Food Safety At Stake

If you also buy products more which you see are endorsed by celebrities. If you are also getting lost in the advertisement with no values and unhealthy ways to influence you, this piece is important for you. These days brand endorsements are done for all kinds of ‘processed foods’ which in a way is creating an appeal for ‘junk category’ foods. The celebrities acting as ‘brand ambassadors’ influence people to buy unhealthy products that they won’t use for self-consumption. Is it then correct to get influenced by these celebrities? Celebrity endorsement increases the value of foods whose primary ingredients are salt, sugar, and mostly palm oil which are the cheapest commodities. 

To understand all ‘processed foods’, before buying try to always read the labels on the pack and the nutritional quality of such products. From biscuits to cakes to juices to milkshakes, everything being sold has unhealthy ingredients added that are harmful for adults as well as children. A simple example to realize this is a 200 ml mango drink which contains almost 30 gm of sugar which equals seven teaspoons of sugar. Now think what would happen if you gulped that much sugar in a go. It's crucial to understand and know the impact these products can have on your life. 

Moreover, adding to this problem is rampant food adulteration in India. A few weeks back several samples from a famous masala company were found to have traces of poisonous substances. This is surely not the only company; it signals many such companies are marketing products in India having unsafe ingredients with the help of high-level brand campaigns. The citizens are exposed to substandard, unsafe food items despite “The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006” under which food safety agencies like the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food Safety Authorities work. These safety organizations have a shortage of safety officers and hence is the result of the mass selling of unsafe products in the Indian market. With such a prevailing scenario, Indian consumers cannot avoid food items injurious to health. If agencies cannot take hard steps against these corporate giants, then why not aware the consumer about manufacturers selling unsafe food?

Contrastingly, the products of brands that are household names in India are flagged by food regulators in foreign countries. The European Food Safety Authority report released in April this year stated that turmeric, chili, peppercorn, and dried beans from India contained ethylene oxide. This was not the first instance as there have been multiple instances of Indian products found non-compliant in these countries. Aggressive marketing techniques are growing the consumer base for several brands, but the negative outcome of these unhealthy diets is diseases like diabetes and hypertension. These days there are children commonly found having anaemia, high triglycerides, and getting overweight because of non-nutritional processed food consumption. 

The surge of these diseases is due to increased consumption of packaged foods. Why do we accept such foods so easily at our homes? Are we not allowing innocent children to be impacted? We must ensure a fine balance to protect our family's health. The silence of the brands and the poor regulatory environment is the perfect combination to serve and increase the appeal of such food items. In the end, with food safety at stake, we still hold immense power by regulating ourselves and differentiating between beneficial and harmful food. A meaningful decision will always protect the health of the individual, as a packet of chips is tastier, but a bowl of fresh fruits or salad is healthier.

J&K Sikhs Searching Their Political Leader

The history of Sikhs in J&K takes you back to the partition of India in 1947 and the pain associated with partition. It took the entire community many decades to progress and prosper here again. They were put in a situation where they always looked back but continued moving forward. From one generation to another Sikhs in J&K took small steps to become an important part of the social system. This wasn’t easy and came at many crossroads for many families where they faced many challenges and still survived. That is a clear example of Sikh spirit, which is wonderful and till today doesn’t need any proof as the entire community, be it here or anywhere in the world is hardworking and believes in ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’. 

Despite social presence and being great contributors to many sectors of society, the Sikh community in the last seven decades wasn’t successful in the political circles of J&K. Because Sikhs kept fighting for their social survival, they were largely content and never tried to play a vital role in the political field and as a result were just used as a vote bank by the political parties. There could have been many people from the community who could have achieved political prominence. Still, they didn’t take political direction and operated only in the fields of academics, science, bureaucracy, law, and business. These ‘non-interested’ intellectual minds of the community gave a chance to some people within the community who have had financial success to make inroads in the political field of J&K. This was witnessed both in the Jammu and Kashmir regions.

The entry of such people into politics never proved fruitful for the political empowerment of the community. They were not ‘leaders’ who began their career by participating in dharnas, sit-ins, marches, petitions or fought for political causes of the Sikh community in the last many decades. More so, because there were challenges faced by the Sikh community and a lack of will on the part of ‘learned minds’ to take political roles, these financially sound people were able to fill in the ‘political void’ for the community temporarily. Such a scenario for J&K’s Sikh community was a pure case of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ factors that blocked the emergence and growth of any political leader.

