The Case of Gujarat: An extract from Khushwant Singh's "The End of India"

 There are days when speeches made by our netas and so-called sants distress me so much that a voice within me screams, “Let all of them go to jahannum (hell). I’ll get on with my life as best as I can.” When I get over the depression, a wave of anger surges within me and I say to myself: “This is my homeland, I will not let these medieval-minded fanatics get away with wasting precious years squabbling over where exactly a temple should have its foundation-stone laid. I will shout my protest from the roof-tops.”

Then comes the ghastly carnage in Gujarat.

Much has been written and said about the riots of 2002. But not enough. I would like to quote from a document from another time. Summing up his report for the Maharashtra government after the riots in Bhiwandi and Jalgaon in 1970, Judge Madon wrote: It was a lonely, arduous and weary journey through a land of hatred and violence, of prejudice and perjury. The encounters on the way were with men without compassion, lusting for the blood of their fellow men, with politicians who trafficked in communal hatred and religious fanaticism, with local leaders who sought power by sowing disunity and bitterness, with police officers and policemen who were unworthy of their uniform, with investigating officers without honour and without scruples, with men committed to falsehood and wedded to fraud and with dealers in mayhem and murder.

MANISH SWARUP / AP PHOTO

He could have been writing about Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. But at least the Maharashtra government under SB Chavan accepted Judge Madon’s damning report with all its recommendations. Modi’s government dismissed the report of the National Human Rights Commission as incorrect and biased. The Central government’s attitude was no different. Cabinet ministers like Arun Jaitley shamelessly supported Modi’s stand. To them it was mere propaganda by the ‘pseudo-secularists’.

What can one expect from an administration that has openly sided with murderers? It is clear that the attack on the train at Godhra was pre-planned. Far from putting the perpetrators down with an iron hand, the government colluded with the mischief-makers as its police and its chief minister were imbued with the spirit of badla—revenge. It is also clear that the revenge was so vicious and effective because it was also pre-planned. There have been credible reports that within hours of the Godhra massacre, armed mobs were out in different parts of Gujarat with detailed lists of Muslim homes and establishments. Several hundred Muslims were hacked to death or burnt alive, women raped, homes and shops looted and burnt down.

I have seen it before with my own eyes in 1947 and 1984. The police stood by like tamashbeens (spectators) watching the carnage. They had been tipped off not to interfere but let looters and killers teach hapless men, women and children a lesson they would never forget.

In Gujarat they went several steps further. Not only did the police remain inert, when the army arrived on the scene, it was not deployed. Flag marches are spectacles which don’t frighten evil-doers. What does frighten them are orders to shoot at sight which were issued too late, only after many lives had been lost. Officers who tried to do their duty and foil the plans of the mobs were transferred out. Even in the camps set up for the riot victims there was harassment.

There can be no doubt there was serious dereliction of duty on the part of the chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and the IG of police. Even a year after the rioting, many Muslim victims remain homeless. Those who have returned to their homes have been forced to withdraw all complaints filed with the police. They are at the mercy of their Hindu neighbours who have warned them never to forget their subordinate status. I won’t be surprised if Muslims in Gujarat one day have to start paying religious taxes like the jazia which medieval Islamic rulers imposed on their non-Muslim subjects.

***

It is ironic that the highest incidence of violence against Muslims and Christians has taken place in Gujarat, the home state of Bapu Gandhi. It has been going on for years. Before the 2002 riots, Christian missionaries were being attacked in the tribal districts of the state. There were reports of violence and intimidation coming in almost every day. We will see more of that.

Since the late 1990s, newspaper reports have put the blame for this communalization squarely on neo-fascist members of the Sangh Parivar: the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, with the collusion of the BJP government. Reports of the Minorities Commission substantiate what has appeared in the national press. For those interested, photographic evidence of destroyed churches, dargahs, Muslim homes and shops is available. 

Among the most ludicrous is the state-sponsored attempt to wipe out remnants of Muslim presence. I first saw this in 1998. Gujarat’s capital, Ahmedabad, was built by a Muslim ruler in the middle ages. I noticed that milestones on the main highway leading to the city had dropped Ahmed from its name and made it into Amdavad.

How did Gujarat become the laboratory of Hindutva? It did not happen overnight. The Sangh and its sympathizers began poisoning Gujarat not long after Independence. Even the Congress took advantage of the slowly vitiating atmosphere to divide Gujarati society for electoral gains, unwittingly helping the RSS. The 1969 Ahmedabad riots were the first triumph of the RSS in Gujarat. Its fortunes began rising after that. I went to Ahmedabad in 1970, five months after the riots. I quote from the article I wrote after my return:

I had constituted myself into a one- man commission of enquiry to find out all I could in three days and pass on my verdict to my readers. My object was not to discover what had happened . . . but why it happened. And, even more, what the people of Ahmedabad thought about it today and what they would do tomorrow if some incident again strained relations between the city’s 90% Hindus and 10% Muslims.

I start my investigation by visiting the temple of Jagannath . . . I detect no signs of damage. To make sure I ask (a) priest. He tells me to look outside. I go outside and look. Above the entrance gate is a glass pane to cover an effigy of a mahant. The pane is splintered in three places. I approach a band of ash-smeared sadhus lolling under the shade of a banyan tree and ask them if anything else had been damaged . . . They express themselves in unholy language.

