nt oc e m SPECIAL ISSUE fUTUrE TrEndS y A p e r p Ut o wwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....iiiiinnnnndddddiiiiiaaaaatttttooooodddddaaaaayyyyy.....iiiiinnnnn jjjjjaaaaannnnnuuuuuaaaaarrrrryyyyy 2222222222,,,,, 22222000001111188888 ``6600 h wit st o p o ed t 9 7 7 0 2 5 4 88 33 99 99 00 99 s n e c li 9 1 7- 1 0 2 5/ 0 d/ A B A d ri A 0; F 2 8- 1 0 2 8/ 8 c)- U( 0; 2 8- 1 0 2 8/ 6 0 6 1/ 1 d)- n l( d o. n d e r e st gi e r E H T AT H W S R A S T E L L E T R O F 587/75 sThoorpiudt leuedx r— nnpsee a grinntosd tt iphmaretoae rpp ot hhaheedos wtyaw haIines hdatsadia rad n d 8 2 o. n ni r DIGITAL EDITION FREE WITH YOUR REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2018-20; U(C)-88/2018-20; FARIDABAD/05/2017-19 LICENSED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT ww9ww7ww7..0iinn2dd5iiaa4ttoo8dd3aa9yy..9iinnS0 9PECIAL ISSUE FUTURE TRENDSJJAANNUUAARRYY 2222,, 22001188 ``6600 OC DIGITAHLPwORciOtGrheDe aUtcttCoiinTvrSgek GLgt hiaAzetDm emGsoEtos Tn oStfh MEEDJANUARY 2018 ITION WFOHSRATATE RTTESHL EL RNI No. DELENG / 2006 / 20557. Not for sale. To be circulated free with India Today in Mumbai, Delhi & NCR, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. “Supplement to India Today issue dated January 22, 2018” FSRTOAMY TTHRA2OHE RETIRATRDEAAN GO0SEFI- TPITINEHOSENP AODIRL1E NESFDUIG RTRNEN8 XCITDTUUITRLRVEESE, RNI NO. 28587/75 sThoorpiudt leuedx r— nnpsee a grinntosd tt iphmaretoae rpp ot hhaheedos wtyaw haIines hdatsadia rad n d EXCLUSIVE MULTIMEDIA CONTENT ONLY FOR IPAD SPECIAL REPORT BEYOND GUNS & DIAMONDS UPFRONT WHAT THE LEAKAGE REVEALS COVER STORY PLAYING THE AADHAAR CARD COVER STORY THE FUTURE OF THE PAST STATES THE TERROR CLAIMS #FutureTrends2018 SUBSCRIBE NOW www.indiatoday.in/digitalmagazines FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF www.indiatoday.in EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Raj Chengappa E ven for a nation in a permanent state to just 15 per cent of developed countries EDITORS: Kaveree Bamzai (Special Projects), Ajit Kumar Jha (Research) GROUP CREATIVE EDITOR: Nilanjan Das; GROUP PHOTO EDITOR: Bandeep Singh of campaign, 2018 is going to be a and half that of its Asian peers. Managing MANAGING EDITORS: Kai Jabir Friese, Rajesh Jha challenge. In the run-up to the Gen- disappointment will be one of the greatest EXECUTIVE EDITORS: Damayanti Datta, S. Sahaya Ranjit, Sandeep Unnithan eral Election of 2019, there will be eight problems this government will face as it DEPUTY EDITORS: Prachi Bhuchar, Uday Mahurkar, Manisha Saroop assembly elections. Meghalaya, Tripura, goes to voters in 2019, on the back of the Mumbai: M.G. Arun Hyderabad: Amarnath K. Menon Chandigarh: Asit Jolly SENIOR EDITORS: Shweta Punj, Sasi Nair, Jaipur: Rohit Parihar Mizoram and Nagaland in the Northeast achhe din it promi sed. SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Kaushik Deka, Ashish Mukherjee will be going to the polls, as will Chhat- n The twin forces of increasing rural Mumbai: Suhani Singh, Kiran Dinkar Tare; patna: Amitabh Srivastava ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Shougat Dasgupta, Chinki Sinha tisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and distress and a warped urbanisation will Kolkata: Romita Sengupta; Bhopal: Rahul Noronha; Karnataka. The year will see the BJP-led head towards a conflict. Everywhere we Thiruvananthapuram: Jeemon Jacob; BeiJing: Ananth Krishnan ASSISTANT EDITOR: pune: Aditi S. Pai government’s last full Union budget. It turn, cities are collapsing under the weight CHIEF COPY EDITOR: Aditya Mohan Wig will also be a year when the arts will have of being superficially smartened, accord- PHOTO DEPARTMENT: Vikram Sharma (Deputy Photo Editor), Rajwant Singh Rawat (Principal Photographer), to square up against increasingly restive ing to Gautam Bhan, a scholar who works DCehoanddhraar D(Ceheipef K Puhmoator g(Prahpohtoegr)r,a Dpahneer)s;h M Audmibl aJia: sMsaanwdaalra S(Puhreostohg rapher); interest groups who have declared them- on urban planning. Lakes in Bengaluru ahmedabad: Shailesh B Raval (Principal Photographer); selves to be guardians of public morality. are foaming, Delhi’s winter air seems Kolkata: Subir Halder (Principal Photographer); Chennai: N.G. Jaison (Senior Photographer) Even as the world seemingly embraces apocalyptic, Mumbai’s bridge collapse PHOTO RESEARCHERS: Prabhakar Tiwari (Chief Photo Researcher), Saloni Vaid (Principal Photo Researcher), greater technological change, India seems underlines the venality of civic bosses, Shubhrojit Brahma (Photo Researcher) to be regressing into a cacophonous and in Chennai, wetlands are under siege CHIEF OF GRAPHICS: Tanmoy Chakraborty ART DEPARTMENT: Sanjay Piplani (Senior Art Director); argument with itself, questioning the from aggressive redevelopment plans. Jyoti K. Singh (Art Director), very foundations of its existence, allowing He believes a policy of repair and retrofit, Vikas Verma, Rahul Sharma (Associate Art Director); Bhoomesh Dutt Sharma (Senior Designer) forces of caste, faith, and ethnicity to be which allows the footpath to coexist for the PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT: Harish Agarwal (Chief of Production), at war with each other, with development vendor and pedestrian, and the slum to be Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator), Vijay Kumar Sharma (Senior Coordinator) falling way behind expectations. upgraded with electricity and sewage, is a PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Manoj Sharma Partly to answer my own curiosity more effective solution. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Anil Fernandes (Impact) about the future and partly because it is n The multiculturalism that we all grew up IMPACT TEAM Senior General Manager: Jitender Lad (West) our job to tell readers where the nation is with is being redefined and re-examined. General Manager: Mayur Rastogi (North), Upendra Singh (Bangalore), headed, india today commissioned 12 Whether it is in the legacy of our built heri- Kaushiky Gangulie (East) of the best experts in their field to detail tage or the history that we grew up with, GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra Assistant General Manager: Garima Prashar (Marketing) India’s road map. Reading them, I realise old notions are being challenged by those SALES AND OPERATIONS: D.V.S. Rama Rao, Chief General Manager there are some significant trends we have who see themselves as custodians of a new Deepak Bhatt, General Manager (National Sales) Vipin Bagga, Deputy General Manager (Operations) to be prepared for. The five main ones are India that does not want to acknowledge Rajeev Gandhi, Regional Sales Manager (North) Arokia Raj L., Regional Sales Manager (South) the following: centuries of rule by Mughals and the Eng- n As Ireena Vittal, formerly of McKinsey, lish as part of its new Hindutva narrative, writes, a new bottom-up democracy is conveniently wrapped in nationalism. emerging, which will show a new way to n The march of new technology will have govern India. Already competitive federal- an unprecedented impact on our daily ism is a reality. In this next phase, our lives whether it is Aadhaar, e-governance, Volume XLIII Number 4; For the week 7,935 cities and 250,000 panchayats will digital banking, electric cars or solar en- January 16-22, 2018, published on every Friday throw up a new engaged citizen, whether ergy. It will also depend on how we use it, lF CE-d8i,t oSreicatlo/Cr-o1r6pAo,r aFtielm O fCfiictye, LNioviidnag -M 2e0d1ia3 0In1d; Piah Lotnde.:, 0In1d2i0a- T4o8d0a7y1 0G0r oup Mediaplex, from within the governance structure to our benefit or detriment. l Subs criptions: For assistance contact Customer Care India Today Group, B-45, or civic institutions, who will find local There’s much more to read and Sector-57, Noida (UP)-201301; Phones: Toll-free number: 1800 1800 100 (from BSNL/MTNL lines); (95120) 2479900 from Delhi and Faridabad; (0120) 2479900 solutions which can be scaled up to the ruminate about future trends in the next from Rest of India (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.); Fax: (0120) 4078080; Mumbai: 022-66063411/3412, Kolkata: 033-40525327, Chennai: 044-24303200; national level. 