CURRENT AFFAIRS – 01/05/2023
Copper plates bring into focus Shilabhattarika and her poetry
The varaha seal of the Badami Chalukyan rulers. Special Arrangement
SHOUMOJIT BANERJEE
PUNE
The reconstruction of history, particularly that of the ancient world where sources are few and far, is often likened to detective work.
Researchers at the Pune-based Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), which houses South Asia’s largest collection of manuscripts and rare texts, recently embarked on a mission after which they claim to have shed new light on Shilabhattarika — the celebrated Sanskrit poetess of ancient India by establishing her as a daughter of the famed Chalukyan emperor Pulakeshin II of Badami (in modern Karnataka).
Following the decoding of inscriptions on copper plates earlier this month, noted Sanskrit scholar Dr. Shreenand Bapat, registrar and curator at BORI, said it was now reasonably certain that Shilabhattarika was a Chalukyan princess, possibly the daughter of Pulakeshin II, who ruled from 610-642 CE and had defeated Harshavardhan of Kanauj in a battle near the banks of the Narmada river in 618 CE.
Shift in historiography
Speaking to The Hindu, Dr. Bapat said the importance of this decipherment shed new light on Shilabhattarika, who stood out as a poetess in the male-dominated field of classical Sanskrit literature in ancient India.
The Sanskrit poet-critic Rajashekhara, who lived in the 9th-10th century CE and was the court poet of the Gurjara-Pratiharas, had praised Shilabhattarika for her elegant and beautiful compositions.
Noted Marathi poetess Shanta Shelke too has drawn inspiration from Shilabhattarika’s verses to compose one of her most iconic songs— toch chandrama nabhat (it is the same moon in the sky).
The decoding of the copper plates also marks a notable shift in the historiography of Badami Chalukyas by placing Shilabhattarika as having lived in the 7th century CE rather than the current theory which has her as the wife of the 8th Century Rashtrakuta ruler Dhruva.
Dr. Bapat said that an antiquary enthusiast Amit Lomte had brought a copperplate charter with five copper plates said to be dating from the reign of the Badami Chalukyan ruler Vijayaditya (696-733 CE) for decipherment.
“The charter had five plates measuring 23.4 cm by 9.4 cm, held together by a copper ring bearing a beautiful varaha (boar) seal. The varaha seal is the trademark of the Badami Chalukyas. The charter contained a Sanskrit text with 65 lines inscribed in late-Brahmi script. It was Dr. Amruta Natu, assistant curator, BORI, who drew my attention to Shilabhattarika’s name in the charter,” he said.
Cracking the identity
Dr. Bapat, who worked through the genealogies of the Badami Chalukyas and the Western Gangas, had cracked the ‘identity’ of Shilabhattarika by early April.
A primary reading of the plates revealed that Vijayaditya had donated the village of Sikkatteru in the Kogali Vishaya to a vedic scholar named Vishnusharma in the month of Magha, Shaka year 638, corresponding to January-February 717 CE.
“The village [Sikkateru] was identified by Prof. Shrinivas V. Padigar, a renowned epigraphist, as Chigateri situated near Kogali in the Vijayanagar district of Karnataka. But this was not all. The plates revealed that Vijayaditya had donated the village on request by Mahendravarma, the son of Shilabhattarika,” he said.
The (decoded) text goes on to say that “on recommendation of Mahendravarma, King Vijayaditya Chalukya had donated the village of Chigateri to a scholar Vishnusharma.”
More than genealogies, the decipherment brings into focus the importance of Shilabhattarika and her poetry.
“I think with the Pune copper plates, we now have an altogether fresh look at this classical poetess of ancient India,” said Dr. Bapat.
The Charter
• The copper plate charter dated from the time of Chalukyan ruler Vijayaditya.
• The charter had five plates measuring 23.4 cm by 9.4 cm, held together by a copper ring bearing a beautiful varaha (boar) seal.
• The varaha seal is the trademark of the Badami Chalukyas.
