OC

POWER SECTOR
DISCIPLINING THE DISCOMS

RECRUITMENT EXAMS
PLUGGING THE LEAKS

FARMERS A FIGHT
FOR THE MINIMUM
MARCH 4, 2024 `100

ELECTION

HOW TO CLEAN IT UP
WITH THE SUPREME COURT STRIKING DOWN
ELECTORAL BONDS, THE MEASURES NEEDED TO
REFORM POLL FINANCES

Volume 49-Number 10; Published on every Friday of Advance Week; Posted at LPC Delhi – RMS – Delhi – 110006 on Every Friday & Saturday; Total number of Pages 68 (including cover pages)

DL (DS)-03/MP/2022-23-24; RNI NO. 28587/1975 REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2024-25-26; LICENSED TO POST WPP NO. U(C)-88/2024–26; FARIDABAD/05/2023-25

www.indiatoday.in

FROM THE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
lection funding of political parties is a messy and
full amount of Rs 70 lakh permitted then. There were 8,048
controversial affair in almost all democracies
candidates in the fray for that election and, assuming all canacross the world. On February 15, the Supreme
didates spent the same amount, the total candidate expendiCourt of India struck down the electoral bond
ture during that election would be Rs 4,667 crore. If we add
scheme that the Modi government had notified
the declared expenditure of Rs 2,591 crore by the 32 national
in January 2018. The mechanism enabled a wide range of
and regional parties in the 2019 polls, the amount escalates
contributors, particularly corporates, to purchase these
to just over Rs 7,000 crore. But the Delhi-based Centre for
bonds in denominations ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore
Media Studies (CMS) pegged the overall expenditure in the
from the State Bank of India and donate it to political par2019 general election, minus the estimated amount spent by
ties of their choice. There was no maximum donation limit.
the Election Commission to conduct the polls, at around Rs
Nor did political parties need to disclose the names of the
47,000 crore—close to seven times that amount. Even more
donors—they only had to declare the total amount they reworryingly, the CMS figures suggest a 60 per cent increase in
ceived. The Centre had said the bonds would end the practice
election expenditure as compared to the 2014 general election.
of “under-the-table transactions” and reduce black money in
learly, with even the electoral bond scheme found wantpolitical funding. However, in a unanimous and hard-hitting
ing, the country is now again faced with the issue of how
232-page judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed that arto make election funding fair, transparent and accountable.
gument, drawing lines in the sand that will shape all future
Executive Editor Kaushik Deka’s cover story, ‘Election Funds:
debates on election funding.
How to Clean It Up’, undertakes a multi-segmental analysis to
In ruling that the scheme was unconstitutional and
come up with possible answers. State funding is an option that
antithetical to the idea of free and fair elections, the Supreme
crops up frequently. Between 1998 and 2008,
Court weighed the Right to Privacy against
three of the four official Indian committees/
the Right to Information. It observed that
commissions that examined the issue endorsed
while the privacy of donors is important,
the idea. It’s also the practice in 86 per cent of
transparency cannot be achieved by absolute
the countries in Europe, 71 per cent in Africa,
exemption. The apex court instructed the
63 per cent in the Americas and 58 per cent in
Election Commission of India (ECI) to make
Asia—and they offer a perfect opportunity to
public the names of all donors by March 13,
examine the pros and cons. A study found that
the fallout of which promises to be interestabout 70 countries, including Germany, Japan
ing. The SC also objected to the amendment
and Israel, peg the ratio of contributions to
of Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2017,
each party to the percentage of votes it secures.
which knocked off the upper limit on how
Critics point out that this privileges legacy parmuch a company could donate to a political
ties and imposes a higher entry barrier for new
party through electoral bonds. The new rules
formations. Imagine an Aam Aadmi Party a
had allowed even loss-making companies
decade ago that clearly had the popular conto donate. A parallel amendment via the
sent on its side to some extent but was yet to
Finance Act, 2016, extended that right to
March 31, 1996
demonstrate it electorally. To penalise such a
foreign companies that had subsidiaries in
party for that would be to favour the status quo. Not an element
India. The court declared that the ability of a company to
you would want in a blueprint for reform.
influence the election process through political contributions
Also, state funding has effectively curbed the play of private
is much higher than an individual’s. Therefore, it ruled that
money only in a handful of countries. As former chief electhe scheme also violated the Right to Equality enshrined in
tion commissioner N. Gopalaswami tells us, “State funding
Article 14 of the Constitution.
will make no difference unless the cap on election expenditure
The apex court’s judgment has once again shone a torch
is strictly enforced.” The other option is to be realistic about
on the need for a clean political funding mechanism in
private funding and move it out of the shadows. Corporate
India. As elsewhere in the world, unaccounted-for election
funding is not a malign force by itself. All we need is to build
funds, often for quid pro quo purposes, have been the root
in the features the electoral bond scheme lacked: transparency
of electoral malpractices and corruption in the country. The
and openness, mechanisms for disclosure and scrutiny to keep
ECI does prescribe limits on the expenditure permitted for a
out anonymous, unaccounted-for money and enough for every
candidate contesting for a Lok Sabha or legislative assembly
deserving party to be seen and heard. Electoral funding is like
seat. Periodically revised upwards to adjust for inflation and
capital expenditure for democracy. Free and fair elections are
growth in the number of electors, a candidate for a big Lok
the bedrock of any democracy and India’s conduct of elections
Sabha constituency presently has a cap of Rs 95 lakh; the
is a wonder of the world. It should remain so.
corresponding figure for a would-be MLA is Rs 40 lakh. But,
as a measure of actual expenditure, that amount appears to
be only the tip of the iceberg.
While there is no official collation of the total expenditure
in the 2019 general election, an analysis done by the Association for Democratic Reforms found that, on average,
(Aroon Purie)
every winning candidate spent Rs 58 lakh—well within the

E

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A FIGHT FOR
THE MINIMUM

Minimum Support Price
is at the heart of the
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P OW E R R E F O R M S

40

DISCIPLINING
THE DISCOMS

Power ministry’s carrot
and stick policy to make
discoms efficient

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A BARRAGE
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The Kaleshwaram lift
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R E C RU I T M E N T E X A M S

52 PLUGGING
THE LEAKS

A new central bill aims
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penalties. Can it succeed?

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MAHA MESS IN
MAHARASHTRA
CONGRESS PG 9

KARNATAKA:
THE BALANCING
ACT PG 14

BOOKS: MANAGING
PAKISTAN
PG 16

OBITUARY:
FALI S. NARIMAN
PG 20

BREATHTAKING The 1.3 km-long

Chenab Bridge, at 359 metres
the highest in the world, in Reasi
district, Jammu & Kashmir
ABID BHAT

JA MM U A ND K ASHMIR

PM’S VALLEY EXPRESS
By Moazum Mohammad

I

n most places warmed by the
seasonal appearance of electoral
rhetoric, it’s not rare to see politics
and development get fused into
one grand narrative. But for Jammu and Kashmir, it’s a bridge crossed.
The train network expansion from Srinagar to Jammu formed the backdrop
to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
February 20 rally at the Maulana Azad
Stadium in Jammu. His main theme
was how the abrogation of Article 370
had aided Kashmir’s better integration

6 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

with the mainland. A series of engineering marvels—among them, the world’s
highest railway bridge that awaits
its last nuts and bolts, and a series of
mind-bending mountain tunnels—were
offered as material symbols of that idea.
This was Modi’s second visit to Jammu
after August 2019, when J&K’s special
status was revoked. And that event was
still good enough to give him his campaign plank ahead of the general election. “Article 370 was the biggest hurdle
in the development of J&K. The BJP

removed that wall,” he told the crowd.
The development occurring as a result
was eliciting enthusiasm globally, he
said, and “Gulf countries were showing
keen interest”—alluding also to the G20
events hosted successfully in Srinagar.
Nationally, he cited the “record two
crore tourists” who visited J&K in the
past one year and said a better rail link
would only grow those figures.
The coming Lok Sabha election will
be the first time the province will vote
after its change of status, so the stakes

UPFRONT

THE MAIN LINE

are high for the BJP—in ways that include but also go beyond the calculus of
seats. As one of the two Union Territories the erstwhile state was bifurcated
into, J&K (minus Ladakh) has six
Lok Sabha constituencies: three each
from Kashmir and Jammu. Assembly
elections, too, have not been held since
2014; now, there’s a Supreme Court
deadline of September 2024. The
showpiece projects Modi is showcasing have, therefore, not come at a bad
time. Foremost among them is the 48.1
km Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan
railway line that he inaugurated, part
of the Katra-Banihal section of the 272
km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla
(USBRL) railway link that will connect
Kashmir with the rest of India.

T

his rail link boasts several
standout features—among them,
India’s longest transport tunnel.
Nestled in the Pir Panjals, the ambitious 12.7 km-long project, named T49,
lies in the Ramban district between
Sumber and Arpinchala stations in rugged mountainous terrain. Traffic promises to be bustling: the PM also flagged
off electric trains on routes totalling
185.66 km on the Baramulla-SrinagarBanihal-Sangaldan section—a significant step towards providing all-weather
train connectivity to Kashmir.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party is
fulfilling the dreams of people in
J&K that were unmet for the past 70
years. Modi’s guarantee is final…that
everyone’s dreams would be fulfilled,”
Modi said at the rally. News of bomb
blasts, separatism and kidnappings, he
added, were replaced by those of education, connectivity and development.
In Jammu, Modi also inaugurated/
laid the foundation of 209 development projects worth over Rs 32,000
crore. Prominent among them are an
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) in Samba district, the IIM
Jammu campus and a new terminal in
Jammu airport. “People would forget
Switzerland and come to J&K as infrastructure would get a big boost,” he said
on the occasion.

8 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

Of the UdhampurSrinagar-Baramulla
Railway Link, the KatraBanihal stretch, with 38
tunnels and 37 bridges,
is the most challenging

Baramulla

SRINAGAR
Anantanag
Qazigund
Banihal
Tunnel 49
Sangaldan

J&K

L ADAKH

Chenab Bridge

Katra
Udhampur

GUARANTEE FOR J&K
Ô On February 20, PM Narendra
Modi addressed a rally in
Jammu,signifying the start of the
Lok Sabha poll campaign in J&K
Ô He guaranteed development
for J&K, saying Gulf nations were
keen on investing there
Ô PM Modi inaugurated two
railway projects—the 48 kmlong Banihal-Khari-SumberSangaldan line and electric trains
on the Baramulla-Sangal route
Ô One of the showpiece projects
inaugurated by Modi is the T49
tunnel—at 12.7 km, it is India’s
longest railway tunnel
Ô Completion of the UdhampurSrinagar-Baramulla railway link
(USBRL) connecting J&K with the
rest of India is expected to drive
development, bring investment
Ô PM Modi also inaugurated/
announced projects in J&K worth
over Rs 32,000 crore

Modi also deployed a trope he
frequently uses against the Congress as
he lit into the traditional Valley parties
arrayed against the BJP. He said a “few
families had clung on to power” in J&K
since Independence without prioritising people’s welfare. Without nam-

ing the National Conference or the
People’s Democratic Party, Modi said,
“I am happy that J&K is now getting
freedom from dynastic politics.”
Eight electric trains will now run
between Baramulla and Banihal and
four of these have been extended to
Jammu’s Ramban sector, with Sangaldan as the new last or originating stop.
In the coming months, this will
further connect to one of the showpieces of the entire USBRL: the
spectacular Chenab Bridge in Reasi
district. This 1.3 km-long steel arch
bridge over the emerald Chenab,
coursing 359 metres below, is the
world’s highest railway bridge.
The T49 tunnel and the Chenab
bridge are part of the rail link that
promises a reliable connect to farflung and poorly connected areas of
J&K and is expected to spur economic growth and promote tourism.
Declared a ‘national project’ in 2002,
the USBRL is being constructed at
an estimated cost of Rs 37,012 crore.
Its execution has seen four phases:
Udhampur-Katra (completed in July
2014), Banihal-Qazigund (completed
in June 2013), Qazigund-Baramulla
(in phases by 2009) and Katra-Banihal—the most formidable leg of the
project. The 111 km Katra-Banihal
corridor falls in Seismic Zone 4 territory and presents multiple construction challenges as it winds its way
through mountains and an extensive
riverine system that wraps around it
with deep gorges. Over 97 km of the
stretch comprises tunnels. It also has

M A H A R ASHTR A

37 bridges, including the cable-stayed
Anji Bridge (over Anji river) and the
picturesque Chenab Bridge. “The
construction in Banihal-Katra corridor
involved overcoming geological complexities like fault zones, loose strata
and water ingress,” says an engineer of
the Northern Railways.

