This story first appeared in Prothomalo

Reading translated works may be tricky. If you are fortunate enough to have an adept translator, skilled in the art, it can be a rewarding experience. And when it’s fiction, you not only get to enjoy a good tale, but also you are initiated into a new culture, new people, new psyche, new customs and traditions, and a whole new world. But if you have the misfortune of reading a second-rate translation, either you are deprived of the richness of the original form and content, or you are left with a misconceived impression of the writer and his works. And second-rate translations are many out there, unfortunately.

Shawkat Hussain, bless him, undertakes translation with his eyes wide open — all senses alert — and so he neither detracts from the original, nor leaves the reader wondering what’s gone missing. And when undertaking the daunting task of translating Tagore, almost a deity to the Bengali literature lovers, there is always the risk of being told that he was ‘just not getting it right’, the stricter adherents of Rabindranath Tagore even considering any lapse to be a nothing less than sacrilegious. But he is no novice. A professor in English literature, fluent in both Bangla and English, there is a confidence in his pen as he takes Tagore to the readers in English.

‘Kabuliwala and other Stories’ arrests the reader’s attention. Of course, Tagore is Tagore and he can’t go wrong. But a translator can. Shawkat Hussain, however, doesn’t.

The translator attempts to be faithful to the original. It is refreshing. Too often translators take it upon themselves to make the original more relatable to the target audience, but in doing so, they do a disservice to both the writer and the reader. The nuances are lost in translation, so as to say, and the writer underestimates the perception of the reader.

And that is why Hussain deserves kudos for staying on track, handing the reader Tagore’s oeuvre in all its subtle shades and hues.

The first in the collection is the enchanting story of a most unlikely friendship between the diminutive little girl, Mini, and the big, brash Kabuliwala. Mini is a disarming little chatterbox whose insatiable inquisitiveness can only be compared to the curiosity of Alice in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Then there is the Kabuliwala. Back in the day, the Kabuliwalas were traditionally known to be moneylenders coming to green land of Bengal from the faraway rugged Afghan climes. If they lacked the shrewdness of Shylock, they more than made up for that with their stoic persistence. But that’s another story.

Here he would turn up with his big bag slung over his shoulder, jovially chatting with Mini’s father. His bag was full of nuts, raisins and other dried fruit he brought from his homeland. He was a trader, not just a moneylender. It is clear that he has an innate sense of integrity, is kind and honest.

He catches a glimpse of Mini darting around and wants to meet her. After all, we later learn, he has a daughter of the same age back home whom he sorely misses. At first Mini refuses to come in front of him. She is terrified and her fertile imagination quite convinced he is a kidnapper who carries away little children in his big bag. But once Mini’s father convinces her that he is not a kidnapper, she approaches to Kabuliwala tentatively and strike a strong bond of friendship.

The narrator of the story in first person is Mini’s father, and an excerpt can throw light on the camaraderie between ‘the odd couple’:

I saw my daughter sitting on a bench outside the door and talking endlessly, while the Kabuliwala was sitting at her feet and listening to her with a smiling face, and sometimes responding to her in his own broken Bangla. In her five years of life Mini had never had such a patient listener, except for her own father.

Mini’s mother was not so easy-going and bombarded her husband with questions like, “Aren’t there questions of children being kidnapped? Don’t the people of Afghanistan practice slavery? Is it impossible for such a big Kabuliwala to abduct a child?”

If we find Mini’s mother to be a bit of a xenophobe here, we may excuse her because all mothers can be overly protective and anxious. But the racism or discrimination hits hard later on in the story when the Kabuliwala goes to collect money from a debtor. The debtor falsely claims that he owes him no money, a fight ensues and in the heat of the moment, the Kabuliwala stabs the man.

Mini comes running out, crying, ‘Kabuliwala, O Kabuliwala’, as the misjudged man is taken off to jail.

He returns many years later upon his release and wants to meet his little friend. He had got some grapes and raisins from a friend and brought them for her, perhaps forgetting that the years have rolled on and she was not longer that little Mini anymore. It is Mini’s wedding day and no one wants an inauspicious guest to enter the home. He is hurt, but leaves the fruit for Mini.

When he takes a dirty piece of paper from his pocket and shows how he has carried the little hand imprint of his own daughter close to his heart as he goes around Kolkata selling fruit, Mini’s father chokes up:

I forget that he was a Kabuli trader, and that I was a respectable, well-off Bengali… we were both fathers.

In translating this story, Hussain opens a door for the foreign reader, a door to class, culture, conventions, trade, travel and the core of the human heart. He doesn’t have to ‘dumb’ things down for the reader, everything just falls into place.

The other stories are equally evocative and he has selected the tales well.

There is ‘The Professor’. We are introduced to the know-it-all student and Hussain echoes Tagore’s tongue-in-cheek humour well:

Back in college, I was considered by my peers as something of an authority on all subjects. This was mostly down to one thing: I had an opinion about everything. I could be right or wrong, but unlike most people who struggle to express an opinion, I could say yes or no with great force. I wrote critiques, composed poetry, and was as a result an object of envy and respect among my classmates.

And then comes along the smart young professor who promptly bursts that bubble. A debate champion, the narrator proudly presents an essay on Carlyle, dazzling his friends and followers with his brilliance. The professor? Not impressed:

Bamacharan Babu stood up and calmly stated that the part I had plagirised from the well-known American critic Professor Lowell was excellent, and the part that I wrote on my own should be left out completely.

Similar disillusionment and debacles follow, and his admirers drop away one by one. But it takes much more for the narrator to shake off preconceived visions of grandeur.

Then he falls head over heels in love. He surprises himself by not falling in love with his ideal of feminine beauty, in jewellery and fancy clothes, but a girl in “ordinary dress, shoes, book in hand,” an elusive vision that leaves him completely speechless. This was Kiron.

But old habits die hard and he imagines that Kiron must be quite impressed with his intellectual interactions with her father: “in her mind when she tried to measure the immensity of my knowledge, she must have had to look very high.” He finds her household chores and domesticity to be quaint, but plans to elevate her with his intellect and knowledge, teach her, improve her.

But his balloon bursts again, when results of his exams come in and his name is found nowhere. That too he takes in his stride, egoistic enough to imagine exams, results, mundane jobs, mean nothing to the great ones of his ilk. But then it is his modest muse Kiron who has topped the list in the exams. And her beau turns out to be none other than the professor Bamacharan Babu.

There was only one thing to do:

I burned my manuscript, went back home to Kolkata, and got married.

If Tagore is brilliant in his wit and critique of human pride, Hussain is quick at conveying this to the reader, without tripping up on subtle innuendos and underlying cultural ethos.

There are a dozen stories in this collection and Hussain travels comfortably with Tagore as he takes the reader along through ‘The Last Night’, ‘Dowry’, ‘The Wife’s Letter’ and more.

This book is actually a huge contribution to the literary genre of Tagore (yes, Tagore literature is a genre in itself). Hussain himself puts it succinctly in his note at the beginning of the book:

“My real hope is that my granddaughters, Kira and Phoebe, and other young children like them, growing up outside Bangladesh, with little or no knowledge of Bangla, might chance upon this translation, and other translations like this. Hopefully this will be their gateway to Tagore.”

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This story first appeared in The Wire

An ex-chief election commissioner says some machines being defective is routine, but 6.5 lakh is too high a number and is a “serious” matter. Experts have called for more transparency. The Election Commission is yet to respond to our queries.

New Delhi: The Wire has learnt that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has flagged over 6.5 lakh VVPAT machines as ‘defective’. These are now being sent back to the manufacturers for rectifying the defects. Notably, these are the newest machines, the latest M3 generation machines introduced for the first time in 2018. To put this in perspective, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a total of 17.4 lakh VVPATs were notified for use for the Lok Sabha polls and also the assembly elections being held simultaneously.  This means that over one-third (37%) of these machines have now been found to be defective by the Election Commission.

What is even more surprising is that entire series of VVPATs are being replaced. For instance, among machines that will be sent to the Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad, the series beginning EVTEA 0001 to EVTEA 99999 have been marked as ‘defective’. So also are the rest of the series, namely, EVTEB, EVTEC, EVTED each comprising a batch of 99999 machines.

The story is the same for machines that are being sent back to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore. Series like BVTAK 00001 to BVTAK 30000,  BVTEA 00001 to BVTEA 30000 and BVTEC 05001 to BVTEC 75000 among others, are all batches that have been marked as ‘defective’. In all, 25,3500 machines from BEL have been found to be defective of which the series BVTEH 00001 to BVTEH 68500 are to go to BEL, Panchkula.

