Painting The University In Red: The Rise Of University Uprising

First Published on Youth Ki Awaaz on November 16, 2011

The raging discontent across the globe and why it is the most exciting time to be a University student.

The past few days have heralded the ushering in of a new wave of discontent and anger among the people across the globe that has been unprecedented in recent history. Massive protests and demonstrations are taking place in various countries throughout the world which have been triggered by the disillusionment with economic policies, cuts in social benefits, increase in taxes or (as here in our own country) massive and large scale pervasiveness of corruption and graft or due to some reason or the other. People are up in arms against what they perceive to be a dysfunctional political and administrative system and the failure of the ruling class to deliver. However, the focus of discussion in this article is not the various issues – whether political, social or economic – which are being raised by the protesters, but it is the identical geographical center of these eruptions: the universities across the globe.

The Angry young men and women across the Universities of the globe are waking up to the political and systemic paralysis that has gripped their respective states amongst the harshness of the global economic downturn. The logic of the ruling elite, which seems to be non-existent, anyway, works in a curious fashion. Faced with harsh realities of economic and monetary doom, the ruling class has moved swiftly to cut the subsidies, scholarships or fee concessions and to try and shift the burden of payment onto the students. This is indeed laughable in an era where most scholars are crying their throats out and are pleading with the political class to realize the demographic realities of their respective states and to invest more and more in areas like education and healthcare. However, if one would map the behavioral trends of the ruling establishment at the times of crises in any part of the globe, one would realize that it has always been chequered by a one-step-forward-two-step-backwards approach or, at best, has been afflicted with administrative and procedural paralysis. The tendency to think in a reverse direction has repeated itself again now, when the world is seeing a large-scale turmoil in every domain of its jurisdiction.

It is in such rudderless and frustrating environment that the youthful populace of various countries have become disillusioned by the very system that has been governing them. They have realized that unless or until an enormous pressure is built up from the bottom, the upper class (which, by the way, remains oblivious to the happenings at the grassroots), is not going to act.

Before proceeding further, there is a need to dissect the phenomenon of such protests threadbare and identify where its roots actually lie.

Education Reality in Chile 

In May this year, thousands of high school and university students began to ‘occupy’ public schools as a form of protest in Santiago, situated in the heart of Chile. The protesters were massive in number (ranging between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand) and could not be rubbished as a gang of goons who had laid siege to public institutions for fun. The protesters occupied around 80 schools and literally dead locked the state of affairs in these institutions for several days. The protests spread rapidly across the country and received widespread support. These protesters were mainly demanding increased state support for public universities, more equitable admissions process to prestigious universities, free public education, use of student bus pass throughout the year etc. among a host of other perfectly legitimate demands. These protests which kept on for around 4 months, culminated in a meeting of around a million protesters on August 21, during the “family protest in the park”. As a result of these widespread and popular protests, the country also observed a national strike on August 24 and August 25.

What compelled these students to march on the streets and holler around demanding radical reforms in the country’s education system? While addressing the million protesters who gathered before the national strikes of August 24 and 25, Camilla Vallejo, a graduate student of geography, the president of Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH) and the leader of the ongoing protests claimed:

“This neo-liberal model is not working for us. Its ultimate purpose is the profit and business of a few. We believe it’s necessary to advance toward a system more egalitarian and inclusive. We want a free country, a just country, more democratic, more egalitarian. And for that we need a quality education for all.” (1)

Education in Chile has been in a shabby condition for long. The country has very few state funded colleges that are not properly maintained and do not cater to the needs of the job market thus leaving those few, who graduate out of it every year, unemployed and frustrated. The colleges that do cater to the needs of students and the job market as well lie in private hands and charge steep fees that is out of the reach of a common Chilean. Thus the state and the private players of the country, both conspired to keep the ordinary Chilean uneducated, or at best, unfit for the job market due to the lack of skills.

