Daily Archives: March 29, 2021

Sometimes turning the other cheek doesnt work

One of the most important and often forgotten pieces of history from the last decade is the Iranian Revolution. Aside from short-lived Hollywood glory in Ben AfflecksArgo(even then, it was turned into a playground to show the heroics of the CIA, with the involvement of the foreign government being kept to a minimum), the event has often been forgotten when it comes to the discussion of the revolutions of the past century.

And while the role of foreign governments is being discussed in a new light in the West, the dangers of hardline fanaticism are often forgotten when it comes to the discussion of this event. This is problematic, especially in light of current events. Its no secret that after Brexit, things in Britain have been less than stellar.

Things took a further nosedive when Britain pushed for the release for Ghislaine Maxwell, and after her release, invited her over to give a speech during the anniversary of the Brexit vote. Both the IRA and the Westboro Baptist church took to the streets. The unofficial special operational unit of the government called Oy Mates took to the streets as well, to put the protestors of the IRA in place.

But when the militias of the Westboro people proved to be too difficult to handle (and lets be honest, this is the same group that uses orphans as a human shields and has stopped investigations into decades of sexual abuse inside their own churches), the police were deployed, people were killed. As you would expect, the fallout from this would have grave consequences.

The IRA achieved some support from the people, but they were soon forgotten by the people. Westboro Baptist church had a large win from this, as they banked on the Christian nature of the masses and used that support to mobilize sympathy and political capital for themselves. They also singled out the IRA and liberals as their enemy, as a lot of people in the liberal circle are not comfortable with supporting tyrants (for obvious reasons).

Even still, a large portion of the liberal elites have taken to supporting these people, while also condemning their action. Suffice to say, this kind of support did not ruffle any feathers in the Baptist circle, as they deem such a centrist support (the police shouldnt have killed people, and protestors shouldnt protest violently) to be spineless and basic. And ultimately, this is something I agree with, albeit for different reasons.

The Baptists oppose this stance as they think that when protesting against ones violent oppressors, one can only get their ways when they oppose their oppressors using force. And this is something I agree with. To the liberal elite, this is a no-no, as they believe anything and everything can be gained through working inside of the system.

First things first, the system itself is broken. Liberals believe the capitalist democratic system to be just and fair, but in reality, it is anything but. From issues like information asymmetry where people like Trump and Johnson can get elected, to issues like the greater holes of capitalism as a whole where the rich can do anything they want while the poor might die even for a sack of rice (the yearly suicides of farmers during harvest, anyone?), the system is inherently built on violence and oppression.

This is not a society where people of all communities and groups can live in harmony. The world is inherently zero sum as it is. Capitalist democracy essentially exacerbates the issue, where some groups have all the power and benefits in the world, which comes at the cost of the other people.

So yes, in this instance, the liberals are wrong. But what can be the end result of this? What can be the end result of a group trying to take back power through the barrel of a gun while the regular people of the country rally behind them, and the liberals with influence just sit back and watch?

The future

Essentially, the people who are fighting will get the power. The time for idle chat is over, and since people have discovered that voting has no influence on outcome, since people have been deceived by the cronies of Nigel Farage for so long, the people would take the issue head on. And who better to lead them than a group that can mobilize these people based on the oldest ideals there are?

This is the first blow to the liberal ideology, the supposed ideology of peace and tolerance. What liberals forget is that they come from a place of privilege, and while there are a lot of things they want to implement, they are still a part of the ruling class. As such, it is easy for them to speak about peace and tolerance, as they can afford to do so. But what they forget is that they only have this privilege because their ancestors gained these positions by force. Without them, liberals would be nothing.

This brings us to another aspect of tolerance, and force in general. Liberals took a centrist position here because they believe the system to work. They believe if we all preached tolerance and peace, all of the issues of the world would disappear, just like that. This is bogus. While they watch Netflix while sipping tea, the camp that doesnt want to be tolerant is mobilizing.

I imagine these pathetic liberals would preach the same tolerance if they were present during Hitlers rise to power. When you are dealing with a group that wants to take away your rights, you dont turn the other cheek. No my good sir, you fight back. Baptists have realized this, and they are doing the same. Liberals havent. And when the parliament falls and the Vatican comes into power again, trust me, worrying about what they can and cant say will be the least of their concerns.

Nafis Shahriar is a student of business and an intern at the Dhaka Tribune.

