Can the current pandemic and 3 Cs (Covid, Corona and China) rekindle a resurgent India?

Can the current pandemic and 3 Cs (Covid, Corona and China) rekindle a resurgent India?

Can the current pandemic and 3 Cs (Covid, Corona and China) rekindle a resurgent India?

The resilience and exemplary unity - amidst unending diversity - with which India is facing Covid 19, notwithstanding difficulties of unprecedented proportions that a large section of our society – reverse migrating labours included - is facing while abiding by the SOPs of Covid until now and in the extended national lockdown, has helped India in combating the rampaging pandemic with fair amount of success. We can call it a success particularly because when we compare our Covid numbers with most other developed nations, our stand gets vindicated as of now. Our achievement is more profound when one looks at the Himalayan difficulties that is a reality in India, be it our population, it’s density, slums, and what not and so also a relatively limited health infrastructure that presently exists in India. This achievement is all the more appreciable when one looks at the vast diversity of India, in terms of its religious, linguistic, caste, creed, social status, political ideologies and bickering difference, that exists in the Indian society, which gets played out when one looks at the debates that are seen 24x7 in news channels and so also in social media.

But then despite all these diversities and differences what is it that is keeping India so steadfastly united, in such an hour of crisis. The whole of India has more or less stood as one -Team India - to take on the Covid challenges.  Our constitution apart, which of course is central to our unity in diversity, there are three Cs - which I had used as metaphor for team India, while curating the three Cricket exhibitions - CRICKET, CINEMA and CURRY (Chilly), which has a common connect with all of India irrespective of our cast, creed, religion, language, political affiliations, ideologies, gender and what have you. All of us who have travelled most parts of our country will have noticed that people across India are very closely and passionately associated and connected with these three Cs and so are you and I. And when the discussion centres around these three Cs one thing is certain every Indian can be taken on board on these subjects.

Since the three Cs (Cricket, Cinema and Curry) inexplicably arouse nation’s consciousness, can we harness the power of Indians connected tryst with 3 Cs - the way Ekta Kapoor has been harvesting TV serial successes (scientifically unfounded) by starting her most serials  with the alphabet 'K' - and harvest an opportunity that another set of three Cs (Corona, China and Covid 19) may have brought for us, post the current pandemic? Before you accuse me of being unscientific, let me explain, what I mean. The current global pandemic situation is inextricably linked with another sets of 3Cs - China, Corona and Covid 19. The whole world is affected by these three Cs and it is these 3 Cs which have compelled whole of India to stand united, as team India, in combating the pandemic by supporting our leaders, health workers, Covid warriors, police and administration and so also the state and national leadership. The Covid combat support that team India is giving to the Covid warriors, can best be compared with the support that we all extend to our cricket players and cine stars, who are some times revered in India. So, may be this unity spirit can be harvested post the Covid pandemic for planning and conceiving a new India.

The coronavirus pandemic, which started from China, by the time it’s done, would perhaps have set the stage for altering the global power dynamics and a new norm is likely to set in primarily because of the way in which each of the countries are fighting the onslaught of Covid-19 on their own; and also because of the failure of global institutions to influence China’s actions and, thus, contain the economic fallout, which is quite staggering and is estimated to run into 2 trillion $.  The global Covid 19 pandemic and its impact, particularly in US and European countries, will not only cast its shadow on the global financial markets, but is certain to derail economic activity and China, which is central to the current mess, is likely to face some backlash actions, if not immediately but definitely in long term and in the years to come. Therefore this may be  be a God sent opportunity for India, which I am certain India will definitely use. Most analysts have revised, downward, their global growth projections in this backdrop. A number of companies, they say, are now increasingly looking to diversify their manufacturing base out of China and India has a best chance to attract these companies and to create a new world order in the field of manufacturing and also supply chain, away from China to India.

Until the end of 2019, it was business as usual for most parts of the world but it may not have been so for China, which perhaps was completely hiding the Covid cases from the international community. The Chinese authorities informed WHO, in end of December of a possible new contagion purportedly emanating from Wuhan wet market. Rest is now history and there are many questions that continue to be unanswered by the Chinese, which perhaps could have helped in slowing down this global pandemic. This un expected shock by the Chinese has given our leaders and planners an opportunity to rethink everything from evaluating public health preparedness to global supply chains of goods and services and converting this threat into an opportunity of wooing foreign investors to shift base from highly secretive and closely controlled China to India.

These days we come across several messages in social media and also in the news that global leaders, particularly President Trump, are questioning the inevitable role and responsibility of China in this global pandemic and are having a relook on the socio economic and geopolitical power equations with China. The Chinese government, although claims to have informed the world community well in advance and that it is hiding no truth, most countries are not convinced as more and more inside information is trickling out of China and its complicity in the pandemic cannot be brushed under the carpet.