The internal factor for Sikhs was that they gave precedence to wealthy people over someone having an intellectual mindset or having grown due to participation and struggle in the political process. This preference shift from ‘political leadership’ to ‘socio-religious leadership’ led to the failure to develop Sikh political leadership in J&K. These so-called socio-religious leaders presented a poor model on many occasions and youth rejected them as they made the political needs of the community subservient to personal needs. Then came some moments where instead of joining hands on issues that erupted and needed a unified approach for handling, these socio-religious leaders walked in different directions all for individual survival and further eroded the Sikh cause. 

The community started facing external challenges when political parties realized the approach adopted by the J&K Sikh community. This posed a new threat to the Sikhs in J&K.  All the political parties then started grooming socio-religious leaders while eyeing control over Sikh social and religious institutions by accommodating these leaders in their political organizations. This step never turned advantageous for the Sikhs in any way. This led to more struggle and conflict within the community to gain control of Sikh institutions and emerge ‘bigger’ in front of these political parties for further personal growth. This process hasn’t finished even after the era of some of these socio-religious leaders ended.

A new group of such socio-religious leaders has suddenly emerged in the past few years, and all these are very much again inclined to fill the political void for the community. This continuous pattern has caused a lot of damage and the growth of many political problems for Sikhs. All because we don’t walk the talk, instead we just talk the talk on community lines, the internal and external factors continue to harm the political interest of Sikhs in J&K. It's tough enough to change but when will the steps to change start? When will we see an elected representative from the community in the Assembly or Parliament? Will delimitation of constituencies be of any use for Sikhs? Let's not forget that just relying on these socio-religious leaders always contradicts our message to have a ‘political leader’ and makes us powerless in political circles. 

If we continue to use socio-religious leaders as a ‘label’, we will never be empowered politically in J&K. Only doing press conferences, back-channel talks, or third-party mediation on Sikh political matters will not lead us anywhere. To gain something out of the political circle, Sikhs need to end the search for political leaders by electing Sikh representatives at all levels in the democratic system to lead the community always on political causes. The community needs to wake up especially the youth who hold transformative power and are fundamental to the growth of political leadership. This is nothing based on emotions but on ideas tried, tested, and proven by philosophers, and political and social scientists for centuries to improve the status and political standing of different classes of people. Still, before that, the need is to develop a united thought and then act! 

BJP To Work On Coalition Strategy

June 4, 2024, results for Lok Sabha elections brought third term victory for the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and to make complete sense it was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coming back to power. That day it also turned the clock for the BJP because by not getting a majority after ten years of government they felt the true need for its allies in the shape of NDA which helped Atal Bihari Vajpayee as well. The verdict of 2024 has made the BJP dependent on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janta Dal(U) entirely. Despite being suddenly in such a situation, looking ahead BJP celebrated the results of Lok Sabha elections across the country. 

But with such results the internal dynamics of the new government vis a vis BJP will be different in coming months. To state that simply, BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken a route of consensus this time as till now PM Modi has never had a chance to run a coalition government.  Although PM Modi in his maiden speech after the election results declared that NDA would continue to make big decisions in its third term, but BJP may have to keep aside its core issues while running the NDA government and reinvent the idea of cooperative federalism. The task of running a coalition NDA government is now on PM Modi because many difficult decisions the PM may take could be blocked by the allies if it impacts their voter base in any way. 

Because of this, the new political dynamics that PM Modi & Home Minister Amit Shah invented while running a majority government will be visible a little less this time. Such changes can be witnessed within the new cabinet formed. Because of power-sharing many of BJP’s major faces were dropped from the new cabinet.  Let’s also not forget that some prominent cabinet faces of previous Modi government were defeated because of several political reasons on ground. This has brought mixed feelings for BJP as instead it inducted new OBC, and women faces in the newly formed cabinet. It reflects the BJP’s plan to face combative opposition in the Parliament this time led by the Congress party. At the same time, BJP’s narrative of giving a stronger government wasn’t achieved which has given Congress an edge in the Parliament.

For BJP the results in the Jammu region were on expected lines as Jammu and Udhampur seats were retained by the party. However, on both seats of the Hindu majority region, the results witnessed a dip in victory margin. So, this significant dip this time will be an area of concern for the party. On the other side in Kashmir, the Muslim majority region, voters threw a shocker by making jailed terror funding accused and independent candidate Engineer Rashid victorious against Omar Abdullah in Baramulla. Similarly, the Mehbooba Mufti faced defeat at the hands of National Conference’s Mian Altaf Ahmed by around 2.81 lakh votes in the Anantnag – Rajouri seat. With this, both key faces of the Abdullah and Mufti families were left out of the important political battle of 2024.  Because on both regional sides sentiments were different after 2019 and the results are a message for the new government in Delhi. Besides, it became more important as the BJP-backed candidates Zaffar Manhas of Apni Party and Sajad Lone of J&K Peoples Conference lost on both Kashmir seats.  Jammu & Kashmir voters have spoken boldly through votes but silently to reclaim the political space in their respective regions.

