Stay safe at home.

We have strengthened our online platforms

with an aim to serve your needs uniterruptedly.
Access our websites:
www.nipponindiamf.com www.nipponindiapms.com
(Chat feature available)

www.nipponindiaetf.com www.nipponindiaaif.com

Click to download our mobile apps:

Nippon India Mutual Fund | Simply Save App

For any further queries, contact us at customercare@nipponindiamf.com

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
 JAIDEEP AHLAWAT: FINDING FAME IN PAATAL LOK
DIGITAL ISSUE

www.outlookindia.com June 1, 2020

The
ROAD To
RECOVERY

Can the
Rs 2,000,0
00 crore
Stimulu
s Packa
ge kicks
tart the
econom
y?

R N I N O. 7 0 4 4 / 1961
 ‹ NAVIGATOR›
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ruben Banerjee
MANAGING EDITOR Sunil Menon
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Satish Padmanabhan
FOREIGN EDITOR Pranay Sharma
POLITICAL EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora
SENIOR EDITOR Giridhar Jha (Mumbai)
CHIEF ART DIRECTOR Deepak Sharma
WRITERS Lola Nayar, Qaiser Mohammad
Ali (Senior Associate Editors), G.C. Shekhar
(Associate Editor), Jeevan Prakash Sharma (Senior
Assistant Editor), Ajay Sukumaran, Puneet
Nicholas Yadav, Jyotika Sood, Lachmi Deb Roy
(Assistant Editors),
Naseer Ganai (Senior Special Correspondent),
Preetha Nair (Special
Correspondent), Salik Ahmad (Senior
Correspondent)
COPY DESK Rituparna Kakoty (Senior Associate
Editor), Anupam Bordoloi, Saikat Niyogi,
Satyadeep (Associate Editors),
Syed Saad Ahmed (Assistant Editor)
PHOTOGRAPHERS S. Rakshit (Chief Photo
Coordinator), Jitender Gupta (Photo Editor),
Tribhuvan Tiwari (Deputy Photo Editor),
Sandipan Chatterjee, Apoorva Salkade
(Sr Photographers), Suresh Kumar Pandey (Staff
Photographer) J.S. Adhikari (Sr Photo Researcher),
U. Suresh Kumar (Digital Library)
DESIGN Saji C.S. (Chief Designer),
Leela (Senior Designer),
Devi Prasad, Padam Gupta (Sr DTP Operators)
DIGITAL Neha Mahajan (Associate Editor),
Soumitra Mishra (Digital Consultant),
Jayanta Oinam (Assistant Editor),
Mirza Arif Beg (Special
Correspondent), Neelav Chakravarti (Senior
Correspondent), Charupadma Pati (Trainee
Journalist), Suraj Wadhwa (Chief
Graphic Designer),
Editorial Manager & Chief Librarian Alka Gupta

BUSINESS OFFICE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Indranil Roy
PUBLISHER Sandip Kumar Ghosh
SR VICE PRESIDENT Meenakshi Akash
VICE PRESIDENTS Shrutika Dewan,

18
Diwan Singh Bisht
SR GENERAL MANAGERS Kabir Khattar (Corp),
Debabani Tagore, Shailender Vohra
COVER STORY
GENERAL MANAGERS Sasidharan Kollery,
Shashank Dixit Is the Rs 20-lakh-crore infusion for the pandemic-
CHIEF MANAGER Shekhar Kumar Pandey
MANAGERS Shekhar Suvarana, Sudha Sharma hit Indian economy as promising as it sounds? We
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Anindya
Banerjee, Gagan Kohli, G. Ramesh (South), analyse the stimulus package, its impact on different
Vinod Kumar (North), Arun Kumar Jha (East)
DIGITAL Amit Mishra sectors and whether it will be able to revive the
HEAD OFFICE
AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
flagging growth rate.
Tel: 011-71280400; Fax: 26191420
Customer care helpline: 011-71280433,
71280462, 71280307
e-mail: outlook@outlookindia.com
For editorial queries: edit@outlookindia.com
For subscription helpline:
yourhelpline@outlookindia.com

OTHER OFFICES
MUMBAI Tel: 022-50990990 14 | THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 10 POLIGLOT
CALCUTTA Tel: 033 46004506; Fax: 033 46004506
CHENNAI Tel: 42615224, 42615225; Fax: 42615095
Video conferencing, formerly the preserve of 48 BOOKS
BANGALORE Tel: 080-43715021 offices, has suffused almost every aspect of 51 AUDI 5
Printed and published by Indranil Roy on
behalf of Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. our lives during the pandemic 53 LA DOLCE VITA
Editor: Ruben Banerjee. Printed at Kalajyothi
Process Pvt. Ltd. Sy.No.185, Sai Pruthvi Enclave,
34 | THE SHOW MUST GO ON 55 DIARY
Kondapur – 500 084, R.R.Dist. Telangana and
published from AB-10, S.J. Enclave,
New Delhi-110 029
With cinemas shut, the release of films on
online streaming platforms is disconcerting Cover Design:
Total no. of pages 56, Including Covers
theatre owners Deepak Sharma

The firsT OuTlOOk MOney - POlicyBazaar insurance ranking pg 32 ’S NO.1 INE RAKHIGARHI RIDDLE WHAT DOES THE DNA TELL US?
Subscription Copy Not For Resale BIG BANKS—GOOD OR BAD?—see page 72 आउटलुक-आइसीएआरई इंडिया यूडिवडससिटी रैंडकंग 2019 NEW DELHI: 011-71280433, 71280462, 71280307
Ia e
ec nc

INDIA MAGAZ
RNI NO. DELHIN/2009/26981; Total pages:84; KA/BGGPO/2504/06-08; POSTAL REGD NO. DL-SW-01/4148/17-19 ; POSTED AT NDPSO WPP NO. U (SW)-34/2017-19 ; Published on July 29, 2019

L
RNI NO. DELENG/2006/16808
sp sura
l

Fax: 011-26191420
TRAVE â¿ ·¤æð â×çÂüÌ â×æ¿æÚU Âç˜æ·¤æ vw ¥»SÌ w®v~, ×êËØ 25
www.outlooktraveller.com
In

September 27, 2019 #50

SubScriber copy not for reSale Sep tember 2019, `50

POINT AND SHARE

www.outlookindia.com September 23, 2019 Rs 60
8 904150 800041 20

SUBSCRIBER COPY NOT FOR RESALE www.outlookhindi.com

o u tlo okmone y.c om

INDIA'S BEST
September 2019 • `100

Decoding the secrets of

Now, open Outlook magazine on Millennial Travel WORKPLACES MUMBAI: 022-50990990

OUTLOOK BUSINESS

FOR WOMEN
हवालात
Top Destinations Outlook Business — Great Place to Work bring you the second

your smartphone instantly.

|

annual listing of top workplaces for women —see page 41

Travel Style
INDIA'S BEST WORKPLACES FOR WOMEN

Hot Tips Work from home options are great for women.

BANGALORE: 080-4 3715021/9 ; Fax: 080-45236105

Are Indian companies up to it? —see page 30

में हत्ा
Cool Gear

Point your phone’s scanner on the

The insurance sector
enacts strict laws to curb
the frauds menace
DeepFake पुडलस डिरासत और जेलों
में बढ़ते मौतों के आंकड़े,
|
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

THE GREAT DEBATE SEEING

is not
पुडलस यातिा के डवरुद्ध
कािूि वक्त की मांग

CHENNAI: 044-42615224/25
DARK TOURISM

code and align it in the frame.

SOMEWHERE ELSE?
BELIEVING
|

SANYA
T50

Fake news got more worrisome.

ReveRse MoRtgage Loans There is now technology to morph
videos and audio to make them real.
aMRaPaLI eFFeCt R N I N O. 7 0 4 4 / 1 9 6 1

STEVE GUERDAT n RAGHU RAI n KENILWORTH n ISRAEL

Day tRaDIng
8 904150 800003 09

You will be guided instantly to our

8 904150 800027 09
facebook.com/outlookhindi twitter.com/outlookhindi 8 904150 800034 16
8 904150 800010 37 Vol14-Issue-20, September 27, 2019.indd 1 09/09/19 9:55 pm

KOLKATA: 033-46004506; Fax: 033-46004506

8 904150 800010 37 Vol14-Issue-20, September 27, 2019.indd 1 09/09/19 9:55 pm

Day tRaDIng 8 904150 800027 09

facebook.com/outlookhindi twitter.com/outlookhindi 8 904150 800034 16

8 904150 800003 09 STEVE GUERDAT n RAGHU RAI n KENILWORTH n ISRAEL

9102 ,92 yluJ no dehsilbuP ; 91-7102/43-)WS( U .ON PPW OSPDN TA DETSOP ; 91-71/8414/10-WS-LD .ON DGER LATSOP ;80-60/4052/OPGGB/AK ;48:segap latoT ;18962/9002/NIHLED .ON INR

aMRaPaLI eFFeCt R N I N O. 7 0 4 4 / 1 9 6 1
videos and audio to make them real.
ReveRse MoRtgage Loans
BELIEVING
There is now technology to morph

website, www.outlookindia.com
Fake news got more worrisome.
SANYA
05T

SOMEWHERE ELSE?
is not
SEEING
|

DARK TOURISM कािूि वक्त की मांग

9102 ,72 REBMETPES

THE GREAT DEBATE पुडलस यातिा के डवरुद्ध

में बढ़ते मौतों के आंकड़े,

This is useful to share our stories on OFFICE TIMINGS

DeepFake पुडलस डिरासत और जेलों
में हत्ा
|

the frauds menace

NEMOW ROF SECALPKROW TSEB S'AIDNI

enacts strict laws to curb

The insurance sector

Cool Gear
हवालात
social media or email them. Monday to Friday 10.00 AM to 6.00 PM
Are Indian companies up to it? —see page 30
Hot Tips Work from home options are great for women.
Travel Style

Millennial Travel
annual listing of top workplaces for women —see page 41
Top Destinations
FOR WOMEN Outlook Business — Great Place to Work bring you the second
|
SSENISUB KOOLTUO

WORKPLACES
Decoding the secrets of
September 2019 • `100
INDIA'S BEST Saturday 10.00 AM to 2.00 PM
o u tlo okmone y.c om

SUBSCRIBER COPY NOT FOR RESALE www.outlookhindi.com

80861/6002/GNELED .ON INR

8 904150 800041 20
www.outlookindia.com September 23, 2019 Rs 60

SubScriber copy not for reSale Sep tember 2019, `50

September 27, 2019 #50
ru ps

www.outlooktraveller.com
I
sn

â¿ ·¤æð â×çÂüÌ â×æ¿æÚU Âç˜æ·¤æ

na ce

TRAVE vw ¥»SÌ w®v~, ×êËØ 25

L
RAKHIGARHI RIDDLE WHAT DOES THE DNA TELL US?
ec laI

INDIA MAGAZ
’S NO.1 INE
आउटलुक-आइसीएआरई इंडिया यूडिवडससिटी रैंडकंग 2019
The firsT OuTlOOk MOney - POlicyBazaar insurance ranking pg 32
Subscription Copy Not For Resale BIG BANKS—GOOD OR BAD?—see page 72

2 O U TLO O K | JUNE 1, 2020

 LETTERS FEEDBACK › OUTLOOK@OUTLOOKINDIA.COM

25/5/2020

takers. Thus, globalisation was

already on the wane when the
pandemic struck. With supply
chains disrupted, the world is
now wary of putting all its eggs
in China’s basket. Local is the
new buzzword and self-
dependency the mantra of suc-
cess. A transformational
change in nations’ economies
will be witnessed, which is
bound to affect the post-
COVID-19 world order.

FROM THE Daak Room

Dec. 10, 1918.

Dear Aunt and Family:-

I have thought of you many times but to day [sic] is the

first time that I succeeded in finding time to write you
a few lines.
Ralph and I are fine, and have not gotten the “flue”
[sic] yet altho [sic] it is pretty bad down here at present.
It seems to be among the older folks and children. The
D I G I M A G . O U T LO O K I N D I A . C O M

Engulfed
graded schools and High School is closed here but only a
few students of K.U. have it, they thought it was not
necessary to close college until they see that it must be

Dreams
GURGAON
Kamna Chhabra: This refers to your cover
story Yalla Bye, Al-Hindi (May 25). COVID-19
YO U T U B E . C O M / O U T LO O K M A G A Z I N E
done. Heard you folks had it this fall but hope you are
all over it and feeling fine. This is beautiful weather
for December and to think of such a heavy snow we
already had at Thanksgiving seems almost impossible.
Ralph is still in the barracks, he is looking to be dis-
charged most any day altho [sic] they have been waiting for

discharging blanks to come, as each must fill out a blank

has put an end to the Gulf dream of
Malayalis. God’s own country now stares at
an unprecedented crisis that does not have
so much to do with the immediate chal-
lenge posed by the pandemic (in which
Kerala is showing the way to others) as with
remittances drying up, joblessness rising
and aspirations crashing down. Besides the
fear of contracting the disease, plummeting
FAC E B O O K . C O M / O U T LO O K I N D I A
and have a physical examination before he can get out of
the army. And the boys here will be pleased to get out too.
The boys who do not intend to go to school after being
discharged have to drill all day long and the others only
have to drill 1 hr. each morning and then they are free the
rest of the day until 5:30 for retreat. The barracks here are
built in town but they are on K.U. Campus. Dwelling houses
on one side of the street and barracks on the other.
I try to see Ralph once each day. If we do not happen to

see each other at school, he comes down in the afternoon

oil prices are making the oil-based econ-
omy of the Gulf hurtle towards depression,
ringing alarm bells in Kerala too.
Consequently, the Indian diaspora, consist-
ing of a significant number of Malayalis,
will no longer be able to strike gold there.
T W I T T E R . C O M / O U T LO O K I N D I A
after class and if he hasn’t time to come, I go to the
barracks and he comes out. We rec’d a letter from the
folks at home this morn. and the flue [sic] is awful bad
around there now. I like it fine down here altho [sic] it
is a different life in town than in the country.
I certainly like my school work and time goes so fast,
have all my classes in the forenoon but the lessons are
so long it takes all P.M. and until 10 P.M. to prepare
lessons for next day.

ON E-MAIL
I am as ever your niece, Myrtle
Vijai Pant: In the past few years, as leaders
respond to political and economic pres-
sures back home, globalisation has become Life Goes On Letter a University of Kansas student sent to
increasingly unwelcome in many places. her aunt after the height of the Spanish flu, the deadliest
The trend, initiated by powerhouses like pandemic in modern history
the US and UK, gradually found more

00 O U TLOOK4| MAY
OUTLOOK | JUNE 1 , 2020
4, 2020
 #BollywoodTalkiesOutlook

Bollywood
TALKies with

Episode - 4

National award
winning Actor

Adil
Hussain
on his passion for
theatre and experience
of working with Oscar
winning directors
in conversation with

Mitrajit Bhattacharya
Columnist & Author

Watch on
May 29, 2020 (Friday), At 9 PM

@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
 LETTERS
News / SLUGGG/SUBSLUG
Viral Gains
MUMBAI
Ashok Goswami: This
refers to Nitin Gadkari’s
interview (‘The world is wary
of China. It’s good for our
country.’, May 25). While it’s
good to make the most of the
economic opportunity pre-
sented by the pandemic, its
feasibility is another story
altogether. Ease of doing
business in India is not what
it should be even though
Modi has marketed India
globally. With Indian sys-
tems wrapped in red tape, a
lot remains to be done. China
is building up pressure on
Indian borders with the help
GOA
M.N. Bhartiya: This refers
to your story on the judici-
ary Higher Resolution (May
11). Lengthy oral statements
and submissions waste the
valuable time of courts, but
judges do not cut short such
practices. In any case, all the
steps can be confined to
concise and complete sub-
missions in writing with
strict instructions to not
seek amendments in their
submissions, Anything that
cannot be produced in writ-
ing is probably absurd and
irrelevant. Courts are not
platforms for demonstrat-
ing oratory and debating
skills. Alas, nobody thinks of
such reforms and the poor
litigant seeking justice suf-
fers. Resourceful litigants
use the legal system to har-
ass their opponents and
competitors and abuse it to
delay payment of public
revenues and taxes.
NAVI MUMBAI
C.K. Subramaniam: This
refers to your cover story
Things That Got Covided
6O UOTULTLO
O O OK KI N| DJUNE
I A . C 1,O M
2020
of Pakistan and would like to
engage India in non-produc-
tive pursuits. There are
many vested interests ready
to put spikes in the wheel if
not tackled shrewdly. India
will have to beat China in its
own game, which may
require nerves of steel and
intentions of a determined
nation ready to conquer the
new world order.
NAINITAL
Vijay Singh Adhikari:
With the invisible enemy
pitted against a visible one,
various conspiracy theories
have surfaced, such as the
virus originating from
Chinese laboratories in
Wuhan or that it was manu-
(May 18). Almost two
months after the lockdown
was declared, migrant
labourers are still facing a
tough time. Now, some states
are amending, or even sus-
pending, most labour laws to
enable industries to function
without constraints. But the
decision to allow factories to
compel labourers to work for
12 hours instead of the pres-
ent eight hours, a norm that
FEEDBACK
factured as a biological
weapon. People are even
blaming 5G technology!
However, there is no evi-
dence for these contentions,
which just give an illusory
security and a straw man to
blame. Perhaps, we will
never know the truth. But
we must realise that the
was fixed by the
International Labour
Organisation, is a matter of
concern. Though industries
need some succour from the
government, there cannot be
any relaxation as far as the
welfare of labourers is con-
cerned. Also, it is the duty of
employers to look after the
wellbeing of employees and
provide them shelter, food
and clothes, come rain or
| PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES |
› OUTLOOK@OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
enemy lies ingrained in our
imagination—it is making
inroads through disinfor-
mation and propaganda that
politicians espouse for
political mileage. One of
the biggest threats to our
mental health during the
pandemic is the blame
game and conspiracy
theories. It would be rele-
vant here to remember
American President
Franklin D Roosevelt’s
words in response to the
Great Depression: “The
only thing we have to fear
is fear itself—nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified
terror, which paralyses
needed efforts to convert
retreat into advances.”
sunshine. Migrant labourers
deserve much more than
being left on the streets to
fend for themselves.
PUNE
Shanmugam Mudaliar: In
the wake of the pandemic,
the government is desperate
for funds. International
crude prices have fallen
drastically, but our petrol
and diesel prices have
remained the same, thanks
to additional cesses. Liquor
prices too have been nearly
doubled. In view of the
extremely precarious situa-
tion, it is an absolute
necessity for the govern-
ment to cast away its blink-
ers and legalise betting. As it
is, the matka racket flour-
ishes with the connivance of
the police. The misguided
stance on ethics and moral
principles, which in any case
are not a virtue of our politi-
cal system, should be jetti-
soned in light of the corona
calamity. Lotteries should
be started and even states
should be allowed to go for
such schemes.
M AY 4 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 00
Join the
WEBINAR ON→
How will Corona influence
the art world?