“These series were first introduced in 2018 and have been used in subsequent elections ever since. The machines were picked up from across the country and the new replaced machines have now almost reached all districts,” sources said.

What happens to ‘defective’ machines?

Any machine that is under litigation has been excluded. The directions from Election Commission’s headquarters at New Delhi’s Nirvachan Sadan were sent on January 27, 2022. The defective VVPATs were awaiting repairs following a decision taken by the ECI on October 8, 2021. The Wire has learnt that instructions have not been sent to the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar islands, Lakshadweep and Daman and Diu.

While the directions to the CEOs say recognised national and state political parties shall be invited to remain present at the time of opening and closing of warehouses, a member of an opposition political party said, “We were informed in December that the VVPATs would be moved out and were asked to give our consent. When we asked what was wrong with the machines and why entire series of the machines were being moved out, no explanation was given. For instance, what does T1 to T4 rectification mean, which is being cited as the reason for the machines being sent back. There are no answers.”

Transparency is the need of the hour: Experts

Experts have raised an alarm at the high number of defective machines and that too in a series. “Normally in an election, around 4000 EVMs are found to be defective. The corresponding number of VVPATS, which have higher chances of damage as these are electro mechanical devices, could be a maximum of 10 times that figure. But if what you are saying is correct that over 6.5 lakh are defective, then this is very serious,” says S.Y. Qureshi, former Chief Election Commissioner who was in office when the 2014 general elections were held.

As per ECI’s standard operating procedure, a first set of checks is required to be carried out at the level of the district electoral officer. The EVMs/VVPATs rejected at this First Level Check (FLC) are required to be sent to the manufacturers for repair within seven days of completion of the FLC in the district in coordination with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) concerned. Going by ECI correspondence we have reviewed, the instructions have been sent top down to the districts. The defective machines have been lying in ECI custody for over a year now.

Professor of computer science at IIT Kanpur Sandeep Shukla says, “Claims of sturdiness of VVPATs and EVMs have been made by the manufacturers and the Election Commission. Ideally, these machines should be given to a diverse set of experts to test for themselves. The lack of transparency and cloak of secrecy is the problem.”

Professor Subhashish Banerjee from IIT Delhi and a member of Citizens Commission for Elections says, “Was there an audit done for these machines? Were they matched with the EVMs and if so, what was the result? A 30% rate of defect is too high a figure.” Banerjee said he was speaking in his personal capacity.

A detailed set of questions have been sent to the Election Commission on April 10, 2023. This article will be updated once a response comes in.

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This story first appeared in National Herald

When Hindus flock to Mohammed Ali Road during the holy month of Ramzan, “ek apnapan sa lagta hai,” say restaurateurs

Come Ramzan, all roads in Mumbai lead to Minara Masjid. This year was no different. March 23 onward, the bylanes of Mohammed Ali Road have been aglow with lights and abuzz with people, Hindus and Muslims breaking bread together, foodies and faithful alike.

Throngs of selfie-takers and memory-makers, office-goers and bargain-hunters can be spotted cheek by jowl with those who have offered their prayers and broken their fast. It’s a joy to behold, especially in the face of the current dispensation’s anti-Muslim narrative, a reminder that Mumbai still has its heart in the right place. During the holy month, Mohammed Ali Road is certainly the heart of foodie heaven. Friends and families from in and out of town flock there—all drawn by the raunaq and barkat of celebration.

For a whole month the economy of these streets gets a huge boost, the way Crawford Market, for instance, does during Diwali, with shops staying open well past midnight. As you walk, or wait your turn for that mouth-watering malpua, it’s par for the course to hear many tongues around you— Marathi, English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Himachali, Oriya, Assamese, even French, German or Spanish.

Most food vendors say, however, that the daily crowds are primarily Maharashtrian. And not only from the state but also from outside, as I learned the evening I made tracks to Mohammed Ali Road. A group of media students (both vegetarian and non-) are nosing around, savouring the scents and flavours. While the vegetarians make a beeline for the malpua and firni, the meat-eaters are spoilt for choice.

“This is our first time here, we were urged by our teacher and our friends to visit Mohammed Ali Road. I am a non-vegetarian, so I am going to go for the chicken tikka kebab,” said Shruti Gupta from Kolkata, a media student currently studying in Mumbai.

Among the first-timers are the Kakade twins from Indore. Tulza Kakade said their stay in Mumbai would have been incomplete without a visit to Mohammed Ali Road. “A lot of reels on Instagram brought me here. I’m excited to eat seekh kebabs. Food is above all socio-political noise, and also, Mumbai wouldn’t be the same if it were not for these festivals that we celebrate together. See how diverse we are and yet, we celebrate together, very closely.”

According to Rudraksh, her twin, “Ramzan is the best time to come here and not just for the food. The place is lit up and the vibes here are warm and festive. None of us had second thoughts about coming here.”

Among globetrotters keen on local cuisine was a British couple, James and Julie. James recounted a near-death experience that he had on a flight a few years ago—a cardiac arrest that he recovered from at a hospital in Andheri. This year, he’s back to visit friends who helped him. “I have visited Dubai, Oman and other Middle-Eastern countries during Ramzan. This time, I’m in Mumbai to celebrate my rebirth. Celebrations in Oman and Dubai are quieter and [more] restrained. Here, like everything else, even Ramzan celebrations are wild and noisy.

“It is exciting to come here in the evenings. The food has distinctly Indian flavours, be it of any community. In Oman, for instance the blend of flavours is different. Here, there are many more vegetarian options. We have come here during Ganesh Chaturthi and even during the floods, and I must say the food is the same— always good. I have seen that they are an extremely friendly and welcoming community and their cuisine is wonderful,” said James, as Julie, his wife, nodded enthusiastically.

In contrast, Steve and Rachel, another British couple on the food trail at Minara Masjid with their Muslim guide, find it too noisy and crowded. This is their first time ever on the Ramzan tour and they are overwhelmed. “It is nice to appreciate a different culture and cuisine,” said Rachel. “Yes, it’s really nice and overwhelming.” Steve seems to have vibed a bit better with the multicultural mix, “There are so many different people, so many cultures and different foods to eat in just one place. Ramzan is an interesting experience. It was nice to see the joyous celebrations after a daylong fast.”

Thanks to social media platforms, Ramzan celebrations have become a priority on people’s bucket lists. There are walking tours and festive food-hopping trips, which have become quite the fad. And one can see why, with some items on the menu only during Ramzan. Every day the live kitchens use fresh ingredients, none of which are stored or frozen. Just to understand the massive scale on which food is cooked here, on an average, 13,000 eggs are used daily for the special malpuas by just one eatery, the Shalimar Restaurant. The malpuas are the super-speciality of the street.

Shopkeepers source spices and ingredients through the year, putting it all together for the monthlong fast and the night before Eid. Other special items include a scrumptious soup, sundal and bater (quail kebab). The haleem and khichda served during this time are also very popular. For vegetarians, there is paneer butter masala to match the butter chicken, peas patties to challenge the seekh kebabs, yummy dals, kathal (jackfruit) biryanis that some aver top even the mutton biryani in terms of deliciousness, and seasonal vegetables in finger-licking masalas that linger on your taste buds for hours afterwards. Among the regulars are Priya and Dhruva Srinivasan. The couple from Dadar has been coming here for two decades now. While Priya eats the non-vegetarian delicacies, Dhruva, a vegetarian, sticks to the sweets. Familiar with the shop vendors and au fait with who sells what, Priya hands the vendor a box to pack haleem to take home. “For the last 20 years, my husband Dhruva and I have been coming every single year. We get the same quality and fresh food. You can never go wrong here. I come to buy khichda or haleem, which you only get here. Nothing has changed in all these years, as far as my experience goes,” she said.

Priya recalls an incident with her brother which, in a nutshell, sums up the quality of the food on Mohammed Ali Road. “Some years ago, my brother had come down from the US and on the last day, I told him he should come here with me. Of course, my mother was not in favour [of this plan], because she feared he would end up with an upset stomach. I said, just come on, yahaan khao toh zara, kuchh nahi hone wala hai. He ate everything he wanted, stuffed himself silly and was fit as a fiddle the next day. He flew back greatly satisfied and happy with the adventure,” she said.

Many believe it’s the social media hype and a craze to be where the action is that explains the lure of the place. Sayeed Hamid, an Urdu journalist who lives in Andheri, has been coming here for the last 40 years. He says this place unites the people of Mumbai. “I can say Mohammed Ali Road has been the centre of food and cultural unison for all communities, including various Muslim communities. The ambience is of an interfaith celebration during the night. After roza and until sehri, this food unites all the people of our city, every night,” Sayeed observed.