The world is slowly recognising the lack of transparency in China and so also its accountability. The world order is likely to change due to Covid-19 and what is clear is that the Chinese government’s totalitarianism and lack of transparency will no longer be allowed to hurt the world. The world leaders will be united in their understanding that today it may be Covid-19, tomorrow it could be something completely new and that could be their financial system, no one knows what it could be that may create global problems, like the current Covid crisis. What is clear is that the global leaders and industry captains will realise that it is time to shift from dictatorial and closely guarded and opaque China to other countries, who are open, transparent and are ruled by democracy. Currently 80% of global supply chains comes from China, primarily because of considerations of profits. The world has now observed Chinese authority's deliberate attempt to hide a preventable crisis and consequent repercussions across the world markets. And that is the fundamental problem with closed regimes with regulated public discourse. It helps in creation of a convoluted informational flow which will inevitably crash and burn. This will therefore open out new vistas for India, which must be harvested. Based on the Global Competitiveness Index, India is the most competitive country in South Asia and we have a competitive advantage in the services including in areas that include Information Technology Services, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, and Medical tourism sectors and to top it all we are a democratic country and with proficiency in English. 

The market reforms introduced in India have tried to create  a solid platform for Make in India and the Invest India initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are also getting eye balls. I am hopeful that the lessons learnt during the Covid crisis will help our planners to fix our economy, and put in place well thought out and transparent policy for economic reforms, which would attract the foreign investment and tempt international community and captains of industry to shift their base from China to India. COVID-19 could be very helpful for political posturing of economic reforms to attract foreign investors to India. We must therefore never let the Covid crisis and the lessons learnt go to waste.

India has a massive advantage of an young population and add to that our strength in IT and our prowess in producing hundreds of thousands people who also have proficiency in speaking the queens language to attract global investors. We must not forget that some 35 years ago, the Indian and Chinese economy were on par when it came to exports of certain types of goods and services. The Chinese economy experienced massive growth, in part, due to substantial market friendly reforms. If a communist country, which doesn’t speak English or share little values with western world, can serve the world economy, so definitely can India. But then for this to happen and for us to move on from Covid crisis and attract foreign investors, all of us must unite the way we do when it comes to loving our three Cs - Cricket, Cinema and Curry.

Once the pandemic is brought under control, India must actively engage in planning for the above issues and start rebuilding a national consciousness for an united resurgent India, which will be highly attractive to the global community. Until then let us pledge to do our duty and to stay home and stay safe. 

Jai Hind.

22nd April 2020: Golden Jubilee of World Earth Day.

22nd April 2020: Golden Jubilee of World Earth Day. 

22nd April 2020: Golden Jubilee of World Earth Day. 

Today 22nd April, is the 50th anniversary of the World Earth Day, the genesis of which goes back to 1969 when an US Senator, Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, started expressing his deep concerns over, what he described as, deteriorating environmental conditions, which he noticed across the United States. His concerns caught the attention of people in January 1969, when he and many others witnessed the environmental impact of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. The impact of this oil spill on the aquatic life and so also the rising air pollution that was happening in US, started appearing in the media. This accentuated a public movement, which was aimed at educating people about the ill effects of pollution, both on human and environmental health. This awareness helped Senator Nelson to announce an idea for a “teach-in on college campuses to the national media” program for which he persuaded Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair. Both of them recruited a young activist Denis Hayes, to organize the campus teach-ins and the day chosen for this program was April 22, a week day and also relatively free time for the students, so as to attract a large student participation. This was one year before the first official celebration of the Earth Day on this very day 22nd April 1970.

This environmental awakening movement soon caught the attention of students across US and so also the imagination of key people, which helped in creating national consciousness on the ill effects of air and water pollution on our health and also on the environment. The participants in this campaign took to the streets, thronged the college campuses, parks and this movement spread from city to city. All the participants in this environment activism had just one message to communicate - save our planet Earth from pollution and awaken the people against their environmental ignorance so that they could demand from their leaders and administration better conservation measures for our planet Earth - the only habitable planet in the solar system. This people driven movement, in just one year culminated with the first massive Earth Day event, which was organised on April 22, 1970 all across the US in which an estimated 20 million people—nearly 10% of the US population—are said to have participated in this pioneering environmental movement. This massive people’s movement helped in spreading the message of protecting natural biodiversity and put forth their concern over environmental deterioration. This movement also led to the launch of several landmark environmental programmes and laws in the United States including Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. It also helped in creating the all important environmental watch dog - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US.