This has been a toxic symptom plaguing most of the education systems across the globe. The picture is especially bleak in India itself. With the moving in of Private players into the education sector, quality has been accorded a backseat and profit has become the main motive. The state, instead of regulating private players and advancing policies that ensure that quality is given top priority, have instead become a party to the loot by deliberately letting the public funded educational institutions to languish behind due to apathy and neglect. The ultimate outcome of such a vicious nexus has been that quality now comes with a price tag – those who can afford it, get the best education. Those who cannot suffer in the poorly maintained publicly funded educational institutions and are ultimately left behind by those belonging to prestigious private institutions.

In Chile, even this does not seem to be the case. School students have been forced to join poor private institutions as the state was not able to provide adequate number of schools due to the increase in the number of school going children (according to the authorities) or due to the reason that they did not want to change the state of affairs at all because the authorities were the ones who ultimately benefited if children went to private institutions through their ‘cuts’ (according to the protesters), depending upon whom you believe. So the choice here was not between the publicly funded, poorly maintained but cheaper educational institutes, but between high fees demanding private institutions whose quality varied according to the amount you were able to shell out of your pocket.

In the end, there developed a situation where the taxpayer, through his/her taxes, was financing the living standards and educational quality of the rich, while at the same time, it wasn’t the state, but the private institutions and individuals which were bathing with all the currency.

When the government runs on a wheelchair – The British experience

On December 10, 2010, Jody McIntyre arrived at the Parliament Square in London in his wheelchair (he suffered from cerebral palsy) along with his younger brother. They were there on what they called ‘Day X’ or the ‘Day when Parliament would vote on Tuition Fees’. As the crowd swelled and the protest started gathering steam, the policemen stationed at the Parliament Square began attacking the crowd with batons in order to disperse them. Suddenly, Jody was pulled out of his wheelchair and dragged across the ground by four policemen, who grabbed his shoulder and carried him away.(2) A video of the same incident was posted on Youtube, for which the Metropolitan Police attracted severe criticism from various sections of the society.

Last month in November, thousands of protesters had smashed their way into the head quarters of the Conservative Party in central London. Some days later, the protesters managed to attack a car carrying Prince of Wales and his wife. A window was smashed and paint bombs were thrown at the car. That same day, a peaceful march attended by thousand of students turned violent as the students proceeded to the Parliament Square where they lit fires and threw stones and snooker balls at the police.

Jody and his friends were part of that student group which was protesting against the steep increase in the cap of the tuition fee enacted by the Conservative led Liberal Democrat government which came to power after promising to vote against any proposed increase in tuition fee if elected to power. The government also announced huge cuts in the spending on education which further drew flak from the student community. The argument advanced here was due to the steep increase in the tuition fee and the cuts in the spending on education, quality education for the lower sections of the British society would become costlier as a result of which many may not be in a position to afford it. This could lead to the division of students based on who could afford quality education and who could not. Such a division, it was argued, flew in the face of the role accorded to the government: that of providing affordable and quality education to all the sections of the society irrespective of their social status.

The movement went ballistic for the rest of the month, wherein a large number of students also resorted to violence and vandalism which, although widely condemned, was popularly seen as the anger of the student community spilling out onto the streets. As a result of such widespread protests, the Welsh assembly announced that it would not be going forward with any additional increase in the tuition fee of welsh students thus placing the mandarins of the government sitting in the House of Commons in a tight spot.

The focal point of the eruption of the protests was the University of Oxford, where, on October 28, the students protested against the visit of Business secretary Vince Cable and eventually forced him to cancel his visit.

The Bill in the Parliament eventually went through, but the protestors succeeded spectacularly in putting their point across. The reason for the protests by these students was strikingly familiar to the reasons which sparked the Chilean student community to protest – only that the British tried to pre-empt any move by their government to advance divisions within the student community on the basis of who could afford quality education. Their logic was simple: it is the states’ responsibility to provide cheap and affordable education to all its citizens and that double standards in quality based on monetary evaluations are not at all acceptable.

Hey Ram! The case of missing Ramayana essay from Delhi University syllabus.

Late last month, the Delhi University administration scrapped an essay titled “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three thoughts on translation” by noted scholar A K Ramanujan from its History Syllabus. The move came after some students belonging to the student wing of a politically influential Hindu fundamentalist party entered the University’s department of History and bashed the head of department in 2008, raising objection over the contents of the essay and claiming that it hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community. The administration was thus seen as bending to the protests by these tactics of arm twisting by a particular communal group.

