Freedom First

Freedom First

Summary

Freedom First No. 560 (February 2014) is a monthly issue of the Bombay-based liberal magazine published by the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom, edited by S. V. Raju. Its dominant preoccupation, spread across a three-part symposium, the editorial, reader letters, and a ‘Point Counter Point’ column, is the sudden rise of the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the 2014 general election: contributors (Girdhar Patil, Nitin G. Raut, H. R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Ashok Karnik, Firoze Hirjikaka, and the editor himself) debate whether AAP is a genuine anti-corruption ‘spring revolution’ or a relapse into failed neo-socialist populism, generally sympathetic to its anti-corruption energy but sharply critical of its subsidy-and-PDS economics and its decision to form Delhi’s government with Congress support. A second major thread is the Devyani Khobragade diplomatic row with the United States, covered from both an American immigration-law perspective (Erich C. Straub) and an Indian vantage (Firoze Hirjikaka), and again in ‘Point Counter Point.’

The issue also carries a report of a Freedom First seminar defending the armed forces against politicization and bureaucratic encroachment (Suresh C. Sharma and Cdr. Ravindra W. Pathak, both tracing civil-military dysfunction back to Nehru), a report on the Shetkari Sanghatana’s Chandrapur farmers’ convention, an assessment of Manmohan Singh’s foreign-policy record, a continuing serialized account of Alexander’s failed invasion of India, a review of Hiranmay Karlekar’s End Game in Afghanistan, an installment of a long-running Right to Education Act series, a three-part student symposium on the Arushi-Hemraj murder verdict, and a Liberal Position statement opposing Section 377 of the IPC. A 1957 ‘Nostalgia’ reprint on that year’s general election and reader letters on AAP and the Congress round out the issue.

Essays

Freedom First: This Month in February 1957 (General Elections)

By V. B. Karnik

A ‘Nostalgia’ feature reprints the opening of the lead article from Freedom First’s own February 1957 issue (No. 57), written by then-editor V. B. Karnik on the eve of India’s second general elections. Karnik argues that a general election is civilisation’s device for achieving revolutionary change peacefully, but predicts 1957’s election will be little more than a ‘formal renewal of confidence’ in the Congress, since no party is investing in the political education needed to rouse a still-indifferent electorate. He assesses the opposition as weak: the Praja Socialist Party split and compromised, and the Communist Party dismissed by Nehru himself as an agency ‘guided by outside forces.’

• Reprints part of the lead article from Freedom First’s February 1957 issue, written on the eve of India’s second general elections.
• Argues a general election is a peaceful mechanism for revolutionary change, but warns the 1957 poll will likely be a formal renewal of Congress’s mandate rather than a real contest.
• Faults all parties, including Congress, for neglecting political education of voters, leaving the electorate driven by hero-worship of Gandhi and Nehru.
• Assesses the Praja Socialist Party as weakened by internal splits and opportunist alliances with communists.
• Quotes Nehru dismissing the Communist Party as having ‘no opinions of their own’ and being guided by ‘outside forces.‘

From Our Readers

Three reader letters respond to the prior issue’s coverage of AAP and the Congress. Prof. ‘Kargil’ M. Subramaniam (Chennai) argues AAP cannot match the idealism of the Swatantra Party or Gandhi given the shady backgrounds of some adherents, flags Prashant Bhushan’s controversial positions and AAP’s foreign funding as liabilities, and worries the movement is now ‘a ship without a rudder’ since Anna Hazare’s split from it. Eknaath Nagarkar (Bangalore) reads the Congress’s support for AAP as driven by fear of a BJP sweep, while Prof. Ramesh Babu (Hyderabad) cautions that AAP should govern for a year before over-expanding.

• Prof. ‘Kargil’ M. Subramaniam argues AAP cannot be expected to match the idealism of the Swatantra Party or Gandhi given the shady backgrounds of some of its adherents.
• The same letter worries AAP is now a movement ‘in a ship without a rudder’ after Anna Hazare’s split from it, and flags Prashant Bhushan’s controversial stances and AAP’s foreign funding as liabilities.
• Eknaath Nagarkar (Bangalore) frames Congress’s support for AAP as calculated to avoid handing the BJP an easy national win, and predicts BJP’s Harsha Vardhan may come under pressure over a minority AAP government.
• Prof. Ramesh Babu (Hyderabad) warns the ‘broom may get too heavy to sweep’ and urges AAP to govern for a year or two before spreading its wings nationally.
• An editor’s note reproduces a January 1 addition to the previous issue’s editorial describing AAP’s early moves (cutting power tariffs, free water, transferring officers) as ‘nervous haste.‘

