On the occasion of India’s 72nd Republic Day I extend warm greetings and best wishes to all fellow Indians and friends of India in the State of Qatar.

I also avail of this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to His Highness the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, His Highness the Father Amir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the other members of the Royal Family and the Government of the State of Qatar for their continued patronage and support for the Indian community in Qatar.

Republic Day is precious. Seventy-one years ago, on this historic day, the Constitution of India, which enshrines the ideals and aspirations that guided India’s peaceful freedom movement, came into effect. This is an occasion to reaffirm our commitment to justice, liberty, fraternity and equality across our society and among all fellow Indians.

On this auspicious occasion, we also remember the Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi who was the guiding light of India’s freedom movement. His quest for equality and justice is the mantra for our Republic. Last year, we concluded celebrations of the150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. It was a great pleasure to see the younger generations re-discover Gandhiji.

On this Day, we also recall and acknowledge the work of men and women of principle and patriotism – the members of the Constituent Assembly. The most notable among them was Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, who chaired the Drafting Committee and was instrumental in producing a document that laid the foundations of the Republic and continues to be guiding light for generations. It is only in fitness of things that Indians have also started celebrating 26 November as the Constitution Day every year to mark the day of adoption of our Constitution.

Based on the values enshrined in our Constitution, India continues to march ahead in the journey towards fulling the aspirations of our people. Today, India is a country of over 1.3 billion people, the world’s largest democracy and the third largest economy in purchasing-power-parity terms. We are leapfrogging technologies, attaining Aatma Nirbharta, empowering our farmers, equipping our soldiers, educating our younger generations, achieving universal and equitable healthcare, building infrastructure, networking communities, eliminating poverty, universalizing access to housing with modern sanitation and electricity, digitising economy, nurturing start-ups and innovations. At the same time, in pursuit of our core value of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (World is one family), India is sharing its fruits of development with the entire world.

The global pandemic last year presented unprecedented challenges for the entire humanity. In these challenging times, India and its 1.3 billion people have demonstrated resolve and resilience, and ability to convert challenges into opportunities. This is manifest in the quick manner in which we not only became self-sufficient in personal protection equipment, diagnostic and therapeutic kits but also ensured reliable supplies of the same to over 150 countries. India has stood up as the Pharmacy of the world and made available its vaccine production capabilities available to the humanity. India has produced two indigenous vaccines and rolled out world’s largest mass vaccination drive in the country on 16 January 2021. At the same time, India also started vaccine supplies to countries in the neighbourhood. India is playing its due role in the resurgence of economy in post-covid scenario too.

On this day, we also recognize and celebrate our deep-rooted, historical and multi-faceted ties with Qatar, and take this opportunity to thank the people of Qatar for their warmth and hospitality.

Our bilateral relations are nurtured by the close chemistry between our leadership. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and H.H. the Amir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani have been in regular touch over the past year. Following their conversation in December 2020, External Affairs Minister of India HE Dr. S. Jaishankar paid an official visit to Qatar on 27-28 December, 2020. He handed over a personal message from the Prime Minister of India to High Highness the Amir, inviting him to visit India. The invitation has been kindly accepted.

The multi-faceted partnership between India and Qatar continues to strengthen in various areas, including energy, trade, investment, security, defence, education, sports, culture, people to people contact.

Bilateral trade and investment partnership between India and Qatar continues to grow. India is the 3rd largest export destination for Qatar. Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India, accounting for 55% of India’s global LNG imports and 15% of Qatar’s total export of LNG. Last month, the Energy Ministers of India and Qatar have decided to set up a Task Force to explore opportunities for investment by Qatar in the entire energy value chain in India. The leadership has also decided to set up a joint task force to fast track investments by Qatar Investment Authority into India.

India and Qatar have close cooperation in international fora and India joining the United Nations Security Council from 1 January 2021 as a non permanent member adds new opportunities for closer cooperation. India welcomes the recent agreement for normalization of relations between Qatar and other countries in the region. India has always supported resolution of issues through diplomacy and dialogue. It is hoped that the rapprochement would strengthen peace, security and stability in the region.

The Indian expatriate community is an integral part of Qatar’s development journey. They have earned a well-deserved reputation for its commitment, hard work and law-abiding nature. The entire community celebrates and participate in Qatar’s successes, including the return of Asian Games to Qatar in 2030. The two year countdown for FIFA World Cup 2022 has just started. We are proud of the Indian companies and workers who have been participating in the successful and timely delivery of the associated infrastructure here. We are equally indebted to doctors, nurses and paramedics who have been continuously on the forefront of our fight against the ongoing pandemic. It was, therefore, a proud moment to see Indian healthcare personnel being included and honoured in the big contingent of medical frontline team during Qatar’s national day parade last month.

This year we celebrated 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on 9 January 2021. I am delighted that the Indian community in Qatar participated with full enthusiasm and well-renowned member of the Indian Community Dr Mohan Thomas was awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by the Hon’ble President of India for his valuable contribution in the field of Medicine.

We are proud of the Indian community organizations in various parts of Qatar who have contributed immensely and selflessly for welfare and wellbeing of fellow Indians, especially during the challenging times of pandemic. The Embassy continues to reach out to all Indians, especially the blue collar workers, with the aim to ensure their wellbeing and deliver services to their doorsteps. The 6th meeting of the India- Qatar Joint Working Group on Labour and Manpower Development was held in December 2020. Both sides agreed on institutionalizing mechanism to protect and promote interests of migrant workers and facilitate movement of people in a safe and secure manner. We welcome and appreciate the series of very progressive labour law reform measures adopted by the Government of the State of Qatar. These are very positive steps towards promoting and protecting the rights of the immigrant work force. We remain engaged with Qatar authorities to ensure the welfare of Indian workers. We deeply appreciate their cooperation and support in this regard.

I once again warmly congratulate all members of the Indian community in Qatar on the Republic Day of India. I am confident that all of you would continue to contribute towards the development, progress and prosperity of our host country and work towards further strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between India and Qatar.

Shri Ram Nath Kovind President

Shri Narendra Modi Prime Minister

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Message from the Ambassador of India

SPECIAL THANKSThe Gulf Times thanks the

Embassy of India, Doha-Qatar for the support rendered in preparing this supplement

Dr. Deepak Mittal

January 26, 20214

After the stoppage of all global airlines due to the outbreak of Covid 19 outbreak, the Government of India had embarked on a Mission named

‘Vande Bharat Mission’ from May 2020 onwards to help all stranded Indians worldwide. The Mission was the largest of its kind repatriation drive undertaken by any government worldwide. More than 4.8 million people have already been facilitated by Vande Bharat Mission. People continue to travel to & from India under the 24 bubble arrangements with various countries. This included around 116000 Indians who were repatriated from Qatar to India. The world’s biggest repatriation mission still continues.

The Qatar - India Air Bubble Arrangement Phase 9 had been extended until 31 January 2021. This revised Air Bubble Arrangement will also allow Indians stranded in South America and Africa to use the Air Bubble arrangement between India and Qatar so they can transit through Doha. The India-Qatar Air Bubble facility is also available to the citizens of Bhutan and Nepal.

Minister of External Affairs of India visits Qatar

Dr. S Jaishankar paid an official visit to Qatar from 27 to 28 December. During the visit, he called on The Amir and Father Amir as well as the Prime Minister and Interior Minister of the State of Qatar and held detailed discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. He handed over a personal message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to H.H. Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani inviting him to visit India and thanking

Qatar for taking care of the Indian community during Covid-19. Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani appreciated the contribution of the Indian community in Qatar and recalled his visits to India. The Minister visited Ahmed bin Ali Stadium at Al Rayyan, one of the venues of the FIFA 2022 World Cup to be held in Qatar in November-December 2022.

India attends intra-Afghan negotiationsDr S. Jaishankar participated in the inaugural session

of the intra-Afghan negotiations held in Doha on 12 September 2020 via VTC. EAM’s participation was in response to an invitation extended to him by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar, H.E. Mohammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. A senior official delegation led by Shri J P Singh, Joint Secretary (PAI) in the Ministry of External Affairs participated in the inaugural ceremony in Doha.

Key Bilateral Interactions

Activities by Embassy

Vande Bharat Mission

INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS

Partnership Summit 2020

HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, Minister of Commerce and Industry, chaired the Qatari delegation that participated in the 26th session of the Partnership Summit 2020, which was held through video conferencing technology, from December 15th until the 18th, in Mumbai. The participation of Qatar in the summit, which was held under the theme: “Partnerships for Lives, Livelihood, and Growth”, comes within the framework of the endeavors aimed at discussing ways to enhance trade and investment cooperation channels between Qatar and India, and shedding light on Qatar’s investment environment, as well as the promising investment opportunities that would contribute to attracting more foreign direct investments and enhancing Qatar’s competitive position in the region and beyond.

India-Qatar energy task force

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel of India Dharmendra Pradhan held a tele-conversation with HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President & CEO Qatar Petroleum on promoting Qatari investments in the entire energy value chain in India. This was a follow-up to Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi’s tele-conversation with Amir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al-Thani. Minister Pradhan reiterated Qatar’s role as a reliable supplier of LNG and LPG. Both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the energy sector and move beyond the buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive one, including two-way investments.

74th Independence Day of India was celebrated at the Embassy premises with great zeal. The Ambassador of India, Dr Deepak Mittal hoisted the flag of India followed

by the national anthem. The Ambassador read out the address of the president of India. The event was live-streamed for the Indian community on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The event ended with the presentation of cultural programme by the students of the Indian schools. The event was attended by community members and Mission’s staff and their families.

GANDHI JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS To mark the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the Mission

live streamed a 50-minute event titled ‘Gandhi Katha’ (Story on Mahatma Gandhi), featuring renowned Gandhian Dr Shobhana Radhakrishna, on online platforms. Embassy of India, Doha commemorated Gandhi Jayanti and 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi with great fervour and enthusiasm. Indian Ambassador to Qatar paid floral tribute to Gandhiji and a sapling was planted in the Embassy premises to mark the occasion.

PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS 2021The Embassy organized livecast from New Delhi of

the virtual Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Conference titled ”Bringing together Young Achievers from India and Indian Diaspora” on 8th January 2021. The event, livecast at the Indian Cultural Centre Doha, was attended by Indian youth in Qatar along with the Ambassador of India.