With IN CONVERSATION WITH

Bose Krishnamachari
Painter, Curator and Director of
Kochi Biennale

Dayanita Singh
Photo Artist

Ashiesh Shah
Satish Padmanabhan
Architect and Collector
Executive Editor, Outlook

Join us on
@outlookindia & @outlook magazine

24 May, Sunday, 11.00 am.

THE
NEWS
The ICMR might revise
its recommendation on
hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for
treatment of COVID-19 patients
following doubts over its efficacy. India
is the world’s largest producer of this
anti-malarial drug, which is also used
to treat auto-immune disorders. HCQ
has failed two controlled trials in China
and France.
Railways will run 200 fully reserved
trains having both AC and non-AC
coaches from June 1, including Duron-
tos, Sampark Krantis, Jan Shatabdis.
Bookings began on May 21. Meanwhile,
domestic flights will resume from May
25 but resumption of international
operations might take a while.
H-1B visa-holders, a majority of them
Indian IT professionals, do not adverse-
ly affect Americans, according to new
research. The Trump administration is
planning restrictions on the non-immi-
grant visa, which allows US companies
to employ foreign workers, premised on
the argument that such workers harm
job prospects of US college grads.
8 O U TLO OK | JUNE 1, 2020
Amphan
the
Terrible
Outlook Bureau
B
LOWN -off roofs, collapsed
buildings, uprooted trees and a
submerged airport…cyclone
Amphan has unleashed a tide of
destruction in West Bengal, Odisha and
Bangladesh. It made its landfall at
Digha in West Bengal on May 20 with
wind speeds of up to 125 km per hour
and torrential rainfall, flooding
Calcutta, Hooghly and North and South
24 Paraganas districts among others.
More than 6.5 lakh people were
evacuated to shelters in both states
PTI
before the cyclone arrived.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
said 72 people died in the state and she
pegged the damage at Rs 1 lakh crore
after initial estimates. She has termed
the impact of Amphan, one of the
strongest storms in the Bay of Bengal
in over a decade, “worse than the coro-
navirus” pandemic.
Senior state officials say it is too early
to estimate the final death toll or dam-
age to property as the hardest-hit areas
are still not accessible. There were
power cuts in the affected areas; mobile
and internet services were down as the
cyclone damaged communication tow-
ers. A hangar collapsed on an airplane
at the Calcutta airport, where runways
were flooded. Standing crops, planta-
tions and infrastructure have also been
affected in Odisha. Embankments in
the Sundarbans delta, a Unesco world
heritage site, were breached as the
surge whipped up by the cyclone inun-
dated the region. At least 10 people have
died in Bangladesh. As the cyclone
weakened on the morning of May 21,
the National Disaster Response Force
began clearing roads. O
M I X E D
POLIGLOT S H O T S
SNAPSHOT
Delimitation Challenge
Naseer Ganai in Srinagar
In the new political setup
J&K following the bifurcation
of the former state into
two Union territories and in the absence
of Article 370, the constitutional provi-
sion that gave Jammu and Kashmir a
semblance of semi-autonomy, leading
regional party National Conference has
a tough decision on its hands. With the
delimitation commission seeking nomi-
nation of Lok Sabha members to be
party to readjusting the boundaries of
constituencies, the National Conference
is left with no choice but to decide one
way or the other. The party has three
members, including its president Dr
Farooq Abdullah, in the Lok Sabha. Main
regional rival People’s Democratic Party
has already dismissed the delimitation
commission’s exercise as a ploy of the
RSS and the BJP to undermine Jammu
and Kashmir’s majority community.
“We are against the decisions taken on
August 5 last year that stripped us of
our autonomy and identity, and took
away our constitution,” says National
Conference MP Justice (retd) Hasnian
Masoodi. “We went to the Supreme
Court saying all the decisions taken on
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
An artist paints a mural
depicting a doctor
saving lives in Guwahati
UMER ASIF
exercise based on the 2011 census. It
was excluded from the purview of the
Delimitation Act, 2002, as Article 170
of the Constitution that deals with
delimitation of constituencies of state
assemblies had not been extended to
J&K due to its special status under
Article 370. In 2002,
National delimitation in J&K was
Conference frozen by the then Farooq
MP Justice Abdullah government in
(retd) Hasnian line with the decision
Masoodi taken by the then central
administration.
While J&K Reorganisation Act says
the number of seats in the J&K assem-
bly would be increased from 107 to 114,
polling would happen only for 90 of
those seats, as the other constituencies
are in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
(PoK). The BJP is set to demand more
seats for former PoK refugees and
Kashmiri migrants. “The refugees
should be given some of the seats pro-
August 5, including abrogation of Arti- portionately reserved for PoK and
cles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, Kashmiri migrants should be given
and bifurcation of J&K into two Union two seats,” says Ashok Koul, BJP gen-
territories, are unconstitutional, unilat- eral secretary in J&K. “There are many
eral and cannot be sustained. As we other issues on which the commission
oppose those decisions and ask the will decide according to the law.
court to strike down the J&K Reorgani- Instead of the population, terrain
sation Act, it means we can have noth- should be taken into consideration
ing to do with the delimitation during the delimitation.” The popula-
commission. This is my position. I don’t tion of Kashmir region is 68,88,475
know the party’s position on this.” (2011), while Jammu has a population
The J&K Assembly was dissolved in of 53,78,538—and this is what the BJP
November 2018 and the state is under is more concerned about.
President’s rule. Elections are slated to The erstwhile state of J&K had 111
be held in J&K after the delimitation seats, including 24 reserved for PoK,
commission completes its exercise, and elections were held for 87 seats.
which the government is carrying out Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and
regardless of the National Confer- Ladakh four. With Ladakh carved out as
ence’s view. A provision of the J&K a UT, the assembly was left with 83
Reorganisation Act makes the newly seats. “Since Article 370 was revoked
created J&K UT the only region in the last August, the BJP has not done any-
country to undergo a delimitation thing about delimitation and thus
delayed elections,” says Panthers Party
leader Harsh Dev Singh. “There is chaos
“Opposing all decisions in J&K as it is ruled by bureaucrats
taken on August 5, from outside with no understanding of
the issues here. Why did it take them so
2019, means rejecting long to constitute the commission,
this exercise,” says NC which has done nothing so far? Why are
elections not held? Because the BJP
MP Masoodi. doesn’t want anything.” O
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 9
 POLIGLOT
BORDER ROW

Giving A H IM A C H
PRADE AL

Turf Time C
SH
H
I
S H IM
LA

N
U T TA R A

T
HE coronavirus pandemic may
have blurred international
boundaries and shrunk the
world into one big infirmary, but not so
much for Nepal, one of India’s neigh-
bours and closest allies for decades. In
fact, the Himalayan country has
touched off a raw nerve by deciding to
publish new maps that include areas of
dispute with India. And for good
measure, Nepal Prime Minister K.P.
Sharma Oli declared that the “Indian
virus looks more lethal than Chinese
and Italian.” This round of acrimony
began at the Federal Parliament of
Nepal recently where the country’s
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari made
the announcement about the new
maps that will incorporate all the
disputed territories—Limpiyadhura,
Kalapani and Lipulekh.
Last year, New Delhi published a new
map that showed Kalapani within its
borders, a move protested by
Kathmandu. India and Nepal share an
1,800 km open border. Nepal said it has
“consistently maintained” that as per
the Sugauli Treaty of 1816, “all the ter-
ritories east of Kali (Mahakali) river,
inc­luding Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and
Lipulekh, belong to Nepal”.
AKHAN
D
DEH
RA D
UN The circled area is
the source of a long
N discord between Nepal
E and India
P
U T TA R
PRAD A
ESH
L
The Lipulekh Pass is claimed by The inauguration of a road linking
Nepal based on the Sugauli Treaty be- Lipulekh pass with Dharchula earlier
tween the Himalayan nation (then a this May triggered fresh tension, with
kingdom) and British East India Nepal claiming that the area fell on its
Company in 1816 to def­ine its western side of the border. But a PTI report says
border with India. Kathmandu also villagers of Garbiyang assert that their
claims the highly strategic areas of ancestors used to cultivate the land in
Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, although Kalapani before the Sino-Indian war in
Indian troops have been deployed 1962. The cultivation stopped when bor-
there since New Delhi fought a war der trade with China through Lipulekh
with China in 1962. pass ended following the 1962 conflict.
India reacted sharply after the Nepal “India has deployed its troops in
government released the revised map. Kalapani since 1962 and our rulers in the
The foreign ministry asked past hesitated to raise the issue,” Nepal
Kathmandu to refrain from such “un- PM Oli said. Speaking in parliament, Oli
justified cartographic assertion”. All also held India responsible for the
the land in Lipulekh, Kalapani and spread of COVID-19 in Nepal, saying the
Nabhidhang on the border tradition- infection was “more lethal” among the
ally belongs to the residents of people coming from the neighbouring
Garbiyang and Gunji villages of country. “Indian virus looks more le-
Dharchula sub-division in thal than Chinese and Italian now.
Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district. More are getting infected,” he said. O

brevis

Veteran Bengali Rehana Fathima TV actor Actor-comedian Tainted American

author Debesh of Kochi, who was Manmeet Fred Willard, cyclist Lance
Roy—a Sahitya forced to abandon her Grewal, of shows best known for Armstrong has
Akademi award plan to pray at the like Aadat Se his role in Every- revealed the first time
winner for his Sabarimala temple in Majboor and body Loves he took drugs was
novel Teesta Parer October 2018, was Kuldeepak, has killed Raymond and when he was 21. He
Brittanto—has terminated from the himself because of Modern Family, turned 22 a month after
died in Calcutta. BSNL on disciplinary pandemic-induced has died at the becoming 1993 road
He was 84. grounds. penury. He was 32. age of 86. race world champion.

10 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

 POLIGLOT

MixedShots

I
NO LIFE WITHOUT WIFE
MAGINE being confined all alone without
WHEN it comes to curing
the comfort of a comely spouse. A Bareilly the boiling frog syndrome of
man couldn’t. So as his wife remained at her environmental naysayers,
parents’ house during the lockdown, he made it’s time to kiss a prince
the most of the moment—by marrying his and turn him into a croak. A
cousin. On finding out about her husband’s wed- shrub frog; or a bush frog.
ding, she managed to reach his house and raised hell. In a touching Know why? Because of the
unnatural human tenden-
gesture of generosity, the man said he was willing to “keep” both wives, cy to meddle with Nature,
but the first refused. Marriages are made/unmade in lockdowns! O 20 species of amphibians
in India are now critically
endangered and 35 more
are “endangered”. These

D
SPOOKY QUARANTINE? HERE’S A HELPLINE species find mention in
O ghosts like isolation? Perhaps not, as a the Zoological Survey of
23-year-old girl found out in Mumbai. She India’s updated checklist of
had been living alone in an apartment amphibians. Like Raorches-
since the lockdown began. Or so she thought, until tes resplendens that lives in
she began seeing ghosts. To her rescue came Jay the high altitudes of south
Alani, a well-known paranormal investigator who India—Anamudi in Kerala. Or
has started India’s first paranormal helpline, like Pseudophilautus amboli
9999518600, which has been receiving over 10 of Amboli in the Western
LOANELY NO MORE Ghats of Maharashtra, and
calls a day. After investigations, he found out that

I
Raorchestes shillongensis,
her tryst with spirits was a result of binge-
T’S the stuff Nirav Modi’s and as the name hints at, from
watching horror shows. Such helpful advice
Vijay Mallya’s dreams are made Shillong. What’s the big deal?
despite being the creator of a ‘non-fiction’ horror
of—a secret benefactor walking The frogs are only good at
web series! We say Alani deserves a boo or two. O
into a bank to pay off people’s debts. waiting for an insect to fly by
That’s what a businessman did at an and aim its tongue. That is
SBI branch in Aizawl. He offered Rs what they do—pest control, a
10 lakh to help out debtors and bank vital role in the ecosystem.
officials selected four who had paid a
significant part of their loan, but still
had outstanding debts. Now that’s an DATE MATHS
economic package the government
Out of 100 dating app
could take some lessons from. O
profile views, a male user
likes 35 and skips 65.
A female user likes only
COAT OF CONDUCT

T
4 and skips 96 profiles.
HE latest coronavirus casualty—lawyers’ But when it comes to
coats and gowns—may come as a whiff of chatting, a man chats
relief. The Bar Council of India has asked with 10 and a woman
lawyers across the country not to wear these during averages 25.
video-conference hearings to prevent them from
“catching” the virus. While the merits of such a
reasoning might be up for debate, it’s a huge respite Source: QuackQuack, which
during the peak of summer. Now, lawyers too might has logged over nine million
adopt the work-from-home dress code—formals Indian users on its dating app
above the belt and clothing optional below. O during the lockdown.

I L LU S T R AT I O N S : S A A H I L , T E X T BY S A A D A H M E D A N D A L K A G U P TA J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 11
BENGAL/CLASHES
Smoke On
The Horizon
Anti-Muslim sentiment related
to the COVID-19 outbreak
was at root of the recent
communal flare-ups in Bengal
Rajat Roy in Calcutta
C
OMMUNAL tension reared its
ugly head in West Bengal yet
again—the backdrop being
anxiety and temper brought on a
knife’s edge by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet, significantly, the flare-ups at
Telinipara in Hooghly district and
Harishchandrapur in Malda didn’t
materialise out of existing tension—an
organised hate campaign allegedly
fomented the trouble. Ever since the
Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi
emerged as a hotspot of the coronavi-
rus outbreak, a narrative was created
to link COVID-19 with all Muslims.
One politician in UP called for a
boycott of Muslim vegetable vendors;
still more accused Muslims of spread-
ing it deliberately. The canards were
especially vicious on social media. All
this had a direct bearing on the recent
communal cases in Bengal.
At Telinipara, a local, Sheikh Anwar,
tested positive for the coronavirus,
leading to rumours that Muslims were
spreading the pathogen. To maintain
social distancing, the police relocated a
market from the congested locality to
an open place, but Hindus barricaded
the road to the market in a way that
would prevent Muslims from the
neighbourhood access. Muslims retali-
ated by blocking the entry road to a
public toilet facility used by both com-
munities. The tension that gripped the
area on the night of May 9-10 was def­
used within two days. On May 12, a BJP
delegation led by MPs Locket
Chatterjee and Arjun Singh, Mukul Roy
and others called upon governor
12 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020
Leftovers A tangle of bicycles bore witness to the communal clash in Telinipara in Bengal
Jagdeep Dhankhar and complained
that the police failed to prevent the hos-
tile situation at Harishchandrapur and
Telinipara. Chatterjee told mediaper-
sons, claim some, that armed bands of
Muslims were engaged in looting and
arson, targeting Hindus. Yet, acc­ording
to local sources, when the delegation
was meeting Dhankhar in Calcutta, BJP
supporters allegedly crossed the Ganga
from Barrackpore, entered Telinipara
and lobbed petrol bombs on the area.
The situation was controlled after po-
lice sealed the ferry stations and made a
few arrests. Altogether, 134 people from
both communities were arrested; crude
bombs and weapons were recovered
from them. Significantly, police did not
have to resort to firing to calm matters.
Rubber bullets, tear gas and lathi
charges were enough to disperse
the crowd. Also, no one was killed in
the violence.
At Harishchandrapur in Malda, the im-
mediate cause of tension was the
return of migrant workers. Malda dis-
trict recorded its first coronavirus inf­
ection on April 27, when a worker
returning from Barasat, North 24
Parganas, tested positive. On April 29, a
patient who returned from Mumbai
tested positive; on May 3 another case
With lakhs of
migrant workers
about to pour in,
chances of more
communal fights
increase in Bengal.
emerged. Matters rested there till May 7,
when suddenly it spiked to seven cases.
All new patients came from Ajmer and
they are from Harishchandrapur—part
of a Muslim-majority district where
thousands earn a living in distant areas,
most coronavirus-positive migrant
workers in Malda are also Muslim.
Though there was negligible participa-
tion in the Tablighi congregation from
the district, a rumour campaign against
Muslims vis-a-vis the outbreak gained
ground. In such an env­ironment, return-
ing workers were treated with silent re-
sentment. That and the mandatory
quarantine irked them. The situation
was ripe for a flare-up, which broke out
on May 10-11. In the event, the fire was
doused quickly; four people from both
communities were arrested. Though the
situation in Harishchandrapur and
Telinipara is normal now, one may sur-
mise that the situation in the state—with
tens of lakhs of migrant workers about
to pour in from across the country in the
coming days—is primed for tense situa-
tions like these.
Governor Dhankhar’s patient hear-
ing of the BJP delegation’s com-
plaints—that the cases were a
handiwork of Muslims—was signifi-
cant too. However, facts indicate an
ext­ant, pandemic-related anti-Muslim
sentiment allegedly fanned by some. It
is clear that while the Narendra Modi
government is trying to push forward
its long-awaited labour reforms during
this pandemic, the BJP is allegedly
pushing to ext­ract political mileage
out of the existing tension brought
about by the disease. Indeed, all
political parties have an eye out for the
2021 assembly polls in West Bengal. O
 #BollywoodTalkiesOutlook