I

n spite of the challenges, the Centre
has pushed for the USBRL to
establish full connectivity to the
Valley as fast as possible. ‘It can play an
important role in rapid industrialisation, movement of raw materials and
finished products from J&K, encourage tourism and provide opportunities
for employment,’ states the 2021 report
of the ministry of railways.
Needless to say, Kashmir’s trade
bodies eagerly await full rail connectivity. Presently, the Kashmir valley is connected with the rest of India through
National Highway 44, but landslides often force it shut for days. Air travel, with
high fares on the Srinagar-Delhi route,
is unaffordable for most. “The train
will attract investment and bring down
travel time,” says Faiz Ahmad Bakshi,
general secretary of Kashmir Chamber
of Commerce and Industry. “It will take
our horticulture/ agriculture produce
like apples to their destinations easily.”
The rail link and the development projects announced by Modi are
expected to boost the BJP’s electoral
prospects. Says former deputy chief
minister and senior BJP leader Nirmal
Singh, “We have done it not on paper,
but on the ground, and have been able
to reach the completion stage. The train
will socially and politically integrate the
region...it’s a dream come true.”
Political analyst Rekha Choudhary
says that besides being showcased
across India during the campaign
season, the USBRL and other projects
will be used to point out to the world
that the abrogation of Article 370 had a
socio-developmental purpose. “Besides
boosting the economy,” she says, “it will
have a psychological impact on Kashmiris, as it will bring people closer with
the rest of the country.” „

MAHA MESS IN
CONGRESS
By Dhaval S. Kulkarni

M

aharashtra is witnessing serial earthquakes, politically
speaking. As former
chief minister Ashok Chavan took
many by surprise on leaving the
Congress for the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) earlier this month,
the latter was quick to project it as
a third vertical split in the Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA). In June 2022,
Eknath Shinde had walked out on
Uddhav Thackeray to topple the
MVA government and take the reins
of both the state and the Shiv Sena,
and then in July 2023, Ajit Pawar
split his uncle Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to
become a deputy chief minister—all
this with the backing of the BJP.
For the Congress, this is the
third high-profile exit within a
month. The first was that of former

Union minister Milind Deora on
January 14, who will join Chavan in
the Rajya Sabha as the Shinde-led
Sena nominee. (The BJP declared
Chavan as its Rajya Sabha nominee on February 14, just two days
after he resigned from all Congress
posts and as an MLA from Bhokar
constituency.) Former state minister
Baba Siddiqui is the other Congress
deserter, who is now with the Ajit
Pawar-led NCP.
Of these, Chavan is the real
heavyweight and holds the capacity
to count for more than one eventually. A senior BJP leader told INDIA
TODAY that his move could open
the floodgates for other Congress
legislators. “This will be evident
in the run-up to the Lok Sabha
election,” he claimed, “and during the assembly polls.” The state’s
electorate will be voting for a new

REVOLVING CHAIR

Ashok Chavan at his office
in Mumbai, Feb. 15

HINDUSTAN TIMES

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 9

UPFRONT

government by October, and all the
splits make for a combustible cocktail.
Already, they have created a curious
problem of plenty for the saffron party
ahead of the Lok Sabha poll. The BJP
leader admits his party would have
to “pick and choose” when it comes to
inducting Congressmen, as the ruling
alliance was already “saturated”. Such
inductions could upset those leaders
of the Mahayuti (grand alliance) constituents who have been nursing political ambitions of their own. And then
there is the multiplicity of ideologies at
play too. With Ajit Pawar backing the
demand for reservation for minorities,
as the surprise extension of the idea of
a caste census, the BJP could very well
find itself in a fix in days to come.

B

ut all this is nothing compared to the Congress’s
plight. Already, in a sign of
impending trouble, around 10 of 44
Congress MLAs stayed away from a
party conclave at Lonavala on February 16-17. An Independent MLA who
is close to the BJP says Chavan’s move
could not have been a leap in the dark.
“He wouldn’t have joined the BJP unless he had promised the BJP leadership that he would bring something
substantial to the table,” he said.
“He may at least get the MLAs from
Nanded and Marathwada on his side.”
Chavan began his electoral career
as a Congress MP from Nanded (198789), inheriting the political mantle of
his father—the late S.B. Chavan, who
was a two-time Maharashtra CM, and
later the Union home minister. Today,
he holds sway over parts of Marathwada, notably Nanded and adjoining
Hingoli, especially over the local power
centres such as municipal bodies,
sugar mills and cooperatives. In 2014,
Chavan had handed a face-saver to the
Congress by winning the Nanded Lok
Sabha seat and working for the victory
of Rahul Gandhi’s confidant Rajiv
Satav from Hingoli. The two were the
only Congress victors from Maharashtra. But, in 2019, he faced a shock
defeat, before being elected to the state

10 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

S P L I T W ID E O P E N
Ô For the Maharashtra
Congress, the exit of
Ashok Chavan is the third
jolt within a month, after
former Union minister
Milind Deora and ex-state
minister Baba Siddiqui’s
desertion
Ô The BJP is projecting
it as a third vertical split
in the Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) since 2022, after
Eknath Shinde and Ajit
Pawar’s coup within the
Shiv Sena and Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP),
respectively
Ô In a sign of impending trouble, around 10 of
the 44 Congress MLAs
stayed away from a party
conclave at Lonavala on
February 16-17

THE BJP TOO
FACES A PROBLEM
OF PLENTY IN
ACCOMMODATING
MORE POTENTIAL
CONGRESS REBELS
IN A ‘SATURATED’
RULING ALLIANCE

assembly from Bhokar and joining the
Uddhav-led MVA government.
Incidentally, Chavan’s exit from
the Congress came just days after the
Union government released a white
paper that detailed various “governance, economic and fiscal crises”
and corruption scandals during the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
regime, the Adarsh housing society
scam among them. The Adarsh case—
involving alleged irregularities in the
allotment of flats in a housing project
in upscale South Mumbai—had cost

Chavan his CM’s post in 2010.
So, was his exit prompted by a
possible Enforcement Directorate
(ED) action? Chavan denies any such
speculation. Talking to INDIA TODAY,
the former CM said his decision was a
result of “the lack of action within the
party” and the style of working of the
state leadership—an apparent attack
on Maharashtra Congress chief Nana
Patole. “This was leading to a gnawing
sense of frustration,” he said, “as the
elections were coming close. In the last
six to eight months, the party had not
prepared [for the polls], while others
had gone down to the village level in
their campaigning. Here, there were
only discussions.”
Even as a senior Congress leader
points to the likely “psychological
impact” of Chavan’s “sudden” move on
the party cadre, Congress legislature
party leader Balasaheb Thorat refutes
the possibility of any split. Another
Congress leader, who also wished to
remain anonymous, waxes confident
that Congress MLAs would not defect
en masse to the BJP, claiming that
Chavan’s revolt differed from that of
Shinde’s and Ajit Pawar’s, which had
been “brewing for a while”. “Chavan or
any defector will not be able to muster
the support of two-thirds of Congress
MLAs, and will have to resign from
their seats,” says the leader. “This will
affect their bargaining power, and
they may be denied a renomination in
favour of contenders from the three
other parties in the Mahayuti.”
Even Chavan was reportedly eager
to become a deputy CM with a plum
portfolio, but the idea is said to have
met with opposition from the BJP
ranks. Chavan maintains that he has
not “invited” any Congress MLA to
follow him into the BJP, even though,
he says, they too are “worried about the
future”. According to Hemant Desai,
a journalist and political analyst, “all
does not seem well within the Congress” after Chavan’s exit. How this
development plays out for the party
will become clear soon enough, as the
poll frenzy reaches a fever pitch. „

ONE MORE TIME CM Jagan

Reddy at the ‘Siddham’ poll
campaign rally in Vizag

UPFRONT

A N DH R A PR A DE SH

BRACING
FOR THE
BATTLE
By Amarnath K. Menon
ANI

N

enu siddham, meeru siddhama (I am ready, are
you ready),” was Chief
Minister Y.S. Jagan
Reddy’s war cry as he
launched the poll campaign for the 175
legislative assembly and 25 Lok Sabha
seats in Andhra Pradesh on January 27.
Events have moved fast in the following month, with a mini exodus from
his Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress
Party (YSRCP). On February 21, Rajya
Sabha MP Vemireddy Prabhakar
Reddy, a prominent industrialist who
was a close aide of Jagan’s father and
former Andhra CM Y.S. Rajasekhara
Reddy, became the latest to quit the
party. His sister Y.S. Sharmila’s sudden
shift to the Congress in late January is
what had set the ball rolling. Being up
against kith and kin expectedly dredges
up the metaphors of an epic battle. “I
am not Abhimanyu, who fell prey to
the Opposition’s deceit. I am Arjuna,”
the 51-year-old Jagan had declared,
beating a drum, as a massive crowd
roared at the rally in Sangivalasa near
Visakhapatnam.
The YSRCP’s re-election campaign banks heavily on a bouquet of
direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes.
Glossing over the need to attract

12 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

investment, much of the state’s resources were diverted to this outreach—
about Rs 2.53 lakh crore were spent
and 213,000 government jobs created
in the past 56 months. Unlike the counsel received by the epic hero, though, all
the good karma is meant to bear fruit.
Andhra Pradesh will likely vote in the
initial stages of the multi-phase general
election in April-May, going by the pattern set the previous two times.
“The YSRCP must make a clean
sweep to ensure the continuation of
welfare schemes for the next 25 years,”
Jagan says, urging party activists to
go door to door and convey the message. Poll analysts point out that the
“positive impact” of the DBT measures
will be critical if he is to win a second

JAGAN HAS
DROPPED MANY OF
THE UNPOPULAR
MLAS AND MPS.
EVEN SO, A
2019-LIKE SWEEP
SEEMS UNLIKELY

successive term. One good thing is
that it can’t be fudged: the schemes are
monitored by a robust village secretariat system pioneered by Jagan as a
grassroots governance initiative.
Accountability can take many forms.
Learning from the recent defeat of
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader
K. Chandrashekar Rao in neighbouring
Telangana, Jagan has shifted or dropped
many ‘unpopular’ MLAs and MPs, hoping it will counter any anti-incumbency
that has set in. Feedback has been taken
from poll strategists and even the state
police intelligence to assess the winnability of candidates. Even so, a repeat
of the 2019 results when the YSRCP
won 151 assembly and 22 Lok Sabha
seats looks highly unlikely.
Moreover, the rivals led by Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party
(TDP) hope to close ranks and avoid a
split in the anti-YSRCP vote. Naidu is
trying to get actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana
Sena Party (JSP) and the BJP on his
side to put up a combined fight. The
TDP has been delaying the announcement of its candidates for the elections
for the same reason, waiting for a seatsharing pact to be finalised. The saffron
party reportedly wants six Lok Sabha
seats and anything between 10 and 20

for the assembly. If the TDP-JSPBJP alliance does coalesce with any
degree of coherence, it could spell
serious trouble for Jagan.