January 26, 2021 5

Ambassador’s meetings with dignitaries

Dr Deepak Mittal, the Indian Ambassador, met HE Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 16 November, 2020. They reviewed bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

The Ambassador met HE Sherida Saad Jubran Al Kaabi, Chairman of Al-Balagh Trading & Contracting Co. on 21 October, 2020. As the first Ambassador of Qatar to India he was instrumental in shaping the bilateral relations between India and Qatar.

The Ambassador received Houtan Homayounpour, Head of the ILO Project Office, Qatar in the Embassy on 20 October, 2020.

The Ambassador called on HE Dr Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Minister of State and Cultural Advisor to HH The Amir on 14 September, 2020. They discussed the historical, cultural relations between India and Qatar and ways to further strengthen the relationship.

The Ambassador met Omar Abdulaziz al-Naama, Assistant Under Secretary for Private Education Affairs on 14 September, 2020 and discussed issues of concern in educational affairs.

The Ambassador called on HE Lolwah Rashid Al-Khater, Assistant Foreign Minister, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management of Qatar on 2 September, 2020.

January 26, 20216

The first crewless Gaganyaan Flight which was earlier pushed to be launched in the first half

of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now be launched by the end of 2021.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will also eventually launch a second crewless flight in 2022 before launching humans to space.

Crewless FlightAs part of the unmanned Gaganyaan Flight, ISRO has planned on sending a humanoid which has been developed indigenously.

In June 2020 once it became clear that the first crewless flight will not be launched this year, ISRO Chief stated that whether two unmanned

First crewless Gaganyaan flight by end of this year

missions will be launched in 2021 will depend on the emerging situation and the decision will be taken based on what happens in the coming months. In case, the effects of Coronavirus continue, the space agency may have to revisit some of the plans.

In November 2020, ISRO also flagged off the first human-rated S200 motor case for the first crewless mission of Gaganyaan. According to ISRO, the high thrust solid propellant strap-on boosters- S200 motor case-will be playing a significant role in human-rated GSLV Mkll. Many new design features, in order to human rate the booster, have been introduced in the hardware.

ISRO Chairman informed that the first critical booster segment of the motor case with a length of 8.5 meter, a diameter of 3.2 meter, and weighing 5.5 tonnes has been indigenously developed and delivered by L&T.

K Sivan described it as a major achievement and stated that the next step will be to achieve a human rating of all the hardware that is required for the Gaganyaan mission.

The heavy-lift launcher of ISRO, GSLV Mkll has been identified for the Gaganyaan Mission and is in the process of being human-rated. Reflecting the collaboration

by private players, the human rating of the S200 motor case is another successful story of industry collaboration with ISRO.

BrahMos Aerospace is an India-Russian collaboration. It produces a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched successfully from aircraft, ships, submarines, or land platforms.

Indian Navy on December 1 successfully test-fired the naval-version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal. As per the officials, the test-fire was part of a series of trials that are being carried out by the three defence services of India.

Similar test-firing of BrahMos missile was conducted by the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea in October 2020. The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is also the fastest

Navy successfully test-fires BrahMos Cruise Missile

operating system in the world in its class. DRDO has recently extended the missile system’s range from the existing 298 km to 450 km.

The anti-ship version of the supersonic cruise missile with a strike range of 300 km had successfully hit its target ship in a test-fire.

The target for the missile was set near the Car Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The missile which has been developed by DRDO was launched by the INS Ranvijay of the Indian Navy.

Other featsn In November 2020, a land-attack version of BrahMos

supersonic cruise missile was test-fired from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory and the test-fire was successful. The range of the land-attack version of the BrahMos missile has also been extended to 400 km which was earlier 290 km.

n India also test-fired an anti-radiation missile Rudram-1 which can be inducted into service by 2022.

n On October 30, 2020, the Indian Air Force test-fired the air-launched version of the BrahMos Missile from a Sukhoi fighter aircraft in the Bay of Bengal.

n The Indian-Air Force has also been integrating the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on over 40 Sukhoi fighter jets that have been aimed at bolstering the overall combat capability of the force.

January 26, 2021 7

The Ambassador called on HE Ali Bin Ahmed Al-Kuwari, Minister of Commerce & Industry of the State of Qatar on 27 August, 2020. They discussed the historical trade and people to people relations between India and Qatar and ways to further strengthen bilateral trade and investment partnership.

The Indian Ambassador interacts with the community members at the Special Counsular Camp.

The Ambassador called on HE Yousuf Mohamed Al Othman Fakhroo, Minister of Administrative Development, Labour & Social Affairs of Qatar” on 27 August, 2020.

The Ambassador met HE Abdulla Bin Saoud Al-Thani, Governor of the Qatar Central Bank on 26 August, 2020 and discussed various matters including ways to strengthen relations between the banking and financial institutions of India and Qatar.

January 26, 20218

Taking inspiration from the Human Genome Project, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) initiated the ambitious “Genome

India Project” (GIP) on 3rd January last year. The GIP aims to collect 10,000 genetic samples from citizens across India, to build a reference genome. This is no mean feat, given that the genome contains all the genetic matter in an organism, i.e., the complete set of DNAs.

Whole-genome sequencing and subsequent data analysis of the genetic data of these 10,000 individuals would be carried out. This would aid our understanding of the nature of diseases affecting the Indian population, and then ultimately support the development of predictive diagnostic markers. This is a landmark initiative, particularly because it would bring valuable addition to existing genome research, which has so far been limited to the Western context. It allows India to draw upon its tremendous genetic diversity, given the series of large migrations historically, and thus, add greatly to the current information about the human species.

Through whole-genome sequencing, the plan is to build an exhaustive catalogue of genetic variations for the Indian population. This would aid in the designing of genome-wide association chips which will facilitate further large-scale genetic studies in a cost-effective manner. Furthermore, it would also open new vistas for advancing next-generation personalized medicine in the country, paving the way for predicting health and disease outcomes and modulating treatment protocols based on the genome sequences. The initiative would also support the development of targeted preventive care, as it has the potential to help identify those population groups which are more susceptible to various risk factors for certain diseases. For instance, if a region shows a tendency towards a specific disease, customized interventions can be made in the region, accordingly, leading to more effective treatment overall.

This project is led by the Centre for Brain Research at Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science, which acts as the central coordinator between a collaboration of 20 leading institutions, each collecting samples and conducting its own research. Institutes involved include the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru as well as several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). For conducting the project, investigators in hospitals will lead the data collection through a simple blood test from participants and the information will be added to biobanks.

Some of the priority areas are Precision health, Rare genetic disorders, Mutation spectrum of genetic and complex diseases in the Indian population, Genetic Epidemiology of Multifactorial Lifestyle Diseases, and Translational Research.

Landmark Genome India Project

Dr Mohan Thomas, a prominent Doha-based physician, has been conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for his services in medical sector.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, who delivered the valedictory address on the third and final day of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations, presented the awards at a virtual event. The event was also attended by Dr S Jaishankar, Indian External Affairs Minister.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award is the highest honour conferred on a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and organisation or institution established and run by NRIs or PIOs as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention.

“It is indeed a great honour for me to receive the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award. It is a recognition given by the government of India and I am thankful to the government for this noble gesture. I pledge to continue working for the welfare of the community as well as to serve the people in all possible ways,” Dr Thomas said.

Dr Thomas, who is also the president-elect of the Indian Sports Centre, is a prominent Indian community leader in Qatar and has been active in community services for about four decades. Besides being a renowned otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon, and an alumnus of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, he has been at the forefront of philanthropic activities - serving the needy and low-income members of the community in Qatar as well as helping a large number of downtrodden people back in India. He is the founder-president of Birla Public School and a leading entrepreneur in the country.

Pravasi BharatiyaSamman for

Doha-based physician

January 26, 2021 9

By Snehesh Alex Philip

In a boost to India’s fledgling domestic aerospace ecosystem, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the Rs 48,000-crore deal for 83 Light

Combat Aircraft Tejas, which included 73 Mark 1A versions.

The first big order to the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for Tejas, which will become the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the coming years, is a landmark in the aircraft’s journey of over three and a half decades.

It is a culmination of India’s effort to build a frontline fighter aircraft, which began in the 1950s. It was in 1961 that HAL’s HF-24 Marut, designed by Kurt Tank, the German aeronautical engineer who built the Luftwaffe aircraft in World War II, first flew.

It was in 1983 when the government of India rolled out the project to build a new LCA as a replacement for the Russian MiG 21s, which continue to fly despite the fleet being obsolete.

The plan was to release the first aircraft by 1994. However, the first prototype of LCA flew only in 2001 — 18 years after the project started. It was then that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee christened the LCA as the Tejas.

In December 2013, the Tejas got Initial Operational Clearance and in 2019, the IAF was given the first aircraft with Final Operational Clearance.

Tejas, the tale of India’s combat aircraft

How different is Tejas Mk 1AThe new aircraft comes with four major capabilities

over the current variant of LCA, which is known as the Tejas Mk 1.

These improvements include mid-air refuelling, enhancing the combat ability, and maintainability improvements through incorporation of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Electronic Warfare (EW) suite and Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile capabilities.

The aircraft will give a big boost to the domestic aviation industry since it involves extensive cooperation between the private industry and the HAL.

The front fuselage of the latest version of the Tejas will be built by Dynamatic Technologies, while the middle section has been outsourced to Hyderabad-based VEM Technologies, and the rear section to Alpha Design Technologies, Bengaluru. The wings for Tejas Mk 1A will

be manufactured by Larsen and Toubro. There are over 70 Indian suppliers involved in manufacturing various parts of the aircraft. In all, about 500 Indian companies, including MSMEs, will be working with HAL in this deal for 83 new Tejas.

Capabilities and future plansThe new aircraft has inbuilt capability to fire Beyond

Visual Range missiles such as Derby missile and is already integrated on the current Tejas itself.

Indigenously developed BVR missile (ASTRA Mk 1) will also be integrated into the Mk 1A, which will be a weapon of choice of the IAF, HAL officials said. This weapon will give an edge to LCA Tejas over its contemporaries such as the Chinese-Pakistan joint venture JF 17 in BVR warfare.

With the introduction of podded Self-Protection Jammer (SPJ) and AESA radar in LCA Mk 1A, the survivability of the aircraft gets further enhanced. The AESA radar is capable of tracking 16 targets at a time in air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-sea modes. The IAF is also looking at procuring the next generation of Tejas, which will be known as Tejas Mk 2.

