Make a fundamental shift in Bharat’s economy!

Open Letter to Finance Minister Set ball rolling for playing role of Vishwa Guru, revisit globalization. Refrain from ‘Revdi’ culture, protect the vulnerable communities Madam Finance Minister, Magh Ekadashi Greetings! As you get ready to present tenth budget of BJP-led government under stewardship of Prime Minister on February 1, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies has following suggestions to make. Ignore the naysayers. Relegate to irrelevance, peddlers of Bharat’s doom. Let’s get the best of our spending in 2023-24, that’s expected to be about Rs 45,00,000 crore assuming 10 per cent increase in what was budgeted in the current fiscal. With best wishes & regards(K.A.Badarinath)Director & Chief Executive

Fact Sheet

558

Explainer:India’s energy security

In the last few decades, nation states have become increasingly aware of the limited resources which surround them and have formulated pointed strategies to ensure they have sufficient energy resources to keep their economy running. In the last year, when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine deepened, global supply chains of raw energy material have been put under the scanner. Several countries have imposed full or partial bans on Russian oil and gas while some have increased the intake of these Russian materials owing to discounted prices. The West, specially, the US, EU and other NATO countries have been urging other nations, like India to cut trade ties with Russia and to reduce their dependence on Russian crude oil and gas. In this backdrop, as data suggests, India must ensure its energy needs are met timely to sustain its economic growth and accelerate social progress and development. It is essential to analyse the energy requirements of India vis-a-vis the supply of energy raw materials and how India continues to diversify its energy supply. As India becomes the third biggest importer of crude oil from Russia, it is imperative for other nation states to holistically view the Indian energy demand patterns and its production.

Business Media Policy

564

Window of opportunity

Russia’s decision to ban oil exports to G-7, EU& Australia, China battling the Covid 19, India enters the big boys ring with an ace! K.A.Badarinath It’s advantage India. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to ban his country’s oil exports to G-7, European Union and Australia beginning February 1 for five months will open new window of opportunities for India in crude oil, refining, consumption and trade. President Putin’s decree was in response to $ 60 per barrel price cap slapped by these countries and groups as a counter to Russia’s campaign in Ukraine. India neither supported the Russian aggression in Ukraine nor has had aligned with Western forces in imposition of price cap on Russian oil. This equidistance and independent policy not only brought India to the centre of oil trade but also provided an opportunity to peddle peace between warring neighbours, Russia and Ukraine. Given that China has been overwhelmed by Covid 19 leading to economic downturn and thereby hitting its energy consumption, India has emerged the biggest energy partner for Russia. US allies, EU and Australia’s decision not only to impose a price cap on oil imports from Russia but bar their shippers, financiers and insurers from backing energy deals with the country has enraged President Putin. From Indian perspective, Russia has already emerged the biggest exporter of oil with over 1.7 million barrels per day during November 2022. Bloomberg has put this figure at 4 million barrels per day that Russia is supplying to India at ‘deep discount’. Both Russia and India have been mum or refrained from making any comment on the price at which this oil trade is happening. These supplies are bound to increase over next six months given the huge un-utilized refining capacities and opening opportunities for exporting end-use hydrocarbons. Independent advisory Standard & Poor Global analysts estimate that two million barrels per day oil would be available from Russia that may be absorbed by India when Putin’s ban on exports to EU, G-7 and Australia kick in. Over 80 per cent of Indian imports from Russia during November 2022 are Urals grade that are currently traded at $ 54 per barrel, deeply discounted and benchmarked to Brent turning the $ 60 price cap a big mockery. Currently, spot market Brent has been traded at a whopping $ 82 per barrel. Two other Russian crude grades, ESOP and Sokol have been quoted at $ 71 and $ 76 per barrel respectively. For last five months, Indian oil imports from Russia have been on surge and constitute about 23 per cent of total import bill that New Delhi forks out. Ukraine conflict has not limited to changes in the geo-political realignments alone. It has extended big time to trade, investments and economic posturing of different countries that have taken a definitive stand on Russia’s unending campaign in Ukraine. India has consciously distanced itself from block-making against Russia. It cannot be construed as unhindered support to Russia in its aggression in Ukraine. Given its delicate relations with Ukraine, India had been on humanitarian aid drive in the war-torn country rummaged by Russian forces bombing and missile attacks. India also donned the role of a peacenik that was willing to make significant negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine to explore peace opportunities. This independent policy stance may not have appealed to US democratic White House led by President Joe Biden. India’s western partners may have to reconcile to the position that Indian policy formulation cannot be swayed by their own block formations. Apart from opportunity to source cost-effective crude and play peacenik role with Russia, India’s third window to open would be exploiting full potential for trade, investment and economic relations bilaterally. This seems to be the next phase in which India and Russian relations have entered. Given the present proclivities, India and Russia may go miles even as New Delhi repositions itself as the powerhouse to become $ 40 trillion economy by 2047. (Author is Director & Chief Executive, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, a bipartisan think tank based in New Delhi)

