News Wrap

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India's new wealth has accumulated disproportionately at the very top of the pile.230 million Indians who voted for Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last parliamentary election (May 2019) want better living standards, more access to clean water, decent education, and health services. They hope to see a corruption free government, unbiased judiciary and a strong united India. In rural areas, Dalit children are told to sit at the back of class and ask no questions, so they fall behind. These days' streets in villages have piped water, except for the Dalit's lane, which relies on wells and the neighbouring fields. Dalits have to remove carcasses. In Sapwada village (Gujarat), the nearby Honda and Suzuki plants hire Dalits, only for cleaning jobs. All semi-autonomous and autonomous government institutions now seem to move according to one man's script and he is Mr Narendra Modi. His left hand or right hand Mr Amit Shah criticises the in-built weakness of the multi-party system as India has it. Muslims apprehend statelessness in large numbers if the Citizenship Law is implemented in its present form. Under Mr Modi's rule, fewer top-level scams have emerged. But several high-profile cases, typically involving political foes of the BJP, are in courts for adjudication.

Indian parliament is a show case of dubious 'people'. 43 per cent of elected MPs have criminal records. 95 per cent of anonymous electoral bonds, have gone to the BJP. The nexus between politics and money is as strong as ever. Growth has fallen from 8 per cent in mid-2018, to just 5 percent year on year in the last quarter. Banks and money lenders are in crisis, with a whooping $200 billion bad debts. The combined fiscal deficit of the Union Government, and the states is already approaching 9 per cent of GDP and Tax receipts are falling well below expectations.

"Social Boycott"
Near Hansi town in the state of Haryana at a village in Hissar district, a police chowky keeps an eye on a 30-year old hand pump. Its staff and CCTV camera watch it 24 hours, more than two years after a brawl, between two castes. On November 5, 2019, the Supreme Court of India called the matter serious and pulled up the Haryana government for failing to end social boycott of Dalits in the village. The population of around 9600 in the village is almost evenly divided between scheduled castes (42 per cent) and upper castes (around 39 per cent) comprising Jats, Brahmins etc. The Dalits insist that the upper castes continue to keep them away from the fields. The upper castes deny it. The crux of the matter lies elsewhere. In October 2018, about 300 Dalit families in the village were converted to Budhism. 'Scheduled Caste' villagers are selling their buffalos, as upper caste people refuse to give them works. India's eternal caste war continues unabated. No matter whether the government is ruled by tri-colour or saffron colour.

Protest In Algeria
Algeria's deposed leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika, aged 82 years, resigned in the face of massive demonstrations in April 2019. Abdelmadjid Tebleoune, aged 74, a former prime minister, who served under Bouteflika, was elected president of protest wracked Algeria, on 13 December, 2019. After a vote marred by violence and low turn- out . Tebleoune took 58.18 per cent of vote, trouncing his fellow four contenders. Without the need for a second run-off. The contenders have all served under the rule of Bouteflika. The army had championed the elections as a way of restoring stability after almost ten months of street protests. On polling day, a record six in ten Algerians abstained, the highest rate for a multi-party election since independence from France in 1962. In the North African country, many citizens see the government as inept, corrupt and unable to manage the flagging economy. In the Mountain region of Kabylie, home to much of Algera's Berber minority and historically opposed to the central authority, protesters ransacked polling stations and clashed with police. Tens of thousands rallied in central Algiers, where police with water cannon and helicopters tried to disperse protesters.

Frontier
Vol. 53, No. 17, Oct 25 - 31, 2020