INDIRA   GANDHI

                                                  

Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature by Jairam Ramesh
Published by Simon & Schuster ; Pages: 437; Price: Rs 799/-

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The “Ifs “ of History are intriguing. 

If  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had not been assassinated there would have been no World War One.

 If Hitler had not killed six million Jews there would have been no Israel and the Arabs could have lived free of fear.

If Indira Gandhi had not embraced Politics, according to Jairam Ramesh “Then she’d have been a botanist or a conservationist” – Jairam is convinced beyond a doubt.

According to Former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh   “A naturalist is who Indira Gandhi really was, who she thought she was. She got sucked into the whirlpool of politics but the real Indira Gandhi was the person who loved the mountains, cared deeply for wildlife, was passionate about birds, stones, trees and forests, and was worried deeply about the environmental consequences of urbanisation and industrialisation.”

The book  under review  leaves us in no doubt that the country’s lone woman prime minister was not only a great lover of Nature, but also personally responsible for laying the foundation of the environment and renewable energy policies of the government. She personally spearheaded the four laws for wildlife protection, forest conservation, control of water pollution and control of air pollution.

This new book is  a Centenary tribute and is singularly well-timed. We are in the throes of a devastating  environmental crisis  confronting climate change, air and water pollution, species extinction and deforestation.

 Indira Gandhi’s speech at the Copenhagen UN Climate Summit reverberated down the decades.The date on which the she spoke — June 5  1972— is  celebrated every year as World Environment Day.

 Jairam has delved into Indira  Gandhi’s unpublished letters, speeches, articles, notes and memos. According to him : “The idea is to have a biography which allows Indira Gandhi herself to do much of the talking.”

Despite a monumental crisis  Indira Gandhi was in close contact  with nature conservationists and took speedy action when called for and  responded swiftly when necessary.

Jairam takes the reader through the different stages of Indira Gandhi’s life, looking at each stage through the prism of her love for Nature.

As early  as 1975 she declared in Parliament  “Honourable Members are very anxious to have paper mills and industries, and I am for them too.... But we must not denude our mountainside and our countryside of their forests. This is having an adverse effect on our rainfall and climate. Unfortunately you do not see the results of such vandalism immediately; when you do realise, it is too late.... The same goes for wildlife...the elimination of any species has a bad effect on the general ecological balance and thereby also affects the human species.”

She  saved the national parks of Bandipur, Mudumalai and Silent Valley from being submerged by hydropower projects.She  is best remembered among conservationists for the enactment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and for her leadership of Project Tiger, the premier conservation programme. She was equally concerned about other species, be it the endangered hangul, the sangai or the crocodile.

Smt.Gandhi was also far-sighted about the country’s pollution levels, pointing out that “our limited resources will be totally inadequate to deal with this problem if we neglect it now and allow it to grow”.

 Jairam’s book  reiterates how  she had a very real, lifelong relationship with the wild, which informed the ecological policies established under her rule.  She was an active   member of the Bombay Natural History Society . Also  a founding member of the Delhi Birdwatching Society. Her personal interest in conservation steered India’s green policy, created institutions like the Indian Forest Service and ensured the environmental security of havens like Chilka Lake and the Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur.

Indira’s Gandhi’s ornithological passion go  back to 1942, when she was in  Naini Central Prison, Allahabad.  In 1941, Salim Ali met Nehru in Dehra Dun, where he was jailed, and gave him an autographed copy of his new work,  “The Book of Indian Birds”. Decades later, Gandhi alluded to the influence of this classic and Stanley Henry Prater’s " Book of Indian Animals " in her speech at the BNHS’s centenary celebrations.

 Project Tiger was proposed by the British conservationist Guy Mountfort’s World Wildlife Fund. He understood that it would not fly without the PM’s backing, and sought an audience. He was pleasantly surprised to find a task force constituted the very next morning, and a meeting scheduled within 48 hours.

Jairam  presents evidence of  how the ‘Iron Lady of India’ had a softer side to her personality that yearned for the mountains and proximity to nature.

“I get a tremendous urge to leave everything and retire to a far far place high in the mountains.” Mrs. Gandhi is quoted as writing to  Dorothy Norman in 1958.

 There is a hilarious exchange between Indira and  Nehru, where she writes to him describing a bird she got a glimpse of as one that has “a bit of beige, a bright tail in two dazzling shades of blue, a long dull red curved beak” and asks her father to name it for her. The country’s first Prime Minister replies to his daughter: “You give me a vague description of a new bird you saw and want me to name it from here! This faith in my extensive knowledge is very touching but it has not justification.”