Technology World

553

Crude critical, data for development

G-20 can develop a global framework to deal with data to ensure inclusiveness, spread prosperity and contain rouge states K.A.Badarinath Data is the new oil for humanity in near future. There’s no escaping from this reality. As a consequence, data security, management and governance are the new focus areas for both governments and private enterprises globally apart from actual consumers. Data supremacy will determine the global leadership in short to medium term. Of late, this reality may have been camouflaged with huge talk on oil, natural gas assets, their ownership, pricing and access to these hydrocarbon energy products. On-going Ukraine – Russia conflict has brought hydrocarbons to centre stage. And, energy markets have gone through a churn and continue to give sleepless nights to governments, suppliers and consumers in Europe given the price embargo slapped by 27-nations EU and the powerful G-7. For countries like India that continue to be on high economic growth trajectory and spurt in energy needs, oil has become a key factor. China being in the dumps owing to recent surge in Covid 19 cases and not being able to track asymptomatic cases has not altered the conversation beyond energy. With a million barrels oil being imported each day and spending $ 100 billion annually, India has unsaturated demand for hydrocarbons to fuel its economy on course to catapult to $ 5 trillion in few years. But, this transient surge in demand for hydrocarbons should not take the emphasis away from data that’s key to economic expansion and holistic development in India. Data market in India is valued as a multi-billion industry and growing at a fast pace. This market is expected to grow manifold. For example, data centres alone that store and manage data in India have been projected to grow 15 per cent annually to US $ 10.9 billion in five years i.e. by 2027. Data analytics is big business in India expanding over 26.5 per cent annually and touched $ 40.22 billion this fiscal. Amidst deep dive digitization in several sectors including security establishments, huge investments are being made on data generation, storage, data engineering, big data, hyper-personalisation etc. Arguably, advances in internet of things, machine learning, big data analytics is driving the digital transformation process in firms, companies and services providers apart from governments as well as public offices. Data continues to be the centre piece of global negotiations and India is no exception to this irreversible phenomenon of data-centric world. Explosive amount of data worth 1.2 trillion to 59 trillion giga bites generated over last ten years makes data management a huge challenge given the implications for India’s defensive and offensive interests on socio-economic and strategic fronts. For instance, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das in a closed door meeting with select chief executives of financial technology companies pushed hard on data security and management as a big focal area. This is no pep talk as financial and business data along with consumer behaviour analysis determines market leaders for products and services. Unsolicited online Chinese loan frauds, online breaches reflect the data vulnerability India faces especially in financial services sector that’s on a big boom and expansion drive internationally. Over a fortnight long data-breach at All India Institute of Medical Sciences targeting its 100-odd servers seeking Rs 200 crore ransom in crypto currency by Chinese hackers backed by People’s Liberation Army is a case in point. This also highlights data security as a key element in India’s strategic and economic affairs. India’s financial capital Mumbai’s electricity systems and their data centres were targeted leading to massive outages in October 2020. Most intelligence reports pointed to PLA backed Chinese online hackers for this outage. In May this year, Chinese PLA arm reportedly led the Threat Activity Group 38 (TAG – 38) to bring down seven state load despatch centres in northern region this May with virtual squatting on the country’s power data centres is a grim reminder of data politics evolving internationally to settle scores. There are several such instances in last few years where India’s data has been targeted in key areas. On the other hand, data diplomacy plays a significant role in global engagement. India that recently assumed the Presidency of two powerful groups, G-20 and Shanghai Cooperation Organization for 2023 apart from 13-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has made “Data for Development” in this decade a key priority. Healthcare, education, food security and digital financial inclusion will be centre piece of India’s global engagement on data. Once this is achieved based on experiences in countries like India especially during and in the aftermath of Covid 19 pandemic, one can expect to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) much earlier. National Data and Analytics Platform set up by India can be leveraged to evolve a mechanism for data management globally. In this context, World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates of creating $ 100 billion worth economic activity through data generated by drones in just India in sectors like agriculture, smart cities leading to over half a million jobs creation. International regulations should reflect the new reality relating to data. From India’s perspective, notwithstanding breaches, it’s eminently empowered to deal with large data from development areas, financial and corporate world as well as government. The latest version of Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 has mooted the idea of a dedicated commission to deal with offenses relating to data that’s regarded ‘sovereign’ and distinctly different from ‘personal’ data. Penalties on individuals, companies and groups that violate data protection for commercial means or otherwise should be slapped based on the crime. Penalties should be directly proportional to the kind of violations detected by the commission. Secondly, defining ‘sovereign’ data for security purposes is paramount while ‘personal’ data privacy should be honoured. In this context, data fiduciary or purpose for which data is access should be determined. Anglo-Saxon laws on data protection may not work in the Indian context and this principle has been recognized in the new version of the bill. Housing data