I walk around the bazaar and come to the dargah where it is said to have begun—with the herd of temple cows stampeding into pilgrims going to some Urs. The dargah gate is barred. A posse of constabulary guard the entrance. I ask the caretaker seated outside if this is the right place. He looks at me suspiciously. For an answer he spits a blob of phlegm on the pavement. The sub-inspector of police gives me a dirty look. I do not like policemen. I move on.

I go to the Sindhi Bazaar. It is a cluster of cubicles made of plywood and corrugated tin. Row upon row of mini-shops cluttered with bales of cloth and hung with multicoloured saris. The place looks as inflammable as an Indian Oil petrol carrier. I was told that the bazaar had gone up in smoke. I can well believe it. But I see no sign of damage. Sindhis are an enterprising race; they must have re-built it and resumed business. I accept one of the many invitations hurled at me to buy something . . . I pay for a dhoti to buy information. I get an earful of hate.

I hire a scooter. From the Arabic numerals 786 painted on the metre I know the faith of the driver. A scooter is not the best mode of transport for a friendly dialogue. I yell my comment on the ‘bad days’. The driver turns back, “You take me for a sucker? I know on which side you are!” He doesn’t say so with his tongue but with his doleful eyes.

I try paanwalas, chanawalas, fruit vendors. The result is the same. If they talk, they are Hindus. If they do not, they are Muslims. Both speech and silence are pregnant with hate...

I remind myself of my mission. It is not to probe into the dead past but to gauge the prevailing mood and so forecast the future. But the yesterdays of September are always with me. I drive out of Ahmedabad along the Sabarmati. I pass a mound of debris. A half-broken minaret reveals its identity. I pass graves with their gravestones smashed. And my temper mounts and tears come to my eyes.

What species of monstrous swine were those who spared neither places of worship nor the peace of the dead?

At the end of my visit I told the then Mayor of Ahmedabad about what I had seen and heard. “It is all over,” he assured me. “It will not happen again.” I hoped he was right. But I was not so sure.

Of course it did happen again, more than once, and most tragically in February 2002. Those deep divisions I saw over thirty years ago were not allowed to heal. The Sanghwalas were never interested in bringing communities together. In Gujarat, a border state, they have terrorized and alienated the state’s 10% Muslim population. History will judge them for the damage they have caused, but that will happen in the future. Meanwhile, with a triumphant Modi as their mentor, they will repeat the Gujarat experiment all over India, unless we stop them.

An extract from The End of India by Khushwant Singh (Pengiun, 2003). 163 pages, Rs 200. Reproduced with the permission of Penguin Books.

(Source: The Caravan Magazine)

Lost and found: The story of a plant and how a village is trying to protect it

 In a village called Lathedi in Kutch, amid the semi-arid landscape, a small patch of land has been fenced with thorny branches by the local community. The aim, they said, was to guard a precious species of plant that has been re-discovered in Gujarat after a gap of 104 years. Olax nana—the plant species—was last reported from the Saurashtra region in Gujarat in the early 1900s and has since not been found during various surveys.

“Re-discovering this vanaspati (plant) in our Lathedi is a matter of pride for us,” said Jitubhai Jadeja, a local community member, “This is why we are extremely cautious to save this plant and hopefully see it propagate to a bigger area.”

The Olax nana plant that has been re-discovered in Gujarat after 104 years. Photo by Pankaj Joshi.

Finding the lost plant

Olax nana is a low undershrub, up to 60 cm tall, and is listed as a threatened species in the Gujarat Biodiversity Act. It was last reported from the state’s Porbandar district in 1910 and had since not been seen in subsequent surveys, including by the Botanical Survey of India.

“I was personally working in this area (in the Saurashtra region) between 1996 and 2003, but did not see this plant species,” said P.S. Nagar an assistant professor at the botany department in The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda said. The exact reason behind the disappearance of the plant species in the region is not yet ascertained.

In 2015, however, during an “extensive study on endangered and threatened species of plants in Gujarat”, said Nagar, Olax nana was re-discovered near Lathedi in Kutch. There were 43 plant specimens in a 100 square metre area.

Pankaj Joshi of the NGO Sahjeevan, which was part of the team that found the plant species in Lathedi, said that due credit must be given to the village BMC—Biodiversity Management Committee—whose members, along with others from the NGO, brought him the first sample to be identified.

“I first saw the sample at night—it was a dry piece and I was almost sure that it was Olax nana,” Nagar told Mongabay-India, “The next day, we went to the place.  And there, in a patch of grassland, it was re-confirmed that Olax nana has been found again.”

New, but old

The news spread fast, but the local community could not really relate to the excitement and jubilation. “We had no idea what this plant was, or what was its name in our local language,” Jadeja said, “Not even the elders of the village have any idea about this plant. But how could we? The plant was missing for more than a hundred years!” Slowly, with awareness activities organised by Sahjeevan and the village BMC, men, women, and children understood the significance of finding this missing plant near their village. It instilled a sense of pride.