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Published at K-9, Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001. Editor: Aroon Purie. banks. It is more structural and he warns l in dia today does not take the res ponsibility for returning unsolicited publication material. that growing at 7 per cent for the next 25 All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of years will raise India’s per capita income (Aroon Purie) competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only JANUARY 22, 2018 INDIA TODAY 1 UPFRONT LEISURE IN SID E PLUGGING THE THAT SHOBHAA AADHAAR LEAKS PG 3 DE SHOW PG 65 THE GDP 2018 BOOKS GROWTH PANGS PREVIEW PG 7 PG 70 21 COVER STORY WWHHAATT TTHHEE SSTTAARRSS FFOORREETTEELLLL 22 P OLITICS Mukul Kesavan 25 E CONOMY Jahangir Aziz 28 I NEQUALITY & SOCIAL WELFARE Ireena Vittal 31 I NDIA & CHINA Bertil Lintner 34 I NDIA & PAKISTAN T.C.A. Raghavan 37 J UDICIARY K.T.S. Tulsi 40 P RIVACY Anja Kovacs 43 S OCIAL MEDIA Prasanto K. Roy 46 S OLAR ENERGY Sarang Shidore 49 U RBAN FUTURES Gautam Bhan 52 H ERITAGE Giles Tillotson 56 A STROLOGY Ambarish Satwik Cover by NILANJAN DAS Readers are recommended to make appropriate enquiries before sending money, incurring expenses or entering E-MAIL to: into commitments in r elation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The India Today Group does not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of products and services. The printer, publisher, editor-in-chief and [email protected] or the editor of the India Today Group publications shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such log on to www.indiatoday.in claims not being honoured by the advertisers. FOR SUBSCRIPTION ASSISTANCE, CONTACT: Customer Care, India Today Group, B-45, Sector-57, Noida (Uttar Pradesh)-201301. Phones: 2479900 from Noida, 95120- 2479900 from Delhi and Faridabad, and 0120-2479900 from Rest of India. Toll Free No.: 1800 1800 100. Fax: 0120-4078080. E-mail: [email protected] 2 INDIA TODAY JANUARY 22, 2018 STOP/ START GDP GROWTH UPF RON T DEFENCE DEALS PANGS PG 4 PG 7 BOOKS: FIRE POV: BUSTARDS AND FURY IN DIRE STRAITS PG 8 PG 12 Y T R O B A R K A H C Y O M N A T y b n o ati str u Ill AADHAAR Ab ig controversy erupted the printing of the Aadhaar card around the vulnerability upon entering the Aadhaar num- of Aadhaar data following ber of any individual. WHAT THE media reports that the personal The report created a storm, details of a billion Indians, who with the Opposition attacking LEAKAGE have been enrolled by the Unique the government for failing to Identification Authority of India protect the private details citizens (UIDAI), were on sale for a song. have shared with the UIDAI. But REVEALS On January 3, The Tribune said what raised a bigger storm was that its correspondent was given the UIDAI’s move to file a first access to personal data, including information report (FIR) against By M.G. Arun names, addresses, postal codes Tribune correspondent Rachna (PIN), photos, phone numbers and Khaira and the ‘unknown agents’ emails of Aadhaar cardholders for who had provided her access to as little as Rs 500 over WhatsApp. Aadhaar’s demographic database. What’s more, with an additional In a statement, the Editors Guild Rs 300, illegal operators provided of India condemned the UIDAI’s her ‘software’ that could facilitate move and said it was “clearly meant Upfront-1-3-Jan22.indd 8 1/10/2018 8:10:10 PM UPFRONT to browbeat a journalist whose investigation on the mat- DEFENCE ter was of great public interest” and termed it an “unfair, Stop, Start, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press”. It also demanded a thorough investigation into the alleged breach and a withdrawal of all cases against Reboot the reporter. American whistleblower Edward Snowden also criticised the Indian government for a textbook enactment of ‘shooting the messenger’. The government stepped in to control the damage, with Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stating on January 8 that the government was committed to the freedom of the press and “to maintaining the secu- rity and sanctity of Aadhaar for India’s development”. Clarifying that the FIR was against “unknown” people, he said he had suggested that the UIDAI “request The P F A Tribune and its journalist to assist the police in inves- N/ A tigating (the) real offenders”. In a recent development, HW to restrict the use of the Aadhaar number, the UIDAI AE- has