T

he YSRCP supremo has
other worries as well.
Sharmila’s strident campaign is already weaning away a
section of old YSR loyalists—leaders, cadres and voters alike. With
Naidu drifting to the NDA fold,
Sharmila is in talks to rope in the
CPI, CPI(M) and other fringe parties opposed to the NDA, to help
the Congress boost its vote share. In
effect, though, a triangle of fronts
in the fray will split the anti-YSRCP
vote and indirectly help Jagan.
Conscious of the challenges,
Jagan has targeted both the TDP
and the Congress. He calls Naidu
“a fascist who has no guts to fight
the polls without alliances and
no face to seek votes with his past
performance”. As for the Congress,
he says it pursues a “divide and
rule” policy, whether committed on
Telugu society like it did by splitting the state in 2014 or by dividing his family—first by fielding his
late uncle Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy
against his mother and now by pitting sister Sharmila against him.
That could just about suffice. “A
dent in the YSRCP vote bank and
loss of some seats are inevitable as
Jagan has neglected sections like
government employees, pensioners
and the educated youth. But reelection looks quite certain,” says
political analyst Dr Subramanyam
Reddy. “The vast majority of beneficiaries of the DBT schemes will
back him for another term.”
The risk could come from
elesewhere: disgruntled leaders
quitting the YSRCP and fuelling
the anti-incumbency campaign.
The succees of Jagan’s siddham
battle cry will depend on how
many on his side are ready to stay,
or are ready to desert him. „

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 1 1

FUNDS FACTOR

Siddaramaiah presents
a buoyant picture ahead
of the state budget

ANI

ANI

K A R N ATA K A B U D G E T

THE CM’S BALANCING ACT
By Ajay Sukumaran

K

arnataka chief minister
Siddaramaiah has the enviable record of having presented 15 state budgets—in his
parallel capacity as finance minister—
over three long decades since 1994. But
in giving shape to the one he presented
on February 16, the CM would have also
confronted an acute version of the old
growth-vs-welfare debate: he had the
unenviable task of walking a fine balance between expenditure on welfare
schemes and asset creation. On one
hand were the Congress’s five big poll
guarantees that the government says
have already lifted an estimated 12 million families above the poverty line since
May 2023, by providing them an annual income of Rs 50,000-55,000. On the
other was the clamour from legislators,

1 4 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

including the Congress’s own MLAs, for
funds towards development.
In the end, Siddaramaiah juggled
both by setting aside Rs 52,009 crore
for the welfare guarantees in the coming
fiscal, and Rs 55,877 crore towards capital expenditure in a total budget size of
Rs 3.71 lakh crore. While the substantial
outgo on the former more than doubled
the state’s revenue deficit to Rs 27,354
crore, the CM kept the fiscal deficit and
total outstanding liabilities within the
stipulated norms of three per cent and

WHILE SIDDARAMAIAH HAS
KEPT THE CONGRESS’S POLL
PROMISE ON WELFARE, HE HAS
ALSO PROVIDED FOR CAPEX
ON DEVELOPMENT

25 per cent of the Gross State Domestic
Product (GSDP), respectively.
Borrowings for the coming fiscal
are estimated at Rs 1.05 lakh crore, up
from Rs 85,818 crore in FY24, giving
the Opposition enough ammunition
to attack the government. Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) leader and former
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai
has accused the Congress of borrowing heavily and spending the money on
“unproductive expenses”.
Since May 2023, when the Congress
came to power in Karnataka with a
thumping majority, its government has
serially rolled out the five welfare guarantees announced as poll promises—the
Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 monthly
allowance for women), Gruha Jyothi
(free electricity up to 200 units), Anna
Bhagya Yojana (extra five kilograms of
rice for ration card holders), Shakti (free

HIGHLIGHTS FOR FY25
CM Siddaramaiah walks the tightrope between
allocations for Congress’s poll guarantees and
investment for development projects

WELFARE SCHEMES

`

52,009 cr

Allocation for FY25 for five welfare schemes
guaranteed by Congress before assembly polls

`

28,608 cr
GRUHA LAKSHMI

`

A scheme that provides `2,000
monthly allowance for women

`

8,079 cr

`

ANNA BHAGYA

9,657 cr

GRUHA JYOTHI

To supply free electricity up to
200 units per household

5,015 cr
SHAKTI

Under which an extra
5 kg of rice is provided
to ration card holders

Karnataka govt’s
free bus travel
scheme for women

`

650 cr

YUVA NIDHI

Unemployment allowance for degree and
diploma holders

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

`

55,877Cr

Allocation for capex for FY25

BIG PROJECTS

`

27,000 cr

Estimated cost of 73 km Bengaluru Business
Corridor to be constructed under PPP model

3,048 cr

Estimated project cost of Pavinakurve mega
port in Uttara Kannada district, again in PPP

5,736 cr

Estimated project cost of 875 km state highway
development, with external assistance

5,200 cr

Pragati Path scheme, to develop network of
9,450 km rural roads, with external assistance

1,000 cr

Kalyana Path scheme, for 1,150 km roads on the
lines of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

`

`
`

`

ESTIMATED FISCAL DEFICIT

2.95 % of GSDP

(within the
3% limit)

Sources: Karnataka finance department, budget documents
Note: A few figures have been rounded off

UPFRONT

bus travel for women) and Yuva Nidhi (unemployment allowance for graduates and diploma holders).
Last July, when Siddaramaiah presented a mid-year
budget, he had set aside about 15 per cent of revenue
expenditure, or Rs 36,858 crore, for the five guarantees. Now, for the full year, the Rs 52,009 crore
allocation under these heads amounts to 18 per cent
of revenue expenditure. The annual bill on guarantees is expected to stabilise at this level from here on,
explains a senior state government official.

S

ince the Covid years, Karnataka’s revenue
from state taxes has rebounded and, as
Siddaramaiah has pointed out, it currently
ranks as the second biggest contributor to GST after
Maharashtra. But the current fiscal, beset by a severe
drought, has proved to be a dampener for the high
tax collection targets set by the government last year.
For additional resources, the government’s fiscal
policy strategy is eyeing four focus areas—besides
improving tax efficiency and reviewing major nontax revenue sources, it is looking at rationalising
expenditure and fast-tracking asset monetisation
to attract investments, according to Karnataka’s
Medium Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP) 2024-28.
The budget announced six infrastructure projects related to roads, metro rail and ports, which
will be taken up via the public-private partnership
(PPP) model. “An interim review of the existing
PPP Policy-2018 will be carried out so as to facilitate greater private investment in this sector,” the
CM said in his budget speech. Meanwhile, an expert
committee to analyse the potential for asset monetisation is also being set up. “They are now able to go
beyond the guarantees which they were stymied by
in the first six months. Clearly, they are finding other
sources,” says urbanist V. Ravichandar. As examples,
he cites the property tax collection drive by the
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike—the state
capital’s civic authority—and the move to digitise
property tax records.
The Karnataka MTFP 2024-28 says that in a
business-as-usual case, the state is expected to progressively reduce its revenue deficit in two years and
make a crossover to revenue surplus by 2027-28.
But challenges loom—the MTFP notes that nonscheme committed expenditure, which comprises
salaries, pensions, interest payments and administrative expenses, has been rising steeply year-onyear, from 48 per cent in 2022-23 to 61 per cent in
the 2024-25 budget estimates. Karnataka is also
due a pay revision for government employees—this
could add another Rs 15,000-20,000 crore annually
to the wage bill when implemented. „

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 1 5

UPFRONT
ANGER
MANAGEMENT:
The Troubled
Diplomatic
Relationship
between India
and Pakistan
By Ajay Bisaria

BOOKS

MANAGING
PAKISTAN

ALEPH
` 999;
560 pages

By T.C.A. Raghavan

A

nger Management is a history
of India-Pakistan diplomacy
from its earliest days. In the
numerous books on this theme, Bisaria’s
work is distinctive not least because he
has been the Indian high commissioner
to Pakistan and to date the only one
who has been expelled.
That distinction followed as part of
the package of Pakistan’s reactions to the
legislative changes with regard to Jammu
and Kashmir in August 2019, which led
them to downgrade diplomatic relations.

T

CROSSWINDS
Nehru, Zhou and
the Anglo-American
Competition over
China
By Vijay Gokhale

VINTAGE BOOKS
` 699; 256 pages

During Bisaria’s tenure in Islamabad,
another low point had been the Pulwama
terrorist attack followed by the Balakot
air strike. If all this suggests a monochromatic relationship of unadulterated
negativism, it was also the case that work
on the Kartarpur Sahib visa-free corridor
began and continued uninterrupted in
this period through all the nosedives in
the relationship.
Bisaria’s narration of how he experienced the buildup of the crisis from the
time the news of the Pulwama terrorist

he author, a former
foreign secretary,
has post-retirement
directed his accumulated
experience and knowledge
of China into three wellreceived books on China’s
political evolution and on
the China-India interface.
This is his fourth and is
somewhat different being an
immersion into the archives
of four inter-governmental
relationships in the 1950s:
between China, the US,
Britain and India. The context is the post-World War II
world with an ascendant US
and Britain in decline but
seeking to retain influence in
China and Southeast Asia.
The US increasingly viewed
China through the prism of
the Cold War: a Communist
power to be confronted or

attack spread makes for fascinating reading. Similarly, his account of Pakistan’s
reactions to the J&K legislative changes
of August 2019 leading finally to his
expulsion and other measures reveals
a great deal about Kashmir or the ‘K
factor’ in Pakistan’s politics. Anger
Management is, however, much more
than a firsthand account of his tenure
in Pakistan—although those details are
there. It is also a reflective and analytical effort to decipher the trajectory of
the relationship by looking at its history

INDIA, CHINA AND AN
ANGLO-US COMPETITION
contained. The British
favoured compromise and
not confrontation given
their economic interests in
China. This meant, in effect,
an Anglo-US competition
over China and the Far East.
Gokhale’s thesis is that
this competition deeply
impacted India as it sought
to fashion an independent
foreign policy in which
China was seen as a natural
partner. This thesis is examined with regard to a cluster
of four specific events, each
of which was a milestone in
the 1950s: the recognition of
the Communist government

in China in 1949; the
Indo-China crisis and its
resolution in the Geneva
Conference in 1954; and
two crises in the Taiwan
Straits in 1954-55 and 1958.
This thought-provoking
historical work is empirically dense, but Gokhale’s
basic approach is also that of
a policy practitioner. Like all

GOKHALE’S
THESIS IS THAT
AN ANGLO-US
COMPETITION
OVER CHINA AND
THE FAR EAST
IMPACTED INDIA

and then realistically assessing
the possibilities of its moving in
the future from “a securitised
hostile relationship to a normalised, if not friendly, one”.
Bisaria’s 20-month experience in Pakistan ending
with his expulsion made him
embark on this book with the
aim of putting at its centre
stage diplomats like himself
who experience firsthand the
occasional highs and the more
frequent deep lows of this