• The charter contained a Sanskrit text of a total of 65 lines inscribed in late-Brahmi script.
Shilabhattarika
• Inscriptions on Pune copper plates establish the poetess as a Chalukyan Princess.
• Shilabhattarika is the daughter of the Chalukyan ruler Pulakeshin II of Badami (in modern Karnataka), who defeated Harsha.
• Pulakeshin II ruled from 610-642 CE. He defeated Harshavardhan of Kanauj in a battle near the banks of the Narmada River in 618 CE.
• This decipherment revealed Shilabhattarika, as a poetess in the ancient Indian world in the heavily male-dominated field of classical Sanskrit literature.
• The Sanskrit poet-critic Rajashekhara (who lived in the 9th-10th century CE) and was the court poet of the Gurjara-Pratiharas, has praised Shilabhattarika for her elegant and beautiful compositions.
The Charter
• The copper plate charter dated from the time of Chalukyan ruler Vijayaditya.
• The charter had five plates measuring 23.4 cm by 9.4 cm, held together by a copper ring bearing a beautiful varaha (boar) seal.
• The varaha seal is the trademark of the Badami Chalukyas.
• The charter contained a Sanskrit text of a total of 65 lines inscribed in late-Brahmi script.
Shilabhattarika
• Inscriptions on Pune copper plates establish the poetess as a Chalukyan Princess.
• Shilabhattarika is the daughter of the Chalukyan ruler Pulakeshin II of Badami (in modern Karnataka), who defeated Harsha.
• Pulakeshin II ruled from 610-642 CE. He defeated Harshavardhan of Kanauj in a battle near the banks of the Narmada River in 618 CE.
• This decipherment revealed Shilabhattarika, as a poetess in the ancient Indian world in the heavily male-dominated field of classical Sanskrit literature.
• The Sanskrit poet-critic Rajashekhara (who lived in the 9th-10th century CE) and was the court poet of the Gurjara-Pratiharas, has praised Shilabhattarika for her elegant and beautiful compositions.
India, its SDG pledge goal, and the strategy to apply
S.V. Subramanian
is a Professor of Population Health and Geography at Harvard University. He is the Principal Investigator of the India Policy Insights initiative at the Geographic Insights Lab at Harvard
The country needs to replicate its COVID-19 response plan to succeed in meeting its SDG targets — one that is also pioneering and a nation-wide effort.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, while addressing the first meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under India’s G20 Presidency, held on February 24-25, 2023, expressed concern that “progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) seems to be slowing down”. Regardless of the global progress that has been made to date, the sheer population size of India means that realising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a global scale is intrinsically tied to the success of India. There is considerable confidence in India becoming the third largest economy in the world over the next decade. However, translating this growth into progress on social and human development must be equally valued. Seen from this perspective, the Prime Minister’s concern deserves immediate attention.
India’s progress is mixed
The SDGs framework sets targets for 231 unique indicators across 17 SDG goals related to economic development, social welfare and environmental sustainability, to be met by 2030. Roughly halfway to the deadline, where does India currently stand with regards to progress on these indicators? Are there lessons from India’s recent mobilisation for COVID-19 (a comprehensive response that demonstrated India’s ability to deliver at scale for its population) that could be adapted for the SDGs?
A recent study (https://bit.ly/3LJtAYR) assesses India’s progress on 33 welfare indicators, covering nine SDGs and providing a mixed picture of positive and concerning trends.
The good news is that India is ‘On-Target’ to meeting 14 of the 33 SDGs, including indicators for neonatal and under-five mortality, full vaccination, improved sanitation, and electricity access, all of which have substantially improved in the last five years. Unfortunately, the national ‘On-Target’ designation does not apply equally across all districts. While neonatal and under-five mortality are currently both ‘On-Target’ for the country, 286 and 208 districts (out of 707 districts), respectively, are not. Similarly, significant progress on access to improved sanitation excludes 129 districts that are not on course to meet this SDG indicator.