Meanwhile, Gillani Nooruddin, owner of Modern Sweets, who has never missed a single Ramzan, looks on happily at customers being served their favourite malpuas. He finds that over the years, the festival has become a lot more inclusive. “It was rare to see non-Muslims visiting the Minara Masjid area a couple of decades ago. Now, they comprise at least 50 per cent of the crowd. People from other towns and cities come here especially to eat Ramzan food. Ek apnapan sa lagta hai. It warms our hearts to see them feel at home,” says a smiling Gillani.

Amin Parekh, the block president of the Congress party points out that even before the social media era, it was when celebrities began visiting during Ramzan that Mohammed Ali Road first began attracting non-Muslim crowds. “Now, social media plays an important role in promoting unity, which is seen even during other festivals in Mumbai. The most crucial role is that of the word-ofmouth publicity, despite the politics seen [being] played out.”

As Mayur, a food lover said, “Of course, Mohammed Ali Road in real life is so happily different from what is otherwise told to us. Food is the winner, be it Ramzan or any other festival. We come here regularly because we get quality food here.”

Office-goers come for a night out and, like pub hopping, they go ‘food hopping’ from street food to restaurant food. The most popular restaurants are Bade Miyaan, Shalimar and Jafferbhai Delhi Durbar. These restaurants have also drawn up a good vegetarian menu, given that many vegans and vegetarians also want to be part of the celebrations. The concept of iftar boxes has caught on. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a huge demand for iftar gift boxes, sent to family members and non-Muslim friends, to draw them into the festivities.

Waseem Pathan, the general manager of Shalimar, Dongri, explains, “These iftar boxes are special. Every fortnight, the menu changes, whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian. In fact, the demand for these boxes has increased by five per cent every year. During Covid, the takeaways and boxes were in high demand, as business at the restaurant was virtually halved. Since 2022, the footfall has improved and now we are back on track.”

Hassan Jaffer, owner, Jafferbhai’s Delhi Durbar, says this bonhomie needs to stay intact permanently and it needs to go beyond posturing. “We need this genuine interaction in today’s times, not just a hypocritical show of emotions. We all need to share food, share a bond and be true friends, whichever community we may belong to. Some people are influenced by some unsavoury events that have occurred in our city, due to which they may prefer to stay away. But the majority are not like that. Here, at Mohammed Ali Road, everyone has a sense of belonging. At all the restaurants, 60-70 per cent of the patrons are Hindu. So, we neither serve beef, nor do we eat beef. Chicken and lamb is the staple for non-vegetarians. Paneer and potatoes are big on the vegetarian menu,” Hassan said.

He gives credit to Instagram and Facebook users, and also food bloggers, for being honest. “As a result, many non-Muslim food lovers come from Surat, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore, Calcutta and even Lucknow and Delhi. They take the Shatabdi, or the morning flight, spend a few hours here and go back the same night.”

Just then Afzal Vaid calls, wanting to send an iftar box to his Punjabi friend. “There are many non-vegetarian dishes and items in this one box. You can sit with your family and eat together in your own home, enjoying the food. It’s a different feeling. Many of my friends wait for Ramzan time, just like I wait for their sweets during Diwali and Ganpati. This is what friendship is, to exchange and share with each other,” said Vaid.

This is also what India is, was and hopefully will always be despite attempts by some to divide and rule. You only have to go to Mohammed Ali Road during Ramzan to renew your faith in the power of food to bring people together.

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This story first appeared in Vibes Of India

A young farmer couple in Gujarat killed themselves by beheading using a guillotine like device, probably for a black magic ritual.

When 38-year-old farmer Hemu Makwana and wife Hansa Makwana’s (35) children returned home on Sunday morning after a short stay at their maternal uncle’s house in a nearby village, they were aghast to find their parents’ decapitated bodies on their own farm. The boy (13) and girl (12) immediately raised an alarm and alerted nearby residents.

The police was called and found a handwritten note in Gujarati with a thumb impression of the duo, stating that they killed themselves willingly and no one was to be blamed. The bodies were sent to Rajkot civil hospital for forensic post-mortem.

“The couple used a make-shift guillotine to end their lives. It is believed that they pulled up the blades of the guillotine themselves and released it in such a manner that their heads fell into a havan kund,” shared Vinchiya police sub-inspector Indrajitsinh Jadeja.

According to preliminary findings, the couple had, over the past year, erected a temporary temple with gunny sacks used in packing food grains. It housed a picture of Lord Shiva and a Shivling made of mud, both of which were regularly worshipped by the couple, as narrated by the villagers.

“We are recording statements to ascertain the reason behind the extreme step,” stated Jadeja, adding that a day prior to the incident, the couple had sent off their children to their maternal uncle’s place.

According to the note found near the bodies along with their mobile phones, Hansa was not keeping well. The note also records that Hemu “trusted his brothers and his in-laws never reprimanded him for anything.”

Hansa’s cousin Jayanti Jatapara refuted suggestions of financial stringency stating that the couple was not struggling with any day to day expenses. “Nor were they having any marital or family disputes,” she is reported to have told the police.

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This story first appeared in The Daily Star

The first time I saw Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury was in 2007, for a story in our weekend magazine in The Daily Star, on his Nagar Hospital on Mirpur Road, where anyone, no matter how poor could get medical care at subisidised costs. I was not expecting to see a clean, organised, fully-equipped, seven-storey hospital where patients could see a doctor for a mere Tk 20. The place was busy but organised, not chaotic like our understaffed, overcrowded public hospitals. Strikingly apparent was the presence of mostly female staffers — the receptionist, paramedics, pathologists, nurses, on-duty doctors, and even the drivers of the hospital vehicles. Among the patients were labourers, domestic workers, teachers, civil servants and beggars. It was the first time I heard that patients could get an insurance card — for Tk 150. Insurance holders did not have to pay to see an on-duty doctor, and to see a specialist the fee was only Tk 200. The most innovative part of the insurance scheme was that it was designed to provide healthcare to people according to their ability to pay. So, for someone who was destitute, the treatment would be free, for a poor person, it would be highly subsidised, for an upper middle-class person the cost would be higher. It was hard not to be floored by the foresight of the individual behind what seemed to me, a fantasy world where poor people had access to affordable, efficient medical attention.

But that is what Zafrullah Chowdhury is — a larger than life figure who had the vision to realise that it was the lack of access to affordable healthcare that condemned the poor to a life of continuous ill health. His fierce determination to break this vicious cycle led to the creation of an institution like Gonoshasthaya that has made revolutionary changes not only in healthcare but in public perception of women as vital nation builders.

When my team and I went to interview him at the hospital, I was a little taken aback by his appearance; longish white hair and clad in a batik Hawaiian shirt and khaki trousers, sandals half worn, he looked more like an eccentric artist than the founder of a mammoth development organisation. It was hard to gauge his mood as he went on his inspection of the wards, blasting the nervous staff at the top of his voice for some inefficiency and then suddenly cracking a joke to make them laugh, his hawkish eyes twinkling. His staff called him Boro Bhai, no “sir” or “doctor” for this no-nonsense man. But the respect and love he evoked among patients, paramedics, doctors and the staff, was obvious.

And when he met patients, he was extremely gentle and kind.

At present, Nagar Hospital has among other facilities, a burn and plastic surgery unit, cardiac unit, dental unit, surgery, counselling, physiotherapy, Ayurveda, Yoga and of course 24 hour emergency services.

So how did a vascular surgeon looking towards an ascending medical career in the UK end up being the founder of a multidisciplinary organisation in his home country that would be committed to the welfare of the poor and marginalised? The Liberation War of 1971 changed the trajectory of his life. He and his friend Dr MA Mobin left their studies in London to join the resistance by treating wounded freedom fighters. It was pure patriotism that laid the foundation for Gonoshasthaya Kendra. Zafrullah and his fellow doctors set up a 480-bed field hospital near the border with India to treat the wounded and sick. The young surgeon realised that while there were doctors in this hospital, the facility didn’t have any nurses. So girls and young women in the refugee camps were invited to learn first aid and assist in operations.

“I realised that it was not the amount of training that was important in this context but the access to training,” he said during the interview. When the war was over, the Field Hospital was renamed Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) which relocated to Savar with sub centres in surrounding areas and other districts. From his experience at the Field Hospital, Zafrullah knew how he could build a team of paramedics. GK started training girls and women who had completed their SSC (Secondary School Certificate). Soon it was a common sight to see these young women in the villages, going on foot or bicycle to visit households, telling them about basic healthcare, sometimes giving vaccines, even assisting in deliveries. The presence of these female paramedics gave women a new status. Villagers began to realise their importance and appreciate their work. GK’s involvement with the community had a major role in the success of national family planning, immunisation and ORS campaigns.

Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), which is a multidimensional development programme, involves the community as a whole. It includes projects ranging from primary healthcare centres and hospitals, community schools, agricultural cooperatives, women’s vocational training centres, training women drivers, to economic enterprises to help finance GK Trust activities. But GK’s most obvious success is its primary healthcare programme (mainly in the villages) that benefits over a million people.

GK has proved that primary healthcare can be a successful, sustainable system. In 1982, GK’s pioneering effort in forming a National Drugs Policy allowed local companies to produce essential drugs at much lower prices than multinationals did. GK itself produces essential drugs at subsidised prices. GK’s Gono Bishwabidyalaya (People’s University) trains doctors, paramedics and physiotherapists who will provide primary and tertiary care to poor communities.

The accolades he has received are many. Among them are a ‘Certificate of Commendation’ for his contributions during the Liberation War in 1971, the Swedish Youth Peace Prize, Sweden for founding Gonoshashthaya Kendra and providing primary healthcare to rural communities, Maulana Bhashani Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award, The Right to Livelihood Award, Sweden, One World Action Award, UK, Public health Heroes Award, UK, Fr. Tong Memorial Award, India, Doctor of Humanitarian Sciences Award, Canada.

His undeterred commitment to the welfare of the disadvantaged was probably because of his unconventional upbringing. His mother, Hasina Begum, a courageous, self-educated woman, who believed in the equal rights of women and men, taught him the value of sharing with the less fortunate. His father, Humayan Murshed Chowdhury, was an honest police officer and instilled in him love for one’s motherland. Zafrullah found his perfect match in his life partner Shireen Huq, a passionate human rights activist and one of the founders of Naripokkho, a women’s rights organisation. Their children are Brishti and Bareesh.

The basic philosophy that Zafrullah modelled all his endeavours on was to come up with indigenous solutions for all problems. Thus Gonoshasthya’s mission was to ‘go to the village and build the village’. The GK Savar hospital serves the community and provides all the medical services as well as alternative medical treatment such as ayurveda and acupuncture.

In fact, he has been unequivocally, an advocate of local medical expertise. In 2019, GK inaugurated its second dialysis centre in the Savar hospital, the largest such centre in the country. During the pandemic, he tried to popularise a locally made antigen testing kit and was ready to help set up a 2,000-bed Covid hospital which did not receive the support it warranted during the most challenging moments of the crisis. For his own treatments which included regular dialysis he would come to his hospital even when he was on life support. There are few individuals who can display such conviction of their own principles.

Considered at times a controversial figure for his incendiary remarks in public, he remained unapologetic and brutally frank all throughout, a fighter till the end. Battling with formidable ailments, waging a war against crippling poverty and ill health of people, to bring some solace to the most vulnerable and neglected, his contributions to this country cannot be listed within the confines of this article.

[Some information has been taken from Star Weekend Magazine, published on November 30, 2007]

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) held a two days media workshop from 16th to 17th December, 2022 in Mumbai in association with UNICEF and South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) to make journalists aware about the latest trends in the disease and to create awareness amongst people.

Oath Communications founded and created by Rachna Khaira, a member of the SAWM group will bring to you exclusive coverage of the SAWM events held in association with UNICEF on this channel.

This story first appeared in The Wire

The Supreme Court may have refused to hear a collective petition by multiple political parties for directions on the work of central agencies, but in many matters, The Wire found incongruities and serious questions that need answering.

This is the second article in a two-part series. Read the first part here.

New Delhi: Last week, the Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea filed by 18 political parties accusing the government of trying to “crush the entire opposition” using investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the ground that it cannot lay down guidelines in abstract without the factual context of individual cases.

The Wire looked at some ED cases which have stayed consistently in the headlines over the past nine years or where the politician – invariably from the Opposition – is in jail.

At least one lower court judge has made strong comments about the ED’s working. “There has to be an effective check against unscrupulous exercise of power by the ED in seeking casual extensions of judicial custody,” Mumbai special judge M.G. Deshpande had said last year while giving bail to two Mumbai builders. “This court strongly feels that it cannot join hands with [a] vengeful complainant like [the] ED to humiliate accused persons by continuing their judicial custody that too, in utter disregard to the recent law of the land.” [PDF]

The case of Nawab Malik, NCP

Judge Deshpande’s words chime with the goings on in the Nawab Malik case. The NCP leader has been in jail since February 23, 2022 for a land deal in what’s called the Gaowala compound in the Kurla area of Mumbai. A copy of the summons and the arrest memo were given to Malik after he was arrested in the ED office.

Malik’s family members say they purchased land in the Gaowala compound in two transactions in 2003 and in 2005 for Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh.  One of these transactions was executed between the Maliks and the owners of the Gaowala compound, Maryambai Fazleabbas Gaowala, through Salim Patel. Coincidentally, Patel happened to be the driver of Haseena Parker, sister of underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim. The second transaction included Sardar Khan, the rent collector for Maryambai Fazleabbas Gaowala, as a party. Sardar Khan, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case, is in jail.

The ED’s case is that Gaowala’s daughter, Munira, has in a statement told the ED she did not sign the power of attorney which was fabricated by the Maliks to grab the property.

The Malik family got hold of records through an RTI which proved that the documents were signed in the Sub Registrar’s presence. The RTI also says the same document has been provided to the ED. The ED has not brought this document on the record and continues to say Malik has ‘grabbed’ the land. The ED also says Malik bought the land from the late Haseena Parker in 2005 even though the land was bought from her driver. The agency relies on a statement by Parker’s son who was 13 years old at that time.

The ED has relied on a statement of Sardar Khan that he was given Rs 5 lakh and not Rs 10 lakh as claimed, but bank statements reflect a payment of Rs 10 lakh. Khan is serving a life term in jail for the 1993 blasts and his statements therefore should not have much evidentiary value, says Malik’s lawyer, Rohan Dakshini.“The witness is not a credible witness and his statement can’t be the basis of keeping Mr Malik in jail,” he says.

What is even more interesting is that these statements have not been made before the ED in the Nawab Malik case. Instead, these were made in DHFL scam, which the ED has used against Nawab Malik.

Incidentally while the ED filed its complaint (equivalent to a chargesheet) within the mandatory 60 days, the court took cognisance only after five weeks, just before it broke for the summer. Malik’s bail plea came up once the court assembled after the break.  A copy of the complaint can be given to the accused only once the court takes cognisance. An accused can only then apply for bail. The court took five months thereafter to hear the bail plea. Malik has moved court three times for bail which in one case was rejected by the lower court that relied upon the statement of Sardar Khan, who is serving a life sentence.

Responding to The Wire’s query, the ED says, “In all the cases, all actions taken by the ED have been approved by the concerned jurisdictional court from time to time. Moreover, as the questions posed by you pertain to sensitive cases and would amount to disclosing facts in pending cases where matter is sub-judice and also may pertain to disclosing investigating facts, which would not be proper.”

Since the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) requires a predicate offence, the ED relied on an NIA complaint filed just three weeks prior to the arrest of Malik. Coincidentally, the FIR against Dawood Ibrahim and others filed by the NIA 30 years after the blasts is the first attempt that the anti-terror agency has made to bring the don to book. The FIR was filed February 3, 2022, and that too following directions from the Union home ministry.

The ED says The Wire is posing “unwarranted queries…It may be so that you are being used by some persons with vested interest to propagate their biased views and also to elicit sensitive information from ED through you under the garb of investigative journalism… It appears that most of the queries are based either on the information provided by the accused or anyone interested in the accused and is made with the oblique purpose of the accused.”

The National Herald Case

In the National Herald case, the main petitioner, Subramaniam Swamy, has, unusually, taken a stay from the high court against his own petition. The main case has not been heard for the past 13 months.

As an agency, the ED was traditionally “hamstrung” by the fact that a predicate or “primary” offence needs to be established first by a law enforcement agency like the CBI or the police before it can act.  In 2015, a solution was found. ED’s acting director at the time, Karnail Singh, issued a circular which stated that if a court of law takes cognizance, the ED can move in. Citing the actions of a court therefore, allowed the ED to initiate a probe in the National Herald Case – which is based on a private complaint filed by Swamy. A trial court issued summons to the accused which the ED latched on to.

The ED told The Wire, “As far as ED is concerned, it can investigate cases, where a predicate offence exists. The existence of predicate offence need not necessarily be based on a FIR. It can also be based on a complaint filed in Court pertaining to predicate offence including the summoning order of the Court.” Except that in the National Herald case, there is no predicate offence. Only a private complaint filed by a politician.