The people’s movement in US and the success of the Earth Day celebrations caught the imagination of the people from across the world. In the year 1990, a group of environmental leaders approached Denis Hayes to once again organize another major campaign for planet Earth. This time, the celebration of the Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and leapfrogging environmental issues from the local and state stage onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the famous 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Earth Summit is now attended by most global leaders and serves the purpose for collectively addressing environmental concerns.

The massive success of the Earth Day in 1990 and the subsequent formation of the UN Earth Summit inspired activists to start several such environmental movements across the globe. Most countries eventually adopted laws to safeguard the environment. Over the next two decades, Earth Day Network increased its spread to hundreds of millions of people, who were all involved in this environmental campaign and movement. This created opportunities for civic engagement and volunteerism. The Earth Day now engages more than 1 billion people every year and has become a major stepping stone for the protection of our planet Earth. Incidentally the significance of the day - 22nd April - is borne out by the fact that this very day was chosen by the United Nations for the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change, in 2016.

The year 2020 marks the the fiftieth anniversary of the World Earth Day. On this historic occasion it is important to remind ourselves of the essentiality for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the evidential need of which is being played out by the Covid 19 pandemic, which has plagued the world and the resulting fatalities have things to do with respiration problems and chest infections that are also the cause of pollution.  Hopefully this new norm and a realisation of how badly we have abused our planet Earth, dawn's upon global leaders and that this realisation helps in accentuating actions for addressing Climate change issues, which incidentally is the theme for this year's World Earth Day.  

Ever since the COVID pandemic started revealing its dangerous virulence leading up to the loss of large number of human lives, particularly in the European countries and also in US, most countries, including India, has taken the route for a national lockdown to contain the Covid contagion. The first period of the lockdown in India was from 26th March until 15th April (for a period of 21 days), which has now been further extended up to 3rd May. This has definitely inconvenienced many including large number of daily wage workers and migrant labourers and innumerable others. But then the hard decision to lockdown the country has helped us in substantially delaying the community spread of this pandemic, as of now. There also has been a spin off benefit of this lockdown not just for India but for the world and that is to do with reduction in pollution levels. 

Ever since the lockout began in India, huge amount of information is being created, generated, consumed and circulated across all the social media platforms, most of this information pertains to the Covid 19 and how amidst all its ill effects the lockdown has also paved the way for improved pollution level indicators in most cities. Some of the visuals, which have gone viral on the social media include different parts of the city space being occupied by animals and birds who are now moving very freely in the city landscapes. There were several messages indicating the lower level of pollution, the Ganges river is reported to be at its cleanest best in places like Kashi and Rishikesh. There were several viral messages of sighting of the Himalayan range from as far as Jalandhar. Harbhajan Singh, Indian spin bowler of repute, who has a huge fan following, tweeted about the sightings of Himalayas and posted a picture of the majestic Himalayas as seen from Jalandhar. All these messages unambiguously point to the fact that the national lock down, which has definitely caused severe hardship to our countrymen, particularly those at the bottom of the ladder,  has brought out some spin off benefits for our Mother Earth. The pollution levels have come down drastically. We are able to breathe a much cleaner air, see better images of the nature and flow of unpolluted rivers. The lockdown has also facilitated free movements of birds and animals, whose habitats we have occupied, which are breathing a sigh of relief from human intervention, may be temporarily. The lockdown has shown us the mirror as to what damage we have been consistently and unabashedly causing to our Mother Earth, which is silently bleeding from within. Hopefully the hard lessons learnt from the national and international lockdowns and its corollary spin off benefits from environmental and climatic condition improvements to our planet Earth, will help us and so also the policy makers and heads of states to reload our thoughts for a more collaborative living with our Mother Earth.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, since most parts of the world remain under lockdown, the Earth Day is being celebrated on the digital platform to keep up the momentum. The theme for this year is Climate Action. There is now a realisation that the impact of the coronavirus is both immediate and dreadful. However, there is also another realisation that there is another, deep emergency—the planet’s unfolding environmental crisis. Climate disruption is approaching a point of no return. We must therefore act decisively to protect our planet from both the coronavirus and the existential threat of climate disruption. The theme set for this year’s Earth Day 2020 – the fiftieth year - is Climate Action. In honour of this milestone, Earth Day Network is launching an ambitious set of goals to shape the future of 21st century environmentalism. It is particularly important for India, which is environmentally sensitive and is covered on three sides by the sea and on the north by the Himalayan glaciers. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has warned of severe impacts if the global warming level crosses 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. They have warned that this will lead to the melting of glaciers, droughts and increase in the floods and so also the extinction of some of the species. The global warming will lead to the heat waves becoming intense, leading to the change in weather patterns, which unfortunately we have started witnessing. Fortunately, the call for climate action has grown louder than ever and this historic fiftieth year of World Earth Day will hopefully help in bringing together experts and influencers from diverse fields to engage in a dialogue and spread the message of climate action among people. 

