Columns

BY VISHAL GULATI
Shimla, Oct 15 (IANS) With Himachal Pradesh heading to the Assembly polls on November 12, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is leading his campaign with the slogan 'rivaj badlega' (electoral traditions will change) as BJP governments have repeated in the recent Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana polls.


This small hill state has not seen any incumbent party returning to power since 1985. Since then both archrivals -- the Congress and the BJP -- ruled the state alternatively in eight terms.

This time, the saffron party, with anti-incumbency weighing heavy on its governance, seems to be banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma, instead of flashing its own achievement card.

The Prime Minister held three back-to-back public meetings ahead of the poll announcement.

At every rally, Thakur, the 57-year-old five-time legislator who rose through the ranks, missed no opportunity to remind the public about Modi's special bond and love for the people of the state where he spent a few years as in-charge of the state's affairs in the late 1990s.

"Is baar sarkaar nahin, rivaj badlega (This time not the government, but the tradition will change)," a confidant Thakur, the first-time Chief Minister who has been toeing the Modi government's 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' mantra, told IANS on Saturday before heading to attend Union Minister Amit Shah's rally in Sirmaur district, the first by the Central leadership after the poll announcement.

Firmly believing that the Prime Minister has always bestowed his blessings on Himachal by offering so many developmental projects in the past five years, Thakur asked the Opposition: What is wrong in seeking votes on the name of the 'pradhan sevak' who devoted his life to the welfare of the people and good governance.

"The Prime Minister has always shown his benevolence and affection to the state as he visited every nook and corner of the state as party in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. Secondly, Modi-ji as Prime Minister has visited nine times in the past five years. Even during the coronavirus pandemic he visited the state and dedicated the Atal Tunnel Rohtang."

Taking a dig at the Congress, Thakur said on one hand it has launched 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', and on the other, its senior leaders are following Congress 'Chhodo Yatra'.

"Under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the present government would again come into power and continue serving the people."

Listing out achievements of the double-engine government that has given the hill state new infrastructure in every step, Thakur, who is leading the party poll campaign, said the Prime Minister's vision and commitment to strengthen health services across the country is being showcased again in the state through the inauguration of AIIMS Bilaspur.

"This (Central) government believes in laying the foundation stone of a project and inaugurating itself."

He thanked the Prime Minister for sanctioning the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Bulk Drug Park that will strengthen the state's health sector and the pharmaceutical hub.

He expressed gratitude of the Prime Minister for inaugurating the IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) Una, flagging off the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Express from Amb Andaura to New Delhi and for launching the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-III (PMGSY) scheme.

"More than 39,500-km road network is catering the needs of the people, especially in rural and remote areas, in the state. Out of this road length, about 50 per cent has come up under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The sanction of Rs 3,200 crore for PMGSY-III will transform the prevailing road infrastructure and will further boost rural economic activities," the Chief Minister explained.

Going to the polls with the firm belief that the Centre-state unison helps strengthening the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism, Thakur, who through his stint believes development and no witch hunting, said this is only the BJP government in the Centre that realised the agony and hardships of the people of the state.

"We succeeded to excel in road, health, medical education, education and other developmental sectors, besides the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and the women.

"The previous government spent Rs 400 crore on social security pensions, whereas we are spending Rs 1,300 crore. Nearly 7.50 lakh eligible beneficiaries are presently getting pensions whereas only 4 lakh pensioners during the previous government tenure," Thakur said, while replying to a question on the Congress promise to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to benefit 225,000 government employees, a crucial vote bank.

Thakur was elevated to the post after the party's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal suffered an abject defeat in the 2017 Assembly polls.

In the run-up to the Assembly polls, Prime Minister Modi launched Rs 6,000 crore development works across various sectors and inaugurated AIIMS Bilaspur, the foundation stone of which was laid by him on October 3, 2017.

As far as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is concerned that is now setting its eyes on conquering hills after demolishing the citadels of all major political parties in Punjab, Thakur said the situation in Punjab was different.

"The people of Himachal earlier also rejected the third front. The leaders of AAP are over enthusiastic after their victory in Punjab, but they should also remember that their candidates have not only lost on all seats in the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand but their security deposits were also forfeited."

For the Congress, corruption, unemployment and poor performance of the government are among the major poll issues.