Immediately there were widespread protests both by the student as well as the teacher community. While the Delhi University Teachers Association said that it would oppose the removal of the essay when the matter came up for discussion in the Academic Council, the students on the other hand decried the attempts by particular sections of the political community to give the syllabus a ‘communal hue’.

Leading political Commentator Swapan Dasgupta, while commenting on the controvery, wrote:

“A Delhi University history graduate who won a scholarship to Oxford recently recounted the absurdities of the process. The medieval history readings, he told me, were replete with denunciations of the so-called ‘revivalist’ historians of an earlier era. What struck him as surprising was that none of these apparently flawed histories featured in the prescribed reading lists—not Sir Jadunath Sarkar, not R.C. Majumdar, and not A.L. Shrivastava. In other words, rather than encouraging students to savour divergent ways of looking at the past, history became a set of acceptable truths and unacceptable untruths—hardly an approach befitting an open and argumentative society.” (3)

The problem here was not that of the state sponsoring education of the economically weaker sections of the society or advancing the interests of the rich, but the matter at hand questioned the whole process through which the University decided what was fit and what was not to be taught in its colleges and thus determined the quality of the course. It also raised concerns over divergent views being increasingly suppressed and dissent increasingly discouraged within the walls of the University. Clearly, as shown by this particular example, the contents of the course and thus the overall shade of the education being accorded by the University was open to interference and political arm twisting by influential sections of the society.

Conclusion

What the incidents of Santiago, London and Delhi in effect show is that the sphere of education in the 21st century is increasingly turning into a politically volatile one. For it is through the kind of knowledge and education imparted to the generation of young men and women that will determine the future course of the country. It also shows, in effect, that the students across the globe are breaking the stereotype accorded to them, as being insensitive to the happenings of their country at large.

What has contributed to the annihilation of this stereotype? Firstly, the means of communication and mass mobilization have become amazingly fast which allow the word to be spread in almost no time. Social Media as a means of communication has emerged as the new tool which the student political activists use ruthlessly and with impunity to criticize, recommend or condemn the government. Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are being used as an alternative source of media where the word is quick and the response, even fast. Guy Atchison and Aaron Peters in the book “Fightback: a Reader on the Winter of Protest” (which was brought out by the students who participated in the London protests), note that:

“In the new ‘crowdsourced’ model, the distinction between producers and consumers of dissent is dissolved – there is no hierarchy or membership structure in place, instead all individuals are potential participants within a movement. It is within this context that anyone can contribute, hence we have the rise of networked activists, with such individuals simultaneously performing the old roles of both producers and consumers of dissent – indeed they are much like those who participate in citizen journalism or use content on Flickr, what Alvin Toffler called ‘Prosumers’ – at once producing dissent, mobilising and facilitating it, while also participating in actions facilitated by others.” (4)

Secondly, with education becoming a focus of most of the administrations around the world, more and more youth are getting educated. Although a billion people around the world still remain illiterate, general literacy rates around the world have soared 5. With the ability to read, write and have access to different mediums of information, the awareness levels have greatly increased and have automatically pushed up reaction levels. This, coupled with the fact that inequality levels across the globe have shot up amazingly has added to the dismay of the general milieu whose tolerance level was already bursting at its seams.(5)  As noted earlier, the political leadership of the world has fabulously failed in delivering the promises on the basis of which they were voted to power and this has hugely disappointed the masses, pushing them on the streets.

While the exodus of students spilled out on the streets due to the specific changes that took place under the realm of Education and directly affected them; the subsequent protests also raised issues of national importance and garnered support from the public at large.

