Podcasts about home minister

If you like what you hear, please subscribe, leave us a review and tell a friend!

Last time we spoke about Operation Chahar. In the turbulent year of 1935, tensions surged in North China as the Kwantung Army defied Tokyo's orders, encroaching deeper into Chahar province. This period was marked by widespread anti-Japanese sentiments, fueled by local revolts and the assassination of pro-Japanese figures, which infuriated Japanese authorities. On May 20, the Kwantung Army launched an offensive against a bandit group led by Sun Yungqin, seeking to exert control over the demilitarized regions established by earlier agreements. Their swift victory forced the resignation of local officials opposing Japanese interests. As chaos escalated, the Chinese government, under pressure to appease Japan, dismantled anti-Japanese factions and dismissed key leaders. The climax in this saga came with the signing of the He-Umezu Agreement, stripping China of authority in Hubei and Chahar, signaling Japan's increasing dominance and setting the stage for further exploitation of the region.   #150 The February 26 Incident Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. While this podcast is supposed to be given through the Chinese perspective, I apologize but yet again I need to jump over to the Japanese side. You see, a very pivotal moment during the Showa era would occur in the year of 1936. I think it's crucial to understand it, and the underlying issues of it, to better understand what we will be stuck in for the unforeseeable future, the Second Sino-Japanese War. I've briefly mentioned the two factions within the Japanese military at this time, but now I'd really like to jump into them, and a major incident that made them collide. In the aftermath of WW1, 2 prominent factions emerged during this tumultuous period: the Kodoha, or Imperial Way Faction, and the Toseiha, or Control Faction. Each faction represented distinct visions for Japan's future, deeply influencing the nation's course leading up to World War II. The Kodoha rose to prominence in the 1920s, driven by a fervent belief in Japan's divine destiny and its right to expand its imperial reach across Asia. This faction was characterized by its adherence to traditional Japanese values, rooted in the samurai ethos. They viewed the Emperor as the embodiment of Japan's spirit and sought to return to the moral foundations they believed had been eroded by “Western influence”. The Kodoha was often critical of the West, perceiving the encroachment of Western thought and culture as a threat to Japan's unique identity. Their ideology emphasized a robust military force, advocating for aggressive campaigns in regions like Manchuria and China to assert Japan's dominance. Contrasting sharply with the Kodoha, the Toseiha began to emerge as a more dominant political force in the late 1930s. The Toseiha embraced a pragmatic approach, advocating for a disciplined military that could engage effectively with the complexities of modern warfare. They recognized the importance of retaining some traditional values while also integrating Western military techniques. Rather than rejecting Western influence entirely, the Toseiha believed in adapting to global shifts to ensure Japan's strength and security. The Toseiha's moderation extended to their governance strategies, as they prioritized political stability and control over radical ideology. They saw this approach as crucial for creating a robust state capable of managing Japan's expansionist ambitions without provoking the backlash that Kodoha tactics elicited. Their more calculated approach to military expansion included securing partnerships and pursuing diplomatic solutions alongside military action, thereby presenting a less confrontational image to the world. Now after Manchuria was seized and Manchukuo was ushered in, many in the Japanese military saw a crisis emerge, that required a “showa restoration' to solve. Both factions aimed to create military dictatorships under the emperor. The Kodoha saw the USSR as the number one threat to Japan and advocated an invasion of them, aka the Hokushin-ron doctrine, but the Toseiha faction prioritized a national defense state built on the idea they must build Japans industrial capabilities to face multiple enemies in the future. What really separated the two, was the Kodoha sought to use a violent coup d'etat to make ends meet, whereas the Toseiha were unwilling to go so far. The Kodoha faction was made up mostly of junior and youthful officers, typically country boys as we would call them. These were young men whose families were not the blue bloods, farmer types. They viewed the dramatic changes of Japan in light of their own family experiences, many were impoverished by the dramatic changes. A very specific thing these Kodoha boys hated were the Zaibatsu. The Zaibatsu were large Japanese business conglomerates, primarily active from the Meiji period until WW2. They combined various industries, including banking, manufacturing, and trading. Prominent examples included Mitsubishi and Sumitomo. The reason they hated the Zaibatsu was because they believed they were influenced by western thought and that they super succeeded the authority of the emperor. More or less you can think of it as “we hate the fat cats who are really running things”.   Now the Toseiha faction were willing to work with the Zaibatsu to make Japan stronger. Basically they believed them to just be a necessary evil, you had to play ball to get things rolling. Random note, Hirohito's brother Prince Chichibu sympathized with the Kodoha faction and repeatedly counseled his brother that he should implement direct imperial rule even if it meant suspending the constitution, aka a show restoration. Hirohito believed his brother who was active in the IJA at the time was being radicalized. Now I cant go through the entire history of it, but this time period is known as the “government by assassination” period for Japan. Military leaders in the IJA, IJN and from within the Kodoha and Toseiha factions kept assassinating politicians and senior officers to push envelopes forward. Stating all of that, I now want to talk about the February 26th incident and I will add I am using a specific source, simply because it's my favorite. That is Herbert P Bix's Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. In late 1934, several officers from the Imperial Way faction at the Army Cadet School were arrested for plotting a coup. Although there were no immediate repercussions, the following year, two of the same Kodoha officers, named Isobe Asaichi and Muranaka Takaji were arrested again for distributing a document accusing Toseiha faction officers, like Major General Nagata Tetsuzan, of previously drafting coup plans against the government. This time, the army's upper echelons responded firmly, condemning Isobe and Muranaka's accusations as acts of disloyalty, resulting in both officers losing their commissions. Meanwhile, other Imperial Way officers sought retaliation against Nagata, who was rumored to be planning a major purge to eliminate factionalism within the army. Tatsukichi Minobe was a Japanese statesman and scholar of constitutional law and in the 1930s he began a movement bringing up the very real issue with the Meiji constitution in relation to the role of the emperor. In August 1935, amid a populist movement denouncing Minobe's interpretation of the constitution, Lt colonel Aizawa Saburo from Kodoha faction entered Nagata's office and fatally attacked him with his katana. This marked a significant escalation in the military struggle over state reform and the push for increased military funding, which was intertwined with the movement against Minobe. Meanwhile anti- Prime Minister Okada factions within the army, continuing to use slogans like “kokutai clarification” and “denounce the organ theory,” intensified their attacks on the emperor's advisers and hereditary peers. Senior generals from the Kodoha faction arranged a public court-martial for Aizawa, held by the 1st Division, a group heavily populated by Kodoha officers based in Tokyo. When Aizawa's trial commenced on January 12, 1936, his defense team transformed it into an emotional condemnation of the Okada cabinet, the court entourage, and Minobe's constitutional theories. This strategy garnered support across the nation, even reaching unexpected places like the imperial palace, where Dowager Empress Teimei Kogo, a staunch rightist, expressed sympathy for Aizawa. However, before the trial could progress, a military mutiny disrupted proceedings in the capital. Shockwaves rippled through the army after Army Minister Hayashi dismissed Kodoha member General Mazaki from his position overseeing military education and ordered the transfer of the 1st Division to Manchuria, which ignited the largest army uprising in modern Japanese history. The uprising was orchestrated through a series of meetings held from February 18 to 22 by key individuals including Nishida, Yasuhide Kurihara, Teruzō Andō, Hisashi Kōno, Takaji Muranaka, and Asaichi Isobe. Their plan was relatively straightforward: the officers would assassinate the most prominent adversaries of the kokutai, seize control of the administrative center of the capital and the Imperial Palace, and present their demands, which included the dismissal of certain officials and the establishment of a new cabinet led by Mazaki. They did not establish long-term goals, believing that those should be determined by the Emperor. However, it is suspected that they were prepared to replace Hirohito with Prince Chichibu if necessary. The young Kodoha officers felt they had at least implicit support from several influential Imperial Japanese Army officers after making informal inquiries. This group included figures such as Araki, Minister of War Yoshiyuki Kawashima, Jinzaburō Mazaki, Tomoyuki Yamashita, Kanji Ishiwara, Shigeru Honjō, as well as their immediate superiors, Kōhei Kashii and Takeo Hori. Later, Kawashima's successor as Minister of War remarked that if all the officers who had endorsed the rebellion were forced to resign, there would not have been enough high-ranking officers left to replace them. To articulate their intentions and grievances, the young officers prepared a document titled "Manifesto of the Uprising" “Kekki Shuisho”, which they intended to present to the Emperor. Although the document was authored by Muranaka, it was written under the name of Shirō Nonaka, the highest-ranking officer involved in the plot. The document aligned with Kokutai Genri-ha ideals, criticizing the genrō, political leaders, military factions, zaibatsu, bureaucrats, and political parties for jeopardizing the kokutai with their selfishness and disregard for the Emperor, and emphasized the need for direct action: “Now, as we face immense foreign and domestic challenges, if we do not eliminate the disloyal and unjust who threaten the kokutai, if we do not remove the villains obstructing the Emperor's authority and hindering the Restoration, the Imperial vision for our nation will come to naught [...] Our duty is to purge the malevolent ministers and military factions surrounding the Emperor and eradicate their influence; we shall fulfill this mission.” Seven targets were selected for assassination for "threatening the kokutai". Keisuke Okada served as Prime Minister, where he notably advocated for the London Naval Treaty and supported the "organ theory" of the kokutai. His actions reflect a commitment to international agreements and specific ideological principles at the time. Saionji Kinmochi, a Genrō and former Prime Minister, also supported the London Naval Treaty. However, his influence extended further, as he played a role in prompting the Emperor to establish inappropriate cabinets, impacting political stability. Makino Nobuaki, the former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and Foreign Minister, was another key figure who supported the London Naval Treaty. He notably prevented Prince Fushimi from voicing protests to the Emperor during this period, and he established a court faction in collaboration with Saitō, further entrenching political alliances. In his capacity as Grand Chamberlain, Kantarō Suzuki supported the London Naval Treaty but faced criticism for "obstructing the Imperial virtue," suggesting tensions between political decisions and traditional values. Saitō Makoto, who served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and former Prime Minister, was involved in advocating for the London Naval Treaty and played a significant role in Mazaki's dismissal. He, too, formed a court faction with Makino, indicating the intricacies of court politics. Takahashi Korekiyo, as Finance Minister and former Prime Minister, engaged in party politics with the aim of diminishing military influence. His approach was focused on maintaining the existing economic structure amid the shifting political landscape. Finally, Jōtarō Watanabe, who replaced Mazaki as Inspector General of Military Education, supported the "organ theory" of the kokutai yet faced criticism for refusing to resign, despite being considered unsuitable for his position. On the night of February 25, Tokyo experienced a heavy snowfall, which uplifted the rebel officers as it evoked memories of the 1860 Sakuradamon Incident. During this event, political activists known as shishi assassinated Ii Naosuke, the chief advisor to the Shōgun, in the name of the Emperor. The rebel forces, organized into six groups, began mobilizing their troops and departing from their barracks between 3:30 and 4:00 AM. At 5:00 AM, they launched simultaneous attacks on key targets, including Okada, Takahashi, Suzuki, Saito, the Ministry of War, and the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. At around five o'clock on the morning of February 26, 1936, a rebellion erupted, fueled by the long-standing tensions surrounding the kokutai issues that had plagued 1935. Twenty-two junior officers led over 1,400 armed soldiers and non-commissioned officers from three regiments of the 1st Division and an infantry unit of the Imperial Guards in a mutiny in snow-covered Tokyo. The attack on Okada involved a contingent of 280 men from the 1st Infantry Regiment, commanded by 1st Lieutenant Yasuhide Kurihara. The troops encircled the Prime Minister's Residence and compelled its guards to open the gates. Upon entering the compound, they attempted to locate Prime Minister Okada but were met with gunfire from four policemen stationed there. All four policemen were killed, wounding six rebel soldiers in the process. However, the shots served as a warning for Okada, prompting his brother-in-law, Colonel Denzō Matsuo, to help him find refuge. Matsuo, who closely resembled Okada, was eventually discovered by the soldiers and killed. After comparing Matsuo's wounded face to a photograph of the prime minister, the attackers mistakenly believed they had accomplished their mission. Okada managed to escape the following day, but this information was kept confidential, and he did not play any further role in the events. After Matsuo's death, Kurihara's men took up guard positions around the compound, reinforced by sixty soldiers from the 3rd Imperial Guard. In another key operation, Captain Kiyosada Kōda led a group of 160 men to seize control of the Minister of War's residence, the Ministry of War, and the General Staff Office. Upon entering the Minister's residence at 6:30 AM, they demanded to see Minister Kawashima. Once admitted, they read their manifesto aloud and presented a document detailing several demands, including: A prompt resolution to the situation that would further "advance the cause of the Restoration." A call to prevent the use of force against the Righteous Army. The arrest of Kazushige Ugaki (Governor-General of Korea), Jirō Minami (commander of the Kwantung Army), Kuniaki Koiso (commander of the Korean Army), and Yoshitsugu Tatekawa for their roles in undermining military command. The immediate dismissal of Lieutenant Colonel Akira Mutō, Colonel Hiroshi Nemoto, and Major Tadashi Katakura from the Imperial Japanese Army for promoting "factionalism." The appointment of Araki as the new commander of the Kwantung Army. Ugaki, who served as Minister of War during two separate terms, had overseen significant reductions and modernization efforts within the army. He had also failed to support the March Incident plotters, who had hoped to install him as Prime Minister. Minami, Mutō, Nemoto, and Katakura were all influential members of the Tōsei-ha faction; Katakura had been partly responsible for reporting on the Military Academy Incident. Later that morning, Isobe encountered Katakura outside the Ministry of War and shot him non-fatally in the head. During this tumultuous period, several officers sympathetic to the rebels, including General Mazaki, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, and General Ryū Saitō, joined the uprising. Saitō praised the young officers' spirit and encouraged Kawashima to accept their demands. Shortly before 9:00 am, Kawashima indicated he needed to speak with the Emperor and left for the Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, Captain Hisashi Kōno led a team of seven, comprised mostly of civilians, to attack Makino Nobuaki, who was staying at Kōfūsō, part of the ryokan Itōya in Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, with his family. Arriving at 5:45 am, they stationed two men outside while entering the inn with weapons drawn. Inside, policemen opened fire, leading to a lengthy exchange of gunfire. A policeman managed to alert Makino and his party of the danger, guiding them to a rear exit. Although the assassins fired at the escaping group, Makino successfully evaded capture. Kōno sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, and one policeman, Yoshitaka Minagawa, was killed. As Kōno was evacuated from the scene, the assailants set fire to the