BISARIA’S
NARRATION
OF THE CRISIS
AFTER THE
PULWAMA
ATTACK
MAKES FOR
FASCINATING
READING

good history books, this can
therefore be read allegorically, in which case, certain
‘lessons’ are also evident. In
Gokhale’s account through
the 1950s, India’s leadership
displayed strategic clarity
and common sense in defining its national interests.
Yet, this strategic vision was
not always accompanied by
the framing of sound and
actionable policy objectives. Thus, recognising the
People’s Republic of China
without first ensuring that
potential trouble spots like
the boundary issue were
ironed out was a mistake.
Gokhale also argues that
diplomacy was often “driven
less by systemic consultation than by individual
preference”. And finally,
and most significantly, is

turbulent relationship. So, the
book’s principal protagonists
are Bisaria’s predecessors,
some of whom also left detailed
accounts of their own impressions and experiences of the
relationship, frequently posing much the same questions
that Bisaria grapples with. Not
infrequently, the dilemmas and
the situations encountered were
also similar. Looking at the past
through the distillate of his own
experience enables Bisaria to
make a somewhat depressing
diplomatic history come alive.
This deep dive into IndiaPakistan diplomacy combined
with Bisaria’s reflections on the
present impasse also makes for
an unusually thoughtful and
timely work from a policy perspective. It undoubtedly merits
a close and appreciative read by
the specialist as well as the general reader. „

the matter of prevalent
mindsets. A pre-inclination
to think as the British did
was perhaps inevitable but
this did make India more
vulnerable to manipulation
and deception. Similarly,
India too readily assumed
an alignment of interest
between China and India
and only gradually woke up
to existing realities.
All history is vulnerable to the charge of retrospection, yet lessons such
as these extracted from
the archives of the 1950s
make this a fascinating
study to read, absorb and
re-read. As Gokhale notes,
“Hindsight might be a useful guide” to avoid repeating past errors. „
—T.C.A. Raghavan

INDIA
INTERNATIONAL
Three perspectives on India’s place in the world
in diplomacy, development and academia

INDIA’S MOMENT
CHANGING POWER
EQUATIONS
AROUND THE
WORLD
By Mohan Kumar

HARPERCOLLINS
`559; 300 pages

A veteran diplomat’s account
of India’s growing stature in
international fora. Kumar was
ambassador to France at the
time of the Paris Agreement in
2015 and played a pivotal role
in India’s negotiations in that
historic accord. A scholarly
but upbeat narrative of the
tactics that have seen India
emerge as a serious player
in the international arenas
of trade, climate change
and conflict diplomacy,
culminating in the G20 Summit
in Delhi last year.

A less than triumphalist
tour of India’s internal
disparities—and how we
have been outstripped
on significant social
development indicators of
health, education, nutrition,
child welfare and gender
parity by smaller and
poorer neighbours such as
Nepal, Sri Lanka and, most
strikingly, Bangladesh.
Enlivened by extensive
reporting as well as data,
this book also addresses the
emerging narrative of India’s
internal north-south divide.

CHARAIVETI
AN ACADEMIC’S
GLOBAL
JOURNEY
By Pranab Bardhan

HARPERCOLLINS
`699;
358 pages

UNEQUAL
WHY INDIA LAGS
BEHIND ITS
NEIGHBOURS
By Swati Narayan

CONTEXT
`799;
368 pages

This memoir by a noted
economist offers a very
different narrative of India and
the world. Bardhan has a light
touch as he draws us into his
recollected journey through a
string of international camelots
and valhallas of academia in
their heydays. His trajectory
from a Santineketan childhood
to emeritical eminence
at Berkeley is enlivened
by numerous stopovers
everywhere from the Delhi
School to MIT, a pretty dazzling
cast of intellectual companions
and a refreshing appetite
for popular cinema, books
and travel.

UPFRONT
GL ASSHOUSE

MORE THAN EQUAL

U

nion minister of road transport and highways
Nitin Gadkari has won praise from
both sides of the political divide, even in
Parliament. Now, plaudits come from someone who
isn’t too big a fan of the Narendra Modi government.
In an interview with a YouTuber recently, economist
and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said
that Gadkari had done wonders in his job. The
minister, Rajan said, obviously knows how to push his
staff to deliver and that he was one of the most open
among his colleagues in the cabinet. “I think we need
more such ministers,” Rajan went on to add, saying
that what the country needs is “a band of equals” in
the cabinet who can take the country forward.
Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE

GOD-FARING FOLK

T
A LOYAL
IGNORE
he joke in Maharashtra BJP circles
is that in its pursuit of a
‘Congress-mukt Bharat’,
the party is turning into
a ‘Congress-yukt BJP’,
considering the number
of Congress leaders who
have crossed over and
gotten to enjoy the perks
of power. The heartburn
among loyalists is evident.
One of them—Chinmay
Bhandari, son of senior
BJP leader Madhav
Bhandari—recently took
to X to say how his father
had been repeatedly overlooked for positions in the
legislature and the Rajya
Sabha despite his fivedecade-long service to the
party. Loyalty, it seems, is
not enough to earn you a
reward in the BJP.

ANI

T

emple runs are becoming frequent in Gujarat as
the Lok Sabha election closes in. Amid the ongoing
state budget session, February 15 was declared a
holiday as Speaker Shankar Chaudhary took 156 BJP
MLAs to the Ambaji temple in Banaskantha district. At
the event, covered live by the regional media, the young
minister for home, Harsh Sanghavi, caught the
attention of the cameras as he displayed his dexterity
with the shankhnaad, dhol,
manjira, and even a harmonium. Now, we hear, another
trip is planned once the
assembly session is over. No
guesses on the destination—
the Ram temple in Ayodhya,
where Sanghavi will get to test
his skills again.

An Old
Habit
CP leader
N
and Maharashtra deputy CM
Ajit Pawar may have broken
up with ‘secular’ ally Congress
and tied up with the BJP, but
old habits, it seems, die hard.
A convention of the NCP’s
minority cell initially approved a
resolution seeking reservations
for Muslims in education, jobs
and even politics. However, the
critical reference to political
quotas was withdrawn later
after a brouhaha.

Performance Incentive

T

he deputation period of Anjaneya Kumar Singh, the IAS officer who
sent Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former Rampur MP Azam Khan
to jail on charges of hate speech in the 2019 poll campaign, has been extended by another six months. Singh had also got Azam’s MLA son Abdullah
disqualified after an inquiry found he had fudged his age in the poll affidavit.
The 2005-batch Sikkim cadre IAS officer, currently the commissioner
of Moradabad, came to Uttar Pradesh (he is from Mau) in 2016, when
the SP was in power. Deputation rules say an IAS officer cannot serve
in another state for more than five years. Singh is in his eighth year in
UP. So, someone in Lucknow is obviously looking out for him. Or is it
reward for putting the Rampur strongman behind bars?

Kaushik Deka with Avishek Ghosh Dastidar, Dhaval S. Kulkarni, Jumana Shah and Ashish Misra

UPFRONT
O B I T UA RY

THE GRAND JURIST
In Fali S. Nariman’s death, India has lost its conscience-keeper

By Faizan Mustafa

T

M ZHAZO

he light has gone out of the legal fraternity’s lives.
Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014,
In the death of eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman
among the first big-ticket constitutional amendments made
on February 21, India has lost one of its greatby the Narendra Modi government during its first term. The
est conscience-keepers. I had invited him for an
NJAC Act was eventually struck down in 2015.
event at KIIT School of Law in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in
Nariman, however, spoke truth not only to the govern2008. When one of the speakers went on and on, Nariman
ment, but also to judges. He was highly critical, for example,
asked me to slip him a note with ‘KIS I’ written on it. Not
of the Supreme Court’s 2023 verdict upholding the abrogaunderstanding, I looked at him in confusion and he told
tion of Article 370, which granted special status to Kashme the speaker is to be told:
mir. Without mincing words,
“Keep it short, Idiot”. Narithe jurist said the judgment
FALI S. NARIMAN (1929-2024)
man also wrote a personal
was “politically acceptable but
letter to me on August 18 last
constitutionally incorrect”,
year, appreciating an article
and was surprised to see no
I had written for The Indian
dissenting opinion from the
Express, and asked me to
five-judge constitution bench.
write a book. There is probNariman also appeared in
ably no lawyer, no teacher of
the famous Golaknath case of
law in India, who does not
1967, in which the Supreme
have some such anecdote to
Court had held that Parlianarrate about the late jurist.
ment does not have the power
India’s legal narrative cannot
to amend fundamental rights
be written without referring
guaranteed by the Constituto Nariman.
tion. He also appeared in
Born in Burma (now
the T.M.A. Pai Foundation
Myanmar) in 1929, Naricase of 2002, which led to a
man joined the Bombay Bar
landmark judgment by an
in 1950 and dominated the
11-judge bench of the Sulegal profession for over seven
preme Court that secured the
decades. In 1971, he shifted
rights of minority communito Delhi as senior Supreme
ties to establish and adminisCourt advocate. Deeply comter educational institutions.
mitted to civil liberties, NariRespected and regarded
man resigned as Additional
as he was, Nariman did have
Solicitor General of India
one regret—representing
when then Prime Minister
Union Carbide in the Bhopal
Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency in 1975.
gas tragedy case of 1984. Few lawyers and judges have
Nariman appeared as a lawyer in many landmark
shown such courage to admit their own mistakes. In Naricases in independent India, and his arguments immensely
man’s death, we have lost a courageous public intellectual, a
contributed to the development of the Supreme Court’s
bold dissenter and one of the last surviving moralists of our
jurisprudence. He was a staunch supporter of the indepentime who believed that silence may not be an option at all
dence of the judiciary, which he believed to be a right of the
when democracy, judicial independence, the constitutional
people and not a privilege of judges.
ethos and civil liberties are under threat. The defender of
With his arguments in the Supreme Court Advocates on
constitutional theology is no more. ■
Record Association vs Union of India case, Nariman was
instrumental in the formation of the collegium system of
The writer is vice-chancellor, Chanakya National Law
appointing judges in 1993. He was critical of the National
University, Patna. Views are personal

20 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

COVER STORY

ELECTION FUNDING

WITH THE SUPREME COURT
STRIKING DOWN ELECTORAL
BONDS, TRANSPARENCY IN POLL
FINANCES RETURNS TO THE AGENDA
By KAUSHIK DEKA

hen the electoral bonds scheme was introduced in the
Finance Bill, 2017—only a few months after the Narendra Modi government’s other grand, sweeping move to cleanse the country of black
money overnight: demonetisation—it was touted as a move designed
to “make political funding more transparent through the flow of clean
cash”. So, whether you were an individual, an NGO or a corporate, you
could purchase these interest-free, tax-exempt bonds from the State
Bank of India (SBI) and contribute to the political party of your choice,
which could then encash the same within a stipulated time-frame. The
transparency, however, did not extend to the identity of the donors, who
could remain anonymous. This, the then Union finance minister Arun
Jaitley, the chief architect of the scheme, had reasoned was necessary to
protect the donors from “any retribution from political parties”.

