India Today [December 03, 2018] |India’s Best States

98 Pages·2018·11.537 MB·English

by  India Today

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In sharp contrast, two large states in the
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT: Harish Agarwal (Chief of Production), State of the States survey, assessing which
Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator), east—Odisha and West Bengal—do not
Indian state had made the most of the op-
Vijay Kumar Sharma (Senior Coordinator)
top any of the 12 categories we have iden-
portunities of liberalisation in India. Now
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tified, whether it be economy, tourism,
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Anil Fernandes (Impact) in its 17th edition, the INDIA TODAY-MDRA
IMPACT TEAM State of the States Survey has emerged as a infrastructure, inclusive development,
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governance, law & order, entrepreneur-
General Manager: Mayur Rastogi (North), comprehensive barometer of the perfor-
Upendra Singh (Bangalore), ship, cleanliness, environment, health,
mance of Indian states. This year, we have
Kaushiky Gangulie (East)
education or agriculture.
GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra tweaked the method ology by expanding
Assistant General Manager: Garima Prashar (Marketing) While north Indian states have been
attributes across categories and rejigging
SALES AND OPERATIONS: D.V.S. Rama Rao, Chief General Manager
Deepak Bhatt, General Manager (National Sales) weightages to level the playing field. gaining on the economic powerhouses
Vipin Bagga, Deputy General Manager (Operations)
of west and south India, the real divide
Rajeev Gandhi, Regional Sales Manager (North) Competition in the State of the States
remains between urban and rural India.
survey, we are happy to report, has been
Cities account for just 31 per cent of In-
intense. As many as 27 of the 31 states
dia’s population but constitute nearly 65
we examined have bagged awards across
per cent of India’s GDP.
multiple categories. Our rankings reveal
These are disparities that call for tre-
some good news and some bad news. The
mendous political vision and a relentless
Volume XLIII Number 49; For the week good news first—traditional laggards in
Nov 27-December 3, 2018, published on every Friday the best performing states category have focus on growth and development.
Since 2015, the Department of In-
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DECEMBER 3, 2018 (cid:3)INDIA TODAY (cid:3)1
I N S I D E
UPFRONT LEISURE
CAN CBI SURVIVE THE NO PLACE TO
‘CIVIL’ WAR? PG 3 ESCAPE PG 76
THE POLITICS OF NAME Q&A: HARENDRA
CHANGES PG 8 SINGH PG 84
COVER STORY
PUNJAB
10
RETURN OF
TERROR?
Pro-Khalistan
groups are trying to
lure impressionable
14 Sikh youth for their
WHICH STATE HAS THE BEST HEALTHCARE FACILITIES AND
cause, aided by
WHICH ONE BOASTS OF THE BEST INFRASTRUCTURE? THE
Pakistan’s ISI
17TH INDIA TODAY STATE OF THE STATES-MDRA SURVEY
EVALUATES THE PERFORMANCE OF 29 STATES & 7 UNION
TERRITORIES ACROSS 12 KEY PARAMETERS, INCLUDING
ECONOMY, AGRICULTURE, HEALTH AND EDUCATION
CoverbyNILANJANDAS
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2 (cid:3)INDIA TODAY DECEMBER 3, 2018
U P F R O N T
GOVT VS RBI: FACEBOOK’S
UNEASY TRUCE TRANSPARENCY
PG 5 PROBLEM PG 4
HEALTH CHECK THE POLITICS OF
ON MODICARE NAME CHANGES
PG 7 PG 8
IllustrationbyTANMOYCHAKRABORTY
CONTROVERSY
CAN CBI SURVIVE THE ‘CIVIL’ WAR?
By Uday Mahurkar
Nowarfoughtwithoutweapons leaksbeforeadjourningproceedings Sinha,whowasontheteam
couldbemessier.TheCBI’sap- totheendofthefollowingweek. probingallegationsagainstAsthana,
parentlyinternecinefeud—with TheobjectofCJIGogoi’sirewas approachedtheSupremeCourton
CBIchiefAlokVermaandhisdeputy notentirelyclear.Itwaseitherabout Monday,November19,withwhathis
RakeshAsthana,bothongardening theleaktoawebsiteofVerma’ssealed lawyerdescribedas“shockingrevela-
leave,accusingeachotherofcorrup- responsetoareportbytheCentral tions”.Thebench,consistingofGogoi,
tion—hasspilledoutintothecorridors VigilanceCommissionontheaccu- andJusticesS.K.KaulandK.M.Jo-
oftheprimeminister’sofficeandnow sationsagainsthim—whichthesite seph,wasunmovedanddeniedSinha
thehallsofjustice,likesomeoutof denieswasthebasisofitsstory—orit anurgenthearing,followingwhich
controlbarbrawl.Thepress,mean- wasabouttheleaktonationalmediaof thecontentofthoserevelationswas
while,lookingonwithunabashed astonishingclaimsbyanothertopCBI publishedinthemedia.