Interestingly, the ED’s initial inquiry had been closed for want of a predicate offence but following the 2015 circular, the agency suddenly came into the picture in September that year.

In nine years, however, the ED probe has not moved beyond an ECIR, which is equivalent to an FIR. The ED has summoned Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi multiple times for recording their statements, with details of what they said being leaked to the media.

As for the original complaint, it was stayed at the pre-charge evidence stage itself. Swamy wanted to introduce income tax documents pertaining to the Gandhis which the court disallowed on the grounds that he had to be examined and cross examined before the documents could be brought on record. Under the Evidence Act, the person who is the “originator of the document” has to give witness, say lawyers for the Gandhis. Swamy wanted to bypass this. He also wanted to examine witnesses before his own cross examination could be completed. All of this was disallowed by the courts.

Thus, recording of pre-charge evidence started with the examination-in-chief of the complainant, i.e. Swamy, in July 2018. He sought six adjournments during this time and was cross examined on another four before he finally went to the high court and got a stay. But this was not before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Samar Vishal, had noted in his May 2018 order, “This is not serving any purpose but is in fact delaying the trail…the first date for leading prosecution evidence was 20.02.2016 and till now the evidence has not been started”.

In any case, even if the income tax violations as alleged by Swamy were proved to be true, the loss to the exchequer on account of the National Herald case would be Rs 39.86 lakh – much below the current threshold of Rs 1 crore for cases that should automatically trigger the ED’s involvement.

Vijay Agarwal, lawyer for the accused in the 2G scam, all of whom have now been acquitted, told The Wire, “All the time of the courts is being taken up in bail matters of the Enforcement Directorate and trials are pending endlessly. The ED itself admits it has managed a conviction in only 24 cases while the number of ECIRs recorded are 5906.”

The ever-curious case of Agusta Westland

In the Agusta Westland case, the first complaint was filed by the Congress government itself in 2013. The ED, which got involved in 2014, has since filed 11 supplementary complaints. Arms dealer Christian Michel has been in jail since December 2018, when he was extradited from Dubai where he was in detention for another four months. His bail application has been rejected six times while others similarly placed are on bail. His lawyer, Aljo K. Joseph, told the Supreme Court that 1280 documents and 250 witnesses need to be examined and the trial is unlikely to start for several years.

Interestingly, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has made some serious allegations against the governments of the UAE and India, stating that Michel was extradited “in return to Dubai by India of a high profile detainee” The reference is to Princess Latifa, the daughter of the prime minister of the UAE, who escaped to India while trying to flee her father in February 2018. She was forcibly detained by Indian Coast Guard and returned to her father. Michel was extradited December 4, 2018.

“The Working Group notes with concern the submission by the source, which has not been disputed by either government, that the approval by the United Arab Emirates of the extradition request made by India was a de-facto swap for the capture and return to Dubai of a high profile detainee, a swap reportedly authorised by the prime minister of India in March 2018…his deprivation of liberty lacks a legal basis.”

The main trial in this case is yet to begin. The ED told The Wire, “Wherever, the question regarding arrest etc. of accused have been raised in any judicial forum ED has adequately responded to the same by providing the correct information which have been accepted by the courts.”

‘Perfect recipe for curtailment of rights’

The Wire has reported on how the ED is exercising a lot of leeway in choosing what information it wishes to act on and what it would much rather ignore. While tracking the money trail in the Agusta case, the ED in its first and second complaints had mentioned that some of the funds were transferred to a Singapore based entity, Gudami International Pte Ltd, amongst others. Following a response from the Singapore government to a Letter Rogatory seeking details on some of these entities, while all other entities were pursued, the reference to Gudami International was quietly dropped. This company is said to be linked to Gautam Adani via his brother, and promoter of the Adani Group, Cypriot national Vinod Adani, whom The Wall Street Journal has termed an “elusive brother”  of the top businessman.

Senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra says, “If you arm an investigator with vast powers, reverse the burden of proof, add twin restrictive conditions on grant of bail, make statements admissible and reduce judicial oversight on investigators powers, you have a perfect recipe for curtailment of presumption of innocence and restrictions on rights.”

He also said, “Add to that, the fact that under the guise of money laundering being a ‘standalone offence’ the ED alone is paramount in determining the contours of its power. The minor tweaking done by the SC 3 judge bench is limited in its scope. Till Parliament intervenes, the last bastion of hope is the pending review in the SC. As well as some high courts that have interpreted the provisions with a libertarian point of view and dropped proceedings in the past. We can only hope for more such courts.”

The cases against AAP leaders in Delhi

The ED can investigate the proceeds of a predicate or a primary offence that has been filed by an agency like the CBI. In the case of Aam Aadmi Party’s former Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain, it has gone one step further. The CBI says Jain was a shareholder in a jewellery company in which an amount of Rs 4.80 crore was received from some Kolkata based entry operators. The CBI’s case is that Jain’s share is 1/3rd of this amount based on the shareholding pattern of the company. In other words, the ED’s remit would have been to investigate the proceeds of this ‘one-third’. It has however said in its complaint that the entire amount of Rs 4.80 crore was earned by Jain. Besides, his lawyers say that even going by the Registrar of Companies documents submitted by the CBI, Jain’s shareholding ranges from less than 2 per cent to 19 per cent, which makes the portion accruing to him to be Rs. 57 lakh, i.e. well below the ED’s Rs 1 crore threshold. The PMLA allows for immediate bail if the amount is less then Rs 1 crore. But Jain has been in jail since May 30 last year.

Interestingly, the law also says that anyone who assists in money laundering is equally culpable and should be made an accused. Here, the Kolkata entry operators have been made a witness to the case.

The ED told The Wire, “Remaining queries are also factually incorrect, however we cannot share the details because of the sensitive nature of matters.”

In the case of another AAP leader, Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia, his lawyers say that the now-scrapped liquor policy was a collective cabinet decision, vetted by the departments of excise and finance and signed off by none other than the lieutenant governor, a Modi government appointee. Sisodia has been in jail since February 26 this year. Interestingly, in the third complaint filed by the ED on April 7, Sisodia’s has not been named as an accused.

The ED’s contention is that the 12 per cent profit margin the private entities got as per the policy was never discussed at the Group of Ministers meetings.

Strategic use of transfer of cases?

The ED has also been accused of pushing the boundaries of the law and getting cases transferred to New Delhi –  to the Rouse Avenue court.

Anubrat Mondal, a close aide to Trinamool leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee , was booked for smuggling cattle across the border into Bangladesh. “The jurisdiction of the CBI case and the PMLA predicate offence is both Kolkata and yet the ED filed another money laundering case in Delhi and got the case transferred,” say Mondal’s legal team. Mondal is now lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

Another case the ED wants shifted – from Chhattisgarh to Delhi’s Rouse Avenue – is the NAN scam of 2015 involving the erstwhile BJP government. After the Congress came to power, the ED waded in, in 2019, using the Chhattisgarh police’s FIR as a basis to file an ECIR. Now the ED wants the entire case transferred to Delhi. “The assumption of jurisdiction is misconceived and malafide,” says a lawyer for the Chhattisgarh government. The aim, he says, is to help the BJP by filing a closure and giving the BJP a clean chit.

The ED in its response to The Wire said, “As far as other cases are concerned, your allegations are incorrect. In all the cases, all actions taken by the ED have been approved by the concerned jurisdictional court from time to time. Moreover, as the questions posed by you pertain to sensitive cases and would amount to disclosing facts in pending cases where matter is sub-judice and also may pertain to disclosing investigating facts, which would not be proper. Wherever, the question regarding arrest etc. of accused have been raised in any judicial forum ED has adequately responded to the same by providing the correct information which have been accepted by the courts.”

Conclusion

In August 2021, the ED reportedly submitted a list of 122 elected representatives who are currently being investigated for money laundering charges to the amicus curiae, helping the Supreme Court in a matter related to delayed investigations against political representatives. Scroll.in reported that when it sought these details under the Right to Information Act, the ED declined to share them. However, The Times of India published a report featuring 52 names drawn from it. Nearly all belonged to Opposition parties.

The Indian Express reported in September 2022, that Since 2014, there had been a 4-fold jump in ED cases against politicians, with 95% being  from the ranks of the Opposition.

Given the Supreme Court’s recent endorsement and even extension of the PMLA’s most stringent provisions – which help load ‘money laundering’ cases even more heavily against those who appear in the Centre’s cross-hairs – the role of the ED and other central agencies is bound to remain a matter of interest and concern. Sooner or later, the Supreme Court will need to examine the ‘systemic’ questions which the ED’s actions will continue to throw up.