Cyber Security Media Technology World

625

Drones for Development

Meghalaya transports medicines; Himachal uses drones to take apples to markets while rouge Pakistan exports drugs, arms and illicit money for terror K.A.Badarinath West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya has come trumps up for setting up the first centre at Jengjal sub-divisional hospital to deliver and distribute medicines to remotest parts through drones. An X3 certi-plane developed by an Indian start-up was used by the district administration to deliver 1.5 kilos of medicines to a remote Pedaldoba primary health centre in just 32 minutes two days back. In contrast, it would have taken over two hours to take medicines by road. Tech-Eagles, a drone start up is behind the entire operation for Meghalaya government’s hub and delivery network to supply medicines, blood, vaccines, blood components and life-saving drugs. This on the ground application of drones to fight inhospitable terrain and is a big break-through in India’s seven North Eastern sister states. Drones have the capability to cover a radius of 50 kilometres that would be enough to reach out to most remote parts of North Eastern villages bracing up to fight disease and get access to medicines, save lives. In Himachal Pradesh, innovators went a step ahead from medicines and blood samples delivery to transporting apples to roadside for their onward journey to mandis and export to South and South East Asian destinations. Himachal Pradesh with a drone policy has been betting big on drones to transport goods over the hills and bring consumers, producers and markets nearer to eliminate wastage, decay of fruits and vegetables and improve peoples’ earnings. Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti districts, Pangi in Bharmaur of Chamba, remote areas of Kullu, Mandi and Shimla that are under heavy snow blanket for about six months would get some respite with medicines, goods and connectivity intact through drones. Nichar panchayat in upper reaches of Kinnaur district recently transported up to 20 kilos apple in one go to road-head as a way to connect with markets. These two instances have been flagged as unique cases to underscore how technology came handy in India’s socio-economic development thrust by reaching out to the unreachable. Scores of drone applications from usage by logistics companies, delivery of groceries to usage in agriculture for application of pesticides and nano fertilizers is being done in India as part of its grand development strategy. In what can be termed diametrically opposite application, Pakistan used drones and technology to export guns to terrorists in Kashmir valley, drugs in Punjab as well as bomb Balochs that sought freedom from the Sunni extremist state led by its security establishment and draconian Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). A recent Border Security Force (BSF) briefing counted 16 drones from across Pakistan that were shot down in first ten months this year while attempts were being made to export arms and money to terrorists apart from drugs to peddlers. In fact, this menace of transporting drugs, illicit funds, arms, ammunition as part of ‘drones’ offensive’ by Pakistan security establishment has been on rise. Drones fuelled terror activities in both Border States seem to have doubled in 2022. Over 3000 kilometres of border with Pakistan spread across Punjab, Kashmir, Gujarat and Rajasthan have turned porous with easy pass over for drones deployed by Pakistan even as BSF and other para-military forces kept vigil. It’s not just Pakistan. Even countries like Ukraine have taken recourse to drones to counter battle offensive against Russia as part of its larger security policy. For instance, Kursk airfield in South West Russia was targeted by Ukraine last week for two days to retaliate for what it called ‘war crimes’ committed by Putin’s forces. Turkey, Iraq, Syria and several other Muslim dominated militias have used drones to settle scores with adversaries and create havoc in Europe and elsewhere. Yemeni Houthi rebels have had access to high technology drones and hit two key oil installations in Saudi Arabia during September 2019. These drones had damaged the oil refineries 500 miles away from Yemen border that heightened risks to energy supplies. This had also led to a huge flare up between US and Iran tensing up the entire Persian Gulf region. What clearly come out is should drones and other high technology driven vehicles be used to export terror, fight wars or redeployed to fight hunger, disease, link the remotest tribals and citizens with mainstream markets? India should take its avowed mission of pushing technology for development as a big narrative at G-20 as President and through Shanghai Cooperation Organization as its head. A framework may have to be evolved globally and with immediate neighbours on restricting drones usage to wage wars and terror campaigns in most unbecoming way.