Photo illustration by BANDEEP SINGH

Cover Story
ELECTION FUNDING

On February 15, in what is being hailed as a landmark verdict,
the Supreme Court of India struck down the electoral bonds scheme
as unconstitutional. Refusing to buy the government’s arguments
on transparency, the five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief
Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R.
Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, in a unanimous 232-page
verdict, held that unlimited contribution by companies to political
parties was antithetical to the idea of free and fair elections because
it allowed certain persons/ companies to wield their clout and resources to influence policy-making. This was violative of the principle
of political equality captured in the value of “one person, one vote”.
The ability of a company to influence the election process through
political contribution was much higher than that of an individual, the
judges ruled. The court also ordered the names of the donors to be
made public by the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 13.
The apex court’s judgment has once again thrown open the debate on the need for a clean political funding mechanism in India.
Unaccounted-for money flowing into the coffers of political parties,
more often than not for quid pro quo, has been at the root of corruption and electoral malpractices in the country. It is a moot question
whether the abolition of the scheme, two months ahead of the general election, will lift the shroud of opacity that surrounds political
finance in India. There is also no solution in sight, till at least the
next government takes oath. “Given the kind of discretionary powers that the government and elected officials enjoy over the economic
and business sectors,” says Niranjan Sahoo, senior research fellow at
the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, “they will continue to
collect unaccounted-for money the way they want it. In the absence
of a broader structural reform of politics and the electoral system, it
is going to be business as usual for political parties and candidates.”

WHY CASH IS KING
General elections in India—touted as the biggest festival of democracy—have become highly expensive exercises, given the confluence,
and influence, of money. Election expenditure during Lok Sabha
polls has gone up sixfold in 20 years—from Rs 9,000 crore in 1998
to Rs 55,000 crore in 2019—according to a 2019 report by the Delhibased Centre for Media Studies (CMS). Compared to this staggering
figure—more than 90 per cent of that year’s budgetary allocation for
MGNREGA—publicly known corporate donations to political parties
constitute a minuscule share of the funds political parties receive.
And though electoral bonds were largely blamed for fast-tracking
corporate money into Indian politics, given that they facilitated
anonymous and unlimited flow of funds, the nexus between business
and politics is by no means a recent phenomenon. Even before the
electoral bond scheme was notified in 2018, corporate contributions
formed a staggering 89 per cent of the total funds parties received
through known sources of donations between 2012 and 2016. Between 2013, when electoral trusts were set up solely for the purpose
of donating to political formations, and 2016, two years before the
electoral bond scheme was notified, donations from these trusts
accounted for a third of all funding that parties disclosed. After
electoral bonds were issued, this became a less preferred route. In

2 4 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

WHAT WERE
ELECTORAL
BONDS?
Akin to promissory notes, electoral
bonds, first issued on January 2, 2018,
functioned as bearer instruments payable to the holder on demand. The scheme
enabled a wide range of donors—from
individuals, groups, NGOs and trusts to
corporations—to contribute to political
parties while staying anonymous
Available in denominations of Rs 1,000,
Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1
crore, these bonds could be bought from
authorised branches of the State Bank
of India (SBI) using a KYC-compliant
account, without any limit on maximum
contribution the donor could make
Donations through electoral bonds
were eligible for tax exemptions
Political parties needed to declare the
amount received but not donors’ details
in their annual financial submissions to
the Election Commission of India (ECI)

THE
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
MONEY ROUTE
(March 2018 to
January 2024)

28,030
NUMBER OF
BONDS SOLD

16,518
CRORE
VALUE OF
BONDS SOLD

27,811

Why the
Modi govt
introduced
them
To enhance transparency in political funding,
by channelling funds
through bank accounts
To end reliance on
cash for anonymous
donations, check
rampant “under-thetable cash transactions”
and eradicate black
money in political funding
The government
argued it was necessary
to keep the identity of
donors anonymous so
that they would not face
“any retribution from
political parties”

Why the Supreme Court
struck them down
of the Constitution. A
company’s ability to
influence the election
process was much
higher compared to an
individual’s

Unlimited contribution by companies to
political parties was antithetical to the principle
of free and fair elections
and political equality
captured in the value of
“one person one vote”
as it allowed certain
persons/ companies
to wield their clout and
resources to influence
policy-making

Anonymous electoral
bonds violate the voters’ Right to Information under Article 19(1)
a) of the Constitution,
as it would deny them
information about the
donee political party.
The law to allow a
Such information is
company to donate
necessary to identify
unlimited amount of
money was arbitrary, as corruption and quid
pro quo transactions
it treated contributiin governance. The SC
ons by companies and
has now asked ECI to
individuals alike, violating the Right to Equality make donor details
public by March 13
as enshrined in Art. 14

NUMBER OF
BONDS REDEEMED

16,492

CRORE
VALUE OF BONDS
REDEEMED

` 26
CRORE

MONEY
TRANSFERRED TO
THE PM’S NATIONAL
RELIEF FUND*

*If a bond was not
encashed, the equivalent
amount was transferred
to the PM’s National Relief
Fund; Source: Association
for Democratic Reforms

WHAT AFTER
ELECTORAL BONDS?

As these have been declared unconstitutional, these are the
avenues that will continue to be used for political funding

Ô Political parties can receive donations from individuals, registered organisations, corporate
groups and electoral trusts.
Electoral trusts are formed by corporate groups with the sole objective to
distribute the contributions received by
them among the political parties

Ô Corporates will have to follow the
limit set on the amount they can donate—7.5 per cent of their average
net profits in the past three years
Ô Indian subsidiary of a foreign
company can donate funds to parties

Ô Parties can collect funds via membership fees and sale of party
literature and merchandise

Ô Individuals or corporate houses can
continue to claim tax deduction
for any donation or contribution; political parties enjoy 100 per cent tax waiver
on income from all sources

Ô Cash and anonymous donations up to Rs 2,000 can be made.
Political parties will have to annually
disclose all cash donations above Rs
2,000 and donations through banks and
digital payment methods

Ô Currently, a candidate can spend
a maximum of Rs 95 lakh in Lok
Sabha constituencies in bigger
states and Rs 75 lakh in smaller states;
and Rs 40 lakh and Rs 28 lakh, respectively, for assembly seats

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 2 5

Cover Story
ELECTION FUNDING

THE CORPORATE
INSTRUMENT

ANONYMOUS
DONORS

An examination of the sale of 27
tranches of electoral bonds between
March 2018 and July 2023 reveals
that these have been used mostly by
corporates and not by individuals.
After this, two more tranches of bonds
worth Rs 2,727 crore were sold

The share of income from unknown
sources for national parties has been
steadily rising

DENOMINATION

66%
(FY15-FY17)

72%

ELECTORAL BONDS SOLD
Amount in ( )

(FY19-FY22)
1,000

1 CR.

12,999
( 12,999 cr.)

99
10,000

208
( 21 lakh)
10 LAKH

7,618
( 762 cr.)

81%

( 99,000)

1 LAKH

3,088
( 31 cr.)

of the total
unknown income
of national
parties between
FY19 and FY22
came from
electoral bonds

58%

of the total
income of
national parties
between FY19
and FY22 was
on account of
electoral bonds

Source: Supreme Court of India

2022-23, for instance, trusts donated Rs 366 crore to all
parties, while bonds earned them Rs 2,665 crore.
Between 2018 and 2024, electoral bonds worth
Rs 16,518 crore were sold. In the 10 years between 2013
and 2023, electoral trusts disbursed approximately
Rs 2,558 crore to various political parties. Even if one
assumes that all donors are corporates—90 per cent of
the electoral bonds were of the highest denomination of
Rs 1 crore—the entire 10-year corpus from bonds and
trusts put together represents just 35 per cent (Rs 19,076
crore) of what was spent in just the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
And if political parties are to be believed, bonds are their
biggest source of income. National parties said 55 per cent
of their total income in 2021-22 came from bonds, while
regional parties said the share was 70 per cent.

THE BLACK MONEY FLOOD
Yet, the declared election expenses of parties and candidates suggest the continued flow of unaccounted-for
funds or black money into elections. An analysis by the
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) found that every winning contestant in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls spent
on an average Rs 58 lakh—Rs 12 lakh less than the then
expenditure cap of Rs 70 lakh set by the ECI. If the losing

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candidates also spent the same amount, the total expenditure of all 8,048 candidates in the fray would amount to Rs
4,667 crore. Add the Rs 2,591 crore of expenditure the 32
national and regional parties did declare in the 2019 polls,
and the money spent adds up to over Rs 7,000 crore. However, the CMS calculation had pegged campaign expenses
by parties and candidates at Rs 47,000 crore (of the total
Rs 55,000 crore estimated by the CMS, expenditure by the
ECI accounted for 15 per cent or Rs 8,000 crore). So, where
did the remaining Rs 40,000 crore come from? There is
still no mechanism to trace the source of this money and,
without it, the Indian electoral outcome cannot be thought
to be free of the influence of corruption and black money.
The roots of the proliferation of unaccounted-for
money in elections perhaps lie in the very structure of
political funding in India, which allows parties to rig
their books however they want. When political parties
declare an income, a majority of it is shown as donation
from unknown sources, be it ‘sale of coupons’, ‘relief fund’,
‘miscellaneous income’, ‘voluntary contributions’ or ‘contribution from meetings’. The details of such voluntary
contributors are not made available in the public domain.
In fact, most political parties showed a majority of their
collected funds as cash receipts of under Rs 20,000—a

Graphics by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY

THE LION’S SHARE...

EVEN VIA OTHER MEANS

The ruling BJP has cornered more than half
of the funds routed through electoral bonds

...as well as 85 per cent of the Rs 3,895 crore
corporate groups donated to national parties
through bank donations and electoral trusts

BJP

6,566 cr.
(55%)
Cong.

1,123 cr.

Funds received
through bonds from
FY18 to FY23

BJP

3,300 cr.

Party’s share in total
contributions through
electoral bonds in ( )

(9.3%)

YSRCP

382 cr.

TMC

1,093 cr.

(9.1%)

(3%)

TDP

146 cr.

BJD

774 cr.

(6%)

DMK

(1%)

Shiv Sena
(undivided)

616 cr.

101 cr.

(5%)

(0.8%)

BRS

AAP*

913 cr.

(8%)

(85%)

94 cr.

(0.78%)

*Includes money received through electoral trust
Source: Association for Democratic Reforms

limit reduced to Rs 2,000 in 2017—as there was no need
to name donors who contributed less than that amount.
For 11 years, the Bahujan Samaj Party had declared that
it had not received any donations above Rs 20,000.
The income from such unknown sources accounted
for 66 per cent of the funds of political parties between
2014-15 and 2016-17. The share jumped to 72 per cent
between 2018-19 and 2021-22, though electoral bonds replaced cash. Take the BJP’s income, for example. In 201516, when there were no election bonds, the party declared
a total income of Rs 571 crore, of which Rs 461 crore, or
81 per cent, came from unknown sources. In 2021-22, the
party’s declared income touched Rs 1,917 crore, of which
Rs 1,161 crore (or 60 per cent) was attributed to unknown
sources. Electoral bonds accounted for Rs 1,034 crore, or
89 per cent, of the unaccounted-for sources of income.
And while the BJP government claimed that bonds were
introduced to incentivise the flow of clean money through
banking channels, instead of bringing transparency, the
extended legal apparatus surrounding electoral bonds
simply brought to the formal economy the flow of money
that would earlier change hands in the form of cash. “With
bonds gone, parties will have to show more entries of less
than Rs 2,000,” says a Congress leader.

Congress

CPI(M)

406 cr.

29 cr.