For the BJP, who must be preparing for assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand, these results will set a future path where the focus on the past will remain present in their plans. One of the different tasks this time for BJP will be to work on coalition strategy because explosive statements to communicate narrative during campaigning won’t pay to the NDA and in some situations may instead cause moral defeat to this alliance. Therefore, the entire politics of BJP this time will embrace many new things not witnessed in the last ten years.

Develop Heritage Consciousness In Youth

The talk of ‘cultural heritage’ always puts reflection on the history and identity of every society. And let’s agree that ‘cultural heritage’ faces increasing challenges in the era of ‘smart cities’. Why so? All because the modernization in the name of ‘smart cities’ in times to come will decrease the interest of the younger generation towards their cultural heritage. The lack of formal and informal education contributes to this phenomenon also. The importance of ‘cultural heritage preservation’ should become a priority to preserve cultural heritage for future generations. Among other things that majorly damage cultural heritage are uncontrolled development activities, climate change, and natural disasters. Another challenge is the limitation of conservation resources and the absence of experts due to the lower positioning of ‘heritage preservation’, resulting in a loss of interest and participation in conservation efforts. These many things lead to the degradation of heritage sites and the loss of valuable artifacts.

To begin with, especially among the younger generation, it is required that we raise ‘historical consciousness’ and ‘historical literacy’ in them so that we can preserve cultural heritage. Simply speaking, understanding the past and strengthening a sense of connection to that past need to be done in many ways. With this, the youth can be positively influenced and a perception building towards cultural heritage can be done easily. Besides, this will be a step in the right direction to raise their willingness to participate in preservation and conservation efforts by contributing in their ways. It will play a crucial role in developing communities that understand their history and culture, and the ‘past’ and the ‘present’.

For ‘historical literacy’ museums and heritage sites play a crucial role in promoting cultural knowledge in the younger generation and allow communities to engage with cultural knowledge. Therefore, this literacy on the conservation of cultural heritage should start among high school students in India as this period can play a critical role in influencing the engagement of the younger generation in heritage preservation. Moreover, on a very high note developing educational programs and public policies to enhance students’ participation needs to be developed as a part of the theoretical framework. This will raise ‘historical consciousness’ in the youth across the country. The current and most popular scheme launched by the Government of India – ‘Smart City’ can become an example of the ‘sustainable preservation’ of cultural heritage among the youth.

To champion the cause of heritage preservation, one basic question arises in the era of ‘smart city’- Are we ignoring the history and culture of a place? Depending on the ‘value’ and ‘beauty’ of cultural heritage at any place the answer will come correctly for this question. But the need is to ask this ‘question’ everywhere because only offering illuminating lights and building gates in markets won’t complement developing historical consciousness and proactive heritage conservation endeavors in the younger generation.  Jammu enjoys a rich heritage with many historic monuments, buildings, and sites; for this reason, more money should go into the conservation of heritage work. Only transforming the city with different ideas of urban improvement and not preserving the old Jammu city would defeat the idea behind having ‘smart cities’.

The conservation issues are complex but unless this happens, our ‘smart city’ won’t be sustainable.  And that will also fail the idea of shaping Jammu’s informed youth who will become custodians of heritage.  At the local level in Jammu high-level coordination is required between different government departments to resolve pending works. Sometimes bringing these departments together is a little difficult for different reasons, but if done, the conservation of these heritage buildings in Jammu will provide a sense of identity and continuity for future generations. It will also support the local tourism industry.  The prevailing situation makes it imperative for Jammuites to participate and raise issues for conserving our heritage. The onus now lies on us to support smart heritage-inclusive cities and not let things be forced on us in the name of ‘transformation’ while the heritage of Jammu City remains isolated in the name of ‘change’.