 Jairam  provides  the background to a number of controversial projects, such as the Mathura refinery, Silent Valley, or the Tehri dam, and how Indira  fussed about these ceaselessly  and not always having it her way. She did "Save"  the Guindy deer park in Chennai and the Borivali National Park in Mumbai.

The book is also a cornucopia of interesting nuggets. From that we know that Salim Ali, the famous ornithologist and a close associate of Indira Gandhi, who helped shape environmental legislation, was against the peacock being named India’s national bird ; he wanted it to be the Great Indian Bustard.

Indira Gandhi, the naturalist  used her instincts and beliefs to draft landmark policies and laws on wildlife and forests and shape institutions that have endured.

 The book contains rare images showing Indira Gandhi  communing with nature. 

This is a truly outstanding book--a labour of love for Nature and admiration for Smt.Indira Gandhi.

TIT  BITS

1.Indira Gandhi's private library  throws light on the books she grew up reading - such as, " The Book of Baby Birds " by E.J. Detmold - with a handwritten inscription on the opening page: Indira Nehru, Calcutta, 5/1/29.

Correspondence between daughter and father further suggests what Indira voraciously pored over in 1932. There were some sixty books, both in English and French, that included several classics such as  " What Dare I Think " by Julian Huxley, spanning both biology and religion; " The Life of a Butterfly " by Friedrich Schnack, examining the life cycle of the peacock butterfly; the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome, which engaged with children camping, fishing and exploring; and "Far Away and Long Ago " by William Henry Hudson - an autobiography of a well-known naturalist of those times who spent the first eighteen years of his life in the Argentinian Pampas.

 The books Nehru  gifted her when she was very young included     " The Life of the Bee " by Maurice Maeterlinck-- the well known Belgian writer on entomological subjects who had received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911.(Page 13-14).

2.Kamala Nehru’s youngest brother Kailash Nath Kaul influenced the young Indira. He was a student of botany and zoology and was trained in the Royal Kew Gardens in  U K. Kaul’s room was unusual. “Anything  you opened out popped a snake. He kept two pythons as pets in his garden” (Page 15-16)

P.P.Ramachandran.

30 / 07 / 2017

SONAL MANSINGH

                                       

Sonal Mansingh: A Life Like No Other by Sujata Prasad ; Published by  Penguin Viking ; Pages 272; Price Rs. 599/-

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The author of the book under review  Sujata Prasad  studied History at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, and Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She also learnt  classical music and dance. She has to her credit a volume on health security and a novella-like memoir for children.

Prasad has  been a vigorous  commentator on the performing arts and gender related issues. This  book  captures the life and times of this classical dancer Sonal Mansingh  and highlights many well known tales of the dancer’s life. Sonal’s “early life had all the ingredients of a fairy tale.” The drama, however, starts in the second half of the book describing a spate of events that proved to be the turning point in her story.

 Sonal  was born in Mumbai to Arvind and Poornima Pakvasa, a noted social worker from Gujarat and Padma Vibhushan winner in 2004. Her grandfather was Mangal Das Pakvasa, a freedom fighter, and one of the first five Governors of India. We are taken on a delectable  journey of Bharatanatyam and Odissi of  Sonal. She started learning Manipuri  at age four,  from a teacher in Nagpur. At seven, she started learning Bharatanatyam from various gurus belonging to the Pandanallur school.

Sonal got  married to former Indian diplomat Lalit Mansingh, which did not turn out to be a very happy experience. “… there was an underlying disquiet, a feeling that something was not quite right….. My friends tried to warn me about a bevy of young women in Lalit’s life, but I continued to live in anaesthetised haze, keeping myself insulated from the steamy details, managing somehow a Zen-like forbearance.” The phase after the divorce was, in her own words, humiliating, banal and low. The cruellest whiplash, according to the author, came from her Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.“I reached out to him as soon as I got back. A guru is like a father. I expected him to empathise with me, to help me deal with the trauma of separation, but he behaved with monstrous egotism. He not only mocked me but kicked my head when I bent down to touch his feet,”

 Sonal’s  incandescent energy  flows into her art and she  has a very real and distinctive aura — sharp, outspoken, irreverent, and witty. She is beyond belief candid and outspoken.

Sonal’s earliest  memories are of music programmes  at the Raj Bhavans, where she grew up. We have accounts of performances  of Siddheshwari Devi, . Omkarnath Thakur, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Faiyaz Hussain Khan,  Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, M. S. Subbulakshmi and the senior Dagar brothers.