Editorial: When Ambition Mocks his Useful Toil

By SVR

In the editorial ‘When Ambition Mocks his Useful Toil,’ editor S. V. Raju reflects personally on his political formation under Minoo Masani (primacy of the individual over the collective) and Sharad Joshi (free-market agrarianism and the Shetkari Sanghatana), noting the Swatantra Party’s Maharashtra branch still cannot register without swearing allegiance to socialism. He traces India Against Corruption’s transformation under Arvind Kejriwal from Anna Hazare’s austere crusade into the Aam Aadmi Party, arguing Kejriwal ‘supped with the devil he had set out to vanquish’ by accepting Congress support despite winning only 28% of the vote, and predicts his leftist allies will eventually abandon him once he has served their purpose.

• Raju recounts his own formation under Minoo Masani (individual over collective) and Sharad Joshi (free-market agrarianism, Shetkari Sanghatana), and notes the Swatantra Party’s Maharashtra unit still cannot register without swearing allegiance to socialism.
• Traces India Against Corruption’s arc from Anna Hazare’s non-political, austere crusade to Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to convert it into the Aam Aadmi Party, calling their split a broken ‘guru-shishya’ relationship.
• Argues Kejriwal ‘supped with the devil he had set out to vanquish’ by accepting Congress support to form Delhi’s government despite winning only 28% of the vote.
• Credits Kejriwal’s rejection of VVIP perks as genuinely popular but warns ‘arrogance of power sits heavily on his head.’
• Predicts Kejriwal’s communist and Congress-aligned backers will abandon him once he has served their purpose, likely by mid-2014.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - I. The New Neo-Socialists!

By Girdhar Patil

Girdhar Patil, a former early AAP member who left the party, argues AAP represents a ‘deja vu’ of socialism: half-baked socialists have captured its leadership from the young, apolitical anti-corruption base that originally rallied to Anna Hazare. He criticizes AAP’s embrace of subsidies and the Public Distribution System (calling PDS ‘a major tool of corruption’), blames the restrictive APMC Act for eroding farm incomes and driving farmer suicides, and condemns AAP’s opposition to FDI in retail as anti-progressive, warning it ‘will take the country back 50 years.’

• Argues AAP is experiencing ‘a deja vu of the socialist pattern,’ with half-baked socialists capturing leadership from apolitical, corruption-weary youth.
• Criticizes AAP’s support for subsidies and the Public Distribution System, calling PDS ‘a major tool of corruption in the name of welfare of the poor.’
• Blames the APMC Act for monopolizing agricultural trade, eroding farmer incomes, and driving farmer suicides; calls for freeing agricultural markets and inviting foreign investment.
• Criticizes AAP’s opposition to FDI in retail as ideologically driven and anti-progressive, warning it will set India back decades.
• The author identifies himself as a homeopath and agriculturist from Nashik who was among AAP’s early members and left in disappointment as the party rejected open markets.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - II. Are They The Change?

By Nitin G. Raut

Nitin G. Raut opens with Gorbachev’s 1991 resignation speech on the Soviet economy’s collapse to frame recurring Indian hopes for radical political change, drawing a parallel between the Janata Party (born of JP’s Total Revolution and Indira Gandhi’s post-Emergency unseating) and AAP (born of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement). He argues AAP’s decision to govern Delhi with Congress support is ‘fundamentally flawed’ given its own anti-corruption mandate, criticizes its populist first acts (free water, slashed tariffs) and Prashant Bhushan’s proposed referendum on army deployment as ‘political immaturity,’ and questions whether AAP, an essentially urban phenomenon, can replicate its Delhi success against entrenched regional and caste-based parties nationally.

• Opens with Gorbachev’s 1991 resignation speech on the Soviet command economy’s collapse to frame India’s recurring hope for radical political change (1977 Janata Party, 1989 V. P. Singh, now AAP).
• Draws a parallel between the Janata Party, born of JP’s Total Revolution after Indira Gandhi’s unseating and the Emergency, and AAP, born of the Anna Hazare/India Against Corruption movement.
• Argues AAP’s acceptance of Congress support to govern Delhi is ‘fundamentally flawed’ given its own anti-corruption platform and the Congress’s ‘Machiavellian politics.’
• Criticizes AAP’s early populist measures (free water, slashed power tariffs) and Prashant Bhushan’s referendum proposal on army deployment as reflecting ‘political immaturity.’
• Questions whether AAP, an essentially urban phenomenon dependent on the Anna Hazare and Nirbhaya moments, can break through India’s complex caste, regional and linguistic vote-bank politics nationally.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - III. Is This India’s Spring Revolution?