glee,areshouting“fight,fight!”All officer,M.K.Sinha,thattheNational “Thiscourt,”thunderedtheaf-
theunrulinesshaspromptedaschool- SecurityAdvisorAjitDoval,aUnion frontedbench,“isnotaplatformfor
marmishscoldingfromtheChief ministerandCentralVigilanceCom- peopletocomeandexpresswhatthey
JusticeofIndia,RanjanGogoi,who missionerK.V.Chowdhuryinterfered want...Ourefforttomaintainthe
spentafewminutesfumingabout intheinvestigationofAsthana. respectofthisinstitutionisnotbeing
UPFRONT
INDEX
Facebook’s
Transparency Problem
sharedbyeveryone.”Thecourt also expressed con-
It’s been a difficult year or so for Facebook. It failed to protect the
cernforthe“dignity”oftheCBI. But that particular
data of millions of users, and became the preferred receptacle
horsehadlongboltedthestable. Last week, West
for fake news, video nasties and all manner of manipulation—from
BengalchiefministerMamata Banerjee joined her
aggressively targeted advertising to political propaganda. Last
AndhraPradeshcounterpart Chandrababu Naidu
week, the NYT reported that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
inwithdrawingtheCBI’sauthority to conduct raids and COO Sheryl Sandberg neglected security concerns and turned
andinvestigationsintheirstates as it saw fit, without a blind eye to the company’s covert effort to discredit critics and
havingtoseekpermission. peddle conspiracy theories, all the while publicly feigning contrition.
On November 16, Facebook released its latest ‘transparency’
Thechiefministers’jointaction continued to
report. Since May, the report has included a statistic on the
givetheCBI’s‘internal’conflict a decidedly political
hundreds of millions of pieces of content Facebook filters out
hue.Asthanahasbeencharacterised as the prime
before it gets to us. It’s an attempt to show that it does care about
minister’s“blue-eyedboy”.And the government’s misinformation. The report also tells us about government requests
midnightoustingofVerma,followed by the transfers for user data and Facebook’s rate of compliance. But it’ll take more
ofseveralCBIofficers,someof whom were inves- for Facebook to recover its credibility.
tigatingthechargesagainstAsthana (also put on
leave),didnothingtostoptongues wagging. Sinha,
294 2.9
whowasoneoftheofficerstransferred, is now being
MILLION MILLION
seenasacombatantonVerma’s side. His allegations
againstDovalandothershave been described by Indian Facebook users Pieces of hate
governmentsourcesaswildand far-fetched. as of October 2018, speech removed
compared with 204 in Q3 2018
Sinha—whowasinvestigating allegations that
million Americans. In
Asthanahadbeenpaidoffby Hyderabad business- Q3 2018, Facebook’s 754
man Satish Babu average revenue per
user in Asia-Pacific was MILLION
Sana to keep his name
$2.67, in the US and
Sinha, now clear of an investiga- Canada it was $27.61 Fake accounts
batting for tion into prominent disabled by Facebook
in Q3 2018, 800 million
Verma, was meat exporter Moin
16,580 in Q2 and 583 million
Qureshi—claims top
suspected in Q1; that is 2.14 billion
government func- fake accounts, which
of being
tionaries, including Indian government is almost as many
among those as Facebook’s 2.3
a minister, also took requests for user data
who helped of 23,047 accounts, Jan- billion active users
bribes from Sana. worldwide
Jun 2018, says Facebook
Aircel’s C.
He says the likes of
Transparency Report—
Sivasankaran NSA Doval tried to second highest behind 64%
escape protect Asthana. the US, and up from
12,171, Jul-Dec 2017
Sinha, involved in
Facebook users
a number of major
53% between 18 and 29
investigations, including the multi-billion-dollar
years old in the US
scam perpetrated by jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul changed privacy
settings since
Choksi, had himself apparently aroused suspicions by Of these requests
Cambridge Analytica
being among those who enabled former Aircel owner resulted in Facebook
scandal, says Pew
sharing ‘some data’,
C. Sivasankaran, accused of bank fraud, to escape. Center; 44% have
compared with 86% of
Sivasankaran is now a citizen of the Seychelles; deleted the app from
the US government’s
their phones
former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son 42,466 requests in the
same period
Karti are also implicated in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The allegations continue to fly. Will any stick?