From simple lifestyle changes to driving local or national climate policy, every one of us has the potential to contribute to mitigating climate change. As the world has come to a screeching halt, this Earth Day reminds us that the time is ripe to rethink about the future of planet Earth. I hope that through our experience of the Covid pandemic, we will learn that it is far better to preempt a global problem when we see it on the horizon than start planning for combating it when it engulfs us. This is a lesson that we must apply to the challenge of climate change, which also threatens hundreds of millions of people, as does the Covid 19. The Covid 19 has also taught us lessons that global challenges require globally coordinated responses. I am certain that Covid 19 has helped the global community to come together and this coming togetherness of the world leaders will definitely augur well for combating the equally deadly climate change, which like the Corona virus appears to be invisible yet reveals tell tale signs of its impact for us to take note of and preempt its adverse effects. 

On this historic fiftieth year of the World Earth Day it is time to remind ourselves of what damage we have done to our Mother Earth and to relook at that historic initiative which was started in 1970 that has now become a global movement and take this movement a notch higher for benefitting our Mother Earth.

Long live India and long live planet Earth.

The Majesty of Ibrahim Rauza : A Monument that inspired Taj Mahal.

The Majesty of Ibrahim Rauza : A Monument that inspired Taj Mahal.

Every year, the world over, 18th April is celebrated as the ‘International Day for Monuments and Sites’ with an objective of educating people about the existence of old monuments and sites. Incidentally this day is also commonly known as World Heritage Day. When one speaks of world heritage, it is common for people to associate with the famed World Heritage sites, which are declared by UNESCO. However, the World Heritage day is not just about the listed sites, but all cultural heritage places and landscapes of international, national and local significance. And therefore my post today is on one of the most beautiful, artistically and architecturally majestic yet the most neglected monument - The Ibrahim Rauza’, in Bijapur now (Vijaypura) Karnataka. The art, style and architecture of this majestic monument, also called the back Taj Mahal, is believed to have been an inspiration for the creation of the Taj Mahal - befittingly one of the seven wonders of the world.

This year is also a period of Covid-19 crisis and it is that time of the year when most people try and plan for holidays, which unfortunately is not possible because of the Covid pandemic. Hopefully it will pass and soon you will have an opportunity to plan for your holiday and through this post of mine I am making an attempt to showcase the city of Bijapur in general and the majestic Ibrahim Rauza in particular as one of the possible sites, which you may plan for your next visit. 

Bijapur is mostly known for the highly famed Gol Gumbuz, a monument of extraordinary aesthetics and arguably the second largest dome in the world, next to St Peters Bascilica in Vatican City. The city is also home to several other monuments and places of historical significance like the Upli Burz, Bara Kaman, Mulik I Miadan, Hardar Burz, Taj Bauri, Asar Mahal, Jama Masjid etc. and to top it all, as far as I am concerned, it is also the city, which is home to the Sainik School, Bijapur my proud alma mater. The city of Bijapur (now Vijayapur) will remain etched in my memory because it was in this very city that I spent 7 best years of my life ( from age 9 to 16) from 1970 - 77.

A visit to Taj Mahal is one constant that is integral to every head of state, who visits  India. This was evidenced during the recent visit of President Trump to India, who had just 36 hours to spend in India. Yet he took time to visit the Taj Mahal with his family and shared the images from that famous photo spot in the precincts of the Taj Mahal. The architectural beauty, the white marble used in its construction and so also the art that is embellished in Taj Mahal with its associated legendary stories, makes Taj Mahal what it is today - one among the seven wonders of the world. But then very few people may know that it was the Ibraahim Rauza in Bijapur, which inspired Shah Jahan to create Taj Mahal. When Emperor Shah Jahan set out to build a monument for his beloved wife Mumtaz, he commissioned his best-in-class architects to study the design of the finest and celebrated monuments across the country and abroad. Fortuitously it so happened that down south in Bijapur, under another Islamic kingdom, Aadil Shah, Ibrahim Aadil shah II, had just completed the famed Ibrahim Rauza in 1626, whose fame had reached far and wide including the Mughal King, Shah Jahan. The architects commissioned by Shah Jahan after their arduous exercise of analysing the best of monuments, presented few of their choices to the emperor Shah Jahan and the designs that fascinated the emperor were the Tomb of Mandu in Madhya Pradesh and the Ibrahim Rauza in Bijapur. The artistic elegance and its splendour and the sacred scriptures from the Quran that adored the ceilings of the Ibrahim Rauza, sealed the deal and Shah Jahan chose Ibrahim Roza as the model for the design of his creation, the Taj Mahal and the rest is now history.