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This story first appeared in The Wire

The ED has cast its dragnet wide. It is using the interpretation of a circular issued by the agency itself in 2020 for this purpose. The circular was intended to define its role. But it has a clause giving its director enormous discretionary powers. 

New Delhi: In June 2018, the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) at the time made an unusual representation to his boss, the cabinet secretary. The RAW chief’s office had just received a show cause notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged money laundering using a Kolkata based television channel involved in the Sarada Scam. Officials at India’s external Intelligence agency were in a tizzy. Not only was this needless interference by another government agency, but the notice threatened to compromise what was felt could be an ongoing RAW operation. The prime minister had to step in to defuse the crisis.

The Wire has learnt that one and a half years after this, the agency issued a “technical circular” on February 13, 2020. Though the rationale for the circular was to “ensure uniformity in selection of cases” it got involved in, it did not seek to limit or restrict the ED’s ambit or activities. If anything, it actually added to the powers of the organisation’s director.

When officially asked about the rationale behind the technical circular’s provisions, the ED denied its existence. However, The Wire has reviewed a copy of the document.

The ED chief, as per the circular, becomes virtually omnipotent as he can order a probe keeping “law and order, national security, diversity of cases, cross border nature of offences, complexity of case, traceability of proceeds of crime, larger public interest etc” in mind. In effect, a large enough brief to draw anyone and anybody into their net whom the regime may be interested in.

Muscle-flexing by ED?

Consider the monetary threshold for investigating cases. The ED’s circular says the agency should mandatorily take up cases where the amount involved is Rs 1 crore in Prevention of Corruption Cases and Rs 5 lakh in other cases. But in the National Herald case, the only agency that has so far established any loss to the exchequer is the Income Tax department which has pegged the alleged loss at Rs 39.86 lakh. Since the ED is still at the stage of investigating its Enforcement Case Information Report or ECIR (equivalent to an FIR), and even a predicate or primary offence has not been made out, it is unclear whether a case of money laundering can ever be established.

In the Karti Chidambaram-Chinese visa case, the ED itself has built a case of a Rs 50 lakh bribe and initiated a probe. As per the PMLA, in cases where the amount involved is less than Rs 1 crore, bail can be granted immediately. When questioned about this case, the ED said, “Your allegations about Karti Chidambaram’s case are also not correct as it is not based on the correct interpretation of circular.”

In the INX media case – also involving the Chidambarams – the CBI chargesheet says that Rs 9.96 lakh was paid into a company owned by Karti Chidambaram called Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd. This is way below the normal threshold for the ED to begin a probe, but in its ECIR the ED said an amount of nearly Rs 3 crore had been paid to ASCPL as an alleged bribe in 2007. Sources close to the Chidambarams say, “Karti allegedly met Indrani Mukherjee (owner of INX media and on bail for the murder of her daughter) in 2008 as per the CBI chargesheet. How could a bribe have been paid in 2007?”

Geographical boundaries for probe?

Then, while the PMLA does not distinguish between geographical boundaries within India for demarcating which cases can be taken up and which cannot, the ED has done so. In the circular, it has set a benchmark of Rs 10 crore and above in the cities of “Delhi NCR …Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and Rs 1 cr and more in rest of the cities” for starting an investigation. This perhaps explains why, after a recent raid involving a BJP MLA and his son, also a public servant, where the Karnataka Lokayukta Police seized Rs 8 crore in alleged bribes in Bengaluru, no action was taken by the ED or the CBI.

Drug-related matters

Consider investigations for drug-related offences. “Cases shall be investigated in relation to money laundering where the accused has been found in possession of drugs or psychotropic substances in quantity equal to five times of the ‘commercial quantity’(as defined in the NDPS Act)”, says the circular. For example, an accused has to be caught with 500 gm of cocaine or 5 kg of cannabis or 100 kg of ganja for the ED to swing into action.

But Rhea Chakraborty, friend of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was charge sheeted by the Narcotics Control Bureau which said she “received many deliveries of marijuana” from drug peddlars. While the ED is empowered to investigate drug-related cases as per the law, going by the chargesheet filed by the NCB, there is no suggestion that she was engaged with peddling “commercial quantities” which is the ED’s benchmark as per their circular. Yet, the ED registered a case against her.

“Irrespective of the quantity involved, the Narcotics Control Bureau can file a case and the ED can come in because this is a scheduled offence under PMLA. But then the ED violated its own guidelines it set for itself as per the circular,” said a former investigative official familiar with the case. This, despite the fact that the whole logic behind issuing the 2020 circular “was to prioritise cases”, keeping the ED’s paucity of resources and staff in mind.

What a trial court said about the ED recently

The Wire decided to investigate how well the ED measures up against its own circular as well as the cornerstone of the PMLA. In the Patra Chawl case involving Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut, the ED received a setback from the court. While granting Raut bail in November last year in the alleged Rs 1,000 crore scam, the observations made by the judge have been the most scathing so far by any judicial officer.

“The extraordinary pace with which the ED arrests [an] accused becomes not even a snail’s pace in conducting trials,” sessions judge M.G. Deshpande said in his order. “Once the applicant files bail applications, the ED takes at least three to four weeks or more to file their reply…in every matter it is noticed that, ED takes very, very long time to reply [to] the simple applications filed by any accused.”

The judge said that in the past one decade, the ED has not completed a trial in a single case. “Is ED not accountable for such modus operandi availed by them in not beginning and concluding a single trial?”

The ED told The Wire, “As far as other cases are concerned, your allegations are incorrect. In all the cases, all actions taken by the ED have been approved by the concerned jurisdictional court from time to time. Moreover, as the questions posed by you pertain to sensitive cases and would amount to disclosing facts in pending cases where matter is sub-judice and also may pertain to disclosing investigating facts, which would not be proper. Wherever, the question regarding arrest etc. of accused have been raised in any judicial forum ED has adequately responded to the same by providing the correct information which have been accepted by the courts.

“It therefore appears that you have also not studied the applications filed by the accused in the other matters and replies filed by the ED and have posed unwarranted queries to ED. It may be so that you are being used by some persons with vested interest to propagate their biased views and also to elicit sensitive information from ED through you under the garb of investigative journalism.

“You are requested to go through the public record of the case as is available with various courts, the answers will be provided therein.”

Multi-party petition

A multi-party petition on the role of central agencies filed in the Supreme Court last month had noted candidly that “political figures who have crossed over to the government side have mysteriously been given ‘clean chits’ or have seen investigative agencies go slow in proceedings against them”.

The matters they cited included:

• Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress leader who has now aligned himself with the Bharatiya Janata Party and is serving as the chief minister of Assam, was alleged by the BJP to have perpetrated a water supply scam in Guwahati, involving the American construction company Louis Berger. Court documents filed in the United States by the US Department of Justice under the country’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act alleged that the company paid bribes to secure the water supply contract in Guwahati but the recipients were not named. The BJP initially alleged that the unnamed recipients of the bribes included Himanta Biswa Sarma, and sought an investigation. However, after he changed parties, no action was taken. A CBI case was registered only after a PIL was filed in Gauhati high court but no effort has been made to obtain the names of those who were illegally paid off by the US company. The ED has shown no interest in the existence of this predicate offence.
• Shivraj Singh Chouhan, senior BJP leader and the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, was given a ‘clean chit’ by the CBI in the Vyapam scam, where according to some media reports, more than 40 witnesses have died.
• Somasekhara Reddy and G. Janardhana Reddy, former Ministers in the BJP Government in Karnataka and accused in a Rs 16500 crore mining scam, were given a ‘clean chit’ by the CBI just prior to the 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections.
• Narayan Rane, presently Union Minister of Micro, Small and Media Industries, formerly Shiv Sena and then Congress, now with the ruling party, was being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in the Avighna Housing scam case, while he was still a part of the Congress party. However, after he joined the BJP and became a Union Minister, no progress has been made in the probe.
• BJP West Bengal luminary Suvendu Adhikari was named an accused by the CBI in the Narada sting case. However, after he joined the BJP in 2020, the investigation against him appears to have been dropped.

The charge of the parties was that “investigation/arrest or threat thereof by agencies of the Central Government has been weaponised as a tool to coerce a change in the political landscape of the country in favour of the ruling dispensation”. The Supreme Court said it could not issue blanket guidelines, and said “you can come to us in an individual case. Come to us with one or more cases together. Our problem is, for Supreme Court to lay down guidelines in abstract without factual basis.”