Indicators such as eliminating adolescent pregnancy, reducing multidimensional poverty, and women having bank accounts have improved across a vast majority of the districts between the years 2016 and 2021.
Of concern, for 19 of the 33 SDG indicators, the current pace of improvement is not enough to meet SDG targets. Despite a national policy push for clean fuel for cooking, more than two-thirds (479) of districts remain ‘Off-Target’. Similarly, some 415 and 278 districts are ‘Off-Target’ for improved water and handwashing facilities, respectively.
Of heightened concern are SDG indicators for women’s well-being and gender inequality. No district in India has yet succeeded in eliminating the practice of girl child marriage before the legal age of 18 years. At the current pace, more than three-fourths (539) of districts will not be able to reduce the prevalence of girl child marriage to the SDG target of 0.5% by 2030. Unsurprisingly, other critical and related indicators such as teenage pregnancy (15-19 years) and partner violence (physical and sexual) that may be tracked back to child marriage are issues that India needs to escalate as priorities. Despite the overall expansion of mobile phone access in India (93% of households), only 56% women report owning a mobile phone, with 567 districts remaining ‘Off-Target’. More detailed geographical exploration of the SDG indicators is available at: https://bit.ly/3oTyjhz.
Lessons from the COVID-19 approach
Designing and implementing a policy response to a pressing issue is best viewed as an “optimisation problem” relying on political will, responsive administration, adequate resources, and sound data. India adopted an “optimisation” approach to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus, it was given the focus and resources necessary to succeed. There are lessons from this strategy that can inform and optimise India’s approach to its SDG targets.
First, strong and sustained political leadership supported by a responsive administrative structure at all levels, from national to the district level, was critical to the success both of India’s COVID-19 vaccination programme and its efficient rollout of a comprehensive relief package. This rare, nimble political-administrative synergy was willing to learn and undertake course corrections in real-time. Creating a similar mission-oriented ethos that is assessment-oriented and which provides adequate support for accomplishing India’s district-level SDGs is now urgently needed.
Second, India’s success with COVID-19 was largely possible both because of the existing digital infrastructure, as well as new, indigenous initiatives such as the Co-WIN data platform, and the Aarogya Setu application. Following these examples, India must put in place a coordinated, public data platform for population health management, by consolidating its many siloed platforms into an integrated digital resource for district administrators, as well as State and national policy makers.
Finally, a targeted SDG strategy delivered at scale must be executed with the same timeliness of India’s COVID-19 relief package. As early as March 2020, the Government of India had put in place the ₹1.70 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, later augmented to nearly ₹6.29 lakh crore, which included the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (₹3.91 lakh crore until December 2022) covering 800 million people. Key to this relief programme was a mix of spending to provide direct in-kind and economic support, as well as measures aimed at revitalising the economy, small businesses, and agriculture. This was critical in blunting the adverse effects of COVID-19, especially for vulnerable and the socio-economically disadvantaged groups. It also measurably demonstrated the value of a proactive, government-supported programme specifically aimed at improving people’s well-being.
A decadal plan
India needs to innovate a new policy path in order to meet the aspirations of its people in the decade ahead — there is no historical precedence for a democratic and economically open nation on how to deliver development to a billion-plus people in a manner that is healthy and sustainable. In successfully delivering a real-time response to the COVID-19 pandemic, India has proved that it is possible to deliver at scale in such an ambitious and comprehensive manner. To succeed in meeting its SDG targets, especially those related to population health and well-being, basic quality infrastructure, and gender equality, a similar concerted, pioneering, nation-wide effort would be the need of the hour.
The Geographic Insights Lab at Harvard: https://bit.ly/40WocFP
The erosion of hard-won labour rights
K.R. Shyam Sundar
is a Visiting Professor, XLRI, Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur
By extending the hours of work and ensuring job insecurity, we are setting the clock back in the name of ease of doing business.