The Ibrahim Rauza - a group of buildings, which are collectively known as the Ibrahim Rauza that -  is situated in the west of the city of Bijapur and very close to the Sainik School, beyond the Makka gate. It was designed by the Persian architect Malik Sandal. The Ibrahim Rauza was built by Ibrahim Adil Shah II and it took around 46 years to construct it. The construction  began in 1580 and was completed in 1626. The entire campus of the Ibrahim Rauza consists of very large square area with a high platform, which has a length of 360 feet and a width of 160 feet. On this high platform are built two large buildings, the Tomb on the east  and the Mosque on the west, which are facing one another and are separated with a reservoir and fountain between them. Ibrahim Adil Shah II was a magnanimous ruler and a patron of culture and arts. He was from the Ottoman dynasty that had its origin in Turkey. The Ibrahim Rauza is a masterpiece of distinct culture that was created for Ibrahim’s resting place. 

Built on a single rock bed, this palatial structure is noted for the symmetry of its features. The word ‘Rauza’ literally means a garden. It is a square garden that consists of two buildings — on the left, a tomb containing the remains of Ibrahim Adil Shah and his wife and on the right, a mausoleum with a mosque and four minarets. The tomb, built on the east side of the high platform, contains a sepulchral chamber, which houses the tomb of Ibrahim (II) Adil Shah, the king responsible for the construction of this masterpiece Ibrahim Rauza, and his queen Taj Sultana, and four other members of his family. In order from east to west the graves are that of Taj Sultana wife of Ibrahim (II), Haji Badi Sahiba his mother, Ibrahim  himself, Zohra Sultana his daughter, Darvesh Padshah his son, and Sultan Salaman another son. The tomb has a main chamber with a verandah, four minarets (one at each corner), and an orbiculate dome at the top of the structure. The tomb is efficiently planned and beautifully decorated with intricate details. Though the mosque is more compact and smaller than the tomb, however; it stands out due to the harmonious architecture and splendour. The entrance of the mosque is adorned with elaborated ornamentation with two minars at each of the corners. Both the tomb and the mosque are noted for their deep rich cornices and graceful minarets.

The six tombs inside the building on the East side of the high platform are placed in a row from east to west, the tombs themselves are lying north and south. In the middle of each of its four sides is a doorway and on either side of these is a fanlight window. One can see beautiful specimens of perforated stone work. The windows are filled with interlaced Arabic writing, and the perforations are the blank spaces in and around the letters.  Unfortunately due to inadequate inner lighting one cannot see the intricate details of the famed and most remarkable flat stone ceilings inside the building.  The cornices and cupolas, the minarets and parapets, the decorated walls and the beautiful stone windows have become old and worn out, yet they are so beautiful and captivating. The entire high platform structure has been built over a basement, which is believed to  house several secret passages, some of which were rumoured to have contained valuable treasures. 

The beauty and elegance of the Ibrahim Rauza can be appreciated from one of the inscriptions, which is seen over one of the door, which says " Heaven'stood astonished at the elevation of this building, and it might be said, when its head rose from the earth that another heaven was erected. The garden of paradise has borrowed its beauty from this garden and every column here is graceful as the Cyprus tree in the garden of purity. An angel from heaven announced the date of the structure by saying, ‘This building which makes the heart glad is the memorial of Taj Sultana.'  The last sentence gives the date A. H. 1036 (A. D. 1626). From the inscription it appears that the building was built as Taj Sultana's tomb. 

The Adil Shahi dynasty ruled parts of southern India from the late 15th to the late 17th centuries, with their capital in Bijapur. The dynasty was founded by the Persian governor of Bijapur, Yusuf Adil Shah, who declared his independence from the declining Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan. Rulers of the dynasty such as Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1579-1627) were great patrons of art and architecture. With Mughal rule expanding to the Deccan, Bijapur was no longer able to evade confrontation with the Mughals and fell to Aurangzeb, after which its importance faded. 

The history of the city of Bijapur, however predates the Adil Shahi’s  and goes back to the Palaeolithic times the evidence of which is seen from archaeological findings, which shows human settlements. However the legendary founding of the city of Bijapur started in the late tenth century (900s) under Tailapa II, who had been the Governor of the Rashtrakutas of Tardavadi. The city was then destroyed by the invasion of the Paramara of Malwa, who declared his independence and went on to found the empire of the Chalukyas of Kalyani. It was during this period that the city came to be referred to as Vijayapura ("City of Victory").  By the late 13th century, the city had come under the influence of the Khilji Sultanate. In 1347, the area was conquered by the Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga (now Kalaburgi) and the city was referred as Vijapur or Bijapur. In 1518, the Bahmani Sultanate split into five splinter states known as the Deccan sultanates, one of which was Bijapur, ruled by the kings of the AdilShahi dynasty (1490– 1686). The city of Bijapur owes much of its greatness to Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of the independent Bijapur Sultanate. The rule of this dynasty ended in 1686, when Bijapur was conquered by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. 

