THE NEW THREAT FOR HIMACHAL'S RIVERS

                               

                                        [ This blog was published in THE TRIBUNE ]

THE  NEW  THREAT  FOR  HIMACHAL'S  RIVERS

Himachal's beautiful and priceless rivers are facing a new threat in their ongoing battle against "development". First it was the roads hacked out in their valleys, dumping tens of millions of tonnes of earth and debris into their waters, constricting their flows and  devastating aquatic life. Then came the hydel projects, extinguishing whatever little aquatic life was left, drying up the waters, and causing floods downstream. Now there's a new threat, ironically, the very sector and activity they nurture- Tourism.

As tourism expands into the remote interiors of the state under the indulgent and sightless gaze of the state government, its tentacles are snaking their way up the river valleys, bringing with them the same mercenary ruthlessness that has destroyed the state's urban centers. Haphazard constructions- hotels, homestays, guest houses, dhabas, workshops- are coming up all along these rivers, sometimes even on the river beds and their flood plains, obscuring the lovely views of rivers, dumping muck in them, discharging their sewage directly into the flowing waters, narrowing their channels. There are very few rivers left that are relatively undisturbed by this ravaging; having travelled (on foot) to practically all of them, I can count and name them on one hand- the Tirthan, Pubber, Uhl, Baspa, Chandrabhaga, Parvati (above Pulga), Rupen. Unless the government-particularly the departments of Forest, Town and Country Planning, Fisheries, Deputy Commissioners, Tourism- wakes up urgently the days of these rivers are numbered.

The Tirthan in Kullu district is perhaps the last of the relatively untouched rivers, because most of its course lies in the Great Himalayan National Park; it is also the final bastion of the endangered free roaming rainbow trout. Sadly, however, it has been discovered by Tourism and dozens of hotels and homestays have started springing up along its length below Gushaini, most of them "benami". A picture of a typical construction that is going on there even as I write this is given below, sent to me by some friends there:

                         

                 [ Construction of a hotel on the bed of the Tirthan river in Kullu district]

This massive construction (it's a hotel) has occupied almost two thirds of the width of the river bed, leaving just a narrow channel for the river to squeeze through. The problems it presents are obvious to all, except perhaps the government agencies who are supposed to prevent this: the obstruction caused by the structure will alter the course of the river, deflecting the water to the opposite bank and eroding it and washing away the orchards clearly visible in the photo.; any flood in the river will pose  a grave danger to this building and its residents; the entire sewage and grey water from this building has no other way to go but to be discharged into the Tirthan, no matter what its owners may say: the building is fifty below the road level and the sewage can only go down, not up. It doesn't matter if the construction is on private land- it is on the river bed, interferes with the flow of the river which should have the first right of way, will cause pollution in a river the locals consider as holy as the Ganga, and poses a threat to life. The locals have been protesting against this ongoing construction, and four panchayats of Banjar have passed a resolution asking for the work to be stopped but as usual, money and influence talks louder because the work continues, with redoubled vigour!

How are these types of constructions being allowed to come up? Is it even legal under the stringent land ownership laws of the state, debarring outsiders from owning land here? Has it obtained TCP and Pollution Control Board approvals, and if so, how were these granted in the face of the obvious implications on safety and the environment? The Deputy Commissioner Kullu and concerned departments need to address these questions. (I learn that a temporary stay had been issued by the Forest department now, but that is now vacated).

Similar constructions are happening along all the rivers. After the floods of 2022-23 the government has taken some decisions about banning constructions on the flood plains of the Beas. This is not enough. Similar action should be taken for all the rivers in the state, at least the ones mentioned above, which are under grave threat. Any type of construction (regardless of land ownership) should be prohibited within at least 50 meters of the river bank, or upto its HFL (High Flood Level). It is imperative that an Eco-Zone be declared along the entire length of these rivers under the Environmental Protection Act, on the pattern of National Parks. Before granting approvals a thorough scrutiny should be made of the land title to rule out "benami" deals. It is common knowledge that this is rampant in the Tirthan valley.

Himachal's rivers are its most precious assets, especially given the prospect of the looming water shortages in the coming decades. They should not be destroyed for commercial profits and political rent seeking.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL-- WE ARE A NATION OF PARASITES

 A long, long time ago when people still read books and were not educated exclusively by Whatsapp forwards or Tik-Tok reels, Nirad Choudhry, the last Englishman in India, claimed in his book of the same name that India was a continent of Circe, where humans were turned into beasts. Now, 70 years later, he has been vindicated by no less an authority than the Supreme Court of India itself. In a recent judgment a bench of the Court termed the under privileged and poor of the country (there are 230 million of them, and 800 million get free rations) as "parasites", thereby improving upon Nirad Babu's formulation of mere beasts. It said, in effect, that the poor, the jobless, the homeless, the landless- the most vulnerable and helpless sections of our 1400 million people- were unjustly consuming the resources of the state through subsidies, doles and "freebees" and implicitly castigated them for their sorry fate. "Are we not creating a class of parasites?" it asked, going on to lament that "they are getting free rations without doing any work!" A demonstration of empathy not seen since the times of Nero.

The Court, in its zeal to sound both learned and neo-liberal, has unwittingly provided its imprimatur and endorsement to the insensitive, cold hearted and callous attitude of the present government to the ordinary citizen of the country, whose fate it is to be counted at election time and then to be consigned to the dungeons of oblivion. Public suffering, hardship and grievances does not matter to it so long as it continues winning elections. This has been amply demonstrated in the last ten years on numerous occasions when the government has not batted an eyelid to provide relief or redress wrongs, or to even display some compassion: the interminable queues at banks and ATMs, in the rain and cold, during the disaster of demonetisation; the year long protest of farmers resulting in more than 600 deaths, the ill-conceived and sadistic Covid lockdown forcing millions of the urban poor to WALK back to their distant villages in the searing heat, being de-contaminated and beaten by police on the way; the messed up Covid policies resulting in more than 40 lakh deaths according to WHO and international observers, the hundreds of corpses floating in the Ganga, the dead in the Kumbh hyper marketing. Even as I write this the Railways are herding Mahakumbh pilgrims into trains like sardines, 5000 in a train meant for 1200, simply so that Mr. Vaishnaw, the Railway Minister can notch up a few records like his Chief Ministerial colleague in Uttar Pradesh. The fact that people are dying in this pursuit of Guinness records and brownie points from an uncaring Prime Minister is, of course, of no concern. For aren't these pesky people parasites who deserve nothing better?

 The Hon'ble court would do well to realise that mere obiter dicta of this type only dehumanises people and brutalises an already brutal government. A solution needs a deeper understanding of the origins of the problem. If people do not work it is because there are no jobs for them. If they need free rations it is because they do not have the money to buy them, if they are homeless it is because millions have to forcibly migrate to cities for employment. The Court would have done well to reflect on where these hundreds of millions of "parasites" came from. For they did not have an immaculate conception, my lords, but were birthed by consistently unwise, avaricious and exploitative policies of past and present governments. They are not poor out of choice, or dependent on governments because they are lazy, but because they have been reduced to this state by governments they have elected over the years, by policies that have consistently favoured just the top ten percent of the population. Consider some of them:

* More than 50 million people have been displaced by projects- dams, cement plants, power projects, urbanisation, highways, mines, airports.  Rarely do these projects improve their lives, for the benefits flow to cities, industrialists and politicians. They are not parasites, they are internally displaced persons, refugees in their own country.

* The destruction and denudation of the environment which accompanies these projects has immense adverse impacts on the livelihoods of the rural population, forcing more and more to migrate to urban areas. This is particularly true of the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan states. Just the havoc of reckless dam building has displaced 16 million people.

* The worst effected are the category who most need the state's help- tribals, forest dependent communities, and indigenous people. In an article by Roshan Varughese and Soumen Mukherjee in the journal Nature.com (23.5.24), 40% of the victims of development induced displacement are Adivasis, even though their share of the population is only 8%. Thousands are being evicted on an almost daily basis because of state governments' unwillingness to implement the Forest Rights Act: only 3 states have implemented its provisions, but that too only partially.

* Short-sighted, compliance based, propaganda oriented policies are being rammed through a system where its stakeholders are unprepared to navigate their rules. A prime example is the ubiquitous and pernicious tyranny of the KYC process for banks, ration cards and MNREGA. This is a nightmare for even the digitally aware, but for the uneducated poor it has become a matter of survival and a cause of destitution. According to a report by the NGO Lib-Tech, more than 80 million workers were removed from MNREGA rolls in just two years, 2022-24, because of KYC issues. A Down to Earth magazine report of 28th October 2024 quotes a study carried out in two districts of Jharkhand (Latehar and Lohardaga) which revealed that bank accounts of 60% of the families had been frozen for want of completed KYC verification, depriving them access to whatever little money they had, MNREGA wages and Direct Benefit transfers, leaving them at the point of starvation. Similarly, millions of the poor are being denied ration under the PDS because they are unable to complete their KYC. It has been reported that 7 million and 6.9 million beneficiaries in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, respectively, have had their cards frozen for want of KYC verification.

* Not only has the present government failed to create new jobs in adequate numbers, it has destroyed millions of existing jobs through demonetisation, GST and neglect of the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector. Employment, under-employment and disguised unemployment are at their highest levels in 45 years, even as 12 million new job seekers enter the market every year. Who do the poor turn to if there are no jobs for them? And how do they eat if they get no wages?

* We may tom-tom that we are the fifth or fourth largest economy in the world but that offers no succor to the poor, for we rank 140 in per-capita income, below Bangladesh. In a shocking analysis of Household consumption data, T. Muralidharan in an article in Telengana Today (Nov. 13, 2024) has revealed that the bottom 30% of our population ( 420 million people) spend just Rs. 50 on food per day per capita, whereas a vegetarian thali costs more than Rs. 50 (Economic Survey 2020). Worse, the poorest 5% of the country lives on just 2/3 rds of a thali per day!

One is left wondering if the Hon'ble court had informed itself of these facts before terming these unfortunates as parasites. Quick-fixes are okay for joining shards of broken Dresden pottery, but will not repair the broken edifice of a nation's conscience or a government's splintered feeling of compassion, or faulty neo capitalist policies. Judicial quick-fixes are particularly dangerous for they impart a legal legitimacy to half baked ideas. Yes, there are plenty of undeserving people benefitting from these welfare schemes and they should be weeded out. The court would have rendered yeoman's service to the nation if it had focused on this aspect and directed the government to prepare a time bound plan to do so, instead of using a broad brush to castigate and condemn the poor. We have robbed the country's poor of their lands, jobs, food and health; let us not strip them of their right to be called human beings. It is all they have left.

AAP IS ALIVE AND KICKING--IT'S THE ALLIANCE WHICH IS ON (CONGRESS) ASSISTED DYING

 Yes, Kejriwal has lost the Delhi elections. But make no mistake- the AAP put up a valiant and courageous fight, and came to within inches of winning. Don't let these sold out media platforms and sundry Yogendra Yadav clones tell you otherwise, look at the official figures. The BJP at 46% of the vote share was only 2% ahead of AAP at 44%- it is the oddity of the first-past-the-post system that converted this into a 26 seat lead for God's Own Party. In a proportionate system both the parties would have been tied at 35 seats apiece. By no means has the AAP been "wiped out", as some commentators and bhakts would have you believe: in Delhi AAP remains a potent force which can still take the fight to the BJP over the next five years. Don't look at the size of the dog in the fight, look at the size of the fight in the dog.

Nobody in his right senses expected the AAP to win, the odds against it were overwhelming- relentless persecution by the Center over the last five years, jailing of all its top leaders on trumped up charges unsubstantiated by any evidence even after three years of arrests, raids and investigations, blatant sniping and sabotaging by the Lieutenant Governor, blocking of all its popular schemes on one pretext or the other, a partisan police force, a defiant bureaucracy with loyalties to the Center rather than the elected government of the state, an Election Commission which is now a player in the game rather than an umpire, the deletion and injection of thousands of dubious votes before the elections, a somnolent judiciary which has failed to curb the executive or deliver timely justice, a Corporate India rooting for the BJP in the hope of churning out more billionaires, an announcement of major tax breaks just four days before polling in a condemnable violation of the model code of conduct.

And yet, it is testament to the resilience of the AAP that it almost won. For the first time in any state the BJP was forced to modify its electoral strategy, as Harish Khare has pointed out in an article: the BJP was compelled to soft pedal its communal tool- kit and adopt a leaf out of Kejriwal's welfare book. No other political party could have come even close to matching AAP's performance. Certainly not the Congress with its recent track record of being annihilated in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh and Haryana.

That being said, one hopes that Kejriwal and his advisors are also doing some deep reflection and soul-searching. For their mistakes too are many: a will o' the wisp ideological opportunism, embracing of a copy-cat "soft" Hindutva, keeping silent on Muslim persecution at Shaheen Bagh and the NE Delhi riots, uncalled for hounding of Rohingya refugees, excessive welfarism at the cost of Delhi's crumbling infrastructure. These have contributed to the 9% away swing of its vote share, but they are not the prime reason for its loss. The death blow was delivered by its Alliance partner, the Congress.

One  hopes that the Congress will also do some introspection, once they are finished gloating over Kejriwal's "downfall." For it is this, now largely irrelevant party, which ensured the AAP's defeat. Figures now released by the ECI show that in 14 constituencies the Congress candidates polled more votes than the BJP candidates' winning margin, thus ensuring the latter's win; these include seats contested by Kejriwal, Sisodia, Somnath Bharti and Saurabh Bharadwaj. Rahul Gandhi (or the coterie of sleeper cells around him) have extracted their "revenge" even though the party got just 6% of the votes, did not win a single seat, and 67 of their candidates lost even their deposits! At the rate this party continues to cut off its nose to spite its face in every election, it will soon have no nose left, just a void where it will bury a hundred years of its history and achievements.

Congress apologists have been defending its contesting against AAP in Delhi by pointing out that this is exactly what the latter did to the Congress in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal, but this analogy is faulty. For in none of these states was the Congress, or any Alliance partner, the ruling party at the time of the elections, both parties were fighting against the BJP. But in Delhi the Congress was fighting against an Alliance partner and trying to dislodge one of its own. It did not have a claim to even a single seat in Delhi given its miserable 4% vote share and performance in the last ten years. And yet, for reasons that can only be attributed to a sense of entitled egotism and the thirst for revenge, it decided that "na jeetunga, na jeetne doonga."

The Congress has now become a spoiler at the national level, a clear and present danger to the restoration of democracy in India. It cannot forget its grand past and refuses to accept that it is no longer a "national party" at the state level- the brutal truth is that it is now just another regional party in a couple of states. It will not play second fiddle to any other regional party and refuses to abide by an unwritten Alliance Dharma. For the sake of the nation it must be persuaded to abandon its delusions of grandeur, to accept reality and to recognise that its first priority has to be to fight the BJP, not its allies.

The Delhi model of governance that AAP offered as an alternative to the Gujarat model worked, as two successive massive wins by the AAP proved. For the first time in our history an alternate model of politics was offered in Delhi, one based on concern for the under privileged, "life-line" services as a right, unsupported by money bags and corporates, without any communal agenda, all actively propagated by a cadre of educated, committed and idealistic workers and volunteers. This was the anti-thesis of all that the BJP stands for, and could not be allowed to succeed. The ruling party has achieved its demolition objective, and Kejriwal has to share part of the blame for this, as pointed out in earlier paras. He must now course correct, go back to the party's original drawing board, seek out saner counsel and advisors and remain true to the original vision with which his party was founded. The coming days will not be easy for him for all the dogs of war will be set loose on him and his leaders. AAP has to rediscover the gritty resilience which had brought it to power in the first place- it still has the support of the electorate (it's core vote of 44% is more than the BJP's 38%) but it has to rebuild its ideological foundations. It has to stand for something positive and unambiguous, not be all things to all people or have a negative or equivocal ideology.

 The Congress must realise that the voter must be given a binary choice only. Or else, by 2029 there will be no party left to do any fighting, and nothing worth fighting for.

BOOK REVIEW - ANANDA: AN EXPLORATION OF CANNABIS IN INDIA

                     

                             

                     [This review was published in The Tribune on 12th Jan. 2025]

BOOK REVIEW- "ANANDA- AN EXPLORATION OF CANNABIS IN INDIA" by Karan Madhok.

                                                    ON  THE  CANNABIS  TRAIL

This is a rather unusual book, grafted on the back of the author's travels in elevent states in pursuit of his research on the cannabis plant and its derivatives- ganja, hemp, bhang, hashish and charas. Most of us have a nodding, if not sniffing, acquaintance with cannabis but know little about its botanical structure, origins, history, economics, legality, religious connection or medicinal value. Karan Madhok has dug deep to educate us on these aspects, but in a manner which is personal, anecdotal and sometimes humorous. 

We learn that the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis is a chemical called THC, and the higher the THC the more potent the drug. The plant consists of the stem and the flower, it is the latter that contains the highest concentration of THC, from which the hashish and charas are produced, and hence banned in India. The stem has a very low level of the chemical, from which bhang and ganja and hemp are derived and these are legal. The hemp is used for making ropes, baskets, footwear, clothing etc. and is an important part of the economy of the Himalayan villages such as Malana in Himachal, whose Malana Cream is acknowledged to be among the finest in the world. There are also the Idukki Gold of Kerala, Sheelavathi of Odisha and Koraput Purple of the Andhra-Odisha border. Whether in its potent or weaker form, cannabis has been used for centuries for medicine, recreation, nutrition, and has a deep connection with religion.

The United Nations estimates that 4.3% of adults consume cannabis, it is the most widely used, cultivated and trafficked illicit substance in the world. But states are ramping up the pressure to legalise controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal, scientific and industrial purposes and to amend the NDPS Act. Uttarakhand has already done this to some extent and Himachal too has passed a resolution to this effect in September this year. Such a measure could revolutionise the economies of these states and create huge employment opportunities in agriculture, processing and transportation sectors.

Supported by statistics and independent studies, the author raises a pertinent point: is the state justified in spending humungous amounts of financial, administrative and judicial resources in enforcing the NDPS Act on drugs like cannabis? Is this even serving any purpose? The kingpins of the drug cartels are never caught, it is only the "foot soldiers"- the impoverished farmer, the carrier, the middleman- who are convicted and imprisoned. The Act gives the police and other agencies a blank cheque to harass and extort money (as in the Aryan Khan case) and breeds corruption. The draconian prohibition of these milder and organic drugs is driving the youth to harder, more dangerous, chemical formulations; (the author points to the epidemic of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is reportedly responsible for two thirds of drug related deaths in the USA and is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged eighteen to forty nine). And finally, he argues, this harsh policy is also depriving the state of billions of dollars of revenue, and denying livelihood opportunities to the poorest farmers in the most backward, forested and hilly areas where the plant thrives. We should learn from the USA where half the states have already legalised cannabis, and a state like California earns about US$ 6 billion (Rs. 50000 crore) annually by licensing its use and consumption. 

For me the most interesting part of the book is where the author details the connection between ganja/ bhang and India's syncretic culture and religion. For, as he puts it brilliantly, "much like the Indian constitution, cannabis is secular" and representative of the "Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb."

Religion: cannabis is associated with all major religions of India- it is extolled by Persian poets as a "heavenly guide", considered by some Muslim sects as the embodiment of the spirit of the prophet Khidr in whose honour the Sufis consume it; in Tantric Buddhism it is extolled for its medicinal powers; the Sikh Nihangs refer to it as Sukha prasad and it is consumed during the Hola Mohalla festivities (even though Guru Nanak is supposed to have opposed its consumption). It is almost at the core of Hinduism, associated with practically all its major Gods- Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Balrama, Hanuman, Jagannath in one way or the other, and its festivals-Holi, Khumb, Shivratri, Vijaya Dasmi, Trinath Puja. It is offered to the Gods, or consumed in many forms, at many major temples across the breadth of the country.

Food: bhang is to be found in many of the favourite dishes/drinks in many states- ice-cream, laddoos, gajar ka halwa, suji ka halwa, Christmas plum pudding, pakoras, panipuri, rosogolla, majaun (a confection enjoyed by Babur).

Bollywood: the Zeenat Aman song "Dum Maro Dum" in the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1973) has become the cannabis anthem for the nation,  defining the nous of a whole generation. Since then the association has stuck with the Hindi film industry, for better or worse, through Aap Ki Kasam (Rajesh Khanna, 1974), Silsila (Amitabh Bacchan, 1980), Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwanee (Deepika Padukone, 2013), culminating in the drug related controversies of Sushant Singh Rajput and Aryan Khan. As the author observes, we have a Janus faced attitude to cannabis- we both worship and villainise it, there's a thin line between spirituality and sin! 

Madhok also gives us a thumb-nail account of the history and geographical spread of cannabis, beginning with Columbus arriving in America wearing a hemp jacket! We learn that more than fifty nations have legalised or decriminalised the plant for medicinal and industrial purposes, and are reaping the benefits in terms of revenue, tourism, reduced alcohol consumption, employment and treatment of various chronic diseases. There is a huge global market for hemp products ranging from textiles, furnishings, construction materials to ropes, paints and plastic substitutes. India is not even a player in this market, with its share of the global trade at just 0.0002%. He cautions that if we do not quickly revise our NDPS centered policy on cannabis we shall miss this bus completely. Small beginnings have been made- there are about one hundred start-ups in areas such as ayurvedic medicines, wellness centers, restaurants, textiles etc.- but this is not even scratching the surface of the vast potential that this, our very own Indian plant, offers. 

The author's final message? That it is time to reclaim the cultural, religious and medicinal heritage of cannabis as our own, before it is expropriated by other countries. We have to look back to look forward, he says. But is anyone listening? 

LAST BUS TO MANDI

 

LAST BUS TO MANDI.

   Most people would would be surprised to learn that Himachal's most iconic symbols are neither Preity Zingta nor Kangana Ranaut, it is the HRTC (Himachal Road Transport Corporation) bus- green and white in colour when the money for a paint job is available, a muddy ochre  when it is not; battered and dented, baskets of fruits , vegetables and a few drunken Rohru types perched on the roof; a goat or two ruminating on the back seats. Nothing represents Himachal better than a fully loaded HRTC bus, clawing its suicidal way up mountain roads that have no reason to be there, one rear wheel on the road, the other off it, mocking the sheer abyss below it. This humble bus has kept the state connected since long before the roads were taken over by the private cars, SUVs and taxis; it has been the lifeline for Himachal's commerce, tourism, agriculture, and has given the state a sense of collective identity.

   Its drivers are iconic figures themselves, role models for every village youth and even Mr. Modi's chaiwallahs, pakoda wallahs, chowkidars and "panna pramukhs" have not been able to displace them. They are the counterparts of the gunslingers of the American wild west- a rough breed with their own distinct language and culture, risking their lives daily on roads that defy the accepted laws of gravity, physics and engineering. Every second rural teen aspires to become an HRTC driver. On rural routes, where the buses have to park at night at the terminal point of their route, villagers vie with each other to offer board and lodging (free of course) to the driver, for he is their vital life line to the modern world and markets outside.  Relatively well travelled and widely respected, he is also a potent opinion maker, especially when it comes to elections!

   My first experience with the HRTC occured in 1977 when I had to take my brand new bride to Mandi where I was undergoing my IAS training. In those pre-Gadkari days there were only two services to Mandi, one during the day and one overnight. On a cold February night, therefore, Neerja and I boarded the night bus to Mandi at Kashmiri Gate (an ordinary one, there were no AC or deluxe buses then). As an IAS probationer I was allotted the favoured seats just behind the driver. The bus was overcrowded and smelt of Himachal- garlic, angoori, sheep (everybody was wearing the "pattu" coats) and the vapours released by sturdy tribals who had dined well, if not wisely. Fresh out of Lady Shri Ram, Neerja was adorned in tight jeans, jacket and boots; the driver took an instant liking to her and invited her to sit next to him on the hot engine cover. She declined, not wishing to become the toast of the evening. The journey took all of ten bone-breaking hours, we lost most of our luggage (kept on the roof) on the steep climb from Kiratpur to Swarghat. and the bus broke down twice, coincidentally at "desi sharab ka thekas" where the driver would disappear for half an hour and reappear saying he had fixed the fuel pipe! I am happy to report that our marriage survived this first test, and every trial and travail since then has been a cakewalk in comparison.

   In subsequent years one got to travel quite a lot in HRTC buses, because back then it was the fortunate SDM (Sub-divisional Magistrate) who got a Jeep to himself. I as SDM Chamba had to share one with the SDM Dalhousie, my good friend C. Balakrishnan, who in later years managed the impossible feat of retiring as Secretary Coal in the central government without getting charge-sheeted or imprisoned. I toured extensively by bus in Churah, Tissa, Salooni and Bharmour, some of the most undeveloped areas of the state, and developed a healthy respect for HRTC and its staff.

   In the late eighties I was appointed as Managing Director of this creaking behemoth, with 1200 buses and 7000 staff. And here I learnt of some endearing tricks they kept up their sleeve. Leaking of revenues (pocketing the fare instead of issuing tickets) is an existential problem for all state transport undertakings. We used to set up "nakas" everywhere at all hours of the day and night to nab the rascals but rarely succeeded in netting anyone after the first catch. I soon discovered that these chaps had perfected a wireless form of communicating with other buses to warn them of the checkpoints. Remember, this was decades before the advent of the cell phone. They had a system of coded signals which was flashed to all other buses "en passant", as it were, warning them of the impending check post. We rarely caught any fish after the first one.

   There were no private buses in those pre- liberalisation days and HRTC functioned as a monopoly. This gave their unions enormous power, and they flexed their muscles every six months by going on a strike just for the heck of it. We just had to grin and bear it, for confronting them was out of the question. The officers were accustomed to the tried and tested SOP- we were all locked up in our rooms in the head office, sans food or water, gheraoed in proper Labour Day style till we signed on the dotted line. I decided to develop an SOP of my own the day before the next strike. I rang up an old friend, AK Puri who was the DIG (Police) Shimla,  reminded him of our good old days in Bilaspur (AK was the Superintendent of Police there when I was the Deputy Commissioner), and expressed the hope that he would like to see me in one piece after the next day's strike. AK responded like a champion : the next day the HRTC office was flooded with more policemen than are currently on spiritual duty in the Kumbh mela. The gherao was rendered "non est", the unions decided they didn't have a grievance after all, and I had no more strikes for the duration of my tenure- cut short, sadly, by a Minister who was miffed by the fact that I didn't see (say?) "Aye to Aye" with him!

   There were no hard feelings, however. Almost twenty years later a tree fell on me while I was taking my dog for a walk in a snowstorm. I busted three spinal vertebras, two ribs and punctured a lung and spleen for good measure. I was laid up in hospital for three months and the doctors told me I would probably never walk again without crutches. While I was absorbing all this a group of HRTC drivers came to see me. They told me of a "vaid" in Mandi who fixed broken bones (even vertebras) with a concoction made out of herbs and roots which had to be taken four times a day with ghee and honey. They assured me that it would have me on my feet again in two months. On my expressing some well founded scepticism they told me something which made a lot of sense.

" Look, sir, we are breaking our bones all the time in some bus accident or the other. We don't go to any hospital, we go to this vaid, and he has cured each and every one of us. We all speak from personal experience. Please give him a try- you are already flat on your back, you can't get any lower than that, can you?"

Since this rhetorical question was one which even Mr. Subramaniam Swamy would have found difficult to answer, I agreed. Every week one of these good samaritans would bring me a fresh batch of the unctuous, foul smelling concoction, with some of the precious "shilajit" as an added kick. I banished the doctors and surgeons to their autopsy rooms and within three months I was playing golf again, even though my swing is not what it used to be- earlier I used to move the ball, now I move more of terra firma. A couple of years later I retired from service with most of my spine intact, no mean achievement for a bureaucrat, if I say so myself ! All because of a bunch of ne'er do wells who remembered an MD who had out-smarted them at their own game twenty years ago.

   It's been a long association with HRTC and I've gained far more from it than I have given. And it all started with a night bus for Mandi forty eight years ago.  

BOOK REVIEW: EMERGENCY AND NEO - EMERGENCY by MG DEVASAHAYAM

                                       

                                     

                                                     THE STRUGGLE TO REMEMBER

 Milan Kundera, the Czech-French novelist once said: "The struggle of Man against Power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." Devashayam's book is a brave attempt to ensure that this lesson is not forgotten in these days of tampering with history by all political parties and an effete media. Indira Gandhi declared the internal Emergency in June 1975, and two generations have since been born and grown to maturity in India; they have the right to know what transpired in that year and the days leading up to it, without misinterpretations, redactions or deletions. But that is only half the book, the other half is a documentation of the undeclared Neo- Emergency since 2014, leaving the reader to wonder (as intended by the author, no doubt): is there any difference between the two? In between are chapters on what is a central pillar of the book, the venerable Jaiprakash Narayan (JP), the "moral heir of Mahatma Gandhi" and arguably the final trigger for the imposition of Emergency by a rattled Mrs. Gandhi.

Devasahayam, as the legal custodian of JP by virtue of being the District Magistrate of Chandigarh where the latter was imprisoned in a hospital, had a ringside view of events in those troubled  days. Not only did he spend countless hours with JP as "the son he never had" and gained his total trust and confidence, he was also in constant touch with key players in Delhi and privy to the goings-on. What comes out very strongly in this narration is his total empathy for the septuagenarian freedom fighter; while he had grave misgivings about the course of events Mrs. Gandhi had launched the nation on, yet he performed his duty to his government faithfully- a blend of fealty to the Constitution, conscience and humanism that is so rare these days (and was perhaps so even then, considering how all officialdom caved in so meekly then).

Recounting the career of JP in great detail, Devashayam's admiration and respect for him, his moral fervour and integrity, comes through clearly, but he holds JP responsible for legitimising the RSS by inducting it into his movement of "Total Revolution", and for forcing Mrs. Gandhi's hand by his intransigence and refusal to compromise: in the author's words: "Both JP and Indira Gandhi failed democracy and betrayed their lack of faith in the rule of law." His concern for JP's deteriorating health in captivity made him an indefatigable interlocutor between JP and the powers in Delhi, an effort which finally succeeded on the 15th November, 1975, with his release by a panicked Delhi.

The book provides a lot of insights into the events leading up to the proclamation of Emergency on the night of 25th June 1975, something which caught by surprise the entire Cabinet, the Defence forces and the state administrations; the midnight arrests, the blanking out of the media. But he also addresses some of the questions that have bedeviled us for 50 years: would Mrs. Gandhi have resigned after the Allahabad High Court set aside her election on 12th June 2025 if Sanjay Gandhi had not intervened? Did the Opposition and JP force her hand by their rallies and demand for her resignation even though the Supreme Court had allowed her to continue as PM (though without voting powers in Parliament)? Was the Allahabad High Court judgment the only trigger for the Emergency or did the Nav Nirman Andolan in Gujarat, the Railway strike led by George Fernandes, the Samoorna Kranti Andolan of JP also contribute to it? Was there any evidence to support the ostensible reason for invoking Article 352, viz. that law and order had broken down throughout the country?  Were the arrests of more than 100,000 people her work or that of the coterie led by her son? Was this same coterie responsible for causing JP's health problems and for blocking any reconciliation between him and the Prime Minister? Why were no serious efforts made by the Janata government to determine how JP's kidneys were allowed to fail during his imprisonment at PGI Chandigarh, condemning him to a certain death? Why is the original letter from Mrs Gandhi to the President recommending the imposition of Emergency not available in the official records? Devasahayam provides all the known (and some unknown) facts and leaves the reader to decide for himself.

Mrs. Gandhi, probably inspired by faulty intelligence reports, called for fresh elections which were held in March 1977, and was roundly defeated by the newly formed Janata Dal, helmed by the still fighting-fit septuagenarian leader. It didn't last, of course, torn apart by its own internal and ideological contradictions and machinations by the Jana Sangh. But it set the stage for the rise of the BJP. For all his veneration and deep, even personal, regard for JP, however, Devasahayam states that JP's biggest "blunder" was coopting the Jana Sangh and the RSS into his movement, giving them the launching pad for grabbing power. He concedes that JP had sound reasons for entering into this "Devil's bargain" with the Jana Sangh- the need for their organised cadres, the fact that the Communists, Socialists and people like Vinobha Bhave sided with Mrs. Gandhi, the South's indifference to the excesses of the Emergency since it was hardly evident there. In addition, top leaders of the Jana Sangh and RSS- Advani, Balasaheb Deoras, Vajpayee- had all given him assurances that they would give up communal politics, that the Jana Sangh would merge with the Janata Party and give up its links with the RSS. They reneged on all of them, and as a consequence have now captured absolute power in the country. The leader of India's "second freedom struggle" died of a "broken heart" on 8th October, 1979.

The latter half of the book covers more familiar territory for most of us- the post 2014 period, what Devashayam terms the Neo -Emergency. He feels- and many would agree with him- that Modi's undeclared emergency is much more dangerous for the nation than the 18 month Emergency of Mrs Gandhi; in his words: " the present Neo-Emergency processes are far more insidious and systemic and are likely to undermine our collective being as a society for a long time to come." With brutal honesty and objective arguments, he goes on to validate his assertion by listing out the BJP's "achievements" during this period, dissects their exaggerated claims with a scalpel and pulverises them with a sledge hammer: - Demonetisation ("a state sponsored money laundering operation of gigantic proportions"); the Covid lockdown which knocked 4% off the country's GDP, collapsed 650000 SMEs and rendered 45 million migrant labour jobless; the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) along with NPR (National Population Register) and NRC (National Register of Citizens)-all part of the process of making India a Hindu Rashtra; the new Criminal Laws (designed "to reduce the people of India from 'citizens' to 'subjects'). Each and every assertion is backed up by data, analysis, reports and the government's statements, and is difficult to repudiate.

Chapter 18  ("Emasculating Institutions of Democratic Governance") is a must-read, it is written with a lot of passion and based on meticulous research. Devasahayam spares no office in demonstrating how all constitutional institutions intended to protect democracy have been defenestrated and weaponised since 2014, how they are now like an auto-immune disease, consuming the very body they were supposed to defend. He spares no office- Parliament, the President, the Civil services, Union Public Service Commission, CAG, NHRC, Minorities Commission, Central Information Commission, SEBI, the PMO. He details the hounding of NGOs, the terrorising of civil society by reproducing parts of actual case studies of three prominent NGOs. True to his efforts to clean the Augean stables of electoral processes, the author devotes a whole chapter to the Election Commission of India, terming it "partisan and prejudiced" and asserting that it has "abdicated its constitutional role" and "has lost control of the elections. "This Neo-Emergency, according to the author, is replacing our democracy with "a system of top-down kleptocracy/kakistocracy". Mrs. Gandhi's Emergency was not even a trailer compared to what is happening now.

To conclude, this is a book which had to be written, but there are not many left in this country who have the scholarship, conviction and courage to write one. The book is a cry of pain by someone who has spent all his adult life in the service of the nation, first in the army, then in the civil services and now as an active member of civil society. It is a plea to remember the past, worry about the present, and act boldly for the future. History rarely offers a second chance.

IF NOT MY WIFE, WHOSE WIFE SHOULD I STARE AT, SIR ?

                                  

So another Sisyphus has surfaced on our corporate horizon, putting his shoulder to the boulder of "nation building". The Chairman of L+T (Larsen and Toubro), a one lakh crore multi-national behemoth, not satiated with the Rs. 51 crore he brings home every year (which is 540 times what his average employee subsists on), wants his serfs to work harder so that he can amass even more and quickly move on to some other country before that same boulder crushes him. Mr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys fame wanted a 70 hour week, Mr. Subhramanyan has upped it to 90 hours, all striving for that 18 hours-per-day jackpot which the Prime Minister himself has set as a bar. All this would be absurdly funny if it did not indicate a deep sickness in our society, specifically the captains of our industry and polity (with a few laudable exceptions).

Sometime back I had termed these individuals as representatives of the new East India Company that now rules this sorry nation, exploitative slave- drivers and profit seekers to the core (India's New Colonisers and the new East India Company, June 3, 2023), and I am saddened to see myself being vindicated every day by both industry and the government. For what is going on under the garb of "nation building" is nothing but personal fortune building in one case, and power consolidation in the other. The new corporate template is "Make in India, Park it abroad." This consists of various strands. The first is to extract more of the honest tax payers' moneys by way of subsidies, incentives (PLI) and tax waivers (Corporate Income Tax now contributes less to direct taxes than Personal Income Tax-a first in our history). The second is to bleed the average employee and amass fortunes for the promoters and top honchos. (Corporate profits have increased by 300% in the last ten years while worker salaries, in real terms, have gone down by 1% each year between 2012 and 2022, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute for Human Development). And this even though Indian worker salaries are the twelfth lowest in the world (and would be even lower if the inflation-indexed government employees' salaries are taken out of the equation)! The third strand is to pocket these profits and decamp to fairer climes abroad: according to the Henley Wealth Migration report 2024, 5100 dollar millionaires left India in 2023 and the expected number for 2024 is 4300. A pretty good recipe, if you ask me, for ignoring your own wife and staring at other people's wives in Davos or Biarritz or the UAE.                                                                                                                                                                        There is no empathy for the worker (whether in the organised, informal, gig, or self employed sectors), the farmer, the students, the MNREGA labour, the unemployed, or the hundreds of millions living below the poverty line (whose numbers have grown since 2014, according to independent economists). They are mere fodder to serve corporate interests or dutifully cast their votes in elections which are rigged. We continue to be one of the worst performing countries in the world in the Inequality Index (rank 127 out of 193 countries, below even Bangladesh and Nepal), and the Inequality Lab has stated that inequality in India today is worse than it was during British rule. So when people like our Finance or Commerce Ministers, or Mr. Adani, or Mr. Gadkari or Mr. Subhramanyan are held up as exemplars and role models by the INDIA TODAY type of Conclaves, and when they spout their version of what is good for this country's citizens,it is time to be worried at the sickness which is coursing rapidly through the veins of our nation. One is reminded of the words of Hannah Arendt, the German-American philosopher :

The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.

These robber barons of the 21st century are merely following in the footsteps of the Indigo planters and the cotton and tobacco planters of 18th century America. They have taken their cue from a government which is equally unscrupulous and venal when it comes to dealing with labour, employees and the middle classes: MNREGA budgets are slashed, lakhs are deprived of their rations because of Aadhar glitches and mis-matches, bank accounts are frozen due to the pestilence of frequent KYCs, provisions of the Shops Act and Factories Act regulating work hours and overtime are never enforced, "outsourcing" is cheaper than hiring regular employees, there is no law yet to protect the expanding legions of gig workers. This only encourages gentlemen of the Subrahmanyan, Bhavish Agarwal (OLA), Aadit Palicha (Zepto) variety to introduce a new economic feudal culture in our work places.

I do hope that the likes of Mr. Subhramanyan are among the 4300 millionaires planning to quit India in 2024, for we can do without their culture of insensitivity, exploitation and crass profiteering in a society that is already becoming vicious and brutal under the nudging of government policies. He may have redeemed himself somewhat by implicitly exhorting his workers to stare at other people's wives instead of their own, but that is cold comfort when you suddenly realise that someone else is staring at YOUR wife. Perhaps the best denouement to his thesis, as some wag on social media suggested, is to merge Infosys and Larsen and Toubro, and to encourage their employees to marry each other: they could then live in the office itself, and occasionally bump into each other during the prescribed toilet breaks. Leaving us retired blokes to peer at the neighbour's wife through our bifocals. As for me, I've been staring at Neerja for 47 years but she doesn't bat an eyelid. My sons say that I am old fashioned: instead of staring, I should Blinkit: satisfaction guaranteed in ten minutes! 

 

HIMACHAL HAS NO OPTION BUT TO BITE THE FINANCIAL BULLET

 Himachal is gradually slipping into a financial sink-hole, with a debt of Rs.85000 crore and almost 60% of its annual budget going to pay just employees' salaries/pensions and debt servicing. The Union government, for vindictive political reasons, is further nudging it into the hole by denying it almost Rs.9000 crores of PDNA (Post Disaster National Assistance) funds, mounting legal challenges to a newly imposed Water Cess (expected to mobilise Rs. 2500 crores per annum) and doing nothing to ensure that the Shanan Hydel Project is reverted to the state on the expiry of the lease agreement with Punjab (Rs. 700 crores per annum).

In this backdrop, it is commendable that the embattled Chief Minister, Mr. Sukhu, is trying to reverse the years of profligacy and populism by abolishing subsidies on water and electricity to all consumers except BPL families, removing the myriad concessions availed by various categories of travellers on HRTC, shutting down redundant institutions (like schools with very low enrolment), raising user fees and imposing cesses. The new measures to tax the proliferating Home-stays and B+Bs is also welcome, for these units are now thriving and do not need any more incentives or concessions. He has to bite the bullet, even though it will almost certainly lose him the next elections. But now that he has mustered up the courage to depart from a tradition which has bankrupted the state, he must do more.

First and foremost, he must cut down the number of government employees by at least 15-20%. Himachal has the second highest employee-population ratio in the country, with 250000 employees on a population base of 70 lakhs: this is simply unsustainable. The proposed cut would reduce expenditure by about Rs. 5000 crore per annum, with a corresponding reduction in pensions also in the years to come. With the progressive digitisation of all modes of governance, many posts can be easily dispensed with, especially in the clerical and ministerial cadres in offices. He should also stop giving reemployment to retired bureaucrats on Commissions, Authorities, Boards, and appoint serving officers to these posts instead. Do away with the dozen or so Advisors who  cost crores every year in return for very bad advice, as recent PR disasters have shown!

Tourism has become a double edged sword for the state, and the repeated seasonal tsunamis of tourists is ravaging the environment beyond the tipping point. There is an urgent need to restrict their numbers and also to ensure that it provides the revenues to compensate for the environmental costs as also the infrastructure "development" the state is forced to undertake to cater to it- highways, sewage treatment plants, solid waste management, enhancing water supply and power, etc. The Chief Minister should seriously consider imposing a Tourist Tax of 10% on all hotels, guest houses, Home-stays, B+Bs. More and more countries, besieged by a pandemic of "revenge" over-tourism have started doing so- Russia, most of Southern European, Mediterranean countries, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands; South-east Asian nations have also started doing so, with Bali being the trail blazer. Our neighbour Bhutan- the only country in the world to have a Net Zero carbon status- has imposed a $ 100/day tax on all foreigners and a Rs. 1200/day tax on Indians. It is termed the Sustainable Development Fund.

Himachal receives 20 million (2 crore) tourists every year, according to the government's own figures. Assuming that 25% of them would be staying with friends or relatives or would pass under the tax radar, that leaves 15 million. Assuming two tourists to a room, and an average three day stay, that works out to a demand for 22.50 million room nights; let us round that off to 22 million for calculation purposes. Let us again assume that each room costs Rs. 4000/ per day. That would yield a gross revenue of Rs. 8800 crores per annum, and a 10%  tax on that would yield about Rs. 880 crore to the government. (As per my experience and information the revenues may be higher because Rs.4000 for a room is a base price and there are any number of hotels which charge twice or thrice that, especially during peak times when the tourist rush is at its peak).

Tourism is a mature industry in the state and does not need to be molly coddled any more by financial incentives and subsidies. What it needs is better infrastructure, improved connectivity, quality upgradation, planned development and better public facilities for tourists. All this requires heavy expenditure by the government on a continuing basis (the Chief Minister has just announced that almost Rs. 3000 crores would be spent on developing tourist destinations, ropeways, helipads etc.) The tourism sector must contribute towards this in the form of taxes and not expect the government to foot the entire bill. The government's own HP Tourism Development Corporation is in severe financial straits and is unable to pay dues to its retired employees. In fact the High Court recently ordered it to shut down 18 of its loss making hotels!

Such a tax- it could be named the Sustainable Tourism Fund- would undoubtedly be resisted by the hospitality industry, long used to low taxes, incentives, evasions and dictating terms. It may also lead to a temporary decline in the numbers of tourists, which, according to me, would be a blessing for the natural environment of the state. But the positive side (apart from much needed revenues for the state) is that it would force the state and all stake holders to  improve the quality of the product on offer, become more tourist friendly rather than exploitative, and give a chance to the natural environment to recover. The permanent residents of the state, who now live in an almost permanent state of siege the whole year, would benefit immensely from reduced costs of basic necessities, better traffic conditions, reduced pollution and garbage, and preservation of their natural, architectural and historical heritage, all of which are presently under threat. The writing is on the wall in Goa, which has entered a declining phase thanks to its excessive and uncontrolled tourism of the past. Himachal can still avoid this and emulate its Himalayan kin Bhutan in how to promote sustainable tourism, how to preserve its natural capital while still giving handsome dividends to visitors and the local economy. It takes just one Chief Minister with vision to achieve this. We are waiting for one such. 

GST-NOMICS : HOW TO EAT YOUR POPCORN AND TAX IT TOO.

 I have little or no sympathy for those doubting Thomases who continue to question the stupendous growth of our economy-such people should be packed off to one of the coral reefs around the Great Nicobar, which shall soon be ground to dust once the mega-crony project there takes off; it will serve them right. For under the able guidance of she-who-does-not-eat-onions we have moved from being a "pakoda" economy to a "popcorn" economy, whose symbolism is matched by substance. Or at least, that's what the wiseacres of the GST (Grasping Shifting Tax) Council think.

At the Council meeting in the third week of December it was decided to pop the popcorn bubble that has made billionaires out of those multiplex barons, what with the popcorn costing more than the movie ticket! The soundest economic policy of all, according to Confucius, is that if you can't stop Peter from ripping off Paul, then ensure that you get your share of Peter's booty. And so, the GST on popcorn has three separate rates, rising to 18% for the carmelised, sugary variety. According to the halwa-eating lady, this is because when you carmelise the humble popcorn it becomes a sweet and should be taxed as such. Notice the hair splitting distinctions and the fine tuning done by our tax experts, who quite clearly have too much time on their hands. But here's a question for them that begs an answer: if one buys caramalised popcorn while watching a tax-exempted film like Kashmir Files, or Kerala Files or Sabarmati Report, will that popcorn also be exempted from GST? Because, since no one watches a film in a theater these days without munching on popcorns, if the stuff is not made tax free then no one is going to watch these movies, defeating the patriotic purpose behind making them tax free. And then, where is your fake nationalism? Just as there can be no FIR under the PMLA if there is no FIR in the predicate offence, similarly there should be no tax on popcorn if there is no tax on the movie itself. Makes sense, right?

A friend of mine who is still in government informs me, sotto voce, that the next target of the eagle-eyed Council will be the even humbler condom. Currently there is no GST on condoms, but by extending the carmelised popcorn logic, a GST of 18% is likely to be imposed on flavoured condoms as they shall come into the category of either sweets or fruits, depending on the flavour she fancies! Makes sense, if you ask me; with both sweets and fruits having become so expensive -18% and 12% GST, respectively, in case you didn't know- more and more people are getting their kicks out of flavoured condoms instead- strawberry, mango, chocolate, rajbhog- to satisfy their sweet, err, tooth. According to a tweet by the CEO of Swiggy on the 1st January 2025, condoms were among the most ordered items on 31st December-1.12. lakh packets on Swiggy and 4779 on Blinkit; the overwhelming favourite were the chocolate flavoured ones! The Finance Ministry may just be on the right trail to reduce its deficit.                                                                                         But wait, that's not all, dear reader, you haven't even begun to fathom the genius of our tax-man. It is also proposed that for condoms bought/used out of wed-lock the GST rate shall be 28%, for it then becomes a "sin goods". Brilliant, isn't it? One's marital status will be verified at the POS (Point of Sale, NOT Point of Sex) stage, for which the government shall shortly be issuing, and making mandatory, another ID document- the BAM ( Bespoke and Married) card. The card shall have to be renewed every year, given the rising incidence of divorces. Divorcees shall have to pay the 28% rate (if they still want to have sex, that is): another clever move by this Vishwaguru government to discourage divorces.

Clearly, our GST mandarins have gone berserk. As one social media influencer pointed out, the English had imposed a Salt Tax but our native born Tsars have gone one better by imposing a higher Sugar Tax. I'm told there's also a proposal to levy GST on the Sulabh Sauchalay; currently the service charge for taking a leak in one of them is Rs.5, but there might now be a GST of 18% levied for diabetics: they are passing sugar, you see.                                                                                                                                                         Consider next the ubiquitous biryani, a legacy of the much reviled Mughals but consumed by the ton by our sanatan dharm bhakts. Swiggy's annual report for 2024, released last week, informs us that it was the highest selling dish this year on their platform- 83 million dishes, or 3 per second! There is no GST on fresh meat or on rice, but put the two together in a biryani and, hey presto, it now has a GST of 12% ! And that's not all: if you eat it in an AC restaurant you will have to shell out GST of 18%, and if you wolf it down in a 5-star hotel the rate is now 28%. No wonder the astute Indian prefers to order it from Swiggy, where he pays  5% tax, (the rate may go up depending on whether it has an egg on it or not!)

However, give the devil his due (if not his tax)- our tax guys are faithful to that other adage of Confucius: If you have to be stupid, at least be consistent in your stupidity. To the point where our GST is now probably the most complex, illogical, avaricious and arcane tax in the world. As someone said: The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax it. It's not for nothing that the words "taxman" and "taxidermist" have their first three letters in common- the only difference is that whereas the latter takes only your skin, the former takes it all. As far back as in 1947 Churchill, while giving his famous doomsday prediction for India, had said that "a day will come when even air and water would be taxed in India". Ms. Sitharaman has the dubious distinction of making that prediction come true. Churchill did not mention shit, but don't cavil, folks, for even that is now being taxed in Himachal.