Bollywood
TALKies with

Episode - 2

Writer, director and

producer Kabir Khan
on his movies, stars and
favourite themes

in conversation with

Mitrajit Bhattacharya
Columnist & Author

WATCH THE
FULL INTERVIEW ON
@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
LOCKDOWN/VID-CALL

On a covided
planet, almost
everyone is
using a virtual
platform to
socialise, work
from home, or
‘see’ a doctor

Meet th e Tea m s a n d
Zoom Ah ea d
Jyotika Sood was blown. It had fallen off. The little toddler level in the event of a panic
commotion, the jam-stained night attack, or why it didn’t click that the

S
pants paired with a smart office shirt computer has an on-off switch? The
HE nearly jumped out of her skin were live-streaming all along for meeting ended on a lighter note—quite
when her three-year-old son everyone. Red-faced, she wondered a reprieve in these anxious times when
walked in on a meeting. Full aloud why her tech-savvy plummets to millions of homebound people are
Monty and crying at the top of his
lungs: “Mama, pee-pee…Mama,
pee-pee!” She dashed like a shot for a
post-it note and pasted it on the
computer camera—blocking the
24-people meeting from the full blast
of a puny intruder in her ‘office’. Or,
that’s what she thought. But before she
could tow junior to the loo, he emptied
his bladder on the floor. She seques-
tered him in his room, scrub-dried the
tinkle pool and resumed ‘work’. “Sorry
for the interruption.” She apologised.
But why the hell are they laughing?
“Change your pajamas,” a colleague
quipped. Well, her sticky note cover

Pakistani politician Shaukat Yousafzai live-

streamed a press conference unaware that
the Facebook cat filter was swtiched on

14 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

LOCKDOWN/VID-CALL
adjusting to the new realities of
stay-home, work from home. And, of
course, this life in a parallel reality
has its pitfalls, and some epic fails,
but without those ‘con-calls’ and
video conferences the world would
actually have come to a standstill.
In fact, if it wasn’t for virtual/video
calls, the government command centre
and its machinery would have been
biding its time under a rock in this age
of social distancing. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has been the first off
the block in holding regular meetings
with his ministers and bureaucrats
remotely. He held his fifth interaction
with chief ministers through vid-con
on May 11 when they discussed plans to
ease the lockdown. The Union and
state ministers are broadcasting their
message to the public through webi-
nars. The caveat for government offi-
cials working from home is that they
have to be attired “properly” and main-
tain all norms of office environment
during vid-cons. For its part, the
Opposition too has been live-stream-
ing its suggestions to the government
on the COVID-19 crisis. Congress’s
Rahul Gandhi has addressed the media
several times via vid-con.
Schools—especially those in urban
areas—started their new sessions from
April through virtual classes, or remote
coursework. The broadcasts are reso-
nating with students; and parents are
getting some relief from the constant
nag of “I am bored.” E-learning is get-
ting the government’s push as well,
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
with finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman announcing the Pradhan
Mantri e-VIDYA initiative for digital
education that includes online teach-
ing, and broadcasts through TV chan-
nels, radio and podcasts. Top 100
universities will be allowed to begin
online courses by May 30.
For the musically inclined, entire
concerts are happening over apps like
Zoom with members of the orchestra
sitting miles apart in the comfort of
their homes playing Mozart in C++
minor. With restaurants and bars shut-
tered, and takeaways almost non-exist-
ent, people are learning to cook samosa
and shushi, biriyani and bisi bele bath
through YouTube. Some for fun, some
as a necessity, and some in desperation
like Mr M who was brewing his own
toddy sundowner from coconut water.
And for the covidphobes, worried sick
over contamination of their food at the
source, takeaways like Instapizza has
introduced CrustFlix (www.instapizza.
in/crustflix)—customers can live-
stream activities in its kitchen all day,
every day. If anything goes wrong, doc-
tors are seeing patients online.
The biggest consumer of teleconfer-
encing is India Inc, which began its
2020-2021 fiscal and set targets with a
flurry of web meetings. “We have done
more than 350,000 meetings, more
than 60 events with thousands of par-
Britain’s Prince Charles and royal family
members in a video call with nurses
Karan Bajwa
Managing Director,
Google Cloud India
Google Meet is unique because: Its primary
aim is to make people stay connected.
Businesses across various industries—
healthcare, banking and finance, manufac-
turers, retailers, technicians etc—are using
Meet to stay connected. It is designed for
everyone such as hospitals supporting
patients via telehealth, banks working with
loan applicants, retailers assisting custom-
ers remotely, or manufacturers interacting
safely with warehouse technicians.
The revenue model: G Suite offerings for
businesses are paid and monetised. But
we have made Meet free and available to
businesses and consumers to help them
ride out the COVID-19 crisis. Anybody with
a Google account will be able to video call
with 100 people for as long as they want.
Safety first: Meet takes advantage of Google
Cloud’s secure-by-design infrastructure to
help protect your data and privacy. Meet’s
counter-abuse and security features are on
by default. Our meeting codes are 10 char-
acters long, with 25 characters in the set.
This makes it difficult to brute force “guess”
meeting codes. We limit the ability of
external participants to join the meeting
more than five minutes in advance,
reducing the window for an attack.
The features: Google Meet is accessible
directly through Chrome. In order to protect
high-risk accounts, enroll in the Advanced
Protection Program (APP). The data is
always encrypted by default with Google
meeting room hardware.
Response in price-sensitive India: Overall,
more than 3 million users have been con-
necting on Meet every day and are spend-
ing more than 3 billion minutes together—
more than 3,800 years of secure meetings
in a single day. Meet’s day over day growth
has surpassed 60 per cent in the past few
weeks and usage has surged by 30 times
to what it was in January.
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 15
LOCKDOWN/VID-CALL

ticipants in each. It is fascinating to left some participants in tears. No such

note the ease with which the employ- embarrassment has shocked users in
ees have used the platform and navi- India so far. But the home ministry, in a
gated through it on their own,” says B. 16-page advisory, warned that Zoom is
Ghosh, CIO, enterprise and corp func- not safe and susceptible to cyberat-
tions, Mahindra Group, which has been tacks that can lead to data leaks.
using Microsoft Teams since the lock- Sameer Raje, who heads Zoom’s India
down began in March. operations, clarifies that the holes have
The most popular teleconferencing been plugged and a filter introduced,
Sameer Raje software in India is turning out to be
Zoom, which has a daily user base of
which allows paid users and adminis-
trators to restrict their data from float-
Head, Zoom Video 300 million. From corporate meetings ing across the globe.
Communications India to high-profile weddings, most things Video calling has been around for
social are happening on this app. “It’s some time, but its demand has spiked
Zoom is unique because: We have a
easy. Even technically off-radar people only after the coronavirus outbreak
user base right from the largest enterprise
like me can use the app easily on their drove almost half of the world’s
to small and medium organisatons, as well
mobile phones. Besides, whether you population indoors. No doubt, compe-
as private tutors, yoga classes, dance
accept or not, it is much better in con- tition has been fierce so much so that
classes etc. We have licences that can necting with many people Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft
be deployed for an entire enterprise. We together than WhatsApp etc, where Teams, which were paid platforms, are
have Zoom licences for conference there is a limit on how many can join a not charging any money till 2020-end.
rooms and devices. We have cloud conversation,” says Ajit Arora, 65, a Apps are coming up with specialised
connectors too, and webinars. physician. He now ‘Zooms’ with his features such as in-app translations
Revenue model: Our India and global joint family every day, although there is into Indian languages during meetings,
models are similar. It’s subscription-based, always the risk of zoombombing. One background change during calls. Even
and charges depend on the monthly user such case was reported from Plymouth dating app Tinder has added a vid-con
licence. Currently, everyone’s using the plat- in southwest England when child sex feature and WhatsApp has
form free of cost. Our services, free for now, abuse footage popped up during a fit- increased its number of participants to
are available in more than 20 countries and ness class for about 60 children. Other eight for video calls. Facebook too has
more than 90,000 schools have signed up. zoombombed meetings include a rolled out its group video chat
wine-tasting event in Manchester that Messenger Rooms globally. It allows
Safety first: People love us because of
two reasons. First, it is simple, immersive
and frictionless. You don’t need heavy
software or device. Click and get in. Sec-
ond, for large organisations, where admin
and IT guys are worried about security and
functionality, we have robust features for
them too. They can analyse what’s going
on and where their meeting/con call data
is going. If you have Zoom licenced
software, you have a choice to select the
data centre to store your data.
The features: The solutions available in
the market are either IT-centric, or specific
for end users. The end-user solutions
may be shot down by an organisation’s IT
department because of trust issues. We
cater to both requirements. Users and
buyers, influencers, decision makers all
are happy about it.
The opposition towards Zoom: We grew
extremely fast, from 10 million to 300
million users a day within 12 weeks. This is
unmatched in the industry. This brought
a new set of users to our platform and
posed unique challenges. There were some
mistakes on our part as well. Needless to say
this brings a lot of focus to our services. Epic fail—vid-con gaffes like this are infusing some joy into an anxious life

16 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

LOCKDOWN/VID-CALL
free video calls with up to 50 people
with no time limit.
The competition, proliferation and
dangers posed by such foreign apps
have not gone unnoticed. Besides,
video calls consume huge data, around
1 GB an hour and it goes up depending
on the size of the group. And so, the
ministry of electronics and informa-
tion technology has launched an
‘Innovation Challenge for
Development of a Video Conferencing
Solution under the Digital India
Programme’—which, in simpler terms,
means the government wants a desi
platform that could compete with
Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft
Teams. The winner, to be picked on
July 29, will be contracted to design
and develop an app for the Union and
state governments. “Although issues
like privacy and data theft are there,
those are being covered through sub-
scription models. This is alarming. It’s
like you can have privacy only if you
have the money,” says a technology
exp­ert from Cisco, who doesn’t want to
be named. He suggests that people
should “look for the end-to-end
encryption security feature on an app”
before installing it. Another free adv­
ice: be discreet with what the permis-
sions you give to an app, which
invariably asks for access to your
phone contacts, media files etc before
you install it on your phone or tablet.
“All apps are vulnerable and you don’t
have anything foolproof in the world of
technology. The sole safety nets are
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Ladakh maths
teacher Kifayat
Hussain
conducts
online classes
from an
isolation centre
at a hospital.
Despite testing
positive for the
coronavirus, he
made sure his
students do
not miss
a class.
continuous surveillance by govern-
ment agencies and surprise checks. To
do this, we need stronger cyber laws
and a smart workforce to crack down
on infringements,” a cyber expert says.
The government has come up with a
proposed legislation—the personal
data protection (PDP) bill—ostensibly
to shield Indians from data leaks. It
also proposes to set up a data protec-
tion authority. The bill defines per-
sonal data as any information collected
online or offline that can be used to
identify a person (name, add­ress,
phone number, location, photographs,
call records et al). Information on
healthcare (those shared with a doctor
or on medical apps), banking and pay-
ment, sexual orientation, biometrics
(facial images, fingerprints, iris scans),
caste or tribe, religion and political be-
liefs fall in the sensitive category and
require a muscular, hack-proof protec-
tive cover. “The government is trying
its best to save personal data. We have
been directing all the big companies
dealing with data to have their data
houses in India,” a senior government
official says. That raises a fundamental
question: Who guarantees the data
won’t be misused if it falls into unscru-
pulous, powerful hands? It is as tricky
to predict as the naked kid ‘videobomb-
ing’ his mother’s conference. Or as
deb­atable as a Singapore court sen-
tencing a drug suspect to death on
Zoom—prosecutors were in different
locations because of the nation’s strict
social distancing measures. O
Samik Roy
Country Head, Modern
Workplace, Microsoft India
Microsoft Teams is unique because: It
supports eight Indian languages—Hindi,
Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Kan-
nada and Malayalam. Teams has real-time
inline translation too. Teams is a part of
the Office 365 suite of products, providing
users with a single interface that allows
access to all Microsoft Office solutions. It
provides the ability to work from anywhere,
anytime on any device. Our customers are
across segments, ranging from enterprises
to medium-sized organisations to small and
medium businesses and startups.
Safety first: At Microsoft, privacy and
security are never an afterthought. In Teams,
we provide privacy and security controls for
video conferences. We meet more than 90
global regulatory and industry standards.
The features: Meeting lifecycle—persistent
context, meeting scheduled in calendar,
notes, meeting recording captured in chan-
nel or chat (before/during/after). Native
integration with chat and in-chat transla-
tion to 60+ languages and immersive reader.
Collaboration and real-time coauthoring
with integrated O365 apps. Live events,
natively integrated in Teams. Allows users
to replace background at Teams meetings.
This feature uses artificial intelligence (AI)
to blur the backdrop environment. Smart
camera and image annotation.
Response in price-sensitive India: Our mis-
sion is to empower every person and every
organisation on the planet to achieve more.
Teams is a part of Microsoft Office 365 and
if your organisation is a licenced Office 365
user, you already have it. If not, we’ve you
covered with a free Office 365 E1 offer for six
months. If you work in education and want
to set up teachers, students, and adminis-
trators on Teams, use Office 365 A1. This free
version is available to all educational institu-
tions. For individuals, there is an automatic
free licence valid through January 2021.
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 17
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY

THE
FLU
SHOT
But is it the right vaccine
for the econodemic?

S U R E S H K . PA N D E Y
 THE GROWTH
STIMULUS
Lola Nayar Total Package
Rs 2,000,000 crore, or 10%
of GDP, announced in five
tranches, which included

Size matters. Or does it? It dep­ earlier reliefs of nearly

Rs 900,000 crore

ends on which side of the fence you First Tranche

are on. Ask the government, and it Almost Rs 600,000 crore of
contends that it has unleashed a emergency credit facilities for
business; subordinate debt
cocktail-combination of highly-effec- for stressed MSMEs; partial
tive economic drugs to ensure imme- guarantee and special liquidity
schemes; cut in PF rates
diate and efficient recovery. Talk to
the opposition, and it claims that the Second Tranche
grandiose policy package is a case of Rs 310,000 crore that
included free food grain to
too little, too late. The fact is that migrant workers for two months,
credit facility for street vendors,
none of them stand on firm ground more credit through Kisan Credit
because this is the worst crisis in a Cards, emergency working
capital, and interest subvention
century. None of us have seen some- of Mudra Shishu Loan
thing like this before; hopefully, none
of us will in the future.
Third Tranche
Rs 150,000 crore for farm
One of the points of contention is the quantum of money that and food processing activities,
the policy makers say that they have injected to kick-start the and infrastructure to improve
economy—Rs 2,000,000 crore, the fifth largest among all the trading in products of animal
nations. The second point of debate is the mix. Is it a judicious husbandry, fisheries, and
blend that has enough stimuli to drive up the knocked-out sup- bee-keeping
ply of goods and services, and pull back consumption that’s
down in the dumps? Finally, there is the question of timing—is
this the right time to push through big-bang reforms down the Fourth &
dying system’s throat?
Contradictions prevail. The government opened the pipeline Fifth Tranche
to help businesses to access capital easily. This works only if the Rs 48,100 crore to fund viability
banks are willing to part with money, and the borrowers are
gap, additional Rs 40,000 crore
ready to use it. The Centre hiked the expenditure on income
schemes like MNREGA. States forced workers to accept condi- to boost rural employment
tions that include lower pays without bonuses and overtime.
This is in a situation of overwhelming unemployment. Reforms Reforms included higher FDI
yield desired results during boom times; they lead to more pain limits in defence, entry of
during crises. private players in space sector,
change in definition of MSMEs
Is Size of Stimuli Suspect? to hike their investment limits,
One has to remember that the COVID-19 crisis is more expan- guidelines for ease of doing
sive, vast, and unknown than the previous ones. “It is deadlier business, reduction in tax
and more unpredictable. The hit to growth (across economies,
including India) will be higher,” feels Dharmakriti Joshi, chief
deducted at source, and sale
of public sector units