On May 1, 1886, Chicago in the United States became the major site of a demonstration by labour unions in support of an eight-hour workday. Police brutality and the victimisation of protesting workers by employees did not subdue the spirit of the protesters. To condemn anti-worker actions, labour anarchists called for a meeting on May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square. The peaceful meeting turned violent when a bomb exploded in the police ranks, and the police fired in response. The violent confrontation between the workers and the police became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights.
In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that, in commemoration of the Haymarket Square affair, May 1 would be an international holiday for labour, or May Day. In 1919, the International Labour Organization adopted the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, which limited the number of working hours to eight a day and 48 hours a week. British India ratified the Convention on July 14, 1921. In the subsequent decades, the working class in various countries held several agitations to secure the right to an eight-hour working day.
Today, affluent countries in Europe such as Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands have reduced the hours of work.
Regulating working hours
The theory of economic development anticipated that due largely to technological inventions and innovations, and with economic prosperity, people will have more leisure time to engage in sociocultural activities and that social welfare will improve. However, the itch to regulate or rather increase the number of working hours continues to persist. When COVID-19 hit India, several States amended the Factories Act, 1948, using the ordinance route. Recently, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments also increased the number of working hours a day. Following opposition, the Tamil Nadu government put a hold on the amendment to the Factories Act on work hours.
Employers, especially in the garment and electronic industries, have clamoured for a flexible worktime regime so that they can manage export orders. In India, mainstream economists give the green signal to any initiative as long as it increases exports, even if it is at the cost of labour rights and human rights. They recommend emulating countries like Bangladesh (for garments) and Vietnam (for electronics). In 2022, according to the Global Right Index, launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Bangladesh ranked among the 10 worst countries where labour rights are not guaranteed. On a scale of 1 (best) to 5+ (worst) on the degree of respect for workers’ rights, the ITUC rated Vietnam 4, which indicates systematic violation of labour rights. The comparator countries that neoliberals refer to are known for their poor record of labour rights.
Under the pretext of ‘ease of doing business’, regional governments offer many subsidies and exemptions to attract global and domestic capital. Apart from quantitative subsides, these global companies press for qualitative subsidies. Employers prefer no unions or weak ones in an industrially peaceful context where cheap and skilled workers are available. While India bears the cost of skilling the workers, multi-national corporations reap the benefits. This low road to development employed by most capitalistic companies leads to a race to the bottom.We see one State after another amending labour laws despite the fact that these companies do not help significantly reduce unemployment rates; they mostly provide high-skilled jobs, which leads to jobless growth.
The typical demand is to increase the number of hours of work a day while adhering to the eight-hour-day rule. For instance, Karnataka has increased the number of working hours a day, including rest periods, to 12, while complying with the weekly threshold of 48 hours. We are also moving from the three shifts regime to the two shifts regime. What is the economic reason for this demand? The worker spends about nine hours in the factory. The companies believe they can enhance production by maximising the workers’ time at the factory. This would help them cut travelling allowance and transaction costs.
As far as the workers are concerned, they are likely to be away from home for at least 14 hours since some of them spend two hours travelling to work. On four successive days, workers may work for 12 hours and travel for two hours each day, which is daunting, even for younger workers. Eventually there is bound to be diminishing marginal productivity and employers may not benefit. As workers age, they become less efficient, highly fatigued and prone to industrial accidents.
Challenges
By extending the hours of work and ensuring job insecurity,we are setting the clock backto the 19th centuryin the name of ease of doing business.Due to lack of political unity as well as trade union cooperation, save a few instances, States are able to change labour laws without much opposition. The move of the Karnataka government close to May Day was disappointing. Companies employ Human Resources professionals who preach about a work-life balance, but don’t say anything when workers are treated shabbily. The delay in the implementation of the new labour codes is hardly a concern for the Union government.Trade unions have a lot to be concerned about this May Day.
Stray dogs and poor waste management
Solution needed: Stray dogs eating from the garbage in a polluted river in New Delhi in 2020. File Photo
Is there a connection between an increasing urban stray dog population and how waste is generated, collected and managed? Has there also been a rise in urban solid waste? What role can equitable housing and sanitation policies play? How is India managing the stray dog problem?
