The Year-Long Farmers’ Movement In India Ends!

In a huge relief for the whole of India, the Government and the farming community the year-long Farmers’ Movement has come to an end today after the Joint Farmers Front leaders announced in Delhi that the Government had accepted all their demands that prominently included the promulgation of a law guarantying Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for their crops and the withdrawal of all charges against the agitating farmers. The leaders described this as a historic victory against an arrogant government further saying that their peaceful movement was unprecedented in India as well as in the world. The farmers would start leaving the Delhi borders from the 11^th of this month, after the state funeral tomorrow of the CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat who died in a tragic chopper crash yesterday, with a victory march to their respective home states, they added. The leaders also said that the Joint Farmers Front which was formed with the constituents of all farm unions across the country to steer the movement would be kept active to monitor the steps taken by the government in the coming weeks and there will a review meeting on 15^th January 2022 for this purpose.

 

Most of the farmers of the country, the food-givers, fought for the repeal of the three Farm Laws and a guaranteed MSP, and after more than 11 rounds of talks with the Government of India the Prime Minister had to bow down to their demands announcing the repeal of the laws on November 19, 2021, with the ongoing winter session of the Parliament having already effected the same without any debate as the opposition political parties have been fighting too on behalf of the farmers for the same objective. The farmers spent days and nights on the grounds bordering the capital of Delhi for more than a year defying the challenges of all the four seasons and the pandemic. In the process they lost around 750 farmers languishing and perishing in the camps. There have been various protest demonstrations, road-rail blockades, protest and tractor marches throughout the year. The final historic victory proves that the food-givers of any country cannot be ignored for long and cannot be left unhappy and agitating—be it for the ‘roti’ or for the elections or for whatever.

 

We extend our hearty welcome for their decision and stand with them, as always, for the future. Now, the ball is in the Government’s court and it’d be interesting to watch what follows next. The Government knows fully well that they cannot go back on their promises and can never afford one more movement by the community upon whom the economy of the country depends to a large extent. The Government must take all the steps now to reduce and then eliminate fully the trust deficit that has been building up in the hearts of the farmers against the government thanks to various dubious actions taken by the latter during the period to derail the movement. It is good time now to go for the much-needed agricultural reforms in a positive and proactive frame of mind taking all stakeholders on board.

India Tour Of South Africa: Rohit Named Regular Captain In The Shorter Formats, Virat Retained In Tests!

The regime of having different captains for different formats for which we have been writing in these pages has finally happened with the Indian cricket selectors making opener Rohit Sharma the regular captain in the ODIs and T20Is with effect from India’s tour of South Africa-2021-22 while the captain of all formats since 2017, Virat Kohli, has been retained as captain for the 3-match Test Series starting on the boxing day, 26^th December 2021, in Centurion.

This move, probably under the guidance of the new Head Coach Rahul Dravid, is ideally aimed at allowing the wonder of a batsman Virat Kohli to play freely and most importantly, in view of the ICC Men’s World Cup-2023 to be hosted by India for the one day format. This could also be a reflection of the fact that Virat is yet to win an ICC Cup! It is unfortunate that Ajinkya Rahane, the hero of the great Indian comeback in Australia in January this year when Kohli left for home for domestic reasons, has lost his place in Tests as vice-captain to Rohit Sharma who is also assigned to be Kohli’s deputy in Tests. Although Rohit has crossed the age of 34, a year older than both Virat and Ajinkya, he seems to be the right choice as the most experienced senior player to take charge. As we had mentioned quite a few times in these pages the practice of the different-captains regime has been followed by most of the big cricket playing nations.

 

Notwithstanding the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa the respective cricket boards of the two countries have decided to go ahead with the 3-match Test Series and the 3-match ODI Series, albeit delayed by a week, under a strict bio-bubble plus regulations, with the T20I Series yet to be scheduled, by announcing their Test squads late evening yesterday,. While the Indian selectors have announced an 18-member test squad South Africa announced a 21-member squad. The teams can also expect small crowds of fully vaccinated people at the playing grounds.  

 

Rahane despite his being out-of-form in the last 16 tests has been retained in the Test squad along with the inconsistent Cheteshwar Pujara which is a good move too for their experiences as specialist Test cricketers. Useful all-rounder Hamuma Bihari who has already been playing in South Africa for the India-A team has made a comeback. Shreyas Iyer has also been included for his great showing against New Zealand at home. The other rested seniors players— KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami—have all joined the team. Although opener Mayank Agarwal has been included for his great match-winning battle in the second Test in Mumbai against New Zealand he may not make it to the playing eleven as KL Rahul has come back. Wriddhiman Saha has been retained as the reserve wicketkeeper.

 

Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill and Axar Patel are left out due to injuries, and Jayant Yadav may make it to the playing eleven in the place of Jadeja after the first-choice spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. However, playing two spinners in the tests could be tricky decision considering the fact that most of the pitches in South Africa are fast-paced helping the fast bowlers and India have good choices available in Bumrah, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj along with three pacers already playing in South Africa being kept as reserve pacers that include Deepak Chahar, particularly if Hanuma Bihari finds a place in the final eleven. In any case, it would definitely be a toss between Bihari and Jayant in making it to the final eleven.