building. Hearing a gunshot, Kōno assumed that Makino had shot himself inside. After his recovery at a nearby military hospital, Kōno and his team were arrested by military police. Around 10:00 am, Kurihara and Nakahashi loaded a fleet of three trucks with sixty men and drove from the Prime Minister's Residence to the offices of the Asahi Shimbun, a significant liberal newspaper. They stormed the building, ordering the evacuation of employees and declaring their actions as "divine retribution for being an un-Japanese newspaper." The rebels then overturned and scattered the newspaper's type trays, containing 4,000 different characters, temporarily halting its publication. Following this attack, the men distributed copies of the uprising's manifesto to nearby newspapers before returning to the Prime Minister's Residence. On another front, 1st Lieutenant Motoaki Nakahashi of the 3rd Imperial Guard gathered 135 men and, under the pretext of paying respects at Yasukuni Shrine, marched to Takahashi Korekiyo's residence. There, he divided his forces, sending one group to attack while the other remained to guard the entrance. After breaking into the compound, Nakahashi and Lieutenant Kanji Nakajima found Takahashi in bed, where Nakahashi shot him while Nakajima delivered a fatal sword strike. Takahashi died without waking. Once his target was eliminated, Nakahashi regrouped with the soldiers and proceeded to the Imperial Palace, aiming to secure it. Entering through the western Hanzō Gate at 6:00 am, Nakahashi informed Major Kentarō Honma, the palace guard commander, that he had been dispatched to reinforce the gates due to earlier attacks. Honma, already aware of the uprisings, accepted Nakahashi's arrival. He was assigned to help secure the Sakashita Gate, the primary entrance to the Emperor's residence. Nakahashi planned to signal nearby rebel troops at police headquarters once he controlled access to the Emperor. However, he struggled to contact his allies, and by 8:00 am, Honma learned of his involvement in the uprising and ordered him, at gunpoint, to vacate the palace grounds. Nakahashi complied and returned to join Kurihara at the Prime Minister's Residence, while his soldiers remained at the gate until relieved later that day, preventing their inclusion in the government's official count of rebel forces. Elsewhere, 1st Lieutenant Naoshi Sakai led a detachment of 120 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment to Saitō Makoto's home in Yotsuya. After surrounding the policemen on guard, five soldiers entered the residence and found Saitō and his wife, Haruko, in their bedroom. They shot Saitō dead, prompting Haruko to plead for her life, saying, "Please kill me instead!" While they pulled her away, she was unwittingly wounded by stray gunfire. Following Saitō's assassination, two officers directed another group to target General Watanabe, while the remaining men moved to strategically position themselves northeast of the Ministry of War. In Kōjimachi, Captain Teruzō Andō commanded 200 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment to assault Suzuki's residence across from the Imperial Palace. After disarming the police on duty, they located Suzuki in his bedroom and shot him twice. When Andō moved to deliver the coup de grâce with his sword, Suzuki's wife implored to be allowed to do it herself, believing her husband to be fatally wounded. Andō obliged and, apologizing for the act, explained it was for the nation's sake. After saluting Suzuki, the soldiers left to guard the Miyakezaka junction north of the Ministry of War. Following the assault on Saitō, a party of twenty men, led by 2nd Lieutenants Tarō Takahashi and Yutaka Yasuda, headed to Watanabe's residence in Ogikubo after 7:00 AM. Despite the two-hour delay since previous attacks, no measures had been taken to alert Watanabe. As they attempted to storm the front entrance, military police inside opened fire, wounding Yasuda and another soldier. The troops then gained entry through the rear, confronting Watanabe's wife outside their bedroom. After shoving her aside, they found Watanabe using a futon as cover. He opened fire, prompting one soldier to retaliate with a light machine gun. Takahashi then rushed in and fatally stabbed Watanabe, witnessed by his nine-year-old daughter, Kazuko, who hid nearby. The soldiers departed, taking their wounded to a hospital before positioning themselves in northern Nagatachō. In a significant move, Captain Shirō Nonaka led nearly a third of the rebel forces, comprising 500 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, to assault the Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters. Their objective was to secure communication equipment and prevent dispatch of the police's Emergency Service Unit. Meeting no resistance, they quickly occupied the building, possibly due to a strategic decision to leave the situation in the military's hands. After securing the police headquarters, 2nd Lieutenant Kinjirō Suzuki led a small group to attack Fumio Gotō's residence, the Home Minister's, but found that Gotō was not home, thus allowing him to escape. This attack appeared to result from Suzuki's independent decision, rather than a coordinated effort among the officers. Despite all of these actions, the Kodoha boys had failed to secure the Sakashita Gate to the palace, which allowed the palace to maintain communication with the outside world, and they neglected to address potential naval interventions. At the Yokosuka naval base, Rear Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa and his chief of staff, Inoue Shigeyoshi, positioned marines to defend the Navy Ministry and prepared warships in Tokyo Bay to suppress the rebellion. By the morning of February 28, after unsuccessful negotiations through sympathetic officers at army headquarters, the commander under martial law transmitted an imperial order to disperse. Most troops returned to their barracks, one officer committed suicide, and the remaining leaders surrendered, resulting in the uprising ending with minimal further violence. Nevertheless, martial law in Tokyo continued for nearly five months. The rebel officers had initially planned for General Kawashima, a staunch ally of the Kodoha, to relay their intentions to the emperor, who they assumed would issue a decree for a “Showa restoration.” Despite their radical objectives of overthrowing the political order, the mutineers, like other military and civilian extremists of the 1930s, sought to operate within the imperial framework and maintain the kokutai. They believed the emperor was under the control of his advisers and lacked a genuine will of his own. Once the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and the Grand Chamberlain were removed, they expected the emperor to appoint General Mazaki as prime minister, a leader they believed would reinforce the military and effectively address the China issue. At the onset of the insurrection, they had a real chance of success. The Tokyo military police commander, General Kashii Kohei, sympathized with their cause, and the emperor's chief aide, General Honjo, was related to rebel officer Capain Yamaguchi Ichitaro. Support for the mutineers was present at military bases nationwide. Historian Hata Ikuhiko notes that the rebels contacted General Honjo by both phone and written message before attacking the Okada cabinet. As the first in the imperial entourage to learn of the mutiny, Honjo could have warned the intended targets but chose not to do so. By the time he arrived at court at 6:00 am. on the 26th, key advisors like Chief Secretary Kido, Imperial Household Minister Yuasa Kurahei, and Vice Grand Chamberlain Hirohata Tadakata were already aware of the potential danger. Suzuki was murdered, and the emperor was deeply affected, awakening to the news at 5:40 am from the chamberlain on night duty, Kanroji Osanaga. He learned that his old ministers had been attacked and a coup was underway. Upon receiving this information, Hirohito resolved to suppress the uprising. He was outraged by the killing of his ministers and feared that the rebels might use his brother, Prince Chichibu, to force him to abdicate. He donned his army uniform and summoned Honjo, ordering him to “end it immediately and turn this misfortune into a blessing.” Hirohito adopted a strategy proposed by Kido, who had acted swiftly earlier that morning, instructing Honjo to assess the Imperial Guard Division's potential actions if the mutineers advanced on the Palace. Kido aimed to prevent the establishment of a new provisional cabinet until the mutiny was fully quelled. At 9:30 am Army Minister Kawashima, who had previously met with one of the rebel officers, arrived at court. He urged the emperor to form a cabinet that would “clarify the kokutai, stabilize national life, and fulfill national defense.” Surprised by Kawashima's tone, Hirohito reprimanded him for not prioritizing the suppression of the mutiny. He also expressed his frustration to Chief of the Navy General Staff Prince Fushimi, dismissing him when he inquired about forming a new cabinet. Later that day, Kawashima met with the Supreme Military Council, consisting mainly of army officers sympathetic to the rebels. The council decided to attempt persuasion before relaying the emperor's orders a move contrary to Hirohito's directive. According to historian Otabe Yuji, an “instruction” was issued to the rebel officers at 10:50 am, acknowledging their motives and suggesting the emperor might show them leniency. This message was communicated to the ringleaders by martial law commander General Kashii. That evening, when members of the Okada cabinet came to submit their resignations, Hirohito insisted they remain in power until the mutiny was resolved. On February 27, the second day of the uprising, Hirohito announced “administrative martial law” based on Article 8 of the Imperial Constitution. This invoked his sovereign powers to address the crisis while freeing him from needing cabinet approval for his actions. Hirohito displayed remarkable energy throughout the subsequent days, sending chamberlains to summon Honjo for updates and threatening to lead the Imperial Guard Division himself when dissatisfied with the reports. Honjo, however, resisted the emperor's demands and exhibited sympathy for the rebels. During the uprising, Hirohito met with Prince Chichibu, who had recently returned from Hirosaki. Their discussions reportedly led Chichibu to distance himself from the rebels. However, rumors of his sympathy for them persisted, leading to concerns about potential conflicts within the imperial family. On the second day, Rear Admiral Yonai and his chief of staff demonstrated their loyalty to Hirohito. By February 29, the fourth day of the uprising, Hirohito had reasserted his authority, troops were returning to their barracks, and most rebel leaders were captured. Seventeen of these leaders were court-martialed and executed in July without legal representation. Shortly after, during the obon festival, Hirohito allegedly instructed a military aide to secure seventeen obon lanterns for the palace. This action, though secret, may have provided him some personal comfort amidst the turmoil. An investigation following the mutiny revealed that the rebels' sense of crisis was amplified by the recent general elections, which had shown an anti-military sentiment among voters. Despite their populist rhetoric, most ringleaders were not motivated by the agricultural depression; their goal was to support the kokutai by advocating for increased military rearmament. During this period, military spending steadily rose from 3.47% of GNP in 1931 to 5.63% in 1936. Intriguingly, the ringleaders and their senior commanders shared a desire for state control over production to mobilize resources fully for total war. While united in this goal, their ideas about how to achieve a “Showa restoration” varied greatly, with some leaders, like Isobe, calling for complete economic consolidation and a return to strong state power. The February mutiny reinforced Hirohito's belief in the constitutional framework that underpinned his military authority. He became increasingly cautious about decisions that could compromise his command and developed closer ties to the army's Control faction, justifying military spending increases. Yet, the memory of the mutiny left him feeling uncertain about the throne's stability. Now you know me, whenever I can bring up Hirohito's involvement in the war related times I gotta do. After WW2, in an apparent effort to downplay his role as supreme commander, Hirohito provided a deliberately distorted account of the February events. “I issued an order at that time for the rebel force to be suppressed. This brings to mind Machida Chuji, the finance minister. He was very worried about the rebellion's adverse effect on the money market and warned me that a panic could occur unless I took firm measures. Therefore I issued a strong command to have [the uprising] put down. As a rule, because a suppression order also involves martial law, military circles, who cannot issue such an order on their own, need the mutual consent of the government. However, at the time, Okada's whereabouts were unknown. As the attitude of the Army Ministry seemed too lenient, I issued a strict order. Following my bitter experiences with the Tanaka cabinet, I had decided always to wait for the opinions of my advisers before making any decision, and not to go against their counsel. Only twice, on this occasion and at the time of the ending of the war, did I positively implement my own ideas. Ishiwara Kanji of the Army General Staff Office also asked me, through military aide Chojiri [Kazumoto], to issue a suppression order. I don't know what sort of a person Ishiwara is, but on this occasion he was correct, even though he had been the instigator of the Manchurian Incident. Further, my chief military aide, Honjo, brought me the plan drafted by Yamashita Hobun, in which Yamashita asked me to please send an examiner because the three leaders of the rebel army were likely to commit suicide. However, I thought that sending an examiner would imply that they had acted according to their moral convictions and were deserving of respect. . . . So I rejected Honjo's proposal, and [instead] issued the order to suppress them. I received no report that generals in charge of military affairs had gone and urged the rebels to surrender.”  On February 26, when Hirohito ordered the immediate suppression of the rebels, his anger was directed not only at the insurgents who had assassinated his closest advisors but also at senior army officers who were indecisive in executing the crackdown. The following day, in addition to his role as Minister of Commerce and Industry, Machida took on the responsibilities of finance minister. Concerns over economic panic and confusion contributed to the emperor's sense of urgency, despite not being the primary motivation for his actions. Hirohito believed that every hour of delay tarnished Japan's international reputation. Since the Manchurian Incident, the emperor had frequently clashed with the military regarding encroachments on his authority, though never about fundamental policy issues. At times, he had managed to assert his political views during policy discussions, similar to his earlier influence under the Hamaguchi cabinet. The February 26 mutiny highlighted to Hirohito and Yuasa his privy seal from March 1936 to June 1940, and the first lord keeper of the privy seal to attend court regularly the necessity of fully exercising the emperor's supreme command whenever the situation demanded it. Even when faced with opposition from Honjo, Hirohito managed to gain support and assert his authority through a decisive approach. His resolution marked the end of a period during which alienated “young officers” attempted to leverage his influence as a reformist figure to challenge a power structure they could not manipulate effectively. However, Hirohito learned how to adeptly manage that establishment in most situations. The decision-making process within the government was characterized by secrecy, indirect communication, vague policy drafting, and information manipulation, creating a landscape of confusion, misunderstanding, and constant intrigue aimed at achieving consensus among elites. This was the modus operandi in Tokyo and a reflection of how the emperor operated. Once again, Hirohito reminded the tightly-knit elite that he was essential to the functioning of the system. On May 4, 1936, during his address at the opening ceremony of the Sixty-ninth Imperial Diet, while Tokyo remained under martial law, Hirohito closed the chapter on the February mutiny. Initially, he contemplated sending a strong message of censure to the military, but after considerable deliberation over three months, he ultimately chose to issue a brief, innocuous statement: “We regret the recent incident that occurred in Tokyo.” The response from his audience of Diet members and military officials was one of startled awe, with some privately expressing disappointment. Once again, at a critical juncture, Hirohito avoided an opportunity to publicly rein in the military through his constitutional role. Nonetheless, due to his behind-the-scenes actions, the drift in domestic policy that had characterized Japan since the Manchurian Incident came to an end. In the following fourteen months, the emperor and his advisors largely aligned with the army and navy's demands for increased military expansion and state-driven industrial development. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. So some very unruly young Japanese officers got the bright idea of forcing a showa restoration by killing all the culprits they believed held their emperor hostage. Little did they know, this event spelt the end of the Kodoha faction and rise of the Toseiha faction. Henceforth the military was even more in charge and would get even more insane.   