Political observers told IANS that the BJP under the leadership of Thakur is facing anti-incumbency. This reflected in its humiliating defeat in the October 2021 by-polls in three Assembly seats and one parliamentary seat of Mandi having 17 Assembly seats in Mandi, Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba districts.

But Thakur believes it is simply a "Virbhadra wave" that did the trick for the Congress in the by-polls.

He said the Congress won because of the sympathy with the late Virbhadra Singh, which would not happen in the Assembly elections.

But to overcome the anti-incumbency, the BJP central leadership is focusing to induct seasoned politicians with organisational and ministerial experience from the Congress to give the state leadership a new look to win a consecutive term.

"For the Congress, the exodus of leaders means dampening the morale of the grassroots in the run-up to the polls," a political observer told IANS.

He says the induction of three-time legislator Harsh Mahajan, who for over a decade played a crucial role in strengthening the party organization at the grassroots under Virbhadra Singh, in the BJP is the party's 'self-goal'.

Before Mahajan, two sitting Congress legislators -- Lakhwinder Rana and Pawan Kajal -- had also switched loyalties to the saffron party.

A total of 55.74 lakh voters would cast their votes in the elections. They comprise 27,80,203 men, 27,27,016 women, 67,532 service voters and 44,173 first-time voters. In the 2017 Assembly polls, there were 50,25,941 voters.

The counting of ballots will be held on December 8.

The BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections had won all four seats that saw 72.25 per cent polling, 7.80 per cent higher than 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

In 2017, the BJP wrested power in Himachal from the Congress, winning close to a two thirds majority with 44 seats in the 68-member Assembly.

The Congress won 21 seats, independents two and the Communist Party of India-Marxist one.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS
vg/ksk/

Bengaluru, Oct 14 (IANS) Haryana and Sikkim states top in economic justice, political justice and social justice indicators as per the objectives of the constitution according to the Public Affairs Index 2022 (PAI 2022) study of the Public Affairs Centre (PAC).

Haryana is ranked first among 18 large states and Sikkim number one among 10 small states, a PAC release stated on Friday.

The PAC is a 27-year-old think tank, a non-partisan and independent effort that provides evidence-based insights into governance in Indian states. The study was taken up to commemorate 75 years of Indian Independence and the spirit of the Constitution.

In the 'Amrit Kaal' of Indian Independence, PAI 2022 evaluates state governments' commitment to realise the constitutional covenant that guides Indian democracy.

It said that the analysis of governance experiences a shift from the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to a constitutionally enshrined principle of justice. This conceptualisation of justice is operationalised through three themes - social, economic, and political justice, five sub-themes, and 22 indicators.

Accounting for variation in the states in terms of population and size, an elbow method was used to categorise them into 18 large states and 10 small states.

PAI 2022 exempted Union Territories from the analyses owing to data unavailability and irrelevance of certain constitutionally mandated functions in their governance.

As per the study, Tamil Nadu stands second and and Kerala and Chhattisgarh stand in third and fourth positions among large states. After Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand rank second and third among small states.

PAC Director G. Gurucharan said: "This seventh edition of the PAI makes a paradigmatic shift in its approach adopting the constitutionally mandated framework of the roles and responsibilities of the States in India as the basis to assess the quality and adequacy of their governance performance during the year 2021-2022.

--IANS
mka/vd

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Anti-incumbency weighs heavily on the poll-bound BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh government.

According to an opinion poll, conducted by C-Voter for ABP News, 45.5 per cent respondents are not happy with the Jairam Thakur government's performance and want to change it.

The survey, which was conducted with a sample size of 100 respondents in September as well as October, has revealed that only 22.1 per cent of them were satisfied with the state government's performance and did not want to change it.

Those respondents who were angry with the state government but did not want to change it were 32.4 per cent.

The hill state goes for assembly polls on November 12 while results would be declared on December 8.

--IANS
ans/vd

By Avinash Kr Atish
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) The Indian women's hockey team goalkeeper Savita Punia, who recently was named Goalkeeper of the Year 2021-22 by the international hockey federation (FIH), on Friday said her team needs to improve on its penalty corner (PC) conversion as well as defence before the Asian Games.



The 32-year-old Savita won 37.6 points in the final tally in the voting conducted for the FIH Hockey Stars Awards, comfortably beating Argentina's Belen Succi by over 10 points to win the honour for the second-straight year.

