Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
COVER ARTICLE 6
Chinese Hegemony
Warrants
A Worldwide
Boycott
Prof. Bhagwati Prakash
Vol-22, No. 8
1 Cover Page
ShravanBhadrapad 2074 August 2017
2. Cover Inside Page
EDITOR
Ajey Bharti 10 COVER STORY
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Boycott China: Interview with Dr. Ashwani Mahajan
Ishwardas Mahajan on behalf of Swadeshi
13 COVER STORY
Jagaran Samiti, 'Dharmakshetra', Sector-8,
R.K. Puram, New Delhi-22, Let us not look at China using Western Lens
........................................................... Prof. R. Vaidyanathan
COVER & PAGE DESIGNING
Sudama Bhardwaj
17 COVER STORY
EDITORIAL OFFICE China's invasion on Indian Festival Economy
'Dharmakshetra' Sector-8, Babu Genu Marg. .......................................... Dr. S. Lingamurthy Bharat Dogra
R.K. Puram, N. D.-22
E-MAIL : swadeshipatrika@rediffmail.com 19 COVER STORY
WEBSITE : www.swadeshionline.in Mansarovar Yatra and Restoring Faith in India-China Relations
........................................................ Abhishek Pratap Singh
21 ANALYSIS
LETTERS 3
Record stocks upsurge hint mayhem for banks, economy?
........................................................................ Shivaji Sarkar
NEWS 34 23 FOCUS
Worry about small industries, not about the banks
..................................................... Dr. Bharat Jhunjhunwala
25 GM CROPS
GM Debate: Why is the Scientific Basis of Genetic Engineering
Increasingly Questioned?
......................................................................... Bharat Gogra
28 INTERVIEW
Farmers are dying not because crop productivity is low
.................................................................. Devinder Sharma
32 AGRICULTRUE
Monsanto sway in Agriculture Ministry
......................................................................... Sandhya Jain
39 Back Inside Cover
40 Back Cover
Letters
Say No to GM Quote-Unquote
As if the destruction wrought on our agriculture by the Green Revolution
and Bt cotton was not enough, now the government is anxious to introduce
GM food crops in the name of increasing productivity and reducing imports!
GM mustard is being hailed as a Swadeshi technological invention! "Swadeshi"
technology should not be a home-grown version of a destructive "terminator" Our festivals are directly
technology developed elsewhere that is patented, non-renewable and antithet- connected with the upliftment
ical to the very concept of life, but rather one that is sustainable both ecologi- of poor. It drives their
cally & economically, absolutely suitable to the native soil. economic activities.
GM mustard is based on the harmful barnase gene (apart from barstar &
Narendra Modi
bar genes) and is engineered to be resistant to the herbicide Glufosinate Prime Minister
which when sprayed in fields kills all other intercrops(like wheat) except the
herbicide-tolerant GM mustard, while also leading to the emergence of super-
weeds, as has happened in the US. It has also been pointed out that that the
argument of a large volume of GM oils like rapeseed, soya, corn being import-
ed into our country is a myth, for these oils add up to only 10-11%, while it is
palmolein oil that is the most imported! Pangriya represented the same
Based on their bad experience with GM cotton flowers towards which stream which is running under
bees were seen to avoid going, last September beekeeper associations from
the name of capitalism,
across India protested at Jantar Mantar the promotion of GM mustard, fear-
ing a drop in honey production if mustard goes the GM way, as 60% of Indian liberalism.
honey(of which 40% is exported) is of mustard origin. We already know of Arun Ojha
National Convenor, SJM
how bees, which are estimated to offer "ecosystem services" worth $235
billion- $577 billion (of annual global food production through pollination),
are being harmed by the neonicotinoid pesticides used for treating GM seeds
before planting. For the GM proponents to argue that nothing calamitous has
happened to us all these years while consuming GM foods like Bt cotton oil
etc., is ridiculous because no ill-effects from something as complex as a GM
If I were at 40, then I would
food will manifest immediately. Haven't we seen how years of pesticide and
insecticide use from the much-vaunted Green Revolution-style farming has have got job anywhere... the kind
become the cause of cancer (esp. in Punjab) and diabetes(according to the of job I have at Columbia is almost
researchers of Madhurai Kamaraj University)? impossible to get at this age.
Hence, time to take a wise call on GM mustard is now, for "indication of Arvind Pangariya
harm, not proof of harm, is our call to action"! Let not the governments & agri- (Explaining why he is resigning from NITI Aayog)
research institutes play with the lives of people.
C.V. Krishna Manoj, Hyderebad, Telangana
EDITORIAL OFFICE
SWADESHI PATRIKA
China has always betrayed us.
Dharmakshetra, Sector-8, Rama Krishna Puram, New Delhi-22
Buying Chinese products is like
n Tel. : 26184595, E-Mail: swadeshipatrika@rediffmail.com
helping the enemy. Every na-
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Money Order in favour of Swadeshi Patrika at New Delhi, or tionalist Indian should boycott
Deposit the subscription amount in Bank of India A/C No. 602510110002740, Chinese products.
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Trade deficit with china is a
Disclaimer matter of concern.
The views expressed within are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views
of Swadeshi Patrika. Swadeshi Patrika often present views that we do not entirely agree with, Nirmala Sitharaman
because they may still contain information which we think is valuable for our readers. Commerce & Industry Minister
4
E Yes, Government can also stem Chinese imports
D People of India are boiling with anger against China, after fresh border dispute raised by it in Bhutan
and Sikkim and threat of war. This has prompted the public to start yet another round of boycott of
I Chinese goods. Due to boycott of Chinese goods at Diwali last year, the demand for Chinese goods in
Indian markets had dropped by 30 to 50 percent. This boycott had caught a lot of enthusiasm on social
media platforms such as 'WhatsApp', 'Facebook', 'Twitter' etc. last year. On the same lines, voices of
T boycott are once again gaining people support due to resentment towards China. Significantly, import
from China in 1996-97 was less than one billion, which increased to $ 61.7 billion in 2015-16. Initially,
O the trade deficit from China was insignificant, which increased to $ 52.7 billion by 2015-16, due to ever
rising imports and almost constancy of exports. Although in the year 2016-17, there is a marginal
R decline in imports from China trade deficit with China is still whopping $ 51.1billion. This not only
causes huge burden of foreign exchange payment on the country due to heavy imports of toys, power
equipment, mobile, computer and other electronics accessories, project goods, power plants etc.,
I our industry and businesses have also have been destroyed and there is a huge loss of employment.
We should not forget that China, though is still enjoying huge surplus from the trade, has been fast
A losing this advantage. China's trade surplus once reached 627.5 billion dollars. However, due to global
slowdown, trade surplus has dipped to $ 419.7 billion by 2015-16. Given a trade surplus of $ 52.7 billion
L from India, which was 12 percent of China's trade surplus, boycott of Chinese goods in China can
significantly hurt Chinese interests and can give a major setback to the Chinese economy. Thinking that
preventing China's imports will harm consumers is also not right. Rather, its other way. With increasing
dependence on Chinese, China can exploit consumers by increasing the price of their goods. For
example, India's API industry has largely been destroyed due to the import of cheap active pharmaceu-
tical ingredients (APIs) from China. Now taking advantage of the Indian drug industry's dependence on
China, it has started increasing the prices of APIs. For instance, the price of folic acid (ingredient for
vitamin B complex) has been raised by 10 times and price of amoxicillin has been multiplied by 2 times
which is used in anti-biotic medicines. This shows that, China has now started exploiting our pharma-
ceutical industry. We shouldn't forget that Chinese economy has been passing through a worst phase
today. Spiralling Inflation and the resulting increasing wages is bringing competitive power to a halt it
enjoyed for long. Global recession has increased its problem manifold by slowing down their exports.
Its infrastructure development has come to a halt due to excessive infrastructure in the past and
problems at the fiscal end. Attempts of US, after Donald Trump taking over the reign of power, and
growing adverse atmosphere against China, due to de-industrialization and youth unemployment in
Europe are multiplying woes for China. Generally people, who are against boycott of Chinese, argue
that since we are bound by World Trade Organisation (WTO) we cannot stop Chinese products by
raising tariff or non-tariff barriers. However, we shouldn't forget that Chinese goods are generally of poor
quality. Import of poor quality goods can easily be curbed by imposing standards. Therefore, to stop
Chinese imports we have to simply make standards and implement them. Government, so far has
made and implemented standards in case of plastic goods, power plants etc and have successfully
banned import of Chinese plastic goods and power plants. Apart from this, under WTO rules, there is
a provision of imposing anti dumping duty, based on the complaint of domestic players, to discourage
imports, when goods are being dumped at a price lower than the production cost and causing injury to
the domestic producers. This provision has been used number of times in India and world over.
It's surprising that on the one hand some experts in the country give reference of WTO provisions
against curbing Chinese goods, whereas China itself has been using direct and indirect measures to
stop imports from many countries, which do not comply with the dictates of Chinese government.
Some time back when Mongolia hosted Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama against the wishes of
Chinese government, hundreds of trucks loaded with coal were stopped at the border. When South
Korea deployed USA's missiles system 'THAAD' against the warning by Chinese, citing security
concerns, China banned Korean Cosmetics to enter Chinese land. Import of Norwegian Salmon fish
was disallowed to enter China, when Nobel Prize Committee decided to award Nobel Prize to China's
dissident leader. Norway opposed the ban and threatened to approach WTO but nothing happened.
Finally, Norway had to pledge to accept 'one-China policy and respect for China's territorial integrity'.
Therefore, why can't India use trade as a weapon to give China a fitting reply for his deplorable acts?
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C
hina is engaged in most aggressive hostilities against Bharat in economic as
well as military arenas. Yet we have been economically empowering the
Chinese economy by purchasing Chinese products, worth more than 4-5
lakh crores a year, leading to unabated industrial closures, large scale unemploy-
ment and wide trade deficit for the country, ranging between $45 to $52 billion a
year in last 3 years, the highest and 45% of the countrys total deficit. In the
bilateral trade of $71 billion last year, China has exported goods worth of $58.33
billion to us, and imported goods worth mere $11.76 billion. Consequently, due
to wide trade gap, the value of Rupee has sharply declined by 30% in 6 years,
from Rs 50 in 2011 to Rs 65 per dollar now. Besides more than 300 industry
verticals, 200 industry clusters and 3 lac small and medium scale units are facing
imminent closure, whereby more than a crore persons may be rendered jobless
either directly or indirectly. All types of large and small scale industries ranging
from cycle, cycle parts, furniture, stationary, toys, glass, plastics, LED bulbs to
electricals, electronics, computer hardware, solar panels, telecom, radical tyres,
machine tools, steel, textile, leather wears, pharma, agrochemicals and so on have
been turning sick, one after the other, as a result of trade war being waged by
China, aimed at deindustrialization of one sector after the other and one industry
cluster after the other.
China first targets a sector to lead closures by cheap dumping and then raises
price to exploit us. For instance, after causing closure of several bulk drug and
Active Pharma Ingredient units, now China is exploiting India in several industry
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Chinese and several Chinese
brands have gained international
repute solely from the patronage
of Indian buyers. In March 2017,
Indian buyers have contributed
73% of total international sale of
Vivo brand of Chinese smart
phone, 67% for Xiomi, 48% for
Oppo, 42% for Lenovo, 25% for
Gionee and so on. In the comput-
ers, the largest selling P.C. is the Chi-
nese Lenovo, and its cheap dump-
ing in the last 5 years has led to the
closure of both the computer
hardware manufacturing units of
India viz. the Zenith and Wipro.
verticals. It has doubled the price per kg in 2016. India has been add- Today, more than 80 percent of
of Amoxicillin in a year and raised ing value to Chinese brands, for the solar panels and allied equip-
the price of Folic Acid 11 times instance more than 50% smart ments being imported are Chinese,
from Rs. 4,500 per kg to Rs. 50,000 phones being sold in India are almost rendering the domestic
Table-1
Head China India Ratio
China: India
GDP 2016 $11.2 Trillion $2.2 Trillion 2016 5.1:1
GDP per capita 2016 $8,113 $1,701 2016 4.8:1
Expenditure 2015 $3,515 billion $629 billion 2016 5.6:1
Expenditure (%GDP) 2015 31.32% 27.90% 2016 1.1:1
Expenditure Per Capita 2015 $2,558 $475 2016 5.4:1
Defence Expenditure (B.$) 2015 $217.8 billion $50.1 billion 2015 4.3:1
Defence Expenditure P.C. 2015 $159 $38 2015 4.2:1
Moodys Rating [+] 5/24/2017 A1 Baa3 11/16/2016 -
S&P Rating [+] 12/16/2010 AA- BBB- 1/30/2007 -
Fitch Rating [+] 11/21/2016 A+ BBB- 5/02/2007 -
Exchange Rate Euro /Chinese yuan 7/06/2017 7.7443 73.7325 7/06/2017 0.1:1
Inflation: CPI (overall index) May-17 1.50% 3.60% Nov-16 0.4:1
Motor vehicle production 2016 2.8 crore 44.8 lac 2016 6.2:1
Vehicles / 1,000 people 2014 104.13 21.62 2014 4.8:1
Exports [+] 2016 $2098 billion $264.0 billion 2016 7.9:1
Exports as % GDP 2016 18.70% 11.70% 2016 1.6:1
Imports 2016 $1587 billion $359 billion 2016 4.4:1
Imports as % GDP 2016 14.15% 15.91% 2016 0.9:1
Trade balance 2016 Surplus of Deficit of 2016 -
$510.7 billion $106 billion
Trade balance as % GDP 2016 (+) 4.55% (-) 4.21% 2016 -
Population 2016 1,382,710,000 1,326,802,000 2016 1.04:1
Life expectancy 2015 75.99 68.35 2015 1.1:1
Number of homicides (Murder) [+] 2012 11,286 41,623 2014 0.3:1
Rate Homicides per 100.000 [+] 2012 0.8 3.2 2014 0.25:1
CO2 Emission: Tons per capita [+] 2015 7.73 1.87 2015 4.1:1
Source: http://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/china/india
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equipment manufacturers sick. The Table-2
import surge from cheap dump- Title India China Ratio
China: India
ing by China has been causing se-
1. Active Duty Military Regular 1.3 Million Regular 2.3 Million
vere industrial sickness and closures, Personnel (Worlds Largest) 1.8:1
leading to huge non-performing Reserve 1.1 Million Reserve 2.3 Million 2.1:1
assets (NPAs) for banks. The cost- 2. Armoured Strength:
of-production of solar panels in a. Main Battle Tanks 1500 7950 5.3:1
China is $0.51 per kw, while they b. Other Tanks 2400 1200 0.5:1
c. Armoured Fighting Vehicles 6500+ 4600+ 0.7:1
are dumping them at a price of
3. Projectiles:
$0.40 per kw, solely to cause clo- a. Self Propelled Guns 290 1710 5.9:1
sure of Indian units. The US had b. Towed Guns 7500+ 6246+ 0.8:1
to impose 238% antidumping duty c. Multiple Rocket Launchers 300+ 1770 5.9:1
on Chinese panels to save its in- 4. Air Force (Fixed Wing Aircraft):
dustry. India too may impose all a. Air Superiority Fighters 370+ 662 1.8:1
three types of protective duties on b. Other/Ground Attack Fighters 258 1115 4.3:1
c. Transport Aircrafts 240+ 782+ 3.3:1
cheap Chinese dumpings. The three
5. Air Force (Rotary Wing Aircraft):
kinds of duties are the safeguard a. Helicopters (Including Army) 600+ 832+ 1.4:1
duty (to save and safeguard domes- b. Attack Helicopters
tic industry), the countervailing duty (Including Army) Around 30 240+ 8:1
(to offset the Chinese subsidies) and 6. Naval Prowess:
antidumping duty (to prevent a. Aircraft Carries 1 (with 5th Gen 1 (With 4th Gen
dumping at below the domestic stealth Aircraft) Aircraft)
6 More to be added 1 Under construction -
costs and prices).
b. Destroyers 10 26 2.6:1
China has acquired 22% share c. Frigates 14 47 3.4:1
in world manufacturing, even push- d. Corvettes 26 25 0.9:1
ing the US at number 2 with mere e. Submarines 15 68 4.5:1
17.6% share in world manufactur- f. Other Vessels Around 87 Around 450 5.2:1
ing, where as India has only 2.1% g. Air Arm Fighters 39 Fighters 324 4.4:1
share in world manufacturing. By All Others 91 All Others 245
importing Chinese goods worth Helicopters 232 Helicopters 114 0.5:1
7. Strategic Missiles 54 In Hundreds 1.9:1
Rs. 4 lac crores on record and a 8. Nuclear Missiles 90-100 260+ 2.6:1
little less than this of the record or
by under-invoicing. So, we are
empowering a formidable enemy
like China, by adding Rs. 6-7 lac
crores per annum into their GDP
or manufacturing, by importing
and buying their goods. China is
already five times larger economy
than Indian economy, with a ten
fold higher contribution in the
world manufacturing our growing
imports and buying of Chinese
economy would create even big-
ger gap. A comparison of some
economic indicators is worth men-
tion and is being given in table 1.
Chinese hostilities are perpet-
uating ever since the installation of
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communist regime in 1949 and it the Chinese security forces, last the worst doldrums, after 25 years
has attacked in 1962 and forcibly month. Moreover, by increasingly of relentless growth, wherein the
grabbed 38,000 square kilometer buying Chinese goods, we are pro- China has itself estimated lowest
area of in India Aksai China, ap- fusely contributing to the Chinese ever economic growth rate for
proximately equivalent to the area exchequer, more than what China 2017, almost after 25 years.
of Switzerland, having an area of is spending to create hostilities on The International Rating
41,000 square kilometer. Now, it Indian boarder. Agency Moody has also down-
has been relentlessly committing On a turnover of around 6 graded Chinese Credit rating, first
boarder violations ranging be- lakh crores (4lakh crore on record time in 28 years. Chinese corpo-
tween 150-400 in a year, atrociously and 2 lakh crore unaccounted) the rate debt has shooted up to $18
terrorizing our citizens residing in revenue contribution to Chinese trillion, almost equal to 170% of
the boarder areas, obstructing our exchequer from over purchases their GDP and the total debt of
entry into prestigious international comes to around Rs. 72,000 crore, the Chinese economy is at $28 tril-
fora like the Nuclear Suppliers if we presume a flat 12% Tax- lion, almost equal to 250% of its
Group and the United Nations GDP ratio on Chinese goods. Al- GDP. At a time, when the US is
Security Council (UNSC) and ve- ready, China is much farther in de- already going to eliminate, its huge
toeing our anti-terror proposals in fence preparedness with 2 fifth trade deficit of $350 billion with
the UNSC. generation stealth fighter aircrafts China and on this occasion, if in
China has seven times vetoed in its arsenal, while we are still India we would also boycott Chi-
against Indias proposal to get working on non-stealth 3rd gener- nese goods, then the Chinese econ-
Maulana Masood Azhar declared ation fighter and straggling to buy omy is bound to falter. But, if we
as an international terrorist, the 4th generation Rafale and aspiring would continue to bolster the Chi-
most dreaded LeT terrorist re- to assemble another non-stealth nese economy by purchasing Chi-
leased after Kandhar plane hijack fourth generation fighter F-16. nese Products and brands, then this
and who had established Jaish-E- Stealth fighters are those which can formidable enemy of India and of
Mohammed, another terrorist out- evade radar. A comparision of the the global mankind, would be dif-
fit. It has also vetoed Indias pro- armed forces of the two is worth ficult to handle and tame. People,
posal in the UNSC brought against mention here, and is being given worldwide must be encouraged to
Jammat-ud dava on 3 occasions, in table 2. boycott Chinese goods, through
once in case Al-Akhatar Trust once The Chinese had even divert- calls on social media, as China is
each in cases of Abdur Rahman ed water from a tributary of Bram- the largest polluting country in the
Makki, Azam Chima, Hizbul Mu- putra in retaliation against our sur- world, causing worse ever human
jahuddin and Salauddin. In these gical strike in Pakistan, expressing rights violations not only in the
one dozen vetoes no Chinese in- solidarity with Pakistan. China has China, Tibbet and Hong Kong
terest was involved, except to in- also been developing the China- but, into several other countries
flict insult and humiliate India. Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) across the Asia and Africa.
Recently in this June, China has and the One Belt One Road So, India can now well pull
even begun constructing a road (OBOR) through Pak occupied the trigger to give a decisive blow
from Doklam in Bhutan (inspite of Indian Territory of Jammu & for precipitate a crisis in the Chi-
fierce Bhutani resistance and Indias Kashmir, defying our objection. nese economy, by boycott of Chi-
oppositions), to illegally pass Once the OBOR, connecting 65 nese goods and inspiring people
through Sikkim and for upto Sil- countries through rail, road and around the world, to curb the he-
iguri, from where it can pose maritime routes with Chinese do- gemony of this neo colonialising
threaten to the chickens neck, con- main over this new silk route, Chi- Chinese regime, grabbing vast re-
necting the North-East with the na would emerge as a more for- sources in Africa and elsewhere,
rest of India. It has even, forcibly midable neo colonial super power and for posing serious threat to the
dismantled two bunkers of Indi- for the world. environment, global peace, tran-
an army in Sikkim by bulldozers, It is worth mention here that quility and human rights violations
and our army had to forcibly evict Chinese economy at present is in across the world.
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Boycott China:
Interview with Dr. Ashwani Mahajan
[Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com talked to Dr. Ashwani Mahajan on wide ranging
issues linked with Anti China Campaign of Swadeshi Jagran Manch]
I say this
because the
wealth of just
58 individuals
is equal to the
50 per cent of
the world's
population
after
globalisation.
a factory, will it not provide employment? The slogan, globalisation with a human face, is
I don't agree with this argument, as wherever old and the fact is it doesn't have a human face. Re-
the Chinese have invested, whether it is in agriculture garding movement of goods, Mahatma Gandhi had
or industries, they do bring in their own people as said, swadeshi is using goods produced in my village.
labour. Also, anything that affects the security of the It has to be like this. If I don't get what I want in
country, should not be allowed. my village, I go to the next village. If I don't get them
China wants to invest in the border areas and there, I go to the national market. If I don't get them
the north-eastern part of India. in India, I will get from some other country. But if
We have requested the prime minister to cancel some country is using unfair trade practices like Chi-
the MoUs with the Chinese companies. na, we are against it. We are not against fair trade that
Allowing them to have factories in India is more does not kill local industries.
dangerous than Chinese imports. Why is it that we are not able to revive our man-
On the other hand, if you sign an MoU with ufacturing sector? It's only because of the import of
Indian companies, they are not going to bring in Chi- cheap Chinese products. Unless we stop the dump-
nese labour to work here. So, Indian investment is ing of Chinese goods completely, our manufacturing
better than Chinese investment. sector will continue to suffer.
Through our campaign, we have already collect- Courtsey: www.rediff.com
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J
uly 2014 is an important month for global economics and China. It is the first
time in recent history that China has overtaken USA in GDP [adjusted for
purchasing power parity or PPP] and has become number one country in the
China is at the world according to Euromonitor. Now the order is China/USA/India/Japan in
threshold of terms of GDP at PPP. Of course in per capita terms, USA has ten times more
change. Many gross income than China given the population size of the latter.
groups and sects Still Chinas growth has been phenomenal and in the next two decades, it is
from Western poised to become numero uno even in nominal terms out running USA. This has
countries are trying implications for India from an Asian perspective and also we need to formulate
to spread their our strategy about China. Traditionally in the last few decades, we have been
looking at China using US or UK lens. This is due to the fact that we have not
influence and
developed many China centers all over India. Hence we have few experts who
messagesince this understand their language and try to look at China with Indian glasses rather than
is an opportunity Anglo-Saxon lens.
for them, says Unfortunately for Indiawe look at India also using White mans lens since
Prof. R. we are genetically wired to them. Our children study in the west and our experts
Vaidyanathan are all trained in the west.
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about it. The ten handed Buddha
in the Summer Palace of Ching
dynasty near Beijing has significant
relationship with our idea of Lord
Vishnu who destroys evil and even
this is mentioned clearly.
More importantly, China is
opening what are called Con-
fucius Institutes in more than fifty
countries which is similar to Brit-
ish Council efforts but more fo-
cused on Chinas ancient wisdom.
. The first thing we should learn is
to stop looking at China with
If US say yoga is good for Western glasses.
health we will start to practice it. For the last 000s of The economic boom in Chi-
West will decide if China is good years we never had na has given rise to issues related
or bad and we will follow them!. to their faith/religion and associ-
For the last 000s of years we any war with ated things. First and foremost,
never had any war with China ChinaRarest China is facing a severe separatist
Rarest occurance in the world par- [called splitters by Chinese] in their
ticularly for the Abrahamic world
occurance in the western region namely Xinjiang by
which thrived on wars and geno- world particularly for Uighurs. The region is populated
cide. 1962 was an aberration due by followers of Islam religion and
the Abrahamic world seeing unrest for the past two de-
to Nehru. In the words of Hu
Shih, former Ambassador of Chi- which thrived on cades. But recently it has reached
na to USA [1938-1942] India con- wars and genocide. violent proportions. For instance,
quered and dominated China cul- last year Chinese claimed that at
turally for 20 centuries without tianity since it also helps in job least 100 have been killed in dis-
having to send a single soldier mobility particularly in global com- turbances in that region. Not only
across her borders. Ship loads of panies where the heads could be- that, some portion of the Uighurs
Sanskrit and Pali original works long to the same Church. Many has carried the battle to Beijing it-
taken away by Chiang-Kai-Shek Chinese students in the US call self. In other words, one form of
from mainland to Taiwan bear tes- themselves Christian names like regional separation combined with
timony to it. These are exhibited George or Vincent even if they Islamic terrorism has become a
in the Taipei museum even today. have not converted. The Muslim major problem in China. There are
The major change that is tak- population is less dispersed and also reports that the Islamists are
ing place in China is not related to more concentrated in specific lo- taking shelter in the Pakistan occu-
their growth rates and Three Gorg- cations like western part. pied Kashmir (PoK).
es Dam and the shopping malls But there is also a growing in- On the other hand, China is
and Olympics stadia. That is a typ- terest in China about its past. The also waging a battle with unrec-
ical Western way of viewing Chi- Ming dynasty tombs in Beijing ognized Church in its territory.
na. The main change is in religious which are made in marble were Once a hub of Christianity, wor-
affiliation and assertion of Islamic painted in red color during the shippers in Wenzhou fear their faith
followers and development of great cultural revolution of the six- is facing its biggest threat since the
large scale underground Church. ties and even today laborers are Cultural Revolution. The recent visit
The middle classes have given up washing it to make it back in to of the Pope to South Korea as part
rice [perceived to be for the illiter- white color without success. The of his engaging Asia has fueled
ate poor] and are embracing Chris- guides are not reluctant to talk concerns in China since China has
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its own church and does not rec- It says that religion can play an Hence, India should be send-
ognize Papal authority. important role in realizing a har- ing Sri Sri Ravishankar/Mata Amir-
By my calculations China is monious society which is the new tanandamayi / Swami Ramdev/
destined to become the largest political role of the party. That is Pramukh Swami/Sankaracharyas/
Christian country in the world very the main issue we at India should Vaishnavite Seers and other spiri-
soon, said Fenggang Yang, a pro- be interested in. A 2007 study con- tual leaders, Bharatha Natyam ex-
fessor of sociology at Purdue ducted by two professors of Chi- perts, musicians, other artists in
University and author of Religion na Normal University based on hundreds to China to Conquer
in China: Survival and Revival un- more than 4500 people conclud- and Dominate by our soft pow-
der Communist Rule. But for Chi- ed that more than 300 million peo- er. We need to print millions of
na, both the Abrahamic religions ple namely 31 percent are religious copies of Ramayana and Mahab-
are alien to its culture going back and more than 60 % of those are harata and our Puranas and Gita
several thousand years. So they are in the 16-40 age group. The num- and Jataka stories in all modern
trying to revive Confucianism by ber of followers of Christianity Chinese languages and widely
encouraging the study of it as well has increased to 12 % from a low make them available. The CDs of
as opening several centers to prop- of less than 8% in the nineties. Mahabharata and Ramayana etc.
We should start
some fifty
Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavans
in China.
Actually China
needs this more
than USA
agate it. Buddhism is their ancient This last fact is interesting can also be given free. We should
religion and Hindu influences are since a huge underground Church start some fifty Bharatiya Vidya
significant. has developed in China and Zhao Bhavans in China. Actually China
The keynote speech by the Xiao, a former Communist Party needs this more than USA even
General Secretary of the Commu- official and convert to Christiani- though all our soft power is cur-
nist Party of China- Hu Jintao to ty, thinks there are up to 130 mil- rently on show in the USA. We
the 17th Party Congress in Octo- lion Christians in China. This fig- should create a fund of at least
ber 2007 devoted a paragraph ure is much more than the official Rs.10000 crore for this effort.
to religion. He stressed that reli- figures of 21 million 16 million There is a statue of Kalidasa in the
gious people including priests, Protestants and five million Cath- Shanghai theatre unveiled by the
monks and lay believers played a olics. If the latter figure is true theater academy. I do not think of
positive role in the social and eco- which is corroborated by other like any metro in India including the so
nomic development of China. Pew Forum then there are more called cultural capital Kolkata,
Hence religion is not any more the Christians in China than the Com- having a statue of Kalidasa. At
opiate of the masses. The state munist Party membership which is Kolkata, the Theatre Street became
controlled Xinhua stresses that pegged at 74 million in the last Shakespeare Sarani and not Kali-
there must be freedom of belief. count. dasa Marg!
15
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We should strategically recog-
nize the weak point of China and
also the need of its masses in the
absence of Communism. Many a
Chinese even today believe that
their next birth should be in India
to reach salvation. Culture and re-
ligion are not taboos any more.
There are other issues. Officially
China recognizes or permits only
five religions namely Buddhism, Is-
lam, Taoism, Protestantism and
Catholicism7. Hence we should take
steps to include Hinduism as one
of the permitted religions. The In-
dian Government should take ap- past cultural commonness. This will
propriate steps in this regard. The We must be very useful when the world is
point is that our soft power in cul- going to have two super powers
ture is interwoven in a tapestry form distinguish between from Asia unlike the conflict of last
with the religion. You cannot sepa- Government and century between two super pow-
rate it howsoever one tries it. Car- ersUSA and USSR- who did
natic Music without Bhakti is nei- societysame way not have any shared cultural roots.
ther music nor art. But our Gov- It is interesting that by now
ernment of all hues has never raised
Church does in many Indians are aware that MSM
this issue with the Chinese. India. of US/UK peddles lots of lies
The strategy should be to en- about India. But when the same
velop China with music, dance, art, nese colleague of mine at Shang- rags say something about Chins we
Yoga. Ayurveda, spiritual texts like hai University commented last year, swallow it hook line and sinker.
Ithihasas, Gita, Puranas etc and cap- both our countries are ruled by We must distinguish between
ture the hearts of the middle class- rootless deracinated foreign edu- Government and societysame
es as we have done for centuries. cated wonders that do not have any way Church does in India.
The second issue is related to idea of the civilizational roots or Chinese society is yearning to
our own mind-set. We tend to look the cultural richness of our lands. have good relationship with us. Let
at China either through the West- Hopefully now it should have us remember that Buddhism is rebel
ern spectacles or through local changed!! Child of HinduismAll rebel chil-
Marxist spectacleswhich have China is enthusiastically wait- dren are embraced as they grow old
more thick glasses. We need to ing. To quote late B K S Iyengar, and absorbed in the mainstream.
come out of it. Even when invita- the doyen of yoga, Mr. Iyengar China is at the threshold of
tions come to Indian spiritual lead- told The Hindu during a visit to change. It is yearning for spiritual
ers, the Government of India re- Beijing that he saw China as a fu- solace. Many groups and sects from
mains unenthusiastic and indicates ture home for yoga. When he trav- Western countries [with or without
its dis-interest in the false assump- elled to Guangzhou to give a lec- permission] are trying to spread
tions regarding Chinas political ture, he was stunned to find that their influence and messagesince
orientation. The policy formulators organisers had rented out a stadi- this is an opportunity for them.
are still living in the sixties and sev- um more than 1,300 students had Are we ready to undertake
enties while as China is undergo- come to listen to him. such a mission? Or continue to
ing a gigantic social crisis due to But this is the opportunity to mouth worn out clichs dished out
material prosperity and spiritual us since it is better to have a com- by NYT and WSJ and Western
vacuum. Unfortunately, as a Chi- petitor and neighbor sharing the Governments?
16
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China's invasion on
Indian Festival Economy
17
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STORY
ORY
families throughout the year and Bandhan festival generates about Chinas onslaught on Indias
during peak season of Ganesh fes- Rs.400/- crore business and pro- Festival Economy
tival (July-September). Around vides employment to more than India is a largest trade partner
60,000 people get employment 4,000 families in Gujarat. for Chinese products (nearly $62
opportunities in unorganized sec- During Diwali electronics, billion) and over the years import
tor such as idol manufacturing sec- automobiles and apperals domi- of toys, furniture, building hard-
tor, transportation sector, event nate the lion share of business. 52 ware, crackers, lighting and electric
management, flags and apperal percent of the apperal products fittings, furnishing fabric,office sta-
manufacturing activities, etc. sale takes place during this auspi- tionary, electronic appliances, con-
Like Ganesh Chaturthi, God- cious festival and every individual sumer electronics, kitchen equip-
dess Durga Puja festival generates makes 20 percent additional expen- ment & appliances, gift items,
about Rs. 40,000 Crore business in diture for various reasons. Accord- watches etc from China has in-
India with 35 percent CAGR, par- ing to Tamil Nadu Fireworks and creased to a great extent. Majority
ticularly in the State of West Ben- Amorces Manufacturers Associa- of these items are produced in
gal. The size of Durga Puja econ- tion (TNFAMA), crackers indus- small and micro industries in India
omy is almost equals to one-third try plays a dominant role with Rs. where investment, technology and
of the West Bengal State Annual 10,000 crore business and provides update skill is lacking. All these
Budget. Thousands of families are products have been largely pur-
traditionally involved in idol mak- Festival economy is chased in India during festive sea-
ing activity over the decades across son and the lion share of these
the nation. Many branded electron- rapidly increasing products market has been captured
ic companies are involved in spon- with sizable growth by China through large scale dump-
soring the Goddess Durga puja ing into India with cheap price.
pandals in Kolkata and artists from rate year on year as ASSOCHAM surveyed on
different countries, even from Pa- the rising population 1,000 families of Holi color manu-
kistan come to Kolkata during the facturers in different parts of the
festival to give the decorative fin-
of this country country i.e., Allahabad, Agra, Hath-
ishing touches to Maa Durga. Event middle and upper ras, Mathura, Brindavan, Delhi,
management companies from Kanpur, Lucknow and Patna. It is
France and U.S. are engaging in
classes. revealed that 8-10 lakh job losses
Kolkata in easing the entire activi- were happening through Chinese
ties of advertisements and cultural employment to thousands of fam- invasion on auspicious Holi festival
event programs at Durga Puja pan- ilies of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. colors and reported that 75 percent
dals. All these artists and event India celebrates Kite festival of the colors of China have been
management companies from dif- during Uttarayanam period and this used during last year Holi in India.
ferent countries are capturing the festival generates about Rs.500 China is also capturing the accesso-
festival economy and profiteering crore business in the country par- ries, plastic products and color
out of these festivals in a significant ticularly in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh sprinkler guns of Holi festival at the
manner. During nine day Maa Dur- and Delhi. Kite industry is tradi- worth of Rs. 18,000 Crore.
ga Puja festival food and beverages tionally based on household occu- China overrun illuminous
alone generate the volume of Rs. pation which provides employ- lightings and fireworks during the
50-60 crore business in the country. ment to more than 6000 families festival of Diwali. According to
All the festivals in India en- of Gujarat. By considering the due the TNFAMA and Industry exec-
courage the unorganized economy potential of Kite industry in terms utives, out of Rs 10,000 crore busi-
on a large scale and provides mas- of business and employment, the ness of fireworks, 40 percent of
sive employment opportunities for then Chief Minister of Gujarat the market is captured by Chinese
low skilled traditional household promoted this festival as an Inter- firework products which adverse-
manufacturing sector and small and national Kite Festival through Vi- ly affects about 2.5 lakh Indian
micro entrepreneurs. Raksha brant Gujarat Programme. [Conitnued on page no. 27]
18
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19
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ORY
have been a moment of positive The new route reduced the pil- It is well to acknowledge that
significance for bilateral relations. grimage time from more than 20 these people centric initiatives pro-
Earlier the yatra used to be con- days to about 8 and also enabled vide strong bonds for interaction
ducted via Lipulekh, Uttarakhand pilgrims to travel the 1,500 km- between both the civilizational
pass but the opening of new route long routes from Nathu La to states. Interestingly, it also proves
via Nathula pass, Sikkim (June, Kailash by buses. These modalities to be a new gesture towards con-
2015) has been hailed as good ges- particularly count for the elderly solidation of the cultural founda-
ture from Chinese and in due rec- yatris. Noting the importance of tions and inject positive syner-
ognition to the fact of building cul- new route, External Affairs Minis- gy in China-India relations.
tural ties across the Himalayan ter Smt. Sushma Swaraj said, The Given the context of present
range. route via Nathula pass is complete- frictions in bilateral relations be-
Kailash, the holy mountain, is ly motorable so now people can tween both, the reopening of Kail-
located in Tibet, the autonomous just take a vehicle to reach there. ash Mansarovar yatra will surely
Region of China. For Indians, Moreover, It is not only a big offer new source of cultural syn-
Mansarovar yatra holds key reli- event for the yatris, but also a mile- ergy and confidence in bilateral
gious and spiritual significance. stone in China-India relations, said relations between India and Chi-
According to Hindu classical texts Le Yuchung, then Chinas Ambas- na. While China has refused to give
and beliefs, a holy dip in the Ma- sador to India. reasons for not allowing pilgrims
nasarovar and completion of the on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra
parikrama of Mount Kailash It is well to to cross the border, saying the two
makes a devotee absolved of its acknowledge that foreign ministries were in com-
sins and are liberation from the munication. There were reports
cycle of birth and death. This ex-
these people centric that China might consider open-
perience makes an individual to initiatives provide ing of yatra in the near future. The
realize state of oneness causing all strong bonds for rhetorical editorial columns from
sensory activities being ceased to both sides cannot be allowed to
exist. It makes the holy unification
interaction between downplay the long term goal of
with sacred brahmin (Atman) the both the developmental partnership be-
ultimate soul represented by Mount civilizational states. tween both the states as desired by
Kailash as lord Shiva. their leadership. India firmly be-
Both the states had signed a When the yatra began through lieves in civil military relations
bilateral agreement on the alter- new route on behalf of the minis- where Supreme Commandership
native route via Nathula pass dur- try of foreign affairs of China and rests with His Excellency the Pres-
ing Chinese President Xi Jinpings the Chinese embassy in India, he idency of India.
much celebrated visit to India in was personally present there to The successful completion of
September, 2014. While the open- greet and welcome the first batch Mansarovar yatra, 2017 will infuse
ing of new route through the Hi- of yatris in June, 2015. In addition, the timely contribution to bring
malayan pass of Nathu La in Sik- Chinese side also offered every back on track bilateral relations
kim, 4,000 metres above sea level, yatri from India a pilgrimage gift between both. With great power
was officially announced during bag, which included dawn coats, comes great responsibility. China
Prime Minister Modis visit to Chi- hats and blankets in order to facil- must show the strategic maturity
na. The border trade via Nathu La itate the comfort of yatris. It also and with a sense of easiness and
pass was opened in 2006 under witness efforts from Chinese side de-hyphenation in relation to In-
Vajpayee government. in the form of building four stay dia. To quote great Chinese phi-
The new route offers a dif- points, necessary makeshift facili- losopher Confucius, Our greatest
ferent experience in comparison to ties and other related amenities in glory is not in never falling, but in
Lipulekh pass, which mostly com- order to provide the yatris from rising every time we fall.
prises of tough terrain, inhospita- India a peaceful, clean, comfort- The author is Doctoral Candidate, JNU and was recently in
Fudan University, Shanghai, China as an Indian Delegate
ble condition and high trekking. able and life learning experience. for BRICS Program 2017.
20
AN AL
ANAL YSIS
ALY
A market crash
is inevitable. But
when will it occur?
Nobody can say. If
it happens there can
be a mayhem,
warns
Shivaji Sarkar
21
Analysis
The global markets are in a of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) of sustainable earnings.
bull run. That means some people of Rs 60,064.5 crore between Indias own macros and mi-
are putting in large sums in the cap- 2010-11 to 2014-15. The CAG cro environmental factors are sta-
ital market. Does this mean that says it is for saving taxes. But such ble and in a much better shape than
falling bank interests and inflation understatements are not uncom- it was a few years back, it is often
lead to improvement in the health mon. The Satyam had also grossly said. A strong leadership, political
of the capital market? If it is so, it inflated its statements. stability and a pro business attitude
is a danger for the economy. It is The CAG said that the under- of government has set a solid
an indicator that bank deposits are statement of AGR was linked to ground for future growth. If all
being utilized to buy shares and do promotional schemes, which in- goes well we could be at the be-
speculative trading. Interest rates cluded free talk time, discounts as ginning of mother of all bull runs.
are low and so are the commodity well as non-inclusion of profit But a lot depends on how demand
prices. It means while the common from sale of investment. The re- picks up locally and globally from
bank depositors are gasping as their cent boom in prices is significantly here in coming years and how fast
interest hedging is coming down, linked to the announcement of corporate can translate them into
equity market speculators earning many such free schemes by one of their quarterly results.
is going up. In other words as the the biggest operators. Presently, if the CAG report
poor suffer, the rich are gaining. The government in 2014 had is to be believed much of it is win-
This is a danger both for the dow dressing despite the rules hav-
economic and sociological factors. A strong ing been made more stringent by
Some large companies have come SEBI and other government agen-
out with results of huge profit in leadership, cies. There are, however, a few pos-
the April-June quarter. It is said that political stability itive factors. India is doing better
some more may be doing it. While than slow moving Europe and the
announcing profits, many of these and a pro business US, which cannot grow more than
companies carefully conceal their attitude of 1-2 percent a year. Indian growth is
debt in the balance sheet. to hover around 7 percent.
In other words, the perfor- government has set The second aspect is that glo-
mance of these groups may fur- a solid ground for bal and domestic liquidity is stated
ther be affecting the health of the to be high. While the west is awash
banking sector. It may be recalled future growth. with cash, in India large amounts
that two of the worst stock scams of money are flowing into stocks
Harshad Mehta and ketan Parekh issued show-cause notices to some with bank money. Another factor
- were funded by the public sector of the top telecom firms for un- is helping the stock market. It is the
banks. The UTI and LIC scams der-reporting revenues. underperformance of other assets
were of similar nature. Public So the fear of bank money like gold, real estate and even debt.
money was lost and the public in- being utilized for speculative invest- In short term, the revival of these
stitutions bore the brunt. The lurk- ments may be real. It means there assets is not foreseen. So the mon-
ing question is whether the better are larger threats to Indian econo- ey flows in to the stocks.
performing equity market would my than being perceived. An in- The mutual funds are also
increase bank NPAs. teresting aspect is that mid-cap and playing big. They have invested Rs
That the fears are not un- small-cap stocks have seen greater 2,21,033 crore between May 2014
founded is supported by the increase in their prices based on and June 2017. During the past
Comptroller and Auditor Gener- future earnings growth. If it fails three months itself they invested Rs
als (CAG) latest report that found to keep up with expectations, a 26,503 crore. So would not the
that major telecom companies sharp fall in their prices would be market fall? A market crash
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Re- the only possibility. The risk factor is inevitable. But when will it oc-
liance Communications and Aircel is serious as many of these com- cur? Nobody can say. If it happens
- revealed total understatement panies lack a strong track record there can be a mayhem.
22
FOCUS
The small
industries create
most employment
in the country. This
includessmall
service providers
like beauty
parlours and hotels
as well small
manufacturing
units, says
Dr. Bharat
Jhunjhunwala
23
Focus
its property with the bank. The chines hence there is very little, if dent upon the banks. This area is
bank accepts deposits from retail any, net creation of jobs. Old fac- still catered to by the banks. But
investors and gives that money to tories are employing lesser persons the policies of the Government
the borrowers. However, the banks by installing automatic machines. have been negative for the small
take a cut of 4 to 5 percent for pro- The jobs created in new factories industries. The Government is try-
viding this service. They accept de- are barely able to make up for the ing to attract large Multinational
posits at an interest rate of 7 per- reduction of employment in old- companies that produce with au-
cent, and lend to the borrowers at er factories. The global demand tomatic machines. These compa-
an interest rate of 12 percent. They for physical products like cars and nies kill the market of the small
make a profit in the middle. The clothing is also getting saturated. businesses. Demonetization and
bond market eliminates the banker The services sector is suited to now GST has made their live very
as the middleman. The company our resource endowments. It re- complicated. Thus the small indus-
pays, say, 11 percent and the inves- quires more use of mind, the invig- tries are under stress. A report by
tor gets 11 percent. It is better both oration of which is the strong point India Infoline News Service says
for the borrower and the investor of our culture. It requires less use that loans to large industries de-
to undertake the transfer of mon- of minerals and energy. Therefore, creased by 4.4%, and to small in-
ey directly through a bond. Big we are being pushed by circum- dustries declined by 7.4% this year.
companies, therefore, prefer to raise stances in the right direction despite The small industries create most
the money in the bond market. A employment in the country. This
report by Livemint says that the The services sector is includessmall service providers like
share of bank credit in the total flow beauty parlours and hotels as well
of financial resources to the com- suited to our resource small manufacturing units. Most
mercial sector has dipped to 22% endowments. It employment is presently generated
this year from 45% four years ago. in these small units. The decline of
The share of the bond market has
requires more use of credit to this sector therefore should
risen in the same period to 33% mind, the invigoration send the alarm bells ringing.
from 22% a year ago. The way forward for the
The third reason is that many
of which is the strong Government requires three steps.
businessmen have round tripped point of our culture. One, we should focus on the de-
their incomes and used their own velopment of newly emerging ser-
money to meet the capital require- ourselves wanting to move in the vices sectors such as health tour-
ments instead of borrowing from wrong direction of manufacturing. ism and space travels. Two, we
the banks. Say, a businessman has We are exporting services should give substantial protection
black money of Rs 10 crores. He such as software and processing of to our medium and small service
sends it abroad by Hawala and then insurance claims, and using the providers and industries both from
brings it back as foreign investment money to import goods, especial- domestic large industries and im-
in his own company. He returns the ly from China. This means that ported goods made by foreign
loan taken from the bank. He saves there will be more requirement of large industries. Three there is a
on the interest payments to the bank. bank credit in China and also more need to prepare for a much more
I think the decline in bank environment degradation. We difficult future for our banks. Their
credit is fundamentally positive for should not worry about this be- market is shrinking and they will
the country. Our natural resources cause it is fundamentally good for come under increased pressure.
such as water and iron are limited. the environment and for the in- The Government must privatize
Manufacturing is hard on the envi- comes of our country. the Public Sector Banks as soon as
ronment with huge problems of The situation of small indus- possible, before they incur higher
air and water pollution. We are tries is quite different. They are not losses and become unsalable just
short of energy as well. Manufac- able to raise loans through the as the shopkeeper sells the medi-
turing is increasingly being done bond market because of their small cines before the expiry date.
with the help of automatic ma- size. They continue to be depen- Author was formerly Professor of Economics at IIM Bengaluru
24
GM CROPS
GM Debate
Why is the Scientific Basis of Genetic
Engineering Increasingly Questioned?
P
articularly in the context of agriculture and animal husbandry, this technol-
ogy has far reaching implications as it allows the introduction into plants
and animals of entirely new characteristics, including genes originally found
in unrelated plants, animals or micro-organisms. This is very different from tradi-
tional breeding practices, and we need time to consider all its possible impacts.
However the technology is spreading so fast that very adverse consequences can
result even before we have the time to understand the implications. At a very early
stage of its development this technology has got heavily concentrated in the hands
of a few giant corporations which are interested in its quick commercial exploita-
tion to recover their investments and reap profits. In the process, critics fear, very
serious and irreversible damage can be caused to our environment, to our food
system and to the health of millions of people.
In 1994 several scientists involved in studying the implications and impacts
of genetic engineering got together at the International Conference on Redefin-
ing of Life Sciences organised at Penang, Malaysia, by the Third World Network.
They issued a statement (the Penang Statement, or PS) which questioned the scien-
tific basis of genetic engineering. This statement said :
The new biotechnology based upon genetic engineering makes the assump-
tion that each specific feature of an organism is encoded in one or a few specific,
stable genes, so that the transfer of these genes results in the transfer of a discrete
feature. This extreme form of genetic reductionism has already been rejected by the
majority of biologists and many other members of the intellectual community be-
cause it fails to take into account the complex interactions between genes and their
Supporters of GM
claims are a
reflection more of
arrogance than of
scientific analysis,
says
Bharat Dogra
25
GM Crops
cellular, extracellular and external en- market are failing, including ease epidemics. This was highlight-
vironments that are involved in the crops that have been widely ed, in 2001, by the accidental cre-
development of all traits. planted. ation of a killer mouse virus in the
It has thus been impossible to The authors of this widely course of an apparently innocent
predict the consequences of trans- quoted paper (published in the genetic engineering experiment.
ferring a gene from one type of or- Ecologist) concluded : It is im- Newer techniques, such as DNA
ganism to another in a significant portant to realise that the failures shuffling, are allowing geneticists to
number of cases. The limited abili- are not just teething problems. create in a matter of minutes in the
ty to transfer identifiable molecular They are very much the result of a laboratory millions of recombi-
characteristics between organisms reductionist science and a hit or nant viruses that have never exist-
through genetic engineering does miss technology. The transgenic ed in billions of years of evolu-
not constitute the demonstration of foods created are unwholesome, tion. Disease-causing viruses and
any comprehensive or reliable sys- because they involve stressing the bacteria and their genetic material
tem for predicting all the significant developmental and metabolic sys- are the predominant materials and
effects of transposing genes. tem of organisms out of balance. tools for genetic engineering, as
In a widely quoted paper ti- There are bound to be unintended much as for the intentional creation
tled The Biotechnology Bubble effects including toxins and aller- of bio-weapons.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho (who heads Bio- More recently 17 distin-
Electrodynamics lab of the Open It is important to guished scientists from Europe,
University in the UK), Joe Cum- realise that the failures USA, Canada and New Zealand
mins (Professor Emeritus of Ge- wrote to the former Prime Minis-
netics in Canada) and Hartmut are not just teething ter Dr. Manmohan Singh of India
Meyer have summarised the results problems. They are warning against the unique risks
of several experiments, trials and (of GM crops) to food security,
commercial releases of GMOs. very much the result of farming systems and bio-safety
They write : There are many signs a reductionist science impacts which are ultimately irre-
of the problems caused in genetic versible. This letter adds, The
engineering organisms. For every and a hit or miss GM transformation process is
product that reaches the market, technology. highly mutagenic leading to disrup-
there are perhaps 20 or more that tions to host plant genetic structure
fail. It is particularly disastrous for gens, which current risk assess- and function, which in turn leads
animal welfare. ments are designed to conceal rath- to disturbances in the biochemis-
The superpig engineered with er than reveal. The major problem try of the plant. This can lead to
human growth hormone gene is the instability of transgenic lines. novel toxin and allergen produc-
turned out arthritic, ulcerous, The Independent Science Pan- tion as well as reduced/altered
blind and impotent. el (ISP) is a panel of scientists from nutrition quality.
The supersalmon engineered, many disciplines and countries, Marcello Buiatti (Plants Genet-
again, to grow as fast as possi- committed to the promotion of ics Dept., University of Florence),
ble, with genes belonging to science for the public good. In a has concluded in an essay, GMOs-
other fish, ended up with big document titled The case for a facts and Fiction, Far from being
monstrous heads and died GMO-free Sustainable World the the new science, which will solve
from not being able to see, ISP has stated, By far the most all the problems of humanity in a
breathe or feed properly. insidious dangers of genetic engi- short time, present day genetic en-
The latest clones of the trans- neering are inherent to the process gineering is based on obsolete
genic sheep Dolly are abnormal itself, which greatly enhances the knowledge and an equally obso-
and eight times as likely to die scope and probability of horizon- lete and wrong conception of life.
at birth compared with ordi- tal gene transfer and recombina- Cesare Gessler, The ETH
nary lambs. tion, the main route to creating vi- Swiss Federal Institute of Technol-
Even products that reach the ruses and bacteria that cause dis- ogy, says, The products of genetic
26
engineering today are still at the lev- gene-manipulators claim they can selection at the level of the organ-
el of a dinosaur technology. We foresee the evolutionary results of ism [breeders choose which plants
use genes, which are foreign to a their artificial transposing of human to cross], the precise orchestration
species, not knowing where they genes into sheep, bovine genes into of thousands of genes, relatively
are inserted or what else will tomatoes, altered bacterial genes infrequent mutations and products
change in the whole chain from into eggplant, etc. But such claims that have been selected for safe use
gene to protein. are a reflection more of arrogance over several thousand years. In con-
Dr. Peter Wills, theoretical bi- than of scientific analysis. trast, GE crop technology abro-
ologist, Auckland University, says, Thus, genetic engineering gates natural reproductive process-
By transferring genes across spe- takes artificial combinations of es, selection occurs at the single cell
cies barriers, which have existed for genes that have never existed to- level [breeders choose which cell to
aeons between species like humans gether, forcibly inserts them into clone], the procedure is highly mu-
and sheep, we risk breaching natu- random locations in the host ge- tagenic [causing DNA mutations]
ral thresholds against unexpected nome and then clones the results; and routinely breaches genera bar-
biological processes. For example, it is clear that the process differs riers, and the technique has only been
an incorrectly folded form of an from natural breeding. -Jeffrey used commercially for 10 years.
ordinary cellular protein can under M.Smith in Genetic Roulette Furthermore, normal breeding nev-
certain circumstances be replicative According to an article in Bio- er introduces a cassette of bacterial
and give rise to infectious neuro- technology and Genetic Engineer- genes for drug resistance along with
logical disease. ing Reviews, Traditional breeding strong. promoters to express
Robert Mann, biochemist, methods are based upon natural foreign proteins at high levels in all
University of Auckland, says, The reproductive processes and involve parts of the plant.
[Conitnued from page no. 18]
China is not only looting Indian
China's invasion on economy and also supporting Pa-
kistans terror activities against In-
27
INTERVIEW
Tamil Nadu farmers had been protesting for try, be it in Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra or
41 days in the capital and demanding a Rs 40,000- UP. Why has the situation reached these extreme
crore drought relief package and farm loan waiv- levels and what can be done to reverse this trend?
er as also the setting up of the Cauvery Man- The Economic Survey 2016 had clearly pointed
agement Board. The government has so far not to the severity of the prevailing agrarian crisis. Ac-
come forward to okay this financial package. Is cordingly, the average annual income of a farm fam-
this because of paucity of funds? ily in 17 states of India is a paltry Rs 20,000. This
Tamil Nadu farmers have brought the plight of means, the average monthly income for a farm house-
the farmers onto the national scene. Agriculture hold in these 17 states is less than Rs 1,700. I shudder
throughout the country has been faced with grave dif- to think how farmers survive with such meagre in-
ficulties for the past few decades and successive gov- come. Most of us who live in cities have a monthly
ernments have failed to do much, simply trying to mobile bill exceeding this. I thought this revelation
push the crisis under the carpet. Over the past 21 years, alone should have shocked the country and forced
as per the National Crime Record Bureau, more than policy planners to undertake immediate steps to ad-
3.18 lakh farmers have committed suicide. The serial dress the grave tragedy. But unfortunately, nothing of
death dance on the farm has continued unabated, a that sort happened.
stark reminder to the dark underbelly in a country Except for routine lip-service, I dont see any
which claims to be on a growth trajectory. The de- concrete measures being spelled out. In fact, what is
mand of the Tamil Nadu farmers to waive Rs 40,000 being proposed by Niti Aayog as solution to this vexed
crore is clearly indicative of how deeply indebted crisis clearly shows how misplaced the emphasis is.
farming has become over the years. People living in The solutions that Niti Aayog suggests shows our plan-
cities cant even imagine the extreme distress that pre- ners cant even think beyond what is prescribed in
vails in several parts of India reeling under continuous textbooks. Increasing crop productivity, expanding
drought for several years now. Parts of Tamil Nadu, irrigation and reducing the cost of production as the
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and way forward actually show that our economists havent
Bihar have somehow been surviving with droughts learnt any lesson from the farm debacle.
continuing for as many as six to seven years at a stretch. Let me make it clear. Farmers are dying not be-
What shocks me is that even in Bangalore, people have cause crop productivity is low. They are dying even in
no idea of the extent of drought prevailing just 50 km those areas where productivity is the highest in the
away from the mega-city. Thats the kind of discon- world. Take the case of Punjab, where 98 per cent of
nect that exists between India and Bharat. the cultivable land is under assured irrigation. The pro-
The economic crisis farmers are facing is com- ductivity of wheat is 45 quintals per hectare, the high-
pounded by the denial of a rightful income to farm- est in the world; and for paddy at 60 quintals/hect-
ers for their produce. To keep food inflation under are, it is close to the 67 quintals/hectare of paddy
control it is the farmers who have paid the price. What productivity in China. With such high yields, amongst
we dont realize is that it is the farmers who have the highest in the world, and with 98 percent assured
been subsidising the nation all these years. irrigation, Punjab farmers should have done remark-
Farmers are in distress throughout the coun- ably well. But unfortunately what is not known is that
28
Inter vie
vieww
farm loans of Rs 30,500 crore that it is struggling to focus of economic reforms shifts to agriculture. I
waive. The bad debt of Essar Steel, according to am of the firm opinion that at a time when the world
media reports, exceeds Rs 33,000 crore. The corpo- is witnessing a jobless growth, and when all devel-
rate office of Essar Steel is in Mumbai, and I dont oped countries are faced with an economic slowdown
find the RBI asking Maharashtra to stand guarantee from which there seems to be no way out, only agri-
for the steel giants bad debt waiver. This is grossly culture can reboot the economy. Only agriculture can
unfair. The state should therefore refuse to underwrite provide an ever-lasting solution to the demographic
farm loans. Just like the corporate loans, banks should disaster that awaits the major economies. Imagine if
be directed to write off farm loans without disrupt- the 60 crore people engaged in farming, directly and
ing the states finances. indirectly, were to get more income in their hands. It
Part of the problem in agriculture is frag- would send the economy galloping. More income will
mented land holdings, dependence on an erratic create more demand, which means the wheels of in-
monsoon, high cost of/ seeds and fertilizers and, dustrial growth will kickstart. A profitable agriculture
of course, the impact of climate change. How will reduce the pressure on cities, and will bring back
do farmers deal with a slew of these problems? some sanity to enable planners to restore global warm-
Are we reaching a stage where agriculture will ing to manageable levels. This, I think, should be the
have to subsidised in the way it is being subsi-
dised / in the West?
There is no denying that agriculture faces a num-
ber of problems. Fragmented land holdings are cer-
tainly a major cause for worry. But still I dont see any
reason why farmers should be pushed out of agri-
culture. It was in 1996 that World Bank directed India
to move 400 million people out of agriculture into
the urban sectors. This was to be accomplished in the
next 20 years, by 2015. Successive governments have
only been following the economic prescription blindly.
The argument has been that no other developed coun-
try has been able to grow with such a large popula-
tion engaged in farming. foundation of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas.
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had said Linked to this is the/ key question that In-
that that the best reform would be when we are able dia is fast losing its water resources largely
to move out the bulk of the farming population into through mismanagement. The result is that the
the cities. In other words, agriculture is being sacri- southern states are facing the worst drought in
ficed to keep economic reforms going. No wonder, the last 100 years and more.
the public sector investments in agriculture have been The environmental disaster that the world is wit-
deliberately pruned. In the 11th Plan period, a total nessingand India is no exceptionis also the out-
of Rs 1 lakh crore was invested in agriculture in the come of the policies underlying economic growth.
five years. In the 12th Plan period, it was raised to Rs The commodification of natural resources, including
1.5 lakh crore. The tragedy is that MNREGAs bud- water, has taken its toll. Global warming is already
get is more than the total investment in agriculture, drawing a collective stand among nations. But unfor-
which employs 60 crore people. tunately, while international agreements on restricting
The point I am trying to make is that agriculture soaring temperature, which also has its impact on
has been deliberately kept impoverished all these years. water mining, are keeping the international commu-
In the long run, can we go on writing off nity actively involved, I dont see much hope unless
agricultural loans indefinitely? the G-20 group of countries makes a sincere effort
Loan waiver is only a temporary relief. The big- to make urgent corrections to the economic policies
ger challenge is to ensure that farmers dont relapse that pushes for higher growth.
into debt again. This can only be made possible if the As an agricultural expert, what are the im-
30
Inter vie
vieww
mediate steps you believe the government must for Farmers Income and Welfare, with the man-
take to help the agricultural sector? date to provide an assured monthly package to
We tend to forget that the farmer is also an en- farmers. I see no reason why farmers monthly
trepreneur. The only limitation has been that unlike income should be around Rs 1,700 per month
the huge support provided for urban entrepreneurs whereas the chaprasi gets a basic salary of Rs 18,000
like Start-Up India, farmers have remained largely per month.
neglected. Since the underlying effort has been to en- 3. At present, only six percent farmers get the benefit
courage migration from rural areas, rural youth has of MSP. Ninety four percent of farmers are de-
not received an equal amount of support. I, there- pendent on the markets. If these markets were effi-
fore, suggest a three-pronged approach to tackle the cient, there is no reason why farming should have
continuing agrarian crisis: been in a terrible crisis. The focus, therefore, should
1. Write off the bad debt in agriculture. This will en- be to expand the network of APMC mandis, to
able the farmer to emerge out of the burden of set up a regulated mandi in 5-km radius. This would
indebtedness that he has been pushed deeper and require investments to expand the existing network
deeper into. Unless he emerges free, there is no way of 7,000 APMC mandis to 42,000 mandis. This
farming can be turned into a profitable venture. expansion must also include setting up warehouses
The parliament has estimated that Rs 12.50 lakh crore and godowns in at least 50 prominent locations
is the level of farm indebtedness that prevails. spread throughout the country. The country has
2. Provide farmers with a profitable price. The Com- failed to manage surplus, often forcing farmers to
mission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) dump tomato/potato crops onto the streets, and it
fixes minimum support price (MSP) for 23 crops, is here that infrastructure development is desper-
but procures only two cropswheat and rice. The ately required. This has to be followed up by vari-
government must announce procurement for all ous initiatives to provide cheaper credit, land and
the 23 crops for which MSP is announced. It must other measures to prop up agriculture.
also re-designate the CACP as the Commission (Courtsey: http://www.apnlive.com/india-news/farmers-dying-not-crop-productivity-low-15343)
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31
AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURE
tervened in their interest and pro- genic plants, will directly impact
mulgated the Cotton Seeds Price Any view that the Court pending matters in which the Union
(Control) Order, 2015 [CSPCO] might take on the Government has taken or will have
under the Essential Commodities question of law on to take a specific stand on legal in-
Act, to fix the price of cotton terpretation of various provisions
seeds including trait value, which exclusions from Section being considered in FAO(OS)
would be uniformly applicable 3(j) of Indian Patents (COMM) No.86 of 2017.
across the country, and would also Accordingly, the Written Sub-
regulate the one sided monopolis-
Act will have nation- mission prepared for the Agricul-
tic licenses agreements signed with wide ramifications on ture Ministry clearly stated that the
Indian seeds companies, which agriculture law laid down in FAO(OS)
were hurting Indian farmers eco- (COMM) No. 86 of 2017 can be
nomically. Government of India intervened extended to other crops like rice,
The Union Ministry of Agri- and even the appeal filed by the said wheat, soyabean, groundnut etc.
culture also filed a reference before Association (Writ Appeal No.1125 and even animals like chicken, pig,
the Competition Commission of and 1126 of 2016) was dismissed. sheep, goat etc., wherever a trans-
India [CCI] against Monsanto and Monsanto and its subsidiary genic trait is introduced. Indeed, that
its subsidiaries for anti-competitive companies have also filed writ pe- is why it was so important that the
business practices. The CCI found titions against the investigation or- Delhi High Court be informed of
a strong prima facie case of viola- dered by the CCI, which are pend- the Centres interpretation of law.
tion of Section 3 and 4 of the ing before the Delhi High Court. Any view that the Court might
Competition Act and directed an Sources said that when the take on the question of law on
investigation vide order dated 10 Addl. Solicitor General learnt of exclusions from Section 3(j) of
February 2016 against Monsanto the appeal before FAO(OS) Indian Patents Act will have nation-
and its subsidiary companies and (COMM.) No. 86 of 2017 filed wide ramifications on agriculture,
the persons involved. by Nuziveedu Seeds & others, he farmers and the entire population
Simultaneously, Monsanto studied the matter to ascertain as their food security would be
launched a spate of litigations by whether any interpretation of law impacted by monopolies on seeds
itself or through subsidiary com- given by Delhi High Court in these and plants. As India has nearly 600
panies before various forums, chal- proceedings could impact the le- million farmers and agriculture ac-
lenging the constitutional validity gal stand of the Union of India in counts for over 26 per cent of the
of Cotton Seeds Prices [Control] other pending litigations. nations capital GDP, the legal is-
Order, 2015 in Writ Petition Mehta came to the conclusion sue before the Court cannot and
No.12069 of 2015 before the High that while the Government of In- should not be decided without the
Court of Delhi. Tushar Mehta and dia does not have any locus standi stand of the Government of In-
Sunil Mathews, advocate, appeared in disputes between two private dia being put on record regarding
and filed a detailed reply on be- parties, there are several legal ques- questions of law (and avoiding the
half of the Government of India. tions raised by both parties which dispute between private parties).
As the Delhi High Court did rest on interpretation of the Indi- This failure to file submissions
not give Monsanto any interim re- an Patent Act and Protection of is probably the first major act of
lief in the writ petition filed by its Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights subversion of governmental objec-
subsidiary company, a petition Act, 2001. Hence, any decision ar- tives by officers of a Union Minis-
(Writ Petition No.15173) was filed rived at by the High Court on the try. It remains to be seen what ac-
before the High Court of Karna- interpretation of law and especial- tion the Centre takes against offi-
taka at Bangalore by an Association ly regarding interpretation of Sec- cials who have humiliated it before
sponsored by Monsanto. Initially, tion 3(j) of the Indian Patent Act the High Court and risked the fu-
the company secured an ex parte (which says seeds and life forms ture of lakhs of Indian farmers and
stay, which was later vacated by the cannot be patented) and the appli- consumers. Their moral laxity & cul-
High Court of Karnataka. The cability of PPV&FR Act for trans- pable negligence is self-evident.
33
NEWS
look Update, Indias growth is projected to acceler-
Monsanto Gives up Fight for GM
ate to 7.7 per cent in 2018-19, from 7.2 per cent fore-
Plants in Europe cast for 2017-18. While the IMF has retained Indias
growth estimate as provided in the World Economic
Outlook (WEO) in April, in the case of China, the
forecast has been marginally raised to 6.7 per cent in
2017 and 6.4 per cent in 2018 from earlier projections.
India, however will continue to grow faster than
China in 2017 as well as 2018. Growth in India, the
multilateral agency said, is forecast to pick up fur-
ther in 2017 and 2018, in line with the April 2017
forecast. It added: While activity slowed following
the currency exchange initiative, growth for 2016
at 7.1 per cent was higher than anticipated due to
The worlds largest producer of seeds, Mon- strong government spending and data revisions that
santo, has apparently given up on attempts to spread show stronger momentum in the first part of the
its genetically modified plant varieties in Europe. A year. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)
German media report said the firm would end all
lobbying for approval. The worlds largest producer Trade deficit with China a matter
of seeds, Monsanto, has apparently given up on at- of concern: Govt
tempts to spread its genetically modified plant variet-
ies in Europe. A German media report said the firm Amid call for boycott of Chinese goods in In-
would end all lobbying for approval. dia from certain quarters including RSS and its associ-
The German newspaper taz reported Friday ated outfit Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the gov-
that US agriculture behemoth Monsanto had dropped ernment on Monday said the trade deficit with China
any plans to have farmers grow its genetically modi- was a matter of concern and the issue had been raised
fied (GM) plant varieties in Europe. with Chinese authorities at the highest level.
Monsanto Europe spokesman Brandon Mitch- Trade deficit with China is amatter of concern.
ener was quoted as saying the company would no We are discussing the issue with China for greater ac-
longer engage in any lobbying fur such plants on the cess for Indian products and services in the Chinese
continent, adding that at the moment the firm was market, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said
unwilling to apply for approval of any GM plants. in response in Lok Sabha. China tops the list of 25
Monsanto said its decision was partly based on countries with which India had trade deficit in the last
low demand from European farmers. Weve un- three years. The other countries include Switzerland,
derstood that such plants dont have any broad ac- Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and South Korea.
ceptance in European societies, Monsanto Germa- Sitharaman said Prime Minister Narendra Modi
ny spokeswoman Ursula Lttmer-Ouazane com- had raised the issue with Chinese authorities and the
mented. We havent been bale to make any progress government was working to reduce the trade deficit
over the years, and its counter-productive to tilt against with China. The ministers remarks came at the time
windmills, she added. (http://www.dw.com/) when the SJM has started a campaign against Chinese
goods and launched a signature campaign to support
its demand. The Manch claimed that it had received
Indias economy to grow faster
support from people across the country in good num-
than China: IMF bers. The SJMs campaign will conclude on October
India will stay ahead of China in growth sweep- 29 with a rally in Ramlila Ground here.
stakes in 2017 as well as 2018, said the International RSS mouthpiece Organiser also spoke about the
Monetary Fund (IMF) while retaining the Sanghs move to launch a nation-wide mass aware-
countrys GDP forecast at 7.2 per cent for the cur- ness drive against China-made products between
rent fiscal. According to IMFs World Economic Out- August 1 and 15. Speaking about overall trade, Sith-
34
News
araman said India exported merchandise and servic- byproduct glutamine, will mis-fold, mis behave or
es worth $230.36 billion between December 2016 render the protein dysfunctional a trigger to all kinds
and May 2017 to various countries. Of the total ex- of health hazards and illness.
ports, in May, India exported merchandise and ser- Scientist Anthony Samsel of Deerfield, New
vices valued at $37.44 billion, which was 4.40% more Hampshire, USA, who has been studying glyphosate
than the previous month (April), she said. She said the and its ability to penetrate our inner biology by mim-
government had taken a number of steps to over- icking glycine, speaks here with me, about the similar
come the trade deficit. (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/) danger glufosinate poses to all living creatures, and
how countries like India should be careful not to al-
Beware of GM Mustard, and low registration of GM crops that are designed as
glufosinate tolerant GM crops tolerant to glufosinate. (http://www.tonu.org/)
35
News
showing the bearings were procured from CRB
SJM urges PM to save farmers
Antriebstechnik, Germany. They were also embossed
with the label, CRB-Made in Germany. GCF tests from Monsantos onslaught
showed that the bearings were unacceptable due to Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has urged Prime
deviations in dimensions. (http://www.newindianexpress.com/) Minister Narendra Modi to make necessary interven-
tions to save farmers from the onslaught of Mon-
India increases Amazons santo. In a letter to Modi, SJM national co-convener
international losses five fold to Dr Ashwani Mahajan has expressed apprehensions
over the wide ramification of Union Agriculture Min-
$724 million in Q2 istrys failure in placing the Central governments views
on the Indian Patent Act and Protection of Plant Va-
rieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001, before Delhi
High Court in case between Monsanto Technology
and others versus Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd and others
Dr Mahajan says that the intervention by the
Union of India was important to place on record the
legislative intent in the provision under Section 3(j) of
the Indian Patent Act and Protection of Plant Variet-
ies and Farmers Rights Act, 2001, and any decision
by the High Court will necessarily impact all litiga-
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may have lost the tions in which the Centre is a party nullifying its ac-
tag of the worlds richest man he held briefly for a tions taken against Monsanto in the interest of the
few hours on Thursday, following the companys sec- farmers. This is unfortunate because, to the best of
ond quarter results, in which net income plummeted our knowledge and understanding, the proposed af-
to $197 million from $857 million in second quarter fidavit and written submission had been prepared well
2016. But Indian users had reason to cheer as the com- in advance by Additional Solicitor General Tushar
pany again indicated that India will be its biggest fo- Mehta, and discussed with joint secretary R K Singh
cus outside North America and also talked of invest- and Deputy Commissioner D S Misra of the Minis-
ments in Echo devices and the Alexa platform for try, before he went on a brief vacation.
India. International losses, fuelled by Amazons aggres- We understand that the Department was aware
sive India growth, grew to $724 million from $481 that the hearing of the said appeal had been conclud-
million in Q1 and $135 million in the second quarter ed by the Division Bench and that written submis-
of 2016. One of the large spends in India came from sions were required to be filed before June 5, 2017.
video content, with Prime Video also launching its Further, an application was sent for affirmation by
first Indian Amazon Original, Inside Edge, the first Sunil Mathews, Advocate. Despite this, no action was
of 18 Indian Original Series. The web series was men- taken by the Ministry. This development is a major
tioned by Bezos in the financial results. blow to Indias fight against seed monopolies. How-
We continue to invest in India. Were very hope- ever, we feel that despite this setback, the Govern-
ful with the progress weve made with sellers and cus- ment of India should file written submissions regard-
tomers alike in India and we see great momentum ing questions of law related to patenting of seeds
and success there, so we continue to invest and we while avoiding the internal dispute between the two
have some of our best people in that business, Chief companies. We are conscious of the fact that the Di-
Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said when asked vision Bench could have begun to write the judgment
about rank order in terms of geographies and cate- in appeal during vacations in the absence of the legal
gory expansion with respect to international margins. stand of the Government of India, but nevertheless,
Overall for the first six months of the year, the losses an attempt should be made to place Governments
from the international business were $1.206 billion as stand on record, adds Dr Mahajan in the letter.
compared to $255 million in 2016 during the same It is worth mentioning that BT cotton seed pric-
period. (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/) es have been a contentious issue in the country for
36
News
over a decade and some state governments and farm-
ers associations had approached the then existing MRTP
Commission. Some state governments enacted their
own laws to regulate cotton seed prices and the trait
value to be levied. This created a chaotic situation in
which every state fixed the cotton seed prices for its
own state while Monsanto technology fixed different
trait values for different states even as it challenged the
said state enactments by claiming its patent rights.
Dr Mahan states in the letter that the Union
Ministry of Agriculture has filed a reference before dra Modi during the African Development Bank
the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against (AfDB) meet in Gandhinagar in May, came days after
Monsanto and its subsidiaries for their anti-competi- China hosted with great pomp the first One Belt One
tive business practices. CCI found a strong prima facie Road (OBOR) summit in Beijing. The venture is ex-
case of violation of Section 3 and 4 of the Competi- pected to get further impetus in September during
tion Act and directed an investigation vide order dated the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
10 February 2016 against Monsanto and its subsidiary India has been involved in Africa for many years,
companies and the persons involved. Simultaneously, in trade as well as capacity-building activities. Japan,
Monsanto launched a spate of litigations by itself or which has been working on infrastructure projects in
through subsidiary companies before various forums, Africa, can help with its advanced technology as well
challenging the Constitutional validity of Cotton Seeds as funds for the AAGC. Japan is reportedly planning
Prices (Control) Order, 2015 in writ petition No.12069 to commit $200 billion for the proposed growth cor-
of 2015 before the High Court of Delhi. ridor. So, is the AAGC meant as a counter to OBOR?
While the Government of India does not have The two are completely separate. OBOR is dif-
any locus standi in contractual disputes between the ferent. Long before OBOR, India and Japan were
two private parties, there are several legal questions individually working in Africa, and were talking to
raised by both parties which are based upon the in- each other about Africa, Rajiv Bhatia, a former Indi-
terpretation of the Indian Patent Act and Protection an ambassador, told IANS.
of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001. India and Japan feel that by intensifying coop-
Thus, any decision that the High Court arrives at on eration with Africa, they can help each other and Af-
the interpretation of law and especially regarding in- rica. We are working on the AAGC in our own way
terpretation of Section 3(j) of the Indian Patent Act and at our own pace, said the former High Com-
(according to which seeds and life forms cannot be missioner to South Africa and Kenya. He said that
patented) and the applicability of PPV&FR Act for Chinas engagement in Africa is extensive, while the
transgenic plants, will directly impact the decisions taken India-Japan collaboration is beginning to take shape.
by the Govt. for the welfare of the farmers, says the The AAGC shows that India and Japan desire to take
letter. (http://shoonya.in/) their cooperation beyond the bilateral sphere, he add-
ed. Chinas OBOR, proposed by President Xi Jinping
Ignoring OBOR, India and Japan in 2013, is an estimated $5 trillion connectivity corridor
forge ahead with joint spanning over 60 countries across Asia, the Middle East,
Europe, and Africa. It is meant to be a revival of the
connectivity project ancient Silk Road trading route and is expected to com-
China may not have forgiven India for snubbing prise building of roads, bridges, gas pipelines, ports,
its mega trans-continent corridor initiative, but in what railways and power plants, besides SEZs.
may rankle more is that New Delhi and Tokyo, Beijings India and Japan had begun a dialogue on Africa
arch rival, are pushing ahead with a development cor- in 2010, a continent in which both have much stake.
ridor between Asia and Africa. The main objective of the AAGC is to enhance growth
The announcement of the Asia Africa Growth and connectivity between Asia and Africa. According
Corridor (AAGC), made by Prime Minister Naren- to the vision document, the corridor will focus on
37
News
four areas: Development Cooperation Projects, Qual-
SJM steps up drive to target
ity Infrastructure & Institutional Connectivity, Enhanc-
ing Skills, and People-to-People Partnership. Chinese goods
(http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)
The Sangh Parivars workforce has been slowly
but aggressively working to create a peoples move-
Punjab has excess arsenic ment as part of a campaign against Chinese goods
content in water in 214 habitations in India. The Sangh cadre has been busy reaching out
As per a report of the National Health Profile to people with a message to reject Chinese prod-
(NHP) 2017 released by the Central Bureau of Health- ucts as part of a nationwide campaign launched by
Intelligence, there are 214 habitations across Punjab RSS affilate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). The cul-
with excess presence of arsenic in groundwater. mination of this campaign will be a massive gathering
Amritsar tops the list with 132 habitations with at New Delhis Ramlila Maidan on October 29, where
high arsenic content in water. the Sangh Parivars top brass, representatives from civil
The report says that there are 11 districts in Pun- society, and outfits involved in promoting domestic
jab where the presence of arsenic was found in ground goods across the nation will participate.
water above permissible levels. After Amritsar, Gur- The RSS-led Sangh Parivar has also backed the
daspur comes second with 42 affected habitations Narendra Modi governments tough stand in the on-
followed by Tarn Taran (23), Ropar (6), Ferozepur going standoff between India and China in the Sik-
(5), Patiala (2), Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Lu- kim sector. The SJM is observing 2017 as anti-China
dhiana and Bathinda (1 habitation each). The reports year. As part of this campaign, the SJM has so far
also reveals that Punjab has as many as 286 rural hab- got over 75 lakh pledges by people to reject sub-
itations with excess fluoride quantity in water. These standard Chinese products. Door-to-door cam-
habitations are yet to be provided safe drinking wa- paigns, programmes, yatras and intellectuals meetings
ter by the state government. Patiala district is at the are being organised to push swadeshi products. The
top with a total of 174 such habitations getting water Sangh cadre will reach out to two crore households
with excessive fluoride content followed by Sangrur with the swadeshi message.
with 27 such habitations, Fatehgarh Sahib (23), Fazil- The promotion of swadeshi products should
ka (10), Mohali (9), Ferozepur and Mansa (8 each), not be seen as a protectionist policy. It is safeguarding
Tarn Taran and Ludhiana (5 each), Barnala, Gurdaspur the interests of the nation and creating job opportu-
and Hoshiarpur (3 each), Amritsar, Pathankot and nities, promoting a market for indegenious products.
Bathinda (2 each) Moga and Kapurthala (1 each). Why do we need to depend on China or any other
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), country for something that we can create or produce
Long-term exposure to arsenic from drinking wa- indegeniously, said SJMs national co-convenor Ash-
ter and food can cause cancer and skin lesions. It has wini Mahajan. The SJM has welcomed some of the
also been associated with developmental effects, car- recent decisions including revised GFR and pushing
diovascular disease, neurotoxicity and diabetes. At for mandatory standards to stop the influx of im-
the same time, according to WHO, Ingested fluo- ported substandard products. Programmes and
ride reacts with gastric acid to produce hydrofluoric yatras are being held to sensitise people on how
acid in the stomach. Thus, acute exposure to high con- much India and its domestic market is losing to China
centrations of fluoride results in immediate effects- by allowing its products in India. One such yatra was
abdominal pain, excessive saliva, nausea and vomit- flagged off from Varanasi recently and will cover al-
ing. Seizures and muscle spasms may also occur. Death most each district. Similarly, in Punjab, the Parivars
due to respiratory paralysis is a possibility. affiliates have set a target of reaching out to two lakh
Meanwhile Haryana has as many as 161 habita- households with a buy swadeshi message.
tions affected by high quantity of fluoride in water. In the national interest, the SJM and the gov-
Rewari district has 39 such habitations followed by ernment are on the same page. The government is
Jind (38), Palwal (37), Gurugram (31), Mahendergarh sensitised about the issue, and imposing standards on
(26), Sirsa (15), Kaithal (8), Panipat (3), Mewat (2) and imported products is just an example of it, said Dr
Sonepat (1). (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/) Mahajan. (http://www.asianage.com/)
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