However, all has not been rosy for this youthful and fuming generation as they have been increasingly ridiculed for being ideologically bankrupt, logically challenged and indulging in ‘Facebook Activism of the like button’. This prompted an emotionally charged response from Jillian Steinhauer, who, writing in the Guernica Magazine, commented:

“For years, my generation—Generation Y, the Millennial Generation—has been charged with detachment. Because of us, adult writers coined the term “Facebook activism, ” and they lectured us that clicking “Like” buttons and signing electronic petitions could never effect real change. Now some of my cohort has leapt from the virtual to the real world: they’ve taken to the streets, their numbers are swelling, and they refuse to leave. They deserve a little more faith.” (6)

Many critics have also tried to lambast the ‘hippie culture’ that is being demonstrated in these movements. The youngsters, obviously, have used improvised and new methods of protest such as kiss-ins, embrace chains etc. to highlight their cause. Providing a response to these pundits was Danny Goldberg, the author of How the Left Lost its Teen Spirit and Bumping into Geniuses, who, in article in Dissent Magazine, countered:

“The hippie idea, as used here, does not refer to colloquialisms like “far out” or products sold by dope dealers. At their core, the counterculture types who briefly called themselves hippies were a spiritual movement. In part they offered an alternative to organized religions that too often seemed preoccupied with rules and conformity, especially on sexual matters. (One reason Eastern religious traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism resonated with hippies was because they carried no American or family baggage.) But most powerfully, the hippie idea was an uprising against the secular religion of America in the 1950s, morbid “Mad Men” materialism, and Ayn Rand’s social Darwinism.” (7)

One would then conclude that it is really an exciting time to be a college student. Especially if you belong to the economically weaker section of the society, as the people at large are becoming increasingly frustrated with the promises which their leaders failed to deliver and the dysfunctional bureaucracy which instead of serving them, serves the interests of the political class. The next time you feel agitated or frustrated with the state of affairs, design a placard and gather your friends. March out onto the streets. Holler around and protest. You don’t know whether many would be nursing the same grouse. You never know when your cause can turn into a national cause.

References:

1. Storify: Catching Up with Chile’s Student Protests, October 2011 (http://storify.com/gure/chile-student-protests)
2. For Jody’s own account of the incident, read: Life on Wheels: Week 76 – Student Protests, Part Three, December 10, 2010 (http://jodymcintyre.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/week-76-student-protests-part-three/)
3. Usual Suspects: Much ado about Three Hundred Ramayanas, October 23, 2011 (http://www.swapan55.com/2011/10/much-ado-about-three-hundred-ramayanas.html)
4. Guy Atchison and Aaron Peters: “The Open-Sourcing of Political Activism: How the internet and networks help build resistance” In Fight Back! A Reader on the winter of Protest Edited by Dan Hancox, pp.49 (http://felixcohen.co.uk/fightback.pdf)
5. Anup Shah: Poverty around the world, Global Issues, January 02, 2011 (http://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world#TheWealthyandthePoor)
6. P.A.P Blog/ Human Rights etc: Statistics on literacy, August 26, 2008 (http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-education/statistics-on-literacy/)
7. Jillian Steinhauer: In Defense of Youth Activism and the “Like” Button, Guernica, October 23, 2011 (http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/3196/jillian_steinhauer_in_defense/)
8. Danny Goldberg: In Defense of Hippies, Dissent, October 23, 2011 (http://dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=552)

 

Politics and Development - Is There a Link?

“The price of not participating in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors” ~ Plato

A government by inferiors, as Plato calls it, is a recipe for the stunted growth of a nation and therefore, strong political leadership – that is to say – a constructive role of politics in the development process, is necessary if a nation state is to realize its full potential.

A cursory glance through the world map beginning from South East Asian nation states with export led economies and management style political leadership, to China and North Korea with communist leadership but drastically different economic fortunes, to India’s democratic leadership and steady growth, onwards to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq – countries ravaged economically due to politics of security and further towards the Middle East’s oil producing nations and largely monarchical systems, and so on and so forth, tells us about the role different styles of political leadership have recently played in shaping the developmental trajectory of the region.

The increased competition between India and China has also given rise to the debate about the role and utility of different political systems regarding economic growth and development. Yet, one must ask, is development only economic? A systematic analysis of the word ‘development’ cannot leave out its historical and social components, which together give a coherent picture of the state of a region and its people.