The goalkeeper took over the captaincy of the Indian hockey team from Rani Rampal and was instrumental in the team winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She starred in the penalty shootout victory over New Zealand in the bronze playoff to seal the first CWG medal in 16 years for the Indian women's hockey team.

Savita also helped the team finish third in the women's FIH Pro League 2021-22, pulling off 57 saves in the 14 games she played, in India's debut campaign.

In an interview with IANS at the sidelines of an awards distribution event in the national capital, the star hockey player spoke about the team's upcoming goal, love and support shown by fans, areas to work on and so on. Excerpts:

Q: In recent years, the love and support for hockey especially for women players have grown significantly. How do you see it?

A: The support, which we have got after the Tokyo Olympic Games is heartwarming. It has motivated our team to do well and bring more laurels for the country.

Q: The Indian women's hockey team produced courageous performances at the last Olympics and CWG 2022. According to you, what needs to be done to move one level ahead?

A: Improvement is a constant process, even the best teams in the world keep on working in a few areas. As a team, we also need to improve in certain areas. At the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, we lacked a bit in the penalty corner attack as well as in defence. So, we need to finetune that before the Asian Games, where we need to be at our best to compete against the strong teams.

Q: What's the next goal of the team?

A: Our next goal is to win the gold at Asian Games, which will give us direct qualification for the Paris Olympics.

Q: You have been recently named Goalkeeper of the Year by FIH and the fans of Indian hockey fans have also given you a name -- "Great Wall of India". So, how do you feel about these things?

A: Obviously the awards, love and appreciation by fans always bring joy. But I feel, it also brings the responsibility on us to maintain our good performances and improve with each passing game.

Q: What is your message for the budding women hockey players?

A: The future of women's hockey is bright and young girls should set a yearly goal for themselves. They need to focus on gradual steps -- getting to national camps and then to the national team. Young girls need to have the belief that they can achieve whatever they want with their hard work.

--IANS

avn/bsk

BY VISHAL GULATI
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) India has already extended critical help to debit-ridden Sri Lanka as an expression of support to brotherly people. The economic situation in the island nation is still very dire, but the wheels have started rolling again. In the future, Indian companies have a major role to play investing in renewables with Adani already announcing important wind energy investments.


These were the assertions of Erik Solheim, who has been appointed President Ranil Wickremesinghe's International Climate Adviser along with former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.

In an exclusive virtual interview, Solheim told IANS on Friday that India has already extended critical help to Sri Lanka as an expression of support to brotherly people.

"The economic situation is still very dire in Sri Lanka, but the wheels have started rolling again, not least thanks to the Indian support. In the future Indian companies have a major role to play investing in solar, wind, electric transport and a lot more. Adani has already announced important wind energy investments," he said.

On August 16, Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced to grant provisional approval to Adani Green Energy for an investment of over $500 million in two wind projects in the island nation.

Solheim, who described his meeting with Wickremesinghe on October 12 as "good", said the President has a great vision for green economic recovery and for Sri Lankan climate leadership.

"It is hard to think of any politician with a better grasp of economic realities than President Wickremesinghe," remarked Solheim, who worked as the UN Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director.

"Wickremesinghe will provide the leadership needed to take Sri Lanka out of the crisis. But his job is thankless because the only way out of the crisis is hard work. There will be higher taxes and probably cuts in unnecessary public expenditure. There will be pain in the short run, but in the long term the opportunities for Sri Lanka are very positive," an optimistic Solheim, who acted as the main facilitator of the peace process in Sri Lanka from 1998 to 2005, told IANS.

With India being Sri Lanka's third-largest trading partner after the US and the UK, it plays a crucial partner by extending unprecedented bilateral assistance amounting close to $4 billion this year for ameliorating the difficulties faced by the people of the island nation.

India has also advocated to other bilateral and multilateral partners supporting Sri Lanka expeditiously in its current economic difficulties, said the Indian embassy in Colombo on September 20.

"We continue to be supportive of Sri Lanka in all possible ways, in particular by promoting long-term investments from India in key economic sectors in Sri Lanka for its early economic recovery and growth.

"In addition our bilateral development cooperation projects in Sri Lanka, which cumulatively total about $3.5 billion, are ongoing," it adds.

According to Solheim, green development is a very important pathway out of the crisis for the island nation.

"Renewable energies as solar, wind and hydro, electric mobility, tree planting, green agriculture and environment-friendly tourism all provide massive opportunities for jobs and prosperity. These are win-win policies, good for environment and economy at the same time."