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
 2008 Isn’t = To 2020
Then and Now Finance ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Nirmala Sitharaman
I
T is understandable that econo-
mists compare 2020 with 2008.
Some maintain that the response
then was better than what one has
seen today. But this may be akin to
jumping the gun because there are
major differences between the two.
The first is that two different prime
ministers and two different regimes
were in place. In 2008, Manmohan
Singh’s hands were tied due to coali-
tion government’s pressures, but he
understood economics. In 2020,
Narendra Modi has a free hand, but
tends to centralise decisions.
The economy was in a better
shape then, and the global financial
crisis had little impact on Indian
banks because they were globally
secluded. In 2008, the GDP growth
was higher, and the collapse lower—
from 6.7 per cent to 5.5 per cent,
says Sebastian Morris of IIM-A.
Today, it may plummet from 5% to
2-3 per cent, or lower. The size of the
required stimulus package was
lower in 2008. The government had
more fiscal flexibility. Things are dif-
ferent in 2020, as the economy alr­
eady reeled under a slowdown, and
higher fiscal deficit.
Labour was affected dramatically in
both the crises. However, given the
coalition politics, and pressures from
socialist partners, Manmohan Singh’s
government went out of the way to
20 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020
“I haven’t heard anyone say
Wow! When somebody says
we’re going to put Rs 20 lakh
crore, I would like to believe that
at least some part of it would be
real and effective but I haven’t
heard from even those who have
a better comprehension.“
Rajiv Bajaj
MD & CEO, Bajaj Auto
protect jobs. In fact, Jet Airways was
forced to withdraw its decision to
sack employees due to political pres-
sure. Currently, the states have seen
the crisis to get rid of some of the
res­trictive labour laws that hamper
businesses. It may be a different mat-
ter that some allege that a few states
have gone overboard.
Although exports plunged in 2008,
which impacted sections of agricul- “The additional borrowing and
ture, the farm sector wasn’t drasti-
cally affected. This isn’t the case this additional expenditure (over
time. The rural economy may be
worse hit, at least over the next few
and above the expenditure
months, because of the reverse mig­ budget of Rs 30,42,230 crore)
ration of unorganised, temporary, and
non-contractual workers. They can will be the true measure of the
hide safely for a few months, but they fiscal stimulus.”
will feel the pich if they are not gain-
fully employed by September this P. Chidambaram
year. This may result in a new crisis. Former finance minister
Stimulus, and indirect one, was the
economic silver bullet in 2008. Since
the global problem was with the entire
financial sector, it was crucial to sup-
port the banks and financial “About half of the package
institutions through credit liquidity.
This was easily done by central banks covers fiscal measures that had
of various countries, including India. previously been announced and
The direct benefit, or putting money
into the hands of the consumers, also include the estimated
wasn’t as critical as it is in 2020. Those
were different times, and it is only a
economic impact of monetary
theoretical exercise to compare the stimulus from the RBI.”
two responses. O Credit Rating Fitch Solutions
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY

PTI

economist, CRISIL. Pronab Sen, without collateral to enable them to

programme director, IGC India
Programme, adds, “India has lost 8
per cent of her GDP, compared to a
year ago.” At best, the country’s
growth may be 2-3 per cent in 2020,
at worst zero or negative. Like other
nations, India is caught in a vicious
economic whirlpool.
Therefore, what was required was a
response as large as the predicted
imp­act. Instead, according to Sen,
what we got was something that only
addressed “roughly half” of the exp­
ected downturn. He explains that a
fair amount of (economic) damage
will be left within the system.
Sebastian Morris of IIM-A is more
specific. The actual expenditure env­
isaged by the government is Rs
92,000 crore, of which Rs 54,000
crore will boost private consumption,
and the rest will contribute to public
investment and spending.
To understand the contentions of
Sen and Morris, one needs to differen-
tiate between, and dissect, the two
main components of the package. A
portion of it is to indirectly help busi-
nesses—for example, through loans
Corona in
Wonderland # 1
“What in the world
is happening?
Ah, that’s a great
puzzle.”
In today’s world, everyone is
mystified by what hit us,
and how. Worse, no one
knows the way out.
res­­­tart operations. This is supply-side
economics. It has no consequences on
demand. People who have lost jobs or
seen their salaries contract don’t have
the money to buy. It was, thus, impera-
tive to put money in their hands. And
this hasn’t been countered adequately.
For the government, it was a tricky
manoeuvre, a delicate balancing-act
given the constraints. The paralysis in
economic activity for 1-2 months im-
plies that its revenues will take a huge
hit. Given the fact that it hiked the fis-
cal deficit in the last Budget to cope
with the then ongoing slowdown pro-
vides little elbow-room to spend
higher amounts, and allow the deficit
to go out of hand. The government
cannot borrow endlessly, or print
more notes. These can lead to both
predictable and unintended outcomes.
One of them is the fear of a down-
grade, both of the nation’s credit rat-
ing, as well as those of the Indian
companies. Since the Financial Crisis
of 2008, when the global rating agen-
cies were severely criticised for failure
to predict it, these institutions have
become nervous. They are willing to

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 21
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY

“The stage is set to rebuild

industry and economy. Listening
to the measures gave us confi-
dence, our government is ready
and will lead from the front.”
Sangita Reddy
FICCI President

“MSMEs are India’s backbone.

Liquidity and credit guarantees
for banks and NBFCs will help
remove hesitation in lending.
Friction-free implementation
can slowly convert adversity
to advantage.”
Kunal Bahl
Co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal

“This is the size of support

required, given the state of the
economy...It is important this
10% be truly in addition to the
already committed government
expenditure and interventions,
and is not a reclassification.”
Azim Premji
J I T E N D E R G U P TA
Founder, Wipro
22 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

downgrade any country at the first
signs of trouble. The medium term
implications of a lower rating can be a
ruthless and ongoing negative effect
on the economy. India cannot afford
to take such risks at this juncture.
Sparks to Spur Supply
A large chunk of the revival package­—
some say a glaring majority of it—is to
benefit companies, especially the
small and medium (MSMEs) ones. It
seems that the government feels that
if it gives enough indirect incentives
to such units, they can be propelled
into action, and pull the economy out
of the present malaise. Such benefits
include easy loans, tremendous flexi-
bility in labour laws—Uttar Pradesh
suspended all of them, except three—
ease of doing business, prompt pay-
ments, and potential orders.
For instance, only an Indian com-
pany can now bid for procurement
tenders up to Rs 200 crore each issued
by public sector firms. This can lead to
more business for the MSMEs.
However, the definition of an Indian
company is unclear. Will it include
purely “desi’ entrepreneurs with ma-
jority Indian stakes, or also foreign
MNCs that have set up fully-owned
and majority-owned Indian subsidiar-
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Corona in
Wonderland # 2
“If you want to get
somewhere else,
you must run at
least twice fast
as that.”
It doesn’t matter if the
stimulus size is Rs 2,000,000
crore. We need another
Rs 800,000 crore in
direct spending.
PTI
ies? Similarly, the package included
an assurance of prompt payments of
pending dues to ease cash-flows of
the MSMEs.
Experts question the efficacy of the
loan windows given to the MSMEs.
“The stimulus is largely through credit
guarantee scheme of Rs 300,000
crore. This is contingent liability, and
there is no infusion of money. This
does not ensure the desired multi-
plier effect, as is the case with direct
investment (transfer),” explains
Vikas Srivastava of IIM-K. One isn’t
sure if the banks, plagued with bad
loans and write-offs, will offer credit.
There is a concern that firms may use
the money foolishly, resulting in
more bad loans in the future.
Subhash Garg, the former central fi-
nance secretary, estimates that the
government promised to provide such
loans to 4.5 million MSMEs. The fig-
ure is only a small percentage of 75
million units in this sector. Politics,
crony capitalism, and favouritism may
play a role in the disbursement of the
funds. Instead of firms, which are in a
position to turn around and become
profitable, the money may go to those
that use it inefficiently, or siphon it off.
In a crisis like this one, there may be
no checks and balances.
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOW K 23
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY

To ease labour shortages, especially

due to reverse migration of workers
from the uncertainty of their urban
workplaces to the security and safety
of villages, several states drastically
changed their laws. These measures
will provide flexibility to factory own-
ers to hire-and-fire workers, hike
working hours by 50 per cent, and
limit expenses under many heads. The
states feel that these will increase for-
eign investment, and incentivise ent­
repreneurs to open their shutters, and
enhance production.
Clearly, the flip side is that the new
guidelines, or the lack of them, will ac-
celerate reverse migration, and dis-
suade workers, especially the
migrants, to come back. They may
rather seek employment in areas
closer to their homes, or opt for inc­
ome-generating schemes like
MNREGA, whose budget was recently
hiked by the Centre as a part of its rec­
overy package. If this happens, it will
derail the economy for a longer period.
Instead of a V-shape upturn, one may
witness a dreaded U-shape one.

Cures to Catapult
Consumption
Given the nature of the COVID-19 cri-
sis, the dire need of the hour was to
push demand. The loss of millions of
jobs, and salary reductions implied
that the government had to put more
money in the pockets of both urban
and rural consumers. This could be in
the form of direct money transfer to
the poor, aid in the form of free and
cheap food items, lower across-the-
board taxes to hike disposable in-
comes, and a fillip to welfare schemes
that generate incomes. The Centre
has done all this. Economists feel it
hasn’t done enough.
Expenditure on MNREGA, which
was reduced in this year’s Budget, was
recently hiked by Rs 40,000 crore. In
addition, the poor and migrant work-
ers were promised additional alloca-
tion of free grains and pulses to
prevent starvation. Economists think
that one of key problems with
MNREGA was the delays in payments.
If they persist, the higher allocation
will lose its relevance because the
people need the money now, rather
than a month or two later. The free
A P O O R VA S A L K A D E

24 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020


monthly ration is inadequate to feed a
typical family.
The problem lies with the meagre
transfer of cash into the bank ac-
counts of the suffering sections.
“There is a very small fiscal component
(in the package) that is directly con-
tributed from the central exchequer.
The fiscal (direct) stimulus is much
less than what was given during the
2008 crisis,” says D.K. Srivastava, chief
policy advisor, EY India. Individuals
and companies received no major tax
concessions, except a delay in post-
ponement of taxes, and a reduction in
tax deducted at source, which is a
temporary relief.
Let’s take a look at what was done for
the farm sector. Y. K. Alagh, a ren­
owned economist, points out that
most decisions related to the older
schemes and policies, like the farmer
producer organisation. “They will lead
to more benefits only if the govern-
ment puts money into them. Neither
is there real funding for such schemes,
nor is it under a rule-based system,”
he adds. In effect, in the recent past,
there were huge mismatches between
budget allocations for agriculture, and
actual annual spending.
One of the ways to do so was to give
more leeway to the states to hike their
expenditure. While the Centre has
rel­ied on the states to initiate pro-act­
ive steps, it was done without giving
them the required resources.
Although the states were allowed to
borrow more, it was to a limited ext­
ent, and one isn’t sure how the
amount will be utilised, says Joshi.
Sen contends that the states “front-
ended their borrowings”, which will
lead to a crunch later on. The Centre
needs to be the chief financier so that
the states can deliver.
Reluctant Reforms
and Reformers
Reforms are best done when the econ-
omy is in a good shape. Unfortunately,
in India, as in other countries, they are
pursued during extreme crises. In 1991,
they were kicked off by a bal-
ance-of-payment emergency. In the
early 2000s, they were forced by US
sanctions due to India’s nuclear tests in
1998. Today, COVID-19 has encouraged
the regime to announce long-delayed
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
COVER
COVID-19
STORY
Corona in
Wonderland # 3
“I don’t think....”
“Then you should
not talk.”
“clogged” and there is “lack of clarity”
You cannot think that strict
labour laws will get workers to
produce more. And talk about
higher MNREGA spending to
keep them in villages.
Corona in
Wonderland # 4
“It’s no use going
back to yesterday,
because I was a
different person
then.”
One cannot compare
2008 with 2020. Those were
different times with different
heads of states, and
state of the economy
structural reforms. Morris says that
while the policies are in the “right direc-
tion”, they will not work “due to height-
ened global and domestic uncertainty”.
Theoretically, the moves to allow
farmers to “sell their produce freely”
through deregulation of the trade in
several commodities, is laudable. But
these may benefit the farmers over
the next few years. In the short run,
they are unable to trade, says Alagh.
He adds that the trade channels are
about freight movement. The Centre
and states don’t have the plans to pre-
vent the hijacking of the freer distri-
bution routes by rich famers,
middlemen, and large companies.
Instead of the big bang reforms, which
could have come later once the econ-
omy perked up a bit, there was a need to
introduce smaller changes and altera-
tions to tackle the immediate needs. For
example, local and regional economic
linkages should have received priority.
One of the major problems of partial
lockdown today, and the division of the
country into red, orange and green
zones, is the mess they have created in
India Inc. Business are unable to cope
with the confusion among the authori-
ties. “My factory is in the green zone,
distributors are in the orange one, and
warehouses are in the red zone. I am
ess­entially immobilised. I cannot com-
mence operations,” complains a leading
Delhi-based businessman. The situa-
tion is the same for scores of others. In
addition, the factories may be in the
green zones, but the labour has to come
from red and orange ones. Clearly, there
was a need to look at the opening up of
the lockdown in a more comprehensive
manner from the business point of view.
Going forward, suggests EY’s
Srivastava, the government needs to
learn its lessons. This may be an oppor-
tune time to locate new industries in
specific, well-thought-out rural-urban
corridors so that businesses can use lo-
cally-available resources like labour,
and logistics. The overall industrial
policy has to be re-examined in this
context. COVID-19 has impacted us in
myriad ways that were both unex-
pected and unbelievable. It’s high time
that the nation moves ahead in ways
that can lead to growth, and protect the
economy from similar crises at a later
date. The future, as they say, is here. O
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOW K 25
 COVER
COVID-19
STORY

Bully in
Bear Den
In this Great Lockdown, why some stocks shot up by 60-70
per cent? What explains such bewildering trends?

Yagnesh Kansara in Mumbai

The global stock markets can be irrational,

as well as rooted in facts. They can behave in
mysterious ways, as well as in a manner that’s
logical and commonsensical. Sometimes, they
move in sync and, at other times, they show ob-
stinacy towards each other. This interplay can
lead to trends that are both weird and scien-
tific. Nothing epitomises this better than the
defiance and convergence between the indices
like the Dow Jones and NASDAQ in America,
and the Indian Sensex over the few months
during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

I L LU S T R AT I O N : S A A H I L B H AT I A

26 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020


On February 12 this year, the
American Dow Jones was at a high of
29,551. It dipped by 37 per cent in 39
days (March 23). Over the next 57
days, by May 19, it climbed up to over
24,000, a rise of 30 per cent. A similar
trend was noticed in the behaviour of
the Sensex. From February 12 to
March 23, it plunged by 37 per cent,
and then soared by 16 per cent by May
19. On April 30, the index was at 33,718,
which signified an upturn of 30 per
cent from its March 23 low. The simi-
larities were uncanny; the two seemed
closely coupled.
In comparison, the NASDAQ, which
comprises technology stocks, seemed
to defy the insidious impact of the
coronavirus pandemic. From its high
in February, it tumbled by 30 per cent
by March 23, but then surprisingly—
actually shockingly—it almost regained
the entire losses. On May 19, it stood at
9,185, only marginally down from its
high of 9,818. Was this movement
rational or irrational? Why did the
Dow Jones and Sensex rebound during
the period when both the respective
economies were shuttered.
Before we answer these questions, a
look at a couple of stocks will add to the
complexities and creepiness of the
stock markets. One of them is Reliance
Industries, which is promoted by
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
India’s wealthiest person, Mukesh
Ambani. From a price of almost Rs
1,500 on February 19, the scrip took a
deep dive to below Rs 900 by March 23.
Then it rocketed to a peak of Rs 1,562—
the highest in 2020. It seemed as if in-
vestors, day-traders, and speculators
had combined together to propel the
stock to new levels.
India Cements is another stock that
seem to buck the overall trend—and
how. Apart from two small descents,
and one elongated not-too-low depres-
sion, the stock boomed from Rs 72 on
February 18 to Rs 118 on May 19, a two-
thirds escalation. On May 15, the scrip
its 52-week high, and there were days,
like February 26, when it hit the daily
upper circuit, i.e. the specific top limit
for the daily increase in the price of
each stock. Of course, there is a narra-
tive that drove the scrip crazy, but we
will discuss it later.
The obvious question is: What’s hap-
pening to the global indices, and indi-
vidual stocks? It doesn’t make sense
for the indices to bounce back during
the worst period of the pandemic,
when the entire world was paralysed—
or at least most parts of it. It is unfath-
omable that when comparisons were
being made with the Great Depression
of 1930s—Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s
chief economist, called 2020 the year
PTI
of the Great Lockdown—a few stocks
zoomed by 60-70 per cent.
Economists and stock experts give
several reasons to explain these bewil-
dering trends.
Lockdown Effect
American online trading platforms
reported unusual increases in vol-
umes. E-trade said that its volumes in
April 2020 were thrice as large as in
April 2019. TD Ameritrade said that “it
did more than three million trades a
day in April (2020), compared with
817 thousand a year earlier”. Richard
Thaler, a Nobel Prize winner told an
American weekly that investors possi-
bly have time on their hands due to
lockdowns. “It could be that it’s just a
lot of people have a lot of time on their
hands,” he explained.
According to a recent piece in New
Yorker, gamblers, who could not go to
the casinos, shifted attention to stocks
to use their speculative skills to make a
killing on the exchange. A fast-moving
market, which goes up and down by a
few hundred points to a few thousand
ones almost on a daily basis, is attrac-
tive to the day-traders. They are inter-
ested in price movements that can be
as small as 50 paise a day. For them to
be able to earn Rs 5-10 a share, which is
inevitable in a volatile market, is a
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOW K 27