#cuttheclutter After an unexpected but good performance in Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-led INDI alliance lost embarrassingly in Maharashtra and exposed faultlines in the Haryana Assembly elections. In episode 1560 of Cut The Clutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta dissects structural issues within the alliance, the contradiction in ideologies, distrust between alliance partners, conflicts of interest, and an apparently overpowering aura of the Congress. He also looks back at the life of Maharashtra's first Chief Minister Yashvantrao Balwantrao Chavan on his death anniversary. Chavan served in the Nehru-Gandhi Union cabinets as External Affairs Minister, Defence Minister, Home Minister, and even Deputy PM. Known for modernizing India's military, Chavan's memory may be lost due to the Congress' institutional amnesia. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read ThePrint's National Interest on Congress' dilemma between survival and revival https://theprint.in/national-interest/congresss-central-dilemma-since-1989-survival-or-revival/2329168/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To know more about Y B Chavan, you can refer to the following books: Debacle to Revival: Y.B.Chavan as Defence Minister, 1962-65 by R.D. Pradhan Unfinished Innings: Recollections and Reflections of a Civil Servant by Madhav Godbole --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapters: 00:32 Recent debacles for INDI Alliance 05:19 Learnings from past alliances 11:43 Congress Overhang 13:00 Ideological confusion & Conflict of interest between Alliance partners 18:26 Key tests ahead 20:33 Tribute to Y B Chavan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  @arvindmenswear66  This Season, Embrace Royalty & Legacy with our New Season Launch of Luxury Primante Collection Fabrics. Discover our latest showcase featuring the esteemed People's Prince, Dr. Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar. Own your day, visit your nearest Arvind Store and craft your perfect look. #TheArvindStore #OwnYourLegacy #OwnTheMoment https://tinyurl.com/3wa2zatn

Why BJP must select a real national president, someone who would act like one and not always wait for Home Minister Amit Shah's instructions, ThePrint Political Editor DK Singh explains in this episode of #PoliticallyCorrect

Now Kerala's Church stands against Waqf: Home Minister delivers a strong message in Ahmedabad. Explore the growing opposition from Kerala's Church to the Waqf and the bold statements made by the Home Minister during his speech.

Amit Shah may not become the Home Minister again. Join the discussion of the alleged growing tension and power struggle between Yogi Adityanath and Amit Shah in detail. Sanjay Dixit also shares his insights on the political background and potential outcomes, raising numerous questions about the upcoming political landscape.

On March 11, 2024 a few months before the Lok Sabha Elections the central government notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules. This has come approximately four years after the Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019. As per the amendment, the government can grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, or Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on or before December 31,2014.. conspicuously leaving out Muslims. It was passed amid nation-wide protests as linking citizenship to religion goes against the secular nature of the constitution.  The bigger fear is about a nationwide National Register of Citizens or NRC. Assam is the only place with NRC.  At the time of passing the Act, the Home Minister, Amit Shah told Parliament that a nationwide NRC is on the cards. However, in a blogpost, press information bureau at the time clarified repeatedly that no announcement has been made to begin NRC exercise.  Now with the rules being released, nationwide implementation of the Act will begin. In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Office issued a statement condemning the “fundamentally discriminatory” Citizenship Amendment Act. At the time in 2019, Suno India's Padmapriya had spoken to Pia Oberoi, senior advisor on migration, UN Human Rights Office to understand their concerns around the Citizenship Amendment Act. We are republishing it as it continues to be relevant today.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 21st of February and here are the headlines.As the Dilli Chalo protest resumed today, several farmers were injured as the Haryana Police dropped tear gas shells at the Shambhu and Khanauri border. Meanwhile, the telephonic talks between the farmer leaders and Union government officials concluded and leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarvan Singh Pandher are insisting on a statement on MSP law by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister.Indian Space Research Organisation today said that it completed the human rating of its CE20 cryogenic engine that will power the cryogenic stage of the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle to be used in crewed Gaganyaan missions. The seventh and final round of ground qualification tests were completed earlier this month. The ambitious Gaganyaan mission will demonstrate ISRO's human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of one or more members to an orbit of 400 kilometres in space on a three-day mission.India and China held the 21st round military talks earlier this week, emphasising that a complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh is the essential basis for restoring normalcy along the borders. In a statement released today, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the two sides shared their perspectives on disengaging from the remaining friction points along the LAC.Actor-politician Kamal Haasan today said discussions were on for his party, Makkal Needhi Maiam's political alliance and stressed it would support any bloc that would “selflessly” think about the nation and desist from being part of “feudal politics.” His remark came in the backdrop of speculations that Haasan's party was involved in alliance talks with Chief Minister M K Stalin-led DMK for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.Ameen Sayani, the iconic radio presenter of the popular show ''Binaca Geet Mala”, died on Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 91. As a voiceover artist, he holds a record for hosting and compering over 54,000 radio programs. Sayani also holds a record in the Limca Book of Records for his contributions to approximately 19,000 jingles as a voiceover artist. His show, Binaca Geetmala, which began as a 30-minute programme on Radio Ceylon turned into a rage and was aired from 1952 to 1994.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Former home minister Bal Krishna Khand arrested in connection with Bhutanese refugee scam. And Nepal Rugby Association has received full membership in the World Rugby Council. Listen to the top stories from the last seven days from Nepal. - पूर्व गृहमन्त्री बालकृष्ण खाणलाई नक्कली भुटानी शरणार्थीसँग सम्बन्धित अनुसन्धानको सिलसिलामा प्रहरीले पक्राउ गरेको छ। साथै नेपाल रग्बी एसोसिएसनलाई विश्व रग्बी काउन्सिलले पूर्ण सदस्यता दिएको छ।यो लगायत पछिल्ला सात दिनका प्रमुख समाचार नेपाल संवाददाता प्रतिक्षा दुलालबाट सुन्नुहोस्।