As his role as President's International Climate Advisor, he remarked, "I will help him and his staff formulate the right policies to attract green investment from domestic and international business, not least Indian. I will try to help making international connections and help Sri Lanka learning from best environment practices in China, India, Europe and other places."

"Yes, exactly," remarked the former UN Environment chief when asked for remarks on climate change literally an existential threat to the nation.

"The dry north of Sri Lanka may be dryer, the wet south wetter. We may see more extreme weather and more landslides. But taking climate action is also a major opportunity for Sri Lanka to create jobs and prosperity, to make cities greener and improve health by reducing pollution," added Solheim.

During his tenure at UNEP, he played a crucial role in 2018 in convincing India to phase out single-use plastics from July 1, 2022, a major achievement in his crusade against plastic pollution.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS
vg/ksk/

Lucknow, Oct 9 (IANS) The BJP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)are going all out to woo Dalits with the former focusing on programmes held on Valmiki Jayanti and the latter observing the death anniversary of its founder, late Kanshi Ram.

Both, Valmiki Jayanti and Kanshi Ram's anniversary are on Sunday, October 9.

The birth anniversary of Maharishi Valmiki, who is credited for writing the original Ramayana during the lifetime of Lord Ram, is being marked with various events in Uttar Pradesh, including the continuous recital of the Ramayana at all temples of Lord Rama and Hanuman, as well as at all places associated with the epic along with the lighting of lamps this year.

The Yogi Adityanath government is celebrating the birth anniversary of Valmiki in a grand manner across UP this year.

Principal Secretary, Mukesh Kumar Meshram has issued directions in this regard to all divisional commissioners and the district magistrates asking them to ensure that Valmiki Jayanti is celebrated on a grand scale throughout the state.

The officials have been asked to arrange for the lighting of lamps or 'deepdan' as well as the continuous recital of the Ramayana for 8, 12 or 24 hours and organise similar other events at all places and temples related to Maharishi Valmiki on his Jayanti.

The celebration of the Valmiki Jayanti on a larger scale this year is apparently with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the Dalit votes. Valmiki is said to be a Dalit and the author of Ramayana.

The BJP strategy is to link Valmiki (Dalit) with Ramayana and consolidate the 'Hindu First' concept.

The state government has also revamped the 'Valmiki Ashram' in Chitrakoot which has now been developed as a tourist destination.

The Bahujan Samaj Party , on the other hand, is using the death anniversary of late Kanshi Ram to win back its cadres.

In a tweet, Mayawati, on Sunday, reminded her followers that it was BSP which had the 'master key' to power and had formed government four times in Uttar Pradesh.

"The next elections are a test for the Bahujan Samaj to get back power," she tweeted.

The BSP however, did not hold any major programme on the occasion and its leaders restricted themselves to paying floral tributes to their founder.

--IANS
amita/kvd

By D C Pathak
Advocates of police reform claim that September 22 was the 'Police Reform Day' - it marked the occasion when India's Supreme Court gave certain directions in this regard way back in 2006 - and basically pitch on the point that political interference in the functioning of the police was the principal reason for the decline in the performance of the law & order machinery of the states.


Equality before law is a basic requisite of democracy and an investigation into a cognisable offence is done in the exercise of the sovereign power of the state. The first question therefore is to examine if the police was even conscious of these higher principles governing its functioning and whether we can say that the leadership of the police in India that was in the hands of the 'Indian Police Service' - a prime national civil service - was sufficiently groomed in this light.

The Supreme Court had ordered that the IGP should have a minimum tenure so that mid-term transfer by political authority was discouraged and called for the creation of the Police Establishment Board (PEB) by the state, comprising of police officers and senior bureaucrats, to insulate powers of posting and transfers from political leaders.

At the same time, the apex court also desired that the state should establish a State Police Complaint Authority (SPCA) to address complaints of people aggrieved by police action or inaction, thereby acknowledging what was known to every body that the less privileged did not have faith in the Police as they felt that there was one law for the poor and another for the rich and powerful.

This last point about the urgency of dealing with complaints against the Police itself should in fact be considered as being at the core of police reform and should draw attention to the failure of the police leadership to supervise the functioning of that pivot of law & order called the Police Station (PS) and take responsibility for the doings of the subordinates.