(10%)

(0.7%)
NCP

110 cr.
(3%)

TMC

50 cr.
(1%)

Total funds received from corporate groups
from FY17 to FY22
Party’s share in total contributions by corporate
groups to all political parties in ( )
Source: Supreme Court of India

ANONYMITY VS TRANSPARENCY
Transparency and accountability of political funding depend on the regulatory framework around donations,
expenditure, and disclosure, backed by strict implementation. One of the reasons the Supreme Court struck down
electoral bonds is because, in its opinion, such anonymous
bonds violated the voters’ Right to Information under
Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution since they would not
know to which political party the contribution was made.
Such information is necessary to identify corruption and
quid pro quo arrangements in governance, the bench said.
The court also observed that while the privacy of donors is important, transparency in political funding cannot be achieved by granting absolute exemptions. Holding
that electoral bonds were not the only method available to
combat black money, the court said the scheme’s purpose
of curbing black money did not justify its infringement
on the Right to Information. The bench also declared as
arbitrary the amendment to Section 182 of the Companies
Act, 2017, which had knocked off the upper limit of 7.5 per
cent of a company’s profits on how much a company could
donate to a political party through electoral bonds. Treating political contributions by companies and individuals
alike violated the Right to Equality, as enshrined in Article

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 2 7

Cover Story

UK

ELECTION FUNDING

HOW MONEY
FLOWS INTO
POLITICS
ACROSS THE
WORLD
Political funding structures in
different countries

Corporate donation
allowed; no foreign
funding allowed
Cap on anonymous
donation
No cap on donation
amount

NORWAY
Corporate donation
allowed; foreign donation
allowed to candidates,
not to parties
Anonymous donation
allowed to candidates,
not to parties
No cap on donation amount

Cap on the expenditure
by parties and
candidates

No cap on the expenditure
by parties and candidates

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for
parties and candidates

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for parties
and candidates

State funding allowed

State funding allowed

CANADA
Corporate donation
allowed, no foreign
fund allowed
Cap on anonymous
donation
Cap on donation
amount
Cap on the
expenditure by parties
and candidates
Disclosure of
financial details
mandatory for parties
and candidates
State funding allowed

USA

BRAZIL

No corporate and
foreign donation allowed
Cap on anonymous
donation
Cap on donation
amount
Cap on the
expenditure by
political parties, not
by candidates
Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for
parties and candidates
State funding allowed

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No corporate
donation allowed,
foreign donation allowed
No anonymous donation
allowed
Cap on donation to
candidates but not applied
on political parties

ISRAEL
No corporate and
foreign donation allowed
No cap on anonymous
donation
Cap on donation
amount to parties and
candidates

No cap on expenditure by
parties and candidates

Cap on the
expenditure by parties
and candidates

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for parties
and candidates

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for
parties and candidates

State funding allowed

State funding allowed

SWEDEN
Corporate donation
allowed, but foreign
donation not allowed
Anonymous donation
allowed
No cap on donation
amount
No cap on the
expenditure by parties
and candidates
Disclosure of financial
details mandatory
for parties but not for
candidates

GERMANY
Corporate and foreign
donation allowed
No anonymous
donation allowed
No cap on donation
amount
No cap on the
expenditure by parties
and candidates
Disclosure of financial
details mandatory
for parties, not for
candidates
State funding allowed

State funding allowed

FRANCE
No corporate or foreign
donation allowed
No anonymous donation
allowed
Cap on donation
amount
Cap on the expenditure
by candidates but not by
parties
Disclosure of financial
details mandatory
for parties, not for
candidates
State funding allowed

INDIA
Corporate donation
allowed; Indian subsidiary of
foreign companies can donate
Cap on cash donation
Cap on corporate
donation amount

JAPAN
Corporate donation
allowed for parties, not for
candidates; foreign donation
not allowed
Cap on anonymous
donation
Cap on donation

Cap on candidates’
expenditure; no cap on
parties

Cap on the expenditure by
candidates; no cap on parties

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for parties
and candidates

Disclosure of financial
details mandatory for
parties, not for candidates

No provision for state
funding

Cap on donation amount
State funding allowed

14 of the Constitution, the bench remarked.
Most experts concur that one cannot expect
transparency in India as long as the provision of
anonymous cash donation remains, however low
the limit is. Professor Jagdeep Chhokar, founder
member of ADR, says that the simplest and only
way to make political funding clean is to stop cash
payment to political parties. “Everything has to be
through the digital mode of payment. The prime
minister has been advocating cashless payments.
Why exclude political parties?” asks Chhokar.
Most countries across the world have been struggling to strike a balance between transparency,
which requires disclosure of the source of funds,
and anonymity, which is required to protect donors
from political retribution. One of the arguments in
favour of electoral bonds was that the anonymity
clause safeguarded against political coercion and
retribution. In several countries, small donors are
allowed to stay anonymous while large donations are
required to be made public. In the UK, for instance,
a party needs to report donations received from
a single source amounting to a total of more than
£7,500 (nearly Rs 8 lakh) in a calendar year. In Germany, it’s €10,000 (approx. Rs 9 lakh) for a party.

THE RISE OF DARK MONEY
The US experience is a serious reminder of why there
should be a cap on the inflow of corporate funds, directly or indirectly. Political funding in the US has
been witnessing a massive surge in “dark money”—
anonymous political contributions—since 2010 when
the Supreme Court declared the statute prohibiting
the use of corporate money in elections as unconstitutional. Social welfare organisations and super
political action committees (PACs, tax-exempt organisations that raise money privately to influence
elections or legislation) have become major sources of
“dark money” in federal campaigns as the donor identity often remains vague and outside public scrutiny.
Political funding in the US happens at the federal, state and local levels. Individuals, PACs and the
government can contribute directly to electoral campaigns. PACs, in turn, can contribute funds directly
to candidates and campaign committees. They can
receive contributions of up to $5,000 per year from
individual donors and give up to $5,000 to a candidate and $15,000 to a party committee per election.
PACs can also make what is called ‘independent expenditure’—unlimited expenditure independent of a
party or candidate. Campaign finance law at the federal level requires candidate committees, party committees and PACs to file periodic reports disclosing
the money they raise and spend. The Federal Election
Commission maintains this database and publishes
the information about campaigns and donors on its
website. However, such disclosures do not always

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 29

Cover Story
ELECTION FUNDING

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?

“ State funding is

“ The accounts of

“ State funding of

an option. But it will
make no difference
unless the cap on
election expenditure,
both by candidates
and parties, is
strictly enforced”

political parties
must be audited by
a CAG-appointed
panel. There must
also be a ceiling on
the expenditure by
political parties”

elections is the
way forward. There
should be a National
Election Fund to
provide a fix sum
to a party for every
vote secured”

— N. GOPALASWAMI
15th Chief Election
Commissioner of India

— NAVIN CHAWLA
16th Chief Election
Commissioner of India

— S.Y. QURAISHI
17th Chief Election
Commissioner of India

reveal the actual source of the funds, since some contributions are made through “shell corporations”, whose owners
remain hidden. PACs can collect unlimited contributions
and spend unlimited funds. Their independent expenditure now accounts for the largest share of independent
political funding. In the 2020 election, PACs accounted
for 63 per cent of the $2.6 billion independent expenditure
made by political parties and social welfare organisations.

CAPPING ELECTION FUNDS
One significant means to clean the electoral system is
to place a limit on expenditure. Most countries have put
such a cap on expenditure by political parties or candidates or both. In the UK, Canada and Israel, there is a
limit on expenses by both. In the US, there are curbs on
party expenditure but not on candidate expenses. In
France and Japan, there is no limit on party expenditure,
but candidates must spend within a specified amount.
In Brazil, Germany, Norway and Sweden, there are no
constraints either on party or candidate.
In India, the ECI has put a cap on expenditure by individual candidates during elections. In 2022, the ceiling
on parliamentary poll expenditure was raised from Rs 70
lakh to Rs 95 lakh in bigger states and from Rs 54 lakh
to Rs 75 lakh in smaller states. For assembly constituencies, expenditure limits have been enhanced from Rs 28
lakh to Rs 40 lakh in bigger states and from Rs 20 lakh
to Rs 28 lakh in smaller states. The ECI mandates that

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M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

candidates contesting elections must keep a separate and
correct account of all expenditure incurred or authorised
by them or their election agents. Within 30 days of the
declaration of results, the contesting candidate must
submit the account of his or her election expenses with
the district election officer, failing which the ECI can disqualify the candidate from contesting polls for three years.
For example, in 2022, 88 candidates, most of them independents, were disqualified for failing to submit reports.
The ECI can take the same action if the expenditure
account is found to be incorrect or untrue. The commission
monitors candidate spending in every constituency and
keeps an eye on unaccounted-for cash flow. In 2019, cash,
drugs/ narcotics, liquor, precious metal (gold, silver etc.)
and freebies worth Rs 3,456 crore—nearly 90 per cent of
the amount the government officially spent in conducting the 2014 Lok Sabha election—were seized across the
country. However, most ECs admit that such recoveries
could be just the tip of the iceberg. The ECI’s power to seize
anonymous funds comes into play only when the code of
conduct is announced. But the cash flow begins much in
advance. “Politicians know it becomes very difficult once
the ECI’s code of conduct is in place. So, they move money
well in advance, avoiding any scrutiny,” says former chief
election commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi. Despite repeatedly complaining that the expenditure limit is very
low, winning Lok Sabha candidates in 2019, on paper,
spent only 83 per cent of the expense limit of Rs 70 lakh.

“ Before state funding
is introduced, there
should a mechanism to
limit corporate
donations and prevent
black money in polls.
Foreign funds must
also not be allowed”
— OM PRAKASH RAWAT
22nd Chief Election
Commissioner of India

POLITICIANS’ LUKEWARM
RESPONSE
Most poll observers say there should be
a cap on expenditure not just of candidates but also of political parties to clean
up electoral finances. “As there is no cap
on party expenses, many a time, a candidate’s expenditure is shown in party
accounts, helping them fudge expenditure reports,” says Om Prakash Rawat,
who served as the CEC in 2010. One of his
predecessors, Naveen Chawla, proposes
that a CAG-appointed panel audits the
accounts of political parties. Countries
such as the US, UK, Canada and Israel
impose a cap on party expenditure.
Political parties across the spectrum,
however, are not enthusiastic about such
proposals. The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Bhupender Yadav believes that putting
a cap on expenses is unfair, as political
parties have to disseminate their views
and ideologies to every nook and corner
of the country. Their apparent disdain
for transparency was evident when all
political parties rejected the Central Information Commission order of June 3,

Cover Story
ELECTION FUNDING

2013, bringing them under the purview of the RTI Act.
The next year, the two national parties—the BJP and
the Congress—showed unprecedented camaraderie on
another contentious issue—the flow of foreign funds into
domestic politics. The Delhi High Court had found both
parties guilty of accepting donations from a foreign company, in breach of the Foreign Contribution Regulation
Act (FCRA), 2010, the newer version of the now-repealed
FCRA, 1976. In response, the BJP government, via a 2016
Finance Bill, passed an amendment with retrospective
effect to validate any foreign funds received by any political party since 1976. The amendment now allows foreign
companies that have a majority share in Indian companies
to donate to political parties. “This provision is dangerous,
because it opens our democracy to external influence,” says
Rawat. “It could be a foreign country, or even a terrorist
like Dawood Ibrahim, who can seriously jeopardise our
national interests by exploiting this loophole.”
Flow of foreign funds in elections has been a
controversial issue across the world. Former French president
Nicolas Sarkozy is being investigated
over allegations that Libyan dictator
Muammar Gaddafi funded his 2007
campaign. Foreign inf luence in
elections were in focus again when
Russian interference was alleged in
the 2016 US presidential election.
According to the International
Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance (International
I DE A), a S t o c k hol m-b a s e d
intergovernmental organisation,
125 countr ie s have imposed
restrictions (full or partial) on
foreign contributions.