Sonal herself went through a very distinct Socialist phase and a direct engagement with the politics of dissent during the Emergency. In the 1990s, she was deeply involved with a group of performing artistes, writers and poets, collectively known as ‘Artists against Communalism’.

She recalls the tumult in her life in the mid-1970s when she  accepted an  invitation to perform at different venues in Brazil. To begin with, there were three performances lined up for her at Sao Paulo. At the end of the recital, the audience erupted. The applause was deafening.

In 1979, Sonal went on an ICCR-supported performance tour of around seventy days to countries across different continents. One of the highlights of this tour was a new choreography based on a famous Malayalam poem, 'Magdalena Mariam', written by Vallathol Narayana Menon (a leading early-twentieth-century Malayalam poet, popularly known as Mahakavi Vallathol). 'Maria Magdalena' was part of her repertory 1975 onwards. Strung to Carnatic ragas and danced in Bharatanatyam, it was a rage in different religious and social contexts. The composition extolled the exquisite beauty of Mary, the nayika (or the female protagonist), preparing to meet her lover, her change of heart at the sight of Jesus and her absolute surrender at his feet.

Sonal's own life was entering into a difficult phase. Her second husband Georg's  sexual liaisons were beginning to trouble  her.

Most of the chapters are written in a  question-answer mode. Prasad asks Mansingh about a host of topics, including her music tastes, which vary from Bob Dylan to Kishori Amonkar.

Sonal had the horrible experience of her  Curzon Road apartment  being  turned into a brothel by the caretaker during one of her European tours. Her  quiet struggle against daunting odds was carried out without a trace of bitterness. She began building some meaningful relationships with cultural icons like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. “Kamaladevi was my inspiration. I called her ‘Amma’. Her home in Canning Lane, which I used to visit frequently, was an adda for writers, craftspersons and activists from the cooperative, socialist and feminist movements. The intellectual, artistic churning that went on at Amma’s place helped me regain my innate cool and confidence.”

 Preparations for the 1972 Olympics in Munich were on in full swing. Sonal took part in festivals such as the Europaische Wochen in Passau and the Bayreuth Youth Festival, In Bayreuth she ”…learnt to appreciate the beauty of the libretto, enjoy the verve of jazz. I feasted on Wagner’s operas, awestruck by Der Ring des Nibelungen, scores featuring Der Fliegende Holländer, the hugely moving Tristan and Isolde and Wagner’s swan song, Parsifal—letting the music wash over me, not getting out of the opera house in much under five hours. I turned into a complete Wagnerphile.”

Sonal Mansingh established in 1977 the Centre for Indian Classical Dances (CICD).She is  an exemplary choreographer, teacher, composer, scholar with immense knowledge of the classical arts, recipient of several national and international awards and state honours including the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. Prakash Jha made a Documentary on her entitled “Sonal “ which bagged the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Award for 2002.

 The book has some wonderful  photographs that act as  a  preview into  an incredible life.  This is an extremely captivating biography of an unusual artist who fought for her rightful place and succeeded.

P.P.Ramachandran

23 / 07 / 2017.

Partho Shome 

                                         

Development  and  Taxation by Parthasarathy Shome ; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages 326 ;Price Rs. 1095/-

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The author of the book was Adviser to three governments across the world—India, Brazil and U.K on matters of taxation. He is presently Chairman, International Tax Research Foundation, Bengaluru. He was Chief Economist, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, U K. He was awarded the highest civilian honour by the Brazilian government. He advised the Indian Finance Minister. His doctoral thesis won the Jeanne Mattersdorf Award of the American National Tax Association.

The book under review is a selection of sixty articles Shome wrote in “Business Standard” on subjects like economics, political economy and social challenges both on the domestic and international arena. They represent deep reflection, clear analysis, cogent conclusions and recommendations on a variety of subjects.

The subjects covered are macro economics, estimation of GDP, savings and growth, inflation and interest rates, financial markets and land acquisition. Shome  also analyses fiscal policy,  budgets of several years , tax matters, tax evasion and corruption. Other topics  covered are the controversial  G S T and corporate taxes. He has critical comments on the quality of  tax statistics emanating from the Tax Department. Emerging international economic relations, U K  leaving the European Union and India’s economic relations with a number of countries are also studied in depth .The author touches upon Demonetisation, constraints to the “ Make in India Policy”.