The advocates of police reform hardly talk of the internal weaknesses and focus only on the one point thesis that all that was wrong with Police functioning was that politicians ran the police administration.

They do not critically examine the issue of expectations from the IPS officers who provided leadership to police everywhere having enjoyed a career that put them in a position of leadership of the civil force right from the beginning. These officers were supposed to have a justifiable pride in making it to a premier service on the basis of a national level merit-based examination.

The British might have run a system where the executive had a complete authority over the police but they also left the legacy of IPS for independent India by way of creating a service equivalent of which does not exist in any other major democracy.

IPS officers are centrally recruited, trained and allocated to the states with an assurance that they would be protected against any unfair punitive action by the state government.

Young IPS officers do retain the professional and moral flair initially but probably get conditioned by their latter experience of seeing the seniors succumbing to pressure or temptation and discovering - more often than not - that the incumbent occupying the highest position of DGP was not able to exercise the power of the chief of the state police - for whatever reasons. This again points to the need for introspection by the IPS leadership before it raised the issue of external factors like political interference and poor policeman-public ratio. The pattern of crime on the street today reflects a lack of 'fear of law' and the police leadership must look into this urgently.

In India's Constitutional scheme of things, states are quite autonomous in various areas of governance particularly in the maintenance of law & order and administration of police.

Police like any other instrument of government works under the political executive which must ultimately take responsibility for governance but lesser politicians cannot get over the temptation of misusing the coercive power for maintaining their hold through officers who would be willing to play to their tune.

The state governments have shown a tendency of relying on officers recruited by them, at the cost of IPS, while local politicians have been reaching out to Station House Officers (SHOs) directly at the back of the police leadership of the state.

The subservience of police officers - who went beyond accepting what was reasonable in the demand of politicians for the quick pursuit of a case - directly affects the environ of law & order which devalued democracy itself.

Law & order is a state subject but its decline damages the national image among other things, frightening the investors thereby impeding economic growth.

Police reform must therefore deliberate on ways and means of strengthening the stakes of the Centre in police functioning throughout the country.

The first thing that should be done is to enhance the legitimate role of the Centre - that was supposed to keep track of the performance of IPS officers seconded to the states - in the appointment of the DGPs.

The Supreme Court has already endorsed the idea of UPSC drawing up - in consultation with the state government concerned - a panel on the basis of merit-cum-seniority for such appointment and disapproved of the practice of state government choosing an 'officiating DGP' to serve its vested interests.

If Centre had an oversight in the matter of appointment of DGP and provided protection to IPS officers against an arbitrary punitive action of the state government then it should also have the capacity to initiate action against an individual IPS officer for any grave dereliction of duty.

Secondly, police reform, if it has any meaning, must focus on improving the working of PSs that represents the interface between the law & order authority and the public closest to the ground. The staffing of PS has to become officer-oriented and not remain constabulary-ridden as it happens to be at present.

The level of responsibility of SHO in a vast and populous country like India warrants that the PS should be in charge of a Gazetted Officer assisted by Inspectors, Sub Inspectors and ASIs.

A few educated constables should be there to maintain records, guard the lock up and accompany the Investigation Officer to the scene of crime wherever required. In this arrangement there will be no need for Circle Officers as the Deputy SP in charge of the PS can report to SP or Additional SP directly. This and the thinning of constabulary at the PS are significant for cost effectiveness.

Important PSs can have a section of Armed Police for use in a law & order contingency. Certainly, state governments have to spend more on police for the security of citizens in these times when newer kinds of crime and disorder are cropping up.

No territory can be left outside of a PS jurisdiction - the concept of a revenue official at the ground level accepting complaints on behalf of the police just because no Police Outpost had been created, is incongruous.

Policing is a profession that requires intelligence, training and human sensitivity, and cannot be considered as a last resort of the incompetent and the 'politically connected' even at the level of constabulary.

The CrPC authorises a 'police officer of any rank' to make an arrest under certain circumstances - in the British tradition every policeman is an 'officer' and equipped accordingly - the equivalent of our constabulary was not seen there. We should move towards making police in India an officer-oriented force and have zero tolerance for things like death in police custody, refusal to register a case at the PS - at least a Case Diary entry has to be made for any complaint - and use of 'third degree' during investigation. If the Police functioning is good it will be easier to identify and punish a rogue policeman.

A third aspect of police reform in Indian context should be the enlargement of recruitment of women in the police, wider induction of technology in police working and greater circulation of IPS officers of the states for posting in areas of special challenge in different parts of the country.