introduced virtual IDs that can be generated for KIM J a short period and used instead of Aadhaar. The The breach UIDAI has also restricted The Indian Navy’s urgent bid to acquire 12 mine reiterates the access of around 5,000 counter measure vessels (MCMVs) suffered an- the need to officials to the Aadhaar other setback earlier this month when the ministry portal, following the uproar of defence (MoD) cancelled a 2016 proposal from South strengthen over the breach. Korea’s Kangnam Corporation. laws on lines The controversy could MCMVs are specialised vessels designed to locate and advocated by not have come at a worse destroy sea mines planted by enemy aircraft and subma- the A.P. Shah time for the government, expert panel which has been widely criticised for making Aad- haar compulsory for the most commonplace of benefits and purchases, right from distribution of subsidies to paying income tax to INDEX purchasing mobile SIM cards and insurance, or even procuring a death certificate. The Supreme Court is TRUMP AND THE hearing a slew of petitions relating to privacy issues around Aadhaar, including whether privacy is a funda- VISA QUESTION mental right. The next hearing is scheduled on January 17. The apex court has referred all Aadhaar-related cases to a five-judge Constitution bench. The new year began with a jolt for Indians The latest Aadhaar breach also brings to the fore working in the United States on H1B visas, the need to strengthen privacy laws in line with the as the department of homeland security was 2012 recommendations of the Justice A.P. Shah-led reportedly considering new rules to prevent Group of Experts on Privacy. In its report, the panel extensions. The H1B is a six-year work permit. had said that a framework on the right to privacy must During this time, visa-holders apply to become include privacy concerns around data protection on permanent residents. But with wait times for the Internet, appropriate protection from unauthor- certain nationalities, including Indians, far exceeding six years, H1B extensions are essential ised interception, audio and video surveillance, use of to maintain legal status. Preventing extensions personal identifiers, bodily privacy, including DNA as would force Indians waiting for their green cards well as physical privacy. to leave the US. Fortunately for them, the Trump “It (the move to link Aadhaar with most services) is administration has buckled under a fait accompli, and unless the Supreme Court finds it pressure and backed off from making unconstitutional or something, I don’t think things are immediate policy changes. going to change,” says a privacy expert. n 4 INDIA TODAY JANUARY 22, 2018 entire acquisition process will now be rebooted with the MoD likely to put out a fresh Expression of Interest (EoI) to global vendors for MCMVs. This will be the third attempt to acquire these vessels in a decade. Kangnam had earlier finished as the lowest bidder in a 2005 process to buy eight MCMVs. The acquisition bid was scrapped in 2015 after the South Korean firm was found to have hired agents, banned under MoD rules. The Korean corporation was then nomi- nated as a single vendor to build the MCMVs at the GSL in 2016, which officials say, led to a monopolistic situation. Another critical requirement for 16 multi-role helicop- ters—choppers that can operate off warships to hunt sub- marines—is in a similar loop. They were meant to replace a fleet of a dozen Sea King multi-role helicopters, acquired from the UK in the 1980s, around the time the navy got its minesweepers from the former Soviet Union. A 2007 proposal to buy 16 multi-role helicopters worth Rs 6,000 crore for the navy had to be scrapped last year MINESWEEPING A South Korean MCMV Hunter MSH-572 when it was discovered that the winning bid by US heli- of the kind India wants copter maker Sikorsky was nearly twice what the MoD was willing to pay for them. rines in a bid to blockade harbours. The navy’s minesweeper The process was finally rebooted last year in August fleet of 12 ships—acquired in the 1970s and ’80s from the as part of the government’s Strategic Partnership policy former Soviet Union—is on its last legs, having dwindled where a foreign firm will tie up with