Nepali National Cricket Team has entered the finals of ACC Premier Cup and Home Minister's reply about the attempted attack on CPN-UML Chairman and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Listen to the top news from the last seven days. - नेपाली राष्ट्रिय क्रिकेट टिम एसीसी प्रिमियर कपको फाइनलमा प्रवेश गरेको साथै नेकपा एमालेका अध्यक्ष एवं पूर्व प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओली माथि आक्रमण प्रयास भएकोबारे गृहमन्त्रीको जवाफ लगायतका पछिल्ला सात दिनका प्रमुख समाचार सुन्नुहोस्।

This week the host Basant is joined by Newslaundry's Prateek Goyal and Newsreel Asia's Tej Bahadur Singh.The discussion begins with Bihar's Mushar community and Tej explains the narrative of his video report. Prateek elaborates on how Madhya Pradesh is the epitome of Hindutva where the Home Minister himself protests and criticizes any new film release. Basant also talks about a video that went viral last week with an individual representing a religious group in Madhya Pradesh and how Mushar Samuday still lags behind on social and other parameters.Tej's report shows why people of the Mushar community still lack opportunities after 75 years of independence. The narrator dons a character named Chandeshwar Majhi of the Mushar community, who voices the anguish and hardships of the community through his own sufferings. He highlights that the community has received no facilities promised to them despite the fact that Mushar Samuday was recognized as Maha Dalit, with 23 other communities, by none other than the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.The discussion moves to Prateek's report , where he talks about how people are harassed in the name of Hindutva and the mechanics of interfering in a consensual relationship between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, through the trope of love jihad. He recounts one such case where a Muslim boy from Khandwa, MP, ran a cyber cafe and used to chat with a Hindu girl, and was harassed by local Hindutva supporters because of it.Produced by P Madhu Kumar, recorded by Anil Kumar and edited by Umrav Singh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rashtriya Swatantra Party's leader Rabi Lamichhane was removed from the post of Home Minister following the violation of citizenship laws. In this context, what are the aspects a Non-resident Nepali with foreign citizenship should be aware of? Listen to our conversation with advocate Lilamani Paudel. - सर्वोच्च अदालतले रवि लामिछानेको नागरिकताको विषयमा परेको रिट निवेदनमा फैसला गर्दै उनी सांसद रहन अयोग्य रहेको निर्णय गत साता सुनाएको थियो। यसरी विदेशी नागरिकता लिएपछि नेपाल फर्कन परेको खण्डमा गर्नु पर्ने कानुनी प्रक्रिया लगायतको विषयमा अधिवक्ता लिलामणी पौडेलसँग नेपाल संवाददाता प्रतीक्षा दुलालको कुराकानी सुन्नुहोस्।

Listen to the SBS Hindi news from India. 06/01/2023

This essay was published by the indianaffairs.com at https://theindianaffairs.com/en/hindus-the-diaspora-and-the-rishi-sunak-phenomenon/Now that the euphoria over the ascent of Rishi Sunak to the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has died down a little, it is worthwhile to consider the implications. On the one hand, there is understandable pride that someone in the diaspora has done well: I remember how delighted all of us were when V S Naipaul got his Nobel Prize in literature. On the other hand, what is the tangible value to India of Sunak's rapid rise to the leadership of what is, let us be honest, a racist, white-supremacist, imperial nation that is staring at the edge of an economic precipice? I was personally relieved a month or so ago when Sunak lost the leadership race to Liz Truss, simply because the rot is so bad in Britain that not even superhuman efforts are going to save the country from ruin.My argument was that Sunak had dodged a bullet: whoever ended up as PM would inherit such an impossible mess, such a tar baby, that they would forever be blamed for it, even if they were innocent bystanders. So why not let someone else, like Liz Truss, fall on the sword? If it were Sunak, not only would he be blamed individually, but also, in priority order a) Hindus, b) Indians, c) brown people, d) Stanford MBAs. It was best all around, I said at the time, to let some white woman be the fall guy, as it were. And we saw exactly what happened to her in 44 days: humiliated, disgraced, kicked out of office, her political career probably ruined forever. The sad thing is that nothing has changed now. After Brexit, the UK is merely a small “tribal”, “bad-toothed”, “flavour-starved” “sub-Scandinavian archipelago” as a hilarious critic on Twitter, @gathara, calls it. His/her “breaking news” about the West is a cheeky microscope turned back on the US, the UK etc by a Kenyan using the same demeaning language Western media uses for the rest of the world. Janan Ganesh, a columnist at the FT, had a good insight: Britain is laboring under the illusion that it is the US, which can wield its currency as a weapon; failing which, it has its military with which to quell challengers. Britain has none of the above. It has also been living beyond its means. Now it is forced to sell its family silver just to survive. As an example, there was a recent accusation that British Air Force pilots were sent to train Chinese pilots; which would likely mean American military secrets were dished out as they went ‘open-kimono'.There is a fair chance that Sunak, too, will go down the same way Truss did, and indeed Boris Johnson did: resigning in disgrace. But in any case, everybody will find their expectations of him will be unfulfilled. Indians naively believe Sunak will be nice to India. On the contrary, his job is to look out for Britain's interests. And he has many constraints on him.For example, Sunak has brought back Suella Braverman, who had been sacked as Home Minister. She  irritated Indians by being an arch-imperialist saying there were too many Indians overstaying their visas in the UK. Surely, he did to ensure domestic support and avoid schisms in his own party. And yes, Braverman is of Indian origin, too. Remember that Rishi Sunak is a Briton and not an Indian, even though he is a practicing and devout Hindu. His personal faith cannot get in the way of his doing his job as PM. In fact, he may even have to be particularly harsh on India to fend off allegations of dual loyalties. I remember Indian managers in Silicon Valley doing the same thing: they were especially hard on their Indian employees just to appear ‘neutral': over-compensation. I am by no means saying that there's nothing to celebrate in Sunak's rise. I am also delighted when Indian-origin people do well in other countries, against the odds. Maybe it is an irrational bout of ethnic pride. And it is true that Indians, especially Hindus, are now becoming more visible in their countries of residence, through hard work and the efforts of ‘Tiger Mothers'. I was reminded of this the other day when searching through my usual podcasts: I came across two Indian-Americans, although based on their accents they are both immigrants. One is the Pulitzer-winning oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee speaking of his new book The Song of the Cell; the other is Nick Santhanam, a Silicon Valley investor and former McKinsey consultant, talking about his new book The Titanium Economy. Then there's the articulate Balaji Srinivasan, a visionary and crypto-evangelist who foresees the rise of distributed ‘network states'. And Saagar Enjeti, who runs an interesting podcast channel.In a sense, Indians are following in the footsteps of Jews: they, too, leveraged their smarts, especially in medicine, finance and cinema, to rise to the top of the heap in the US. Indians are, interestingly, using medicine, finance and technology in their rise to wealth. Incidentally, the only other ethnic-minority PM ever in the UK was Benjamin Disraeli, a Jew. I used to think there would be a natural alliance between Jews and Hindus, especially as both have been under relentless attack by the same Abrahamic groups. India was the only country to never to oppress Jewish residents, too. But now I am not so sure. Maybe it's because Jews are, after all, Abrahamics themselves. And maybe they find themselves in competition with Hindus.I am reminded of various Jews who are not exactly pro Hindu: Wendy Doniger, Sheldon Pollock, Amy Wax (a law professor), Amy Kazmin (former FT bureau chief in India). Kazmin, whom I befriended on Twitter, once gave me the generic equivalent of “But my best friend is a Jew” when I complained about her unsympathetic stance towards Hindus: “But I check my articles with a Hindu Kayastha”. The irony was apparently lost on her. Similarly, Hindus are singularly unfortunate to not have allies, even though we are the last pagans standing. Some Buddhists are strongly anti-Hindu, as in the case of the Rev Zenji Nio, a Japanese. And we know about the Sikh diaspora and its Khalistan obsession. Yes, divide and rule has worked all too well. Be that as it may, personally, I am irrationally happy when fellow-paisanos do well. I celebrated when Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella rose in tech; I was a big fan of the late C K Prahalad. But let us be very clear: while they will do what they can for the mother country, the diaspora are not Indians, and their success is not tied to India. To them, India is increasingly remote, a distant memory. Their reality is America, or wherever they have chosen to make their home. They have no skin in India's game. India will rise mostly based on the efforts of those who live in the country. Rishi Sunak, ironically, has a stake in India because he's married to Infosys Narayana Murthy's daughter Akshata, and she owns about 1% of the company. Sunak is independently wealthy, though, having made his fortune on Wall Street and private equity. But that's about it: we can all be proud of Rishi Sunak, whose Hindu values have enabled him to prosper in a hostile white world, and he is unapologetic about his religion. But his rise to the top of the Anglosphere is not particularly a win for India. India will have to rise based on its own efforts, not because of any favors from anybody. Permanent interests, not permanent friends.1270 words, 6 Nov 2022 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution indicated that he has no intention of reviewing the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). It's important to note that Saifuddin Nasution is a supposed reformist and PKR/PH has been campaigning against SOSMA for years.So, first we speak to Sevan Doraisamy, Executive Director, SUARAM on why we need to abolish SOSMA. We also play a portion of old interview of ours, where former Petaling Jaya MP, Maria Chin Abdullah, talked about her experience being detained without trial under SOSMA.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution indicated that he has no intention of reviewing the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). It's important to note that Saifuddin Nasution is a supposed reformist and PKR/PH has been campaigning against SOSMA for years.So, first we speak to Sevan Doraisamy, Executive Director, SUARAM on why we need to abolish SOSMA. We also play a portion of old interview of ours, where former Petaling Jaya MP, Maria Chin Abdullah, talked about her experience being detained without trial under SOSMA.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Parti Kemakmuran Negara was started in May 2021 by a group of retired military officers hoping to drive home the message that racial polemics have no place in multi-racial Malaysia. Their attempts to register as a political party were met with resistance, as the Registrar of Societies under the Home Minister's purview has refused to approve their application despite court orders to do so. Its pro-tem president Brig-Gen Datuk Abdullah Mohamed, a retired air force officer, talks about Kemakmuran's GE15 plans regardless of whether or not they are registered.Image Credit: Facebook/Parti Kemakmuran Negara

Three prime ministers in three months. That's the political score for England just ahead of the T20 world cup. The old and mature democracy distinctly looks a bit Third Worldish. Just after saying she wasn't a quitter, Liz Truss had to quit as Prime Minister on Thursday. It wasn't really a surprise after she had to sack her Finance Minister and then lost her Home Minister as well. The new Finance Minister had to turn her economic policies on its head. So, where does Britain go from here? Should there be fresh elections so that the electorate can make the choice of a new prime minister? Or should the Conservative Party get another shot at foisting a leader on the country? And who might that somebody be? 