Significant presence of women is necessary not only for creating gender equality but more importantly for dealing with the continuing high incidence of crime against women and children.

Crime is a destabiliser for society and beyond a point even a threat to internal security. In a country, which is still ridden with gender inequality and obscurantism, adequate presence of women in police would improve its performance. Also a good motto of the police would read 'friendly but not familiar' - it should be friendly for the law abiding but should maintain a respectful distance from everybody.

The Centre has been funding police modernisation for years and the programme should be devoted specially to establishing the countrywide communication and connectivity, increasing mobility and intensifying interstate in-service training programmes to upgrade the national grid for law & order management.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the DGP's Conference in 2021, the formation of the National Technology Mission to build latest technology into the functioning of police in keeping with the current security scenario. The importance of an ongoing joint professional training for all police officers of different ranks - drawn from various states - can not be overemphasised.

In short, police reform must revolve round improving the internal working of the police, promoting professional independence of top leadership and providing all necessary man power, equipment and facilities in keeping with the crucial national role that the police plays in protecting citizens and safeguarding national security. Public opinion then will fully come into play as a deterrent against any unwanted political interference into the functioning of police in the states.

Police reform should figure in the deliberations of the annual DGPs Conference chaired by Director Intelligence Bureau which is addressed by the Union Home Minister as well as the Prime Minister. This conference takes the police chiefs through a review of internal security and highlights the potential of police as a first responder to the threat in many cases. Only a flawless police machinery would be able to live up to that role.

(The writer is a former Director of Intelligence Bureau. The views expressed are personal)

--IANS
pathak/shs

Bengaluru, Oct 7 (IANS) As e-commerce players earn big this festival season, India saw a de-growth of 11.8 per cent in retail sector jobs from August 2021 to August this year, a report showed on Friday.

Indians searching for retail jobs see a fall during the pandemic and beyond, and jobs in retails have seen an overall 5.50 per cent degrowth in the past three years.

Although jobs in retail saw an uptick of 27.70 per cent in 2020-2021, it again de-grew last year.

This could largely be due to the lockdowns last year and the work from home set up where people chose to purchase online during festivities, according to findings from leading job website Indeed.

"The festive months in India are usually a time where we see an increase in seasonal jobs to meet the increasing demand. Even though the percentage increase of jobs hasn't been on par with last year, that's not to say a substantial number of jobs have not been created," said Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales for Indeed India.

"Over 39.6 per cent of new jobs have been created. We see the discrepancy with last year given the global recessions happening, possible inflations, and the cautious nature of hiring currently," he mentioned.

While employment growth is slowing in retail trade, employer demand for workers remains strong in other verticals and job postings were at 62 per cent above their pre-pandemic baseline (September end).

Bengaluru holds the largest share of jobs in retail nationally, with 12.26 per cent of all retail jobs in the city, followed by Mumbai at 8.2 per cent.

At 6.29 per cent, job seekers in Chennai accounted for the lion's share of clicks for delivery jobs in India, said the report.

Delivery jobs have seen the highest demand in Bengaluru as well, with 5.5 per cent of all delivery jobs in the country being generated in the city, the report mentioned.

--IANS
na/pgh

By Vishnu Makhijani
New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) India's stories are a necessity for our children to have affirming images of themselves, and to build a strong sense of identity, says Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, co-founder and curator of the Neev Literature Festival (NLF) that has just concluded its sixth edition, the first in-person after being held virtually for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.


"The Neev Literature Festival was started in 2017 to fill the gap of a platform in India that takes children's literature and their reading seriously. And then we launched Neev Book award in 2018 to celebrate children's books from and about Indian lives, that are literary mirrors to Indian culture and identity," Sabharwal told IANS in an interview.

"India's success in literature for adults is well established globally and is now emerging in children's books, moving beyond the folk tales and mythology segments as well. Our children's writers experiment with diverse genres, but access to these books is a challenge given the small market for reading beyond academics. As a result, writing careers remain challenging too."

"But India's stories are a necessity for our children to have affirming images of themselves, and to build a strong sense of identity. Finally, there is the challenge of reading skills in our school system, with the over obsession with writing and assessments. Good readers finally make good writers," Sabharwal explained.

Noting that success in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) scores, "something that has eluded us", also correlates with reading wide and deep, and beyond academics, she said NLF had also launched a cross-country summer reading challenge to encourage children to read more and open their world through books.