Business Media Policy

556

Ten point plan to engage with Afghanistan

Taliban may have to sever its links with all terror outfits if development and economic activity has to return. India can play its positive part K.A.Badarinath Afghanistan is in the vortex of terror. If Afghanistan former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil was to be believed the country is housing most terror groups including Jaish e Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) that have been operating in collaboration and partnership with Islamabad based Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), dreaded spy arm of Pakistan. All of them have had targeted Indian with help of technology and territory to create havoc in India with an intent to create instability. Shifting bases to Afghanistan would not have had happened without Taliban partnership and consent. Fourth aspect to this terror vortex is Islamic State (ISIS) through its affiliate in Khorasan Province have had accentuated the terror activities in South Asia. Given that the caliphate has virtually collapsed both in Iraq and Syria, ISIS seems to shifted bases too with large centrifuge in Afghanistan. Blow hot, blow cold relationships between different groups of ISIS and Taliban have only turned the South Asia peace situation more volatile. Al Qaeda is yet another significant player in Afghanistan that’s going through the churn. Let’s not forget that Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri would not have operated out of Kabul without active partnership with Taliban before the deadly US drone neutralized him. Another angle to this terror vortex is the innovative financing models evolved by these outfits that involve drug trade and money laundering apart from access to drones to undertake targeted operations. When Central Asian intelligence chiefs and security advisors from Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan met in New Delhi on Tuesday with their Indian counterparts, Afghanistan turning vortex of terror seems to have been analysed at depth. Unless funding channels are cut off, money laundering curbed, drug trade busted and Taliban dissociates itself from outfits of different shades and hues, peace in India’s extended neighbourhood becomes a far cry. Notwithstanding this grim assessment of Afghanistan by the national security advisors and secretaries of security councils, India seems to have taken calculated risk in resuming work on re-building the infrastructure destroyed by United States in the process of its withdrawal. About 20 such projects that were in various stages of implementation and stalled while Taliban took charge of Afghanistan’s governance will be resumed, going by reports. While India does not recognize the Afghanistan government led by the Taliban, its willingness to partner with the country’s people only speaks volumes. While the entire Indian community got driven out of Afghanistan majority of them Sikhs moved out of the country after terror returned following Taliban’s takeover. Barring a few working hands and those keeping guard of Gurudwaras as well as temples, Afghanistan has virtually turned alien to Indians that enthusiastically partnered earlier in the country’s development. Though the ride is bumpy in normalizing relations between Afghanistan’s Taliban and India, economic and development issues would become central to the process that’s painstaking and slow. Even if India moves forward with its development plan for Afghanistan, most intelligence buffs scoff is that New Delhi should not lower its guard anytime soon. First step before resumption of infrastructure projects development, India will have to ensure that Taliban provides a security cover to its engineers, professionals and companies. Secondly, there’s no guarantee that Pakistan will be a mute spectator to India going about methodically to implement stalled Afghanistan projects. Playing foul is in the nature of Pakistan strategists, military establishment and intelligence sleuths that need to be tackled big time. Getting life insurance cover for such an eventuality should be precursor to engagement with Taliban. Thirdly, keeping a tight watch on terror financing in the region would be a big nightmare for the global community having stakes in peace, stability and development of Afghanistan. Fourthly, US President Joe Biden and his security establishment will do well in supporting India’s ‘soft move’ to pursue projects in Afghanistan to generate employment as well as rebuild basic infrastructure. Fifthly, LeT, JeM, ISIS, Al Qaeda and ISI apart from other terror mongers will have to be kept at bay by Taliban if peace and progress has to return to hapless Afghanis. Sixthly, opening trade routes to central Asia will be one way of attracting investments to the country living on crumbs thrown by aid agencies. Seventhly, restoring confidence of Indians especially the large Sikh community to return and live as part of volatile Afghani society is tough but doable way to sustainability. Eighthly, apart from China and Russian diplomatic core, not many have returned to Afghanistan. It can start with India resuming consular operations, flights and connectivity. Ninthly, mobilizing Central Asian neighbours involvement would be in Afghanistan’s interests in development and reviving negligible economic activity in terror torn country. Tenthly, keeping away from ISIS, Pakistani terror outfits and intelligence agencies would work for others also.

Fact Sheet Hindus

648

Factsheet: Ram Janmabhoomi and Ayodhya Ram Temple

During the Treta Yuga (one of the four world ages in Sanatan Dharma), Ayodhya served as the Ikshavaku dynasty’s capital. According to Hindu Itihasa (history), the first human “Manu,” had a son named Ikshavaku and it was Ikshavaku who established Raghuvanshi or Suryavamsha dynasty (solar dynasty, also known as Ikshvaku dynasty). Dasarath, the king of Ayodhya was born in the Suryavanshi dynasty. A man of his words, radiant, prosperous and devoted to truth. It is to King Dasarath and his wife Kaushalya that Shree Ram was born in Ayodhya.