Historical Role

In India, ancient descriptions of various kingdoms are replete with examples of kings patronizing artists, poets, scientists, men of letters and crafts. Whether it is Kalidasa’s Abhignanshakuntalam, Todarmal’s financial capabilities under Akbar, Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Gita, Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra or Aryabhat’s numerous scientific discoveries, all of them were made possible due to the encouragement – moral and financial – by the prevailing political leadership of the time. India’s famous handicrafts trade, including the world renowned Daccai Muslin ‘Malmal Shahi’, flourished because it had as its patron and largest buyers various kings and their vassals of small and large kingdoms.

Add to this the various contributions in the form of numerous palaces, forts and other forms of timeless infrastructure including the famous Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan, the Grand Trunk Road by Sher Shah Suri, the various Stupas, Viharas and Grihas, sundials such as Jantar Mantar, temples like those in Konark and Jagannath Puri and the dome shaped mosques and minarets such as Jama Masjid and Bada Imambara - all these are physical consequences of political initiatives of their time.

Yet, not all historical contributions of politics have been positive. The destruction of the famous libraries and knowledge centers of Nalanda and Takshshila, the pillage and sacking of countless temples and other religious places of worship such as Somnath Temple, and the impoverishment of the country through the wanton loot of its natural resources are some of the examples of negative influences of politics on the development process.

Social Role

While reform usually comes from within the society, there are various examples where political developments have given birth to a social reaction and reform process. One such example is the Communal Award announced by the British Government in early 1930s which sought to separate the Depressed/ Backward Classes from the fold of Hinduism and thus drive another wedge in the unity of Indian people and which led to the Poona Pact and the campaign against untouchability launched by Mahatma Gandhi. This, and the dominant role of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in drafting the constitution, later led to the enactment of constitutional safeguards for Schedule Castes and Tribes in the form of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.

In the early days of the Company Raj, seeing the plight of the Indian people under the religious orthodoxy and taking advantage of the rule by foreigners, Raja Rammohun Roy, Dwarkanath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar etc. relentlessly campaigned for the abolition of sati, widow remarriage, promotion of English language and reform within Hinduism and ushered in the Bengal Renaissance. None of this was possible under the old rulers for whom the religious orthodoxy comprised a crucial support base.

The Post Independence period has seen various initiatives by the modern political leadership for the abolition of superstitious practices such as child marriage, empowerment of women through reservation in local bodies, eradication of deadly diseases such as polio through a sustained campaign and discouragement to blind faith through promotion of scientific thinking and enquiry.

Economic Role

The most recent memory of the amount of destruction that political leadership can bring to bear down upon the fortunes of a region is that of the experience of colonialism. This experience is not unique to India and is shared by various nation states of the world. The deindustrialization and impoverishment of India for nearly 200 years through colonial policies, as detailed by the early nationalists such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, R C Dutt etc. financed the industrialization and development of Britain.

If one looks at the global level, one would find that major scientific advancements in recent memory were made as a result of war. While World War I heralded the arrival of the Mustard Gas, World War II hastened the entry of the Atomic Bomb. The Spanish Conquistadors were able to conquer a large part of Latin America because of gunpowder, and the same allowed Tipu Sultan to introduce the first rockets in modern warfare.

In the post World War II period, the establishment of the Bretton Woods Institutions such as World Bank and IMF by victorious allied powers, still determines the economic equations between the developed and the developing as well as the least developed countries today. At the national level, the politics of federalism and the distribution of resources between various states signify the role political leadership at the central and state level plays in shaping the developmental graph of the nation.

Conclusion

After more than 4 decades of socialist license-permit raj, Indian political leadership intervened to liberalize the economy in 1991 and effect a much needed course correction required to preserve the credibility of the Indian economy and to take it to new heights. Since then, the aspirations of the people have only grown.

In the 21^st century India, responding to the needs of the population for jobs and basic necessities like housing, clothing, transportation etc. the political leadership has begun to move from the politics of identity to the politics of development. Recent voter behavior too indicates that different sections, especially the youth, is more likely to vote for candidates who focus on results rather than rhetoric. In an era of automation, innovation and competition, only a dynamic and focused leadership can usher in the security and prosperity required for the sustenance of a country with as large a population as India’s.     

Universal Basic Income - Transformative Idea or an Ignis Fatuus?