9.4
And how will the CBI put out the inferno without $17.4
itself being reduced to ashes? The CBI’s origins are
MILLION
BILLION
in the Special Police Establishment set up in 1941 by
Items of ‘terrorist
the Government of India to investigate corruption in Loss in Mark
propaganda’ removed
Zuckerberg’s net
the procurement of wartime supplies. It is an irony in Q2 2018; 75% due to
worth this year, says
that the CBI’s potential demise, at least in this form, ‘old photos’ uploaded
Bloomberg. At $55.3
before new detection
could be the consequence of the institutional cor- billion, Zuckerberg
technology; 3 million
ruption and political chicanery that has rotted from is now ‘only’ the 6th
items removed in Q3;
richest man in the
within a once respected institution. ■ 99.5% content removed
world, down from third
before users reported it
4 (cid:3)IINNDDIIAA TTOODDAAYY DECEMBER 3, 2018
Illustration by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY
BURYING DIFFERENCES?
Arun Jaitley and Urjit Patel
“There is substance in both sides of
the argument,” says Parekh. “You can
have a middle path, and say, ‘we are
not insisting that all the recovery is
made, but there needs to be a certain
order in recovery and a certain order
in governance’. This may happen now
since both the sides have agreed to
listen to each other,” he adds. Karthik
Srinivasan, the group head of financial
sector ratings at ICRA, says there is a
possibility of banks exiting faster from
the PCA framework.
GOVT VS RBI
The RBI board has recommended
AN UNEASY TRUCE a scheme to restructure the stressed
assets of MSMEs (micro, small and
medium enterprises) with aggregate
credit facilities of up to Rs 25 crore. But
W hentheboardmeetingofthe governmentandthecentralbank. experts say this is a bad idea, since the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) “The debate on the economic capi- extent of recovery is largely dependent
ended on November 19, there tal framework cannot be a subjective on the liquidity in the system. Much of
was a sense of relief in various quarters. one, and both sides need to start talk- the non-performing assets in the bank-
The meeting was expected to be stormy, ing on how much a central bank should ing system are from such small firms,
given that several points of conten- hold,” says Ashvin Parekh, a banking and can balloon further. This was why
tion between the central bank and the consultant. They need to arrive at a the RBI has been reluctant to consider
government were to be raised. However, level of surplus that offers comfort to any loan recast scheme for small units.
as a terse note from the RBI after the both the regulator and the economy, he While the board has not come up with
marathon nine-hour meeting seemed to adds. At the same time, he was critical a special window for non-banking
suggest, the central bank yielded ground of setting up new committees on the financial companies where liquidity has
and seemed to have relented on the matter. “The tendency to form commit- dried up following the IL&FS debacle,
government’s key demands. tees is a nice arrangement to pass the it has liberalised the implementation of
One of the issues discussed before buck,” he says. the capital adequacy norms under the
the 18-member board was the govern- With regard to the government’s Basel regulatory framework. While the
ment’s demand for the transfer of RBI’s demand to ease the RBI’s prompt capital to risky assets ratio (CRAR) has
reserves, estimated at Rs 3.6 lakh crore. corrective action (PCA) norms, where been retained at 9 per cent, the board
This has been a contentious issue, and lending restrictions have been placed has extended the transition period for
was central to a much-debated speech on 11 public sector banks that had a implementing the last tranche of 0.625
by RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya high level of bad loans, the bank has per cent under the Capital Conservation
last month, where he drew the example agreed to have the matter examined Buffer (CCB) by one year to March 31,
of a conflict between Argentina’s gov- by its Board for Financial Supervi- 2020. CRAR is a measure of the capital
ernment and its central bank to caution sion. The RBI had wanted to focus on requirements of a bank, expressed
that government interference would recovering loans first, as the finan- in relation to its risky assets (mainly
invite “the wrath of the markets”. But cials of these banks were very weak. loans) profile. The CCB is the additional
for a government keen to maintain its capital banks have to own beyond the
fiscal discipline close to the general mandatory minimum capital require-
election amid uncertain oil prices and Thegovernment,keen ments, and the easing of the transition
a rising rupee, it was critical to be able tomaintainfiscal norms will come as a relief to banks.