By H. R. Bapu Satyanarayana

H. R. Bapu Satyanarayana recounts the split between Anna Hazare and Kejriwal over whether the anti-corruption movement should enter electoral politics, culminating in AAP’s launch on Gandhi’s birthday, 2 October 2012. He credits the broom symbol and small-donation crowdfunding (the whole Delhi campaign reportedly cost only about Rs. 20 crore) and Kejriwal’s personal image — an IIT graduate who resigned a lucrative job — with AAP’s rapid rise to become Delhi’s second-largest party. The essay concludes that AAP’s real test is transcending caste, religion and a ‘meaningless’ secularism debate, since ultimately ‘it is truth, honesty and assurance of clean governance that matters,’ and credits AAP with reviving middle-class faith in politics.

• Recounts Anna Hazare and Kejriwal’s split over entering electoral politics, culminating in AAP’s launch on 2 October 2012 (Gandhi’s birthday).
• Credits the broom (jhadu) symbol and small-donation crowdfunding model — the whole Delhi campaign reportedly cost about Rs. 20 crore — with building AAP’s grassroots legitimacy.
• Attributes AAP’s appeal to Kejriwal’s personal image: an IIT graduate who resigned a well-paid job to fight corruption, seen as a symbol of honesty and sacrifice.
• Reviews AAP’s emergence as Delhi’s second-largest party in December 2013 and its referendum-style public consultation before forming government with ‘unconditional’ Congress support.
• Concludes AAP’s voters must rise above caste and religion, since ‘it is truth, honesty and assurance of clean governance that matters,’ and credits AAP with restoring middle-class faith that their political engagement can matter.

Comment: Khobragade: The Next Bollywood Blockbuster?

By Erich C. Straub

US immigration and former criminal defense attorney Erich C. Straub argues the Devyani Khobragade arrest, though provoked by a genuine visa-fraud allegation regarding her maid Sangeeta Richards’s underpaid employment contract, was handled disastrously by the US from a diplomatic standpoint. He situates prosecutor Preet Bharara’s false-statements and visa-fraud charges within a ‘time-honored’ federal prosecutorial strategy (comparing it to the 1931 tax-charge prosecution of Al Capone), attributes the harsh handling to institutional culture at the Justice and State Departments post-9/11, dismisses conspiracy theories about the maid being a CIA asset, and predicts the episode will not seriously damage the broader India-US relationship.

• Argues the Khobragade case, whatever the underlying facts, was ‘handled very poorly by the U.S. from a diplomatic perspective.’
• Explains the visa mechanics: Khobragade’s A-1 diplomatic visa, the A-3 visa she obtained for maid Sangeeta Richards, and prosecutor Preet Bharara’s allegation that a second, underpaying employment contract constituted visa fraud.
• Situates the false-statements and visa-fraud charges within a ‘time-honored strategy’ of federal prosecutors, comparing it to the 1931 tax-charge prosecution of Al Capone.
• Attributes the case’s harsh handling to institutional culture at the DOJ and State Department (amplified since 9/11) rather than a deliberate anti-India message from the Obama administration.
• Predicts continued Indo-American cooperation despite the episode, noting the two countries ‘have common enemies on the world stage and need each other too much.‘

Point Counter Point

By Ashok Karnik

Ashok Karnik’s ‘Point Counter Point’ presents paired, opposing viewpoints on three controversies. On Khobragade, one side blames US ‘ham-handedness’ in treating a wage dispute as human trafficking, the other blames India for exploiting a maid’s ambition and over-reacting rather than resolving matters quietly. On AAP’s Delhi win, one view hails a caste-transcending mobilisation of the disenchanted middle class, the counter-view worries about Kejriwal’s leftist tilt and untested promises. On the Adarsh Housing scam, one side recounts the commission’s damning findings against implicated ex-CMs and ministers, the other describes the Maharashtra government’s selective, ‘legalistic’ prosecution of only Ashok Chavan and the embarrassment this caused Congress via Rahul Gandhi’s anti-corruption posture.