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OP-ED: The plough that broke the land - Dhaka Tribune

Chastised by Nova Scotia landowners and the forestry industry, the Liberal government has decided to make changes to the recently tabled Biodiversity Act.

Its extremely important that we have an act that better protects biodiversity, Premier Iain Rankin told reporters late Tuesday afternoon, saying the primary focus of the act and its amendments has always been on Crown land with a secondary emphasis on working collaboratively with landowners on private land.

There are certain sections in the act that are problematic for landowners, so that is what we are discussing and we are looking at how we can bring groups together to support the act.

Problematic hardly describes the reaction of the Concerned Private Landowner Coalition that took out an ad in The Chronicle Herald and other Saltwire publications and posted on its website a call to landowners that the bill would put control of your lands in the hands of Halifax activists and politicians.

The ad, Stop Bill 4 Before it Stops You, says the legislation would restrict what you can do on your own land, and includes fines of up to $1 million for landowners.

On its website, the landowner coalition says every current user of private lands is threatened by Bill 4 because private landowners will be forced to close their lands to the public to protect themselves from losing control over their property.

The legislation, introduced March 10 as an amendment to the 2019 act, states that a person who contravenes the act or its regulation is guilty of an offence and liable to a summary conviction that could result in a first-offence fine of no more than $500,000 for an individual, increasing to no more than a million dollars for a second offence.

But the legislation also established that the minister may establish a biodiversity management zone on private land with the consent of the owner of the private land and by entering into an agreement with the landowner.

The Liberal government issued a release Tuesday evening announcing that changes to the act are in the works to address concerns from provincial stakeholders and ensure collaboration remains a key focus, as was always intended.

The changes remove emergency orders, offences and fines from the act and limit the scope of the act to Crown land unless permission is given on private lads.

The release said the act will allow the province to work with private landowners in a voluntary fashion to develop biodiversity management zones on their property.

"It is so critical for us to find a path together to address threats and create opportunities for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Nova Scotia, Rankin said in the release.

The government commits to reporting to the public on the state of the province's biodiversity beginning within three years of it coming into force.

Lands and Forestry Minister Chuck Porter reiterated the premiers commitment to collaborate with all parties.

We are determined to get it right," Porter said.

Rankin said the landowners coalitions portrayal of theact as an attack on their livelihood is not a productive way to try to achieve better protection for diversity.

Pinning one region of the province against another is never good for democracy, Rankin said. There is a way to protect the environment and protect the economy.

The next step in the legislative process for the biodiversity act is law amendments, where the committee will hear further feedback from stakeholders and individuals.

But the Progressive Conservative Party, in a Tuesday evening release, called on the Liberals to release specifics of the changes to the legislation before it gets to law amendments so that everyone can assess the actual changes for themselves.

The premier has suggested the changes would mean the act would apply only to Crown land, PC Leader Tim Houston said. If this is truly the case, and the bill now only applies to what they do on their own land, why do they need a bill? It would seem that this change can be done through regulation -- meaning this is either a political stunt or the premier is misleading property owners, and has a trap door planned for the bill to fulfill his initial agenda to tell private landowners what they can and cannot do.

Conversely, Gary Burrill, leader of the New Democratic Party, says the Liberals backtracking on the bill is an abandonment of its commitment to prioritizing the protection of the environment.

At the first sign of criticism, the premier has sided with the Conservatives and lobbyists, instead of standing up for conservation and land protection, Burrill said in a release Wednesday.

Today, we in the NDP find ourselves in the strange position of defending a piece of government legislation that Premier Rankin said would be his flagship policy but which he has not had the courage to stand up for himself.

Burrill said climate change and biodiversity are accelerating in Nova Scotia and around the globe.

The impacts are easy to see in our forests and waterways, Burrill said. The people of our province want a government that will protect our environment, and on this issue, the Liberals and Conservatives have removed themselves from the running.

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Liberal government moves to dial back elements of Biodiversity Act - TheChronicleHerald.ca

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has identified land at eight airports, which include ones at Begumpet, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Juhu, Kolkata, New Delhi and Tirupati, for inviting bids to set up Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) units to service aircraft, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

This is part of the government's vision to make the country a hub for MRO and related work.

"The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has come up with a liberal Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) policy with significantly reduced liberalised land rentals," Puri said adding that no revenue share will be charged from MROs by AAI under the new contracts.