SAUMYA KALIA
EXPLAINER
The story so far:
In April, a 65-year-old woman in Srinagar was attacked by street dogs outside her home. A garbage collection point, a mound of food and poultry waste that becomes food for free-roaming dogs in the area, was situated in front of her house. Frequent reports of dogs attacking people to death have made the management of stray dogs an administrative and legal issue.
What do dog bites have to do with poor waste management?
The “carrying capacity” — the ability of a city to support a species — is determined by the availability of food and shelter. Free-ranging dogs, in the absence of these facilities, are scavengers that forage around for food, eventually gravitating towards exposed garbage dumping sites. Dogs thus congregate around urban dumps, such as landfills, due to feeding opportunities.
A population boom in Indian cities has contributed to a staggering rise in solid waste. Indian cities generate more than 1,50,000 metric tonnes of urban solid waste every day. According to a United Nations Environment Program 2021 report, an estimated 931 million tonnes of food available to consumers ended up in households, restaurants, vendors and other food service retailers’ bins in 2019. Indian homes on average generated 50 kg of food waste per person, the report said. This waste often serves as a source of food for hunger-stricken, free-roaming dogs that move towards densely-populated areas in cities, such as urban slums which are usually located next to garbage dumping sites and landfills.
Urban dogs are believed to have a distinct set of traits as compared to rural dogs, as they have “learnt to develop survival techniques in fast-paced, often hostile motorised urban environments”, a 2014 study argues. It also says “…dogs do not usually pose a threat to human well-being, and proper management of refuse and a tolerant, if not friendly attitude towards dogs can ensure their peaceful co-existence with us.”
What role does urbanisation play?
Cities have witnessed a sharp increase in the stray dog population, which as per the official 2019 livestock census stood at 1.5 crore. However, independent estimates peg the number to be around 6.2 crore. The number of dog bites has simultaneously doubled between 2012 and 2020. India also shoulders the highest rabies burden in the world, accounting for a third of global deaths caused due to the disease. In 2015, a study conducted in 10 Indian metro cities found a strong link between human population, the amount of municipal and food waste generated, and the number of stray dogs in the cities. It argued, “in effect, the present mode of urbanisation and paradigm of development innately promotes urban sprawls, slums, disparity… With the development of cities, managing solid waste has become a daunting challenge,” and the “unconfined and unmanaged leftovers” end up aiding the proliferation of stray dogs.
While there is no evidence to show that a rising population and municipal waste directly led to an increase in dog bites, experts agree there may be a correlation between urbanisation and solid waste production, made visible due to the mismanagement of waste disposal. Tepid animal birth control programmes and insufficient rescue centres, in conjunction with poor waste management, result in a proliferation of street animals in India.
Additionally, most landfills and dumping sites are located on the peripheries of cities, next to slums and settlement colonies. Thus, the disproportionate burden of dog bites may also fall on people in urban slums. In 2021, 300 people living in Pune’s Shivneri Nagar slum complained of stray dog bites in the area, as per reports. In 2020, 17 people, including young children, who lived in Ramabai Nagar, a slum spread over an area of 120 acres in Ghatkopar East, were bitten by stray dogs.
A study published in 2016 found that the prevalence of dog bites was higher in urban slums — usually located in close proximity to dumping sites — than rural slums. The proximity of residential areas to dumping sites and the rise in dog attacks speak to “core issues of unplanned and unregulated urban development, the lack of serviced affordable urban housing for all, lack of safe livelihood options and improper solid waste management”, researchers at the World Resource Institute wrote in a blog.
How has India managed the problem?
India’s response to the “stray dog menace” has relied upon the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, through which municipal bodies trap, sterilise and release dogs to slow down the dog population. The second anchor was rabies control measures, including vaccination drives. But implementation suffers from low awareness around the health implications of dog bites, irregular supply of vaccines, delay in seeking treatments, and a lack of national policy, experts say.