Guest Column

943

Panch tatva philosophy to guide India’s G-20 Presidency

Push for partnerships, hope, harmony and healing. Decisive leadership voices policy against war, conflicts and confrontation Narendra Modi Today, India commences its G20 Presidency. The previous 17 Presidencies of the G20 delivered significant results — for ensuring macro-economic stability, rationalising international taxation, relieving debt-burden on countries, among many other outcomes. We will benefit from these achievements, and build further upon them. However, as India assumes this important mantle, I ask myself — can the G20 go further still? Can we catalyse a fundamental mindset shift, to benefit humanity as a whole? I believe we can. Our mind sets are shaped by our circumstances. Through all of history, humanity lived in scarcity. We fought for limited resources, because our survival depended on denying them to others. Confrontation and competition — between ideas, ideologies and identities — became the norm. Unfortunately, we remain trapped in the same zero-sum mindset even today. We see it when countries fight over territory or resources. We see it when supplies of essential goods are weaponised. We see it when vaccines are hoarded by a few, even as billions remain vulnerable. Some may argue that confrontation and greed are just human nature. I disagree. If humans were inherently selfish, what would explain the lasting appeal of so many spiritual traditions that advocate the fundamental one-ness of us all? One such tradition, popular in India, sees all living beings, and even inanimate things, as composed of the same five basic elements — the panch tatva of earth, water, fire, air and space. Harmony among these elements — within us and between us — is essential for our physical, social and environmental well-being. India’s G20 Presidency will work to promote this universal sense of one-ness. Hence our theme — “One Earth, One Family, One Future”. This is not just a slogan. It takes into account recent changes in human circumstances, which we have collectively failed to appreciate. Today, we have the means to produce enough to meet the basic needs of all people in the world. Today, we do not need to fight for our survival — our era need not be one of war. Indeed, it must not be one! Today, the greatest challenges we face — climate change, terrorism, and pandemics — can be solved not by fighting each other, but only by acting together. Fortunately, today’s technology also gives us the means to address problems on a humanity-wide scale. The massive virtual worlds that we inhabit today demonstrate the scalability of digital technologies. Housing one-sixth of humanity, and with its immense diversity of languages, religions, customs and beliefs, India is a microcosm of the world. With the oldest-known traditions of collective decision-making, India contributes to the foundational DNA of democracy. As the mother of democracy, India’s national consensus is forged not by diktat, but by blending millions of free voices into one harmonious melody. Today, India is the fastest growing large economy. Our citizen-centric governance model takes care of even our most marginalised citizens, while nurturing the creative genius of our talented youth. We have tried to make national development not an exercise in top-down governance, but rather a citizen-led “people’s movement”. We