The book is divided into nine Sections.The opening Section is on “Macroeconomy”. The C S O’s change of base year for G D P  from 2004-05 to 2011-12 and the basis itself comes in for serious comment. The reform of the G D P should feature the correct extent of economic activity in the black or non-tax paid economy. The C S O is advised to report the old with the new series for 5 or 10 years so that their underlying differences are transparent on a continuing basis. Shome advises RBI that its inflation projection comprising base effects   obtained from inflation momentum and time series for future momentum should be supplemented by a comprehensive technical framework from which a more convincing interest rates policy can be demonstrated . Analysing India’s savings growth, Shome advocates that the public sector should step back and stop crowding out the private sector, eradicating custom-tailored tax incentives and create a level playing field for all productive activity.

The next Section is devoted to fiscal policy. Shome analyses the budgets of 2015-16 and 2016-17 and makes sharp comments on fiscal policy.

“Taxation  Matters ” is the subject of the next Section . Recently tax professionals have conducted in-depth research which has led to improvement in the method of assessment. Tax evasion as form of corruption has been analysed and Shome declares,” It is important to investigate what has been motivating and sustaining corruption before designing draconian measures to combat the evil.”

Section IV is devoted to  “Income Tax” . Two chapters analyse the  I T Department Statistics which are classified into two categories—Macro economy and micro-tax payers’ levels. Growth in tax buoyancy is not too impressive; initial gain in direct tax collection has been challenged by indirect tax and the only difference is closing the efforts to increase the numerical base needs to be intensified. Shome calls for a severe cut-back of tax incentives matched with a lower and more equitable corporate tax. All the recommendations of the Tax Administrative Reforms Commission have to be implemented as indicated by the Finance Minister. Shome analyses the “Vodafone Affair” in two articles and concludes,“Neither the policy makers have to hand out tax incentives selectively nor do they have the resort to retrospective taxation except under the most exceptional circumstances and after consultations with all stake holders.”

Indirect Tax is the theme of Section V . The problem of GST is discussed thoroughly including a  “ Q and A ” chapter.

The next Section is dedicated to”International Economic Relations” and  discusses thoroughly  a variety of problems. Some of these are Indo-UK  economic relations after Brexit, India’s relations with Japan, China, Myanmar and Pakistan, Euro-Zone, Latin America, Globalisation and G-20.

The Seventh Section is on”Socio-economic policy” and  deals with a number  of subjects—Health Care, Indian Railways, Water wars between States.

“Political Economy” is the topic of Section VIII. It discusses Brexit, Democracy, India and  UK. The final Section tackles the newest concerns—such as Demonetisation, Ease of doing business.

The book has a number of tables and a reading list. It is an invaluable book contributing on many tough subjects.

One cannot but agree with Mythili Bhushnurmath when she declares, ”What sets Partho's pieces apart is the   complete absence of  arrogance that one might expect from someone of his eminence ; instead there is simplicity and an amazing humility, both typical of Partho.”

P.P.Ramachandran.

14  /  07  / 2017

REDDY  MEMOIRS 

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Advice and Dissent by Dr.Y.V.Reddy ; Published by Harper Collins;  Pages  479 ; Price Rs.795/-

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Dr.Y.V.Reddy was Governor of the RBI from 2003 to 2008. He was Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission in 2013-14. He worked as Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and earlier as Principal Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Government. He was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan. His current assignment is Professor at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in Hyderabad.

The book under review is not restricted to his halcyon years in  RBI but goes beyond to encompass his life as a whole. It reveals how one individual growing up in India has been impacted by the struggle for Independence, the Integration of Princely States, Nehruvian socialism, the States Re-organisation, the regularly held Elections and the four wars forced on us by the enemy. The book analyses the transformation of India since 1947. Reddy gives us a reassessment of the relative roles of the Market and the State and an appreciation of the importance of incentives and  intentions. Reddy claims that his  work with Andhra Government was useful in his stint as  RBI Governor and Finance Commission Chairman.

Dr. Reddy’s life has been an inspiring journey of personal triumphs and a fascinating professional career, Over hundred pages are devoted to his village, early education, enrolment in IAS and his work as Collector. A chapter is devoted to Chief Minister N.T.Rama Rao.

The Reserve Bank of India is one institution where it is entirely up to the Governor what to make of its ‘institutional’ autonomy.  There is an important rationale for this autonomy and Governor Reddy explains it succinctly: “The governments in market-oriented economies want central banks to appear to be independent and apolitical. The philosophy is that the authority that creates money should ideally be independent from the authority that borrows and spends money, namely, the government.”