The Economic Survey released today by the Finance Minister has endorsed the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) - a form of direct cash transfer scheme which will replace the existing 'dolenomics' based welfare schemes such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Mid-Day Meal Scheme as well as subsidies on food, fuel, fertilizers etc. One of the main reasons for introducing the UBI is the fact that it eliminates the leakages associated with traditional welfare schemes and hence is more efficient in its reach to the intended beneficiary and that it also gives a boost to the usage of the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) platform necessary for the realization of Digital India. 

What's wrong with traditional welfare schemes?

Traditional welfare schemes and subsidies such as those listed above are inefficient due to the human intermediaries involved - which means that while leakages can be reduced, they can never be completely eliminated, thus reducing the efficiency of these schemes. 

Another drawback of dolenomics is that it chains the poor and reduces her social mobility in a rapidly changing economic scenario. With a global trend towards urbanization indicating a shift of populations from rural areas to the cities, traditional welfare schemes which are largely intended for the rural poor, do not provide a social security net for those willing to climb up the social ladder and change their occupations or migrate to cities in search of work. 

Finally, there is a need to reduce the burden on the agricultural sector in order to make it profitable for those still willing to be engaged in it. This would require that the poor be given an option of spending their welfare amount in a way through which they can explore the opportunities available for them outside the rural environment.

How does a Universal Basic Income help?

A UBI unchains the concept of 'sustenance' from that of a 'job' allowing the beneficiary greater freedom to explore her area of interest. This is important to promote entrepreneurship in an age where jobless growth is the norm and increasing automation is leading to the reduction in the number of existing jobs. 

A direct cash transfer also eliminates any leakages associated with traditional welfare schemes, thus increasing the efficiency and reaching the intended beneficiary. It does this with the help of the government's JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) platform, giving a further boost to the dream of Digital India and cashless transactions. 

Further, with the availability of money instead of hand-outs, the beneficiary has an opportunity to adjust her needs in accordance with changing variables of the economy, instead of standing in long queues or depending on the benevolence of the intermediary for her promised hand-out.

What are the implementation hurdles?

The current burden on the economy due to the existing welfare schemes is around 5.5% of the GDP. A Universal Basic Income based on the Tendulkar Committee's Poverty Line of Rs 33/day translates to about 11-12% of the GDP, which is unsustainable. A more feasible UBI would be around Rs 450 per person per month which would still translate to about 5.5% of the GDP.

Critics point out that instead of removing the current set of welfare schemes, the government should instead enforce the minimum wage law, release timely funds in case of MGNREGS, plug the loopholes in Mid Day Meal schemes and other subsidies rather than scrapping these schemes altogether to put in place a direct cash transfer scheme which would essentially come at the cost of the same fiscal burden on the GDP. What's more, if a UBI is to be implemented at all, they say, it must complement these welfare schemes instead of replacing them. That would increase the bargaining power of the poor.

However, as has already been pointed out, the continuance of traditional dole-out schemes is unsustainable in the longer run due to the changing nature of the economy and adding a UBI on top of these traditional welfare schemes as has been suggested by some critics is a recipe for fiscal disaster. The real hurdle lies in the scrapping of subsidies, which account for about 2% of the GDP at present, and whose removal is bound to snowball into a huge political controversy. 

What are the drawbacks of the UBI?

As with any public policy, Universal Basic Income too has its own set of drawbacks. India does not have a natural resource like the Oil Producing economies or an exceptionally well performing sector which can sustain the fiscal burden imposed by the UBI at times of economic downturn. Furthermore, fixing a particular amount as the UBI is counter-productive due to the fluctuating rates of inflation which means that at times of low inflation, the UBI may seem sufficient, and at times of high inflation, the same UBI may seem to be grossly insufficient. 

Countries like Switzerland, which conducted a referendum on the same, have seen the measure been voted down because the people there do not think it is a good idea. There is no data to support the contention that UBI will work wonders as it has not been implemented anywhere in the world so far.