But there was a basic question: what was its name in the local language?

“It took us nearly a year to figure out the plant’s local name,” Jadeja said, “We asked the elders, others in the locality; finally, with the help of local Ayurveda practitioners, we found out its name: Sudiyo.”

The work of the BMC

Once the name was found, the BMC members put up a signboard near the plant patch, elaborating the significance of its rediscovery after more than a century and the importance of its conservation. BMC is an initiative of the National Biodiversity Authority, which is the nodal agency to implement the provisions under the Biological Diversity Act 2002.

The idea behind forming BMCs at the local level is to involve the local community in promoting conservation and sustainable documentation of biological diversity. Preparing and updating the People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR), which details biological resources and traditional knowledge, is also a function of the BMCs.

The Lathedi BMC was therefore formed following the same agenda under the Gujarat State Biodiversity Board. The state board had, in 2011-12, identified different technical groups like Sahjeevan to identify, to help train and involve the local community members in the formation of BMCs.

Local community leader Jitubhai Jadeja with Olax nana. Photo by Jitubhai Jadeja.

In Lathedi, the BMC also visits the local primary school in the village and talks to the children about the importance of conservation—not just of Olax nana, but of all flora and fauna. Giving an example, Joshi said that once a group of students from MS University had come for a field visit to see the Olax nana plant, soon after its rediscovery.

“We were supposed to accompany them to the field from Bhuj (the nearest city, 90 km away) but got stuck with some other work. So I asked them to go to the village and ask anyone about the plant,” he said, “They were sceptical, but on reaching and then enquiring, a group of children took them to the area and told them about the plant. That is the level of awareness among the children.”

Conservation: different methods, one aim

Although it was lost—and found—in Gujarat, Olax nana, however, has continued to be reported in other parts of India—Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, and Punjab. “It is not an abundantly found species but what makes this plant biogeographically interesting is its presence in a diverse landscape,” Nagar said.  “Unfortunately, not enough efforts are put in search and conservation of rare plants. They definitely need more boost.”

The local community in Lathedi has taken the conservation work of the ‘re-discovered’ Olax nana upon themselves. Photo by Pankaj Joshi.

Exploring different means of conservation, Joshi said that they are in talks with MS University about tissue culture of this plant in order to help its propagation in a wider area. “It (the talks) is an ongoing process. In the meanwhile, we have also started approaching private labs for tissue culture,” he said.

Nagar, however, opined that in-situ conservation—conservation of an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat—is the ideal route. Ex-situ conservation means relocating an endangered plant or animal species from their natural habitat to protected areas equipped for their protection and preservation.

The local community of Lathedi, however, is doing what it can to protect and preserve the plant species from possible harm.

“Most of us here and in Kutch are pastoralists; I have a dairy business and have 10 cows,” Jadeja said, “This means is that we have a lot of grazing animals around and the Olax nana plants are threatened by goats and other animals. So we have put a fence around the patch with babool tree (Gum arabic) branches that are very thorny.”

It is not a permanent structure and overtime—in monsoons particularly—the fence gives away. But the locals keep an eye out and put the branches back. They have also requested Sahjeevan to help put up a wired fence. “The number of plants has not increased. We found around 43 and they are still around the same number,” Jadeja said. “It’s not possible for us to do seed propagation in new areas. That is for the experts to do. But we are happy that Olax nana is flourishing here. A lot of students from far off places come to see these plants; Lathedi has become famous.”

(Source: Mongabay)

In India, a gay prince’s coming out earns accolades, and enemies

Prince Manvendra’s journey from an excruciatingly lonely child to a global L.G.B.T.Q. advocate included death threats and disinheritance.

Born into a royal family that once ruled the kingdom of Rajpipla in India, he was raised in the family’s palaces and mansions and was being groomed to take over a dynasty that goes back 600 years.

But then he gave an interview that prompted his mother to disown him and set off protests in his hometown, where he was burned in effigy.

Since coming out as gay in that 2006 interview, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil has faced a torrent of bullying and threats, and was disinherited by his family for a period.

But he has also earned global accolades for his L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy, becoming one of the few gay-rights activists in the world with such royal ties.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil outside his home in Gujarat, India, this month. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times

As part of his efforts, Prince Manvendra, 55, has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” three times, swapped life stories with Kris Jenner on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and is working to establish a shelter for L.G.B.T.Q. people on his property in the Indian state of Gujarat. He is also working with several aid agencies to prevent the spread of H.I.V. among gay men.

Prince Manvendra and his husband, deAndre Richardson, have spent the last few months in lockdown getting the shelter ready. They envision a safe space where those who have been disowned by their families can get back on their feet and learn job skills.

Prince Manvendra at the Amsterdam Gay Pride festival in 2018. Credit... Shutterstock

“I know how important it is to have a safe space after coming out,” the prince said.

Although India abolished the princely order in 1971, the honorary titles are still commonly used for royal descendants, and traditional responsibilities are still carried out.

When the prince shared that he was gay in that front-page newspaper interview 14 years ago, it created a storm of mostly negative publicity. It was shocking for a member of an Indian royal family, especially one from the rigidly conservative Rajput warrior clan that once ruled over large parts of northern and central India, to come out so publicly. Being gay was a criminal offense in India under the archaic British law in effect at the time. The law was struck down in 2018.