THE GIST
● A population boom in Indian cities has contributed to a staggering rise in solid waste. Indian cities generate more than 1,50,000 metric tonnes of urban solid waste every day.
● Cities have also witnessed a sharp increase in the stray dog population, which as per the official 2019 livestock census stood at 1.5 crore. However, independent estimates peg the number to be around 6.2 crore. The number of dog bites has simultaneously doubled between 2012 and 2020.
● While there is no evidence to show that a rising population and municipal waste directly led to an increase in dog bites, experts agree there may be a correlation between urbanisation and solid waste production, made visible due to the mismanagement of waste disposal.
The protests against the refinery project in Maharashtra
What is the Ratnagiri refinery and petrochemicals project? Is it going to harm the coastal Konkan region?
ABHINAY DESHPANDE
The story so far:
On April 25, the Maharashtra government started conducting soil testing at Rajapur tehsil’s Barsu village in the coastal Ratnagiri district to know if the site was suitable for the proposed multi-billion dollar Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited project which is touted as the world’s largest single location refinery complex. As of April 2022, India’s oil refining capacity stood at 251.2 million metric tonnes per annum, making it the second-largest refiner in Asia and the fourth largest in the world.
What is the Barsu refinery project?
The project, which is expected to have a capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum, is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. The project was initially mooted in 2014 and is estimated to cost around rupees three lakh crore. Besides fuel, the project also proposes to develop various downstream petrochemicals to meet India’s fast-growing petrochemical demand. Initially, the project was supposed to come up at Nanar, about 20 kilometres from Barsu. However, due to strong opposition from the locals, environmental activists and the Shiv Sena, the project was denotified in 2019.
How have the villagers reacted?
Hundreds of residents from Barsu-Solgaon and neighbouring villages are protesting the government’s decision as they are concerned about the potential impact on the environment and the livelihoods of local communities. The project site is in a region that is ecologically sensitive, with several species of flora and fauna endemic to the area. The Konkan region has large mango orchids as well as jack fruit and cashew plantations. The villagers also expressed concern about the potential health hazards posed by the refinery and petrochemical unit, which is expected to emit a large amount of pollutants. According to locals, Konkan already suffers from air pollution due to the presence of coal-fired power plants. Many farmers expressed concern that they would lose their source of livelihood if their land is acquired for the project.
Locals say that the project should be shifted to more arid zones in the State like Marathwada and Vidarbha.
What is the State govt.’s stand?
In November last year, the Shinde-Fadnavis government started issuing land acquisition notices to residents of six villages to acquire the initial 2,220 acres of land. It has been a strong supporter of the project and argued that it would help reduce India’s dependence on crude oil imports and provide a boost to the economy, apart from generating employment for over one lakh people, both direct and indirect. While the BJP has been tight-lipped about the recent developments at Barsu, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the project would not be implemented without the local people’s consent. “We are a people’s government…we will not proceed without the local people’s consent,” he said. According to Mr. Shinde, the Ratnagiri project is a green refinery and there will not be any pollution.
Why is the BJP pushing the project?
Firstly, the BJP leaders believe that the project would help them make inroads in the Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) dominated Konkan region. Secondly, the party is touting the project as a significant step towards making India self-sufficient in the petrochemical sector, reducing the country’s dependence on imports and further boosting the local economy. Further, Saudi Aramco has been expressing concern about the delay in the project due to the unavailability of land which has become a cause of concern for both the Centre and State governments.
THE GIST
● On April 25, the Maharashtra government started conducting soil testing at Rajapur tehsil’s Barsu village in the coastal Ratnagiri district to know if the site was suitable for the proposed multi-billion dollar Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited project.
● The project proposes to develop various downstream petrochemicals to meet India’s fast-growing petrochemical demand.
● Hundreds of residents are protesting the government’s decision as they are concerned about the potential impact on the environment and the livelihoods of local communities.
11 dead after inhaling toxic gas in Ludhiana