In addition to the eight AAI-operated airports, airports at Bengaluru and Cochin, which are operated by private players, have also earmarked land for development of MRO, Puri added.

The government has taken several measures to attract companies to set up MROs in India, which include reducing Goods and Services Tax (GST) on MROs from 18% to 5% with full Input Tax Credit from 1 April 2020, treating transactions sub-contracted by foreign OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and MRO companies to domestic MRO as exports with zero-rated GST from 1 April 2020, waving off custom duty on tools, toolkits and spares imported by MROs, and permitting 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route, among others.

Puri added that MROs currently operate out of 19 airports run by AAI, which include airports at Hyderabad and Mumbai, which are run under the PPP (public-private partnership) model.

At present, most airlines fly abroad to service their aircraft.

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AAI proposes to offer land at 8 airports for MRO - Mint

While I wholeheartedly agree that homelessness is a significant problem in Asheville, as a garden educator and community herbalist, I have to take issue with the notion that urban gardening spaces are contributing [The Problem with Urban Food Gardening, Feb. 17, Xpress].

I can assure you, working in a public school, Im not part of the liberal bourgeoisie, but I have seen the neighborhood change drastically in recent years with rapid gentrification. I, like you, worry about the sharp rise in homelessness, but urban gardens are not to blame in the least. They are often located on land not suitable for residential construction and are one of the few places where unhoused folks can simply exist for free.

In fact, they not only provide a relaxing respite from the streets, but community gardens also act as a source of free fresh produce, a precious commodity.

Furthermore, if we look at the land use in a historical context, we see that before urban renewal snatched large swatches of land from low-income neighborhoods, these gardens served as a critical piece of the communities food security.

Urban gardens are desperately needed to capture carbon, a benefit for all residents of the city regardless of income, and they provide a critical oasis for the pollinators that our larger food systems rely on. And, to your point, there is no better way to cut down your commute than walking down the road to pick your produce rather than having it trucked in from all reaches of the land. There is such joy in finding my students walking home through the garden, leisurely picking an after-school snack as they go.

I promise you that urban agriculture isnt a fantasy; its a real mutual aid practice already in action that strengthens communities, improves health outcomes and ensures there will always be a place in town to rest in the shade of a tree and enjoy the fruits that Mother Earth provides for all of her residents, regardless of their ability to pay.

Summer WheldenAsheville

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. Thats a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

Were pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope youll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month the cost of a craft beer or kombucha you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

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Letter: The many benefits of urban food gardens - Mountain Xpress

I am writing as a result of Ms. Diamonds excellent letter on land protection (Lack of political will continues to plague land policy in P.E.I., Feb. 24, Journal Pioneer) and subsequently P.E.I. Environment Minister Steven Myers's willingness to push through the Water Act with no regard for public input and the long-term welfare of all people residing on Prince Edward Island.

Islanders are frustrated to no end with successive provincial governments' attempts to give our most precious resources to corporate P.E.I.

In fact, taxpayers have already funded, in large part, the endless studies of the relationship between the people, the Water Act and the Lands Protection Act, and the corporations, to no avail.

Successive provincial administrations (Liberal and Conservative) have waffled relentlessly in a concentrated effort to please corporate P.E.I., even though the outcome will be to the detriment of Island residents.

It is time for Islanders to hold a referendum on both the Water Act and the Lands Protection Act. The legislative assembly is in session and it is incumbent upon the opposition to introduce motions to that effect. Lets get this done.

If the Irvings leave, so be it, we will not only survive but most likely thrive. The hundreds of millions in profits that leave the Island would be welcome here.

And if our politicians are worth their salt, they will not allow off-Island interests to have such crippling control of our economy ever again.

It is time to remind our political masters who really matters. Our political system is not working for the people.

Our politicians are destroying the citizens' faith in the political process by bending to the pressure of the almighty dollar; the benefit of which has little to do with society at large.

Time for electoral reform and tools such as recall and termination of engagement when members of the legislative assembly go rogue supporting executive approved legislation detrimental to the greater public good.

Wayne Carver,

Longcreek

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LETTER: P.E.I. government showing no regard for public input on land protection issue - The Journal Pioneer

The Liberal government introduced legislation Tuesday to speed up settlements of land claims and to address land ownership inequities in five historic African Nova Scotian communities.

For more than 300 years, many African Nova Scotians have been living on land passed down by their ancestors without clear title, Justice Minister Randy Delorey said at a bill briefing.