• On the Khobragade affair: one side blames US ‘ham-handedness’ in equating a wage dispute with trafficking; the other blames India for using visa-fraud tactics and then over-reacting rather than resolving the matter through diplomacy.
• On AAP’s Delhi triumph: one side calls it a paradigm-shifting mobilisation of the disenchanted middle class that broke caste and creed barriers; the other worries about Kejriwal’s leftist tilt, Prashant Bhushan’s divisive views, and whether populist promises can survive contact with governance.
• On the Adarsh Housing scam: one side details the commission’s findings of 22 benami owners, 28 ineligible members, and implicated bureaucrats, ex-CMs and ministers; the other describes the state government’s selective prosecution of only Ashok Chavan and the political embarrassment this caused Congress.
• Frames the recurring format explicitly as a tool for readers to weigh multiple sides before forming a considered opinion, and invites reader submissions on ‘serious issues of the day.’
• Notes Rahul Gandhi’s belated intervention to reconsider the Adarsh report as evidence of the Congress’s internal disarray over corruption.

Cornucopia: India Tit for U.S. Tat / The New Avenger: Rahul Gandhi

By Firoze Hirjikaka

Firoze Hirjikaka’s ‘Cornucopia’ column covers two subjects. ‘India Tit for U.S. Tat’ argues India’s retaliatory measures against the US embassy over Khobragade’s treatment were an uncharacteristically bold but largely symbolic assertion of dignity, criticizes prosecutor Preet Bharara’s apparent political ambition and Devyani’s father’s ‘over-the-top’ theatrics, and calls out Indian overreactions (Yashwant Sinha’s threat, Mayawati’s Dalit framing) as churlish. ‘The New Avenger: Rahul Gandhi’ portrays Rahul Gandhi as a manufactured superhero for a demoralized Congress, questioning his rally crowds’ authenticity, using the Adarsh Commission’s timing as emblematic of entrenched corruption, and urging him to accept a likely 2014 defeat and rebuild the party from the ground up.

• Argues India’s retaliation against the US embassy over Khobragade’s treatment was ‘as welcome as it was surprising,’ an uncharacteristic assertion of diplomatic dignity.
• Suggests prosecutor Preet Bharara’s aggressive handling reflects personal political ambition, and criticizes Devyani’s father Uttam Khobragade’s ‘over-the-top’ hunger-fast threat and unsubstantiated CIA-agent claim about the maid.
• Criticizes Indian overreactions as ‘churlish and bordering on the ridiculous’ — Yashwant Sinha’s threat against gay American citizens, and Mayawati’s claim the case reflected anti-Dalit bias.
• In ‘The New Avenger: Rahul Gandhi,’ portrays Rahul Gandhi as a manufactured ‘superhero’ for a demoralized Congress and questions the authenticity of his rally crowds.
• Uses the Adarsh Commission report’s timing to illustrate entrenched Congress corruption, and advises Rahul Gandhi to accept a likely 2014 rout and spend the next five years cleaning out the party’s ‘Augean stables.‘

Report of a Seminar: Spare the Armed Forces

By Suresh C. Sharma

Suresh C. Sharma summarizes a Freedom First seminar (14 December, Mumbai) prompted by Ashok Karnik’s earlier article ‘Spare the Army,’ opening with K. Subramanyam’s line about politicians, bureaucrats and the military each mishandling power and responsibility differently. The report traces the post-Independence Ismay-plan structure that subordinated military strategic input to a bureaucrat-dominated political committee, details Nehru’s dismissiveness toward the military (cutting army strength from 280,000 to 150,000 in 1947, reducing officers’ pay), and cites further episodes — the Manekshaw/Defence Secretary Lal ‘IQ’ dispute, Nehru’s outbursts over Air Force and Navy budgets, the V. K. Singh age controversy, and the disbanded Technical Support Division — as evidence of continuing erosion of the armed forces’ institutional standing and morale.