But, says lawyer and parliamentarian Kapil Sibal, “the actions of the ED in targeting states not run by the BJP are destabilising the federal structure and polity. What makes the situation all the more serious is the ED has all India jurisdiction where predicate offences are concerned. And there is an urgent need to review the (Supreme Court retired Justice A.M.) Khanwilkar judgement.”

In 2022, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar upheld a very draconian version of the PMLA, which makes bail nearly impossible and puts the burden of proof squarely on the accused.

What the ED says

It is to be noted that the ED director has been in the eye of a storm with the Supreme Court making its displeasure with the repeated extensions he has been getting very clear. The Union government went out of its way to amend the law to keep him in the job for five years. He is set to retire now only in November 2023.

In the face of criticism, the ED maintains that it has a stellar track record.

According to its website, the agency has a conviction rate of 96%, politicians comprise only 3% of all cases and search warrants were issued in 8.99% of the cases.

But, the ‘conviction rate’ is based on 24 out of 25 cases in which a PMLA trial was completed. IANS quoting finance ministry sources reports that between 2018-19 and 2021-22, cases registered by ED rose by 505%, from 195 cases in 2018-19, to 1,180 in 2021-22. The number of searches the ED conducted rose by a huge 2,555% between 2004-14 and 2014-22. As per finance ministry’s own data, 112 searches were carried out by the ED between 2004-14 resulting in attachment of proceeds of crime worth Rs 5,346 crore.

The ED gave The Wire a three-page response to its queries, but some questions regarding the role of the agency remain unanswered:

How many cases has the investigation been completed so trial can commence?

How many cases have been registered and closed by way of discharge or quashing or acquittal?

How many accused have been discharged after a complaint was filed in court?

Of the properties attached, how many have been confiscated by the ED?

“The tenor and content of your letter shows that it is based not only on incorrect and misleading facts but also shows that you have not conducted proper research including checking the website of the ED. Otherwise, you have not put certain questions relating to statistics and asked for answers from us. It is clear that the purpose of this letter is to do a roving inquiry for an oblique purpose,” the ED said.

This is the first article in a two-part series. Read the second article here.

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This story first appeared in The Indian Express

India is the fourth highest donor to UN Democracy Fund, which funds at least 68 projects worldwide linked to George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.

In Sydney in February, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, when asked about George Soros’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, called him “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous.” A man “sitting in New York,” investing in “shaping narratives” about a government he didn’t like. That sharp rebuff went viral, like quite a few of Jaishankar’s recent retorts.

Here’s a paradox.

India is among the top contributors to the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) whose mission is to promote democracy across the world through local and international NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs) — many of these are linked to Soros’s philanthropic empire, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed.

Since UNDEF’s inception in 2005, India has contributed over $32 million to it and remains its fourth largest contributor.

Last year, when it contributed $150,000 to the fund – the 4th highest among 45 donors, after US, Sweden and Germany — India’s Permanent Mission to the UN proudly announced in a statement: “India acknowledges that sustained support for UNDEF is particularly important in this crucial time for democracy efforts worldwide. India expresses steadfast support for UNDEF as it plays a distinct role in complementing other UN efforts to strengthen democratic governance around the world.”

Of the 276 projects strengthening “democratic governance” that received UNDEF funds since 2015, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed, as many as 68, nearly one in four, are being executed by CSOs linked to Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) or its offshoots – either as a recipient of its donations or a partner.

Though UNDEF has been disbursing funds to NGOs linked to Soros from its inception, The Indian Express took 2015 as the starting point for its investigation.

This is because it was that year when the Modi government, which took office in 2014, began a crackdown on foreign funding of NGOs introducing new rules under the FCRA law for filing of foreign grants and started a weeding out process.

Ironically, while UNDEF funds organisations worldwide that have links to OSF, in 2016, the Home Ministry put OSF on a watchlist – means that it cannot extend any financial assistance to any organisation or individual in India without prior clearance from the ministry.

The Indian Express sent a query to the Indian Permanent Mission in New York, seeking an explanation for the evident contradiction and was redirected to the MEA spokesperson who was unavailable for comment.

The full list of 68 projects with Soros’s OSF, its regional subsidiaries and partners is on indianexpress.com.

Following are the key findings of the investigation and the topmost recipient of UNDEF funds linked to Soros’s OSF each year between 2015 and 2021:

2021: Of 33 projects that got UNDEF funds, 11 went to CSOs linked to OSF. At the top was Lebanese Center for Human Rights. It received a grant of $275,000 for a project titled Safeguarding Human Rights Amid Crisis in Lebanon. The group lists ABAAD as a partner. OSF is a donor to ABAAD.

2020: Of 30 projects that got UNDEF grants, 10 were linked to OSF. Lebanon-based NGO Abaad Resource Centre for Gender Equality received a grant of $495,000 for a project to engage with “Civil Society Organizations and Youths in Gender-Inclusive Citizenship and Leadership”. Abaad receives grants from OSF, too.

2019: Of 32 grantees, 11 were OSF beneficiaries. A regional NGO called Africa Check Foundation got $495,000 for a project to foster “media literacy for evidence-based decision making” in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. ACF lists OSF as a partner.

2018: Of 46 UNDEF recipients, 12 have a connection with OSF. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies that works in the West Asia-North Africa region, received $275,000 for a project to “empower a new generation of human rights advocates.” OSF is a donor to Cairo Institute.

2017: Of the 48 UNDEF recipients, 15 are linked to OSF. At the top is the Kofi Annan Foundation, which received $ 275,000 for a project to strengthen “Electoral Processes with Integrity in Sub Saharan Africa with a focus on Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon”. The foundation receives funds from OSF.

2016: Of the 43 UNDEF recipients, six are linked to OSF. The top recipient is Search for Common Ground in Central African Republic which got $242,000 for a project to “promote democracy through the establishment of permanent, participatory, inclusive and collaborative citizen dialogue”. It lists an OSF affiliate as a partner.

2015: Of the 44 UNDEF recipients, three are linked to OSF. Action Associative in Tunisia got $ 242,000 for a project to build “Public Participation, Trust and Transparency in Local Government” towards particpatory decision-making. This civil society group is a partner of Avocats san Frontieres, which is funded by OSF.

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শিশু জন্মের ছয় সপ্তাহের মধ্যে পাঁচবার টিকা দিতে হয়। স্বাস্থ্য অধিদপ্তর, স্বাস্থ্যসেবা বিভাগ এবং স্বাস্থ্য ও পরিবার কল্যাণ মন্ত্রণালয়ের সম্প্রসারিত টিকাদান কর্মসূচির (ইপিআই) আওতায় প্রত্যেক নবজাতককে কমপক্ষে পাঁচবার টিকাকেন্দ্রে বিনামূল্যে টিকা দেওয়ার কথা বলা হচ্ছে। কিন্তু বিনামূল্যে টিকা দেওয়ার প্রতিশ্রুতি থাকলেও অভিভাবকদের গুনতে হচ্ছে টাকা। এনজিওর মাধ্যমে শিশুকে এই টিকা দেওয়ার কারণে সংস্থাগুলো অভিভাবকদের কাছ থেকে ‘সার্ভিস চার্জের’ নামে নিজেদের ইচ্ছামতো টাকা নিচ্ছে। রাজধানীর পূর্ব মেরুল বাড্ডার ২১ নম্বর ওয়ার্ডের নিমতলী রোডের পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকে (পিসিডিও) শিশুর অভিভাবকদের কাছ থেকে বিনামূল্যের টিকার বিপরীতে টাকা নেওয়ার সত্যতা মেলে।

শিশুদের যে টিকাগুলো দিতে হয়, সেগুলো হলো—প্রথমবার বিসিজি, পেন্টা-১, ওপিভি-১, পিসিভি-১ এবং আইপিভি-১, দ্বিতীয়বার পেন্টা-২, ওপিভি-২, পিসিভি-২, তৃতীয়বার পেন্টা-৩, ওপিভি-৩, পিসিভি-৩ এবং আইপিভি-২, চতুর্থবার এমআর প্রথম ডোজ, পঞ্চমবার এমআর দ্বিতীয় ডোজ।

২৯ মার্চ দুপুর ১২টার দিকে দেড় মাসের ছেলে মুয়াজকে পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকে টিকা দিতে নিয়ে এসেছিলেন মাহফুজা। তিনি জানান, প্রথমবার বিসিজি, ওপিভি-১ এবং আইপিভি-১ তিনটি ডোজে তাকে গুনতে হয়েছে ৫০০ টাকা। পরে বলে দিয়েছে, বাকি দুটি এক সপ্তাহ পর ৫ এপ্রিল নিতে গেলে লাগবে ৪০০ টাকা। দ্বিতীয়, তৃতীয়, চতুর্থ ও পঞ্চমবার টিকা দিতে আরও টাকা গুনতে হবে তাকে। প্রথম তিনটি ডোজে ৫০০ টাকা নিলেও কার্ডের ভেতরে বামপাশের কর্নারে অঙ্কে ৩০০ লেখা রয়েছে। বাকি ২০০ টাকার কথা কার্ডে উল্লেখ নেই। ৫ এপ্রিল পেন্টা (ডিপিটি, হেপ-বি, হিব), পিসিভি টিকা দিতে গুনতে হয়েছে ২০০ টাকা। রসিদ চাওয়ায় ৪০০ টাকার কথা বললেও নেয় ২০০ টাকা। আনাড়ি হাতে প্রথমবার নবজাতকের দুই হাতে টিকা দেওয়ায় রক্ত বের হচ্ছিল।

প্রতিবার টিকার জন্য টাকা চাওয়া প্রসঙ্গে মাহফুজা বলেন, টিকাদানকারীকে জিজ্ঞেস করি এটি তো সরকারি টিকা। আপনি টাকা নিলেন, প্রাপ্তির রসিদ দিন। তারা রসিদ দিতে অস্বীকৃতি জানায়। প্রথমবার তারা রসিদ না দিলেও দ্বিতীয়বার অর্থ প্রাপ্তির রসিদ দিয়েছে।

আরেক অভিভাবক তার নবজাতককে তৃতীয় ডোজ দিতে নিয়ে এসেছিলেন এখানে। প্রথম-দ্বিতীয় ডোজ চট্টগ্রামে দিয়েছেন। অন্যদের সঙ্গে টিকা দেওয়ার দরদাম দেখে তিনি এগিয়ে এসে বলেন, একেক ডোজ টিকা দিতে এত টাকা লাগবে? তাহলে আমার ছেলের কত টাকা লাগবে? টিকাদান কর্মী তানিয়া তাকে বলেন, ২০০ টাকা। কার্ডও করতে হবে। তিনি অবাক হয়ে বলেন, একেক ডোজ ২০০ টাকা! অভিভাবক আগের টিকা প্রদান কার্ডের ফটোকপি তাদের সামনে এগিয়ে দিতেই পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকের ম্যানেজার মাসুমা ইসলাম বলেন, এই কার্ডে হবে না। আপনি চট্টগ্রাম থেকে দুইবার দিয়েছেন। এখানে নতুন কার্ড বানাতে হবে।

ওই অভিভাবক অনুনয়-বিনয় করে বলেন, ‘আপা আমি অনেক গরিব মানুষ। ওখানে ৩০ টাকা দিয়ে টিকা দেওয়ালাম। আমার যদি এত টাকা দেওয়ার সামর্থ্য থাকত, তাইলে সরকারি টিকা দেওয়াতে আসতাম না।’

নবজাতককে নিয়ে তৃতীয়বার টিকা দিতে আসেন আরেক মা। সচ্ছল পরিবারের হলেও তিনি টিকাদানকারীকে বলেন, অন্য জায়গায় তো অনেক কম টাকা রাখে। আপনারা কম রাখছেন না কেন? এই কথার প্রেক্ষিতে টিকাদানকর্মী তানিয়া সেই অভিভাবককে তিরস্কার করে বলেন, তিনটি খাতা মেইনটেইন করতে হয়। একজনের সুঁই খুলতে হয়। একজনকে ধরতে হয়। এত কিছুর জন্য কি একটি সার্ভিস ফি থাকবে না? প্রতি উত্তরে অভিভাবক বলেন, টিকা তো বিনামূল্যে সরকার থেকে দেওয়ার কথা।

অভিভাবকের কথোপকথনে রাগান্বিত হয়ে পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকের ম্যানেজার মাসুমা ইসলাম বলেন, এত কথা বলেবেন না। টিকা দেওয়ার হলে দেন।

২৯ মার্চ নবজাতকদের টিকা কার্ডে টিকা দানকারীর নামের নিচে লেখা রয়েছে তানিয়া। তানিয়া আক্তার স্বাস্থ্যকেন্দ্রে আসা নবজাতকদের টিকা দেন। গত সোমবার সকাল সাড়ে ১০টায় পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকে গেলে দেখা যায় টিকাদানকারী তানিয়া আক্তার চেয়ারে বসে এবং একজন কর্মী বেঞ্চে শুয়ে জি বাংলার সিরিয়াল ‘মিঠাই’ দেখছিলেন। নবজাতককে নার্স না ডাক্তার টিকা দেন এ বিষয়ে তথ্য জানতে চাওয়া হয় তানিয়া আক্তারের কাছে। তিনি এ সম্পর্কে কোনো কথা না বলে উল্টো প্রতিবেদকে জিজ্ঞাসা করেন, তথ্য কী কারণে লাগবে? টিকা দেওয়ার খরচ সম্পর্কে জানতে চাইলে তিনি বলেন, এখানে ভদ্রমানুষ পুলিশ, এসপি, ডিসি, উকিল আসে। এই প্রতিষ্ঠান সরকারি না, এনজিও। যাদের টাকা নাই, তাদের ফ্রি টিকা দিই।

টিকা বাবদ টাকা নেওয়া প্রসঙ্গে পরিবারের স্বাস্থ্যসেবা ক্লিনিকের ম্যানেজার মাসুমা ইসলাম কালবেলাকে বলেন, দেড় থেকে ১৫ মাস বয়সী শিশুদের টিকা প্রদানে ৫০ থেকে ১০০ টাকা সার্ভিস চার্জ নেওয়া হয়। প্রত্যেক অভিভাবককে টিকাদানের রসিদ দেওয়া হয়। অথচ প্রথম দিনে তিনটি ডোজের জন্য টাকা নিয়েও রসিদ না দেওয়ার ব্যাপারে তিনি অভিভাবককে বলেছিলেন, এটি এনজিও। আপনাদের পরে রসিদ দেব। কিন্তু সেদিনের রসিদ অভিভাবকরা আর পাননি।

ডায়রিয়ার টিকার জন্য টাকা চাওয়া প্রসঙ্গে তিনি কালবেলাকে বলেন, ডায়রিয়ার টিকা বেসরকারি। কোম্পানির দামে বিদেশের টিকার দাম ৩ হাজার এবং দেশেরটা ১ হাজার ২০০ টাকা পড়বে।

স্বাস্থ্য অধিদপ্তরের প্রোগ্রাম ম্যানেজার এসএম আব্দুল্লাহ আল মুরাদ কালবেলাকে বলেন, টিকাদান কর্মসূচির (ইপিআই) টিকা বিনামূল্যে দেওয়া হয়। সিটি করপোরেশনের আওতায় এনজিওগুলোকে টিকাদানের দায়িত্ব প্রদান করা হয়। তারা নবজাতকদের সরকারি টিকার ডোজগুলো নিয়মিত দিয়ে থাকে।

ঢাকা উত্তর সিটি করপোরেশনের প্রধান স্বাস্থ্য কর্মকর্তা ব্রিগেডিয়ার জেনারেল মো. জোবায়দুর রহমান কালবেলাকে বলেন, সিটি করপোরেশনের নিজস্ব কর্মী না থাকায় এনজিওর মাধ্যমে টিকাদান কর্মসূচি (ইপিআই) বাস্তবায়ন করা হচ্ছে। এই টিকা এনজিওদের বিনামূল্যে বিতরণ করা হয়। সরকারের লক্ষ্য হলো শিশুদের শতভাগ ভ্যাকসিনের আওতায় আনা। এনজিওরা তেজগাঁও থেকে এই টিকা সংগ্রহ করে নিজ নিজ কেন্দ্রে নিয়ে যায়। যাতায়াতের খরচটা তাদেরই বহন করতে হয়। কর্মচারীর বেতন দিতে হয়। সেজন্য নামমাত্র চার্জ নেওয়ার চেষ্টা করতে পারে। যদিও সার্ভিস চার্জ নেওয়ার অনুমতি নেই। সেক্ষেত্রে তারা যদি অতিরিক্ত সার্ভিস চার্জ আদায় করে সুনির্দিষ্ট অভিযোগ এবং প্রমাণ পেলে অবশ্যই ব্যবস্থা নেব।

তিনি আরও বলেন, অভিযোগের ভিত্তিতে কয়েকটি এনজিওকে বাদ দিয়েছি। ফলে সেই এলাকার টিকাদান কর্মসূচি বন্ধ হয়ে গেছে। ওই এলাকার শিশুরা ভ্যাকসিনের সুবিধা থেকে বঞ্চিত হচ্ছে।

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