Without legal certainty of ownership, many residents in these communities are unable to exercise all of the benefits of land ownership that the rest of us take for granted, such as obtaining a mortgage, dividing or selling their land, accessing housing grants or building equity in their homes, Delorey said.

This is unacceptable.

The Land Titles Initiative was launched in 2017 to help residents get clear title to land in East Preston, North Preston, Cherry Brook/Lake Loon, Lincolnville and Sunnyville.

Delorey said the initiative was intended to address a "long-standing, systemic racism, by assisting residents in those communities secure clear title to their land and righting the wrongs of the past.

The legislation introduced Tuesday is an amendment to the Land Titles Clarification Act, outlining its purpose and scope and creating an expanded role for commissioners that allow for negotiation, mediation and voluntary arbitration of claims, and to create broader authority to administer the initiative.

The amendment also formally establishes the new $3-million compensation fund, announced on March 5, to support negotiated, mediated and arbitrated resolutions of claims involving parties with competing interests.

A dedicated executive director and two commissioners were also named to help accelerate the title claims.

Under the initiative, all legal and surveyor fees are covered at no cost to the applicant, Deloreysaid.

The minister said 200 parcels of land in those five communities have already been cleared among 527 applications received. More than 850 parcels of land in those communities are eligible for land claims. The program is expected to push out to other communities in the future.

These amendments to the Land Titles Clarification Act will provide greater clarity, solidify processes and bridge gaps that will allow us to better serve the needs of our clients and communities, said Lauren Grant, manager of the land titles initiative at Communities, Culture and Heritage.

Revising the municipal subdivision requirements will help address many of our clients unique circumstances, Grant said.

I am confident that this amendment will accelerate the work and help to clear many land titles in our historical African Nova Scotian communities.

Tony Ince, minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, said community work done in the past two years has been a teaching tool.

My government colleagues and I will continue to work with residents in these communities to identify solutions that remove barriers and support residents to achieve title to their families' lands, Ince said.

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Legislation will speed up land claims in historic African Nova Scotian communities - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Jacob Fillmore is fed up with the Liberal government ignoring him and his call for a moratorium on clearcutting on Crown land.

I was lied to, that much is quite obvious Fillmore, who was on Day 17 of his hunger strike Wednesday, said of a promised then aborted meeting with Chuck Porter, minister of lands and forestry.

I am a little disappointed that it didnt turn out as well as I thought it was going to," Fillmore said.

Fillmore has been on a hunger strike to back his demand for a moratorium on clearcutting on Crown land until the long-promised forestry reforms recommended in the Lahey report are implemented.

I would have asked him what the holdup is on declaring a moratorium and asked him if that is not something he could do, then what is, Fillmore, a 25-year-old Haligonian, said of what he would have asked the minister if the meeting promise had been fulfilled.

Does he not feel that the forests need more sufficient protection immediately.

Fillmore, buoyed by an hour-long rally that drew about a hundred people to the front gate of Province House on Tuesday, said he had intended to move his protest from Province House to the lands and forestry office but was told when he got there by the deputy minister that Porter would meet with him Wednesday.

Yesterday was great with the crowd and with what I thought was a promise to meet, said Fillmore, who has been spending his days for the last couple of weeks in front of Province House.

I showed up here (Province House) around 9:30 and waited around, Fillmore said of having been told that Porter would meet him after he finished an earlier morning engagement.

Porter got out of his engagement, got into his car and didnt bother looking too hard to try to find me, Fillmore said.

Fillmore, who had hand delivered a letter requesting a meeting to Porters office on Friday, said he was told later in the day Wednesday by a person in Porters office that he would have to send a formal email in order to arrange a meeting with the minister.

Hand-delivered letters and promises from the deputy minister and even from Porter himself none of that is actually an official promise that he will meet with me, Fillmore said.

Fillmore said that Porter told a gathering in Windsor in his riding of West Hants on Tuesday that he would meet with Fillmore the next day.

Surviving primarily on soup broth and water, Fillmore said the plan for what he might do next is still coming together.

Ill make it until at least next Tuesday, Fillmore said of continuing his hunger strike until the day another rally is planned in front of Province House.

Lisa Roberts, the New Democrat representative for Halifax Needham, raised Fillmores epic protest during the legislative session Wednesday.

