📰 British-era bungalow turns Brahmaputra heritage centre
Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu calls for a national campaign to rejuvenate Indian rivers and inclusion of lessons on water conservation in school curricula.
•A British-era bungalow on a hillock that used to be the 17th century military office of the Ahom rulers has been converted into a heritage centre depicting life along the Brahmaputra River.
•Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on October 3 inaugurated the Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre on Guwahati’s Barphukanar Tila, meaning Barphukan’s Hillock. A Scottish-type wooden bungalow standing since 1850 was renovated and converted into the heritage centre.
•Barpukhan was a post equivalent to Governor General created by Ahom king Pratap Simha or Susengpha (1603-1641). The hillock by the Brahmaputra, mentioned in ancient scriptures as Mandrachal, was from where Ahom General Lachit Barpukhan launched the Battle of Saraighat in March 1671 to inflict the most crushing defeat on the Mughals.
•Saraighat is regarded as the “greatest naval battle ever fought in a river”.
•Captain Archibald Bogle, posted as the Assistant Commissioner and Collector of Kamrup district in the 1850s, had the bungalow built. Post-Independence, it continued to be the Deputy Commissioner’s Bungalow until 2011.
•“Standing as a grand tribute to the majestic river and capturing its significance to the region, the Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre has been set up in a nearly 150-year-old bungalow after an elaborate restoration,” Mr. Naidu said.
•He called for a national campaign for rejuvenating Indian rivers and the inclusion of lessons on water conservation in the school curricula.
•Appreciating the Brahmaputra Heritage centre, the Vice-President said other cultural places too should create green and healthy spaces for people.
•The centre has on display the history of the Battle of Saraighat, the heritage of Assamese war boats, an amphitheatre, an exhibition space, a cafeteria and two viewing decks. The other attractions include a collection of traditional fishing equipment, photographs and artefacts related to the history of Guwahati and river transport, installations depicting the textile designs, ethnic motifs and indigenous musical instruments of communities inhabiting the banks of the Brahmaputra.
Dangers go beyond the monetary motivations of online gambling
•Anand*, a jovial extroverted 15-year-old in Bengaluru, got a personal smartphone for the first time last year when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and online classes began. Within six months, he was on the phone for more than seven hours each day, not for classes but rather to binge on online games.
•Worried about the sudden behaviour changes in their teenager — insomnia, withdrawal from social contacts, academic failure, and extreme anger and irritability — his parents took him to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences’ aptly named SHUT clinic, which stands for the Service for Healthy Use of Technology. Their son was diagnosed with gaming addiction, a disorder that is quickly growing as the pandemic spurred an increased use of Internet devices.
•“We used to get maybe two-three cases a week. Now, we are seeing about 15 cases, almost all of whom are adolescents brought in by their parents. Our research shows that gaming addictions are present in adults as well, but they are not taking it seriously yet,” said SHUT clinic coordinator Manoj Sharma, a clinical psychology Professor at NIMHANS.
•According to the All India Gaming Federation, India’s online gaming industry is expected to be worth ₹15,500 crore by 2023. A 2019 survey by the U.S.-based Limelight Networks found that India had the second largest number of gamers after South Korea, and while time spent online is still not as high as in other countries, it found that almost a quarter of adult Indian gamers had missed work while playing games.
•The World Health Organization categorised gaming disorder as a mental health condition in 2018, but as the pandemic increased screen time across age groups, concerns have been growing. Last month, China limited gamers under 18 years to just three hours of online games per week, during specified times, and made the industry responsible for enforcing the restriction.
•In India, legal focus has been on recent laws in the southern States seeking to ban online games such as rummy, poker or even fantasy sports which offer prize money or financial stakes. Last week, the Kerala High Court quashed such a law in the State, accepting the industry’s stance that, as games of skill rather than chance, they should not trigger bans on gambling. However, worried parents, psychiatrists and mental health advocates warn that the dangers go well beyond monetary motivations.
•“We need to look at gaming addictions beyond the financial aspects of gambling. That is only one kind of harm. Ultimately, we have seen gaming addictions cause physical, social and emotional damages, impairing sleep, appetites, careers and social lives,” says Samir Parikh, a psychiatrist who heads the mental health department at Fortis Healthcare.
•NIMHANS’ Dr Sharma and fellow researchers published a case study in the Industrial Psychiatry Journal last year illustrating the “pathways of migration from gaming to gambling”. They found that a 14 year old addicted to online games without monetary rewards later became addicted to online poker with financial stakes in his early 20s. “Individuals who played more social casino games (online games where you do not either bet or win or lose real money) and won occasionally, usually developed a craving and urge for betting real money in the anticipation of winning,” said the paper.