dream come true.
Optimism Effect
It is firmly believed among certain sec-
tions that the stock markets are quick
to react upwards, sometimes much be-
fore the crisis ends. Hence, the re-
bound in stocks can happen before the
uptick in economic growths. In recent
times, this was witnessed in the US
markets towards the end of 2018, and
beginning of the next year. There is an
undying belief that the V-shape curve
is inevitable during the recoveries of
equities from their bottom. The inves-
tors think that the central banks and
governments won’t fail them.
Robert Shiller, another Nobel Prize
winner known for his book, Irrational
Exuberance, said in an interview that
the V-shape conviction isn’t true.
He explained that the bear mar-
ket of the Great Recession of
2007-08 began in September
2007, and the market didn’t bot-
tom out till February 2009.
During the Great Depression,
the fall “began with the Wall
Street crash of October 1929 and
lasted until the middle of 1932”.
During the period, the US mar-
ket was depressed by 80 per cent,
and “did not hit new highs” till
the 1950s.
‘Promoters’ Impact
Companies that had scheduled
their rights issues are expected
to get a tepid response in these mar-
ket conditions. Hence, their promot-
ers may be expected to react in several
ways. A few may urge their loyal bro-
kers, and supportive institutional in-
vestors, to go on a buying spree to
maintain stock prices, or even drive
them northwards. Others may accept
the inevitable, and directly or indi-
rectly subscribe to the portions of the
issues that remain unsold. They will
wish to sell these shares later at
higher prices.
One of the reasons for the spurt in
the Reliance Industries’ counter over
the past few months was the expecta-
tion of the rights issue, which opened
on May 20. Another positive for the
stock was Facebook’s decision to in-
vest Rs 43,574 crore in Reliance Jio
(telecom arm) platforms. In return,
FB acquired 9.99 per cent stake in the
28 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020
COVER
COVID-19
STORY
latter. Simultaneously, Reliance
Retail, Mukesh Ambani’s retail opera-
tions, inked a commercial partnership
with FB-owned WhatsApp. The for-
mer will support small businesses
on WhatsApp.
Cash-rich companies, which haven’t
been hurt much by the coronavirus,
may use the lower stock prices as an
opportunity to buy back their shares,
instead of using the money in its cof-
fers to pay higher dividends or issues
shares for free through bonus issues. A
few experts envisage a flooding of buy-
back offers from the promoters in the
near future. Such hopes among the
investors have the tendency to push up
prices of select stocks. If these stocks
happen to be heavyweights, they influ-
ence the indices.
Cash Factor
In times like these, when the markets
and most other asset categories are
down, cash becomes the king. Most in-
vestors try to remain liquid, and adopt
a wait-and-watch attitude. But this
may not be true of aggressive and large
investors, who see the lower prices as
an opening to increase their stakes.
Take the case of Radhakishan Damani
who, along with family members, in-
creased his stake in the Chennai-based
India Cements to almost 20 per cent.
This was the major reason for the
stock’s recent spurt.
Damani has emerged as a major
Indian entrepreneur. He is ranked No.
2 richest Indian, with a wealth of
nearly $17 billion, on the Forbes ‘Real-
Time List’ of the world’s wealthiest, be-
hind Mukesh Ambani ($52.6 billion).
The stock price of Avenue Supermarts,
owned by Damani, shot up from just
above Rs 600 in March 2017 to Rs
2,454 on May 20 this year. It is almost
at the same level as its previous high on
February 13, 2020. Like Reliance
Industries and India Cements,
Damani’s stock seems to be
COVID-proof.
Safer investors, who are sitting on
cash, are also lured during a crisis to
invest in known blue chips, which are
available at lower prices, but are bound
to do well when the going becomes
good. Among the Indian stocks, these
include renowned MNCs, as well as
Indian firms that have consistently
done well, and are managed profes-
sionally. Such secure buying, along
with opportunistic ones, has an up-
ward impact on stock indices.
Loss-aversion Bias
Almost three decades ago, Amos
Teversky and Daniel Kahneman
demonstrated what is called the
loss-aversion bias among hu-
mans. It contends that “losses
are twice as powerful compared
to equivalent gains”. Thus, a loss
of Rs 100 will give twice as grief
to a person, compared to the
happiness with a similar Rs 10
gain. In practice, it implies that
most of us display a tendency to
be risk-averse, rather than seek
risk. This can manifest in differ-
PTI ent ways in varying situations.
In the case of owners of stocks, the
bias reflects in propensity to retain
them, even if the prices are considera-
bly down, and the best option is to sell.
Investors continue to hold to
loss-making stocks in the hope that
prices will go up in the near future.
This is most evident during stock crisis
and market crashes, when it may be
better to sell, stay in cash, and buy the
same or other stocks at lower prices.
On an overall basis, this reduces the
selling pressure, and increases the
chances of an upward volatility.
The above factors contribute to the
volatility, and result in short phases of
upward and down movement of the in-
dices. Rest assured that if the negatives
overshadow the positives, the bears
can crush the markets for longer peri-
ods. Obviously, the bulls gain an upper
hand if the opposite becomes true. O
 Episode - 4

Six
Years of
Modi
Sarkaar
Bhupender Yadav Bhavna Vij-Aurora
Rajya Sabha MP and Political Editor,
BJP General Secretary Outlook

join us on
@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
on
May 23, Saturday, 6:00 pm
COVER STORY
OPINION/SUBHASH GARG
Missing the Real Kick
The ‘stimulus’ cost little and will deliver even less
THE lockdown imposed in
March knocked down the
economy, causing a GDP
loss of over Rs 20 lakh
crore and rendering over 100 million
workers jobless. The finance minister
delivered a huge ‘economic stimulus’
in five tranches. Will it lead to survival
and revival, and put the economy back
on the rails, or will it act like a mere
band-aid?
About 70 per cent of businesses
remained shuttered in the first 40 days
since March 24. Nearly 50 per cent
were closed until the end of the next
phase, i.e. May 17. A third of the econ-
omy is likely to be disrupted during the
ongoing Lockdown 4.0. The economic
pain has fallen disproportionately on
small businesses and their workers.
Many jobs might be permanently lost.
Firms as well as employees needed fis-
cal support to survive the catastrophe.
The stimulus was required to generate
consumption and investment demand.
The design and contents of the pack-
age are striking. It uses credit channel
(more than 90 per cent) to deliver its
punch. The fiscal impact is less than Rs
1.5 lakh crore (0.75 per cent of GDP). It
rolls in four principal interventions—
the RBI’s support to banks, banks’
credit to small businesses, creation of
infrastructure through borrowings, and
immediate clearance of pending bills.
The first tranche of stimulus prom-
ised additional credit of Rs 3 lakh
crore, backed by government guaran-
tee, to 4.5 million standard MSMEs—a
miniscule percentage of the total 75
million MSMEs. About 70 million
micro enterprises, which suffered the
most, will not get the loans. In addi-
tion, the credit-worthiness of 4.5 mil-
lion firms weakened during the earlier
lockdown. The banks will be averse to
grant additional credit to them.
SIDBI issued a scheme on May 16 to
operationalise the government guar-
antee. A fifth of the credit assurance
30 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020
FO R M E R F I N A N C E A N D EC O N O M I C
A F FA I R S S EC R E TA RY
was diluted to 10 per cent and 15 per cent in the scheme. Additional loans
might substitute their normal increase in credit limits. Only the future
will tell how many MSMEs will get the additional loans. What the MSMEs
needed were grants to tide over the difficult times.
More than half of the package comprises liquidity measures. Liquidity is
neither credit nor stimulus. It only ensures that the financial system does
not freeze and keeps functioning. These measures are, however, the fla-
vour of the season. The RBI’s support to banks and governments, of about
Rs 8 lakh crore, was announced in March and April. It has proved to be a
dud so far. The banks have returned more liquidity to the RBI by deposit-
ing Rs 8 lakh crore.
The largest liquidity measures envis-
age the clearance of outstanding pay-
ments of DISCOMs. State-owned
NBFCs, like PFC and REC, would pro-
vide loans of Rs 90,000 crore to
DISCOMs to clear the dues of pow-
er-generating companies like NTPC and
other suppliers. Clearing of bills is no
stimulus. It merely substitutes creditor
A by creditor B.
In another measure, the government
promised guarantee to special purpose
vehicles (SPVs) for raising loans of Rs
About 70 million 30,000 crore to buy investment grade
papers of NBFCs, HFCs and micro-fi-
micro enterprises, nance institutions. They have a long ges-
which suffered the tation period. When will the SPV be
created, when will it raise loans, and
most, will not get when will it buy such papers? The other
decision was to make more assets eligi-
the loans. They ble for the Rs 45,000 crore scheme of
need grants to ride partial risk guarantee, which was
announced in Budget 2019. This has not
out the storm. taken off, and is unlikely to.
A number of announcements were
made to target infrastructure investments. A ‘fund of fund’ was proposed
to channellise equity of Rs 50,000 crore in MSMEs. Another Rs 1 lakh
crore agri infrastructure fund was aimed to build farm-gate infrastruc-
ture. A Rs 10,000 crore scheme was also proposed for formalisation of
micro food enterprises. An additional Rs 20,000 crore was to flow to fish-
ermen through Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
Most of these funds and schemes are part of the existing budget.
Building a ‘fund of fund’ is an impossible feat. Likewise, re-financing
farm-gate infrastructure through banks, cooperative institutions etc will
take years. From the fiscal point of view, though, the government struck a
good deal. There is a saying in Hindi, “heeng lage na fitkari, rang bhi choko
hoye” (Without too much effort, you can generate vibrant colours). The
stimulus will not cost much to the government. But, in this case, it will not
lead to survival support. O (Views are personal)
 World Going
Towards Greater
Insularity
Says

Dr. Shashi
Tharoor
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

on

Corona and
the new world
order
In conversation with

Satish Padmanabhan
Executive Editor, Outlook

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON

@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
COVER STORY INTERVIEW/SWADESHI ECONOMY
T R I B H VA N T I WA R I

Swadeshi Jagran Manch

(SJM), an affiliate of the
RSS, is gung-ho over Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
call for an Atmanirbhar
Bharat as part of the
post-pandemic economic
revival. SJM national
co-convenor Ashwani
Mahajan tells Bhavna
Vij-Aurora that it is a vindi-
cation of the organisation’s
30-year-long struggle, and it
is time to repose trust in
indigenous talent, resources
and knowledge.

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi announced the Rs 20

‘Vocal-for-local will
lakh crore COVID-19 pack-
age and called for self-reli-
ance or ‘Atmanirbhar
Bharat Abhiyan’. Are you

stop unfair Chinese

happy with the move?
➞ The Prime Minister has
echoed what the Swadeshi
Jagran Manch has been say-
ing over the past 30 years. It
is a vindication of our long
struggle to see India eco-
nomically independent and
self-reliant. We are support-
ing the government com-
pletely in this endeavour
and launched a pan-India
Swadeshi Swavlamban
Abhiyan (self-reliance cam-
paign) from May 19 to
spread awareness.
How does your campaign
dovetail with the govern-
ment’s self-reliance call?
➞ We are drawing a compre-
hensive plan to involve peo-
ple from all walks of life,
including workers, farmers,
dumping of goods’
small-scale entrepreneurs,
academicians, technocrats,
industry and trade leaders,
to spread awareness and
promote swadeshi or local
products. We will also dis-
tribute lists of such products.
This is the time for hand-
holding of local, small-scale
manufacturers, artisans and
small businesses. District-
level committees will be con-
stituted involving people
from industry and trade
activists for this purpose.
There is still some ambigu-
ity about what defines
‘local’ in context of
swadeshi. Does it mean
products manufactured by
Indians within the country?
Or will it include products
made in India by MNCs?
➞ When you say local, it is
the narrowest form of
swadeshi. In addition to
goods made by Indian man-
ufacturers, it would also
encompass companies with
foreign equity but where
Indian equity is more than
51 per cent.
There is hardly any case for
ambiguity. Local means a
product used at the local
level, produced by our indig-
enous industry—small,
medium or cottage industry.
It also includes GIs (Geo-
graphical Indications) like
Kancheepuram silk,
Moradabad metal craft, Firo-
zabad glass and Blue pottery
of Jaipur. It also means