Almost every building of note in Bijapur has some remarkable feature peculiar to itself either in constructive skill or decoration. The Gol Gumbaz has its large famed dome, the Jama Masjid its glittering mehrab, the Mehta Mahal its exceedingly delicate chiselling, the Asar Mahal its wall paintings, and the Gagan Mahal its great arch. And in the case of Ibrahim Rauza it is said that inner ceiling and its artistic embellishments are quite unique and were specially commissioned by the architects to create some kind of a decorative hanging ceiling. The structural aspect of the monument,  it is said,  is also quite unique and is one of the most daring piece of construction work carried out during this period. The architect not only foresaw the structural aspects of the building, which exactly he wanted but was also able  to accomplish it with his confidence in his materials. Even after nearly four hundred years the building is standing tall and will continue to last for several centuries more. On the occasion of this years  World Heritage day, I earnestly hope that the city of Bijapur will be more prominently visible on the tourists map of India and hopefully it will be visited by more and more tourists not just Indians but foreign tourists as well. I had an opportunity to visit the Ibrahim Rauza in the month of January 2020 and this time I was also accompanied by wife. 

Wishing you all a very happy World Heritage Day and hope that innumerable number of Heritage sites, which are spread all across our country that has a rich 5000 plus years of history, will be remembered and cherished on this occasion. 

Images taken during my recent visit to Bijapur 

Homage to Sir M Visvesvaraya: The Legendary Nation Builder

Homage to Sir M Visvesvaraya: The Legendary Nation Builder 

14th April has an extraordinary significance with Indian history. It is inextricably linked to two of the nation builders of modern India - Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Sir Mukshagundam Visvesvaraya (Sir MV) - who have been deservingly conferred with the Bharat Ratna Award. It was on this day in 1891 that father of our Indian Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was born in the cantonment in Mhow, Central Province, now in Madhya Pradesh. On this very day in 1962, the legendary nation builder Engineer, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, on whose birthday 15th September, the whole nation celebrates as ‘ Engineers Day’, breathed his last in Bangalore. 

I was privileged to have had the honour to be the Director of the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore during the fiftieth anniversary (2012) of the Punya Thithi ( death anniversary) of Sir MV. After a stint of nearly four years as the Director of the National Science Centre in Delhi, I was fortuitously transferred to Bangalore, my home state in 2011. The Visvesvaraya Museum was established in honour of the legend and it was the result of a decision taken by the then Honourable Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, who declared setting up a museum in honour of Sir MV. Nehru ji made this announcement during the centennial birthday celebrations of Sir MV at the historic and pristine Lalbagh grounds where the celebrations was organised,  which was attended by Sir MV himself. Sir MVs contribution to the state of Karnataka has been immortalised in an epic Kannada film titled ‘Bangarada Manushya’, where the legend of Kannada films Dr Rajkumar eulogises Sir MV in an immemorable song. Being an engineer and that too from Karnataka, we all grew up idolising Sir M Visvesvaraya and my posting in Bangalore provided me an opportunity to pay our respect and homage to Sir MV during the fiftieth year of his death anniversary in 2012. I had the honour to curate a very well researched exhibition, which was opened at the Visvesvaraya Museum in Bangalore. I was ally supported by Ms Jyoti Mehra.

Just as I was lucky in getting a transfer to Bangalore from Delhi, I was equally unlucky to get transferred from Bangalore to Mumbai in just about two years time. The Sir MV exhibition, which we had created at Visvesvaraya Museum Bangalore came in handy during the 102nd India Science Congress, which was held in Mumbai from Jan 3-7 in 2015. Dr Anil Kakodkar who was the Chairman of a committee asked me to,present this exhibition at the Hall of Pride pavilion. He was privy to the exhibition since we had managed to obtain corporate funding for publishing a richly illustrated exhibition catalog, which supplemented the exhibition. Sir MV exhibition at NSC Mumbai was opened by Mr Sajjan Jindal and Mrs Sangeeta Jindal in the August presence of Dr Anil Kakodkar. Due to shortage of time and so also money we were unable to publish the book in Bangalore, which I could do in Mumbai courtesy benevolent funding from JSW. ‘Sir M V : The Legendary Nation Builder’, exhibition and the richly illustrated exhibition catalog were an outcome which drew on a range of research, sources, books, journals, images, documentary, visuals and audio, that collectively helped us in highlighting the unique contributions of Sir M Visvesvaraya in nation building.