a private sector firm to just four units after older ships were retired. The MoD in India to produce the helicopters locally. Given the speed scrapped the deal after the South Korean shipyard report- of decision-making, it could take another decade before the edly demanded $1 billion to transfer technology to Goa first helicopters land on warship decks. n Shipyard Ltd (GSL), where the vessels were to be built. The —Sandeep Unnithan 36,318 65,000 236,000 INDIANS LIVING IN THE US H1B VISAS GRANTED IN A YEAR. A TOTAL APPLICANTS FOR CHANGED VISA STATUS TO BECOME FURTHER 20,000 ARE AVAILABLE H1B VISAS IN FISCAL 2017 PERMANENT RESIDENTS IN 2015. A FOR APPLICANTS WITH ADVANCED FURTHER 27,798 WHO GOT GREEN DEGREES FROM US UNIVERSITIES CARDS WERE NEW ARRIVALS 90% 12 YEARS OF H1B VISA REQUESTS ARE AVERAGE WAIT FOR INDIANS FOR JOBS THAT REQUIRE APPLYING FOR GREEN CARDS HIGH LEVEL KNOWLEDGE OF AS SKILLED EMPLOYEES. IN STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, 2017, APPLICATIONS FROM 2005 ENGINEERING, MATH) FIELDS WERE BEING PROCESSED 50.5% $90,000 OF THE FIRST-TIME WORKERS OR Rs 57.3 LAKH, MINIMUM GRANTED H1Bs FROM 2001 TO 2015 PROPOSED ANNUAL SALARY WERE INDIAN. NEXT HIGHEST WAS FOR H1B APPLICANTS, UP FROM CHINA (9.7%) AND CANADA (3.8%) CURRENT Rs 38.2 LAKH Illustration by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY JANUARY 22, 2018 INDIA TODAY 5 UPFRONT GLASSHOUSE SOFT HINDUTVA CHACHA MODI Barely had triple talaq cru- sader Ishrat Jahan joined W e don’t know if the the BJP on January 1 than its book will be titled West Bengal unit pressed her ‘Mann Ki Baat’, but into service aga inst Mamata Prime Minister Narendra Modi is Banerjee’s Trinamool Cong- putting his thoughts on issues ress. She and lawyer Nazia Illahi children face into words. He’s have been roped in to campaign writing a motivational tome that in the bypolls to the Uluberia will be released next month by publishers Penguin Random Lok Sabha seat and the Noapara House. Written for children and assembly seat. Mamata has heavy on illustrations, there are been mum on triple talaq for apparently no ghost writers involved fear of alienating Muslim men, and the words are NaMo’s own. He has but the TMC also organised a also been scrutinising the edits. After all, Brahmin sabha to woo upper- today’s child is tomorrow’s voter, and which caste Hindus in Birbhum. leader of farsight will take chances with a votebank in the making? Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE Humble Prayer Former prime minister BABU HIT LIST H.D. Deve Gowda once called himself a humble far- mer. With state elections After Mandla collector Sufiyah Farooqui carried approaching, the Gowda Adi Shankara’s charan padukas (wooden sandals) clan is propitiating sundry on her head during a government yatra early Janu- divinities to boost the ary, Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh, such as Ajay of fortunes of the JD(S), Singh, say they’re compiling a list of bureaucrats closely holding a 12-day Ati Rudra aligned with the BJP government. Farooqui said she Maha Yagna at the Sringeri was only parti cipating in a government programme, mutt in Chikka magalur but the Congress is unrelenting. Doesn’t hurt after all district. Reported cost: a to keep bureaucrats on their toes in an election year. not-so-modest Rs 2 crore. Sandeep Unnithan with Shweta Punj, Rahul Noronha, Romita Datta, Aravind Gowda PULLQUOTE SUKHDEV SINGH GOGAMEDI, leader of the Shri “India will burn if the Central Board of Rajput Karni Sena, was not Film Certification (CBFC), producers pacified by the many changes demanded by the censor or cinema hall owners release the film board, including dropping the [Padmavat] on January 25.... We will ‘i’ in the title of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s troubled epic, go... with lathis and petrol, and term formerly known as Padmavati. them phool and Gangajal.... Having set Now set to release across most of India on January 25, the cinema halls on fire, we will show Padmavat will still be banned them placards with disclaimers saying in Rajasthan. Isn’t it time governments step in to stop no one should get offended as we have the goons rather than just offered phool and Gangajal.” pander to them? 