have leveraged technology to create digital public goods that are open, inclusive and interoperable. These have delivered revolutionary progress in fields as varied as social protection, financial inclusion, and electronic payments. For all these reasons, India’s experiences can provide insights for possible global solutions. During our G20 Presidency, we shall present India’s experiences, learnings and models as possible templates for others, particularly the developing world. Our G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow-travellers in the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard. Our priorities will focus on healing our “One Earth”, creating harmony within our “One Family” and giving hope for our “One Future”. For healing our planet, we will encourage sustainable and environment-friendly lifestyles, based on India’s tradition of trusteeship towards nature. For promoting harmony within the human family, we will seek to depoliticise the global supply of food, fertilisers and medical products, so that geopolitical tensions do not lead to humanitarian crises. As in our own families, those whose needs are the greatest must always be our first concern. For imbuing hope in our future generations, we will encourage an honest conversation among the most powerful countries — on mitigating risks posed by weapons of mass destruction and enhancing global security. India’s G20 agenda will be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive. Let us join together to make India’s G20 Presidency a presidency of healing, harmony and hope. Let us work together to shape a new paradigm — of human-centric globalisation. (author is India’s Prime Minister and the write up coincides with India taking over presidency of G-20)

Leadership Media Policy

557

India to assume G-20 Presidency on Thursday

On Thursday, India will take formal charge of G-20 as President from Indonesia amidst several challenges faced internationally especially terrorism, radicalization and recession staring in the face across Europe, Covid 19 virus and challenge to President Xi Jingping’s leadership in China apart from unending war in Ukraine. India brings to table a lot of value to G-20 – the most influential global forum of developed and developing countries representing roughly 4.6 billion people – as President till November 30, 2023. Showcasing unity with diversity, India’s culture, products from each of the districts with over 200 events, stakeholders meetings across the country including Jammu & Kashmir as well as Arunachal Pradesh may be attempted by India gearing up to lead the world. If initial reports are to be believed, stakeholders, Presidents & Prime Ministers apart from negotiating groups and officials from these countries will be hosted in 50 cities in India. About 100 Indian monuments will be illuminated with G-20 logo that pushes for ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’, world as one big family. Students and youth from colleges and universities in different states will get to be part of this largest international outreach during next one year. G-20 group accounts for 20 major economies of the world, more than 80 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent international trade and 60 per cent of the population. The forum has met every year since 1999. Its leaders meet for an annual G20 Leaders’ Summit since 2008.

