LOS MARGINADOS: abril 2022

India, Australia sign FTA, trade likely to ‘double in 5 yrs, generate 1 mn jobs’ | India News,The Indian Express Dear reader, The big headline on Sunday is about the FTA (free trade agreement) that India and Australia signed on Saturday. According to the lead report in The Indian Express, the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA) is set to provide "zero-duty access to 96 per cent of India's exports to Australia including shipments from key sectors such as engineering goods, gems and jewellery, textiles, apparel and leather" and, as per a government estimate, "boost bilateral trade in goods and services to $45-50 billion over five years, up from around $27 billion, and generate over one million jobs in India". The pact will also give "about 85 per cent of Australia's exports zero-duty access to the Indian market, including coal, sheep meat and wool, and lower duty access on Australian wines, almonds, lentils, and certain fruits". In fact, this development was predicted by Amitabh Mattoo's essay on the Ideas Page ('Natural partners of the future', March 31). His conclusion was: "The ECTA represents a watershed moment in bilateral relations, but also a significant turning point for India's foreign policy - both in terms of geo-strategy as well as geo-economics. India and Australia today represent a partnership with a near-complete convergence of interests and values. Two multicultural, federal democracies that share concerns about stability in the Indo Pacific, are apprehensive about Chinese hegemonic designs, and are increasingly coordinating their policies, are natural partners of the future." The other big story of the week was the Centre's decision to withdraw AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from the Imphal Valley in Manipur and some parts of Nagaland and Assam. The Express editorial welcomed the move ('After AFSPA', April 2) but also reminded the Centre that "the law continues to be in operation in nearly 75 per cent of Nagaland, all of the hill districts in Manipur and 40 per cent of Assam, mainly the districts bordering Manipur and Nagaland". Nagaland has been continuously under AFSPA since it was first introduced in the Naga Hills (then a part of Assam) in 1958. The rise of Naga nationalism, almost immediately after Indian independence, had inspired many similar ethnic movements in the Northeast. Naga nationalism gave birth to a violent insurgency, which nurtured the idea of an independent Naga homeland that stretched beyond the borders of the state of Nagaland. Similar insurgencies arose in Manipur and Mizoram in the late 1960s. Delhi's response was to dispatch the Army and paramilitary forces to crush these insurgencies. As the editorial said, the AFSPA provided the operational cover for these forces, not trained or mandated to operate amid a civilian population or to report to the civil administration. The editorial said: "The contradictions emerging from this situation, wherein the local political leadership and civil bureaucracy have a diminished role in governance, alienated local populations caught in the crossfire between insurgents and the armed forces. The AFSPA also facilitated a climate of impunity and promoted a vision of a punishing state that was also a perpetrator of violence." A lot has been said against and in favour of the AFSPA. Panels such as the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee have examined its provisions (the Committee called for its repeal) and courts have tested its constitutional validity. Political parties in the Northeast, especially when in office, have mostly been silent while the civil society mobilised people and opinion against the Act, which allows security forces to ignore civil liberties and override the civil administration. Over the years, the Act, in operation, has led to the militarisation of society and even the political discourse. Civil society groups, especially women in Nagaland and Manipur, have highlighted the immense damage militarisation has done to local societies. Irom Chanu Sharmila's hunger strike against the AFSPA has few parallels as a non-violent satyagraha against state-sanctioned violence. The security establishment has argued that the Act is essential to provide the armed forces with a free hand in operations. That many of the ethnic nationalist struggles were also "movements born of civic anxieties associated with state-building" was ignored or forgotten as the Centre focussed on curbing the militants. Since the 1970s, governments have been "engaging with the aspirations present in the separatist movements and promised to accommodate them within the federal rubric". This outreach yielded results in Mizoram, Tripura and Assam. A ceasefire has prevailed in Nagaland for nearly three decades, although the Centre has yet to sign a final peace pact with the NSCN-IM. In last December, a botched operation by security forces in Nagaland's Mon district had resulted in the death of 14 civilians. It triggered massive public protests and even forced the state government to speak out against the Act. As the Express editorial said, "The challenge for the Centre now is to build on the promise of Wednesday's announcement and slowly restore the primacy of the civilian administration in the areas still under AFSPA. It is a process that demands great patience, negotiation and accommodation." India's neighbourhood continues to simmer with Sri Lanka roiling in an economic crisis and another elected government in Pakistan falling before completing its term. In Sri Lanka, India has stepped in with credit and aid to help Colombo tide over the high inflation and civic unrest over the shortage of essentials. A slew of pacts was signed when Foreign Minister S Jaishankar visited Colombo earlier this week ('Besieged Colombo', March 29). The editorial had a note of caution for Delhi: "However, considering the complex history between the two countries, India should tread cautiously at this moment in Sri Lanka. While the two countries share centuries of spiritual, political, economic and cultural ties, Sri Lanka is extremely sensitive about anything that impinges on, or is seen to impinge on, the autonomy of its foreign and domestic policies." Sharat Sabharwal ('The army's government', April 1) wrote on the crisis facing Pakistan's democracy and how Prime Minister Imran Khan fell out with the generals. G N Devy's incisive piece ('Joseph K in Karnataka', April 2) on Hindutva politics in Karnataka, which is wrecking the state's multi-religious social fabric, Shah Alam Khan's response to the suicide of a doctor in Rajasthan after an FIR against her following a patient's death ('Death of a doctor foretold', April 1) and Avijit Pathak's nuanced reading of the Centre's decision to hold a common entrance examination for admissions to central universities ('An answer called CUET', March 29) were among the must-reads in the Express Opinion section. Thank you, Amrith Lal The writer is a Senior Associate Editor with the Indian Express Opinion pages and writes on politics, public affairs and culture

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