• Summarizes a Freedom First seminar prompted by Ashok Karnik’s article ‘Spare the Army,’ opening with K. Subramanyam’s observation that politicians, bureaucrats and the military each mishandle power differently.
• Traces the post-Independence Ismay-plan structure that subordinated the Chiefs of Staff Committee’s military-strategy recommendations to a bureaucrat-dominated political committee, entrenching bureaucratic control of defence management.
• Details Nehru’s dismissiveness toward the military: cutting army strength from 280,000 to 150,000 by September 1947, reducing officers’ pay, and insisting ‘we don’t need a defence plan’ and ‘the police are good enough.’
• Recounts friction between bureaucrats and military leadership (the Manekshaw/Defence Secretary Lal ‘IQ’ dispute) and Nehru’s outbursts telling the Air Chief to ‘dump the planes in the sea and fight with lathis.’
• Cites recent controversies — the V. K. Singh date-of-birth dispute, leaked classified information, the Westland helicopter bribery allegations, and the disbanded Technical Support Division — as continuing evidence of institutional erosion and damaged morale.

Civil-Military Relations - A Serious Disconnect

By Cdr. Ravindra W. Pathak

Cdr. Ravindra W. Pathak defines ‘institutional destruction’ of the armed forces and traces its roots to Nehru’s early hostility toward the military, including rejecting General Lockhart’s growth plan and evicting uniformed officers from a Cabinet Secretariat office. He retells the selection of Gen. Cariappa as independent India’s first Army chief after Lt. Gen. Nathu Singh Rathore pointedly declined the post, arguing the fundamental civil-military disconnect stems from bureaucratic control of the Ministry of Defence. Pathak directly rebuts points from Karnik’s earlier article on the disbanded Technical Support Division, questioning why its Chief was never court-martialed if it was improperly run, and criticizes politicians’ rhetoric that soldiers are recruited ‘to die’ without deserving compensation.

• Defines institutional destruction of the armed forces and traces it to Nehru’s hostility toward the military, including rejecting Gen. Lockhart’s growth plan and evicting uniformed officers from a Cabinet Secretariat office.
• Retells how Lt. Gen. Nathu Singh Rathore declined the offer to be independent India’s first Army chief, deferring to the more senior Gen. Cariappa, after pointedly asking Nehru whether India should also appoint a British first Prime Minister.
• Argues the core civil-military ‘disconnect’ is a bureaucratic control system, unique to India among democracies, that has steadily displaced military leadership from higher defence policy-making.
• Directly rebuts Ashok Karnik’s article on the disbanded Technical Support Division, asking why the Chief was never court-martialed if the unit was improperly authorized, and why the government allowed leaks of the inquiry’s findings.
• Criticizes officials’ rhetoric that soldiers are recruited ‘to die’ and not entitled to compensation, contrasting it with the respect shown to fallen American soldiers, and appends the seminar’s full participant list.

The Rural Perspective: Farmers Convention in Chandrapur, Vidarbha

This report (summarized and translated from the Shetkari Sanghatak by Supriya Panse) covers the Shetkari Sanghatana and Shetkari Mahila Aghadi’s 12th National joint conference in Chandrapur, Vidarbha (8-10 November 2013), attended by over 25,000 farmers. Resolutions back the Swatantra Bharat Paksha fielding Lok Sabha candidates in Chandrapur and Nanded, demand a Supreme-Court-supervised CBI probe into over Rs. 70,000 crore of Maharashtra irrigation spending, minimum support prices for cotton, sugarcane, soybean and paddy, dissolution of the APMCs, support for a separate state of Vidarbha, repeal of the Food Security Act, rejection of proposed lower land ceilings, continued freedom to use agricultural biotechnology, and stronger measures on women’s security and property rights.

• Reports on the Shetkari Sanghatana/Shetkari Mahila Aghadi’s 12th National joint conference in Chandrapur (8-10 November 2013), attended by over 25,000 farmers and Kisan Coordinating Council representatives from four states.
• Resolutions back the Swatantra Bharat Paksha (the Sanghatana’s political wing) fielding Lok Sabha candidates in Chandrapur and Nanded in 2014, following Sharad Joshi’s retirement from the Rajya Sabha.
• Demand a Supreme-Court-supervised CBI probe into over Rs. 70,000 crore of Maharashtra irrigation spending that irrigated barely 1% of farmland, minimum support prices for cotton/sugarcane/soybean/paddy, and dissolution of the APMCs.
• Support a separate state of Vidarbha (invoking Rajaji’s small-states argument), demand repeal of the Food Security Act, and reject the National Land Reforms Committee’s proposed lower land ceilings.
• Affirm farmers’ freedom to use biotechnology, GM crops and BT cotton against regulatory and NGO resistance, and call for renewed attention to rural women’s security, health, education and property rights.