Yesterday, amidst many concerns of where we are going as a province, there was one bit of hope which was that the minister of lands and forestry was to meet with Mr. Fillmore today, Roberts said. Unfortunately, and to my great disappointment and his (Fillmores), the minister did not attend that meeting. This is one of many reasons why we ought to be concerned about the leadership of this government on the file of lands and forestry.

In the traditional mandate letters from the premier to appointed ministers that the government made available Wednesday, Premier Iain Rankin said the choices of the past in forestry that led to degradation of the provinces woods have to give way to new ecological forestry choices.

Rankins first directive to Porter as minister of lands and forestry is to implement the Lahey report.

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Hunger striker says lands and forestry minister reneged on promise to meet him - TheChronicleHerald.ca

As our job search narrowed to a handful of candidates, we began the process of in-person interviews. On paper and in their initial presentations, one candidate stood out to me more than the others: more confidence, more poise, and a veteran resume that put him head and shoulders above the crowd. We had also recently served in the same organizationalthough in different brigadesand likely shared some common connections. These were the interviews I relished because they allowed for a more relaxed conversation rather than a by-the-numbers back-and-forth.

After exchanging introduction and a few perfunctory questions, we settled into my preferred interview battle rhythm. I saw on your resume that you were on 3rd Brigade staff during the initial invasion. Do you stay in touch with any of the rest of the team? I asked. No, not really, he answered. We kind of drifted apart. Fair enough, I thought. It happens. The others on the search panel followed with a couple of innocuous questions before it was my turn again. Tell me about the writing award you won in the Command and General Staff College. What did you write about? To me, this seemed like a good question to get him comfortable and talking. It wasnt a big deal, he replied. When it was clear he wasnt going to elaborate, I added, What was your subject? Leadership, he answered curtly while shifting a bit uncomfortably. This was going nowhere.

Follow up questions were asked and answered in brief bursts with little or no elaboration. Either hes really uncomfortable or somethings not right, I remember thinking. I want to ask you about your last job, I said to him. How would you describe your interactions with your supervisor? His former boss was an old friend and one of the most well-liked leaders I know. We got along okay, I guess. Thats it? Just okay? He had nothing else to add. The interview continued that way until we finished. Short answers. Curt responses. No real engagement with the committee members.

After he departed the conference room where we staged the interview, I looked at the others and said, Was it just me or was something off about that interview? We all agreed that this wasnt just a case of nerves. The candidate wed seen on paper and presenting to us in a group setting was not the same person who arrived for the in-person interview. For him, it would have been a dream job. But it didnt happen. Our unease was enough to scratch him from the list. It was a gut call, but one of the smartest ones we made that day.

Unfortunately, this experience is not at all unique. The situation itself might change from person to person, but Ive heard more than my share of similar stories where someone walked into an interview as the ideal candidate and left without a job offer. It happens for different reasons, but it happens. And its often our own fault. Its not particularly complicated, either.

The longer you remain in uniform, the more experience you build. Its a safe bet that you have more leadership experience and have managed larger budgets than the company considering your application. Dont rub their noses in it. Keep your resume short and focused, emphasizing what you bring to the table as a TEAM member. Hint: Have someone proofread your resume; theres nothing worse than resume riddled with mistakes.

Stick to the facts. While you might think you are strengthening your resume with a bit of creative imagination, its not all that difficult for someone to fact check your resume. And when the facts dont line up, neither do the job offers. Hint: Despite the size of your office, a company commander is not a strategic-level leader.

Face it, no matter what you do or where you go, its very likely youll be the FNG. You might even (shudder) end up working for someone who is the age of your children. Get over it. Starting over is a humbling experience and interviewers can tell when youre lacking in that department. Hint: Avoid offering combatives lessons to those who annoy you; it might be entertaining but can lead to complaints.

You are. So are the 500 servicemembers who transitioned from the military yesterday. And the 500 leaving tomorrow. Dont let that attitude bleed into an interview. You want a potential employee to likenot loatheyou. Were all unique in our own special ways; that doesnt mean everyone else lives on a lower plane than you. Hint: Be genuine. As long as your genuine doesnt make the people around you sick.

You dont have a career focused online profile (or you have a crappy one). You think Twitter is a liberal conspiracy. You quit Facebook because they locked your profile for posting disinformation. Fun fact: 70% of employers screen candidates through social media. As a result, the absence of a social media presence (or a really bad one) is a pretty fast way to self-select out of a job interview. Hint: Find a millennial to help you with social media.