This is part two of our miniseries on disability and technology on The Suno India Show, where we talk to people across a range of disabilities. In this episode, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Sai Prasad Vishwanathan, the first Indian with a disability to set foot on and live on the Antarctic continent. He is also the first Indian with a disability to skydive which went down in the Limca Book of Records. He has won a host of awards, including the Helen Keller Role Model Person Award 2010 given by the Home Minister. He talks about the infrastructural issues he continues to face in his daily life and how technology perpetuates such exclusions. The protections for passengers with a disability on flights and the latest amendment - The HinduSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Christ In Your House: 7 Principles Why We Need Jesus In Our Home - Minister Frank Windham - 06/12/22 by Kingdom Living Ministries

Listen to the latest SBS Hindi report from India. 11/05/2022

Do you think Home Minister Amit Shah's 2 day visit to West Bengal in 2022 will help Bjp there? My Youtube Channel- bit.ly/2LiPAgC My Instagram Page - www.instagram.com/politicsarca/ My Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/politicsarca My Twitter Page- twitter.com/politicsarca #politicsarca #amitshah #westbengal #bjp #trinamoolcongress --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/politicsarca/message

Today, on Curious Muse and more, from Jermaine and Mark... UK government announce new 10-year plan to tackle drugs Unions fail attempt to challenge government decision on Home Minister's 'bullying' of civil servant Big anti-racism movement in France gains ground after Eric Zemmour Follow us on IG/Twitter: @_CuriousAnarchy Subscribe for more intimate and exclusive content: www.anchor.fm/curious-anarchy/subscribe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/curious-anarchy/message

Everyone seemed disappointed with the Glasgow climate summit. But maybe it was not as bad as it looked? That is the provocative insight of Isabel Hilton, an expert on both climate action and on one of the pivotal countries, China. Yes, it was “unhelpful,” as she put it, that India, with China's backing, changed the wording of the final communique to promise a “phase down” rather than a “phase out” of coal. But this language may have reflected the need to manage domestic politics while actually making progress. “I don't think coal is safe at all after Glasgow,” Hilton told co-host Edie Lush. More generally, Edie and co-host Claudia Romo Edelman explore a fascinating reversal. Where in the past political leaders overpromised and under delivered on climate action, Glasgow may mark a moment when what is actually happening exceeds what politicians feel able to talk about as they worry about nationalist and anti-climate forces. Not everyone, of course, shares this hopeful outlook. Edie describes conversations she had with several experts who expand on the widely held view that action on climate simply is moving too slowly to cap rising temperatures at 1.5 centigrade. The mayor of Dhaka North, Atiqul Islam, described how 1500 climate migrants were arriving in Dhaka every day as sea level rises in Bangladesh. Walter Roban, deputy premier and Home Minister of Bermuda, explained his vision to create a blue economy in the island nation and why help would be needed from the rich world.   Anne Cairns, from our sponsor Mastercard, and Jude Kelly, from the Women of the World Foundation, describe the importance of gender equity in solving the climate emergency. “Climate change is a man-made problem and needs a female solution,” Kelly says.

The Kashmir Sufism extolled by Home Minister of India Amit Shah was brought in by a conversion zealot called Bulbul shah, who was followed by the bigot Shah-e-Hamadan aka Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani of the Kubarawiya Sufi order, whose son enforced the code of Shah-e-Hamadan in Kashmir, similar to the Zimma of Omar. The gift culminated in Aurangzeb, who became a follower of the Sufi Naqshbandi Order, and got Fatawa alamgiri written. Sanjay Dixit unveils parts of Fatawa Alamgiri to show what the gift of Sufism means.

मैत्रीविषयी बोलू काही:आपल्या प्रत्येकाला मित्र-मैत्रिणी असतातच! बालपणीची मैत्री, शाळा कॉलेज मधली मैत्री, नोकरी व्यवसायाच्या निमित्ताने झालेली मैत्री,ते अगदी प्रौढपणी नव्यानं झालेली मैत्री!प्रत्येक मैत्रीची लज्जत वेगळी प्रत्येक मैत्रीचा पोत वेगळा!या मैत्रीबद्दल तुमच्याशी संवाद साधत आहेत डॉक्टर राजीव आणि माणिक.We all have friends, from our childhood, school, college, workplace or friendships that just happen somehow! But all kinds of friendship are different and carry a different bonding! Tune in with Dr. Rajiv and Manik Deshmukh as they talk about friendship.You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: IVM Podcasts - Apps on Google Play or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or any other podcast app.You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featuredSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Basavaraj Bommai became Karnataka's 30th Chief Minister of Karnataka on July 28. He went from being Home Minister in the Cabinet of B.S. Yediyurappa to displacing him as the Chief Minister in a matter of 48 hours. Several reasons have been trotted out as to why BJP felt the need to replace Yediyurappa – his age, the fact that dissidence against him was on the rise within the party, and that corruption allegations had made him vulnerable. But while all these may have played a role they do not, in themselves, provide a convincing explanation as to why Yediyurappa's departure was in the party's best interests. So, what explains the departure of the BJP's tallest leader in the State in the middle of his term as Chief Minister? What are the implications of the choice of Basavaraj Bommai as Yediyurappa's successor? And will Yediyurappa fade away into retirement or continue to play a role in active politics? Guest: K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj Host G. Sampath