Conclusion - The Way Forward

With 70 million people living below the poverty line, and 57 billionaires controlling close to 60% of the country's wealth - representing the twin challenges of poverty and inequality, coupled with jobless growth and growing social interest in the form of demand for reservation of jobs in public sector for socially advanced communities, India is facing multiple challenges which need transformative ideas in order to arrive at a solution. A Universal Basic Income is one such idea which deserves implementation because its merits outweigh its demerits at the moment. 

The government will have to find out ways in order to keep the fiscal burden generated by a UBI within 5.5% of the GDP in order to meet its own target of fiscal deficit of around 6-6.5% of the GDP. A flat tax rate under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as proposed by the Subramanian Committee and removal of corporate tax concessions, which together will help save some 3% of the GDP, are some of the ideas which can help generate enough revenue to sustain a modest UBI.

Photo Essay - Glimpses of Guna

Guna exists as a proverbial blip on the map of Central India; a sleepy town which has evolved, almost reluctantly, with the changing times, while still keeping most of its archaic atmosphere intact. It is the place which defined my imagination of the "town" while I was growing up, barely an hour away, in NFL Vijaipur, whose story I will record some other day. As one navigates through the various lanes, by-lanes, alleys, alleyways, roads, routes, paths and pathways of this small town, one is flooded with memories - the hotel where once a birthday was celebrated with all the friends, the favorite ice cream parlor which serves cheap yet delicious variety of, well, ice creams, the shop for books, the shop for watches, the shop for clothes, the family jeweler and so on and so forth until one wonders how far has one traveled and whether one was really that far away?   

The Election of President Donald Trump

Defying all the poll predictions, controversial real estate business tycoon and television celebrity, Donald J. Trump, was elected as the 45th President of the United States on Wednesday, 9th November 2016. The date is important, as it will go down in history as the day on which one of the most remarkable events in the 21st Century took the world by surprise. A substantial number of world leaders seemed to be in a state of panic and confusion, as most of them had been preparing to congratulate Mrs. Clinton as the next President. However, in a spirit that has defined his entire career, The Donald, as he is known to the American public, defied all odds and traveled the narrow path to victory which led him to the White House.

Unconventional and Bitter Campaign

Mr. Trump was roundly slammed by the mainstream media, his Democratic Party opponents as well as colleagues within the Republican Party, for his outlandish policy proposals as well as controversial statements denigrating immigrants, women, minorities, veterans, the disabled etc. which led many to conclude that he did not possess the temperament, experience or the wisdom required for the post of the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces. To the majority of observers, his campaign seemed to be mired in endless controversy and on the verge of implosion, which suggested that either he was not serious about his bid to become the President or more dangerously, that he seriously believed in everything that he was advocating. His constant about turns on his own statements, coupled with a complete disregard for factual accuracy, flustered long time political observers on both the right and the left, who were shocked at the unprecedented show of callousness from a major party nominee. The general consensus, before going to the polls, largely among the educated and opinionated section of the American public, was that Mr. Trump was seeking to capitalize on a wave of resentment caused by the export of American jobs to other countries, fears regarding immigration, racial tensions and general stereotypes against anyone who was not a white male American. This was in stark contrast to the long line of preceding American Presidents, including incumbent President Barack Obama, who had sought the highest office of the country, by associating themselves with the shared values of the American people. One thing more that separated Donald Trump from all the recent Presidents was that he had no prior combat or political experience. He was a TV celebrity cum real estate business tycoon, who was perceived fit to entertain and not to govern.

Hobbled by deep distrust, extremely bad press, just a handful of endorsements, grim poll predictions and a lesser budget than his opponent, The Donald went around his rallies, telling people about the number of votes that he had polled in the primaries ('highest in the republican primary history'), denying the fact that his statements were controversial, denying climate change as a scientific fact, threatening to jail his opponent and promising 'extreme vetting' for immigrants coming from countries 'compromised by terrorism'. In short, he just remained himself. And, perhaps, therein lay his key to the oval office, because, in complete contrast, his opponent, Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton, 'the most qualified candidate for the office of President in the United States History' according to President Barack Obama, came across as a darling of the 'establishment', never letting people know what she really thought and never uttering a word in public that was not scripted, and hence being 'fake'. Trump was the original bigot, Clinton was the fake saint.