That dream job is waiting for you. Just be sure that your future employer sees you as the dream candidate for that job.

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Unemployment Blues: 5 Reasons You're the Ideal Candidate Who Can't Land the Dream Job - ClearanceJobs

For how many generations will reservations continue?

The five-judge bench that is meant to examine whether the 13% Maratha reservation is valid or not, will also examine the 50% cap on reservations the Mandal Commission judgment.

This question only indicates that the Indian judiciary in its present mode of thinking is suspicious of the positive role of reservations in changing the caste-cultural inequality.

But so far, no Supreme Court judge has asked, For how many generations will caste inequality continue? from a sitting bench.

Let us see the conditions of Shudras or OBCs in places where reservations were treated as anti-meritocracy and also as going against socialist equality, for instance in Bengal.

Bengal in general and West Bengal after Partition, in particular, produced several leading intellectuals of India. Three castes Brahmins, Kayasthas and Baidyas were the most educated, giving rise to what is known as the Bengal Renaissance.

In the process of their nationalist renaissance, they designated themselves as bhadralok (great and gentle people). The rest of the Shudras and Nama Shudras were designated chotolok (or chotalok, small or low people, meaning lower or mean castes). This division of bhadra and choto further adds to the humiliation and oppression of the caste system, but the Bengal Brahminic renaissance accepted it as normal.

When Tamil Nadu initiated the reservation battle, the Bengali bhadralok intellectuals saw that as anti-modernist and anti-merit. No anti-Brahmin consciousness was allowed to emerge from Bengal. The Bengali bhadralok of all ideologies (that state was mainly divided into liberal and communist) hated the reservation ideology coming from the South.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The chotolok never told the bhadralok that they, who were historically assigned the job of doing agriculture and artisanal tasks needed reservation in education and employment. The bhadralok, even now, does not put a hand to the plough. The bhadraloks socialist and liberal ideologies did not change the caste-based work division.

The Bengali bhadralok was among the most educated in Sanskrit and Persian (during the Muslim rule) by the time British arrived in India. After the Raj was established by the English, they were the earliest English-educated Indians, starting with Raja Rammohan Roy. They were also first to cross the seas violating the Brahmin dictum never to doit. Roy was perhaps the first modern Brahmin to die in England.

Also read: West Bengals Landscape Is Shifting from Party Society to Caste Politics

No chotolok man or woman could become the chief minister of Bengal so far.

Bengal is the state which has given the least number of reserved jobs to Shudras, OBCs, SCs, STs following its own cardinal principle that reservations will destroy the sacrosanct Bengali merit.

The Mahishya community, which is the largest Shudra agrarian group, is for reservations and is tilting towards the BJP. The party has made a Shudra, Dilip Ghosh, the state party president and chief ministerial candidate.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu

Against Bengal, the Maharashtra experiment shows a different way. In that too the Brahmins, Banias but also Shudras and Ati-Shudras got early English education and produced the likes of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, V.D. Savarkar and also Mahatma Jyothirao and Savitribai Phule.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

There was also an early reservation and preferential treatment demand for Shudras and Ati-Shudras.

Chattrapati Shahu Maharaj, the ruler of Kolhapur, initiated the early reservation process which helped B.R. Ambedkar emerged from the Dalit community to give voice to multi-caste ambition. Today, the Marathas who were not for reservation in 1990 see the need for it. Now even Shahu Maharajs grandchildren are demanding it. A strong middle class and educationally ambitious social force has risen from all castes in Maharashtra because of reservation and others want to be part of it.

Similarly the Tamil Nadu experiment with reservations has improved the conditions of all castes. The Brahmins and Chettiars who are outside the reservation ambit did not get pushed down to the labour markets. They invented new ways of living a better life.

The Indian judiciary must see reservation in the light of the successful Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu mode of accommodation and diversification in every field of life by all castes and communities. On the other hand, West Bengal is a negative example of social stagnation because of lack of a drive towards reservation and educational motivation.

In a stagnant state, without much middle class formation among Nama Shudras and Shudras, the BJP seems to be attracting the Shudras and OBCs. The left-liberal no caste in Bengal theory is seen as a most regressive ideological step.