•A Delhi-based NGO named the Distress Management Collective documented other ways in which online gaming could lead to financial distress. “For a poor family, even the money needed to recharge a mobile phone to feed a gaming addiction can bankrupt a family. We have found so many cases of young people who stole money, borrowed money, failed exams, even committed suicide because of this,” said the NGO’s head Deepa Joseph, who filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court in July, appealing for government policy to regulate the industry. “There is a big mafia behind online games, but they are making profits from the distress of young people,” she added.
•Psychiatrists recommend that as a bare minimum, statutory warnings and mandatory breaks should be enforced to prevent binge gaming. “Among those who are just beginning excessive use, enforcing breaks after a stipulated time will improve control and prevent bingeing. But among those already addicted, it may not help, as they will just log on a different platform or using a different user name,” said Dr. Sharma. Media literacy in schools and digital fasting among families are also important steps to combat the disorder, he added.
📰 Peace at the heart of education
Education can impart the skills and values needed to prevent potential conflicts
•On October 2 every year, everyone gathers to celebrate the ideals of peace by marking the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and the International Day of Non-Violence. The day presents an opportunity to explore the causes of violence and reassert a commitment to building a culture of dialogue through education.
•The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new forces of division globally. Levels of hate speech and fear of the ‘other’ have grown, as people have assigned blame for the virus. Forms of structural violence – the economic, racial and gendered forms of injustice built into social systems – have been exacerbated as marginalised groups, including displaced persons and racialised groups, have been disproportionately affected. Around the world, the consequential surge in inequality is driving instability and tension, fuelling potential social unrest.
•In order to rebuild in solidarity, we must understand the root causes of human animosity and make peace with one another. We must think about the structures, attitudes and skills that create and sustain peace.
•In ‘Pathways for peace’, a flagship 2018 report by the World Bank and the United Nations, it was shown that many of the world’s conflicts arise from exclusion and feelings of injustice. The question therefore is: how can ignorance and fear of the unknown be overcome through understanding and dialogue?
A policy to strengthen equity
•For UNESCO, education is a significant part of the answer because it can impart the skills and values necessary to recognise and prevent potential conflicts and promote tolerance. As the educator Maria Montessori put it: “Preventing war is the work of politicians, establishing peace is the work of educationists”.
•Education for peace has a rich history in India. The philosophies of various religions, cultures and of Gandhi have non-violence, syncretism and tolerance at their core.
•The National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 also presents a unique opportunity to contribute to strengthening equity, justice and social cohesion. The policy has a broad focus on value-based and experiential education, including promoting critical thinking, cultural exchanges, teaching in regional languages, and a commitment to education for all.
•This landmark document also advocates for reforms in curricula and pedagogy. As schools reopen, we believe that peace education can be even more integrated within national curricula and the broader learning environment to promote non-violence, conflict resolution and compassion. Equipping children from a young age with the skills to respect the dignity of others is key to building resilient and peaceful societies. Teachers and educators also need to be equipped with skills to promote peace through experiential and interactive methods. Intercultural competencies, like empathy and critical thinking, are best learned through intercultural exchanges and scenario-based learning and not rote learning.
A way forward
•Global best practices, promoted through UNESCO, can offer a way forward. Our organisation’s approaches to global citizenship, education and intercultural dialogue reinforce the idea that peaceful societies are those that embrace diversity and difference. UNESCO’s work to promote media and information literacy and sports for peace equips youth with skills to eradicate harmful stereotypes and stand up against injustice.
•Focusing on inclusion, UNESCO highlights the need to recognise and improve opportunities for disadvantaged groups, like women and girls and persons with disabilities. UNESCO also promotes schools as safe and non-violent spaces.
•One year into the NEP 2020 and almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to assess priorities in education. Beyond discussions around innovation, technology and smart future schools, we need to understand the potential of education systems and schools in building peaceful societies. In times of crisis, education has the ability to provide hope and confidence.
📰 NS2, a win-win proposition?
A consensus on the Nord Stream 2 could benefit Germany, Russia and Ukraine, but many hurdles remain
•While the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the Iran-India undersea pipeline, and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline remain pipe dreams, the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) running from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea is now complete despite controversy. NS2’s manufacture began in 2016 and construction in 2018. The 1,224 km, $11-billion underwater link is the shortest, most economical and environment-friendly route to double Russia’s gas export to Germany. The pipeline offers stability to the strategically important energy trade because Russia’s dependence on the European Union and vice-versa are increased and this should promote realism.