A day before the polls, the election experts, political commentators, reporters, journalists, pollsters and vocal public opinion was convinced that Trump had a very very slim chance of becoming the President while Clinton was the favorite. There had been some last moment ups and downs with both the campaigns which had increased anxieties, but had done nothing to signal that the applecart has been completely upset.

Election Night

As the votes began to come in, people around the world settled down for some time to relive the moment from 2008, when Barack Obama had won the election against his Republican rival Sen. John McCain and had thus become the 1st African American President in the United States History. If Hillary Clinton were to win this election, which she very well was, the American people, women in particular, would have clinched another historic first, that of the election of the first female President of the United States. The added bonus seemed to be the satisfaction of seeing the loss of Donald Trump, who was smeared as the symbol of orthodox patriarchy, treating women as objects and workers as disposables, basking in the company of white supremascists and outright fascists, defying the established norms of his own party (not for good, for worse) and being an insufferable racist in general. If everything was to go down well with the results, liberal Americans would wake up the next day filled with pride and happiness.

One by one, as all 'battleground' states went to Donald Trump, pride, happiness and hope vanished from the faces of those supporting the Clinton campaign. By the time it had become clear that Mr. Trump was going to become the next President of the United States, Mrs. Clinton had locked herself in a hotel room, probably because her campaign had not thought it as important enough to draft a concession speech, and her many female supporters outside were reduced to tears in the face of the 'impossible'.

The people had spoken. Donald Trump was going to be the 45th President of the United States of America.

Chaos and Acceptance

The power of the verdict of the United States Presidential election was on full display as the markets around the world tumbled, world leaders scrambled to prepare a strategy of dealing with the incoming Trump Administration and people in America rioted on the streets, repulsed by the outcome. How could the impossible happen? How could the same states who had voted to elect President Barack Obama, now elect Donald Trump? How could the people trust such a xenophobic, racist, misogynist, run of the mill bigot? How could the people NOT trust Hillary Clinton, who had dedicated 30 years of her life fighting for them?

The answer was there for everyone to see, if only they wished to see it. The countryside of the United States was reeling with loss of jobs, reduction in standard of living, ageing infrastructure and hostility to immigration. By dismissing these claims as the claims of a racist, sexist, xenophobic - in short - politically incorrect mob, the Democratic Party alienated a large section of the working class of the country, trying to pursue a loftier 'global' agenda. While as a consolation it can be said that Mrs. Clinton polled nearly 2 million votes more than Mr. Trump, the fact is, there is no runner's up trophy in a Presidential Election. You either win or you lose. And Donald Trump had won according to the electoral college system that determined the winner of the race.

Soon, the focus shifted from the loss of Mrs. Clinton to the win of Mr. Trump. Was Donald Trump serious about pursuing the outlandish policies that he had vaguely outlined while running for the office of President? What all had he said about the specific issues that concerned other countries? No one had thought it worthy enough to listen to what Mr. Trump had to say on various issues of ancillary concern to the American public, as his remarks were always controversial and he wasn't winning anyway. Now that he had won, an American newspaper observed, the same kind of remarks, from now on, would determine troop movements and market sentiment.

Indo-US Ties under President Trump

The question of single most importance to an Indian observer is, how is President Trump going to conduct his Foreign Policy? What is going to be the future of Indo-US ties under his administration and what does India stand to gain, or, more importantly, lose, from such a foreign policy? 

The President-Elect has grumbled about the number of H1B visas being provided by the US, while those close to him have expressed dismay over the number of Asian CEOs in the Silicon Valley. However, in an event organized by the Republican Hindu Coalition, the President-Elect professed his admiration for "the Hindus" and Prime Minister Modi. He has promised that under his administration, India and America are going to be the "best friends".

In keeping with the President-Elect's campaign promise of fighting "radical Islam", India should use all available opportunities to shore up support against the proxy war being fought in Kashmir by Pakistan through the use of terrorism.Unlike any other President, President-Elect Trump has indulged in unprecedented behavior with respect to his policies and campaign promises and therefore it would be too early to comment upon the shape that Indo-US ties will take in the future. Only time will tell.