6 INDIA TODAY JANUARY 22, 2018 INDEX Indians Going Hungry ECONOMY On January 5, Nigin Binish, a 25-year-old student, arrived in Delhi, having walked all the way from Coimbatore. He began his trek months ago, in August, and plans to continue on foot GROWTH PANGS all the way up to Kashmir. Moved by the sight of an old woman foraging for food in a trash can, Binish says he hopes his journey will help raise awareness of food wastage in India. The I t’s not a pretty picture. inflation and higher public figures are startling. India produces much more food than it India’s growth has spending with a rural needs and still food security is not guaranteed. Tens of millions slowed down. Manu- focus—powers India’s go hungry. Despite this, tens of thousands of crores worth of facturing and agricul- growth. The Rs 2.11 lakh food is wasted in India every year. More than a third of Indian ture are struggling, the crore bank recapitalisation children under five are stunted. Surely economic development government’s finances are plan could enable banks to must include the ability to feed our citizens? stretched and tax collec- support growth. tions are falling. Advance Also encouraging is `92,000 100 estimates by the Central the uptick in volumes CRORE Statistics Office put the across sectors. Eight core INDIA’S RANK OUT GDP grow rate at 6.5 per industries grew by 6.8 WORTH OF FOOD IS OF 119 COUNTRIES IN cent in 2017-18, down from per cent in November WASTED IN INDIA EVERY THE GLOBAL HUNGER YEAR, SAYS SADHVI INDEX. LAST AMONG 7.1 per cent in the last fiscal 2017, from 5 per cent NIRANJAN JYOTI, BRICS NATIONS and the lowest since fiscal the previous month. MINISTER OF STATE 2015. Gross Value Added Core sector growth had FOR FOOD PROCESSING (GVA)—the value of goods plunged to 3.2 per cent INDUSTRIES. MOSTLY 21% and services produced—is DUE TO POOR projected at 6.1 per cent, REFRIGERATION AND INDIAN CHILDREN INFRASTRUCTURE UNDER 5 SUFFER FROM down from 6.6 per cent in 6.5 ‘WASTING’, IN WHICH the last fiscal. Manufactur- WEIGHT IS TOO LOW ing growth is expected at 61,284 TONNES FOR HEIGHT. UP FROM 4.6 per cent against 7.9 per OF GRAIN, MOSTLY RICE 17.1% (1998-2002) AND cent in the last fiscal, and 20% (2006-10) PER CENT AND WHEAT, DAMAGED agricultural growth at 2.1 Advance estimate IN FOOD CORP. OF INDIA per cent, compared to 4.9 WAREHOUSES BETWEEN of GDP growth rate per cent in the last fiscal. 2011 AND 2017, SAID THE 272 MILLION in 2017-18 Economists blame the GOVERNMENT IN RESPONSE TONNES slump on demonetisation, TO AN RTI APPLICATION TOTAL PRODUCTION OF transitory disruptions FOODGRAINS IN 2016- caused by the Goods and in November 2016 after 194 MILLION 17, ESTIMATES THE Services Tax and poor demonetisation. GOVERNMENT. RECORD agricultural growth. But The services sector INDIANS GO HUNGRY TOTAL, UP 8% FROM the worst may be behind is also expected to show EVERY DAY, SAYS THE PREVIOUS YEAR. us. Aditi Nayar, principal sharp growth in the UNITED NATIONS’ FOOD 225 TO 230 MILLION AND AGRICULTURE TONNES NEEDED TO economist at ICRA, second half of financial ORGANIZATION FEED INDIA explains that the advance 2018, riding on higher estimates are based on spending by state limited data and do not governments. Data for factor in the expected October-November 2017 pick-up in growth in the shows a sharp increase in later months of fiscal total expenditure, which 2018. ICRA expects the will support services GDP to grow at 6.7 per in the third quarter. cent. Crisil expects growth But the limited fiscal to rebound to 7.6 per cent room available with the in fiscal 2019 as GST- government for additional 2,800 KILOMETRES rela ted issues get ironed spending in the fourth out and consumption— quarter could weigh down WALKED BY NIGIN BINISH THROUGH 20 CITIES OVER 136 DAYS TO REACH DELHI FROM COIMBATORE TO helped along by softer the sector’s growth. n RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT FOOD WASTAGE interest rates, lower —Shweta Punj JANUARY 22, 2018 INDIA TODAY 7 CHATTER UPFRONT The week in social media @ShougatDasgupta BOOKS Cow Spat The Fool on the Hill As India lurches from state election to state election—each covered more intensely than When pictures emerged on January 8 of smoke the last by