Ukraine’s concerns
•Energy is never removed from politics. Russian authorities say NS2 can transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year, cover the needs of about 26 million households, and restock storage inventories, but both Germany and Russia are subject to conditions arising from a compromise between the U.S. and Germany, and EU regulations.
•European gas prices have broken records this year, edging close to an unprecedented $1,000 per thousand cubic meters which places many industries and food supply chains under stress. This is due to lack of viable alternatives to gas, low storage levels because of a severe winter and the post-COVID-19 economic surge. Ukraine offered extra transit capacity for Russian gas to Europe at 15 million cubic meters per day for October but Russia booked only 4.3% of this, citing domestic demand. Some European politicians accuse Russia of pressure to expedite the start of NS2, but the project needs European certification, which could take up to four more months. Germany has yet to issue an operating licence, blandly stating that it would rule on this next January.
•German Chancellor Angela Merkel is accused, mainly by Poland and Ukraine, of weakening the EU’s political unity and strategic coherence by giving Russia greater leverage through NS2. Ukraine’s leadership is unhappy as it believes the pipeline is a Russian geopolitical weapon aimed at depriving Ukraine of political traction and crucial revenue. These concerns have been largely disregarded by the EU, which has refused to yield to the demands of a third party. What Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has secured are assurances from the U.S. that it will impose more sanctions if Russia abuses the advantages of its new pipeline and Germany’s undertakings to help Ukraine develop its energy sector and exert pressure on Moscow to keep its gas transiting through Ukraine even after the current contract ends in 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear that this is acceptable but would depend on purchase contracts from European customers.
•Behind the argument of protecting Western interests against Russia, the Ukraine case is that if Russia cuts its transportation of gas through Ukraine, Kiev would lose billions of dollars in transit fees, and fears that Russia could reduce energy supplies by cutting those needed for Ukraine’s own consumption. Ukraine has not diversified its economic fundamentals, whose viability is dependent on Russia moving fossil fuels through its territory. But the loss of cheap money gained through transit fees could in the long run benefit its economy.
•The completion of NS2 suggests that no third party can affect the project’s outcome. Any flagrant violation of the commercial rationale of NS2 by Russia would enable Ukraine to invoke the assurances it has been given; it is accordingly in Moscow’s interest to proceed in a manner that avoids friction.
Assistance to Ukraine
•To enable a consensus on NS2, Germany has promised assistance to Ukraine for development of hydrogen energy, but such commitments are less robust in their detail; Berlin seems to offer a modest €206 million as seed money to attract a potential corporate investment envisaged to be €1 billion. President Zelensky considers this proposal inadequate, and his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has been forthright saying, “This country has learnt a number of bitter lessons that Western promises are possibly unfulfilled. We do not believe in promises.”
•Despite the lack of certitudes in Germany’s financial promise, there is reason to take it seriously. The German elections could result in a coalition including the Greens, in which case the Greens might drop their opposition to NS2 in return for more substantial compensation for Ukraine. Since the hydrogen option is environmentally friendly, this presents scope for accommodating the requirements of German coalition politics and support for the Ukrainian budget and turning NS2 into a win-win proposition. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
📰 Reimagining food systems with lessons from India
With an alarming escalation in global hunger unfolding, reaching the goal of an equitable livelihood is a necessity
•The first and historic United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021 which was held in September this year, concluded after an intense ‘bottom-up’ process conceived in 2019 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to find solutions and ‘catalyse momentum’ to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food and help address rising hunger.
•In terms of larger goals, the food system transformation is considered essential in achieving the sustainable development agenda 2030. This makes strong sense as 11 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) out of 17 are directly related to the food system.
•The summit involved several activities before the run-up to the meeting of the Head of States on September 23. While the dialogues on the five tracks identified have been under way for the past 18 months, the world has seen the fragility and vulnerability of food systems, highlighted by the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that is projected to double the global hunger figure.
•Why the Food Systems Summit and what is the expectation from its outcome? Global food systems — the networks that are needed to produce and transform food, and ensure it reaches consumers, or the paths that food travels from production to plate — are in a state of crisis in many countries affecting the poor and the vulnerable. The flaws in food systems affect us all, but most of all they are affecting 811 million people in the world who go to bed hungry each night.
•The summit created a mechanism for serious debates involving UN member states, civil society, non-governmental organisations, academics, researchers, individuals, and the private sector, which is to evolve transformative themes and ideas for reimagining food systems to enhance satisfaction of all stakeholders including future generations. The debate and response focused on five identified action tracks namely: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all; Shift to sustainable consumption patterns; Boost nature-positive production; Advance equitable livelihoods, and Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress.