India Policy Watch #1: A Winged Horse And A Prison  Insights on burning policy issues in India- RSJHeh! Let’s start in the most unoriginal way possible:Behind Winston’s back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away…..The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time…..You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. —- 1`984, George OrwellThe Pegasus spyware story broke this week. Coordinated investigations by 17 media organisations revealed governments, mostly authoritarian, used Pegasus, a product sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO, and hacked into over 50,000 phones to read messages, access mails and photos, record calls, activate microphones or even plant incriminating data into them. The NSO continues to maintain it sells Pegasus exclusively to governments for the sole intention of tracking criminals and terrorists. The analysis of the phone numbers so far suggests governments of Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Mexico, Rwanda, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Morocco, UAE and India have been users of Pegasus. The list has over 300 Indian names and counting. NSO has denied the story in its own way. It claimed it “does not operate the systems that it sells to vetted government customers, and does not have access to the data of its customers’ targets”. Further it “does not operate its technology, does not collect, nor possesses, nor has any access to any kind of data of its customers. Due to contractual and national security considerations, NSO cannot confirm or deny the identity of our government customers, as well as identity of customers of which we have shut down systems.” There’s a nice boilerplate ring to that response. The government of India’s response has been a mixed bag. The IT minister took shelter in the official statement of NSO to rubbish the claims. He told the Parliament there’s been no unauthorised surveillance because India has time-tested processes for lawful interception of electronic communication. There wasn’t a clear, unambiguous statement made about not being a customer of NSO and Pegasus. Or, if there indeed was any authorised surveillance on any of these numbers. We soon moved into the familiar narrative terrain of anti-national forces destabilising India and stopping its inevitable rise as a global superpower. This is a fairly routine manoeuvre by now. There was also the bizarre defence mounted by the former Union IT minister who suggested this to be some kind of a global conspiracy to cut India to size after its spectacular success in managing Covid second wave. This was one of those logical sentence puzzles. You couldn’t decide which factually inaccurate part should you challenge without making it appear you are accepting the other. The Genie Is OutI think there are a few truths that one can take away so far from this episode:There’s a spyware (cyberweapon) like Pegasus that can enter undetected into any phone, stay there and relay back information to a central monitoring unit. This is true for iPhones too. Apple confirmed it (don’t believe those ads). If you remember following the San Bernardino attack in 2015, the US security agencies had recovered the iPhone of one of the terrorists. They couldn’t unlock it and Apple claimed there was no way they could create a ‘backdoor’ into the iPhone. The matter went to court before FBI (or NSA) withdrew from the case because they had unlocked the phone. The rumour then was an Israeli company had helped them. It shouldn’t take a lot of imagination to put two and two together. Also, so far nobody has denied that there’s a tool called Pegasus and it has these capabilities. And that NSO sells them to governments.One only has NSO’s word that it sells exclusively to national governments. There’s no guarantee the software hasn’t fallen into private hands. Also, who decides which kinds of governments will be eligible to buy from NSO? There are rogue regimes around the world. There are regimes that are at war with one another. A security threat of one client country could be an asset for another client and vice versa. What control does NSO have on the end use for their software? My guess is very little. Like we have mentioned in an earlier edition, we mix up anti-government, anti-state and anti-nation in India (and elsewhere) quite often. So, the potential targets for authorised surveillance can be a wide, open field in any country.Lastly, it is difficult to believe there’s only a single Pegasus-like software in the world. Technology talent and capital are both available with others to build an equivalent product. If it isn’t built so far, it will be in works after this investigation. In any case, the secretive nature of NSO’s work precludes any patents or IP rights for their products. So, this genie is now out of the bottle.It is a bit of a surprise how lukewarm the response in India media, political circles and public to this has been so far. The ‘anti-India’ and ‘chronology’ remarks from the Home Minister have been adequate for the partisans to dismiss the investigation and its significance. The opposition lacks the voice and the strength to make this a public debate. And surprisingly the Indian right and the conservatives who should champion individual rights and privacy have been quiet, The spectre of a surveillance state in the long-run when someone else could be in power and abuse this capability doesn’t seem to exercise them.Surveillance And DemocracyThere are the usual arguments to dismiss surveillance concerns these days. It is all pervasive in current times. That privacy is chimera in this connected world. I will make four points on how this time it is different and why a liberal democratic setup should think more deeply about this. Firstly, the tired defence about any government snooping is that it has been happening for ages. Everyone did it in the past. And the governments will continue doing so when they see perceived national security threats or for political reasons. There are two key differences now. One, the size and scale of digital footprint that we leave unknowingly or in the belief we are secure makes snooping easy and deeply intrusive. This is not the open postcard or ‘search your garbage bin’ era where your data in public was limited. Two, a Pegasus like spyware goes beyond the third-party doctrine which itself was an encroachment of individual privacy. The government now doesn’t even have to depend on a third-party to ask for information legally that’s been voluntarily handed over by users to them. They can eliminate the intermediary and directly source the information from the phones. This takes out even the iota of a check or restrain that was inbuilt into the third-party doctrine.Secondly, there’s the dumb argument that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about any kind of surveillance. This is what is expected from the citizens. On the flips side, the governments expect less transparency about their conduct. There’s an ever increasing trove of government work that’s categorised as secret or confidential which makes it inaccessible to citizens as part of any of their rights. This is an inversion of one of the fundamental principles of a democratic setup. That the elected must work under the spotlight while the electorate has the privilege of anonymity. There is a reason why we have a secret ballot. The fundamental act of voting in a democracy is done in secrecy. Shine a light on the choices of electorate, knowingly or otherwise, and you begin your descent into totalitarian state. The elected though should have no such privilege. Their actions cannot seek the cover of darkness barring a few exceptions. This is what the Washington Post masthead means when it screams out ‘Democracy dies in darkness’. Thirdly, we are caught in a pincer move in our battle for privacy. On one hand we have private companies (big tech) harvesting our data, with or without permission, to sell advertising slots or offer targeted news on our feed. On the other, we have the government conducting sophisticated surveillance on its citizens in the name of national security. We are often asked by those supporting government snooping if we can give away our data to a Google or a Facebook or to the thousands of CCTV cameras all around us so easily, why do we agitate when we hear of government keeping an eye on us? This isn’t an equally weighed argument. We choose to be on the platforms of private companies and we give a voluntary consent to their terms. We outrage when we find they are abusing our information. There is both a free market and a regulatory solution that can be expected on how our private data will be used by these companies. The GDPR regulation in EU is an instance of this. But these options aren’t true for government tracking its citizens and using its data. There’s no consent sought and beyond a point it is difficult to have checks and controls imposed on state which has created those in the first place. This is a key reason why we should be careful about any proposed regulation of Big Tech that places the responsibility of user data with the state. The state is all powerful. And history has shown it can be more vindictive. For users, it will be like jumping from frying pan to fire. Lastly, and to end this piece on another cliché, let me invoke Foucault and panopticism. In his 1975 work Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Foucault used the panopticon (a prison system designed by Jeremy Bentham in late 18th century) to show how surveillance or the mere intuition of someone watching us changes something fundamental in us. Like he wrote:“Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. To achieve this, it is at once too much and too little that the prisoner should be constantly observed by an inspector: too little, for what matters is that he knows himself to be observed; too much, because he has no need in fact of being so.   Faoucault establishes the moral challenge of this asymmetry between the observer and the observed using Bentham’s language for the original design.“Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so….The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen.”   Like Foucault concludes the one who is in the field of visibility, knowing he is always being observed, places the onus of following the norms of power on himself. He surrenders himself to the power of the observer without any additional coercion. He becomes “the principle of his own subjection.”Seeing through Foucault’s lens, the fact that we now know there could be a Pegasus like spyware that governments could use on us actually plays into the hand of a surveillance state. The knowledge of being observed will change us. We will place constrains on ourselves and we will follow norms that’s expected from us mechanically till we turn into what the state wants us to become. That we are being watched is the truth. And this isn’t the kind of truth that will set us free. If the content in this newsletter interests you, consider taking up the Takshashila GCPP. The certificate course is customised for working professionals. Intake for the 30th cohort ends on 22nd August. India Policy Watch #2: Thirty Years of Economic ReformsInsights on burning policy issues in India— Pranay KotasthaneWe look back at transformative moments in the past either to cajole ourselves into believing that the future can get better or to escape the cynicism that pervades the present. This week marks thirty years of one such transformative moment — the 1991 economic liberalisation reforms. These reforms got nearly 300 million Indians out of poverty and propelled the lives of people at the margin of poverty. The importance of economic growth in transforming people’s lives got internalised to such an extent that we started taking it for granted. Within fifteen years after the reforms, India seemed to have moved on from economic growth. Ideas such as ‘inclusive’ growth became mainstream, indicating that it was okay to sacrifice some growth as long as it lifted everyone’s boats equally. And in 2021, after a full decade of tardy economic policies, growth and inclusion both, are imperilled. Given that more than half of India hasn’t even experienced what life was like in an economy strangulated by governments, this is a good week to reflect on economic reforms. Thankfully, some terrific articles and anecdotes have already been written on how the Indian economy transformed. In this post, I’ll link to those I found useful.Launched five years ago, Centre for Civil Society’s IndiaBefore91.in portal has an excellent set of stories on lives in an overwhelmingly controlled economy. Mercatus Center’s the1991project has an interactive timeline of events that happened close to the reforms. The portal also has some key government speeches and documents that formed the basis of these reforms. My favourite reading on the topic is Jairam Ramesh’s To the Brink and Back because it provides a ringside view of government decision-making in a crisis situation. Such accounts are rare in the oversensitive Indian political discourse. Moreover, the book captures several key political debates of the time, some of which continue to be relevant today. For example, Manmohan Singh’s response in the Rajya Sabha addressing the fears of devaluation of the rupee needs to be read and re-read even today:Let me say that in this country there seems to be a strange conspiracy between the extreme left and extreme right that there is something immoral or dishonourable about changing the exchange rate. But that is not the tradition. If you look at the whole history of India’s independence struggle before 1947 all our national leaders were fighting against the British against keeping the exchange rate of the Rupee unduly high. Why did the British keep the exchange rate of the Rupee unduly high? It was because they wanted this country to remain backward and they did not want this country to industrialise. They wanted the country to be an exporter of primary products against which all Indian economists protested. If you look at Indian history right from 1900 onwards to 1947, this was a recurrent plea of all Indian economists—not to have an exchange rate which is so high that Indian cannot export, that India cannot industrialise. But I am really surprised that something which is meant to increase the country’s exports and encourage its industrialisation is now considered as something anti-national.And yet, the fallout of the 1966 devaluation coloured the perception of observers and politicians. So much so that the finance minister and the RBI governor consciously avoided using the word ‘devaluation’ and instead used an anodyne phrase — ‘an adjustment of the exchange rate of the rupee’. That apart, an egregious PolicyWTF by the name of items reserved for manufacture exclusively by the small-scale sector also finds a mention in the book. This is a good week to reflect on what the next version of economic reforms should look like. HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Article] The Pegasus Project: complete coverage of the investigation by the Guardian. A great Sunday read. [Article] Rohan V in the Scroll on the one phrase missing in India’s response to the Pegasus story. [Article] A thorough technical overview of the whole NSO issue. [Podcast] Puliyabaazi completed a century this week. So the hundredth puliyabaazi is on puliyabaazi. Listen in. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

A few days ago, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin announced that the immigration department will be conducting operations to detain undocumented migrants during the two-week lockdown. This appears to contradict a statement made a few months ago by the Minister of Science and Technology, Khairy Jamaluddin, who’s running the National COVID-19 Immunization Programme, who previously said that we need to encourage everyone to get vaccinated including undocumented migrants and that they will not be arrested. The Home Minister’s decision to hunt down undocumented migrants has received pushback from various quarters, including Human Rights NGOs as well as the APPGM (The All-Party Parliament Group Malaysia), which consists of MPs from both opposition and government. Joining us on the show today to discuss the issue, is YB Nurul Izzah Anwar, MP from Permatang Pauh and a member of the APPGM. Image source: Nurul Izzah Anwar Facebook

In your evening news brief, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai says state to go for stricter implementation of lockdown measures; West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says she felt ‘insulted' at the meeting with the PM and Government says nearly two crore Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories. Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com

In your evening news brief, Telangana decides to impose a 10-day lockdown in the state starting May 12; Enforcement Directorate files a criminal case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and Karnataka has requested the Centre to allocate as much oxygen as possible for the state. Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com

The assembly elections in West Bengal have turned into a battle for survival for the incumbent Mamata Banerjee, who is facing an unprecedented BJP onslaught with heavy weights like the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah respectively, pulling out all the stops against her. The BJP has never been able to win West Bengal and it is a big price for the party. Hindutva, unheard of in the state, has made big in-roads and threatens to alter the social structure of this state. If you listen to the big media, which only ever gives only one side of the story, the BJP has already won. How much of this is hype? How much of this is reality? Is Bengal today fundamentally different than even a decade ago?On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Dr. Ranabir Samaddar, one of the best known political scientists of West Bengal and of India. He's the author of several books and currently holds the the Distinguished Chair in Migration and Forced Migration Studies at the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group. He is the best person to analyse what is exactly is happening in the state and the future implications of this electoral battle. Tune in for an eye opening conversation.Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallahbombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallahYou can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

शरद पवार की पार्टी में कई कद्दावर नेता हैं, फिर भी उन्होंने गृह मंत्री जैसे अहम पद के लिए अनिल देशमुख को चुना तो इसके पीछे एक बड़ी वजह है जिसमें ख़ुद एनसीपी प्रमुख का फायदा भी छिपा है। गोल्ड के पॉडकास्ट का खज़ाना मिलेगा Navbharatgold.com पर

Here, you will listen to my analysis on why Maharashtra's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh resigned. My Youtube Channel- bit.ly/2LiPAgC My Instagram Page - www.instagram.com/politicsarca/ My Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/politicsarca My Twitter Page- twitter.com/politicsarca #politicsarca #maharashtra #anildeshmukh #ncp --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/politicsarca/message

In your evening news brief, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh resigns; Byju's acquires Aakash Educational Services and Actor Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and Akshay Kumar test positive for Coronavirus Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com

Aam Admi party chief Arvind Kejriwal urged the opposition and non-NDA parties to oppose the GNCTD Bill in Rajya Sabha. PM Narendra Modi approved an ex-gratia of 2 lakh Rs each of those who have lost their lives in Gwalior road mishap. Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that Tagore prize will be instituted on the lines of Nobel Prize and Satyajit Ray Award on the lines of Oscars, to pay tribute to the two sons of Bengal. For more live news download Etv Bharat Download ETV Bharat on App store – https://apps.apple.com/in/app/etv-bharat/id1453416186 Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.etvbharat.android Or watch us live on – www.etvbharat.com ETV Bharat is a Division of Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. , is a comprehensive digital national news platform conceived to deliver seamless news and information services, using video-centric Mobile App and Web Portals. It is first-of-its kind offering in India in terms of diversity and depth, dedicated journalists network, reach of 24 states with services in 13 languages i.e.– Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia and English. ETV Bharat is the latest initiative of the five-decade old multi-dimensional Ramoji Group. The Group's highly successful media endeavors include : Eenadu - one of the largely circulated language dailies in the country , and ETV Network with Telugu general entertainment, infotainment and news channels. With a strong lineage of the most trusted media house, ETV Bharat would draw on its strengths of decades' long experience and innovation. ETV Bharat will combine the new technologies of mobile and digital media to engage news and information seekers in a new connected world. It will be driven by well-established news gathering setup, technology specialists and other professionals.