In this way, NLF "upholds and celebrates the dual cause of Indian children's writing, bringing it centre stage and of reading as the fount of lifelong learning, creativity and imagination", Sabharwal elaborated.

Additionally, the Neev Book Award, now in its fifth edition, "recognises the power of Indian stories for building identity. With changing family structures and constant digital invasion, children's books are now the literary mirrors, and windows to the whole world of possibility".

Four categories of awards were given at the NLF:

Early Years: "Bumoni's Banana Trees" by Mita Bordoloi (Illustrated by Tarique Aziz, Published by Tulika Publishers)

Emerging Readers: "Jamlo Walks" by Samina Mishra (Illustrated by Tarique Aziz, Published by Puffin Books)

Junior Readers: "When the World Went Dark" by Jane De Suza (Published by Puffin Books)

Young Adults: "Rain Must Fall" by Nandita Basu (Published by Duckbill)

"Indian books focused on personal chronology, mythology and folk tales are wonderful, but must also convey the Ideas of India@75 and the hopes of India@100," Sabharwal maintained.

What has the response been from the stakeholders?

"We aim to build the community at two levels. One is the book creators, through work we do on the book award, and this year we also did a retreat with authors and publishers. The other is building a community of readers, through the reading challenge and of course the physical celebration of the LitFest itself.

"Authors and publishers recognise the quality at which we work is unique in India. Readers are growing significantly as well. The number of participants in the reading challenge and the festival are continuing to grow steadily," Sabharwal elaborated.

This year, nearly 100 groups of children from schools across the country participated in the summer reading challenge. And the festival, with 60 speakers, a 2,500-titles curated children's book marketplace, and 100 sessions - including book discussions, master classes, readings and sessions on building the reading habit - had 4,000-plus visitors.

"This year we also integrated all the sessions with storytelling to bring this celebration of children's literature unparalleled in India and recognised by the book creators, book sellers, readers and their influencers," Sabharwal said.

What has been her learnings as the organiser of the festival?

"NLF this year was special, and about community, learning and fun. Community because thousands of readers, authors, teachers, publishers, readers, parents, students, and volunteers came together to celebrate the most powerful form of lifelong learning. Learning because it was an intellectual buffet of diverse views of contemporary and historical India. And fun because getting together physically after the ravages of Covid reminded us of the energy that comes from being in the same space with people who care about the same thing.

"Most of our sessions have historically been in English. The rhythm, imagery and metaphor of regional languages has yet to make its way in a rich manner into children's books, and this year we started to bring in Indian languages including Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, etc. through short performances throughout the two days. A future direction for us has to be moving to more work in Indian languages somehow," Sabharwal said.

"In a world where Google knows everything and our children will have 55-year careers (we will have 45 and our parents had 35), reading is probably the most powerful way to stay relevant, interesting, and smart," she maintained.

What are the plans for the future?

"We will continue to invest in this space, with the goal of growing the body of globally benchmarked stories about India and strengthening the community of book creators. We are questioning the status quo of why India's children are not reading beyond textbooks, the status quo of why the children's book market is so small, and whose role is it to change this? Is it parents? Is it platforms like us? Is it publishers? Is it authors? We need to work and collaborate together to change this status quo for the future of our children," Sabharwal concluded.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

--IANS
vm/kvd

Etawah (UP), Oct 2 (IANS) The historic and iconic 'Gandhi Banyan Tree' (Gandhi Vatvriksha) that was said to be more than 300 years old, had fallen during torrential rains on September 22.

The spot where the tree stood will have a replacement which will be planted on Sunday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The tree came to be known as 'Gandhi Vatvriksha' because during the freedom movement, it was a meeting place for Gandhians.

Locals say that many freedom fighters in the district were tied to the tree and beaten by the British. Some were even hanged from the tree.

Prabhat Mishra, a government official posted in Agra who runs the 'Red Tape Movement' for forestation and tree protection, said that the administration assured the local people that a new banyan sapling would be planted at the same spot on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

However, local environmentalists, who are emotionally attached to the old, iconic tree, decided to cut twigs from the fallen banyan tree in an attempt to grow saplings from it.

The saplings from the old tree would be planted in Etawah, Firozabad, Mainpuri, and Agra, said Prabhat Mishra.

--IANS
amita/kvd