Prince Manvendra playing the harmonium for his husband, deAndre Richardson. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times

The fallout from his announcement was brutal, beginning with protests in his hometown, Rajpipla, where he was burned in effigy. His mother took out a newspaper advertisement to announce she was disowning him.

The government offered him security after he received several death threats, but he turned down the offer and refused to back down. “I decided that I would continue fighting because I have truth on my side,” he said.

The prince at 2. He said his only friends as a young child were the birds and other animals he rescued.

Prince Manvendra was born in 1965 to Raghubir Singh Gohil, the current honorary maharajah of Rajpipla, and Rukmani Devi Gohil, the daughter of the former maharajah of Jaisalmer.

By that time, the era of fabulously rich Indian maharajahs had already waned. His great-grandfather’s ostentatious display of wealth, with stables of racehorses and garages filled with Rolls-Royces (nearly a dozen), was no longer welcome in a newly independent India where socialism, austerity and self-sufficiency were the new mantras.

Although Prince Manvendra’s family no longer ruled a kingdom, the old ways still largely prevailed. He spent most of his childhood in his family’s seven-bedroom mansion in Mumbai, staffed by servants who had worked for the family for generations. He barely saw his parents and was raised primarily by the same nanny who had raised his mother.

“Until I was 9 or 10, I thought my nanny was my mother,” he said. “I didn’t realize that the glamorous woman who appeared once in a while was actually my mother.”

The young prince with his parents, Raghubir Singh Gohil and Rukmani Devi Gohil, and his sister Minaxi in Rajpipla, India, in 1976.

The lack of parental love still wounds him. “Why do parents give birth to children if they don’t want to take care of them?” he said.

His childhood was excruciatingly lonely. His only friends were the birds and other animals he rescued as a young child. “I grew up with literally no friends, because I knew I couldn’t invite anyone home,” he said, because he was allowed to socialize only with children from a similar background.

He earned a college degree in commerce and accounting and went on to complete law school, although he has never practiced law.

In 1991, he married Chandrika Kumari, a princess from the royal family of Jhabua, a match entered into voluntarily, he emphasized.

“I was attracted to men but I thought it was just a passing phase,” he said. “I had never been allowed to spend time alone with a girl, and sex before marriage was out of the question.”

Being gay was not a possibility that ever crossed his mind, he said, because he knew nothing about it.

The couple at home. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times

“Once we got married, it became clear to me that I wasn’t interested in women sexually,” he said. “We were very good friends, we got along very well, but there was no sexual attraction.”

The couple called it quits 15 months later, a split that caused an uproar in royal circles. After the divorce, he said, he was wracked with guilt and confused about his sexuality. He moved back to Mumbai, a 26-year-old divorced virgin, and started exploring his sexuality for the first time.

“I started reading books and magazines. I saw an article about Ashok Row Kavi and his gay magazine Bombay Dost. I decided to get in touch with him and ask him if I could possibly be gay,” he recalled.

Mr. Kavi is a father of India’s gay-rights movement. In 1977, he came out publicly and went on to found Bombay Dost, India’s first gay magazine, in 1990. He founded the Humsafar Trust, the first group to provide health services and advocacy for gay men, in 1994.

Mr. Kavi introduced Prince Manvendra to other people in the community and trained him as a counselor. He remembers the young prince as a painfully shy introvert, who was slowly starting to become comfortable with his identity. He said the prince quietly funded the first telephone help line for gay people in India.

In 2000, with Mr. Kavi’s encouragement, the prince started the Lakshya Trust in Gujarat to help the gay community there.

The work was fulfilling, but as a closeted gay man, the prince said, it became increasingly difficult to do the advocacy work needed for Lakshya. And there was growing pressure to remarry.

After he suffered a nervous breakdown in 2002, his psychiatrist convinced him the first step in his recovery was to come out to his parents.

It was the beginning of a long and bitter ordeal. “My parents were in an absolute state of denial,” Prince Manvendra said. “They declared that science must have a cure for my condition, a surgery perhaps or shock therapy to cure my ‘disease.’”

But every doctor his parents consulted told them the same thing — homosexuality was not a disease or a mental disorder. His parents finally gave up on medical science and decided to try religion instead. For three years, they took him to dozens of religious leaders around the country.

“Ashok told me to cooperate with them completely,” the prince said. “To let them be satisfied that they’d tried their best.”

There were financial consequences to his coming out. He says that he was removed from several family businesses and that his mother threatened to persuade the government to cancel funding for the Lakshya Trust.

“I finally reached a point in my life where I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “I decided to tell the whole world.”

Prince Manvendra in front of the remains of his royal palace on the banks of Narmada in Gujarat. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times

Over the past 14 years, the once-shy royal has grown accustomed to the spotlight and become a vocal activist for the gay rights movement. Apart from his work with the Lakshya Trust, he is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health and is an ambassador consultant of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

“He was living a very troubled life, under a lot of pressure,” said Chirantana Bhatt, a close friend. “But now it’s a life of pride, in the true sense.”