 

South Africa has announced a 21-member Test squad under the captaincy of Dean Elgar with Temba Bavuma as his deputy. The comeback of medium fast bowler Duanne Olivier who last appeared in 2019 is a significant inclusion. The Proteas have ample choices available in the fast bowling arena with the familiar faces of the IPL, Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi, apart from the others; they have too at least four spinners in the squad with many their batsmen having the ability to throw in a few good overs each. The selection of the final eleven would be as interesting as that of India.

 

The India team is set to leave for South Africa on 12^th of this month, and everything looks good for some absorbing cricket, this Test Series also being a part of the WTC-2021-23 (World Test Championship) which is going to be South Africa’s first. The Omicron is still a scare and hope the variant does not do something real nasty. Of course, the news arena currently abounds with positive reports that the Omicron variant—mutating all the earlier variants like alpha, beta, delta and so on—may finally turn out to be weaker virus that may spread very fast, but may cause only milder diseases like normal flues as has been observed so far in South Africa, United Kingdom and other countries. However, many other experts say that it is too early to say that and it may take weeks to arrive at a decision with more and more data available. Like the continuing phenomenon of the ‘toss’ in cricket it is a ‘toss’ too in the case of Omicron for, hopefully, good results.   

CDS General Bipin Rawat Dies In Chopper Crash: An Unthinkable National Tragedy, Our Salute!

This is unthinkable, even unpardonable. That the helicopter carrying the topmost military officer of India—the first ever Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) next only to the Supreme Commander of the India Army, the President of India—should crash in spite of the highest security being attached to the trip and the fool-proof technical checks being obviously carried out by the best of pilots before the trip. But it has happened still—a monumental national tragedy. CDS General Bipin Rawat, one of the bravest and the most decorated military officers of the country, had left his Delhi residence around 9 this morning and boarded a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft for Sulur Air Base near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu along with his wife and seven others including senior military officers and security commandos. Arriving at Sulur around 11.30 AM he boarded a Mi-17V5 helicopter, supposedly the most advanced one being manufactured and delivered to India between 2013-16 by the Republic of Russia, with five more members including the crew joining the flight, making the total passengers in the chopper 14. The chopper took off around 11.45 AM for the Wellington Defence Services Staff College, Tamil Nadu.  

 

Just five minutes away from the destination the chopper crashed in Coonoor amid the forests of the mountainous district of Nilgiris around 12.20 PM. As the area was almost inaccessible the first ones to come to know of the crash were the local tribals who alerted the police. A lot of time thus was wasted before the actual rescue operations began. As per the tribal eye-witnesses shown by some news channels the helicopter reportedly hit a tree amid heavy fog and burst into flames before hitting the ground. The Tamil Nadu government had confirmed 5 fatalities, 2 badly burnt passengers taken to military hospitals and rescue operations going on for the rest. The ANI (Asian News International) had confirmed 13 fatalities out of the 14 quoting sources, the victims being identified through the DNA testing. No information about the condition of General Bipin Rawat and his wife was available till the last reports came in.

 

In sad reality, it is hoping against hope for the safety of the top General. Matters about high officials always involve a protocol and nothing is confirmed or announced in a hurry. The Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh, is the proper authority to make the final announcement after confirming fully with the Chief of the IAF. First, the Defence Minister briefed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi; then he consulted the IAF Chief who immediately rushed to the site of the tragic crash; and then the PM in consultation with the Defence Minister had called for a Cabinet meeting and a highest-level security session later in the evening. The Defence Minister then visited the residence of General Rawat in Delhi which was significant. The President of India, Ramnath Kovind, had also canceled his Mumbai event and rushed back to the capital. Dignitaries including the Army Chief and others have also been visiting the General’s residence. All these are pointers to an unthinkable tragedy.

 

The IAF has already ordered an inquiry into the crash. Many experts believe weather conditions have something to do with it. Tamil Nadu had witnessed unprecedented rains in the recent days and today it was reportedly very bad weather and heavy mist in the Coonoor hills. However, the emergency controls in the arguably most advanced chopper ever should have been able to maneuver and land safely, and the failure to do so with none other than the Chief of the military on board confounds one and all. The Defence Minister was to address the Parliament which is in session this evening, but it was then deferred to sometime tomorrow, possibly considering all aspects of a very sensitive incident involving national security and bilateral cum multilateral relations.

 

Unfortunately, over the last few decades we have been getting used to witness numerous chopper accidents involving various kinds of helicopters including the MIG and the Mi-Series types, most prominently; not only in India, but across various other countries too. Many dignitaries of the country including senior military officers, pilots, Chief Ministers, political leaders and others have either perished in those crashes or just survived. This leads us to question the very use of helicopters in modern times when other modes of air travel are easily available. Why not do away with helicopters for good?

 

The sad news has come. The IAF has confirmed just now that the brave General and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat (1958-2021), his wife and 11 other officials have died in the crash. Our tributes and homage to all the martyrs, our condolences to the General's and other officers' families. The whole of India has been praying for the General’s safety. But God always has other plans. An irreparable loss for India.