32 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

COVER STORY INTERVIEW/SWADESHI ECONOMY
decentralised production
model and use of domestic
resources and talent.
You believe that the local
indigenous industries need
a push?
➞ It’s unfortunate that pol-
icy makers in the past never
reposed trust in indigenous
talent, resources and knowl-
edge. There was over-emp­
hasis on public sector and
later on foreign capital and
MNCs. PM Modi’s call of
‘vocal for local’ is a pleasant
departure from the existing
policy based on globalisa-
tion and liberalisation,
especially foreign capital
dependent model of
development.
It is time to revive those
local industries that were
taken for granted in the era
of globalisation. It is also
time to usher in economic
policies that produce wel-
fare, sustainable incomes,
help job creation and, all in
all, put faith in the people.
There are more than 700
MSME clusters in the coun-
try with a long and prosper-
ous history of industrial
development. Many of these
clusters lost their sheen due
to unfair competition from
China and unfair import
policies. They have to be
supported and strengthened
by all means so that they not
only create employment
opportunities but also pro-
duce high-quality products
in the most economical cost.
More such industrial clus-
ters would be identified at
the district level all over the
country for ushering in
future growth in
manufacturing.
Do you think the coronavi-
rus outbreak has nudged the
country towards swadeshi?
➞ There is definitely a con-
text here. Coronavirus has
already accelerated the col-
lapse of the existing model of
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
globalisation, with lessons in
self-reliance. Two weeks
before the Prime Minister
talked about it in his address,
sarsanghchalak ji (RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat) had called
for national reconstruction
through swadeshi and self-
reliance. He had also talked
about the model based on
decentralisation, using indig-
enous talent, giving employ-
ment to our youth.
It can also be called
‘sanatan’, invoking the phi-
losophy of integral human-
ism as put forth by
Deendayal Upadhyaya and
later by Dattopant Theng-
adi. We are seeing its adop-
tion in a new context.
There is a fear among some
sections that the emphasis
on local may make India
isolationist?
➞ This is not isolation. We
are not breaking relations
with other countries. We are
“The virus outbreak has already
accelerated the collapse of the
existing model of globalisation...
no logic in blindly importing in
the name of free trade.”
moving towards fair trade.
China has been dumping
goods in our country since
years, killing almost all our
manufacturing industry. The
government has risen to the
occasion and there has been a
conscious effort to ban Chi-
nese goods. Even Piyush
Goyal (minister of commerce
and industry) had earlier said
at a meeting with us that we
are proud to be swadeshi.
Protection of our people and
industry against unfair trade
is not a crime. There is no
logic in blindly importing in
the name of free trade. Pro-
tectionism is seen as a dirty
word, with negative connota-
tions, in the past three dec-
ades. It is not a crime. The
government, for the first
time, in February 2018,
raised tariff to protect our
industry. The trade deficit
with China had come down
from $63 billion in 2017-18 to
$53 billion in 2018-19. It has
come down further.
Also, to make self-reliance
work, the government needs
to do major structural
changes. Most industries
are working below capacity.
Jobs have to be created.
India has so much potential.
If we can launch 104 satel-
lites in a single rocket into
space, why can’t we manu-
facture computer parts that
we import from China.
Do you think that in the
post-lockdown world, India
has an opportunity to
enhance its economic might
at the cost of China?
➞ This thought is being
echoed everywhere. The
world over countries are
realising that self-reliance,
or rather self-sufficiency, is
the best policy. China is
going to be the biggest loser,
losing out on various counts.
One, on demand, as it is
bound to face cancellation
of orders. Second, by reloca-
tion of various MNCs from
their soil. And last, it is
going to lose infra projects
in over 65 countries that
were part of China’s Belt
and Road Initiative.
What is your view on priva-
tisation of PSUs in non-stra-
tegic sectors that the
government has
announced? Your sister
organisation, the Bharatiya
Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), has
opposed it.
➞ We have always been
against privatisation, espe-
cially the strategic route to
disinvestment of PSUs that
was undertaken under the
Vajpayee government. We
are also against disinvest-
ment of BPCL and Air India
as planned by this govern-
ment. These issues must be
resolved. We have seen the
resolution of BMS, and are
in the process of making up
our mind on supporting it.
Lastly, what do you have
to say about thousands of
migrants walking home
in misery? Do you think
that the government has
failed them?
➞ I don’t think, the govern-
ment has failed them. The
government has made all
efforts in taking them home.
Even the states have made
efforts. Civil society—the
RSS and many NGOs—is
also working hard.
At this point, I want to ask
all policy-makers and glo-
balisation apologists—that if
globalisation was a suc-
cess—why are the majority
of labourers still in this
shape? Over 37 per cent
children between one and
five years are still stunted.
The average wages, from
1991 to 2016-17, had gone up
by seven per cent, while
inflation went up by 6.5 per
cent, barely leaving any sur-
plus for the people.
They were in the same
miserable position 50 years
ago. It is all because of eco-
nomic policies of the Con-
gress. Those who are
responsible are now
shedding crocodile tears at
their plight. O
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 33
CINEMA/PRIME CUT
Small Screen,
Big Locha
As movies release directly on streaming platforms
during the lockdown, theatre owners seethe and
threaten ‘retributive’ measures
Giridhar Jha
T
HE week around Eid
ul-Fitr is a carnival for
multiplexes teeming
with movie buffs united by their
shared love for Salman Khan.
Undeterred by an overnight hike
in ticket prices, they wait for
their turn to see their beloved
Bhai—as the 54-year-old star is
known among his die-hard
admirers—unleash magic yet
again on the big screen.
But as fate would have it, there
is no activity at all now, let alone
celebrations, at multiplexes, just
Hit Hiatus Akshay Kumar in Laxmmi Bomb
(left) and Kapil Dev’s biopic ’83
34 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020
a deathly silence. Reeling under the
impact of extended lockdowns, thea-
tres across the country have been
wearing a desolate look shorn of glitz
for more than two-and-a-half months.
Worse still, there are no signs of things
looking up anytime soon.
This unexpected twist was not there in
the original B-town script until March
this year when everything looked hunky-
dory on the business front. With Akshay
Kumar setting up a clash of titans by opt-
ing for an Eid release of his eager-
ly-awaited Laxmmi Bomb on May 22
alongside Salman’s Radhe: Your Most
Wanted Bhai, multiplex owners seemed
to be in for a double delight.
Almost all of Salman’s Eid releases
were mega blockbusters, creating a
record enviable enough to deter the
biggest of his competitors. However,
buoyed by his recent successes, Akshay
dared to grab a slice of Salman’s
CINEMA/PRIME CUT
Reeling While Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’s (top left) release has been postponed,
Gulabo Sitabo (top right) and Shakuntala Devi (bottom) are releasing on OTT platforms
box-office pie on Eid. It was, of course,
a win-win situation for multiplex own-
ers, who looked forward to the immi-
nent showdown between two of the
biggest superstars with bated breath,
little realising what was in store for
them in the weeks ahead.
Forced by the prolonged closure of
cinema halls, with little chance of
them reopening soon, filmmakers
are now turning to the over-the-top
(OTT) platforms for direct digital
releases of their movies. On May
22, a Friday when the industry
expected a Salman-versus-Akshay
duel, it will be Nawazuddin
Siddiqui’s chance to hog the lime-
light by default as his long-in-the-
making Ghoomketu is bypassing
the traditional route of a theatri-
cal release to stream on Zee5 for
OTT audiences. And this may be
just the tip of the iceberg for the
multi-billion-rupee industry.
There are other movies with
digital premieres in the pipe-
line, most notably Shoojit
Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo and
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi, a biopic
of the legendary ‘human computer’.
Sircar’s Amitabh Bachchan-
Ayushmann Khurrana starrer will be
released directly on Amazon Prime
Video on June 12. Five big movies from
the south—Ponmagal Vandhal (Tamil),
Penguin (Tamil/Telugu), Law
(Kannada), Sufiyum Sujatayum
(Malayalam) and French Biryani
(Kannada) will also stream on digital
platforms within the next three
months in the face of growing uncer-
tainty over reopening of theatres.
“At Prime Video, we believe in listen-
ing to what our consumers want and
working backwards from there,” says
Vijay Subramaniam, director and head,
content, of the Indian arm of the global
OTT platform. “Over the past two
years, Prime Video has become the
destination of choice for our custom-
ers to watch new releases across lan-
guages within weeks of their theatrical
releases. We are taking this one step
further, with seven of India’s most
anticipated films premiering exclu-
sively on it, bringing the cinematic
experience to their doorsteps.” Adds
Gaurav Gandhi, director and country
general manager, Amazon Prime Video
India, “We feel truly excited about this
initiative and also confident of delight-
ing our members with this offering.”
But what may delight the growing
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 35
CINEMA/PRIME CUT
tribe of the OTT audience has come as
a shocker to multiplex owners, who are
crying foul over these developments.
Until now, most movies would reach
Amazon Prime Video, Netflix etc only
after a few weeks of their theatrical
releases. Therefore, filmmakers’ deci-
sion to opt for direct digital streaming
sent alarm bells ringing for theatre
owners. Fearing a loss in revenues in
the long run, INOX, a leading theatre
chain, reacted angrily, calling it a dis-
concerting move. “INOX would like to
express extreme displeasure and dis-
appointment on an announcement by
a production house to release their
movie directly on an OTT platform by
skipping the theatrical window run.
The decision of the production house
to deviate from the globally prevalent
content windowing practice is alarm-
ing and disconcerting,” it announced a
day after filmmaker Shoojit Sircar
revealed plans to take Gulabo Sitabo
directly to Amazon Prime Video.
Reminding filmmakers of the ‘mutu-
ally beneficial partnerships’ they have
shared over the years, INOX stressed
the need for standing shoulder to
shoulder. “Such acts, though isolated,
vitiate the atmosphere of mutual part-
nership and paint these content pro-
ducers as fair-weather friends rather
than all-weather, lifelong partners,” it
said, adding that it would now be “con-
strained to examine” its options while
reserving all rights, including taking
retributive measures in “dealing with
Will They? Coolie No. 1 (left)
and Gunjan Saxena
36 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020
such fair-weather friends”.
INOX’s strongly worded statement
evoked a sharp response from the
Producers Guild of India. “Statements
that call for ‘retributive measures’
against producers who decide to take
their movies directly to OTT plat-
forms—especially at a time when cine-
mas are unfortunately closed for the
foreseeable future—do not lend them-
selves to a constructive or collaborative
dialogue on the way forward for the
industry,” it said in a two-page state-
ment. “The production sector ( just like
the exhibition sector) is suffering hun-
dreds of crores of losses daily as elabo-
rate and expensive sets erected for
under-production films have had to be
taken down. Huge cancellation charges
are being borne by producers even as
interest costs are mounting on amounts
raised to fund films.”
But INOX is not alone. Another mul-
tiplex major, PVR Pictures, which op-
erates a cinema circuit comprising 841
screens at 176 properties in 71 cities in
India and Sri Lanka, also expressed its
disappointment with producers decid-
ing to go straight to streaming plat-
forms. “We believe that theatrical
release is the best way for audiences to
experience the labour and creative
genius of our filmmakers. This has
been so for decades and not just in
India but globally,” says Kamal
Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures.
“The COVID-19 crisis has caused an
unfortunate shutdown of cinemas. We
are confident that once we get to the
other side of this crisis, there would be
enough and more pent-up demand
from cine-goers who have been cooped
up at homes for the past many weeks.
We are likely to see demand on a sus-
tained basis once we reopen.”
Gianchandani hopes that producers
will accede to their request to hold
back the release of their films till cine-
mas reopen. But as Amitabh Bachchan
says on his official blog, it’s a situation
that cannot be altered now. “.. finances
and other contractual obligations need
consideration .. not just my films there
are other artists too .. they also need to
space out their films .. recovery of in-
vestment .. cannot take forever .. if the
digital price is amicable then they go
for it .. it is the future .. the option to
release in theatres later always open ..
that contained in the terms .. so yes in
time there could be theatre release as
well .. others wait for the results of dig-
ital release to make decisions on their
films .. (sic)” he wrote on May 14.
Thankfully for multiplexes, none of
the big-ticket extravaganzas starring
reigning Bollywood superstars, their
biggest revenue generators, have fallen
for the OTT bait yet. Rohit Shetty’s
multi-starrer Sooryavanshi featuring
Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and
Ranveer Singh along with Katrina Kaif,
which was supposed to release on
March 24, and Kabir Khan’s Ranveer
Singh-starrer ’83, which was slated for
April 10, have been put on hold indefi-
nitely. Similarly, Salman Khan’s big-
budget Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai,
said to be based on Korean action-
thriller The Outlaws, will not be
released soon.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that
all these movies might be released
directly on OTT platforms. There are
 #BollywoodTalkiesOutlook

Thappad was
written keeping
me in mind
Says
Actor
Taapsee
Pannu
on her career in films and future plans

in conversation with

Mitrajit Bhattacharya
Columnist & Author
on

Bollywood
TALKies with

Episode - 3
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON
@outlookindia @outlookmagazine
CINEMA/PRIME CUT
Showstoppers Laal Singh Chaddha
(left) and Sooryavanshi
also rumours about digital platforms
offering astronomical sums to the
makers of these films. The Radhe team,
however, has denied that it was negoti-
ating a deal worth Rs 250 crore with an
OTT platform for the release of
Salman’s next movie. ’83 director
Kabir Khan too makes it clear that
since his films are meant for a big-
screen experience, he, along with other
stakeholders, has decided to wait for
the reopening of theatres. Filmmaker
Karan Johar, whose Gunjan Saxena
starring Janhvi Kapoor was slated for
release on April 24, has cautioned the
media against conjecturing about
movies going directly to digital plat-
forms. “My hugest request to my
media friends not to reach any
assumptions on our fraternity films …
these are challenging times for the
business and false news only makes
the situation worse! Please wait for
official news on any account!! This is a
humble request (sic),” he tweeted.
Bollywood experts, however, believe
that stars and filmmakers, howsoever
big, cannot reverse the trend now. “The
die is cast, but they remain in a denial
mode. A few big studios with deep pock-
ets may keep the release of their films
on hold for a year or so, but what about
small filmmakers who have borrowed
money on steep interest rates? Can
they afford to do that?” says a trade
analyst on condition of anonymity.
Ajit Andhare, chief operating officer,
Viacom18 Studios, says that the indus-
try is in a crisis caused by an unprece-
38 O U TLO OK | JUNE 1, 2020
dented situation. “Since it will take a
while before normalcy and footfalls
are restored, it is only reasonable for
producers to unlock their investments
through digital platforms,” he says.
“This is more likely in the small-to-
mid-film segments. Large films may or
may not opt for these deals as their
theatrical component is large and they
can hold on for longer.”
Andhare claims that producers’ move
to shift to OTT platforms should not
be viewed as bypassing of theatres as
they remain the most central compo-
nent of the cinema value chain.
“Normalcy will return. The only
question is when,” he says.
It is this ‘when’ conundrum that is
adding to filmmakers’ insecurities and
driving them to OTT platforms. With
the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases
across the country—particularly in
Mumbai, Hindi cinema’s biggest mar-
ket—the prospects of theatres reopen-
ing soon look bleak. The lucrative
overseas territory is also out of bounds,
further aggravating filmmakers’ prob-
lems. Worse, there is no guarantee that
the audience would flock to multi-
plexes immediately upon resumption
of shows owing to fears of contagion
and the need for social distancing.
There is no
guarantee that
viewers will flock
to theatres when
shows resume.
All these factors have contributed to
Bollywood’s gradual shift from thea-
tres to OTT platforms. Already, there
are talks about movies such as Varun
Dhawan’s Coolie No. 1, Amitabh
Bachchan’s Jhund, Janhvi Kapoor’s
Gunjan Saxena and Rajkummar Rao’s
Ludo going directly to OTT platforms
in the weeks to come. Some say even
Akshay Kumar’s Laxxmi Bomb might
release soon on Disney-Hotstar. The
pandemic has also cast a cloud on the
timely release of many upcoming mov-
ies such as Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh
Chaddha, Ranvir Kapoor’s Brahmastra
and Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi,
which are all due later this year.
Interestingly, this is not a new phe-
nomenon in Bollywood. Films like
Rishi Kapoor’s Rajma Chawal (2018),
Vicky Kaushal’s Love Per Square Foot
(2018) and more recently, Sushant
Singh Rajput’s Drive (2019) released
directly on OTT platforms in the past
without multiplexes batting an eyelid.
Even in Hollywood, a movie as big as
Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (2019)
followed the same digital route.
Industry watchers believe that all
stakeholders in the Indian film indus-
try—actors, filmmakers and exhibi-
tors—will have to learn to live with the
fact that the OTT platforms, a cheaper
option than multiplexes, cannot sim-
ply be wished away. With penetration
in about 4,000 towns in India and 200
other countries, Amazon Prime Video,
Netflix etc are here to stay and might
emerge as a game changer in the movie
business. The film industry as a whole
and multiplexes in particular should
become attuned to this reality. O
 Masterspeak
A Webinar Series

Strategies
for Start-Ups
with

K GaneshSerial Entrepreneur

In conversation with
N Mahalakshmi
Editor, Outlook Business

Register Now
Do send in your questions
for Mr. Ganesh and don’t
forget to tune in.

May
28,
Thursday
7:00
PM
Presented by C0-Sponsored by
CRICKET/COMEBACKS

Qaiser Mohammad Ali

D
EPRESSION, the blight that has
its talons sunk across the world,
can melt the doughtiest of
per­­sons. Only a few emerge stronger, but
it takes mental toughness and doggedn­
ess. Sarfaraz Khan and younger bro­­ther
Musheer, the young cricketers of
Mumbai, seem to have those qualities in
abundance. They not only overcame a
tormenting 2019 but notched up career
best performances in the season that
ended in March.
Even as Sarfaraz was serving a one-
year cooling-off period in 2018-19 sea-
son to qualify to represent Mumbai
again on his return from Uttar Pradesh
after five years, the Mumbai Cricket
Association (MCA) banned Musheer for
three years for indiscipline. As the blues
slowly consumed Musheer, their father-
cum-coach Naushad too succumbed to
depression. The three faced a bleak fu-
ture in cricket—the only thing the fam-
ily lives for. But, guided by a doting
Naushad and some psychiatric therapy,
how the two boys have returned with
stronger res­olve and renewed vigour!
They scored runs and dismissed bats-
men almost at will, playing with steely
determination. Hard-hitting middle
order batsman Sarfaraz, 22, finished the
Ranji Trophy tournament with the
highest average in India—154.66—while
plundering 928 runs in six matches,
comprising a fabulous, unbeaten triple
and a double century. Sarfaraz, who had
hammered a record 439 for Rizvi
Springfield in a Harris Shield inter-­
school match in 2009, chipped in with
cameos for the Mumbai under-23 team

Sarfaraz Khan finished with the top

average in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy

Say It Again, The Bat

Is A Lonely Hunter
How brothers Sarfaraz and Musheer fought darkness and came
around to be regarded among Indian cricket’s brightest talents

40 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020

CRICKET/COMEBACKS
for the CK Nayudu Trophy.
“He has had an outstanding season.
There’s no doubt about it. His comeback
was due to his mental toughness and he
has worked hard at his cricketing skills
as well. His father, too, has worked hard.
Both Sarfaraz and Musheer are tal-
ented,” former India and Mumbai cap-
tain Dilip Vengsarkar tells Outlook.
In 2015, a year after a good perfor-
mance at the under-19 World Cup and
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) buy-
ing him for Rs 50 lakh, Naushad had
taken a transfer for Sarfaraz, still a
minor, to Uttar Pradesh due to lack of
opportunities in Mumbai. But the stint
in Uttar Pradesh was unsatisfactory.
Form deserted him too and a serious
knee injury just before 2017 IPL added
to his misery. The consolation: RCB kept
faith in Sarfaraz and retained him for
Rs.1.75 crore at the January 2018 auc-
tion. Finally, a wiser Naushad brought
Sarfaraz back to Mumbai in 2018, but he
had to sit out the cooling-off period to be
eligible to play in 2019-20.
The Sarfaraz of 2020 is vastly different
from the one of 2015. A natural stroke-
player, he has learned to curb his
instincts in red-ball cricket and justified
selectors’ decision to pick him with three
centuries, including a brilliant triple
century against Uttar Pra­d­esh—­­301 not
out (391 balls, 30x4, 8x6). His stupen-
dous Ranji sequence reads: 8, 71 n.o., 36,
301 n.o., 226 n.o., 78, 25, 177, and 6—928
runs at a stratospheric average of 154.66.
Former India wicket-keeper Kiran
More was impressed too. “Sarfaraz is an
exceptional talent. This season
was a game changer for him. He has gone
through hell, so he’ll now be prepared to
take on any challenge…. He’s definitely
India material,” More tells Outlook.
Naushad, who motivates his sons by
reading couplets from famous ghazals,
says the turnaround is due to a change in
Sarfaraz’s approach. “For example, he
used to dread getting out in the slips.
Now he doesn’t, as he chooses his
strokes and tries to play the ball along
the ground,” he says.
Sarfaraz, rather nonchalantly, des­
cribes his game thus: “While playing red
ball cricket I try to be patient. If you stay
at the pitch, you would know what shots
to play. I play my natural game in white
ball cricket. But, even in longer versions,
after completing a century I switch to
my natural game. Simple.”
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
Naushad Khan with his sons, Sarfaraz
(from left), Musheer, and Moeen, a trainer
It was, of course, not simple—not just
for injury-hit Sarfaraz, but also for
Musheer and Naushad. The MCA had
handed its under-16 captain Musheer,
who was yet to turn 14, a three-year ban
for ‘indiscipline’ during a Vijay
Merchant Trophy match against UP in
January 2019. “I expected a lot from my
sons, that’s why I went into depression.
When Sarfaraz came back from UP, I got
depressed as I wondered about his car­
eer after his cooling-off period—will
Mumbai pick him again?” confesses an
emotional Naushad.
Sarfaraz slew all doubts with his pro-
lific bat. The icing on the cake was left-
arm spinner Musheer capturing 30
wickets at a miserly average of 9.36 in the
under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy on his
comeback after his ban was reduced to 11
months following an apology. The
diminutive tweaker, who turned 15 on
February 27, bagged two 10-wicket
match hauls—one in the final against
Punjab--in four matches to propel
Mumbai to the title triumph. Overall, he
captured three five-wicket hauls, and
Both Sarfaraz and
Musheer had to
seek psychiatric
help. Both came
out stronger.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY: EMMANUAL KARBAHRI
scored 125 runs. In the under-19 Cooch
Behar Trophy, he scored 84 runs and
took a solitary wicket in two matches, as
Mumbai lost to Vidarbha in semis in
which he scored a fine 57.
During their period of crisis last year,
Naushad, a former cricketer, took his
sons to play matches in Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Moradabad, Meerut, Mau
and Azamgarh, to keep their hands in. “It
was a tough period, but a popular couplet
of Nida Fazli inspired me: Safar mein
dhoop toh hogi jo chal sako to chalo, sabhi
hain bheed mein, tum bhi nikal sako to
chalo, yahan kisi ko koi rasta nahi deta,
mujhe girake agar tum sambhal sako to
chalo (there will be heat and roadblocks
in the journey; you venture out if you can
withstand these hurdles),” he recites.
Both Sarfaraz and Musheer had to seek
psychiatric help. In 2011, when a
Mumbai school wrongfully, and unsuc-
cessfully, accused Sarfaraz of age man­
ipulation, he slipped into depression,
and Naushad had taken him to a psychi-
atrist. Last year, Musheer also saw a psy-
chiatrist in Mumbai, before coming out
stronger. “Depression is the single larg-
est illness in the world that hits every so-
cial stratum. We’ve to recognise mental
health in sports to help athle­tes bounce
back,” Dr Samir Parikh of Delhi’s Fortis
Healthcare tells Outlook.
About his last year’s cooling-off
period, Sarfaraz says, “I knew the
opportunity would come, and for that
I’d have to be prepared. During that
period, I got to understand and know
myself.” Their troubles now a distant
cloud, Sarfaraz and Musheer are well
on their way. O
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 41
WIDE ANGLE/SLEEP OUT