He has also found love. In 2013, he married Mr. Richardson, an American he met online in 2009, in the United States. The couple live on an estate in Gujarat given to the prince by his father. His modest brick house there is a far cry from the opulent palace of his ancestors, but he says he could not be happier.

His father, the maharajah, acknowledged in an interview that it was difficult for the family to come to terms with his son’s sexuality and the constant media attention on the family.

“But it’s his decision,” the maharajah said.

His relationship with his mother remains frosty, but other members of the family have been supportive, he says. His grandmother, on her deathbed, expressed her happiness that he had found a partner to share his life with.

Prince Manvendra is cautiously optimistic about the future. He is not sure if he will become the next honorary maharajah of Rajpipla. “I have left it to my family members,” he said. “I would prefer to keep working for my cause because the role of maharajah comes with a lot of responsibilities and duties that would divert me from my activism.”

(Source: NYT)

Big fat Indian weddings like Ambanis’ don’t waste money. They create jobs

A fancy Indian wedding can cost anywhere from Rs 5 lakh to over Rs 5 crore, and spell a windfall for hundreds.

You might have a difficult time finding a luxury car for hire in Delhi at the moment, because, as wedding consultant Chetan Vohra of Delhi-based Wedding Line tells ThePrint, “nearly all of them have gone to Udaipur for the Ambani wedding”.

No less than a festival in terms of scale, the Ambani marriage, hot on the heels of the Deepveer and Nickyanka nuptial galas, has put the big fat Indian wedding back in the domain of scrutiny and debate.

With American pop icon Beyonce flown in for a private performance and wedding cards estimated to be worth lakhs, the Isha Ambani wedding has been making headlines for its Rs 700 crore price tag, which reportedly also included three meals a day for 5,100 Udaipur locals during the three-day pre-wedding celebrations.

That Indians love splurging on weddings is well-known, with middle and lower-class parents often saving money for years to throw that one big party for their children.

The typical Indian wedding involves the purchase of expensive gold jewellery and fancy clothes for multiple events like mehendi, sangeet and haldi, with the venues booked putting on offer a range of food items for guests that often number in the hundreds.

The Ambanis and Piramals pose for a photo ahead of the wedding | PTI

Modern accompaniments include pre-wedding shoots or choreographed photographs of the couple, as well as quaint destinations that proponents believe give weddings an additional appeal.

The rich, predictably, take this national obsession up a notch [or two].

Behind the scenes
While many scoff at the brazen displays of wealth at big-ticket weddings, behind the veneer of luxury lies a self-sustaining micro-economy that heralds a windfall for dozens, often hundreds, of people.

According to Vohra, around 250-300 BMWs and Mercedeses, among others, were transported to Udaipur for the pre-wedding celebrations of Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha, who is set to marry Piramal scion Anand Piramal in Mumbai Wednesday.

“You have to remember that, with these luxury cars, there are also the drivers, maintenance people, logistics coordinators,” he added.

“Even the person who comes to greet you at the airport may be earning only Rs 500 a day, but if he’s a student working part time, for him that means an extra Rs 1,500 in his pocket [for a three-day affair],” Vohra said.

Destination hunts
Actor Priyanka Chopra and popstar Nick Jonas’ wedding in Jodhpur, followed closely by the Ambani pre-wedding celebration in Udaipur, have proved diamonds of opportunity for Rajasthan.

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas | Instagram/@priyankachopra

A traditional tourist favourite, the state has emerged as a popular site for destination weddings with its regal forts and distinctive culture.

From florists, tent operators, beauticians, tailors, painters and sound technicians to tea vendors, luxury weddings that go on for days significantly boost the economy of places where they are held, by tapping not just cottage industry but also formal enterprises such as hotels, consumer durables and airlines.

Talking to ThePrint, Vohra recalled a sunset dinner his company organised for a couple on the dunes of Jaisalmer a few months ago. The set-up included banjara and folk musicians.

“In destination weddings, everybody wants a flavour of something,” he said.

Making hay
For Rajasthan’s local artists, luxury weddings mean higher earnings than their regular wages.

Over the last week, Javed Khan’s ‘Shahi Darbar Band’ in Udaipur has been playing at least three baraats daily. The band charges anywhere between Rs 30,000 (for the wedding alone) and Rs 2 lakh (for playing at related functions), and eagerly awaits the peak wedding season from November to July each year.

“Sometimes, they [the families] have multiple functions in a day, and even the guests pay generously,” he told ThePrint. “This is the time we make the most money.”

For Lisa Alam Shah, executive director of travel firm Micato India, the rise of Rajasthan as a high-profile wedding destination “possibly started with the wedding depicted in the movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, which provided screen time to The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur”.

While Rajasthan’s hotels have never suffered per se, Shah agrees that “they have definitely been doing much better” of late.

“Weddings are a very big business for the hotels,” she added. “And with the rise of destination weddings as a concept in India, they’re making a lot more money.”

Where a local wedding may not require the arrangement of accommodation for guests, destination celebrations call for massive hotel bookings as both the bride and groom’s relatives and friends converge on the chosen place.