•The summit provided a historic opportunity to empower all people to leverage the power of food systems to drive our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and get us back on track to achieve all 17 SDGs by 2030.
•The Statement of Action emerging from the summit offers a concise set of ambitious, high-level principles and areas for action to support the global call to “Build back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic.
•India constituted an inter-departmental group under the Chairmanship of one of us , with representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development, and others. Delhi-based U.N. agencies namely the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) were also actively involved in the dialogue process. The group conducted national dialogues with various stakeholders of agri-food systems to explore national pathways towards creating sustainable and equitable food systems in India. Several individuals and civil society organisations contributed ideas to the portal which was created for this purpose.
Helping the developing world
•There are lessons from India’s tryst with food insecurity. Several themes that have emerged in the discussions and dialogues leading up to the summit find resonance with India’s past and ongoing journey towards creating and improving food and livelihood security. The long journey from chronic food shortage to surplus food producer offers several interesting lessons for other developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the area of land reforms, public investments, institutional infrastructure, new regulatory systems, public support, and intervention in agri markets and prices and agri research and extension.
•The period between 1991 to 2015, saw the diversification of agriculture beyond field crops and brought greater focus on the horticulture, dairy, animal husbandry, and fishery sectors. The learnings encompassed elements of nutritional health, food safety and standards, sustainability, deployment of space technology, and the like.
Safety nets, challenges
•One of India's greatest contributions to equity in food is its National Food Security Act 2013 that anchors the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Mid-Day meals (MDM), and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Today, India’s food safety nets collectively reach over a billion people.
•Food safety nets and inclusion are linked with public procurement and buffer stock policy. This was visible during the global food crises 2008-2012 and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, whereby vulnerable and marginalised families in India continued to be buffered against the food crisis by its robust TPDS and buffer stock of food grains.
•A look at the challenges and the way forward towards 2050. Climate change and unsustainable use of land and water resources are the most formidable challenges food systems face today. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has set the alarm bells ringing, highlighting the urgency to act now.
•Dietary diversity, nutrition, and related health outcomes are another area of concern as a focus on rice and wheat has created nutritional challenges of its own. India has taken a bold decision to fortify rice supplied through the Public Distribution System with iron. Agricultural research institutes are about to release varieties of many crops having much higher nutrition as a long-term solution for undernutrition and malnutrition.
Surplus and low nutrition
•It is ironic that despite being a net exporter and food surplus country at the aggregate level, India has a 50% higher prevalence of undernutrition compared to the world average. But the proportion of the undernourished population declined from 21.6% during 2004-06 to 15.4% during 2018-20. The high prevalence of undernutrition in the country does not seem to be due to food shortage or the low availability of food. The Government of India and States are seriously concerned about this paradoxical situation of being food surplus and at the same time, having 15% of the population undernourished. They are trying to address other possible reasons for low nutrition through several nutritional interventions. As announced recently, the supply of fortified rice in PDS and Poshan Abhiyan are the two steps among many to address the challenge of undernutrition and malnutrition.
•Reducing food wastage or loss of food is a mammoth challenge and is linked to the efficiency of the food supply chain. Food wastage in India exceeds ₹1-lakh crore.
•Why the world must eliminate hunger is the next point. An alarming escalation in global hunger is unfolding, with the ‘dramatic worsening’ of world hunger in 2020, much of it likely related to the fallout of COVID-19. While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ report, estimates that around a tenth of the global population was undernourished last year.
•It is important to reiterate that hunger and food insecurity are key drivers of conflict and instability across the world. ‘Food is peace’, is a catchphrase often used to highlight how hunger and conflict feed on each other. The Nobel Peace Prize 2020 conferred on the United Nations WFP highlighted the importance of addressing hunger to prevent conflicts and create stability. The citation communiqué articulated this well by quoting the line: “Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos.”
For equity, sustainability
•We are on the cusp of a transformation to make the world free of hunger by 2030 and deliver promises for SDGs, with strong cooperation and partnership between governments, citizens, civil society organisations, and the private sector. We must collaborate to invest, innovate, and create lasting solutions in sustainable agriculture contribution to equitable livelihood, food security, and nutrition. India has so much to offer from its successes, and learning also, to prepare itself for the next 20 to 30 years. This surely requires reimagining the food system towards the goal of balancing growth and sustainability, mitigating climate change, ensuring healthy, safe, quality, and affordable food, maintaining biodiversity, improving resilience, and offering an attractive income and work environment to smallholders and youth. Achieving the goal of “Advancing equitable livelihood” requires that the food systems transformation is anchored around small- and medium-scale production, family farmers, indigenous peoples, women, and workers in food value chains.