However, instead of being an LCA, it would be in the medium weight category. The Aeronautical Development Agency, a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is working with the HAL to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft called the Advanced Medium Combat Fighter Aircraft (AMCA).

The contract for Tejas is the best development for the Indian defence industry. The HAL and the ADA should ensure timebound delivery as well as manufacturing of future versions as per schedule. This is because indigenous defence systems are the way forward for strategic independence.

Courtesy: The Print

January 26, 202110

A remarkable but lesser-known fact about the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) is the crop diversification it has brought in.

The NHM, a centrally-sponsored scheme, was launched in 2005-06 with one of its major objectives being to increase horticulture production and doubling farmers’ income.

Horticulture production in India has more than doubled approximately from 146 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 314 million tonnes in 2018-19 whereas the production of foodgrain increased from 213 million tonnes to 285 million tonnes during the same period.

India is now self-sufficient in foodgrain production and is the largest global producer of farm products like pulses, jute, buffalo meat, milk, and poultry. It is also is the second-largest producer of several horticulture products, especially fruit and vegetables.

Just before the launch of the NHM, the production of horticulture crop was approximately 167 million tonnes, using only 9.7% of the cropped area (18.5 million hectare); the total foodgrain production was 198 million tones, covering 63%(120 million hectare) of total crop area of the country.

In 2012-13, total horticulture production at 269 million tonnes, surpassed total foodgrain production at 257 million tonnes.

The area under horticulture crops increased to 25.5 million hectare in 2018-19, which is 20% of the total area under foodgrain, and produced 314 million tonnes. However, the area under total foodgrain declined from 129 million hectare in 2016-17 to 124 million hectare in 2018-19.

The most notable factor behind this is that the productivity of horticulture has increased from 8.8 tonnes per hectare in 2001-02 to 12.3 tonnes per hectare in 2018-19. The productivity of total foodgrain increased from 1.7 tonnes per hectare to 2.3 tonnes during the same period.

Horticulture crops are characterised by high-value crops, higher productivity per unit of area and lower requirement of irrigation and input cost.

The share of horticulture crops in relation to the value of all agricultural crops increased from 39% in 2011-12 to 42% during the same period.

Another important point of note is that share of value of export earnings from horticultural crops has been higher than the export value of total foodgrain. The total export value of horticultural crops includes

crops such as spices, cashew, cashew nut shell liquid, fruits-vegetable seeds, fresh fruits, vegetable oil, fresh vegetable, processed vegetable, processed fruits and juice, floriculture products, tea, coffee, Ayush and herbal products, and cocoa products.

In a nutshell, horticulture production contributes more to crop production despite much lower land use and lower input cost.

However, these crops require better infrastructure to prevent post-harvest crop losses, like cold storage and better warehousing, which will go a long way toward enhancing farmers’ income.

Increased focus on horticulture crops could be a win-win formula both at the top level as well as the bottom level for the government to accomplish its endeavour in nutritional security as well as increasing farmers’ income.

India’s growing horticulture edge

It was supposed to be the year when the world would sit back and enjoy the multitude of sporting competitions. However, the COVID-19 forced everyone

to stop and the sporting world too came to a halt. However, in the brief window which allowed the games to be played, there were few memorable moments for India.

India beat Netherlands on Hockey Pro League debut

Indian hockey got off to a rocking start in 2020 when they defeated world No. 3 Netherlands in their debut FIH Pro League tie. The side beat Netherlands 5-2 in the opening match and then came back to trump them by 3-1 in the second match via a penalty shootout.

Sania Mirza makes victorious returnAfter taking a pregnancy break for two years,

star Indian tennis player Sania Mirza worked magic by winning the women’s doubles title at the WTA Hobart

International. She was partnered by Nadiia Kichenok and the duo won the final 6-4, 6-4 on January 18.

Ronaldo Singh becomes World No. 1 Junior Sprint Cyclist

It was a good year for Indian cycling when Ronaldo

Singh scripted history by becoming the world junior No. 1 as part of all the four Sprint events. Ronaldo topped all the three individual events in the updated UCI World Junior Rankings which was updated in January.

Ronaldo notched up this feat on the back of Esow Alben becoming the first Indian cyclist to hold the top ranking in 2019.

Nine boxers book Olympic ticketHistory was created when nine Indian boxers booked

their Olympic quotas. However, everything was put to a halt when the Tokyo Games were postponed owing to the pandemic. At the Asian/Oceania Olympic Qualifiers Amman, Jordan, India bagged its biggest haul of Olympic quotas and in the process, went past eight they had bagged at the London Olympics in 2012.

These were the baoxers who will represent India - MC Mary Kom (51kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Vikas Krishan (69kg).

Memorable sporting moments

January 26, 2021 11

The world’s two leading IT platforms - Jio and Facebook - have reiterated their commitment to India’s $5 trillion economy push.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Facebook, the social messaging platform will focus on helping India realise the ambitious target. And to this effect, Zuckerberg sees Small and Medium businesses playing a key role.

“At Facebook, we are in the business of serving small businesses. And nowhere is this more true than in India,” said Zuckerberg,

The Facebook CEO was in conversation with Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance Industries, at the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event.

“With more than 60 million small businesses and millions of people around the country relying on them for jobs - these small businesses form a big part of what our partnership with Jio can serve here. This is especially important because small businesses in India will be a key part of the global economic recovery going forward. And we’re focused on making sure we build the best tools for them,” he added.

Opening up on the potential of a technology-enabled ecosystem in propelling the economic growth of a highly diversified nation the Reliance Industries’ MD said he sees the country accelerating as a premier digital society.

“To my mind, more wealth creation means more employment and more business. And together with our platforms and the tools that we will provide to small businesses and to individual consumers, I believe will drive India to a 5 trillion economy and will make a much more equal India, with more equal wealth growth at the bottom of the pyramid,” Ambani said.

The Indian economy has a significant share of SMBs and Facebook, together with WhatsApp and WhatsApp business has proved to be invaluable for these firms. In October last year, the social media giant disclosed that it witnessed a 9 % growth in its daily active user base to 1.62 billion in the September 2019 quarter, driven by markets like India and Indonesia.

Currently, WhatsApp India’s user base stands at 400 million. WhatsApp Business App, another popular offering from Facebook Inc’s stable, that’s focused on businesses, is hugely popular too. WhatsApp Business

messaging platform comes with a host of business enabling features boasts of more than 50 million users globally, of which, more than 15 million are in India (30%).

Also, more than 40 million users globally view a business catalogue on WhatsApp each month, and in India, more than 3 million users view a business catalogue on WhatsApp each month, says Facebook.

Besides the mega-deal, Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail, and WhatsApp also inked a deal to support small businesses on WhatsApp. The move is essentially aimed at mainstreaming the country’s largely untapped informal economy, particularly its massive Kirana (retail) economy. As part of the arrangement, the two major business entities have pledged to employ WhatsApp to further accelerate Reliance Retail’s new commerce business on the JioMart platform and to support small businesses on WhatsApp.

vow $5 trillion economy push&

January 26, 202112

Ameera Shah (Metropolis Healthcare)Ameera Shah is at the helm of a global pathology empire Metropolis Healthcare worth ₹88.15 billion. At the age of 21, young Shah was working with Goldman Sachs in New York. However, she quit the company to join a startup, which had only five employees at the time. She returned from the US in 2001 to become an entrepreneur. Unlike other uber-rich kids, Shah did not begin at the management position in her father’s company. She started at the customer service department and worked her way up the ranks in the company.

Over fifteen years, she turned her father’s single laboratory into a multi-billion dollar business. Metropolis has over 125 clinical labs across 210 cities in India. Last year, she decided to take her company public. The share price of Metropolis has gone up nearly 60% in 12 months. Her company became the first private company to get the government’s approval for COVID-19 testing.

Divya Gokulnath (Co-founder, Byju’s)About a decade ago, Divya Gokulnath co-founded Byju’s, an online learning platform, along with her husband, Byju Raveendran. It is now one of the world’s most valuable startups. Online ed-tech platforms like Byju’s have seen unprecedented growth in users due to COVID-19 — raking billions of dollars in investments.

When PM Modi announced the COVID-19 lockdown in India, Byju’s decided to give free access to its learning content. Between March and April, it added 13.5 million consumers — taking the total to 50 million. Five months on, Byju’s now has 70 million students and over 4.5 million paid subscribers. It also added BlackRock, Sands Capital, and Alkeon Capital as investors a few days ago.

Indian businesswomen are finally getting the recognition they deserve. For years, women in India have been working on the sidelines due to the patriarchal mindset of the society. However, some of these women are breaking the barriers by

showcasing thoughtful leadership skills across sectors in the country.

Forbes Asia named 25 women business leaders who have showcased great leadership in a year defined by the pandemic. HCL’s Roshni Nadar, Byju’s Divya Gokulnath, Metropolis Healthcare’s Ameera Shah, and VOL’s Vinati Saraf featured in 2020 Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list.

Apart from them, Canva’s co-founder Melanie Perkins, Bloomage Biotechnology’s Zhao Yan, and the fifth President of Singapore Management University, Lily Kong, were also featured in this list.

Powerful business women of2020

Vinati Saraf Mutreja (Vinati Organic)In 2006, newly graduated Vinati joined her father’s chemical company, Vinati Organic (VOL), as an Executive Director. In the last fourteen years, VOL has witnessed a 500 fold increase in market cap and a 16-fold increase in sales, according to Forbes. Moreover, VOL has also increased its profits from ₹66 crore in 2006 to ₹1000 crore in 2020. When she joined the company, it was mostly doing business domestically. However, today VOL’s 75% sales come from export.In 2018, Mutreja was promoted from executive director to the CEO of the company.

Courtesy: Business Insider

Roshni Nadar (Chairperson of HCL Technologies)38-year old Roshni grew up in Delhi and holds a Masters in Business Administration from Kellogg. She is the only child of tech billionaire Shiv Nadar, who founded HCL Technologies in 1976. Nadar started her career as a news producer in the UK. However, at the age of 27, she joined her father’s company.

In July this year, Roshni Nadar became the first woman to head a listed Indian IT company as she took over as the Chairperson of $8.9 billion HCL Technologies.

January 26, 2021 13

A 29-year-old Indian entrepreneur is among the seven winners of the prestigious ‘Young Champions of the Earth’ 2020 prize given by the UN environment agency to global change-makers using innovative ideas and ambitious action to help

solve some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Vidyut Mohan, an engineer, is the co-founder of “Takachar”, a social enterprise enabling farmers to prevent open burning of their waste farm residues and earn extra income by c onverting them into value-added chemicals like activated carbon on-site, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said.

“I’ve always been passionate about energy access and creating income opportunities for poor communities,” Mohan was quoted as saying in the statement.

“That is at the heart of finding answers to the difficult question of balancing economic growth and climate change mitigation in developing countries,” he said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message that in the middle of a global pandemic, with societies struggling, economies stretched to their limits and an escalating biodiversity and climate crisis, “we need to act boldly and urgently to repair our relationship with nature and take the path of sustainable development”.

He said that the Young Champions of the Earth “inspire and mobilise”.

‘Young Champions of the Earth’ winner

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said globally, young people are leading the way in calling for meaningful and immediate solutions to the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Takachar buys rice husks, straw and coconut shells from farmers and turns them into charcoal, saving the debris

from the fires, which are also a driver of climate change. Since Takachar was launched in 2018, Mohan and its

co-founder Kevin Kung have worked with about 4,500 farmers and processed 3,000 tonnes of

crops, UNEP said.

The 15-year-old Indian-American Gitanjali Rao, a brilliant young scientist and inventor, has been named by TIME

magazine as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’ for her astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying.

“The world belongs to those who shape it. And however uncertain that world may feel at a given moment, the reassuring reality seems to be that each new generation produces more of what these kids have already achieved: positive impact, in all sizes,” Time said.

Rao was selected from a field of more than 5,000 nominees as TIME’s first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’. She was interviewed by actor and activist Angelina Jolie for the TIME special.

“Observe, brainstorm, research, build and communicate,” Rao told about her process during a virtual talk with Jolie from her home in Colorado.

She spoke about her “astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying, and about her mission to create a global community of young innovators to solve problems the world over.

“Even over video chat, her brilliant mind and generous spirit shone through, along with her inspiring message to other young people: don’t try to fix every problem, just focus on one that excites you,” Time said. Rao said her generation is facing many problems that they have never seen before.

Gitanjali Rao named TIME’s first ‘Kid of the Year’

For 20-year-old Sandhya Rai, a rugby player representing India, it took four years, a series of news coverage, and photos in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris to convince

villagers in her area that she plays rugby and excels at it. Sandhya’s parents are tea labourers, who spent their lives plucking leaves in the Saraswati tea estate of Baikunthapur forest, located in east Siliguri, West Bengal. But Sandhya chose to lead an entirely different life.

The national rugby player is the only Indian among the top 32 ‘unstoppable’ women players from Asia, part of Asia’s

Rugby’s Unstoppable Campaign. The campaign aims to promote the sport among girls, and highlight inspiring stories

of women who battle all odds to achieve success.

Rugby was introduced to Sandhya in 2013, when some players from the Jungle Crows, an amateur rugby team from Kolkata, came to train children in the village.

“There are many hardships in village life, and I have faced many challenges since my childhood,” Sandhya says, adding, “Girls never played any sports in my village. Only boys were allowed to play, the girls were confined to schools or house chores. When I started playing rugby with other girls, people called us names, demotivated us, and even questioned why we were playing a sport meant for boys.”

Things changed when, in 2017, the team represented India at the World Paris Games. After sharing pictures of their trip, which included one with the Eiffel Tower glittering behind the girls, the villagers believed and eventually started supporting them.

Sandhya says that after local newspapers and other media hailed their success, the villagers felt proud of their achievements. So far, nine girls have made it the national rugby team from her village. The young girl says that her unending struggles and drive to never give up have made her “unstoppable”.

She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Sports Management from the George Group of Colleges, Kolkata.

Meet India’s ‘unstoppable’ Rugby player

For a sector that was ‘born’ much after Indian Independence, the IT-ITeS sector has come a long way to become one of the pillars of modern

India.

Even up until 10 years ago, it contributed less than 5 per cent to the country’s GDP; today, it contributes nearly twice as much. On a comparative basis, the automobile sector contributes about 8 per cent of the country’s GDP.

The IT industry’s revenues are at an estimated $190 billion, growing at 7.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis and by 2025, they are expected to reach $350 billion.

The sector has also generated 4 million jobs and provided indirect employment to 10 million. TCS, the biggest IT services company in India, alone has generated over 4 lakh jobs, while Infosys has over 2 lakh employees.

The computer software and hardware sector in India attracted cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow worth $44.91 billion between April 2000 and March 2020. The sector ranked second in FDI inflow as per data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The Indian government has been quite active in rolling out incentives for the IT and ITeS sector.

In February 2019, it released a national policy on software products to develop India as a software production destination. It has identified information technology as one of the 12 champion service sectors for which an action plan is in the works. It has also set up a ₹5,000-crore fund for realising the potential of these champion service sectors, according to India Brand Equity Foundation.

Besides, the government has announced a plan to launch a national programme on artificial intelligence and set up a national AI portal.

Key overseas marketsWhile these are impressive figures, the Indian IT

sector is heavily influenced by the rapidly dynamic situation in Europe and the US, which are two of its biggest markets and together contribute nearly 85 per cent of revenues.

Indian IT services appear to be a skewed landscape right now, featuring six mega companies with revenues in the $5 billion-$20 billion range and a plethora of mid-cap companies in the $500 million-$1 billion range, according to Philip Capital.

Historically, IT services companies have taken, on an average, four years to more than double their

revenues from $2 billion to $5 billion, at a CAGR of 26 per cent, according to analysts, Vibhor Singhal and Karan Uppal of Philip Capital.

According to analyst firm KR Choksey, most IT services companies are likely to recover to some extent by the second quarter of FY21 as major countries emerge from lockdown and restart their economies. “The criticality of technology to most firms’ operations across verticals, along with a further rise in digital and cloud spend post the pandemic, is likely to drive growth recovery from 2Q onward. However, the situation remains fluid and the pandemic is far from over; thus, recovery needs to be viewed with a hint of caution,” the analyst firm has said.

The report said Infosys will on-board 20,000 freshers in FY21. “Strategic initiatives for cost-cutting include reskilling of employees instead of hiring more, to boost utilisation, short term and temporary cuts on discretionary spend, and travel expenses, branding and marketing expenses getting cut.”

The fact that most of the IT services are expected to recover sooner or later shows the resilience of the sector even though the pandemic has damaged the economy severely.

Courtesy: Business Line

IT sector as major pillar of modern India

On January 8, the requisite number of approvals were obtained for an amendment to the Framework Agreement of the International

Solar Alliance, which expands the scope of membership to ISA to all members of the United Nations. While it may appear to be a mere technicality on paper, it is of seminal importance to the global fight against climate change. More importantly, there is a profound India angle to it which has led the formation of ISA and is at forefront in its evolution.

Sunny side upThe ISA was formed in 2015, at India’s behest and

launched jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then French President Francois Hollande and aims to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through rapid and massive deployment of solar energy. Thanks largely to India’s proactiveness in this field, till date 89 countries are part of the Alliance. Initially targeted at 121 UN member countries that lie between the sunshine rich part of the planet between the tropics, the amendment expands the ambit of it beyond the two concentric lines to 193 nations.

Collective gatheringThe broad objective of the ISA is to mobilise

member countries, seek commitments from international organisations and mobilise private sector, to support rural and decentralised applications, access to affordable finance, island and village solar mini grids, rooftop installations, and solar e-mobility technologies. India has led it from the front by example, setting ambitious targets for itself and upping the ante at every available opportunity. With a capacity of over 30 Gigawatt, India is already one of the top three countries with highest solar power generation capability. There are plans to treble it to 100 Gigawatt by 2022 with rooftop installation accounting for 40 percent of it. With a historically low tariff of just Rs 2.36 per unit in one of the bids last year, India has also demonstrated sound economic viability for shifting from fossil fuel to renewable power-based electricity generation. It has also been recognised by the world.

Climate warriorIndia’s leadership in the fight against global

warming is not restricted to solar power alone. It has shown ingenuity and aggression in other areas too–be it in adoption of LED technology or providing LPG connections for cooking to the poorest of the poor as part of the Ujjwala scheme, one of Modi’s most successful welfare programmes. Armed with these results as a proof of concept, Modi has championed the cause of renewable energy at every multilateral forum.

Private corps join inWith the government showing the way, industries

have followed the lead. Indian firms like utility vehicle major Mahindra Group and Dalmia Cement have taken the lead in reducing carbon footprint in their respective industries. In 2018, Mahindra became one

of the first conglomerates to commit to becoming carbon neutral across all its 150 companies by 2040. It is not all talk and no show. The company for example uses 63 percent less energy to produce a vehicle and 33 percent less energy for a tractor today than 8 years ago.

“We are doing our part in the global fight against climate change with this ambitious new target,” said Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra and Mahindra. “Mahindra will leverage the latest technological advances and its recently announced carbon price to work towards being carbon neutral by 2040.”

Dalmia Cement wants to go even further ahead and become carbon negative by 2040. That is a big deal for the cement industry that carries the perception of being one of the biggest polluters in the world. To do that the company is building a carbon capture facility with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum by 2022 at its Tamil Nadu factory.

“To achieve the target of carbon negative by 2040, the company is planning to adopt 100 per cent renewable power under fossil free electricity initiative by 2030, doubling of energy productivity by 2030, switch to renewable biomass bamboo and waste to replace fossil fuel by 2035,” said Mahendra Singhi, MD and CEO, Dalmia Cement Ltd.

If the world has to win the war against global warming–the single biggest existential threat to the planet in this century, it has to follow the example being set by India.

Courtesy: Global Business

India at the forefront of climate change fight

January 26, 202116

It has been a strategic partnership that has grown in strength with every passing year. Built on the rich legacy and preparation for future the India-Russia strategic

partnership is truly strategic in nature with a strong component of Make in India and joint ventures. In the words of one of the senior politicians of India Indo-Soviet and India-Russia partnership has the only constant factor in an otherwise volatile world – a time-tested partnership that in many senses has weathered many a geo-political storm through the decades. On 3rd October, 2000, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Vladimir Putin signed the Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and India. Over the subsequent years, annual summits between the leaders have strengthened this partnership to ever greater heights and not a single annual Summit has been skipped.

Through the next decade since 2000, bilateral ties were enhanced, with Putin as the Chief Guest for the Republic Day parade in 2007. In December 2009, the first formal BRIC Summit took place in Yekaterinburg and in December 2010, the Strategic Partnership was elevated to the level of a “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.”

A new era of personal friendship between the leaders of the two countries as Prime Minister Modi and President Putin have met several times, including the first Informal Summit in Sochi in 2018 and PM’s visit to Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum. India joined SCO in 2017, adding to a growing list of multilateral platforms where India and Russia are cooperating.

On April 12, 2019, Putin signed the Executive Order On Awarding PM Russia’s highest state decoration - Order of St Andrew the Apostle. The order was presented to PM for his distinguished contribution to the development of a privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and friendly ties between the Russian and Indian peoples.

Under the Strategic Partnership, several institutionalized dialogue mechanisms operate at both political and official levels to ensure regular interaction and follow up on cooperation activities.

India has longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation with Russia in the field of defence. India-Russia military

technical cooperation has evolved from a buyer - seller framework to one involving joint research, development and production of advanced defence technologies and systems. BrahMos Missile System as well as the licensed production in India of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks, are examples of such flagship cooperation. Furthering this cooperation, an agreement on the cooperation in the production of spare parts for Russian/Soviet military equipment was signed during the 20th Annual Bilateral Summit in Vladivostok in September 2019.

Key pillars of partnership

Kudankulam - Kudankulam is the largest nuclear power plant in India, scheduled to have 6 VVER-1000 reactors to produce 2 GW of electricity. Construction started in 2002 by NPCIL & Atomstroyexport with the first reactor getting connected to the grid in 2013. The Rooppur Nuclear Plant is being built as a collaborative effort between India, Russia and Bangladesh.

BrahMos- BrahMos Aerospace (from Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers) is a joint venture set up between the Russian Mashinostroyeniya and Indian DRDO to produce the fastest cruise missile in the world. It was first test fired in 2001, and was inducted into the Indian Army in 2007 and subsequently into the Indian Navy and Air Force. After the success of BrahMos, a hypersonic version- BrahMos-II is under development and testing expected to begin by 2020-21.

Sakhalin - ONGC Videsh Ltd acquired a 20% stake in Sakhalin in 2001.It further bought Imperial Energy a few years later and has recently invested in Vankorneft and TasYuryah. In return, Russian firm Rosneft has bought a majority stake in Essar Oil for USD 12.9 billion.

Today, Russia is one of India’s largest investment destinations in the oil and gas sector. Gas utility GAIL has contracted 2.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Russia’s Gazprom for 20 years.

INS Vikramaditya (aircraft carrier): Vikramaditya in Sanskrit means “Brave as the Sun”. After serving in the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 to 1996, the carrier was acquired from Russia by India on January 20, 2004. After successful completion of her sea and aviation trials in September 2013, she was formally commissioned in the Indian Navy on 16 Nov 2013.

India & Russia: A constant factor in a volatile world

India started its eighth term as a non-permanent, voting member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on January 1. This two-year term

presents a unique opportunity for the country to demonstrate global power and responsibility, thereby strengthening its claim to a permanent seat on the Council, which it has sought for decades. Indeed, the UNSC is overdue for some structural reforms and India has vocally and rightfully asserted that it deserves to be taken more seriously on the international stage.

To be perceived as a major power, India must articulate a clear vision of a world order, something that it has not so far done. Seventy years after attaining independence, at a time of monumental global shifts, India cannot continue to seek refuge in vacuous statements about strategic autonomy and sovereignty, and expect that the world will see it as a worthy leader. It must demonstrate its capacity to lead by example, through changes in both its foreign and domestic policy environments.

Foreign policy The twin devastations of the pandemic and climate

change have starkly underscored the importance of global cooperation. The world has a pressing need for countries to stand up for a rules-based international order – one which is committed to protecting human security around the world. As the world’s largest democracy and the only country in Asia that may match China’s economic and military prowess, India is in a unique position to be the leader that will champion such cooperation.

In the UNSC, the Indian government will have the opportunity to shape the debate on some of the most pressing global peace and security challenges of our times, including the Iran nuclear deal, the COVID-19 pandemic, and threats posed by climate change.

Permanent seat As a thought experiment, let us compare India to

two other countries that have also sought permanent UNSC seats: Japan and Germany. Germany is a leading member of the European Union, is the fourth largest contributor to the U.N., and, because of its humanitarian efforts, enjoys considerable global soft power. Japan is the third largest contributor to the U.N. and plays a particularly large role in supporting the organization’s peacekeeping efforts.

If India wants to make the case that it is similarly deserving of a permanent seat, it must find a way to match the soft power displayed by Japan and Germany. Of course, India can ill afford to match the financial

largess of these wealthy countries, but it is uniquely placed to lead by example. The world has long seen India as an extraordinary, and largely successful, experiment in crafting democracy in a poor and deeply divided country. It is this – the appeal of its democratic values and processes – that has earned it global respect. And this is where India needs to show it can be a global leader. But, for this to happen, changes to its domestic political trajectory are necessary.

India’s choiceIndia takes its temporary place in the UNSC at a

moment that is filled with both peril and opportunity. The international system is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising illiberalism, deepening income inequality, and the feckless actions of the Trump administration. The world needs leaders who can provide a compelling, countervailing narrative to these malign forces. The incoming Biden administration is committed to trying to rebuild the international order. For this, the United States will need partners who can help articulate and implement a global vision predicated on human dignity and rule of law. India has a clear choice. It can continue on its current trajectory – domestic bluster and international passivity – and cede this opportunity to others. Or, by speaking up on international crises and by recommitting itself to the remarkable vision of inclusivity and openness articulated in India’s Constitution, it can emerge as the leader the world needs. Now is the time for India to stop simply saying it deserves to be a global power, and start acting like one.

Courtesy: The Diplomat

India elected non-permanent Security Council member

By Sudha Ramachandran

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina recently launched a railway link between the two countries.

The 10.5-kilometer-long rail line connects Haldibari in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal with Chilahati in Bangladesh.

The Haldibari-Chilahati railway line was among several overland trans-border connections that were snapped in the wake of the India-Pakistan war of 1965. Bangladesh was then East Pakistan.

But even after it broke away from Pakistan to emerge an independent country in 1971, trans-border links remained severed, a reflection of the deeply troubled bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh in the period between 1975 and 1996. It was only after the Awami League came to power in Bangladesh in 1996 that bilateral ties began improving and the Indian and Bangladeshi governments started to restore road and rail links.

In 1999, a bus service linking Kolkata with Dhaka was inaugurated. Another connecting Dhaka with Agartala in India’s northeast followed soon after.

In 2008, an old railway line between Kolkata and Dhaka, which had remained suspended for 43 years, was restored. It paved the way for the inauguration of the Maitri (Friendship) Express between the two countries. Other rail lines, including those between

Delhi-Dhaka ties: Time to move beyond connectivity

Petrapole (India) and Benapole (Bangladesh), Gede (India) and Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India) and Rohanpur (Bangladesh), and Radhikapur (India) and Birol (Bangladesh) have since been restored.

The Haldibari-Chilahati railway line is the latest trans-border link to be revived. More railway links are set to be established this year.

India and Bangladesh share historical, civilizational and cultural ties; Bengali, which is spoken in both countries, is a strong bond. Bilateral relations have generally been warm, especially when the Awami League has been in power in Bangladesh.

Since the Awami League assumed the reins in 2009, relations have improved substantially. Dhaka has acted robustly to address India’s concerns with regard to anti-India militant groups taking shelter on Bangladeshi soil. However, India has failed to address Bangladesh’s concerns over river water sharing; an agreement on sharing of the waters of the River Teesta remains elusive.

During the recent India-Bangladesh virtual summit, Modi described Bangladesh as “a major pillar” of India’s “neighborhood first” policy. From the start of his prime ministerial tenure, it was his “special priority” to strengthen India’s ties with Bangladesh, he said.

Officials say the Haldibari-Chilahati rail route will boost bilateral travel and trade ties and improve people-to-people contact. But New Delhi will need to do much more than merely providing road and rail routes to improve people-to-people contact between India and Bangladesh.

Courtesy: The Diplomat

January 26, 2021 19

France and India held the latest edition of their annual strategic dialogue

in New Delhi recently.

While the continuation of strategic dialogue in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic was itself something to cheer about, the summit was made even more remarkable by the series of events and projects that unfolded soon after.

To begin with, the Indian delegation was headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval while Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic advisor to President Emmanuel Macron, led the French side. “The two sides held discussions on a variety of issues including counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, defence cooperation, maritime security, regional and global issues and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Both sides reaffirmed the high priority they accord to the India-France strategic partnership and highlighted the convergence of views between the two countries,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.

Held against the backdrop of a global geopolitical flux, a major part of Bonne’s conversation with Doval was about defence and security relationships – with a tangible impact in at least two spheres.

France invites India to join Gulf naval missionFrance invited India to join forces with the European Union’s naval monitoring

mission in the Arabian Gulf following the talks.

“The EU has operations and China is also developing influence in the region. India is invited to join us in this monitoring mission by bringing capacities. This will be an occasion to demonstrate convergence and the capacity to operate together,” Bonne said after his talks with Doval.

That need for convergence is so high that the two officials discussed whether some key elements of the naval exercises by Quad – that groups India with the US, Japan and Australia – could be coordinated with the French navy.

While this is the first time such a proposal has been made, the coordination with the Quad is an extension of Macron’s consistent championing of the Indo-Pacific. The French President has even argued for an Australia-France-India “axis” for the region in the past. For India and Prime Minister Modi, France remains an invaluable strategic partner – both for the tangible security and defence cooperation gains, and also because deep relations with Paris does not require significant expenditure of domestic political capital.

On the same lines, France became the 23rd member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association last year, the first time that a country whose mainland is not on the Indian Ocean has been brought into the fold of the IORA.

France to share defence know-how for Make in IndiaThe second tangible impact of the dialogue is that India and France have decided

to intensify their defence cooperation, with Paris offering to move 100 per cent of its assembly line for Panther medium utility helicopters as well as 70 per cent of the assembly line for Rafale fighters under “Make in India” rubric with full transfer of technology. According to unnamed officials cited by the Hindustan Times, there is a real possibility that India – which has a contract for 36 omni-role fighter jets – could buy more Rafales in light of the French offer to bring 70 per cent of the assembly line including local vendor development. This would reduce the cost of subsequent acquisition of the fighter jets.

As India and France take aim at the post-pandemic world to jumpstart a more robust engagement and a more significant role in the Indo-Pacific, the latest dialogue stands out as yet another instance of the two countries’ proud adherence to the notion of strategic autonomy.

Courtesy: India Inc

India, France boost security bonds

Emmanuel Bonne during India visit for bilateral Strategic Dialogue

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (L) and his French counterpart Florence Parly at induction ceremony of Rafale jets into the Indian Air Force at the Ambala Air Force Station

Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron

AS565 PANTHER

Offbeat places to visit By Unik Dhandi

What is the biggest hurdle you face while planning a vacation? Surely, it isn’t the packing or the making of reservations but zeroing-down

on the destination. As soon as you begin, you realize that most of the popular tourist places have either been explored already, especially the domestic ones, or are overcrowded. Such places are not only chaotic and expensive but also the victims of excessive littering.

The third largest country in Asia, India is home to some of the most scenic wonders of nature and yet, most travellers stick to the same-old places. The reason behind which is lack of awareness about the hidden treasures. If you want to skip a swarming destination full of tourist-traps and added expenses, you can consider the below places.

Here are 7 lesser-known destinations which are the perfect substitutes to the much-frequented getaways in India:

Daman & Diu & Not GoaIf you’re planning to visit the party capital of the country, you must also know that Goa is immensely crowded and expensive during its peak season. Instead, you can plan a visit to Daman and Diu for a more relaxing and pocket-friendly vacation. Daman and Diu is also among the top romantic getaways in India owing to its clean golden beaches and immense tranquillity. Its dense palm-groves and colonial monuments will surely make you feel ecstatic. Besides, adventure seekers can also indulge in water sports and horse riding, among other adventure activities in Daman and Diu.

n Best time for visit: October to March

n Things to do: Sunbath at clean beaches, take a

spiritual tour of the temples and churches, horse ride at Jampore Beach, indulge in water sports, visit the Diu Museum and walk inside the Moti Daman For

Chakrata & Not ManaliWhich place is better than Manali to explore the enticing

Himalayan mountain range? Chakrata, a cantonment town in the Dehradun district of Uttarakhand, is the ideal place for tourists looking for a calming getaway into the hills. The town is easily accessible from the National Capital Region, pocket-friendly and clean.

n Best time for visit: March to June

n Things to do: Camping and river rafting at Kanasar, trekking all the way to Tiger Falls, bird watching at Deoban and exploring the Budher Caves

Sikkim & Not LadakhLadakh, the scenic union territory surrounded by snow-clad mountains, is among the most popular tourist destinations in India. Owing to the numerous Bollywood movies like Jab Tak Hai Jaan and 3 Idiots, Ladakh has become a hotspot for tourists leading to over crowdedness and littering. In order to save money and spend a relaxing vacation with your friends and family, you must visit Sikkim in the north-east. Brimming with lush greenery, sprawling hills and Buddhist monasteries,

the state is certainly a better choice for those looking for a peaceful escape.

n Best time for visit: March to May and October to mid-December

n Things to do: Explore the age-old monasteries, take a stroll into the wild, indulge in adventure activities, ride a yak and buy Sikkimese handicrafts and Tibetan goods

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve & Not Jim CorbettJim Corbett National Park is a sprawling wildlife sanctuary in Uttarakhand. Home to some of the most exotic species of flora and fauna, it is always buzzing with wildlife lovers. During the peak season, the hotels and resorts are quite expensive and crowded which may ruin your interest. On the other hand, Tadoba Andhari

Tiger Reserve which is a lesser-known sanctuary in Maharashtra is equally enticing yet less crowded than Jim Corbett National Park.

n Best time for visit: October to mid-January and April to May

n Things to do: Take a stroll into the wild, witness the grandeur of Bengal Tigers, do bird watching and take a night safar

Khimsar Village & Not JaisalmerThe sunshine charm of Jaisalmer, the Golden City, attracts numerous tourists, poets and people from other creative fields. In the past few years, the city has seen a rapid increase in the footfall of travellers, making it a much-frequented travel destination. For those who wish to explore the magnificent Rajasthan can instead head to the village of Khimsar located between Bikaner and Jodhpur. The scenic village of Khimsar is lesser

known and has relatively cheaper hotels and eateries. Considered as the starting point of the Thar Desert, Khimsar is dotted with mud huts that add to its rustic charm.

n Best time for visit: November to February

n Things to do: Camel safari, take a spiritual tour at one of the temples, visit the Khimsar Fort and witness the rare species of black buck at Panchala Black Buck Reserv

Tawang & Not McLeod GanjMcLeod Ganj, situated in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, is a scenic town that has numerous religious and natural sightseeing places that attract plenty of travellers every year. In the recent times, the number of tourists visiting McLeod has increased a lot causing over crowdedness and littering. Meanwhile, Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is a lesser-known destination that ensures a picturesque trip owing to its lushness and the Himalayan Mountains. Travellers can indulge in hiking, meditation and other leisure activities in Tawang.

n Best time for visit: March to June and September to October

n Things to do: Meditate at Taktsang Gompa, hike till Gorichen Peak, take a stroll at the Sela Pass, witness nature’s magic at Nuranang Waterfalls and watch a sunset at Shonga-Tser Lak

Mawlynnong & Not DarjeelingBlessed with the exceptional view of Mt. Kanchenjunga, Darjeeling is a popular tourist destination in India. Travellers visit the city for its stunning scenery, expansive tea estates and peaceful environs. However, like other

popular tourist destinations, this place also suffers from the side effects of heavy tourist influx. Meanwhile, Mawlynnong in Meghalaya is popular for its untouched beauty and enticing charm. Considered as Asia’s Cleanest Village, the place has abundant natural sightseeing places like the Living Roots Bridge.

January 26, 202122

Roza Deshpande (92)Politician

(1929 – 19 September 2020)

Veteran Trade unionist, Communist leader and former parliamentarian, Roza Deshpande died of prolonged illness at her Dadar residence. Daughter of Communist Party of India’s (CPI) founding member Shripad Amrit Dange, Deshpande started her political career with All India Students Federation (AISF) and was active during Samyukta Maharashtra and Goa liberation movements.

Seen as a champion of the rights of woman labourers, Deshpande led a famous agitation in 1964, which forced chemical and pharmaceutical factories to drop an objectionable clause that stated that woman employees should step down from their duties after marriage. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from the erstwhile Bombay South Central constituency in 1974 as the CPI candidate. But she and her father would soon be expelled from the party after they backed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s stance during the Emergency period. After that, the two formed All India Communist Party in which she was the general secretary. Besides trade union activities, Deshpande was an avid follower of Marathi literature and history.

CF Thomas (81)Politician

(30 July 1939 – 27 September 2020)

Senior Kerala Congress leader CF Thomas passed away at the age of 81. Known for his simple demeanour and stern stance, C F Thomas aka Baby was a towering leader of Kerala Congress (M), who has been representing Changanassery constituency in the Kerala Legislative Assembly since 1980.

He also served as Rural Development Minister during A K Antony and Oommen Chandy Ministries between 2001and 2006. Born to C T Francis and Annamma in Chennikkara family at Changanassery on July 30, 1939, Thomas entered into politics through Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of Indian National Congress, and became part of Kerala Congress since its inception in 1964. He held positions including KC (M) chairman, deputy chairman and various others during his more than six decades long political career.

Before shifting to a full-time politician, he was a teacher at St Berchman’s Higher Secondary School, Changanassery. He was elected as a legislator from Changanassery in 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016.

Ram Vilas Paswan (74)Politician

(5 July 1946 – 8 October 2020)

Union Minister and LJP patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan passed away. He was 74. Paswan had undergone heart surgery and was due to undergo another one. A Dalit leader from Bihar, Paswan had been serving as the Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

An eight-time Lok Sabha MP, Paswan went to jail during Indira Gandhi’s tenure when an emergency was imposed in the country. He began his political career as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party and in 1969 became a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Paswan was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1977 as a Janata Party member and also held the Guinness record of winning his constituency, Hajipur, with the highest margin for several years.

He had formed LJP in 2000 and joined Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2004. Paswan had served as a Union Minister under five prime ministers and his party has been a member of all national coalitions. He hailed from Shaharbanni Village in Khagaria District of Bihar.

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (74)Politician

(6 June 1946 – 13 September 2020)

Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh died due to post-Covid complications.

A staunch loyalist of the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav whom he supported in thick and thin, Singh ran afoul with the party a few months ago when murmurs about mafia don turned politician Rama Singh, his rival in Vaishali Lok Sabha constituency, led him to resign from the post of the national vice-president.

A cabinet colleague of Prasad in the Manmohan Singh government, he stayed away from the RJD’s day to day affairs which was attributed, in part, to his ill-health.

Often called the architect of the MNREGA scheme, which was floated when he was the Union minister for rural development, Singh has been in political wilderness for some time, having lost two consecutive elections in 2014 and 2019 from Vaishali which he has represented in the Lok Sabha a record five times. His relations with Tejashwi Yadav, younger son and apparent heir of Lalu Prasad, turned sour when he started pitching for Nitish Kumar back to the Grand Alliance helmed by the RJD.

Pranab Mukherjee (84)Ex-President

(11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020)

Former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away on Monday afternoon after he developed a lung infection at the Army’s Research and Referral hospital.

Mukherjee, born in 1935 in Mirati in West Bengal, first became an MP, in the Rajya Sabha in 1969 on a Congress nomination. Close to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mukherjee held many ministerial positions in the government of India, including Defence, Finance, and External Affairs before he was elected President of India in 2012.

A Congressman all his life, Mukherjee had a short break with the party in the Rajiv Gandhi years over what was termed as his ambitions to be Prime Minister but which was subsequently explained as a misunderstanding in his memoirs. One of the few congressmen to have attended an annual function at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, in 2018, Mukherjee retained his friendships across party lines, despite heavy criticism from the Congress for his visit to Nagpur.

Jaswant Singh (82)Politician

(3 January 1938 – 27 September 2020)

Former Union Minister and one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaswant Singh, passed away. Singh, a former Army officer, had been ill after a fall at his home in August 2014 and was admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital. In his eclectic career, Singh donned many hats - army officer, author, Union minister, but his handling of the Kandahar hijack crisis as the then external affairs minister in 1999 was one that looms large.

Born on January 3, 1938 in village Jasol in Barmer district, Singh served the Indian Army in the 1950s and 60s. He resigned his Commission to pursue a political career and had a distinguished tenure in Parliament being a member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha multiple times. Singh had been associated with the BJP since its foundation in 1980. Though there were several highs and a few lows in his career in politics, his role and decision-making in the Kandahar hijacking has been the subject of much debate and dissection.

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January 26, 2021 23

AB Raj (95)Filmmaker

(21 April 1925 – 23 August 2020)

AB Raj, also known as A Bhaskar Raj, noted filmmaker of Malayalam cinema, passed away at his home in Chennai. Raj has been active in the film industry for decades since 1951, directing, producing and writing films. Kaliyalla Kalyanam was his first Malayalam movie. Sasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu, Lottery Ticket, Pachanottukal, Danger Biscuit, Kazhukan, Irumbazhikal, Light House and Thaalam Thettiya Tharattu are some of the other popular Malayalam movies directed by Raj. Born in Madurai in 1925, Raj started his film career in the late 1940s under the guidance of TR Sundaram. He went to Sri Lanka in 1951 and during his 10-year-long stay in the island nation, directed 11 Sinhalese movies. These include movies like Prema Tharagaya, Ahankara Sthree, Ramyalatha and Vana Mohini. He has worked with English director David Lean for the epic British American war film The Bridge on the River Kwai, which released in 1957. Raj has also directed Tamil films like Thulli Odum Pullimaan (starring Sivaji Ganesan and Chandrababu) and Kai Niraya Kasu.

Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (94)

Poet (18 March 1926 – 15 October 2020)

In the demise of Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, Kerala has lost a doyen of Malayalam literature whose writing effervesced with values of humanity and brotherhood.

Akkitham is the recipient of some of the biggest literature honours in India such as the Jnanpith (2019), Kendra Sahitya Akademi award (1973), Vayalar award (1972), Ezhuthachan award (2016) and Kerala Sahitya Akademi award (1972).

Akkitham was born to Vasudevan Namboothiri and Parvathy Antharjanam on March 18, 1926 into the conservative Namboothiri community in Kumaranellur village in Palakkad district. As part of his early education, Akkitham learnt Sanskrit, music and astrology. His most popular work is Irupatham Nootantinte Ithihasam which won him the Sanjayan award in 1952. His other works are Balidarshanam (for which he received the 1972 Kerala Sahitya Akademi award), Pandathe Melshanthi, Manasapuja, Manasakshiyude Pookkal and Nimisha Kshetram (for which he received the Odakuzhal award).

Pandit Jasraj (90)(Classical vocalist)

(28 January 1930 – 17 August 2020)

Indian classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj passed away following a cardiac arrest at his home in New Jersey.

With a musical career spanning almost 80 years, the doyen of Indian classical vocal music was a recipient of various prestigious awards and honours including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. He represented the last of a generation of classical vocalists, which includes 83-year-old Kishori Amonkar, the doyenne of the Jaipur Atrauli gharana.

Belonging to Mewati Gharana, Jasraj was introduced to vocal music by his father, and was later trained as a tabla accompanist under the tutelage of elder brother, Pandit Pratap Narayan. Jasraj began training as a vocalist at the age of 14, and his riyaz once used to last for 14 hours a day. Pandit Jasraj will be remembered as the pioneer who added elements of the thumri to the khayal, giving it more flexibility and making it more audience-friendly. This would have been considered blasphemous half a century ago, when the khayal was serious business and sung without any ornamentation.

Ashalata Wabgaonkar (79)Actress

(2 July 1941 – 22 September 2020)

Renowned Marathi, Hindi films, and stage actress Ashalata Wabgaonkar passed away after a four-day battle with COVID-19 at a private hospital in Satara. She was 79. Popularly known as Ashalata, the Goa-born actress had reportedly contracted the infection during the shootings of a teleserial.

Ashalata Wabgaonkar was in Satara to shoot for a Marathi TV serial, Aai Kalubai. Reportedly, she, along with about 20 members of the TV serial crew tested positive for the novel coronavirus there.

Ashalata is a popular face in television, films as well as in the Indian theatre scene. She started her acting career with theatre, primarily in Marathi and Konkani plays, and later went on to act in over a hundred Hindi and Marathi films. Ashalata’s Hindi debut was in Basu Chatterjee’s Apne Paraye. She can be credited for films like Ankush, Ahista Ahista, Shaukeen, Woh Saat Din, Namak Halaal, and several others. Marathi films like Umbartha, Navri Mile Navryala, and Vahinichi Maya are also part of her repertory of work.

SP Balasubrahmanyam (74)Playback singer/actor

(4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020)

Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away following coronavirus complications. Though he recorded his first tamil song for MS Viswanathan for the unreleased film Hotel Ramba, his Tamil breakthrough came in 1969, in the form of Aayiram Nilave Vaa, composed by KV Mahadevan for MGR’s Adimai Penn. His association with MSV and maestro Ilaiyaraaja cemented his status as a legend even in the 1980s. In 1981, he recorded 21 songs on a single day, a record that hasn’t been broken yet. He also was an admired character actor, earning praise for his effortless performances in films like Manathil Uruthi Vendum, Thiruda Thiruda, Kadhalan, Minsara Kanavu, and Moone Moonu Varthai. The veteran singer has recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages and holds the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer. He has won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer six times, the Filmfare Award seven times for his work across many industries. He was also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan (2011) and Padmashri (2001) from the Government of India.

Unnikrishnan Namboothiri (98)

Actor (19 October 1923 – 20 January 2021)

Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri, 98, the beloved ‘grandfather’ of Malayalam cinema, is no more. Nampoothiri, whom director Jayaraj referred to as “a pious Brahmin and an equally pious Communist”, breathed his last at the Payyannur Cooperative Hospital. Belonging to the Vadhyar Illam of Pullur, he was suffering from post-Covid health issues and was admitted to the hospital after his health deteriorated on Wednesday morning.

Earlier, he was under treatment for pneumonia at a private hospital in Payyannur, and later at a Kannur hospital for a week. During hospitalisation, he tested Covid positive. After beating the virus and testing negative, he was discharged last week. Nampoothiri forayed into the world of movies at the age of 74 through Jayaraj’s critically acclaimed Desadanam in 1996, with the role of a grandfather making him popular. He went on to act in around 25 more films, including Kalyanaraman, Chandramukhi, Madhuranombarakkattu and Pammal K Sambandham. He is the father-in-law of lyricist Kaithapram Damodaran Nampoothiri.

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January 26, 202124

Buta Singh (86)Politician

(21 March 1934 – 2 January 2021)

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Buta Singh passes away. Born in 1934 in Punjab’s Jalandhar, Buta Singh joined the Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership and was close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Singh was counted among the most powerful of Rajiv’s loyalists in the Congress.

Singh was a deputy minister for railways in the Indira Gandhi government in the 1970s, and when the Congress was thrown out of power after Emergency, he was appointed a general secretary of AICC in 1978. He was a junior minister and then a cabinet minister when Indira returned to power in 1980 but his glorious days came during the Rajiv era, when he became the Home Minister in 1986.

Singh began his political career with the Akali Dal in the 1960s. He was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1962 on an Akali Dal ticket from Moga in Punjab but switched to the Congress soon. In all, he was an eight-term Lok Sabha MP.

Alokeranjan Dasgupta (87)Poet

(6 October 1933 – 17 November 2020)

Sahitya Academy award winner Bengali poet Alokeranjan Dasgupta has passed away at his residence in Germany. Dasgupta completed his studies from Visva Bharati school and then St. Xaviers College and Jadavpur University in Kolkata. He was faculty at JU teaching competitive literature. Later on he moved to Germany on scholarship and settled there.

His first book, titled “JoubanBaul”, was published in 1959. After that he authored several books and translated many literary works. The poet also paid a vital role in consolidating Indo-German cultural ties in his lifetime. Dasgupta has authored over 20 poetry books. Lovers of literature are immensely grateful to him for bringing home the brilliant translations of Friedrich Holderlin, Heinrich Heine, Bertolt Brecht and Peter Weiss.

At the same time, he disseminated the creativity of Kabir, Rabindranath, Lalan and Jibanananda in Europe, Germany in particular. He was honoured with the prestigious Goethe Prize, Ananda Puraskar and Kabir Shamman. He was an enviable conversationalist and his ability to play with words was phenomenal.

Motilal Vora (93)Politician

(20 December 1928 – 21 December 2020)

Veteran Congress leader Motilal Vora passed away in Delhi, a day after he celebrated his 93rd birthday.

A journalist by profession, he worked with Navbharat Times as its correspondent in Bombay (now Mumbai), then served with Navbharat in Nagpur and Raipur and later with Nagpur Times in Nagpur. Having held one of the most important organisational post of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer for nearly two decades, Vora was appointed as the general secretary in charge of administration in 2018.

This is when another senior leader Ahmed Patel took over as the AICC treasurer and held the post till his death on November 25 this year.

A former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and a former governor of Uttar Pradesh, Vora, a Gandhi family loyalist, was known for his relations across political spectrum.

A two-term Madhya Pradesh chief minister – first from 1985 to 1988 and later in 1989, Vora also served as the union health minister in the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet in 1988-89.

Ahmed Patel (71)Politician

(21 August 1949 – 25 November 2020)

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel passed away due to multiple organ failures after having tested positive for the coronavirus disease.

Popularly known as ‘Babu bhai’, ‘Ahmed Bhai’ and ‘AP’ in political circles, Patel had been the chief crisis manager, the key trouble shooter, the go-to man in emergency situations and a master strategist for the Congress for decades.

Born on August 21, 1949, at Piraman village near Bharuch in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, he represented the state eight times in Parliament – three times as a Lok Sabha member from Bharuch and five times as a Rajya Sabha member.

Patel also served as the parliamentary secretary to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985-86. Apart from being Gujarat Congress president from January 1986 to October 1988, he was party general secretary twice from September 1985 to January 1986 and then from May 1992 to October 1996.

Roddam Narasimha (87)Aerospace scientist

(20 July 1933 – 14 December 2020)

Celebrated aerospace scientist, Padma Vibhushan Prof Roddam Narasimha passed away.

A former director of the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), he had played a key role in the design and development of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas.

An authority on Fluid Dynamics, he was also the DST Year-of-Science Chair Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and concurrently held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Science and Engineering at the University of Hyderabad. The first student of Sathish Dhawan, Narasimha’s research has been chiefly concerned with Aerospace Fluid Dynamics. Honoured with the country’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2013, Prof Narasimha was also the recipient of the Bhatnagar Prize, and the 2008 Trieste Science Prize. A Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Foreign Associate of both the US National Academy of Engineering and the US National Academy of Sciences, he was a Distinguished Alumnus of both the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Tarun Gogoi (86)Politician

(1 April 1936 – 23 November 2020)

Three-time Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi passed away after a protracted illness. Gogoi represented Titabar Assembly constituency in Jorhat district since 2001. Born in 1936, Gogoi was a six-time parliamentarian and a Union minister twice. He came to the political scene of Assam in 1968 when he became a member of the Jorhat Municipal Board. Three years after joining politics, Gogoi impressed Congress boss and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi because of which he was made the Youth Congress leader of Assam in 1971. The same year, Tarun Gogoi was given the Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha election as well.

A strong Congress leader, Gogoi went on to win six terms as the Lok Sabha member, the first three (1971-85) from Jorhat and next three terms from Kaliabor between 1991 and 2001.

He handled different portfolios as Union minister from 1991 to 1995. But his real rise came in life when he became the chief minister of Assam in 2001.

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January 26, 2021 25

Astad Deboo (73)Dancer

(13 July 1947 – 10 December 2020)

Contemporary Indian dancer Astad Deboo, renowned for marrying Kathak and Kathakali into a unique form, passed away in Mumbai. He once said there was a time when most Indians saw his style as “too western” while westerners found that it was “not Indian enough”.

His innovative style of Indian dance may have raised some eyebrows in the 1970s and 80s, but the 1990s saw people embrace this new idiom. Born on July 13, 1947 in Navsari town of Gujarat, the dancer, who studied Kathak with Guru Prahlad Das from a young age, and later Kathakali with Guru EK Pannicker, described his style as “contemporary in vocabulary and traditional in restraint”.

With a dance career spanning half a century, he had performed in over 70 countries, including solo, group and collaborative choreography with artistes, at home and abroad. Deboo also forayed into other art disciplines, like films, choreographing for directors such as Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bhardwaj and legendary painter MF Hussain’s Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities.

Ravi Patwardhan (84)Actor

(September 6, 1937 – 6 December 2020)

Veteran actor Ravi Patwardhan, best known for starring in the Marathi show Aggabai Sasubai and 1980s Hindi films like Tezaab and Ankush, died on Saturday following a massive heart attack.

Ravi Patwardhan, whose career in the entertainment industry spanned about four decades, was rushed to Jupiter Hospital in Thane after he complained of breathlessness.

Ravi Patwardhan had also acted in several plays and featured in around 200 films, including Yeshwant (1997) in Hindi, and Marathi features like Asha Asavya Sun (1981), Umbartha (1982), Jhanjaar (1987), and Jyotiba Phule, a 2019 Marathi langauge show.

He was last seen on the popular TV series Aggabai Sasubai.

Besides Niranjan Patwardhan, the actor is survived by his wife, two children and four grandchildren.

Anil Panachooran (55)Poet

(20 November 1965 – 3 January 2021)

Poet and lyricist Anil Panachooran, 55, died at a private hospital at Anayara after suffering a heart attack.

Anil’s song ‘Chora veena mannil ninnuyarnnu vanna poomaram…’ - from the 2007 film Arabikkatha, attained a cult status. Another song which catapulted him to fame is ‘vethyasthanam oru barbaram balane…’ from the 2007 film Katha Parayumbol. Later, when he wrote ‘entammede jimikki kammal’ in the 2017 film Velipadinte Pustakam directed by Lal Jose.

Born to Udayabhanu and Droupadi, his real name was P U Anil Kumar. He spent his childhood in Mumbai. He studied at the TKM College, Nangiyarkulangara, Law Academy, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kakatiya University, Warangal, from where he obtained his Master’s degree in public administration. After leading a hermit’s life for a few years, Anil worked as a lawyer and later dabbled in songwriting for films.

His anthology of poems includes Akshethriyude Athmageetham and Valayil Veena Kilikal. He had also acted in Arabikkatha (2007), Manikyakkallu (2011), Chila Neram Chila Manushyar (2011) and Yathra Chodikkathe (2015). Anil said his songs were born out of unexpected and spontaneous inspiration.

Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati (103)

Cardiologist (20 June 1917 – 29 August 2020)

Dr. Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati, India’s first female cardiologist, passed away at the age of 103 of (COVID-19)-related complications. Dr. Padmavati was the founder of the NHI hospital, which was established in 1981 as a tertiary care modern heart hospital in Delhi with the first cardiac catheterisation laboratory in the private sector in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1962, Dr. Padmavati had also founded the All India Heart Foundation. Born in Burma in 1917, a year before the world was hit by the Spanish Flu pandemic, she and her family had migrated to India in 1942 during World War II in the wake of the attack on Japan. She graduated from the Rangoon Medical College and went overseas for higher education, eventually becoming the first female cardiologist in India. For her achievements and contributions to the development of cardiology in India, she was awarded Fellowship of the American College of Cardiology and FAMS, and Padma Bhushan in 1967 and Padma Vibhushan in 1992 by the Government of India.

Viswanathan Shanta (93)Doctor

(11 March 1927 – 19 January 2021)

In Dr V Shanta’s death, the nation has lost one of its greatest icons. Her towering and compassionate presence at the Adyar Cancer Research Centre in Chennai healed people’s hearts for decades. That mattered more than them battling the dreaded disease called cancer, for which they came to her hoping for a miracle cure.

Dr Shanta was an institution by herself, having dedicated her life to the research of cancer and rehabilitation of patients. Many of her patients have stories to share of the trials and tribulations they overcame only because they were under the wing of Dr Shanta and her team of doctors. Her stature is incomparable, her compassion and simplicity having touched so many people since 1955 after she chose cancer research over the position of a surgeon at a hospital where she had been selected through the Madras Public Service Commission. Soon multiple awards followed her in this journey, but never once did they make her complacent. Her name has become synonymous with ethics and selflessness of service and her life will always remain an example for doctors.

Sugathakumari (86)Poet

(22 January 1934 – 23 December 2020)

Renowned Malayalam poet, conservationist and women’s rights activist Sugathakumari passed away.

Sugathakumari, who has been affectionately called “Sugatha Teacher” by her admirers, leaves behind a literary life spanning six decades. Born to freedom fighter and writer Bodheswaran and well-known Sanskrit teacher Karthiyayaniamma in 1934, she inherited a rich legacy in poetry. She began her literary life writing for a weekly in 1957 under the pen name Sreekumar.

Her first collection of poems, “Muthuchippi”, was published in 1961, marking her entry in the Malayalam literary world. She has to her credit 15 collections of poems, which include the much-acclaimed Paavam Manavahridayam, Pathirappookkal, Krishnakavithakal, Ambalamani, Radhayevide and Rathrimazha.

In 2006, she was bestowed the Padma Shri. She also bagged almost all prestigious literary awards in the state, including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Ezhuthachan Puraskaram and Vayalar Award and Odakkuzhal Award.

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Legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away at the age of 85 on November 15. The Dadasaheb

Phalke award-winning actor is best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films. Chatterjee is also the first Indian film personality

conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest award for artists. In 2017, exactly thirty years after auteur Satyajit Ray was honoured with France’s highest civilian award, the coveted Legion of Honor, Chatterjee also received the prestigious award.

In a career spanning over six decades, Chatterjee worked with Ray, Mrinal

Sen, Tapan Sinha and later in his career with Goutam Ghose, Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh.

After making his debut as the adult Apu in Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959), the third part of Apu Trilogy, he went on to work in several notable films with Satyajit Ray, including Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969); Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973); Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Bengali detective Feluda; Hirak Rajar Deshe(1980), Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984), Shakha Proshakha (1990) and Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989).

He worked with Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum (Up in the Clouds, 1965), with Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan (Hungry Stones, 1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961), Atonko (1984) and with Tarun Majumdar in Sansar Simante (1975), Ganadevata (1978).

He acted in more than 210 films in his career

till 2016. He also garnered critical acclaim for his directorial venture Stree Ki Patra (1986) which was based on Streer Patra, a Bengali short story written by

Rabindranath Tagore.

Soumitra Chatterjee The greatest of Bengal’s thespians

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa, one of the finest Hindustani classical vocalists and torchbearer of the Rampur Sahaswan gharana, died at his

home in Mumbai. He was 89.

In Umrao Jaan (1980), filmmaker Muzaffar Ali’s seminal film, a five-minute melody manages to put life’s ebb and flow in perspective. The raagmala Pratham dhar dhyaan dinesh illustrates the induction of the protagonist, Ameeran, into classical music and dance and showcases her metamorphosis into Lucknow’s fanciful courtesan, Umrao Jaan.

Composer Khayyam’s composition is ambitious and arduous—based on seven ragas each of which defines time, mood and colour of varied moments in life. To sing this, Ali chose Ut Ghulam Mustafa Khan—the Hindustani classical giant whose deep and dazzling voice was representative of not just an iconic lineage but also a rigorous riyaaz and years spent teaching some of the greatest musicians of our time.

Opening with an alaap that chimes with the word Allah, the melody merges into Brahma, giving a glimpse into the Awadh of the 19th century, when the syncretic fusion of cultures in music was a norm. But a more remembered piece is perhaps Jhoola kinne daala re amaraiyan in raag Desh, the story of a bedecked swing on which two lovers sway together.

Ut Ghulam Mustafa was born and raised in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. His mother was the daughter of the legendary vocalist Ut Inayat Hussain Khan, the court musician in Nawab Wajid Ali Khan’s court. He learned from his father Warish Hussain Khan, followed by tutelage under other family members, including Ut Fida Hussain Khan, court singer of Baroda’s royal durbar and then his cousin, Ut Nissar Hussain Khan.

His first performance was at a Janmashtami concert at the age of eight, where he was hailed as

a child prodigy. What was also interesting about Ut Ghulam Mustafa was his openness to all forms of music, a rarity in classical maestros of his time. So when most classical singers were banishing Hindi film music, he found it easier to adapt.

The musician also sang in Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969), and Badnam Basti (1969) among others. Another significant performance was a part of Coke Studio @MTV where composer and Ut Ghulam Mustafa’s student AR Rahman presented his guru on stage. Ut Ghulam Mustafa, till he died, remained an eminent guru to many leading musicians including Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, Ut Rashid Khan (also his nephew), Waheeda Rehman, Geeta Dutt, Hariharan, Sonu Nigam, Alisha Chinoy and Shilpa Rao.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2003, Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018.