to dip into the RBI’s resources to bridge disciplineclosetothe The RBI board did not discuss the
the fiscal deficit. The RBI will consti- governance structure of the central
polls,wantstodipinto
tute an expert committee to examine bank. This and the issue regarding
theRBI’sresourcesto
its economic capital framework, the NBFCs are likely to be taken up at the
bridgethefiscaldeficit
membership and terms of reference of board meeting on December 14. ■
which will be jointly determined by the —M.G. Arun
DECEMBER 3, 2018 (cid:3)INDIA TODAY (cid:3)5
UPFRONT
BOOKS
there other more profound reasons?
GREAT DIVIDE
Given the assiduity with which
Sengupta has researched his subject,
his conclusion is bizarre. He assigns
IN THE MIND
the basic reason to Gandhi’s belief that
Nehru should be elevated over Patel
because Nehru spoke better English
and his upbringing would fit him better
By Mani Shankar Aiyar
to negotiate with the British! This is
ridiculous because it portrays the Father
T
of Our Nation as an idiot.
he worst part of this book is However, as Sengupta notes, it was The fact is that Patel became Gan-
Gurcharan Das’s blurb: “If only Gandhi, none other, who announced as dhi’s companion-in-arms long before
Patel had lived longer, India early as 1942, in the midst of a blazing Nehru emerged as a distant speck on the
would have been spared the row between Gandhi and Nehru on how political horizon. They linked together in
excesses of the Licence Raj far to accommodate the Cripps Mission, 1917 to run the Kheda satyagraha in the
and the Kashmir problem.” This is to that his successor would be Nehru. Why immediate wake of Gandhi’s outstand-
trivialise the massive scholarship Hindol would Gandhi do this? ing success at Champaran (while a virtu-
Sengupta has brought to bear on his After all, Patel, in years, was like ally briefless Nehru was still indolently
monumental biography of Sardar Patel a brother to Gandhi; Nehru, in years, smoking cigarettes at the Allahabad bar
and reduce the theme of this book to the more like a son. But, as Sengupta ex- association). Gandhi’s intimacy with
wholly false binary of ‘Patel vs Nehru’. plains, Patel was a very ill man; Nehru, Patel thus long preceded his association
Notwithstanding the fact that, in contrast, was extremely fit. Did Gan- with Nehru. He did not need to be told of
quite unlike Nehru, the Sardar wrote dhi think the burden of leading indepen- Patel’s merits and claim to the Congress
no books, Sengupta has mined Patel’s dent India in its formative stages should presidency and, later, the premiership
numerous letters and speeches to give devolve on the shoulders of one who had of free India. Surely then, the Mahatma
us a virtually self-written portrait of this two decades of nation-building ahead would have carefully weighed his choice
great stalwart of the freedom movement, of him rather than a colleague, however before making it. Yet, Sengupta floun-
supplemented by a detailed study of valued, who would outlast the Mahatma ders in explaining why Gandhi should
different sources, to present a Patelian by less than a thousand days? Or were have so often overlooked Patel.
perspective on the “complex relation- Gandhi was entirely cognizant of
ship” between the distinguished mem- Patel’s organisational talents: he knew
bers of the vanguard who frequently had the Congress was held together and
ideological and policy differences among funded by the iron hand of the Sardar.
themselves, as well documented by Sen- He knew too that nine of the 11 Congress
gupta: Sardar Patel himself; Nehru, of provincial units sought to see Patel suc-
course; Rajaji; Azad; Rajendra Prasad; ceed Maulana Azad in 1946, thus paving
Subhas Chandra Bose and numerous the way for his eventual assuming of the
others. This menagerie of leaders of leadership of the government. What one
genius was controlled with astounding would have hoped for in such a compre-
deftness by the one who stood head and hensive study is an examination of the
shoulders above them, individually and grounds on which Gandhi overruled the
collectively, and to whom each of them overwhelming preference of the party.
deferred much of the time, however Sengupta suggests (apparently not
much they disagreed with him on specif- tongue-in-cheek) that Gandhi feared
ics—Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru revolting against being made No.