Foreign Relations in the 21st Century: Manmohan Singh and India’s Foreign Policy, 2004-2014 - A Performance Review

By B. Ramesh Babu

B. Ramesh Babu opens by arguing foreign-policy success depends on sustained domestic support, not personal rapport with foreign leaders — a lesson he says Manmohan Singh missed. He credits Singh, alongside George W. Bush, with steering the US-India nuclear deal to conclusion, though the subsequent Nuclear Liability Law undid much of its commercial promise. He criticizes Singh’s Pakistan policy as skewed by personal sentiment — his birthplace, his wish to visit before leaving office — citing the poorly-prepared UN sideline meeting with Nawaz Sharif and the earlier Sharm el-Sheikh Balochistan reference, and notes Singh’s January 2014 disclosure that a Kashmir breakthrough with Musharraf was lost when the Pakistani leadership changed.

• Argues foreign policy is ‘conditioned by the domestic support it is able to win and sustain, and not by personal equations with foreign leaders’ — a lesson Manmohan Singh is said to have missed.
• Credits Singh, with George W. Bush, for steering the US-India nuclear deal through domestic and international obstacles, calling it his signature foreign-policy achievement, though the subsequent Nuclear Liability Law undermined its commercial value.
• Criticizes Singh’s Pakistan policy as skewed by personal sentiment about his birthplace and desire to visit before leaving office, citing the hastily arranged, unsuccessful UN General Assembly sideline meeting with Nawaz Sharif.
• Revisits Singh’s earlier Sharm el-Sheikh reference to Balochistan as a ‘more serious mistake,’ and Sharif’s mockery comparing Singh’s diplomacy to ‘a village woman baring her woes to all and sundry.’
• Notes Singh’s January 3, 2014 press-conference disclosure that a Kashmir ‘breakthrough’ opportunity was lost when Musharraf’s government changed, and promises a follow-up article on the rest of his foreign-policy record.

Alexander’s Failed Invasion of India (Part II)

By From the Net

This ‘From the Net’ piece, continuing from Freedom First No. 559, narrates the 326 BCE Battle of Hydaspes between Alexander’s Macedonian army and King Porus’s Paurava forces on the Jhelum. It describes Indian war elephants, two-metre bows and fierce resistance killing Alexander’s commander Nicaea and his horse Bucephalus, recounts a duel in which Alexander was unhorsed and saved only by his bodyguards, and argues — citing Plutarch — that the ferocity of Indian resistance, not a clean Macedonian victory, broke Alexander’s army’s will to advance further into India once they learned of the powerful Nanda army awaiting across the Ganges.

• Continues an account of the 326 BCE Battle of Hydaspes between Alexander’s Macedonian army and King Porus’s Paurava forces, aided by King Ambhi of Taxila.
• Describes Indian war elephants and two-metre bows breaking into the Macedonian phalanx, and Porus’s brother Amar killing Alexander’s horse Bucephalus and his commander Nicaea.
• Recounts, via the Roman historian Marcus Justinus, a duel in which Alexander was thrown from his horse and at Porus’s mercy before his bodyguards intervened.
• Argues, citing Plutarch, that the ferocity of Indian resistance — not a clear Macedonian victory — ‘took the edge off the Macedonians’ courage’ and stayed further eastward advance.
• Notes the Macedonian army’s near-mutiny on learning of the powerful Nanda kingdom’s forces (200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, war elephants) awaiting across the Ganges; ends ‘to be continued.‘

Book Review: End Game in Afghanistan by Hiranmay Karlekar

By Reviewed by Brig. Suresh Sharma (Retd.)

Brig. (Retd.) Suresh C. Sharma reviews Hiranmay Karlekar’s End Game in Afghanistan, which examines likely developments after the 2014 US/NATO withdrawal. The book documents the Taliban’s ‘gender apartheid’ record and undiminished goal of a Caliphate, engages the debate over whether the US, like the Soviets, is doomed to retreat (attributing Soviet failure more to economic collapse and US-supplied Stinger missiles than to strategy), and details Pakistan’s double game of extracting aid while sponsoring the Taliban and cross-border terrorism, including the domestic toll of the Swat Valley operation and fundamentalist infiltration of the army and police. It closes noting the book’s discussion of a possible India-China convergence of interest in a stable Afghanistan.

