rebuilds the state that is reeling from decades of terrorism and military presence. It needs industry, and jobs that wean away the young from the streets, and from the lure of militants. And, this is the promise of integration. But, it is a promise that can only be delivered with a lot of effort, and patience.

And, finally, what is needed is empathy and grace. The Indian state isn’t the victor and the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not the vanquished. People need their dignity, and their own sense of self-respect. The government would be wise to tell its own supporters on social media to cut down the crowing and glee at the distress of the Kashmiris. And those in Kashmir, who are distressed about their loss of uniqueness also need to realise that other states without an Article 370 have managed to retain their uniqueness and individuality without it being swamped by ‘outsiders’. Indeed, that in India, there are no outsiders.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Taxing the global digital giants: it’s easier said than done

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Last week, US President Donald Trump had another meltdown on Twitter. This time it was directed against the French. The French parliament had approved a Digital Services Tax of 3 percent on revenues deemed to have been earned in France. It was aimed at ensuring digital giants such as Facebook and Google, who pay little or no tax, are made to pay.

Trump used the tool of his diplomatic overtures in communicating his displeasure – Twitter. He tweeted, “France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the USA. We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly. I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!’. Never mind the fact that Trump has been railing at big tech companies and their non-payment of taxes anywhere, the French action was enough to send him into a tizzy and threaten duties on French wine.

With the advent of the digital economy, digital giants have emerged. Amazon, Google and Facebook straddle the world. Users have taken to these platforms like ducks to water and are interacting and transacting online more than ever before. However, the sore point is not the growth of the digital economy, nor is it the profits being made by these companies. The problem is that they seem to pay very little tax in the economies in which they operate, or indeed anywhere.  In the United States, Amazon paid $0 in taxes in 2018 – its profits were $11 billion. The Indian exchequer saw Facebook and Google make over Rs 10,000 crore, from which the exchequer earned Rs 200 crore as taxation.

How does this work? A digital MNC can offer its platform to Indian audiences who log on, put up content and interact. The MNC’s advertising subsidiary based in Cayman Islands (a low-tax country) will sell the audience (270 million strong) to advertisers. The revenues accrue in Cayman Islands, tax is paid there. And the Indian exchequer gets nothing. Since no product is created, the rules of transfer pricing do not apply.

A taxation system put in place for manufacturing industries and the trade in products seems unable to cope with digital transnational corporations whose services are delivered from anywhere. The international taxation system is based on a simple principle – multinational corporations (MNCs) would be taxed in the country where it creates value. Which works perfectly well when you deal with a car manufacturer who produces different parts of the car in different countries, but it breaks down when it comes to dealing with digital giants that make nothing, and use the ‘content’ created by those who use its platforms to make profits. How do you tax an intermediary who does offers their very valuable service for free, and pays for this service by selling personal data of its users as packages to advertisers? At the core is nations demanding a chunk of taxes for value created on these platforms by their citizens, who use and consume it.

And, this is the question that has been bothering policymakers across the world. Most of these policies revolve around taxing advertising income. India currently taxes advertising revenue earned by companies like Google and Facebook at 6 percent. The G20 is looking at ways of taxing these giants. Dubbed the ‘GAFA’ tax – Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon Tax – nations are looking at how to charge these giants tax on revenues. India too is mulling such taxes.

There is a problem when corporations don’t pay tax anywhere. While creative accounting and manipulating existing systems to avoid tax may be great for shareholders – Jeff Bezos is among the richest people in the world – it has a grave impact on the social welfare of nations that they are based in. When you and I can pay tax, when start-ups and small businesses can pay tax – there is no reason why loopholes exist that allow companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon to get away with paying nothing.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

The churn in Congress – it is time to separate the wheat from the chaff

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fourteen months after the Congress-JDS alliance took charge in Karnataka, they lost the trust vote by six votes, 99-105, triggering the fall of the state government. It looks likely that the BJP will form the next government in Karnataka. The collapse of the government was brought about by fifteen JDS and Congress MLAs’ resigning from both parties, allegedly because large sums of money were used to trigger these resignations. Twelve MLAs from the Congress, and three from the JDS were displeased with the earlier government and resigned. Amit Shah has been accused of horse trading and engineering these resignations, though there is nothing to prove that he did. The reputation of the BJP strongman is enough to make him the accused whenever there is a disruption in any other party, and legislators want to change the colours pinned to their masthead.

But, this is not the first of the blows striking the Congress. Earlier this month, ten of the fifteen Congress MLAs in Goa moved to the BJP, in a surprising switch of ideology and parties. The former leader of the Congress in Goa, Chandrakant Kavlekar, was rewarded for this move with the post of Deputy CM. Both Congress and BJP supporters were aghast – each talking about the values of their party, and how they need to stand for something. In Gujarat, Alpesh Thakor, who was one of the star campaigners for the opposition during the state elections, and one other MLA joined the BJP.

Given the bitterness between the two parties, and the claim of a battle of values, these comings and goings at a political level raise one core question. At a fundamental level if Congress members join the BJP, or vice versa, then do you need to question the judgement of the Congress in selecting them, and the BJP for accepting them. Are the values of the two parties so identical that people can make the jump without even a pause?