I doubt that the annals of history 2 whereas he was assured of Patel re-
anywhere in the world or at any time THE MAN WHO SAVED maining faithful whatever his decision.
have thrown up such a democratic Team INDIA: Sardar Patel and Given the numerous occasions on which
His Idea of India
of Rivals who were permitted, even Nehru acquiesced to Gandhi’s diktat
by Hindol Sengupta
encouraged, to not only disagree with against his own best judgement, this is
Penguin/Viking
each other but also frequently with the not history, it’s petty bias.
430 pages; `599
Mahatma himself, and yet were yoked Gandhi chose Nehru because, while
together by their quest for freedom. the party desired Patel, the country
16 (cid:3)INDIA TODAY DECEMBER 3, 2018
INDEX
Health Check on Modicare
preferred Nehru. This perception
was, of course, never tested empiri-
cally but Patel and Nehru would
Just about two months into the government’s far-reaching Ayushman Bharat
have testified that Gandhi had an
scheme, dubbed the world’s largest public health programme, statistics for
uncanny sense of what the people
secondary and tertiary care show that a majority of patients have been treated
wanted, which is what made him
in private facilities. The private sector seemed unhappy with the pricing of
the final arbiter in the many quar-
insurance packages, which had implications for the number of hospitals that
rels he had with Patel and Nehru
might get ‘empanelled’ to offer treatment under the scheme. India’s expenditure on
(and they with each other). At the
healthcare, as a proportion of GDP, is minuscule, compared with not just developed
same time, Gandhi understood
economies but also some of the world’s poorest. Questions remain on whether out-
that it was not a question of choos-
of-pocket expenses will be significantly impacted and whether enough room has
ing one over the other, but harness- been made in the tight budget to cope with an explosion of demand.
ing their separate talents to take
the nation forward. Patel would
be best for domestic issues, such 232,592 603,050 55,482
as integrating the princely states Beneficiaries
Scheme e-cards Hospitals have
into the Union (which he did with hospitalised in first generated since its roll- applied to be empan-
unmatched ability) while Nehru 54 days of Ayushman out; some 107 million elled, of which 15,000
was better fitted with the vision to Bharat since its families (500 million (8,000 private) are
launch on Sep 25, for
guide and inspire the new nation. individuals) are expected already empanelled
treatments of
For Gandhi, nothing was more to be covered by the or approved
Rs 344.8 crore
important to nation-building than scheme
maintaining Hindu-Muslim unity
52 million
in the face of Partition. Indeed, he 68%
wanted Partition to be ideologica- Beneficiaries were Indians pushed into
lly nullified by building an India treated in private poverty in 2017 by
in which the minorities would be hospitals; Gujarat out-of-pocket (OOP)
medical expenses,
reassured they had made the right topped the list
estimates the WHO
choice in rejecting the two-nation of beneficiaries
theory by not moving to Pakistan. admitted
Neither Patel nor Nehru was
70%
wanting in such staunch secular-
42%
Estimated OOP
ism. But it was obvious by the time
3
Of beneficiaries were medical expenses in
of Independence that India’s Mus-
women, obstetrics States and Union India are on medicine
lims trusted Nehru the most. That
and gynaecology territories, including for out-patient care,
determined Gandhi’s decision.
were among the top Delhi, have yet to opt not covered by
There was no Great Divide.
5 treatments into the scheme Ayushman Bharat
Nehru and Patel had the highest
respect for each other as Nehru
found out when the Congress Par-
liamentary Party was overwhelm-
PULLQUOTE
ingly at odds with him over the
Nehru-Liaquat Pact in April 1950. “THOSE Andhra Pradesh chief minister
CHANDRABABU NAIDU has gone
He strode to his office to write
WHO
on record about his “democratic
out his letter of resignation. His
compulsion” to ally with the Congress
obvious and only possible succes- WANT TO
to attempt to defeat the BJP in the
sor would have been Patel. But, in
SAVE THE 2019 general election. The Telangana
the Sardar’s finest moment, as re-
assembly election is due on December
counted by Rajmohan Gandhi, he NATION
7, and Naidu has been eager to stress his
snatched the resignation letter and opposition to the BJP. As part of a whistle-stop tour to
WILL
ordered Nehru to continue as PM. rally together a coalition, Naidu travelled to West Bengal
Why do Sengupta, Das and the WORK to meet the state’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The
Hindu right-wing wish to thwart BJP, on its part, has sought to diss such “opportunism”
TOGETHER”
as mere animus against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Patel himself? ■
Illustrations by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY DECEMBER 3, 2018 (cid:3)INDIA TODAY (cid:3)7