A traditional Indian wedding would mean the booking of hotel rooms for three to four days, and then there is the food and beverage requirement for guests as well the possible use of the in-house salon.

According to hotel executives, as much as 30-40 per cent of the revenue comes from events and functions.

“A huge part of any hotel revenue comes from events and sale of rooms and banquets besides the food and beverage segment,” a senior executive at Taj Hotels told ThePrint.

“This naturally takes care of the entire sales window,” he said, adding that these weddings also help promote their properties.

For the hospitality industry, sources said, weddings and related social events have become a focus area.

Rahul Pandit, a hotel industry veteran and member of CII’s National Tourism Committee, said weddings “are gradually becoming the central point for more and more Indians”.

“This part of business, related to weddings, for hotels is growing,” he added.

‘Recession-proof industry’
According to website IndianRetailer.com, around one crore weddings take place in India annually.

It says the Indian wedding industry is currently valued at an estimated Rs 1 lakh crore, with an annual growth of 25 to 30 per cent.

“The estimated cost of a wedding with no expenses spared could be from Rs 5 lakh to over Rs 5 crore in India,” a report on the website says.

A big-ticket wedding employs an estimate of 500-700 people as labour, sometimes requiring over 10 carpenters, a fleet of over 100 cars, and “50 people just for decor and flowers”, said Rajiv Chhajer of R.C. Events.

And the best part is that these weddings are “recession-proof and weather-resistant”, said Leher Kala, whose company Hutkay Films makes high-definition “celebration movies” of events.

Kala recalled a wedding she shot — “where colour-coordinated orchids were flown in from Singapore and the five-member florist team was from Hong Kong” — to stress the need for India to strengthen its focus on weddings as an industry.

“All of this creates more employment and more people benefit,” she told ThePrint over email. “The government should be very worried about why so many wealthy families are choosing destinations like Thailand and Italy for weddings, when it could so easily be done here (to the benefit of so many Indians).

“The [destination] weddings showcase the Indian culture and give a big boost to overall tourism within and outside the country, besides, of course, pitching India as a wedding destination,” said Subhash Goyal, founder chairman of the STIC Travel Group of Companies.

“Typically the guests — numbers are huge — mandatorily visit the local artisans and shopping forms a part of these ceremonies,” he added.

“Big-ticket weddings are crucial for small tourist destinations in India,” said Kala. “Everyone, from cab drivers, to hotels, to shawl and jewellery sellers benefit. Thanks to social media, images of the destination get splashed on Instagram and Facebook. It’s great publicity, for free.”

Jai Raj Gupta, founder of Shaadin Vogue, the event management company that organised actor Sonam Kapoor and businessman Anand Ahuja’s wedding in May this year, also made a case for grand weddings, as the “money spent essentially percolates down to the poorer sections of society, because otherwise it would have been locked up in banks”.

“If you look at wedding destinations, for example, they have built up complete ecosystems to take care of the emerging market,” he said.

(Source: The Print)

Isha Ambani wore her mom Nita's 35-year-old saree on her wedding day

Isha Ambani added an element of her mother Nita Ambani's 35-year-old wedding sari in her wedding lehenga, making her outfit even more noteworthy.

Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal tied the knot in a lavish ceremony yesterday at Antilia in Mumbai.

Isha and Anand both donned colour-coordinated ensembles for their wedding, giving us the perfect couple goals. Isha's outfit for her big day was just beyond beautiful and it had an element from her mother's wedding day.

Of all the ensembles a bride can wear, Isha chose to wear something from her mother, Nita Ambani's wedding, making her outfit even more noteworthy.

Isha Ambani on her wedding day

She draped on her shoulder her mother’s 35-year-old wedding sari, making her outfit even more meaningful.

The beautiful bride wore a 16-panelled ghagra made with two shades of off-white and also featured an intricate trail. Each panel was hand-embroidered with Mughal jaalis and floral panels alternated with the finest zardozi, vasli, mukaish and nakshi work.

Isha Ambani with mom Nita Ambani on her wedding day

Every flower jaali was highlighted with crystals and sequins. The zardozi borders also included red hues, the iconic bridal colour, lending an auspiciousness to the ensemble.

The wedding dress was conceptualised by the famous designer-duo Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla.

Isha and Anand will now move into a Rs 450-crore recently-renovated bungalow in Worli, Mumbai.

(Source: India Today)

Indian farmers fume at $430m cost of Gujarat statue

On 31 October India will unveil the world's tallest statue, which has cost hundreds of millions of dollars. BBC Gujarati's Roxy Gagdekar spoke to local farmers who say they are aghast that the government has spent so much money on it while they struggle to make ends meet.

For years Vijendra Tadvi, a 39-year-old farmer in the western state of Gujarat, has been struggling to find water to irrigate his three acres (1.2 hectares) of farmland.

He grows chilli, corn and groundnuts. Like millions of farmers across India, he relies on monsoon rains to water his crops. or he pumps out groundwater, which supports 80% of the rural water supply and farm irrigation. But long dry summers followed by erratic rains have led to frequent drought and shrunk the incomes of farmers like Mr Tadvi.

So in 2015, Mr Tadvi found a job as a driver on a construction site to supplement his income. The Gujarat state government was building a 182m (600ft) high statue, billed as the tallest in the world.

The bronze-clad tribute to Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel cost 29.9bn rupees (£330m; $430m). And Gujarat's government is reported to have paid more than half of that amount. The remainder came from the federal government or public donations.

"Instead of spending money on a giant statue, the government should have used it for farmers in the district," Mr Tadvi said, adding that farmers in the area still lack basic irrigation facilities.

The statue is complete and Mr Tadvi has found more work as a driver on construction sites. But he is still unimpressed by the government's largesse.

Vijendra Tadvi says the government should spend money on farmers, not statues

The "statue of unity", as it is known, is the centrepiece of a sprawling memorial to Patel. A formidable nationalist leader, he was born in Gujarat and went on to become independent India's first interior minister and deputy prime minister under Jawaharlal Nehru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also from Gujarat, commissioned the statue when he was the state's chief minister in 2010. In recent years, Mr Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has embraced Patel in an attempt to claim his legacy - and they have accused the opposition Congress party of sidelining him to benefit Nehru's descendants, three of whom have served as prime ministers.

Congress ruled India for 49 of its 71 years as an independent nation.

The plan for Patel's memorial includes a three-star hotel, a museum and a research centre that will focus on subjects "close to his heart" - such as "good governance" and "agriculture development".

All of this is about 10km (6.2 miles) from Mr Tadvi's village, Nana Pipaliya, in the largely poor, rural and tribal Narmada district. Many of its households continue to live in hunger, primary school enrolment has been falling and malnourishment persists, according to a report published in 2016 by the state government.

The statue of Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is 182m high

But the government believes the memorial will boost the district's economy, as they expect about 2.5 million annual visitors. "It will lead to employment opportunities for locals and will also increase tourism in the area," said Sandeep Kumar, a senior official involved with the project.

Locals are sceptical. "We want to ask the government: why can't they fund a project to support farmers and improve their standard of life?" said Lakhan, a tribal activist who only goes by his first name. "We were promised water for irrigation but the situation remains the same."

Nana Pipaliya is in what is known as a "command area" of a nearby dam - lands that are supposed to receive water from a designated irrigation project. But, Mr Tadvi said, he and other farmers were still deprived of water.

"I grow only one crop per year, while people with irrigation facilities grow up to three crops annually," said Bhola Tadvi, a farmer who relies solely on rainwater for irrigation.

According to the 2011 census, some 85% of the district's working population is engaged in agriculture, a sector which is dominated by small farmers who own two to four acres of land.

District officials told BBC Gujarati that the government was committed to ensuring that water was made available to them. Lakhan said thousands of farmers were struggling to access water for irrigation.

Farmers regularly suffer heavy losses caused by drought

Half of India's population works on farms, but farming contributes only 15% to the country's GDP.

In fact, agriculture growth in India has dwindled to 1.2%. Farms employ a lot of people but produce too little, and tens of thousands of farmers struggle to repay crop loans taken from banks and money lenders.

Earlier this year, farmers in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra staged a massive protest demanding a waiver on the repayment of loans and better prices for their crops.

In 2017, farmers from drought-affected districts in the southern state of Tamil Nadu brandished human skulls and a held live mice between their teeth to draw attention to their plight.

Here in the shadow of Patel's statue, farmers have resorted to stealing water. They say they can see the water passing by their farms through a canal that transports it from the dam, but it's illegal to divert the water so they are forced to steal it.

One of the farmers said he had laid a pipe underground from the canal to his farm, adding that nearly all farmers in the area did this to survive.

"We don't have any option but to take the water illegally as there are no sources of water left for us."

(Source: BBC)

World's tallest statue, twice the size of Statue of Liberty, to be unveiled in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the world's tallest statue -- that of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel -- on October 31, 2018, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced on September 9, 2018.

The statue will be called as 'Statue of Unity,' and will be a symbol of the country's unity and integrity. (Image: Twitter/souindia)

October 31 also marks the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Ironman of India.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD'S TALLEST STATUE
1. The statue will be called the 'Statue of Unity', and will be a symbol of the country's unity and integrity.

2. The 182-metre-high (600 ft) Statue of Unity will be twice the size of New York's Statue of Liberty.

The 182-metre-high (600 ft) Statue of Unity will be twice the size of New York's Statue of Liberty.
(Image: statueofunity.in)

3. The statue is located some 200 km (125 miles) from the state's main city, Ahmedabad.

4. An army of 2,500 workers, including several hundred Chinese labourers, are tirelessly working round the clock to put 5,000 squares of bronze on the figure of Patel so it can be ready for inauguration on October 31 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Base of the Statue of Unity.(Image: statueofunity.in)

5. A 3.5 km highway will be built to connect the Statue of Unity in Sadhu Island to Kevadia town in Gujarat.

6. The Statue of Unity will have a viewing gallery at a height of 153 m, which can accommodate up to 200 visitors at a go, and will offer an expansive view of the dam and its environs.

7. It will be able to withstand wind velocity up to 60m/sec, vibration and earthquakes.

8. 22500 m ton (22500000 kg) of cement has been used to build the Statue of Unity.

22500 mton (22500000 kg) of cement has been used to build the Statue of Unity.
(Image: statueofunity.in)

9. The 29.9-billion-rupee (430 million USD) 'Statue of Unity' overlooking the isolated Sardar Sarovar Dam is a pet project of Modi. He has predicted it will attract "hordes" of tourists, as the Statue of Liberty does in New York.

10. The project to commemorate Sardar Patel was announced by Modi in 2013 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The BJP had collected iron, soil and water from across the country to build the statue.

11. The construction of the statue is fixed at 42 months. No escalation of labour, fuel, and the material is allowed.

12. The iron which was collected from the 'Loha' campaign was used in the foundation of the Statue.

The Loha Campaign was a unique initiative at the rural level, in which various social engagement organizations and volunteers worked to collect used iron farming implements from the villages of the country for use in the construction of the Statue of Unity.(Image: statueofunity.in)

13. After completion, the statue will generate approximately 15,000 direct jobs for tribal people every year.

14. The Statue of Unity Project will also include a unique museum and audio-visual department depicting the life and times of Sardar Vallabhbai Patel

15. The statue and surrounding area will be accessed by special boats to avoid vehicular traffic and pollution

Currently, the World's tallest statue is the Spring Temple Buddha in China at 128 m (420 feet) high.

Spring temple Buddha, China.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Ironman of India.(Image: statueofunity.in)

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first deputy Prime Minister of India post Independence. The nationalist is also known as the 'Iron Man of India' after he persuaded feuding states to unite and become part of the Indian state after independence.

(Source: India Today)

Where did the Congress go wrong in Surat?

Surat confused everybody. It was even the venue of Hardik Patel's biggest rally in this entire election season, writes Meghnad Bose in the Quint. Read on: 

If there is one district that determined the fate of the Gujarat election and the battle of prestige on Narendra Modi’s home turf, it has to be the trader-dominated district of Surat. Modi swept Surat in the 2012 Assembly polls, and Modi swept Surat today. In fact, he went home with 14 of Surat’s 16 seats. But the Congress’ opportunity cost, and arguably their biggest blunder this election, lies between the lines right here.

In July this year, lakhs of traders, primarily from the textile industry, hit the streets to protest against the hasty imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Significantly enough, the protests were being led by members of the BJP.

The government did not take kindly to the protests. The traders were lathicharged. The anger only mounted.

But at a time when the relationship between the traders of Surat and their party of choice was at its weakest, the Congress was nowhere to be seen. The elections were still five months away, after all. It wasn’t yet time to hit the ground and start the fight. Or so thought the Congress. And boy, were they wrong!

If the Congress had even split honours with the BJP in Surat at eight seats apiece, the BJP tally would have been down to 93. That’s just one more than the magic figure in the 182-seat Assembly.

Congress: MIA When It Mattered

My Congress brothers and sisters, you have made me very proud. You are different than those you fought because you fought anger with dignity. You have demonstrated to everyone that the Congress’s greatest strength is its decency and courage.

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 18, 2017

When the Congress is done celebrating how close the contest in Gujarat was, and the party’s top rung sits down to introspect on these elections, they would do well to wonder whether the bout began a bit too late. The first blow could have been theirs, and it would have hit home strongest in July.

When evocative visuals of textile traders being lathicharged flooded social media at the time, the grand old party was still asleep. It would not be till a few months later that Rahul Gandhi’s first Navsarjan Yatra began their election campaign.

The mainstream media, especially the TV channels, did not make much noise about the massive Surat protests. But does that even surprise you anymore?

The real question thats begs asking is this – when the voter sentiment was swinging hardest against the BJP, and Modinomics was tugging at the aam Gujarati’s purse, could the Congress not have mobilised itself to capitalise on the circumstances? Need they have waited those extra few months to rail against what Rahul eventually called the “Gabbar Singh Tax”?

The Grand Deception of Surat?

Surat confused everybody. It was the venue of Hardik Patel’s biggest rally in this entire election season. Take a look at the crowds that had gathered to cheer on the Patidar agitator.


When Hardik vowed to vote against the BJP, the crowd joined in. But the vows were clearly not kept when polling day came around. And no matter how much Hardik cribs today about “a massive EVM fraud”, the numbers will not change.

The masses gathered, they heard, they cheered and then they voted against the Congress.

Today, as the Congress falls short of the magic figure of 92 by merely 12 seats, they must surely be rueing Surat’s grand deception. Will the party realise, though, that it’s not enough to fight an election when it comes knocking on the door, but to prepare for it for months and maybe even years in advance?

They need look no further than the BJP’s concerted, consistent efforts in states like Kerala and West Bengal. In regions where the BJP is little more than a mere footprint, repeated rallies by the party’s top brass shows a commitment that the Congress has lacked so far.

Whether you call it the BJP’s killer instinct, or its tenacity to fight tooth and nail, it’s a skill the Congress must acquire quickly. 2019 is not too far away. And even before the final, many an important election awaits next year. From Karnataka (due for polls in early 2018) to Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan later in the year, the fight must begin soon. And the preparation must begin now.

Any other way, and the Congress could be left biting the dust yet again.