BJP supporters during Prime Minister Narendra Modis public meeting ahead of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, Sunday, March 7, 2021. Photo: PTI/Swapan Mahapatra

The anti-identity politics of this bhadralok stream of thought is now paying a heavy price. Reserved candidates in every institution have brought the identity of community and its social status into focus and that played a transforming role. But the left-liberals of Bengal missed Ambedkars bus and were busy studying Marx and Tagore.

The left bhadralok intellectuals held a strong view that reservations will undo socialist and democratic equal opportunities for all.

But no chotolok was allowed to think about the very fact that they were called chotolok which is insulting and dehumanising. Such a status does not allow the chotolok to sit with the bhadralok in any institution. The English-educated chotolok men and women less in number compared to Bengali bhadralok intellectual in any major central university or IIT and IIM.

Jyoti Basu famously said, There is no caste in Bengal when the question of implementation of the Mandal reservation arose. We do not see a single visible OBC leader or intellectual on the national map from that state.

Bengal hardly has an equal, competing, educated middle class that could emerge from the chotolok. By and large, Shudra Indians still need reservations across the country.

Now the rightwing bhadralok of India joins the chorus of the left bhadralok and asks for how many generations the chotolok of India will enjoy reservations.

Also read: At IITs, PhD Applicants from Marginalised Communities Have Much Lower Acceptance Rate

But they do not ask for how many generations the chotolok should till the land and feed the bhadralok without being equal in any field of modern, capitalist India. They do not ask for how long the bhadralok will keep away from production of food and teach theories of merit outside that domain. Or why colleges and universities do not talk about the merit of production, and just marks in the exam.

The Indian judiciarys mindset comes from this bhadralok view of education, employment and caste blindness.

A view of the School of Physical Sciences building, JNU. Photo: JNU

The Indian Supreme Court never asks how many Jats, Kurmis and Yadavs, leave alone the artisanal listed OBC communities, who till the lands around Delhi, have became professors in JNU, Delhi University, the IITs, and IIMs. How many top bureaucrats from those communities are sitting in the central secretariat?

It is on the Jat lands of Haryana that the top private universities like Ashoka, Amity and OP Jindal exist. How many of their children are sitting in the classrooms of those universities?

In fact their youth, for many generations, were driving bullock ploughs and tractors. How many bhadralok children in and around Delhi till the land for food production?

This is where the social justice angle in judiciary matters.

If bhadralok judges do not feel for the chotolok as much as the white judges in America feel for the blacks, India will crack. The questions that the judiciary asks plays a very critical role in shaping the consciousness of educated Indians. An anti-social justice question from a court bench will be perceived as the eventual judgment in the making.

The question for how many generations will reservations continue is exactly like the question, for how many years will Muslim appeasement continue. The merit theory of the bhadralok does not appear to treat the Shudra, Dalit and Adivasi as an Indian. And this despite their deep roots in this soil which date back to ancient times.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is political theorist, social activist. His latest book is The Shudras: Vision For a New Path, co-edited with Karthik Raja Karuppusamy.

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The Supreme Court's Question About Reservations Is the Wrong One to Ask - The Wire