The Congress has been having a bad year so far, and the year is not yet over. At the top is the massive defeat in the 2019 General Elections, and the crisis of confidence that followed. Before they could recover, came the next blow that their president Rahul Gandhi was resigning from the post, taking accountability for the loss. And, this has triggered a spate of other resignations. While much of the dead wood in the Congress is safely intact in its place, many younger leaders have taken Rahul Gandhi’s cue and put in their papers. For a party that has been starved of talent, this is a loss. However, you may not say the same thing about those changing parties.

If a Congress member feels comfortable in the BJP, or a BJP member feels at home in the Congress – then both were in the wrong place to begin with. While the Congress reels under these losses now, it is possibly the best thing that happened to it. It is shedding people who ought not to have been selected.

In India, the concept of ‘manthan’ or churn is deep rooted. Churn is the chaos and disruption that gives you a glorious outcome. But the churn itself is traumatic. Shyam Benegal had made a film called Manthan about the birth of Amul. And, the Manthan referred to both the churn of butter being formed, and the social churn which empowered women. It was from a societal point of view, temporary chaos. But the results were great. The most famous ‘manthan’, however, is the Sagar Manthan, where the ocean is churned to find the nectar of immortality. If you read the Bhagvad Purana, you will know that the churn was not easy. Different parties work together to make it happen. The outcomes were great, but the churn itself was traumatic, and tortuous.

Every organisation, every system and every nation go through churn. And, when there is churn, there is going to be losses. People leave. When an organisation is going through a bad patch, many professionals will leave. Those who stay do so for two reasons – one is that no one else will hire them; the other is because they truly believe. For the Congress it is time to separate the wheat from the chaff and find those who truly believe and give them positions of responsibility. When you see a DK Shivkumar’s valiant single-handed battle to save the Government of Karnataka, you wonder why a scrapper like him is not in more prominence in the centre. The Congress needs to identify leaders like this who emerge from the churn, and make them steer it – booth by booth, constituency by constituency. It is not an easy battle. No one is going to wave a magic wand and fix the Congress’ woes. It has to go through the churn and make the most of the churn. And, for that it needs a plan.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Judicial overreach and fundamental rights: What the Richa Bharati case teaches us

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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We often speak about judicial overreach, and most times it is in relation with the justice system overturning the orders of the executive. And, that is a tussle that has been going on for quite a few years. But there is another area where there is judicial overreach – and that comes through in judges trying to change a person’s innate nature, rather than deliver justice. Examples include judges suggesting a rapist to marry his victim; judges suggesting that a wife follow her husband to another town because Sita followed Ram. And, it is not just a problem in India – an American judge sentenced a boy to attend church for 10 years for a drunken driving manslaughter charge. And, there are many such cases. But the role of judges is not to change behaviour but to uphold the law. And, this is what strikes you when you read about the Jharkhand District Magistrate’s Court that has released a young college student, Richa Bharti, accused of making a communal post on social media, on the condition that she will distribute five copies of the Quran to government-recognised institutions. (The Jharkhand District Magistrate’s Court later dropped the condition on a petition filed by police citing difficulties in its implementation).

Richa Bharti, like many others on social media, shared a post that was liked by some, and deemed by one person to be detrimental to communal harmony. She was arrested for this and put in jail. The case came up before the district magistrate, who set her terms of bail as the distribution of the Holy Book. While one can assume that Judicial Magistrate Manish Singh was trying for some sort of behavioural change, he has possibly overstepped his brief, and stepped on the toes of the fundamental right to practise one’s religion as one sees fit.

The Old Testament story of King Solomon delivering justice to two women fighting about a child is fairly well known. After hearing both their claims and not being able to adjudicate whose baby it is, he suggests that the baby be cut in two, half given to each woman claiming to be the mother. The woman who agrees to the proposal, is declared the non-mother. This is often held up as an example of ‘justice’, despite the many flaws in the way the judgement was arrived at. In a modern world we don’t rely on kings to tell us to split our child in two, rather we follow a judicial process that is supposed to deliver a judgement based on laws laid down. And, this judgement seems to contradict some of the most fundamental rights that we have – that is the right to profess your faith, the way you see fit. And, if that means not distributing the religious books of another faith, then it means the right not to undertake that activity.

For those of us who have been appalled by the spate of reports of incidents when random Muslims are roughed up and made to chant Hindu religious chants, this is even more scary. A District Magistrate’s court mandating that you carry out a religious activity that you don’t believe in.

There are two major issues with this case, both of which impact her, and our, most fundamental rights. The first is should people be arrested for social media posts? What constitutes hate – and how many sentiments do we protect before we realise we have bound ourselves mute with all this protection? And, this is a question that does not just arise in the case of Richa Bharti, but in every case where people find their social media posts leading to their introduction to the criminal justice system — first-hand. The second is can you be forced to hand out religious books or participate in any form of religious activity? And, if Richa Bharti can be, what does it mean for the rights of all of us?

The defence of rights is binary – you either support everyone’s rights, or over a period, most of us will end up with curtailed rights. I haven’t read what Richa Bharti had written. But it shouldn’t matter. Does she have the right to have fundamental rights? That is what matters. Because if her rights don’t matter, all of our rights get compromised.

Harini Calamur writes on politics, gender and her areas of interest are the intersection of technology, media, and audiences.

Read Harini Calamur’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow