Playing Dalit-farmer vote cards

The cover story on the state of our farmers The cover story in the August issue of your prestigious magazine offers a fine analysis of the factors that went into the election of our new President and Vice President . It rightly warns the ruling party against entertaining the calculation that its selection of Ram Nath Kovind and Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu as our next President and Vice President may gift it any Dalit or farmer vote cards . The Dalits and the farmers in India today want empowerment – not homilies or lollypops. The recent Bihar and UP Assembly elections have already demonstrated there is no longer any monolith vote bank amongst the OBCs or the Dalits. Farmers' agitation in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra has shown the limitations of the BJP's outreach . The August issue of the magazine deserves applause also for its analysis of China's imperialistic designs . It rightly points out that China's current aggression in Doklam at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction is likely to affect whatever goodwill the communist neighbour has generated among the Bhutanese during the last decade. China is likely to find it very difficult now to establish direct diplomatic relations with Bhutan. India is treaty-bound to protect Bhutan from all external aggressions .

M Thapa
Guwahati

For the Tibetan cause

It is heartening to note that New Delhi is paying due attention to the problems being faced by Tibetans living in India since the late fifties . In 2014 our Union Government formalised the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy Act . Since then several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand have formulated this policy . Based on the Rehabilitation Policy Act, recently, Tibetan settlements in Mundgod and Hunsur( both in Karnataka) have officially signed land lease agreements with the state governments . Last month the Pema Khandu Ministry in Arunachal Pradesh adopted the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy Act. Arunachal Pradesh has the fourth largest number of Tibetans in India. We have four Tibetan settlements Tezu, Miao, Tuting and Tenzingang. Now youths residing in Arunachal Pradesh will have more opportunities. India must help the cause of Tibet against the ongoing cartographic aggression of communist China.
India must stand by Bhutan too. There is no debate as to the fact that the Doklam plateau falls within Bhutan. But China has been claiming it. The Chumbi valley is vital for India. In 2007, India and Bhutan had negotiated a Friendship Treaty . The two countries are to coordinate on their national interests. The Lhasa- Shigatse Railway is complete. China has now turned its attention to the Doklam plateau. There are d i f f e r e n c e s between the current incident in the Doklam plateau and past stand-offs such as the ones in Depsang and Chumar, or the 1986-87 Wangdung incident near Sumdorong Chu in Arunachal Pradesh. To India it is a matter of national security. New Delhi would do well to stick to its own interest.

China is highly unlikely to make territorial concessions on areas over which it once claimed suzerainty. China must be stopped . Or else, it would come within striking distance of India's v u l n e r a b l e 'Chicken Neck', the Siliguri Corridor, the lifeline to India's Northeast. Also New Delhi must speed up its inf ras t ruc ture development on the border. Of the 73 roads of o p e r a t i o n a l significance along border, only 30 have been completed so far. China has created a massive network to transport men and material right up to the border. It has been trying to extend its existing road into the disputed piece of territory on the Doklam plateau.

Sudipto Chattopadhyaya
Itanagar

Passion for birds' care

Harsukh Bhai Dobariya Meet this Gujarat man who spends ₹ 1.5 lakh every year to feed 3,000 birds that visit him everyday. He has setup a complex ecosystem around his home to attract and comfort the birds in over 4 acres of land. He is Harsukh Bhai Dobariya from Junagadh district of Gujarat. He was awarded with Srishti Samman award for bird conservation by former President Pranab Mukherjee this year.
Harsukh Bhai has been taking care of these birds for the past 17 years. It all started with just one cob of pearl millet that he had hung on his balcony. In 2000, Harsukh Bhai met with an accident because of which he had a fracture in his leg. While he was resting at his home, one of his friends got some pearl millet from his farm. Harshukh Bhai hung one of these cobs on his balcony, which soon attracted a parrot. In the coming days Harsukh Bhai was overjoyed to see the numbers increasing.
As the number started increasing, there was

not enough space to feed the birds, so Harsukh Bhai got some old pipes, drilled holes in them and made a stand out of them. He fixes the pearl millet cobs on this stand and the birds feed on it comfortably. Now, after 17 years, the stand is huge enough to hold 2,700 pearl millet cobs at once.
The family changes the cobs on the stand twice a day to let the birds feed on it.They feel the birds enjoy feeding on such stands as they feed on them all day. Harsukh Bhai, who stopped his education after class 5 and joined his small family business, Gokul Gruh Udyog, spends Rs. 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh every year to feed the birds and is happy with the way.

He has developed a variety of potato that grows on the soil instead of under it. His grandson, Kripal, says : "This is our entire family's passion. See, we like to wear branded clothes and so we do. Does it mean that they never get dirty? We wash them and wear them again don't we? Because, we like to wear them. It is the same in this case. We love these birds and enjoy cleaning the mess too, which is a part of it."
Initially, the family lived in a house in the middle of the city, which had a small balcony.
As the number of birds increased, in 2012 Harsukh Bhai decided to shift to his own house built in the outskirts of the city.

"In my old house, neighbours would get disturbed with the constant chirping of birds. The millet cobs would fall on the passerby and also the excreta of the birds was problematic for them. Though they would never complain, I still thought that these birds need a space of their own," says Harsukh Bhai. Apart from being an ardent bird lover, Harsukh Bhai also loves to experiment with new types of crops and plants in his backyard. He has developed a variety of potato that grows on the soil instead of under it.



		EDITOR'S MAIL MATTERS OF PUBLIC POLICY NIA ACTS LANDMARK VERDICT HISTORIC JUDGEMENT MODINAMA REALPOLITIK ECONOMIC SCENE FRANKLY SPEAKING JAYALALITHAA LEGACY JAYALALITHAA LEGACY CHANDIGARH DIARY AMERICAN DIARY MEDICAL ADVANCEMENT HITS & MISSES CRICKET DIARY BOOK BAZAAR BOOK BAZAAR SIGNS OF THE TIMES MISSING ROAD SENSE YOGA IN DAILY LIFE FILM-MAKING ART OF LIVING Issue:Sep' 2017 Subscribe Now	EDITOR’S MAIL Playing Dalit-farmer vote cards The cover story on the state of our farmers The cover story in the August issue of your prestigious magazine offers a fine analysis of the factors that went into the election of our new President and Vice President . It rightly warns the ruling party against entertaining the calculation that its selection of Ram Nath Kovind and Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu as our next President and Vice President may gift it any Dalit or farmer vote cards . The Dalits and the farmers in India today want empowerment – not homilies or lollypops. The recent Bihar and UP Assembly elections have already demonstrated there is no longer any monolith vote bank amongst the OBCs or the Dalits. Farmers' agitation in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra has shown the limitations of the BJP's outreach . The August issue of the magazine deserves applause also for its analysis of China's imperialistic designs . It rightly points out that China's current aggression in Doklam at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction is likely to affect whatever goodwill the communist neighbour has generated among the Bhutanese during the last decade. China is likely to find it very difficult now to establish direct diplomatic relations with Bhutan. India is treaty-bound to protect Bhutan from all external aggressions . M Thapa Guwahati For the Tibetan cause It is heartening to note that New Delhi is paying due attention to the problems being faced by Tibetans living in India since the late fifties . In 2014 our Union Government formalised the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy Act . Since then several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand have formulated this policy . Based on the Rehabilitation Policy Act, recently, Tibetan settlements in Mundgod and Hunsur( both in Karnataka) have officially signed land lease agreements with the state governments . Last month the Pema Khandu Ministry in Arunachal Pradesh adopted the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy Act. Arunachal Pradesh has the fourth largest number of Tibetans in India. We have four Tibetan settlements Tezu, Miao, Tuting and Tenzingang. Now youths residing in Arunachal Pradesh will have more opportunities. India must help the cause of Tibet against the ongoing cartographic aggression of communist China. India must stand by Bhutan too. There is no debate as to the fact that the Doklam plateau falls within Bhutan. But China has been claiming it. The Chumbi valley is vital for India. In 2007, India and Bhutan had negotiated a Friendship Treaty . The two countries are to coordinate on their national interests. The Lhasa- Shigatse Railway is complete. China has now turned its attention to the Doklam plateau. There are d i f f e r e n c e s between the current incident in the Doklam plateau and past stand-offs such as the ones in Depsang and Chumar, or the 1986-87 Wangdung incident near Sumdorong Chu in Arunachal Pradesh. To India it is a matter of national security. New Delhi would do well to stick to its own interest. China is highly unlikely to make territorial concessions on areas over which it once claimed suzerainty. China must be stopped . Or else, it would come within striking distance of India's v u l n e r a b l e 'Chicken Neck', the Siliguri Corridor, the lifeline to India's Northeast. Also New Delhi must speed up its inf ras t ruc ture development on the border. Of the 73 roads of o p e r a t i o n a l significance along border, only 30 have been completed so far. China has created a massive network to transport men and material right up to the border. It has been trying to extend its existing road into the disputed piece of territory on the Doklam plateau. Sudipto Chattopadhyaya Itanagar Passion for birds' care Harsukh Bhai Dobariya Meet this Gujarat man who spends ₹ 1.5 lakh every year to feed 3,000 birds that visit him everyday. He has setup a complex ecosystem around his home to attract and comfort the birds in over 4 acres of land. He is Harsukh Bhai Dobariya from Junagadh district of Gujarat. He was awarded with Srishti Samman award for bird conservation by former President Pranab Mukherjee this year. Harsukh Bhai has been taking care of these birds for the past 17 years. It all started with just one cob of pearl millet that he had hung on his balcony. In 2000, Harsukh Bhai met with an accident because of which he had a fracture in his leg. While he was resting at his home, one of his friends got some pearl millet from his farm. Harshukh Bhai hung one of these cobs on his balcony, which soon attracted a parrot. In the coming days Harsukh Bhai was overjoyed to see the numbers increasing. As the number started increasing, there was not enough space to feed the birds, so Harsukh Bhai got some old pipes, drilled holes in them and made a stand out of them. He fixes the pearl millet cobs on this stand and the birds feed on it comfortably. Now, after 17 years, the stand is huge enough to hold 2,700 pearl millet cobs at once. The family changes the cobs on the stand twice a day to let the birds feed on it.They feel the birds enjoy feeding on such stands as they feed on them all day. Harsukh Bhai, who stopped his education after class 5 and joined his small family business, Gokul Gruh Udyog, spends Rs. 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh every year to feed the birds and is happy with the way. He has developed a variety of potato that grows on the soil instead of under it. His grandson, Kripal, says : "This is our entire family's passion. See, we like to wear branded clothes and so we do. Does it mean that they never get dirty? We wash them and wear them again don't we? Because, we like to wear them. It is the same in this case. We love these birds and enjoy cleaning the mess too, which is a part of it." Initially, the family lived in a house in the middle of the city, which had a small balcony. As the number of birds increased, in 2012 Harsukh Bhai decided to shift to his own house built in the outskirts of the city. "In my old house, neighbours would get disturbed with the constant chirping of birds. The millet cobs would fall on the passerby and also the excreta of the birds was problematic for them. Though they would never complain, I still thought that these birds need a space of their own," says Harsukh Bhai. Apart from being an ardent bird lover, Harsukh Bhai also loves to experiment with new types of crops and plants in his backyard. He has developed a variety of potato that grows on the soil instead of under it.