Report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission
in 2008. Three of them have recommended some form of
state funding of elections, but only after some prerequisites,
such as internal democracy in political parties and complete
transparency in their financial affairs, are met.
ccording to E. Sridharan, academic director
of the University of Pennsylvania Institute
for the Advanced Study of India, state funding based on a transparent formula might
encourage a shift towards broad-based,
small-sum, grassroots financing of parties. Public funding
should be introduced in parties in proportion to the amounts
they raise openly from identified small-sum private donors.
In the US, for instance, presidential candidates receive from
the government an amount equal to the funds they raise on
their own, subject to certain conditions.
Quraishi advocates the setting up of a National Election Fund to provide a fixed sum to a party for every vote
secured. “Let’s fix Rs 100 for each vote. If a political party
gets 10 million votes, it is entitled
to state funding of Rs 100 crore,”
he says. A study by International
IDEA of 180 countries, including
Germany, Belgium, Greece, Finland and Sweden, found that 71
countries followed the practice of
giving state funds based on votes
obtained. In Germany, for instance, a fixed sum is distributed
every year to eligible parties—ones
that have polled more than 0.5 per
cent of the vote in a nationwide
election or 1.0 per cent of the total valid votes for one of the 16
state legislatures during the current election cycle. There are two criteria for distribution:
for each vote polled in the most recent state, federal and
European election, the party is allocated 70 cents; each
euro raised in small amounts during the previous year is
matched by 38 cents of public money. In Japan, parties get
250 Yen for each vote polled. In Israel, parties that receive
less than 1 per cent of the votes get no funding.

A

ONE SIGNIFICANT WAY
TO CLEAN ELECTION
FUNDING IS BY
PUTTING A CAP ON THE
EXPENDITURE THAT A
POLITICAL PARTY OR
A CANDIDATE OR BOTH
CAN MAKE

THE PUBLIC FUNDING OPTION
One option often offered to eliminate corporate influence in
elections is to abolish private funding altogether and introduce public funding instead for political parties. Most exponents say that public finance can help protect the political
process from direct, quid pro quo kickbacks or corruption
and create a level playing field for parties, candidates with
less resources and new entrants. Direct funding of political parties is practised in 86 per cent of the countries in
Europe, 71 per cent in Africa, 63 per cent in the Americas
and 58 per cent in Asia.
There are different models of public funding. In some
countries, only parties get the fund, not the candidates. In
others, it’s the reverse. In India, four reports have looked
into the viability of state funding of elections—the Indrajit
Gupta Committee Report of 1998, the Law Commission of
India Report of 1999, the National Commission to review
the working of the Constitution Report of 2001 and the

3 2 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

NO GUARANTEES
Some countries also have provisions for indirect public
funding. According to International IDEA, more than
68 per cent of the countries offer some form of indirect
subsidies to political parties or candidates. Even in India,
parties have since 1996 been able to access free time on
state-owned electronic media—Doordarshan and All India
Radio. The other in-kind subsidies the Indian government
provides parties are in the form of free supply of copies of
electoral rolls and identity slips of electors to candidates.

“There is, however, no guarantee
that public finance will reduce election
expenditure or bring transparency and
accountability,” says former CEC N. Gopalaswami. “State funding will make
no difference unless the cap on election expenditure is strictly enforced.”
Rawat says that state funding without
any check on corporate donations and
black money in elections won’t cleanse
the system.
In countries like Italy, Israel and
Finland, which have experimented with
public funding, there has been no significant drop in expenses. Only a handful of
countries like Germany, Canada, Sweden and Japan have been able to reduce
their poll expenditure by any significant
extent. “An effective public funding
model has two elements: reducing the
dependency on private money by strict
restrictions on expenditure limits, strong
regulations and disclosures, and infusing
white money through state funding or
incentivising other funding options, such
as tax-free donation,” says Sahoo.
In India, however, there is no immediate possibility of public funding
of elections, as the ECI is not in its favour. The commission has already told
the Union government that it will not
be able to prohibit or check candidates’
expenditure over and above the state’s
provision, Union minister Anurag
Thakur revealed in the Lok Sabha in
March 2020. While the government has
taken this assessment seriously, most
of the ECI’s suggestions in the past 25
years on introducing reforms to bring
in transparency in both funding and
spending in the political arena have
remained unimplemented. “It may be
wise for India to revisit these recommendations as a panacea for the many
problems that have mushroomed with
the growth of ‘money power’ in the
electoral arena,” says Chawla. Lack of
political will has for long stymied the
clean-up of political finance in India.
The Supreme Court verdict on electoral
bonds is a grim reminder that the next
government has a long list of amendments to make—within the constitutional framework, of course. ■

SPECIAL REPORT
FARMERS’ PROTEST

A FIGHT FOR
THE MINIMUM

Minimum support price (MSP) is at the heart of the farmers’ protests. The
government is caught between its viability and political compulsions
By ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

TEAR-GASSED
Protesting farmers clash
with Haryana police at
Shambhu barrier, Jan. 21

THE KEY DEMANDS
What the farmers want
Legal guarantee on MSP for 23 crops as determined
by the agriculture ministry’s agency CACP
(Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices)
Implementation of M.S. Swaminathan panel’s
recommendations on MSP—increase it to at least
50% of weighted average cost of production

The Centre’s offer
After the fourth round of talks, MSP on five crops—
masoor dal, urad dal and arhar dal, along with maize
and cotton—for five years on a contractual basis

Why the farmers rejected it
Five years too small a window to change cropping
pattern. Stabilising crop combinations take time
No back-up plan clarity or insurance on what
happens if the new crops fail

MAKING MSP A LEGAL
GUARANTEE WILL ENTAIL…
Govt agencies
spent `1.12 lakh cr.
to procure paddy in
marketing year ’23. For
wheat, the figure was
`55,977 cr. (procurement was short of
target in the year)
`6 lakh cr. needed in
current marketing season if Centre procures
only the crops trading in
mandis below MSP

CRISIL MI&A Research
estimates say `13 lakh
cr. needed if entire
production of 16 crops
(of the 23) is procured at
the announced MSP for
marketing year 2022-23
Storage capacities,
distribution capability
and transport have to
be created on
humongous scale for
procured crops

REUTERS

February 22, as the protesting farm unions from
Punjab tried to breach the
Haryana border again in
Khanauri during their
‘Dilli Chalo’ march, a
young farmer was killed in
the clashes. The unions called off the protest for two
days to mourn the death of 22-year-old Shubh Kiran
Singh, but it was clear that their stand had hardened. The mood had changed dramatically from the
evening of February 18 when the farm union leaders
briefly seemed upbeat about the Centre’s offer of a
Minimum Support Price (MSP) for five crops.

On

The proposal had come after four rounds of discussions—brokered by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann—with Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai. The
offer to buy masoor, urad and arhar, along with maize and
cotton at MSP, had seemed like a game-changer for the
farmers and the state. The agitating farm leaders—Jagjit
Singh Dallewal of the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur
(BKU Ekta Sidhupur), and Sarvan Singh Pandher of the
Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC)—were even
fielding questions about how it could lift Punjab out of the
wheat-and-paddy cycle.
The elation, though, was short-lived, as the unions backed
out soon after. Pandher claimed it was because the Centre had put a ‘five-year, contractual basis’ rider on the offer,

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 35

SPECIAL REPORT
FARMERS’ PROTEST
which the unions found unacceptable.
Experts in Punjab say the deal would
have anyway broken down in the future
as crop diversification requires much
more effort than just assured MSP for
produce. “Wheat and paddy are easier
crops to grow than, say, cotton. And they
don’t require much involvement from
the farmer, except during sowing and
harvesting,” says a Punjab Agricultural
University (PAU) professor.
More than anything, however, it was
reminiscent of the 13-month siege the
national capital had witnessed in 2020’21, just that the farmers haven’t reached
the gates of Delhi yet. The Haryana police have managed to sequester them at
the Shambhu and Khanauri borders for
now. The threat of a long-drawn protest
has the ruling BJP worked up again, especially as the Lok Sabha election is just
months away. The previous siege had
forced the Narendra Modi government
to back down and withdraw its big-ticket
farm sector reforms. This time, the demand is for an MSP guarantee for 23
crops, an enhanced price discovery formula among a host of other demands.

FARMERS’ ANXIETY
Two years after becoming the prime
minister, Modi had in February 2016
committed to doubling farm incomes
by 2022. Extrapolating from the 201213 National Sample Survey Office
(NSSO) estimates, the average annual
income of a farm household at the national level in 2015-16 was assumed to
be Rs 96,703 (Rs 8,058 per month) and
a target was set to take it to Rs 2.71 lakh
at current prices (Rs 22,610 per month).
This required an annual growth rate of
10 per cent. Instead, the 77th round
of the Situation Assessment Survey of
Agricultural Households, 2021, found
the estimated monthly income of farm
households in 2018-19 to be Rs 10,218
in nominal terms. Average outstanding
loan per farmer household, as revealed
in the Lok Sabha in February ’23, was
Rs 74,121. This tells us how acute distress in the farm sector is.
This is also why guaranteed MSP
is such a sensitive subject, especially in
Punjab where 85 per cent of the produce

3 6 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

PUNJAB’S
JITTERS
Around 85% of Punjab’s
yield is procured by central
agencies, the reason why MSP
is such a sensitive topic
Agriculture contributes
25% to the state’s GSDP, the
maximum among all states
Average annual agri subsidy
per household is Rs 1.22 lakh,
the highest in the country
Decades of monocrop
agriculture have led to a poor
soil crisis. Farms use 212 kg of
fertilisers (national average is
135 kg). It also makes the case
for crop diversification
1.1 million households depend
on agriculture, 80% are small/
marginal farmers
Free power and mushrooming of tubewells have led to
groundwater crisis. Only 17
years worth left, says NGT
Crop diversification efforts in
last 25 years have failed. State
tried fruits, vegetables, cotton
and pulses but lack of ‘farm
gate’ infrastructure was a bane
Sources: State budget, NGT &
2015 agriculture census

that comes to the market is picked up
by government agencies at these prices.
It’s also why farmers in other states are
demanding the same. The community
already has a sense that MSP calculation doesn’t reflect the true input costs.
In 2018, the Centre decided to use the
second best of the M.S. Swaminathan
committee’s formulas to calculate MSP—
A2+FL (direct expenses incurred by
farmers, such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation, plus 50 per cent
more, along with the imputed value of
unpaid family labour). The farmers have
two issues with this—they don’t trust the
calculations of the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which
sets the MSP; and they want it to take
into account the rental value of their land

and interest value of capital assets.
Farm unions often complain that
the CACP estimates fail to adequately
take into account increasing input costs
and factor in inflation. Which is why
they are pushing for MSP calculations
on the basis of the third Swaminathan
construct—C2 (factors in rentals and
interest forgone on owned land and
fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL).
For instance, if we take CACP data of
C2 costs for paddy (Rs 1,911 per quintal) and apply the best-case ‘C2+50% of
C2’ formula to calculate MSP, it will be
Rs 2,866 per quintal, whereas the MSP
right now is Rs 2,183 per quintal. If the
weighted average of C2 costs provided
by the states (Rs 2,139 per quintal) is
considered, the MSP will be Rs 3,208
per quintal. On the other side, a CRISIL
research estimate suggests that state
agencies will have to spend Rs 3.8 lakh
crore a year to procure paddy (factoring
in that ‘marketing year ’23’ had a 185
MT crop).