desperate, pluming above Trump Tower, the US president’s content-starved TV Manhattan monument to glitz, you’d have been news channels—on forgiven for thinking Michael Wolff was the gleeful arsonist. its way to the 2019 He had, after all, already taken a flamethrower to the Donald general election, our national white noise is the Trump White House. His book, Fire and Fury—available squabbling of campaigning politicians. Sometimes, though, from January 5 after a threatening letter from Trump’s law- it can be hard to tune out the incessant din. With elections yers prompted the publishers to move up the release date— in Karnataka only four or five months away, Adityanath is has made Trump look so stupid he took to Twitter to describe visiting Karnataka to stir the Hindutva nest, referring to Congress as worshippers “of Tipu Sultan rather than Lord himself as a “genius... and a very stable genius at that!” Hanuman”. In Siddaramaiah, though, he has an opponent Dominating the headlines and the cable news talk willing to stoop to his level, going toe to toe on such press- shows—as numerous and noisy as the ones in India—Wolff ing issues as who spends more time grazing cows and has reason to be grateful to Trump. His intemperate response picking up their dung. n to Wolff’s admittedly provocative reporting has made Fire and Fury undoubtedly the bestselling book of 2018, and the year’s barely begun. In these pages, Jignesh Jitters? you lose count of the people who You could forgive the right wing dismiss Trump as an idiot (or, their moments of social media Wolff quotes Rupert Murdoch, schadenfreude on January a moron), the lunatic who finds 9, as what was billed as the himself in charge of the asylum. Delhi coming out party of Unlike Barack Obama, so spare, newly elected Gujarat MLA so controlled, so unblemished a Jignesh Mevani became notable mostly for its sparse product of sophisticated schooling, attendance. Speaking at a youth rally on Parliament Street Trump is a figure of Rabelaisian to demand the release of a Dalit activist, Mevani, after the excess—crude, greedy, slavering. role he was accused of playing in the recent caste vio- To the self-serious career politi- lence in Maharashtra, was expected to be a major draw. cians, bureaucrats and journalists When he wasn’t, pictures of empty chairs were posted in Washington, DC, Trump was an online. But Mevani has already proven his appeal at the affront. Even those closest to him, from the reptilian Stephen ballot box. And if he is such a “flop show”, why were police Bannon and other aides to his own family, can barely stom- tactics aimed at ensuring a low turnout? n ach him, think him entirely unfit for office. Reading Fire and Fury, it’s hard not to see the con- trasts between Trump and Narendra Modi. Where Trump is pathologically impulsive, loose-lipped, Modi is entirely Flying the self-abnegating, appearing to take pleasure in nothing except Rainbow work. Where Trump, a political neophyte, is ideologically Flag malleable, Modi, for all the distracting talk about develop- Speaking of coming ment, remains committed to Hindutva. And where Trump out, the Supreme thrives on the theatre of outrage surrounding him, on the Court has said it will revisit its 2013 decision to overturn the disrespect of ‘media elites’, Modi affects indifference to his Delhi High Court’s effective decriminalisation of homosexu- largely sycophantic press. ality. The move was widely lauded online. Less enamoured, A book such as this could never be written about the Modi though, were the likes of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian government. No journalist would enjoy the access. Wolff has Swamy, who said Section 377 ensured that gay people did done little of value with that access, choosing only to confirm not “flaunt” their sexuality by setting up gay bars to find partners. Hindutva activist Rahul Easwar tweeted a non existing prejudices in lurid fashion, but the access itself sug- sequitur about scientists not reaching a conclusion about gests a fundamental commitment to democracy. Would that the “whole idea of ‘Sexual Orientation by Birth as Gay’”. As we were so open to scrutiny. n the trolls say, pass the Burnol. n —Shougat Dasgupta