Anantnag-Rajouri Seat And Shifting Political Dynamics

Even after facing stiff opposition from the Gujjars and Bakerwals, Paharis became successful in getting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status in Jammu and Kashmir. Paharis have fought a long battle for reservation before seeing this success. Ten percent reservation has been given to the Pahari Ethnic Tribe, Paddari Tribe, Kolis, and Gadda Brahmins in J&K which was approved by the Parliament in this year’s budget session in February. The Gujjars and Bakerwals were already enjoying a ten percent reservation in Jammu and Kashmir under the ST category. With this new addition, total reservations under the ST category have gone up to twenty percent. However, Gujjars and Bakerwals continue to believe that Paharis didn’t deserve reservation as they belonged to a socio-economically empowered group. With this new ten percent reservation for the Pahari community, Paharis will now get their share in government jobs and various seats in educational institutions. Paharis have a large population in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu region and around ten lakh new people are going to get new ST reservations as Paharis have a presence even in North Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts.  

This new reservation has seen large political activity around it from protests to internet blockades to political allegations. Most opposition party leaders in J&K believe that this reservation only results from the BJP’s ambitions of expanding in the Muslim-majority Rajouri and Poonch districts. Moreso, because nine assembly segments in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly after delimitation are now reserved for ST. Before the delimitation of constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu region had only thirty-seven assembly seats while the Kashmir region had forty-six. Surprisingly, after delimitation, Jammu got an additional six seats and Kashmir saw only an increase of one seat, taking the total tally to ninety seats in the J&K legislative assembly. So, this allegation of opposition parties shows some reasoning for it. But as they say ‘politics is number game’ so this reservation appears more of a socio-political plan of the BJP to extend its footprint especially in these two districts.

According to the 2011 census, the total population of Paharis in the Pir Panjal region is fifty six percent. Moreover, the BJP has registered victory in the assembly segments of Nowshera and Kalakote falling in this region and retained that lead in both assembly segments during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In this prevailing political scenario and with this new ‘reservation’ granted, BJP is banking on the consolidation of its traditional Hindu vote bank and expand more with Muslim Paharis vote to score big again in this belt as well as in assembly segments like Uri and Karnah in Kashmir region. BJP is planning to gain with ‘reservation’ even in some pockets of south Kashmir where Paharis are present in significant numbers and this region is known for low-voting percentage in elections.  Firstly, BJP wants to test and achieve out of this ‘new reservation’ and low voting percentage trend in the newly carved out Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat having eighteen assembly segments, including Anantnag, Anantnag West, Budhal, Devsar, DH Pora, Dooru, Kokernag, Kulgam, Mendhar, Nowshera, Pahalgam, Poonch Haveli, Rajouri, Shangus-Anantnag East, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Surankot, Thannamandi and Zainapora.

BJP wants to create a strategic political push on this seat as it is the first-ever Parliamentary seat stretching in both the Jammu and Kashmir divisions. With the impact of the Pahari reservation on this Lok Sabha seat, the BJP’s plans will be little smooth. If we go by simple math that if south Kashmir doesn’t vote in high numbers again this time and Pir Panjal witnesses Hindu and Muslim Pahari vote consolidation in favor of BJP, then BJP will be in favorable condition in Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat, and it may convert this into its maiden electoral victory in the Kashmir valley. Meanwhile, let us also admit that it is easier said than done because of the opposition parties contesting against the BJP on this seat and the traditional strong political hold of the National Conference, Congress, and PDP in the Pir Panjal region. Considering the newly carved Rajouri-Anantnag Parliamentary constituency and the shifting political dynamics in this constituency vis a vis historical voting trends, every single vote will be crucial in determining the future representation on this seat which may become a turning point in Kashmir's electoral journey.

Temple & Modi : A Dominant Social Force

For BJP supporters there was no parallel to LK Advani’s rath yatra in 1990 which propelled BJP firmly into Indian politics. But after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya which became a socio-religious-political event, the old sentiment of rath yatra is left far behind now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is the protege of LK Advani proved his determination further. BJP supporters are firmly propagating that post-1947 India hasn’t seen this kind of sentiment in the country which united all Hindus. In the Modi era, the Ram moment also became a Modi moment, and we can say that PM Modi has showed his mettle in this event management. The consecration of the Ram Lalla idol will further thrust the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections as this event saw religious fervor, media frenzy, and high emotional sentiment across the country. 