Some of the rare archival information and photographs can be seen in the exhibition and so also in the book, which include the will of Sir MV, his engineering degree certificate, his passport, several of his writings etc. 

In the annals of human history very few people have had the dispensation of celebrating their own birth centenary; from amongst those few who have, there are no parallels to the life that Sir M Visvesvaraya lived for all of 102 years. Visvesvaraya,  popularly referred to as Sir MV, was an engineer par excellence, statesman, visionary, a staunch votary of industrialization, education and women empowerment, banking, father of planned economy, transportation and innumerable other contributor. He strenuously worked for eight long decades for building our nation. There are very few fields of thoughts and constructive endeavours, of technical advancement and nation building in which Sir MV had not made a significant contribution. Some of his contributions include engineering, in all its branches, particularly those of irrigation, reservoirs, dams and water supply, power supply and bridge building; university education, technological and occupational training, town planning, industry and banking, commerce and manufacture. Sir MV was a man with impeccable integrity, discipline and a grand visionary for the nation. Krishnarajasagara (KRS), one of the premier reservoirs of the country, owes its existence to him. His contributions at the Khadakwasla (Pune) water reservoir, where he introduced the automatic sluice water gates, won him a patent, which he did not use for his personal benefit. This very design, he subsequently used in the world famous Krishna Raja Sagara Dam (KRS). 

KRS alone, one of the largest of its kind in the world, would perpetuate

the name of Sir MV. Pandit Nehru, the architect of modern India, borrowed the idea of planned economy from Sir MV. From Aden to Pune, Sukkur, Nashik, Hyderabad, Mysore, and several other cities and projects, Sir MV's civil engineering contributions are spread across the country and abroad. His engineering services were used in various capacities all across the country including in building the Hirakud Dam, in Odisha, a Railway Bridge across Ganga in Patna, combating floods in Hyderabad, constructing the Himayatsagar and the Osmansagar reservoirs across the rivers Musi and Easi, and in the reconstruction of Hyderabad city and preparation of the drainage scheme for the city. Sir MV was also a member of the engineering committee that was involved in construction of several buildings in Lutyens Delhi.

Sir MV, the man with an impeccable integrity far beyond one can imagine, was known for his foresight and prophetic vision for industrial development, which he advocated was essential for alleviating poverty. He was a master in irrigation designs and was very passionate about effective utilization of scarce water resource for drinking and irrigation purpose. Block System of Irrigation, Automatic Sluice gates and Collector Well are some important innovations of Sir MV. Automatic Sluice gates, used in Pune and in KRS and other dams, enable storage of water well above the crest of the weir of the Dam. He designed the Block system of Irrigation to optimize, control and evenly distribute water supply to parched agricultural lands across number of villages. The supply was rotated within “blocks” in each village to curtail misuse and water logging. This system, devised in 1899, continues to be used even today in Deccan Canals. The collector wells can provide moderate to large quantities of naturally filtered water from the river beds.

 Sir MV was a firm believer that development alone can bring about prosperity for people. He also believed that India could be benefited from harvesting the knowledge and experience of the prosperous nations. Visvesvaraya toured many developed countries of the world to study, understand and evaluate the success of their prosperity and for replicating the same in India. During his six foreign travels, he visited Japan, America, Canada and many European countries. An outcome of his learning from foreign visits is embodied in the establishment of several industries and educational institutes in the state of Karnataka. 

Visvesvaraya served his mother state Mysore (now Karnataka) in different capacities, first as the Chief Engineer to the government in 1909 and next as the Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. He firmly believe that education is fundamental to the progress of the nation. 

His regime as the Dewan of Mysore witnessed unprecedented growth in the establishment of a number of primary schools. In just six years of his tenure as the Dewan an additional 6,500 new schools were added. He pronounced a revolutionary legislation making primary education compulsory for every child, including the girl child. He also believed in social upliftment of the depressed communities and backward classes and laid special emphasis on education of girls. He was instrumental in establishing educational institutes, industries, banks, Mysore University and Agriculture Science College. He also used his personal money to help establish a vocational college (Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic College). HAL the premier aircraft manufacturing company in Bangalore, the steel, sugar and soap factories in Karnataka owe their existence to Sir MV. The Premier Automobile Company in Pune, which was the first automobile company in India, owes its genesis to Sir MV. He improved the Railway infrastructure of Mysore and established clubs and association for improvement of the state. He was associated with the premier Indian Institute of Science and promoted linkage of industries with scientific institutes.