Here, you will listen to my analysis on whether Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh resign or not. My Youtube Channel- bit.ly/2LiPAgC My Instagram Page - www.instagram.com/politicsarca/ My Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/politicsarca My Twitter Page- twitter.com/politicsarca #politicsarca #maharashtra #anildeshmukh #ncp #shivsena --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/politicsarca/message

In a blistering performance #BhaktBanerjee grills Mahua Moitra on her being angry all the time, calling the Govt coward, questioning the former CJI and the upcoming Bengal elections (that her party is going to lose so bad!) Mahua Moitra also asks BB to get her an offer from the other side - as no one dares to approach her with an offer!!!! Watch this faceoff where the REAL Mahua Moitra is exposed! *** Unlock MEMBER ONLY - Discord / Chats / Content PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/thedeshbhakt YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmTM_hPCeckqN3cPWtYZZcg/join MERCH - https://kadakmerch.com/thedeshbhakt *** SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW US *** YouTube: - https://youtube.com/thedeshbhakt Twitter :- https://twitter.com/thedeshbhakt Web - https://thedeshbhakt.in/ Instagram :- https://instagram.com/akashbanerjee.in Facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/akashbanerjee.in Podcast - https://anchor.fm/thedeshbhakt **More DeshBhakt Videos** The Deshbhakt Episodes: https://bit.ly/3eLgvLv INDIA IN EMERGENCY: https://bit.ly/3dM4Bj8 Bhakt Banerjee Rocks: https://bit.ly/2VuFQlf B&D Media and the Public: https://bit.ly/389jjzw Akash-Vaani: https://bit.ly/3eKvN3h ** Credits ** Host : Bhakt Banerjee DOP and Edit : Tushar Producer : Avishrant --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thedeshbhakt/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thedeshbhakt/support

We have hit a century! Thank you for reading us.This newsletter is really a public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration on all podcasting platforms courtesy the good folks at Ad-Auris. PolicyWTF: Prohibition and MoralityThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?— Pranay KotasthaneIf one were to write a book chronicling bans on victimless crimes in India, the index entry for Morarji Desai would be a long one. After all, he holds the dubious distinction of turning lakhs of ordinary citizens into criminals by prohibiting two independent victimless crimes. The first ban, on alcohol, is rather well-known. The notorious Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949 was passed when Desai was the state’s Home Minister. To enforce the ban, the government created elaborate compliance machinery, misdirecting the limited policing capacity towards apprehending tipplers instead of protecting victims of other crimes. By the time this act was watered down in 1964, more than four lakh people had been convicted under Prohibition! The draconian law is well-documented in Rohit De’s excellent book The People’s Constitution. Read this, for instance:“The BPA granted vast powers to the police and Prohibition officers. It empowered Prohibition officers and all police officers to “enter at any time, by day or by night, any warehouse, shop, house, building, vessel, vehicle, or enclosed place in which [they have] reason to believe [that] intoxicants or utensils, apparatus or implements used for manufacturing intoxicants are kept.” They could also open packages and confiscate goods that they suspected of containing illicit liquor. Warrants were not required for arrests for any of these offenses or for searching premises. The BPA provided that people believed to have committed an offense under the act could be detained without trial and have their movements restricted. The Prohibition policy thus created a system that operated outside the penal code and the criminal procedure code that applied to most offenses.” [The People’s Constitution, Rohit De, page 45]The direct consequences of this PolicyWTF aren’t hard to anticipate. People either switched to alternatives that bypassed the law or started consuming a far worse quality of alcohol in the black market. For instance, De writes:By 1963 the Planning Commission was protesting the number of tinctures available in India. It pointed out that the British Pharmacopeia had reduced the number of tinctures from thirty-four in 1932 to fourteen in 1963, but the Indian Pharmacopeia of 1955 listed forty-two different tinctures. After interviewing leading medical representatives, the Planning Commission came to the conclusion that there was hardly any medical use of tinctures, which were outmoded and being replaced by modern drugs that were not alcohol-based. Spot checks revealed that several tinctures on the market were actually spurious, consisting solely of alcohol and a suitable coloring agent. Other manufacturers were producing eardrops and eyedrops with a large percentage of alcohol. The frustrated Planning Commission suggested that tinctures be abandoned for more modern medicine and that industrially produced eyedrops and eardrops be replaced by prescriptions that could be made by pharmacists. [The People’s Constitution, Rohit De, page 61]Says a lot about central planning. When there’s demand, supply finds a way out in imaginative ways that governments can’t clamp down easily. Desai’s second prohibition was on the sale and holding of gold, even in small quantities. It was this policyWTF that made smuggling of gold a lucrative profession. Here’s what the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence — a union government agency — observed in its Smuggling in India Report 2019-20: The economic reforms of 1990s witnessed the repeal of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 that had prohibited the import of gold except for jewellery. The erstwhile statute had led to the emergence of a notorious network of gold smugglers during 1970s and 1980s. The economic reforms and liberalisation led to the imposition of a modest specific duty of Rs 300 on 10 grams in 2011-12 (increased from Rs 200 in 2010-11) on the imported yellow metal, bringing gold smuggling almost to a grinding halt. While both these policies had immediate adverse consequences, the general equilibrium effect was far worse: the successful and respected people in the society were the ones whose only competence was breaking the law.PS: Nitin Pai, on his blog, succinctly captures the general equilibrium effects of banning victimless crimes in this figure.Source: What causes corruption and erosion of moral values?, Nitin Pai, The AcornGlobal Policy Watch: Student Loan Forgiveness and Friedman - RSJThe new Biden administration is expected to enact a student loan relief programme through legislation or an executive order when it assumes office later this month. There might even be a more comprehensive student loan reform on its agenda. The left-wing of the Democratic Party has made a case for a total student loan forgiveness for a long time now. Biden is a centrist, yet he might use the student loan relief proposal as a bargaining chip to rein in other more socialist ideas from them. It will be interesting to see if the administration merely forgives a part of the outstanding loan or it uses the student loan crisis to arrive at a more market-driven long-term solution to the problem of funding higher education and the role of government in education in general.Quantum Of CrisisThere are about 45 million student loan borrowers who owed roughly USD 1.6 trillion in 2019. To put that in perspective, India’s total credit outstanding is in the same ballpark. On average, each borrower has over USD 34,000 outstanding credit. By some estimates, the Biden forgiveness proposal is to waive off USD 10,000 from this. That would mean a total waiver of about USD 500 billion. No small change even in the days where stimulus packages routinely run into trillions.So, what explains these eye-popping numbers that are unique to the US education system?Well, there are a few reasons.Because the colleges can: There has been no disruption in the higher education model over the past two hundred years. The system is an oligopoly. The same set of universities have remained at the top through a combination of brand building, (alumni) network benefits and bigger endowments (that are tax-free). The price set at the top is high and everyone below the chain benchmarks to that price. As income inequality has grown, the price has gotten unaffordable at every level except the very top.Student loans are expensive by design: There’s hardly any collateral to hold as security for a student who is getting started in life. These loans are largely unsecured, unlike a mortgage where the house is the underlying security for the banks. The possibility of a student getting a good job and paying back the loan is relatively lower than most other loan types. Added to this is the uncertainty about the final location of the student after he finishes off his education and the costs of tracking them down. It is no surprise the default rates of these loans are in excess of 10 per cent. These uncertainties are baked into the pricing of a student loan. They tend to be long-term and expensive.Universities have no incentive to innovate: Why should they? They control their supply and keep college seats ‘scarce’. The admission rates of Ivy league schools have been coming down over the years. They are at sub-five per cent these days. This scarcity gives them enormous pricing power. They offer lifelong tenures to the professors. There’s hardly anyone who holds a university to account for failed careers of its students. The student cops most of the blame. It is a great business model with limited accountability. Here’s a sample statistic. Students at public four-year institutions paid an average of $3,190 in tuition fee for the 1987-1988 school year, with prices adjusted to reflect 2017 dollars. Thirty years later, that average has risen to $9,970 for the 2017-2018 school year. That’s over 200 per cent increase after adjusting for inflation. The entry-level salaries haven’t kept pace with that. After adjusting for inflation, they are almost flat over this time. This is what riles the ‘progressives’. The higher education system now perpetuates inequalities instead of reducing them. The system is rigged from the start - SAT scores track family income closely, private counsellors help kids from rich families to write their applications and expensive tuitions in drama, music or elite sports help in making the cut. The list of such privileges that are needed to get in is long. And the higher education system explains all of this away in the name of merit. The Moral Burden Of Student DebtThose who battle this entrenched system and take expensive loans to fund themselves can find the going tough. The job market remains choppy, the nature of jobs is changing and there’s increasing automation in every sector. To start your career with a debt that you can’t be sure of paying off is a burden that seems unjust. Worse, there are many others who can’t get a loan or don’t venture into higher education at all because the costs are high. It is a terrible loss of human potential. This much is commonly understood. The problem is with the solution that the ‘progressives’ advocate - a kind of a universal free higher education model best captured by Bernie Sanders line “College For All and Cancel All Student Debt”:Today, we say to our young people that we want you to get the best education that you can, regardless of the income of your family. Good jobs require a good education. That is why we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition free, and cancel all student debt. The problems with such prescriptions are aplenty. We have devoted multiple newsletters to them. When the price is zero, supply tends to zero. The inherent moral hazard of cancelling debts. What about those who actually paid their debts? What about those who didn’t take up college because they didn’t want to take debt? What about other borrowers who took other types of loans? Why should their debts be not cancelled? This a terrain full of moral hazard landmines.Government, Market and EducationSo how should we think about solving this? To start with we need to understand the market failures in the education system. What are they?Primary and secondary education has positive externalities. There’s a benefit that accrues to the society in educating one person which can’t be captured by the supplier. This restricts the supply of such goods because they can’t be priced accurately. The government has a role in addressing this failure through subsidies or vouchers. Higher education or vocational training are tailored to provide employment to an individual. The positive externalities here are overshadowed by the private economic benefits to an individual. So higher education doesn’t have this type of market failureBut it has other failures. One is the information asymmetry problem. You can never know how good a college is till after you finish college and enter the job market. The college and your goals aren’t exactly aligned. There’s no downside risk to the college if you don’t get the right kind of job after it. This asymmetry problem extends to the banks providing student loans. They don’t have enough information about either the student or the quality of college education to assess the risk of future payments. They err on the side of caution. The interesting thing is there’s a 65-year old paper authored by Milton Friedman that captures the role of the government in education. The 1965 paper ‘The Role of Government in Education’ is a document of remarkable clarity and vision even by Friedman standards. It is not a dogmatic advancement of the market as a solution to the problem of funding education. It is nuanced and deeply insightful about what the government should be doing in education. Friedman On Government In Education I will end with two key excerpts from it. First, Friedman’s views on primary and secondary education and the role of the government in it. His solution was simple - public financing but private operations of education in this space:“The arrangement that perhaps comes closest to being justified by these considerations--at least for primary and secondary education--is a mixed one under which governments would continue to administer some schools but parents who chose to send their children to other schools would be paid a sum equal to the estimated cost of educating a child in a government school, provided that at least this sum was spent on education in an approved school. This arrangement would meet the valid features of the "natural monopoly" argument, while at the same time it would permit competition to develop where it could. It would meet the just complaints of parents that if they send their children to private nonsubsidized schools they are required to pay twice for education--once in the form of general taxes and once directly--and in this way stimulate the development and improvement of such schools. The interjection of competition would do much to promote a healthy variety of schools. It would do much, also, to introduce flexibility into school systems. Not least of its benefits would be to make the salaries of school teachers responsive to market forces. It would thereby give governmental educational authorities an independent standard against which to judge salary scales and promote a more rapid adjustment to changes in conditions of demand or supply. “ The second excerpt is about how to think of funding higher education or vocational programmes taken to improve employment prospects. Friedman suggests an Income Share Agreement (ISA) model all those years ago.“For vocational education, the government, this time however the central government, might likewise deal directly with the individual seeking such education. If it did so, it would make funds available to him to finance his education, not as a subsidy but as "equity" capital. In return, he would obligate himself to pay the state a specified fraction of his earnings above some minimum, the fraction and minimum being determined to make the program self-financing. Such a program would eliminate existing imperfections in the capital market and so widen the opportunity of individuals to make productive investments in themselves while at the same time assuring that the costs are borne by those who benefit most directly rather than by the population at large. An alternative, and a highly desirable one if it is feasible, is to stimulate private arrangements directed toward the same end.” It is instructive to conclude here with Friedman’s conclusions from the paper:“This re-examination of the role of government in education suggests that the growth of governmental responsibility in this area has been unbalanced. Government has appropriately financed general education for citizenship, but in the process it has been led also to administer most of the schools that provide such education. Yet, as we have seen, the administration of schools is neither required by the financing of education, nor justifiable in its own right in a predominantly free enterprise society. Government has appropriately been concerned with widening the opportunity of young men and women to get professional and technical training, but it has sought to further this objective by the inappropriate means of subsidizing such education, largely in the form of making it available free or at a low price at governmentally operated schools. The lack of balance in governmental activity reflects primarily the failure to separate sharply the question what activities it is appropriate for government to finance from the question what activities it is appropriate for government to administer (emphasis ours)--a distinction that is important in other areas of government activity as well. Because the financing of general education by government is widely accepted, the provision of general education directly by govern mental bodies has also been accepted. But institutions that provide general education are especially well suited also to provide some kinds of vocational and professional education, so the acceptance of direct government provision of general education has led to the direct provision of vocational education. To complete the circle, the provision of vocational education has, in turn, meant that it too was financed by government, since financing has been predominantly of educational institutions not of particular kinds of educational services.” A Framework a Week: A Taxing Month AheadTools for thinking public policy— Pranay KotasthaneWhat’s a budget without new taxes, fees, cesses, or surcharges? As the budget date nears, let’s understand the categorical differences between these four seemingly interchangeable terms. A tax is the purest economic manifestation of the state’s monopoly over the legitimate use of force within its territory. That’s because a tax is not accompanied by the promise of any specific service by the government in return. The money raised from taxes goes into the consolidated fund of the relevant level of government. Then on, it’s the government’s prerogative to decide what this money should be spent on. So if you were to file a case refusing to pay income and property taxes on the grounds that the road outside your house is broken, you would’ve no chances of winning the case.A fee, in contrast, involves a quid pro quo. You pay for a service or good in return. When you pay a parking fee, you pay for the right to occupy a physical space for a specific period of time. The linkage between what you pay and what you get in return is much clearer than is the case with taxes. It is for this reason that collecting fees for private services is a less distortionary way of raising resources for local governments. We had covered this in more detail here. A cess is tied to an earmarked purpose. The money raised through a tax is held separately to fund a project that the cess is meant for. A Swachch Bharat Cess, for example, is a levy on services, the proceeds of which are used to fund the Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan. If you filed your income tax returns, you would have also noticed a health and education cess of 4 per cent. A legitimate question is that if this cess is being used to finance something as core as health and education, what were the taxes you pay being used for in the first place.Through some legal chicanery, the government has another advantage of raising money through the cess route. This money doesn’t fall in the divisible pool that needs to be shared with other levels of government. Unsurprisingly, the union government has been raising cesses to subvert the Finance Commission’s recommendation of devolving a larger chunk of the divisible pool of money to state governments.Surcharges are eviler. They are merely taxes on taxes. They are not raised for an earmarked purpose. Neither are the proceeds shared with lower levels of government.So that’s that. There are many ways in which governments can extract money from you, some better some worse. For more, read:Why cesses are evilCesses and Surcharges: Concept, Practice and Reform, A Fifteenth Finance Commission Study conducted by Vidhi Centre for Legal PolicyMatsyanyaaya: Decoupling DynamicsBig fish eating small fish = Foreign Policy in action— Pranay KotasthaneA lot has been written about businesses moving away from China as a fallout of geopolitical tensions with the US. Fewer write-ups have tried to imagine what this decoupling would actually look like. A recently released report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China & MERICS does a good job of analysing this process. The report breaks down decoupling into nine layers in four major categories:Macro decoupling – political and financial;Trade decoupling – supply chains and critical inputs; Innovation decoupling – research and development (R&D), and standards; and Digital decoupling – data governance, network equipment and telecommunications services Of these, the authors identify three layers of high concern — decoupling of critical inputs such as semiconductors, software, and rare earths, decoupling of data governance regimes, and decoupling of standards. In contrast, financial decoupling is less likely because of China’s inability to internationalise renminbi and its continued dependence on the US dollar even for its Belt and Road projects. In short, the US-China confrontation is likely to play out over critical and emerging technology and not over finance and industrial production. Finally, there’s a useful framework visualising how decoupling across the nine layers might look in three scenarios. Source: Decoupling, By European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and Mercator Institute of China StudiesHomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Book Excerpt] Toppling the myth of meritocracy: Excerpt from Michael Sandel’s “Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?”[Article] Robert Farrington writing in the Forbes: “The Moral Hazard Of Student Loan Forgiveness”[Article] Prohibition’s ghosts continue to linger in Mumbai, writes Shoaib Daniyal. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