The Lord Ram’s temple & PM Modi have turned into a dominant social force as well. A persona has been continuously built around PM Modi by his supporters after the abrogation of Article 370, the Balakot air strike, and after hosting the G20 summit in India. With all this happening in PM Modi's term, he has secured a place in the history books. In the democratic setup many believe in him as king of Hindu hearts after PM declared that 1000 years from now people will talk of January 22 as a date of Hindu pride and emotion after performing rituals in the Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya. Previously, the coalition politics of NDA forced it to go soft on the Ram temple, but PM Modi blurred the line between State and religion in his era and infused new energy in supporters of Hindutva. The temple construction matched the 2024 election calendar after the favorable decision of the Supreme Court to build a temple in Ayodhya. The carefully chosen month, with Sadhu Samaj in the audience cheering the PM Modi has given a new lease of life to BJP to go ahead in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

With temple inauguration PM Modi has given a call for “Ram Rajya” which reflects that India will ensure equal treatment to all citizens with no fear for other communities, especially minorities. The question is - will this match the minority's mood in the nation? In the last 10 years, we saw many time weaponization of ‘Ram’ and minorities being threatened leading to communal tensions in some cities of India. Also, we have seen many instances where hate speeches were made for a social and economic boycott of minorities. PM must ensure that in his third term (which is likely to happen) the legacy he is trying to build should not become a hollow promise for minorities in India as many BJP workers are openly making calls for Hinduism as the official religion of the Indian republic which creates a toxic social environment. This also gives tools in the hands of fundamentalists who work only to create polarisation in society. Though these things become ‘headline-grabbing’ in politics but whenever the political system stirs social divide it always leads to differences which at times leads to hundreds of deaths in the name of religion. Amidst the whole thrust put by the BJP on PM Modi’s personality to secure hat trick for BJP government, delivering on security for minorities can be the beginning of a new India where an inclusive nature symbolizes the political achievement of any party rather than just a 'soft target' of receiving votes in the election season.  

Four Years With Covid 19

As of 1 March 2024, there were 1001 active Covid 19 infection cases in India according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. For almost four years now, we have been watching the number of newly infected vs. the number of recovered and discharged patients each day in India. It seems Covid 19 statistics have become part of our lives. But have you ever met someone who got Covid 19 infection six times in the last four years? I met one-person last week who recovered from a cold and flu and while telling me this, he laughed that he should be a ‘subject of research’ because in the last 4 years during annual seasonal outbreaks in the winter months, his rapid screening tests always gave him Covid 19 positive reports. Fear was absent in his eyes. This incident took me back four years when fear ruled in the name of Covid 19. Do you remember March of 2020?

I remember that I was involved in a heritage conservation program in the first week of March 2020. Interestingly, after the event a retired IAS officer said that there was a ‘coronavirus’ going around in India so keep a check and plan your next schedule accordingly. And he said it's a pretty ‘serious virus’ at least for ‘retired people’ and everyone laughed together. However, I reassured him that it was nothing to worry about and that we would probably conduct a session in a few weeks with him being the resource person again. Well, I was wrong.  The virus took the shape of a complete global pandemic and on March 24, 2020, we faced lockdown. Soon, ‘coronavirus’ became ‘Covid 19’ that brought the entire planet to a halt. And this halt made a big impact on our lives. There was no contact with anything or anyone. No handholding or patting someone on the back. During that lockdown, we realized how very important is our mental health and how important it is for us to be connected to friends and family or be part of a crowd at a marriage function.

We all are ‘survivors’ of this pandemic where devastation was the only word explainable and attributable to Covid 19. The death from Covid 19 remains an ongoing and serious risk. Many people died during the Omicron wave than in the supposedly deadlier Delta wave. Then came the new Covid 19 variant JN.1 with new increased volume of reinfection and new symptoms and deaths as well that caused the most concern. This has resulted into long covid, with symptoms like fatigue, memory loss, chest pain, diarrhea, and rapid heart rates. Some researchers have suggested that it can lead to a higher risk of lung problems, fatigue, diabetes, and certain other health problems which is result of long covid only. A lot of materialistic things are still not affordable for us, but ‘life’ should be taken as the biggest luxury after seeing all this.  Perhaps we learned to appreciate the many things we took for granted after lockdowns.

No one wants that loneliness to return to our lives. No one wants to stay in that isolation, especially our elders. The pandemic has made us better people, and more willing to lend a helping hand. Covid 19 brought the societies together which were drifting away due to introduction of technology in our life. We learned that humility and kindness should reflect our lives. However, the sad part is how quickly we forget and now no fear or sense of threat prevails in our minds. So, this should not end up with us just being a ‘survivor’. It’s important to remember that we battled loneliness, sick children, parents, in-laws and so much more. Today as we stand, we need to stay hopeful that we continue to thrive and live life full of community and new experiences. For all this, don’t forget to thank your God who helped you through this!