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA In the last four years, Health Canada has approved more than 1,500 new or updated pharmaceuticals. Ten of them are vaccines. Five of those are for COVID-19. Dr. Supriya Sharma, the chief medical adviser at Health Canada helping oversee the review process, has never seen anything like the speed with which the COVID-19 vaccines got approved. "I mean, unprecedented is the one word that we've been overusing, but there's nothing even close to comparable to this," she said in an interview. The five non-COVID vaccines approved, four for influenza and one for shingles, took an average of 397 days from the day the company applied for approval in Canada, until that approval was granted. The average time for COVID-19 vaccines? 82 days. That includes 61 days for Pfizer-BioNTech, 72 days for Moderna, 95 days for Johnson & Johnson, 148 days for Oxford-AstraZeneca and 34 days for Covishield, the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India. Covishield is a slight outlier because Health Canada mostly just needed to review the manufacturing process, as the vaccine is the same formula as the AstraZeneca doses made elsewhere. Sharma likens it to the same recipe made in a different kitchen, but the kitchen still needs to be up to snuff. A sixth vaccine from Novavax is still under review, with the results from its big clinical trial not expected until next month. It has been under review by Health Canada for 58 days at this point. The speed has raised fears among Canadians that everything moved too quickly. Many medical experts worry it is contributing to hesitancy to get the vaccines. But Sharma says speed did not come at the expense of safety. "That's the only priority, the only thought, is what's best for Canadians," she said. "There's no other motivation anywhere." Lack of research funds can slow down new drug development, but in this case, as lockdowns shuttered economies worldwide and death tolls mounted, countries poured billions of dollars into getting a vaccine to get us out of the pandemic. Most of the successful vaccines for COVID-19 so far use existing vaccine technology that was adjusted for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. They start with lab studies to check for safety on animals and see how the vaccine works in a lab setting on blood samples and on samples of the virus. Then it is tested on a very small number of humans to look for any glaring safety concerns. Then they test it on a slightly larger number of people usually fewer than 100 to look for safety and the development of antibodies. If that goes well, the trial is expanded to thousands of volunteers, some of whom get the vaccine and some of whom don't. Then they wait to see how many in each group get infected. Phase 3 trials usually take between one and four years. For the vaccines approved in Canada so far, phase three trials took about three months. Sharma said the time a trial takes depends on finding enough patients to participate, and then having enough of their trial participants get sick to know how well the vaccine is or isn't working. Fortunately and unfortunately, COVID-19 was spreading so rampantly in so many places, getting enough people exposed did not take very long. Canada has seen very few vaccines tested here so far, mainly because our infection rates weren't high enough. While the drug makers were busy getting the trials going, Health Canada was getting ready for their submissions. Sharma said discussions about COVID-19 vaccines began in earnest with international bodies in mid-January 2020, before Canada had even had a single confirmed case. "I think we knew that ... we had a virus that was going to be transmissible, that could be causing significant respiratory disease, and that there would be an interest in therapies and vaccines definitely, very early on," said Sharma. It was determined quickly that this virus was so new there was no existing vaccine that could be adjusted quickly, as had happened with the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. By March, Health Canada had started putting teams in place to review new therapies and vaccines for COVID-19 as soon as they were ready. Each team was made up of 12 to 15 people, with varying specialties. There was some overlap between the teams but not a lot because many vaccines were being reviewed at the same time. The experts on the file included infectious disease specialists, pharmacologists, biostatisticians, and epidemiologists. Separate from that were teams of people looking at manufacturing facilities. Approving a vaccine isn't just about making sure the clinical data shows it to be safe and effective, but also about making sure the place it is to be made follows the required safety standards. They needed an emergency order from Health Minister Patty Hajdu to do a rolling review. Normally drug makers can't apply until they have every piece of data ready but with a rolling review Health Canada scientists can start reviewing the data as it becomes available. Hajdu granted that on Sept. 16. Then the vaccine submissions began pouring in AstraZeneca applied Oct. 1, Pfizer Oct. 9, Moderna on Oct. 12, and J&J on Nov. 30. The Covishield application came Jan. 23 and Novavax submitted on Jan. 29. Sharma says the teams were working 15 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, reviewing data, asking the companies questions, requesting more information or new analyses. Sometimes they were doing it in the middle of the night. Collaborations with international partners in very different time zones, meant 2 a.m. or 4 a.m. video conference calls were not unusual. When Pfizer and Moderna were reviewed, it was entirely based on clinical trail and pre-market data because the vaccines hadn't been approved anywhere else. Canada was the third in the world to authorize Pfizer on Dec. 14th, and second to approve Moderna Dec. 23. By the time Health Canada authorized AstraZeneca a review process complicated by some mistakes during the clinical trial in dosing and the number of seniors among its volunteer patients it was also able to pull data from real-world use of the vaccine in the United Kingdom. The regulatory work doesn't end when the authorization is announced. The post-market surveillance data is still non-stop. The recent blood clot concern with the AstraZeneca vaccine took a lot of time, but just monitoring the data submitted by the vaccine makers on adverse events overall is still critical. To date, the adverse event reports in Canada have not been different than what was seen in clinical trials. Companies also adjust their submissions requiring further review. Pfizer has so far asked for two changes, one to the number of doses per vial and another for the temperature at which the vaccine has to be kept. If anything changes on safety, or if the efficacy seen in a clinical trial doesn't play out in the real world, Sharma says Canada will not hesitate to make adjustments. But those decisions will be made by Canadian experts, said Sharma, the same ones who have been on the files all along. "It's important that if anything comes up, we have people that have reviewed it, have gone through every piece of paper, the 2,000 hours, the hundreds of thousands of pages, and that if anything comes up, it's like they've got a really strong science base, and they can put that stuff in context and we can make decisions really quickly." This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2021. Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

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