• Reviews Karlekar’s examination of likely developments in Afghanistan after the 2014 US/NATO withdrawal, noting the Taliban’s temporary strategic defeat but unchanged long-term goal of establishing a Caliphate.
• Recounts the Taliban’s ‘gender apartheid’ record (70% of teachers, 50% of civil servants, 40% of doctors were women before their 1996 takeover) as a warning of what a Taliban return could mean.
• Engages the debate over whether the US will be forced to retreat like the Soviets, arguing (via the book) that Soviet failure owed more to economic collapse and US-supplied Stinger missiles than to strategy.
• Details Pakistan’s ‘consistent’ policy of extracting aid while sponsoring terror groups and the Taliban, and the domestic toll — the Swat Valley operation, fundamentalist infiltration of the army and police.
• Notes the book’s discussion of a possible India-China convergence of interest in a stable, conflict-free Afghanistan given both countries’ investments there.

Educating Adults: The Right to Education Act (20) - Implementation - Recognition

By Suresh C. Sharma

The twentieth installment of Brig. (Retd.) Suresh C. Sharma’s Right to Education Act series focuses on ‘Implementation – Recognition’: roughly 4 lakh private schools risk closure for failing infrastructure norms, potentially displacing 3 crore children, with Mumbai (150 schools) and Navi Mumbai (14 schools) cited as examples. It reports systemic problems — admissions rules issued after admissions closed, unfair lottery allocation, bureaucratic overreach against a low-fee Bihar school, 21 lakh ‘missing’ students found in a 2011 Maharashtra check, and 248 schools slated for derecognition over inflated enrollment — concluding that compulsory attendance is unenforceable without first providing good schools.

• The twentieth installment in a series on the RTE Act, on ‘Implementation – Recognition’: roughly 4 lakh private schools risk closure for failing infrastructure norms, threatening 3 crore children’s schooling.
• Cites Mumbai (150 schools) and Navi Mumbai (14 schools) facing closure, and a Bihar (Nalanda) case where a low-fee school faces de-registration while larger private schools’ ‘educational mafia’ practices go unchecked.
• Reports admissions rules issued after admissions were completed, unfair lottery-based allocation when seats are scarce, and bureaucratic overreach (a Mizoram school ordered to refund Rs. 1.43 crore, later overturned by court as a ‘most curious case’).
• Cites governance failures around RTE funding: 21 lakh ‘missing’ students found in a 2011 Maharashtra check, inflated enrollment to claim grants, and a plan to derecognize 248 schools with over 50% bogus students.
• Argues compulsory-attendance provisions are unenforceable without first providing good schools, noting India, unlike Singapore or the US, has no legal mechanism to penalize truancy.

The Arushi-Hemraj Double Murder Case: Being the Honour of the Family: A Matter of Pride or Burden?

By Rupali Tyagi

Rupali Tyagi responds to the November 2013 conviction of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, questioning the ‘last seen theory’ and the assumption that finding 14-year-old Arushi in a ‘compromising position’ with domestic help Hemraj justified killing her. She poses a gendered counterfactual — whether the Talwars would have reacted identically had their son, rather than daughter, been found with a female house-help — arguing the case reflects an ‘honour killing’ mindset that treats daughters as family property, and concludes that a teenager’s ordinary vulnerability to peer pressure deserved open communication, not violence.

• Questions the ‘last seen theory’ underlying the Talwars’ conviction and the assumption that finding 14-year-old Arushi with domestic help Hemraj justified killing her.
• Poses a gendered counterfactual: whether the Talwars would have reacted identically had their son, rather than daughter, been found with a female house-help.
• Frames the killing as reflecting an ‘honour killing’ mindset that treats daughters as the family’s ‘possession’ and ‘honour,’ rather than exploring why Arushi may have sought Hemraj’s company.
• Argues a 14-year-old’s ordinary vulnerability to hormonal changes and peer pressure made her no more culpable than any teenager, and that open parental communication, not violence, was the appropriate response.
• Concludes by challenging whether being considered the family’s ‘honour’ is a privilege for women, arguing it has instead cost them their lives.

The Arushi-Hemraj Double Murder Case: Shoddy Probe, Flawed Verdict?