Fact Sheet

871

Why the tirade against ‘Hindus’?

Does this point to intellectual bankruptcy of ‘The Guardian’ or part of an agenda driven journalistic pursuit that needs to be debunked Hindus neither spew hatred nor Chauvinism ever. By belief, Hindus are tolerant and all inclusive in nature, thought and practice. ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’, entire humanity across world is a large family is the concept which Hindus in India and elsewhere have believed and are wedded to. In blatant diatribe, ‘The Guardian’ editorial “Modi’s India: the danger of exporting Hindu Chauvinism” (Sunday edition of November 27, 2022) is an unacceptable position on Hindus that have lived for ages peacefully and contributed socio-economically in about 100 countries including US, the UK and Europe. India and Hindus over the years has had been a victims of radicalization and imperialistic aggression of every shade and variety including that from United Kingdom for over two centuries. Plunder, abuse and destruction of the entire Hindu civilization was at the root of this anti-human invasion that happened all in the name of business. In fact, these historical facts were hidden from the younger generations in UK forcing a few British youngsters to recently take up a project to explore afresh the abuse that was heaped on Hindu civilization over centuries by Britain. Whether ‘The Guardian’ as a media house likes it or not, India’s leadership at G-20 and its lead in cleaning up the environmental mess created by industrialized western economies cannot be questioned. This ‘clean up’ act of India continued immediately after Paris accord was concluded by the then COP 26 though the much promised $ 100 billion funds and technology in support from the western polluters never happened. With regards to state of Muslims in India, ‘The Guardian’ editorial board and the management seems to be clueless on tremendous strides made by 200-odd million people (State of Religious Minorities in India) across sectors including political spectrum. Muslims are neither intimidated second class citizens as claimed by ‘The Guardian’ nor have they been targeted as suggested in the edit. Hindus have never ever supported hatred of any kind in stark contrast to what has been pushed as ‘agenda’ based writing through ‘The Guardian’ editorial that lacks basis, evidence or testimony. Blowing out of proportion, a few handful incidents to denigrate the entire Hindu civilization, India and its political leadership by extension is rather bankruptcy of worst kind seen in recent times. While BBC had pursued a similar ‘anti-Hindu’ and ‘anti-India’ editorial line, the British broadcaster had to face huge protests from otherwise peace loving Hindus living in United Kingdom. ‘The Guardian’ has built its reputation over decades and moving towards disrepute through such flippant commentary does not augur well for British media at large. Denying Prime Minister Narendra Modi visa while he was chief minister of Gujarat was an unpardonable mis-adventurism that US administration had resorted to. Realizing its mistake perhaps was understandable to say the least. ‘The Guardian’ did not care to recognize the sequence of Godhra riots of 2002 when peaceful Hindus that included women and children were burnt alive by a frenzy misled radicalized Muslim mob. US Commission on International Religious Freedom has been on an anti-India and anti-Hindu trip over the years. Why should Hindus become the whipping boys in managing larger political posturing by political parties in US? Hindus and India are well within their right to debunk biased and inaccurate observations made in the reports dished out periodically to suit the predominant US diatribe. Birmingham and Leicester attacks were clearly aimed at Hindus that were executed in a premeditated fashion by design. Whether ‘The Guardian’ acknowledges or not, harsh reality is that targeted attacks on Hindus and fermenting Hinduphobia is on the rise. Several media houses including ‘The Guardian’ have peddled half-truths and lies that masjids were attacked by Hindus. Henry Jackson Society’s centre on radicalization and terrorism in its detailed report has exposed this ‘false narrative’ on Hindus in the Leicester attacks by Muslims. Tolerance and forgiving the perpetrators of colonial rule and radicalization has been trademark of Hindus and not the other way.

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