Astronomers have, potentially, found life on Venus, which is ironical because we were not looking for it there. Irony becomes the theme of this podcast with Jaya Bachchan claiming that there is an attempt to defame Bollywood, the Supreme Court asking if controversial programs can be allowed in a free society, Global Times, a low-quality mouthpiece of the Chinese government talking about the views of the Chinese people, and some people questioning why the Home Minister did not go to AIIMS for a check-up. Oh, and there are Moghuls too, in the form of a song with a catchy tune.

In this episode of The Lead from DH Radio, Home Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai tells DH how his government is cracking down on the drug mafia. Download the Deccan Herald app for Android devices here: https://bit.ly/2UgttIO Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com To read news on the go, sign up to our Telegram channel t.me/deccanheraldnews

In this episode of The Lead from DH Radio, "Mind well, I tell you the DJ Halli incidents in previous times, it took for then governments it took 3-4 days to quell it. Police could not enter. Here we have quelled it in 2 hours," says Home Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai on the riots at DJ Halli and KJ Halli in Bengaluru. Download the Deccan Herald app for Android devices here: https://bit.ly/2UgttIO Download the Deccan Herald app for iOS devices here: https://apple.co/30eOFD6 For latest news and updates, log on to www.deccanherald.com Check out our e-paper www.deccanheraldepaper.com To read news on the go, sign up to our Telegram channel t.me/deccanheraldnews

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has tested positive for coronavirus infection. That has infected more than 17 lakh people in the nation. Sources said he has been admitted to Medanta hospital, located in Haryana's Gurugram near Delhi. In a tweet, the Home Minister said his health was "fine" but he was being hospitalised "on the guidance of doctors". Amit Shah also appealed to all those "who have come in touch with me in the last few days. Please isolate yourself and get your examination done". --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/latestnewssuno/support

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday said that an inquiry by the Special IG has been ordered in the mob lynching of Palghar. "An investigation by the Special IG has been ordered and the case is passed to the CID. Approximately 101 people have been busted. Further action is underway," Anil Deshmukh told media persons. Home Minister said, "Three people were trying to travel to Surat without the government's permission. Instead of driving through the main route, they had taken the village route. Palghar is a tribal region. Villagers felt that these people came to kidnap their children. This kind of rumour was spread. A large number of people attacked them." --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/latestnewssuno/support

Clearly upset with the extensive confusion over tax and compliance rules, from GST to income taxes, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chided government officials for not communicating concerns of industry leaders and common people to her. Nirmala Sitharaman, at a post-Budget meeting in Guwahati, asked Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other officials to take up the regular inquiry of industrialists and common people on a daily basis. Sitharaman also held an interactive discussion with traders and industry officials where she spoke about giving greater access to credit to self help groups located in remote regions of the northeast. She also spoke MSMEs and said that MSMEs can approach public sector banks for restructuring before 31st December 2020. Bankers have been instructed to provide adequate ATMs in 17 districts of the state to cater to the tea garden areas as per mapping by State Govt., she said. Rajasthan Royals will be playing two of their home games in Guwahati at Barsapara Stadium in the forthcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Guwahati will make its debut on the upcoming season of the T20 tournament after the IPL governing council granted permission to Rajasthan Royals to host the first two of their seven home games. The Barsapara Stadium will host Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders on April 5 and 9 respectively. Both the games will be played in the evening, starting at 8 p.m., as per a BCCI release and the council's decision to maintain the 4 PM and 8 PM start times for the afternoon and evening games for the season. Justice S Muralidhar has been transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court after he criticized Delhi police over the ongoing violence in the city. The bench headed by Muralidhar was hearing petitions related to Delhi violence. The bench had expressed “anguish” over the police's inaction to register FIRs against those making inflammatory speeches. Congress delegation led by Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi & Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met with Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, to present a memorandum on the Delhi violence. “Congress Working Committee believes that Home Minister and Central Government is responsible. Home Minister should tender his resignation with immediate effect,” she told media. “The President said he will take cognisance of our demands, we feel fairly satisfied,” she said. Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India called Delhi violence a matter of “national shame.” According to latest media reports, Delhi death toll has touched 35. Hundreds have been injured in clashes in north east Delhi. IAF's C-17 Globemaster III has brought back 76 Indians & 36 nationals from 7 countries – Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives, China, South Africa, USA and Madagascar, Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India tweeted through his account. The plane had comprising the crew, medical team & support staff, carrying 15 tonnes of medical supplies departed from Air Force Station, Palam on February 26. In another successful operation, an Air India flight carrying 119 Indians & 5 nationals from Sri Lanka,Nepal, South Africa and Peru, who were quarantined on board luxury cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan due to COVID-19 also landed in Delhi from Tokyo. On Thursday Saudi Arabia abruptly stopped travel to the holiest sites in Islam over coronavirus fears, as the Middle East recorded more than 220 confirmed cases. Saudi Arabia halted travel just months before the annual Hajj pilgrimage. They also suspended travel to Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Medina.The pronouncement specified the level of concern about the outbreak.

This was the scene at the BJP's headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road in Delhi, as Jagat Prakash Nadda was unanimously elected as the party's new President. Nadda succeeds Amit Shah as the BJP's President. He was selected as the BJP's working president in May 2019, when Shah was appointed Home Minister, and formally became the BJP's president on 20 January 2020. But Nadda's election to the post of BJP's party president, comes after Amit Shah's very successful run as President, and comes at a time when India is GRIPPED by protests. Is his election as BJP President just the beginning of the challenge ahead of him? And will he be able to fill the void left by Amit Shah in the BJP's machine? Let's find out. I'm Vishnu Gopinath. Today I'm joined by political commentator Amitabh Tiwari and author and senior journalist Nilanjan Mukopadhyay. We're going to tell you everything you need to know about the BJP's new president JP Nadda, and what lies in store for him in the coming months. Guests: Nilanjan Mukopadhyay, Journalist and AuthorAmitabh Tiwari, Political Commentator Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath Editor: Jaskirat Singh BawaAdditional Reading: JP Nadda to be New BJP National President, Elected UnopposedJP Nadda — the Man Chosen by BJP to Fill in Amit Shah's Shoes