By Advaita Lonkar

Advaita Lonkar opens with ‘judgement is prejudice made plausible,’ revisiting the original 2008 ‘honour killing’ theory floated by IG Gurudarshan Singh and questioning whether the eventual conviction simply legitimized that initial ‘crude innuendo.’ The essay focuses on contradictory statements by witness K. K. Gautam, whose account of discovering Hemraj’s body changed materially between CBI teams (led first by Arun Kumar, then by SP Nilabh Kishore) amid allegations of tampered evidence, and raises unresolved questions about eye doctor Sushil Chaudhary’s alleged request to omit ‘rape’ from the post-mortem, concluding the case remains only formally ‘fair.’

• Opens by arguing ‘judgement is prejudice made plausible,’ tracing the case back to IG Gurudarshan Singh’s original 2008 ‘honour killing’ theory that caused public furore.
• Focuses on witness K. K. Gautam’s contradictory statements: he told the court the first CBI team (under Arun Kumar) distorted and omitted parts of his May 2008 statement on discovering Hemraj’s body.
• Notes the CBI investigation changed hands from Arun Kumar’s team to SP Nilabh Kishore’s team in 2009 amid allegations of tampered evidence, after which Gautam gave a materially different account, including a revised date of death.
• Raises unresolved questions about eye doctor Sushil Chaudhary’s alleged request to have ‘rape’ omitted from Aarushi’s post-mortem, and why cross-team CBI inconsistencies were never scrutinized by the court.
• Concludes the trial was fair only in the formal sense that due process was followed, urging readers to ‘wait and watch’ whether the judgement reflects the truth.

The Arushi-Hemraj Double Murder Case: Arushi Case Judgement: How Fair?

By Shweta Chaurasia, Durba Das

Shweta Chaurasia and Durba Das summarize the CBI special court’s conviction of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar based on 26 circumstantial evidences and Section 106 of the Evidence Act, then list eight specific investigative failures — an uncordoned crime scene, no dog squad, a forced-shut blood-stained terrace door left unopened, an unexamined bloodied water-cooler panel, premature cleaning of the flat, no scaled site plan, an unrecovered surgical scalpel, and only four crime-scene photographs — arguing these loopholes leave open the possibility that justice was not properly served, and note the Talwars’ planned appeal to the Allahabad High Court.

• Summarizes the CBI special court’s conviction of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar based on 26 circumstantial evidences, applying Section 106 of the Evidence Act to draw an adverse inference from their failure to explain facts within their knowledge.
• Lists investigative failures: the crime scene was not cordoned off, no dog squad was called, and the blood-stained terrace door lock was not forced open, delaying discovery of Hemraj’s body.
• Further failures cited: an unexamined bloodied water-cooler panel, premature cleaning of the flat, no scaled site plan by a draftsman, an unrecovered surgical scalpel, and only four crime-scene photographs produced in court.
• Argues these procedural loopholes leave open the possibility that justice was not properly served to the Talwars, despite the conviction.
• Notes the Talwars’ decision to appeal to the Allahabad High Court.

The Liberal Position: Section 377 (IPC) is Unacceptable in a Democracy

This unsigned ‘Liberal Position’ piece, drawing on Wikipedia, traces Section 377 IPC’s 1863 colonial origin and its criminalization of ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature,’ recounts the legal history from the 1991 AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan campaign through the Naz Foundation’s PIL, the Delhi High Court’s 2009 reading-down of the section for consensual adult conduct, and the Supreme Court’s 11 December 2013 reversal restoring its constitutional validity while inviting Parliament to legislate. It closes with the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom’s statement, agreeing with the PUCL that the ruling reduces LGBT persons to ‘second class citizens,’ and calling for Parliament to repeal the section.

• Traces Section 377 IPC’s 1863 colonial origin, reproducing its text criminalizing ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ with up to life imprisonment.
• Recounts the legal history: the 1991 AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan campaign, the Naz Foundation’s 2001 PIL, its dismissal for lack of standing, and the Supreme Court’s revival of the case.
• Details the Delhi High Court’s 2 July 2009 judgment reading down Section 377 for consensual adult homosexual conduct as violating Article 14, followed by the Supreme Court’s 11 December 2013 reversal restoring the provision’s validity while inviting Parliament to legislate.
• Notes the Central Government’s and the Naz Foundation’s separate review petitions against the Supreme Court’s ruling.
• Closes with the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom’s (ICCF, Freedom First’s publisher) statement agreeing with the PUCL that the ruling reduces LGBT persons to ‘second class citizens’ and ‘unapprehended felons,’ and calling for Parliament to repeal Section 377.

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