Lullaby
Road S A N D I PA N C H AT T E
RJEE

y have slept as
For their entire lives, the
wrapped them, a
the bustle of the streets
n nightly still-
watchful slumber that eve world was
, as the
ness did not dispel. Then ected space.
d un exp
locked indoors, it yielde
pirited, sleepers
Homeless or merely free-s
vens: a woman
grasped at these safe ha
-pa ved courtyard
on a flower-strewn, stone menclature;
Ro ma n no
barely ennobled by
driff of a thorough-
another on the bared mi
atop carts, cars and
fare; men dossed down
nt Catalan slaked
polished surfaces; a defia hral Barcelona
his exhaustion on a sep ulc
y lay pro pri etorial claim to
street. Thus the
mmunal beds
their cities, these giant co no sharers.
where there re we
A P O O R VA S A L K A D E

00 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

 WIDE ANGLE/SLEEP OUT

PTI

PTI

“…we lie on
Mother’s bed;
the rising sun
in war paint
dyes us red;
in broad day-
light her
gilded bed-
posts shine/
abandoned,
almost
Dionysian.”
Robert Lowell

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 43
SLUGGG/SUBSLUG

PTI

“When I’m in
the middle
of a dream…
Please, don’t
wake me, no,
don’t shake
me/Leave me
where I am,
I’m only
sleeping.”
The Beatles

PTI

44 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

 SANS FRONTIERS
WORLD TOUR
ISRAEL Chinese ambassador Du Wei,
who had been posted to Israel in Febru-
ary 2020, was found dead in his Tel Aviv
apartment. Initial findings suggest no
foul play. Du, 57, served in Ukraine and
was self-quarantined for two weeks on
arrival to Israel because of coronavirus
restrictions. His wife and son were yet
to join him in Israel.
BRAZIL President Jair Bolsonaro lost his
second health minister in a month, embar-
rassing his government and worrying
citizens. Brazil is a coronavirus hotspot.
But instead of tackling the challenge,
politicians have been busy bickering.
Nelson Teich did not give any reason for
his departure, merely saying, “Life is full of
decisions, and I decided to leave.”
JAPAN The world’s third-largest
econ­omy fell into recession as the
pandemic’s financial toll continues to
escalate. Last week, Europe’s biggest
economy, Germany, fell into recession;
more are likely to face the impact of the
lockdown. Trade-reliant Japan did not
go into a full lockdown, but a state of
emergency since April severely affected
supply chains and businesses.
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
FOREIGN
HAND
I
RRESPECTIVE of party affiliations, American presidents have
avoided making critical remarks about successors in public. But
recent developments indicate that the tradition may no longer be the
norm. Barack Obama has criticised Donald Trump’s handling of the
coronavirus crisis, saying the outbreak exposed the leadership’s
failings and described the situation as “an absolute chaotic disaster”. In
a recent online address to graduating students the former president
said some officials “aren’t even pretending to be in charge”. The total
death toll in the US is now over 90,000—the highest in the world.
Obama also spoke about the impact the pandemic is having on
Black communities in the US. “A disease like this just spotlights the
underlying inequalities and extra burdens that Black communities
have historically had to deal with in this country,” he said. African
Americans make up a disproportionate number of coronavirus
deaths and hospitalisations in the US.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing campaign for the
November presidential election can be cited as reasons for the
former and the current presidents’ public spats. But the US Justice
Department’s surprising decision to drop all charges against Donald
Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn has
brought them to the centre of it.
Obama, who has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office in
January 2017, has rarely spoken out about the actions of his
successor. But in recent days the pair have been engaged in several
“back-and-forths”.
Flynn was forced to resign early in the Trump presidency for lying to
Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian
government officials. He had also pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents
investigating ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. After years
of legal wrangling, the former three-star general is now a free man.
Obama said, “There is no precedent that anybody can find for
someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free.”
He added, “That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that
basic—not just institutional norms—but our basic understanding of
rule of law is at risk.” Trump, never shy of criticising his predecessor,
responded with a flurry of social media posts accusing Obama of
engaging in an effort to undermine his presidency. “I wouldn’t be
surprised if you see a lot of things happen over the next number of
weeks,” Trump said after learning of the Flynn news. O
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 45
 THE COVIDICTION
Satish Padmanabhan

Last week Outlook coined a word in its cover story: Covided. Here are some more words
and phrases we learnt during the pandemic and how they may be used in the future.

CO-MORBIDITY: A group HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE OR

of friends with a penchant HCQ: Someone who shows great
for gallows humour. promise but finally disappoints.
‘His first book was a masterpiece
LOCKDOWN: To feel
but then he turned HCQ’. Or one
exasperated, claustrophobic
girl to another: ‘Don’t go by his
and scared. ‘The students felt
six-pack abs, he’s an HCQ.’
lockdowned in the maths class.’
HANDWASH: Boring, routine,
QUARANTINE: A couple not
dull. ‘He calls himself a chef
speaking to each other for a few
but frankly his biryani is a
days after a quarrel.
handwash.’
SOCIAL DISTANCING:
ZOOM: Cacophony,
Keeping away from Twitter,
incoherence. ‘The RWA
FB, Insta for a month to
meeting started off quietly
prevent the disease called
but soon it was all zoom.’
Irrelevant Information.
VACCINE: Something or
MASK: Something half the
someone too late in coming.
experts in the world believe is
‘I waited for her in front of the
the most critical while the other
theatre for over an hour but she
half thinks is utterly useless.
vaccined on me.’
‘Homeopathy, astrology,
climate change, Donald Trump, VENTILATOR: From which
praying are all masks.’ nobody comes out. ‘His drinking
and gambling led him to the
WUHAN: A place with exotic
ventilator of debt.’
food. Waiter: ‘Would you like to
start with the bat soup?’ Guest: WET MARKET: It doesn’t sell
‘No, I will straight go for the blankets or dreams. It’s a place
pangolin please.’ where calamity originates.
‘When Krishnamurthy uncle
SANITISER: Very pious,
offered to re-pot the plants in
preachy. Teenager caught tip-
the garden, we knew it will turn
toing back home at 3 am: ‘Oh,
into a wet market.’
mom, don’t be a sanitizer.’
HAZMAT SUIT: A saviour, a
FLATTEN THE CURVE: A size-
protector. As the tiger was about
zero supermodel. A middle-
to pounce on the deer, a giraffe
aged person furiously working
appeared on the scene like a
the treadmill. A car mechanic
knight in a shining hazmat.
removing a dent.
I L LU S T R AT I O N S BY S A A H I L B H AT I A

46 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020

 Future of Flexible Workspaces:
With Adversity comes opportunity
T
he largely unknown nature of the
corona virus has caused much
speculation and uncertainty
along all industrial avenues. Amidst the
chaos, companies face significant
challenge as they attempt to prepare
the workplace of the future. While the
times are as worrisome as they could
be, business leaders have a unique
opportunity to shape how employees
do the work in the future without
compromising on their safety as flexible Ankit Jain,
workspace providers formulate new Co-founder
techniques to offer a more conducive and adaptive ecosystem to
cope with disruptive elements.
Inclination towards wellness-oriented designs
Occupiers will place a stronger emphasis on meeting interna-
tional standards of building specifications as they strengthen
their commitment to employee health and wellness. Grade A
properties with sustainability, safety and wellness features, par-
ticularly those related to indoor air quality, ventilation systems,
water drainage systems and other indoor environmental features,
will draw greater claim in the future.
De-densification of workspaces
The new pivotal point in the segment of workspace design is so-
cial distancing. Industry standards are likely to improve wherein
the unit space acquired by individuals may go up considerably.
Hence, the workspace designs will embody comfortable density
of people to maintain appropriate distance and cleanliness.
Sensitivity towards surfaces
The agile workspace providers such as Skootr are working towards
identifying and developing a touch-less system in areas of high
activity and interaction such as reception, meeting rooms, cafe-
teria, and lobby. When it comes to aesthetics, designers are
looking at alternatives to source such fabric & surface materials
for the interiors which can be treated with cleanable solutions,
without ruining its integrity, to avoid the possibility of any
pathological contamination.
Well-sanitized common areas
Regular cleaning and sterilizing of common areas, improved footfall
management equipped with screening protocols along with the
prerequisite of isolation zones within offices will become an essen-
tial part of every workspace. Asset managers of properties that in-
clude mutually shared services such as cafes, retail and agile spaces
will need to improve their existing hygiene policies to safeguard
tenants and employees from any health-related risks in future.
Throughout all economic and social avenues, including the
real estate sector, factors such as reduced demand and delayed
business decisions are creating significant impediments to busi-
ness operations. However, there emanates an encouraging
glimmer of hope that what appears to be an enormous hurdle to
businesses is in fact an opportunity to grow, learn and evolve. At
Skootr, we are ever committed to business excellence and ready
to take up these challenges head-on with a positive resolution.
And, with this dedication and perseverance, we see the office
sector will recover ultimately.
By Ankit Jain, Co-founder & Director- Skootr
BOOK REVIEW

Two Hands For A

Tightrope Act
Some of Kambar’s primary concerns are reflected in these plays that use
classical, folk and modern techniques: the forging of an identity pared of its
technical appendages, and the need to fight insular religiosity

K. Satchidanandan WHILE RISHY- the other hand, he is profoundly conscious of the moral and
political dilemmas of our time and uses chosen moments from
ASHRINGA IS

C
HANDRASEKHAR
Kambar is arguably the
most formidable and the
most prolific playwright in
Kannada today, besides being a
significant poet and novelist in
the language. He is one of the
few writers who have redefined
modernism in Indian literature
by reconnecting it with native,
mostly folk, traditions and
regional histories so that they
give us fresh insights into
contemporary life, not to speak
of providing writers with
deeply communicative forms.
But this does not at all mean
that Kambar is a revivalist; on
Chandrasekhar
Kambar
TWO PLAYS |
Translated from
Kannada by
Krishna Manavalli
| Penguin
Randomhouse |
208 pages |
Rs 299
history, chosen forms from folk theatre and chosen myths and
ABOUT SIN AND fables to fight the negative aspects of colonialism, globalisation
EXPIATION, and the divisive politics of hatred flaunted by a new brand of
TRUTH AND communal politics. But he does it in truly artistic and nuanced
ways suggesting rather than explaining the issues. Those who
REBIRTH, IT have read his earlier plays in translation, like Sirisampige,
ALSO CARRIES Mahamaya or Jokumaraswamy , or watched their performances,
A CRITIQUE OF must be familiar with the subtle strategies he employs to create a
counter-modernist theatre brimming with poetry, humour, irony
OUR COLONIAL and suspense and initiates a conversation among the classical,
BURDEN WE folk and modern traditions of Indian theatre.
INHERIT FROM The first play, Rishyashringa, a sequel to Kambar’s long poem,
Helatina Kela (Listen, I Will Tell You) deals with the questions
URBAN TRAIN- of identity, loss of selfhood, the legitimacy of human existence
ING. THAT’S and their complex relationship to the survival of earth. The
WHAT BALAG- myth of Rishyashringa that appears in Ramayana, Mahabharata
and the Jataka has different versions. In the most popular ver-
ONDA TRIES TO sion Rishyashringa was born to Rishi Vibhandak and Urvashi,
GET RID OF. the celestial danseuse, who had been
sent by Indra to seduce the rishi whose
powers would otherwise have eclipsed
Indra’s. But Urvashi leaves once the
son is born and the sage, who now
turns a misogynist, brings up
Rishyashringa in a forest away from
the sight of women. When the king-
dom of Anga suffers from a severe
drought and famine, king Romapada is
advised to bring the chaste young
Brahmin from the forest, whose arrival
would herald rains. Vaishali, a charm-
ing young woman is sent into the
woods, who secretly meets the youth,
awakens his adolescent desire and
leads him to Anga, now blessed with
abundant showers. Rishyashringa,
however, marries another woman,
Shanta, and settles down.
Kambar gives many twists to this
story. Here Rishyashringa is renamed
Balagonda, the Gowda’s son, who has
gone for studies in the city, whose

48 O U TLOOK | JUNE 1, 2020

BOOK REVIEW
return to the parched village
would dapple the land with
green like a “magic sandal
breeze”. The village prepares to
accord him a royal welcome.
But they soon come to learn
that Balagonda is not really
born to Gowda, as the real
Gowda had been devoured by a
demon who had come in the
form of a tiger and it was his
bones left in a well that had
taken the present Gowda’s
form. This new Gowda, who is a
demon, tells people Balagonda’s
return is not going to bring any
rain. People run away from
Balagonda. The old man of the
village tells the real story of his
origin to Balagonda who gets rid
of his old karma by throwing his
bundle into that very well where
his real father’s remains lay.
While the play is about sin
and expiation, truth and
rebirth, it also carries an
oblique critique of our colonial
burden that we inherit from
our urban training; it is the bur-
den of his fake identity, a crea-
tion of his schooling in the city,
that Balagonda gets rid of to
regain his real selfhood. The
writer has often suggested,
through his poems, novels and
plays that we need to decolo-
nise ourselves so that we regain
our real identity, which has ele-
ments of the pre-colonial, but is
not entirely constituted by it. It
is wise to recall that in one ver-
sion of the Rishyashringa story,
it is because Rishyashringa left
the country that the country
suffers from drought. Past can
be a burden, but without it we
have no identity. Yet at times
the past comes back as a demon
in human form, like in contem-
porary India, leaving us to won-
der whether this is our real
past, as the past for the revival-
ist is a constructed, exclusivist
and insular tradition, a source
of hollow pride in all that is
negative and devoid of all that
is positive and progressive.
Balagonda’s existential
dilemma is not without politi-
cal implications: the question
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
‘Who am I’ is related at the same
time to the tradition into which
one is born and to the contempo-
rary environment where one
flourishes or fails. As the
sutradhar sings: “You forget, you
stumble, and search for some-
thing that can hold in your
words/ You are lost in doubt/ and
you forget the truth of the body,
my king!/ Is the touch on the
skin, or the skin lost in touch?/
That awareness of you and me/
Flares up like spark from the flint
stones.” And the Earthwoman
sings: “Come, drape me like the
cloth next to your skin…I shed my
shyness, my shame and my hon-
our/ And became fully naked
then./ I remember that now, I
make my body a temple/ I dig into my stomach to hide your
KAMBAR secret there!” The play connects the concept of identity with
EMPLOYS SUB- the other, with nature and with the ability to love and fertilise
TLE STRATEGIES the earth. It also reminds us of Basava’s vachana that the body
TO CREATE A itself is the temple and labour, heaven.
Mahmoud Gawan is completely different in conception
COUNTER-MOD- though this too uses ancient techniques. The old man who nar-
ERNIST THEATRE rates the story acts like the chorus in a classical play. He at
BRIMMING times also becomes characters in his tale, like in the classical
Koodiyattam play where the actor transforms himself into the
WITH POETRY, people and even objects he describes--a mode of acting called
HUMOUR, pakarannattam or transformative acting. The old man narrates
IRONY, the story of Mahmoud Gawan to a group of college students on a
visit to Bidar that was the seat of a madrasa once famous
SUSPENSE AND throughout the world, built by Mahmoud Gawan, originally
STARTS AN from Iran, when he was the diwan of the place. He was a rare
EXCHANGE combination of a poet, scholar, philosopher, scientist and strat-
AMONG OUR egist. On meeting Khwaja Kirmani, he was told about Bande
Nawaz, the Sufi saint whose shrine in India he was eager to visit.
CLASSICAL, He left his wife and children in Iran and proceeded to India
FOLK AND with some horses, most of which he sold but for a pair.
MODERN In Gulbarga he was surprised to hear the strange tale of
Shivalinga Swamy exchanging his saffron clothes with Bande
TRADITIONS. Nawaz’s green ones, in a show of Hindu-Muslim solidarity. The
day came to be celebrated annually as a cloth-swapping festival
with the shouts of Din Hari Hara—a sign of syncretism.
Alauddin Bahamani, the sultan of Bidar, was ill at that time and
his daughter-in-law, Begum Nargis, was asked to take over the
reins as his death might lead to a civil war between the foreign-
ers and the Deccanis in his court, as the Sultan’s son, Humayun,
was ill-tempered and unfit to rule. Kirmani had already
informed the court of Gawan’s visit and he was warmly received
by the Begum, who happily made him the Diwan of Bidar and
requested him to put an end to the troubles in the country,
making Prince Humayun the titular ruler.
This elevation of a foreigner to the highest official position
angered aspiring native officers who plotted to get him killed
along with the prince, by conspiring with the king of Telengana,
a sworn enemy of the Sultan. The Turks in the court flattered
Gawan and had him sent to the battlefield along with Humayun.
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 49
BOOK REVIEW