Sir MV received the knighthood from the British Empire. He received the 

 Bharat Ratna in the year 1955. After actively serving the nation for more than 100 years Sir MV breathed his last on 14th April, 1962 at Bangalore. On the eve of the centenary celebrations of Sir MV, which was held at Bangalore in 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, who had joined the centenary celebration to honour Sir MV, announced a befitting tribute to Sir MV for establishing a Industrial and technological Museum to be named after Sir MV. Thus was established the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) at Bangalore, the foundation for which was also laid by Pt. Nehru.

Fifty eight years have passed since the passing away of Sir MV but then he continues to remain in the hearts and minds of the people of zinda particularly the Engineers who look up to him as a true role model, par excellence. Long live Sir MV.

For those of you who may be interested in reading the book you may please down load it from our website under the Publications sections, where you will find all our publications which are free for download.

www.nehrusciencecentre.gov.in

13th April : The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

13th April : The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Images courtesy : Wiki Commons & Alamy Stock photo

Certain incidents from the annals of history, remain infamously etched in the collective memory of nations and one such event for India is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, perpetrated by the British General, Reginald Dyer. One hundred and one years ago, on this very date, the 13th of April 1919, General Dyer, ordered firing against the innocents. Even today the Jallianwala Bagh, which was one of the worst heinous, unpardonable, dastardly criminal act that left an indelible scar on our nation, continues to evoke emotions of unprecedented proportions. While the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy cannot be reversed, an unconditional apology from the British government, which was long overdue, could have demonstrated their remorse for this dastardly act. But most unfortunately it has not happened. The British Government, true to their tyrannical past, have refused to render an apology, let alone compensate, through reparation, begging atonement for their inexcusable crime. Contrary to their condemnable behaviour, we Indians, true to our culture and  philosophy of ahimsa have moved on and have not even asked for an official apology not to talk of any reparation - the articulations for which was so exemplarily adduced by Shashi Tharoor in a debate - now gone viral - before the August gathering at the Oxford. 

The criminality of the massacre of innocent lives by the British General at the Jallianwala Bagh, can be mirrored to such other equally heinous crimes that were committed at the Auschwitz by the Nazis during the WW II and perhaps to the more recent Tiananmen Square, China, in 1989. The heinous act at Jallianwala had all the trappings of a crime against humanity and should have placed General Dyer in the infamous company of villains of World Wars, but that did not happen, courtesy the apostles of peace - Mahatma Gandhi ji. Although Gandhi ji called Dyer, the chief perpetrator of the Jallianwala Bagh, blood thirsty and warned people against ‘Dyerism’, yet he asked the ‘Jallianwala Bagh Congress Inquiry Committee’ not to prosecute him. Gandhi ji, just like the Lord Jesus Christ, pardoned Dyers unpardonable sin.

More than 300 unarmed civilians, including a large number of women and children, were gunned down indiscriminately by Reginald Dyer’s British army and as per some records, almost 2,000 more were grievously wounded when Dyer, ordered his troops to fire at unarmed protesters in a park. What prompted this peaceful, Gandhian like, protest by the Punjabis, was the backtracking of the promise made by the British to the Indian National Congress and other leaders of the Indian Independence movement, to accord Dominion Status to India, involving some amount of self-governance. In return, the British had sought India’s support in fighting World War I. While Indians, particularly the Punjabis - Sikhs - uncompromisingly supported the British in their War, including payment of millions of pounds in taxes, and providing food grains, arms and ammunition for the British Army to fight the War and so also the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Punjabi men during the war, what they expected post the war was a promise of self rule. But after the War the British reneged on their promise compelling peaceful protests across nations including the one at the Jallianwala Bagh. 

The cruelty and inhuman act of Jallianwala Bagh massacre ensured that Amritsar became India, an India that was outraged, bloodied and the ensuing trauma was so deep as to have altered the very composition of India’s political psyche. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre became a symbol of the tyrannical rule by the British that changed the political history of our country and accentuated the way forward for our focussed and sustained freedom struggle. On the occasion of the 101st anniversary of this dastardly act, an unpardonable tragedy of humongous proportions, it is pertinent to question the British on what authority did they have to impose their so called higher ideas of morality. The 101 years post the Jallianwala Bagh has been a long time in the Indian political history and from being a subservient nation to the colonial masters we have come a long way and several subsequent happenings, including independence, the trauma of partition, self sufficiency in food, achieving an incredible success in the field of IT, education, Space and Atomic research and so also the improvement in the overall socio economic conditions of our citizens, all of these developments have tried to erase the trauma of Jallianwala Bagh. The trauma however has continued to remain in our collective memory albeit this memory is gradually fading  into the sepia of fading memory. 

On the 101st anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh, let Let us all join hands in praying for all those martyrs who sacrificed their life for the freedom of our country and pledge that we remain united as one nation, whose foundations were built on the sacrifice of innumerable martyrs.

Jai Hind.