The RBI has many advantages, of strong technical competence, professional skills and an institutional memory. RBI had governors who protected the bank’s autonomy and enhanced their own moral stature.

 Dr Reddy has worked closely with Manmohan Singh, Singh, C. Rangarajan, Bimal Jalan. As RBI Chief from 2003 to 2008 (he was earlier Deputy Governor) Dr. Reddy oversaw a period of high growth, low inflation and a build-up of foreign exchange reserves coupled with a steady rupee and a robust central banking system that withstood the global financial crisis. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz gave Reddy a Certificate--"If America had a central bank chief like Y.V.Reddy, the U S economy would not have been in such a mess."

Reddy  famously described the RBI as “totally free, within the limits set by the government.Reddy also touches upon his time as a bureaucrat during the Plan era, being in the thick of action during the 1991 balance of payments crisis, and his years as governor during the boom preceding the global financial crisis.

“...I was continuously associated with the design and implementation of measures intrinsic to these historic events – events that saw our country move from despondency in 1990 to hope in 1993."

According to  Reddy there are three overlapping spheres of activity in the RBI-government relationship – operational issues, policy matters and structural reforms. In operational matters, Reddy says that he insisted on having the freedom to decide. On policy matters, he was particular about consultations to avoid discord. On structural issues, he believed in close coordination.

Reddy details a number of instances where he had to take a stance opposing the government. The issue concerned opening the banking system to foreign ownership, which came to a head with Chidambaram in 2008. Reddy recounts  his meeting where the Finance Minister told him: “Governor, this is a national commitment made to global financial community. How do we justify reversal of such a policy? Is it just because there is a change in the incumbency of the government? Do we review our commitments every time a governor or the RBI changes?”

Reddy  told him that “it has serious irreversible consequences. I believe it is better to go back on our commitment at this stage, in national interest.”

“But I believe that it is in our national interest,” Chidambaram was quoted as telling the RBI Governor.

Reddy writes that he confided his troubles to then Economic Affairs Secretary Rakesh Mohan." Rakesh", I told him,

  "It is better I leave this job. I believe that the issue is very critical to our national interest. I think opening up of foreign banks should not be done at this stage at all..“So, better I quietly leave the job,”

He writes that despite Chidambaram’s unwillingness to relieve him as Governor, “I felt that there was a growing distance between us as months passed by. His (Chidambaram) image as a reformer pushing for double-digit growth was, in his view, being dented by my caution to the extent of resisting implementation of some of his policies,” When he met the minister, Chidambaram said the RBI was not adequately reciprocating by progressing with reforms. “I expressed my unconditional apology to him and conveyed that I would keep in mind the issue of being supportive,” Reddy said, describing how the matter ended.

Reddy writes: “Most of our tensions could be described as constructive or as discord that ultimately gave rise to better ideas or outcomes.”

Reddy in his book expresses disappointment over the inability to make greater progress in reforming public sector bank governance.“...most of the basic structural issues of the financial system, especially that of the public sector component of the banking system remain unaddressed,” 

 Reddy recounts “ P. Chidambaram and I were in agreement on the broad directions of the reforms in the financial sector, that is, broadly rebalancing in favour of markets and designing a monetary regime and a financial sector that would serve the country in terms of higher growth with stability.”Chidambaram demonstrated considerable consolidation in the fiscal arena and felt that reforms and liberalisation in the financial sector are slower than the progress in fiscal consolidation.

 Another contentious issue was that of farm-loan waivers, that continues to be controversial.

“I opposed the proposal made in February 2008 to write off loans to farmers amounting to Rs 60,000 crore. I argued my case before the Finance Minister. Economic logic including preservation of credit culture was in favour of RBI’s position,” Reddy says. “I could see the government was acting out of broader concern for the welfare of farmers. I suggested that the government should pay the money to the banks on behalf of the farmers.”

Reddy gives a pen-picture of RBI Officials. He writes,”...my predecessor, Mr.Tarapore,  was respected for his knowledge, admired for his integrity, and feared for his forthrightness. I felt that his qualities shone like gold. Tarapore and I overlapped for a few weeks, but he remained my friend, philosopher and guide for almost two decades after, till his death.” Others who get  high certificates from him are A.Seshan,Shyamala Gopinath, Usha Thorat, Kishori Udeshi, K. Kangasabapathy.

 There are  55 pages of notes—highly valuable material for an Official History. This book is a valuable addition to the literature on history of India banking.

P.P.Ramachandran.

09 / 07 / 2017