The defeated Jalal Khan, the

king of Telengana, pretended
that he wanted to buy peace
and invited Gawan for talks,
where his messengers brought
him a gift with a dagger hidden
beneath it. The wise Diwan had
foreseen this possibility and the
plan was foiled in time. The
Turks at home, in league with
the Nizam, had spread the
rumour that Humayun had
been killed in battle, forcing the
prince to return, as his throne
had been usurped by his drunk-
ard brother Ahmed Shah. They
also create a situation of tur-
moil at home and eventually
murder Humayun. But Gawan
becomes immensely popular
with the conquest of Goa using
the gunpowder he had ordered
from Iran, the fair treatment of
the poor, rejection of caste
privileges, exemptions of tax
to famine-hit areas and the
cause of religious amity he
espoused with passion.
Mahmoud Gawan’s growing
fame makes his enemies more
jealous; they use Neeli, a court
assistant and a strong wrestler,
to trap him. They blackmail
her, saying that she had been
found near the body of the dead
prince and could be charged
with murder, while promising
to exonerate her provided she
steals a sealed paper from
Gawan’s office so that they
prepare an order clearing her.
Instead, they forge a letter
using that official paper availa-
ble only to the Diwan
addressed to the neighbouring
Odra King, promising to share
power with him if he helped
him overthrow the present
Bahamani Sultan Ahmed Shah
who is a callous drunkard. The
conspirators then spread the
canard across the land.
Gawan is called for a trial by
Ahmed Khan. Many charges are
raised against him. Asked about
the expenses of the madrasa
run by him, Gawan reveals the
truth that he was spending all
his salary on running it and
supporting poor students.
Interrogated about the tax exemptions he had granted, he says
it was only an extension given owing to the famine and drought.
Then, god Vitthala himself appears as Mahar Vitthala and pays
all the dues, saying they had good crops this year, though every-
one realises it was Vitthala himself only when the regional head
appears later and requests Gawan to extend the exemption as
the drought was even worse that year. Neeli also tells the Sultan
about the plot hatched by the Nizam and the Turks and how she
was blackmailed into being an instrument of treachery. But the
Sultan would hear nothing of this, for his ears had been poi-
soned by Gawan’s foes and he himself was jealous of Gawan’s
fame. He sentences Mahmoud Gawan to death. Before being
executed by the Sultan, he tells a distraught Neeli: “When poli-
tics turns foul, it is our duty to protest”, which sums up the
IN MAHMOUD play’s central message. Gawan salutes people like Shivalinga
GAWAN, THE and Bande Nawaz who stood for religious amity and goes fur-
ther to comment on times of misfortune like the one that has
POET-PHILOS- befallen India among many other countries at present: “In
OPHER AT THE times like these, everything is topsy-turvy! Nature revolts. Even
TIME OF HIS seasons race helter-skelter like scared cattle. Cause and effect
DEATH SALUTES lose connection. Therefore now man’s fate must be decided only
by ruthless politics”. Gawan dies in the Sultan’s hands with the
SHIVALINGA cry, ‘Din Hari Hara’. He reveals it was Allah who had appeared
AND BANDE as Vitthala to pay the deferred taxes and declares that what he
NAWAZ WHO did would never go in vain as the politics of unity and moral
wisdom would ultimately triumph over the divisive politics of
STOOD FOR manipulative hatred. God from Heaven echoes his words. The
RELIGIOUS Bahmani dynasty ends as politics gets delinked from ethics and
AMITY AND religious harmony gives way to the politics of othering.
It is hard to overemphasise the relevance of the play in India
PREDICTS THE today where the insular politics of an exclusivist majoritarian
VICTORY OF nationalism has won a disgraceful, if transient, victory. I should
MORAL WISDOM add here that Krishna Manavalli has found the apt idiom to
OVER THE translate Kambar’s plays into a language with an ethos and a
syntax radically different from those of Kannada. O
DIVISIVE POLI- (K. Satchidanandan is a distinguished poet and critic who
TICS OF HATRED. writes in Malayalam and English)

50 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020

Review / ART AND CULTURE
Actor Jaideep Ahlawat is winning accolades for his
portrayal of a down-and-out cop in the web series
Paatal Lok, a neo-noir crime thriller. The 42-year-old
actor talks to Giridhar Jha about the web series and
his journey in Bollywood so far. Excerpts:
What is the USP of Paatal Lok?
> It is one of the finest written shows I have seen
in recent times. You get to see a social structure
made of different strata of society—Swarg Lok,
Dharti Lok and Paatal Lok—where people from
different classes lead their lives in their own way.
As far as my character is concerned,
Hathiram is from Dharti Lok. He is torn
Raazi
between his personal and profes-
sional lives. How he lands in such a
situation and how he fights his battle
on both fronts to forge ahead is what
this show is all about. It is the story
of every individual
Content has been a buzzword in the
OUTLOOKINDIA.COM
‘Web
series
challenges
you to
try new
things’
entertainment industry for about a decade now. Do
you think web series will take it to the next level?
> Absolutely. It is an audio-visual medium that
enables you to tell your story on a huge platform
with a worldwide reach. You can showcase your
work through it and also watch the work of others
from across the world. It helps you widen your
horizons when you get to see such work. You get a
better vision and perspective as an actor and feel
challenged to try new things. It also allows you to
show certain content that cannot be shown under
the present Indian censorship laws. Of course, web
content is classified in different categories, such
as 13+, 16+ or 18+ depending on their suitability, but
this is discretionary.
You have worked in different media, from theatre to
web series. As an actor, do you have to change for
different formats?
> When the camera rolls, it is all the same for an
actor. How your work is taken to the audience after
that varies from one medium to another. The mode
J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 51
Review / ART AND CULTURE

of work as well the reach of all media are
different. You have to play your part as an
actor at the end of the day, regardless of the
medium. It does not bother me whether my
work is reaching the audience through cinema,
TV or a web series.
With the advent of global OTT platforms,
do you foresee a time when they will
replace cinema?
> Twenty years ago, you had to pay for incom-
ing calls on your mobile phone. Who had then
thought of using smartphones on which you
could watch all kinds of audio-visual content?
In the coming years, OTT platforms will certainly
grow bigger, but cinema has its own impact.
Movies that were made at the start of this
millennium are still considered classics. Even
today, films are being made in and outside the
country. Cinema, therefore, cannot be replaced,
but OTT platforms have immense scope, espe-
cially in the East, where many people are still
not connected to them.
There has been a rush lately to make web
series, which has raised concerns regarding
the quality of content.
> It has always been like that in every medium.
It is the responsibility of filmmakers, actors and
writers, who have the freedom to do the kind of
work they want to do irrespective of whether it
is good or not. If I feel I have to do a certain kind
of work, I would like to do it.
Are you happy with the way your career has
evolved so far?
> It is not that I am happy or unhappy, thinking
how it could have been better. And who will
decide how it could have been any different?
If you look at it, there has been some good
work. I am happy that I am not in any blind race.
I prefer to be selective in my work. I am never
depressed nor do I ever feel suffocated. Ups
and downs are part of life. One has to try their
best and march ahead.
Gangs of
Wasseypur How do you remember your character Shahid
Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)?
> Films such as Gangs of Wasseypur and Raazi
(2018) are milestones in my career. Whenever I
look back, I realise I was lucky to be part of such
projects. By the grace of God, I got such oppor-
tunities. I hope that I will keep getting one such
Commando project every year for the rest of my life.
Will the rise of content-driven movies lead to
the end of the star system in Bollywood?
> I don’t think so. The hero keeps changing in
every era. Every 10-15 years, society under-
goes a change. The thinking of a 10-year-old
kid changes when he turns 20. Such changes
can be seen in every aspect of life. People’s
preferences also change with time. Stars, for
one, will always be there; only their face will
change. Old stars will make way for new ones.
For example, there were stars like Balraj Sahni
and Dev Anand earlier. Today, we have Shah
Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. For actors, more
options have come up due to the advent of
new platforms.
What are your forthcoming projects?
> I had completed some work just before the
Baaghi 3 lockdown. I cannot say at the moment when
those will be released. Baaghi 3 was released
only two weeks before the lockdown and was
doing well. Right now, I am reading scripts to
make the most of my time at home. O

able to perform as they earlier platforms. Novel viruses call for

Unlock Art
Roshan Abbas, actor, theatre
director and TV and radio host:
We came up with #Stage-
Badelga for every artiste not
did. The ‘stage’ is no longer
the wood-panelled auditorium
with synchronised lighting. The
new stage is a screen in your
hand—your phone, laptop etc.
We are trying to figure out how
to do a play on Zoom, get peo-
ple to donate using Facebook
or YouTube and be interactive
during online sessions.
We also came up with
stayIN aLIVE, an artiste-sup-
port platform with over 60
artistes and non-stop 24 hours
of content across multiple
novel solutions, so we decided
to come together. We will
organise sessions on topics
ranging from fitness to mental
health and networking. These
will help people get the right
mentorship and learn how to
fund their work. We will also
showcase the success stories
of artistes during this time.
After that, it will be more like a
festival with weekly sessions,
depending on artistes’ needs.
Our first aim is to make sure
that at least 1,000 artistes
become a part of stayIN aLIVE
and entertain audiences. We
also want to collect funds,
which can be dispersed
through the stayIN aLIVE
foundation for the emergency
needs of artistes. Many coun-
tries have cultural support
systems and we too need one.
—As told to Lachmi Deb Roy

52 O U TLO OK | JUNE 1, 2020

 la
dolce
vita

Lady, Do It Alone
As is the fate of works by creative geniuses, Tagore’s
oeuvre has been twisted around for some time—songs
flogged for everything from rock to fusion; his fiction,
some of them modernist gems, whipped mercilessly
for contemporary turns. Now, in a Delhi air thick with
rock n’ roll rebellion and angst, the immortal Ekla Cholo
Re appears in a boldly lettered tattoo below Kiara
Advani’s sternum. Cast as a band member in Guilty, the
gorgeous, prominent forehead hides under a wave of
hair, as the heavily lined kohl doth detract from those
eyes. Though millions did answer his call, the song was
a favourite of Gandhiji. Will it work for Nanki?

Yeah, Go For Red

Oh, the pleasures of carrom! On verandahs in the
hot afternoons of summer holidays; a board or two
at dusk as mud forms a patina on football boots;
shut up in ‘clubhouses’ in monsoon evenings, or the
hypnotic rattle of ‘striker’ and ‘coins’ cutting through
winter nights, as a single bulb over the board keeps
vigil. And the roar of voices, as points creep up…. Anil
Kapoor, of a certain vintage, remembers all this. So,
as the hordes distractedly bingewatch OTT series,
he sets up a board and sets about beating the com-
bined force of wife Sunita and daughter Rhea.
 la
dolce
vita

A Trough For Nawaz

Wasn’t Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s memoir (An Ordinary Life)
weighed down and buoyed by langorous romances, hot,
fleeting flings and the pain of heartbreak? To be sure,
we thought, a gust of rain-laden air amidst the aridity of
primped-up hagiographies. Not just women, the book was
remarkable in its candour about Nawaz’s various short-
comings—real, imagined, alleged. All this is now sharp-
ened to a point: the news that his wife Aalia has filed for
divorce. “Problems for the last 10 years” (out of 11), she
said, and explained how the lockdown gave her clarity. At
home in Budhana, UP, Nawaz will have a sombre Eid.

Where
She Is
From
Sushmita Sen was the one
star who eagerly got on to
digital media for direct commun-
ions with her fans: all about herself, her
projects, her daughter, workout regimen,
a crocodile of boyfriends…. For an actress
bare there as a top draw, these (and a polished,
articulate persona, one hastily adds) enabled her to hold
on to a steady fandom. Add to her revelations the fact that she
suffered from Addison’s Disease, an auto-immune disorder
that for four years from 2014 ate into her vitals. Along-
side usual treatment, Sushmita self-medicated
with an intense programme of meditation, till
wellness broke through her dark horizon.

54 O U TLO O K | JUNE 1, 2020

 COVID-19 WARD
Shikha Malhotra
The actor-turned-
nurse has been
working at a COVID-19
ward in Mumbai since
March 27

From The Screen To The Ward

There is a purpose, as they say, for
everything in life. When the prime
minister announced a lockdown from
March 25 onwards, I resolved to con-
tribute to the fight against the global
pandemic. I had obtained a nursing
officer’s degree from Vardhman Maha-
vir Medical College, Safdarjung Hospi-
tal, Delhi, before I joined the film
industry to pursue my love for acting.
Only a month before the lockdown
began, my first film as a lead actress,
Kaanchli, had been released. I had ear-
lier done small roles in movies like Shah
Rukh Khan’s Fan (2016) and Taapsee
Pannu’s Running Shaadi (2017). I
thought my career in cinema was on the
right track after its release because I
was receiving accolades for my perfor-
mance. I, therefore, had no intention to
join a hospital as a nurse. But the coro-
navirus crisis made me realise that God
had made me get a nursing degree
because of this moment.
During the Janata Curfew (March 22),
I made a video to create awareness
about the need for social distancing. At and also my profile as an actress on Wikipedia. She was surprised to know
the PM’s bidding, I clanged a thali to that a film actor wanted to work as a nurse without any remuneration at a
express solidarity with doctors and time when many people were leaving their jobs because of the highly
other medical personnel at the fore- contagious virus. She also cautioned me about other risks, but I was
front of the war against the virus. I undeterred. I told her that my life had never been routine. Seeing my
knew that it would not be an easy battle resolve, the MS allowed me to work and said she would have hugged me had
and all the hospitals treating COVID-19 it not been for social distancing.
patients might be short of trained
medical personnel, so I rushed to Hindu Miraculous Recovery
Hriday Samrat Balasahab Thackeray I was a bright kid, both in studies and extra-curricular activities. By the
Hospital at Jogeshwari in Mumbai with time I reached Class VIII, I had won awards in different fields like drama,
my degree to offer my services as a painting, poetry etc. Then something unexpected happened—one morn-
nurse. It was one of the two hospitals ing I woke up to find myself totally paralysed. I could see and hear, but
which had opened an isolation ward to was not able to move any part of my body. My parents were devastated,
treat COVID-19 patients at that time. but they did not give up hope. Thankfully, my mother, who was a nurse,
The hospital staff, however, told me took care of me along with my father. Together, they made it their life’s
that there was no vacancy for a nurse mission to help me recover. I would always hear them telling me not to
and advised me to leave a job applica- give up hope. Thanks to their efforts and perseverance, I started moving
tion. When I told them I was not again after three years. I was 15 years by then and decided to appear in
looking for a job and just wanted to board examinations through the open school system.
work as a nurse to serve COVID-19 After passing Class XII, I told my parents that I would like to become a
patients, they let me meet their medi- nurse to serve humanity as my mother did. I went on to pass the nursing
cal superintendent (MS). entrance examination. However, when I returned home after four-and-
The MS checked my nursing degree a-half years with a nursing officer’s degree, I told my parents that I

OUTLOOKINDIA.COM J U NE 1 , 2 0 2 0 | OU T LOOK 55
 COVID-19 WARD
wanted to pursue my dreams in the field
of art and culture before I joined any
hospital. With their support and bless-
ings, I came to Mumbai in 2014 and
began doing musical shows and films
until I got a big break in the wom-
en-centric Kaanchli.
Threats And Blessings
More than 50 days have elapsed since
I began working at the hospital on
March 27. I will continue to do so till
the battle against coronavirus is won.
The doctors and the nurses working
there get a break, but I have declined
to take any so far. The hospital has two
separate wards for COVID-19 patients:
one for serious patients and another
for asymptomatic patients. Despite
the fear of infection, I chose to work in
the ward for serious patients.
Most in this ward are invariably
56 O U TLOOK | JUN E 1, 2020
afraid and lonely as they are not allowed to meet their family
members. I try to counsel them, telling them that we too have been
separated from our families. Inside the ward, we have to be covered in
heavy personal protection kits for eight to 10 hours, during which we
cannot even eat or drink anything. We often feel dehydrated and
giddy, but the motivation to look after patients keeps us going. Some
of my colleagues caution me against going close to infected patients,
but I do so with adequate protection.
I have had experiences here that I will never forget. When I joined the
hospital, a seven-month-old child had tested positive. His mother had
been admitted to another hospital while his father and grandfather had
been in quarantine since their return from Dubai. I nursed him for 26
days and developed a close bond with him. My joy knew no bounds when
he was finally cured and discharged.
There was another patient, a partially paralysed octogenarian who
expressed a wish to go back home every day. He would refuse to take
medicines, asking us to help him meet his daughter. I made him talk to
his daughter and reassured him that he would see her soon. But when I
reached his ward the next day, I found his bed vacant. He had passed away
the previous night. That was my first shock. I cried inconsolably, telling
my father how I had failed to keep the promise that I had made to him.
There was a young woman who had a four-year-old son. She also waited
to be cured to meet her son, but did not survive.
A 55-year-old patient on a ventilator wanted to see his family members,
but nobody was allowed to visit him. I got in touch with his daughter on
the phone. She requested me to put a picture of her dad on my social
media account so they could see him. I happily did that, only to realise
the next day that I had posted his last photograph. Thankfully, he tested
negative in his final test and his body was handed over to his daughter.
But she had nobody else to help her cremate him. I accompanied her to
the cremation ground and stayed there all night long for his last rites.
I have been doing all of this as part of my duty, just like a soldier
who persists on the battlefront despite the constant threat of bullets.
This jazba (drive) has kept me going so far. I have realised that there
cannot be any price for my nursing degree—people’s blessings are my
only remuneration. O -As told to Giridhar Jha