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Back in 1964, then food and agriculture
minister C. Subramaniam had come out
with a “producers’ price” for paddy and
wheat as “a minimum price or a support
price at which government should buy
any quantities that may be offered….”
He later also recommended addition
of coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton and jute. Of course, this
was a time when the country’s buffer
stocks were empty, and agriculture had
faced back-to-back drought years. Cut
to the present, and can the government
buy all 23 crops, as demanded by the
unions, at this predetermined price?
Does it make economic sense? What
will the impact of this be on crop patterns? These are some of the questions
that have been asked frequently in
the past few days. One of Punjab’s top
agronomists, Sardara Singh Johl, says
it is both “impractical and illogical”. “If
MSP is legalised for 23 crops, then, of
course, everyone will only want to sell to
the government. But they simply cannot
procure the entire produce. And even if
it does, where will it further sell, use or
dispose of it? The government is not a

SPECIAL REPORT | FARMERS’ PROTEST

DEADLOCKED Union ministers Goyal and Munda, Punjab CM Mann and farmer leaders at the Jan. 18 talks in Chandigarh

trader,” he says. Right now, MSP-based
procurement is undertaken to maintain
the national buffer stock, stabilise prices
and also fulfil the food security commitments to 810 million beneficiaries. In
2023, the Centre spent about Rs 2 lakh
crore to honour food subsidy bills.

I

n the present agriculture structure
in Punjab, Haryana and other parts
of the country where MSP procurement is prevalent, the bigger
farmers also double up as arhatiyas, or
middlemen. This allows them to aggregate the crops from small and marginal
farmers at much cheaper prices. Meanwhile, industry lobby groups argue that
MSP-based procurements distort the
markets. “If a legal framework for MSP
comes up, it will kill the market altogether,” says the CEO of a top food processing company. They argue that the
big players may buy at MSP, but small
food processors—who form 80 per cent
of the sector—won’t be able to compete
and will be wiped out. They argue that
what the agri sector needs is to evolve
towards a demand-based ecosystem
rather than a production-oriented one.

WORK IN PROGRESS
Having been forced to repeal the farm
laws in 2021, the Modi government then
took a different tack—building infrastructure to decentralise procurement. This
included pushing states to take up the
Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)—an umbr-

38

INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

ella scheme to ensure MSP to farmers.
From 2019, they have also got income
support under the PM-KISAN scheme.
In addition, the government has also
fortified the warehousing and electronic
negotiable warehouse receipt (e-NWR)
infrastructure. Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (the RSS affiliate that deals
with economic issues), argues that farmers sell their crops at distress (below MSP)
not because they haven’t got a good price,
but because they can only hold on to their
crop for so long. “If he [the farmer] has
reached the market, he can’t take the crop
back,” Mahajan points out. As of November-end, 2023, 6,929 warehouses with a
storage capacity of 41.1 million tonne had
been registered with the Warehousing
Development and Regulatory Authority. But it’s still not enough to make a difference, either on prices or movement of
crops or incomes of farmers.

THE DISTRESS
IN THE FARM
SECTOR IS REAL,
PERHAPS WHY
MSP FOR THEIR
PRODUCE IS SUCH
A SENSITIVE
SUBJECT IN
PUNJAB

TREADING LIGHTLY
For the BJP-ruled Centre, the crisis
couldn’t have come at worst time. Its
only hope is that the agitation doesn’t
spread beyond Punjab. Clashes and human casualties could escalate matters.
The ‘khap’ panchayats in Haryana are
threatening to join the strike and the
Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmer unions that spearheaded the 2020-’21 protests, as well as
the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan),
one of the largest such outfits in Punjab,
are also bristling. The latter held day-andnight protests in front of the residences of
BJP MPs, ministers and MLAs in Punjab
during February 20-22.
After the repeal of the farm laws,
the Modi government had in July 2022
appointed a 29-member committee under former agriculture secretary Sanjay
Agarwal to deliberate on MSP-related
issues, among other things. The SKM
was invited to send three nominees, but
it refused, possibly because the panel was
packed with government experts and
BJP sympathisers. Union agriculture
minister Arjun Munda has now called
for a fifth round of talks, saying everything was on the table, “including MSP
and FIRs [filed against the protesters]”.
That offer may be still-born if the death
of the young farmer at Khanauri takes a
political turn. New Delhi has to come up
with an honourable solution soon, before the situation gets out of hand. A legal
framework for MSP will then be the least
of the Modi government’s worries. „

THE BIG STORY

POWER REFORMS

DISCIPLINING
THE DISCOMS
Employing a carrot-and-stick approach, the
power ministry is trying to make discoms
more efficient, even as multiple challenges
threaten to trip its efforts

IN THE

RED

THE ACCUMULATED LOSSES
OF GOVERNMENT-RUN
DISCOMS ROSE IN MOST
STATES IN FY22, MAKING
REFORM AN URGENT NEED
8.2 6.7
5.6
Punjab

1.5 1.7 1.8
Himachal
Pradesh

29 28.3 28.4

Haryana

By A N I L E S H S . M A H A J A N
Graphic by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY

86.9

ometime in the middle of January, Hiralal Nagar, the
energy minister in the newly sworn-in BJP government in Rajasthan, visited Union power minister R.K.
Singh’s office in New Delhi with a request. He wondered if his state could get additional electricity along
with some relaxations in lending norms. Distribution
companies, or discoms, in Rajasthan have a cumulative
debt of Rs 79,370 crore, according to the latest filings
with the state’s regulator. It’s a nightmare for the new
government, which has to honour electricity subsidies
committed by its predecessors. Singh’s response to Nagar was a polite “sorry”.
Nagar is not the only one; many of his counterparts and chief ministers from
other states have been approaching the Union minister with similar requests
for either more electricity or waiving their discoms’ debt or legacy dues owed
to generation and transmission companies. Singh has the same answer for
all of them. “We cannot put more money behind bad money,” he tells INDIA
TODAY in an interview. “There is no exemption for anyone...the entire system
is automated and rule-based. Even if I want to game it, I can’t. There’s no
politics in this.” Instead, the Union minister suggests alternatives and advises
his visitors not to deviate from the painful path of reforms. His message is
clear—the states have to strive for round-the-clock power supply, but without
compromising the fiscal health of the discoms, which, for decades, have been
described as the weakest link in the power sector.

4 0 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

89.1 89.6

Rajasthan

125.2

0.1 0.5

0.8

Gujarat

113.2
99.9
23.4 24.7 25.1

Maharashtra
12.1 14.6

Tamil Nadu

19.2

Kerala

(Figures in ’000 cr.)

HOW DISCOMS ARE
TURNING AROUND

5.41

LAKH CRORE
Accumulated losses
of discoms at the
end of FY23

KEY POLICY MEASURES TO ADDRESS STRUCTURAL
ISSUES RELATED TO SUBSIDIES, PRICING,
TECHNICAL LOSSES AND DEBT

RESTORING THE CASH FLOW

Jharkhand
7.3 7.7 8.9

53

56.9 59.5

Chhattisgarh
29.1 28.7 31.2
Madhya
Pradesh
Andhra
Pradesh

5.6

9.8

42.3

49 49.8

14.4

Karnataka

Ô For years, the
aggregate technical
and commercial (AT&C)
losses on account
of technical issues,
payment defaults and
other inefficiencies
hovered around 22-24%

22 22

FY23

FY22

21
16

0.69
0.66
0.59
0.54
0.51
0.5

15.9

0.3

Ô Additional borrowing
permissions have been
linked to bring them
down to 12-15% by FY25

0.15

Ô Another commitment
was for tariffs to match
the cost of supplying
power. As figures show,
discoms are getting
better at recouping
their costs

AT&C Losses (%)
ACS-ARR Gap* (`/unit)
*The gap between the average cost incurred by
utilities in supplying electricity and the average
revenue they collect from consumers

CLEARING THE LEGACY DUES
Ô As discoms kept delaying
payments to gencos, it led
to operational debt

`1.38
lakh
crore

`69,957

Ô In 2022, they were given a

Telangana

FY21

FY20

FY19

22

24 24

FY23

11.2
6.3 8.5

144
134

RATIONALISING THE SUPPLY AND PRICING

FY22

Uttar
Pradesh

144

115 112

FY21

Meghalaya

157

133

122

FY20

2.4 2.8 2.6

FY18

Assam

these dues first for discoms
to get loans for meeting
their commitments. In the
past two fiscals, states
disbursed over 100% of the
annual subsidy dues

99

FY19

1 1.3 0.9

83 90
76
86
75 78

Ô Now, states have to clear

FY18

77.9
70.4

110

FY17

85

Bihar

(` ’000 cr.)

FY16

Uttarakhand

Cumulative subsidy bill
Disbursal to discoms

FY17

3.7 3.9 3.9

Ô Delays in disbursing
subsidy dues—on account
of lower tariffs for certain
consumers like farmers—
had direct impact on the
cash flow of discoms

FY16

19.5
14.7 16.6

roadmap to clear these dues;
delaying payments results in
progressive disconnection
of supply from the exchange

crore

`40,000
Legacy dues

crore*

*estimated

As on Mar. 31, 2020
As on Mar. 31, 2021
As on Mar. 31, 2022 (provisional)

Ô The legacy dues have come
down substantially since then Jun. ’22

Mar. ’23


Jan. ’24


Source: Ministry of Power/ARR filings of discoms

POWER REFORMS

‘NO ONE IS
EXEMPT.
YOU CAN’T
GAME THE
SYSTEM AS
IT’S RULEBASED’
As India’s economy
expands, providing
uninterrupted power
is paramount. Besides
enhancing capacity
and augmenting
infrastructure, it’s essential to minimise losses
and make discoms fiscally
responsible. Union minister of power and new &
renewable energy R.K.
SINGH discusses the government’s roadmap for a
robust power sector with
Deputy Editor ANILESH
S. MAHAJAN. Excerpts:

CHANDRADEEP KUMAR

THE BIG STORY

Q.

You have been pushing
hard to make distribution companies efficient. How are those
reforms taking shape?
The viability of the power sector
was shaky when I joined. The outstanding dues of generation companies (gencos) were in the region of
Rs 135,000 crore. The AT&C losses
of the distribution companies (discoms) were around 27 per cent.
Today, the AT&C losses are down to
about 15.5 per cent. The outstanding dues have been pared down to Rs
60,000 crore. The current payments
are all up to date; so our discoms have
become very viable. If a discom does
not pay for the power it has drawn,
within the stipulated time, the new
norms enable power exchanges to
disconnect their connectivity to electricity markets.

Q. A few states are promising cheaper or free power to some segments.
Traditionally, this has impacted discoms’ cash flow.
If a state announces 100 units or 200
units free, by all means, we don’t have
any objections to it. But they will have
to make payments for it. The subsidy
has to be paid to the discoms upfront.
Q. You are putting a carrot-and-stick
approach in place to discipline the
discoms.
We have enough incentives for the discoms to clean up their mess. We are in
regular conversation with the regulators; we are asking them to just stick
to the stated laws and regulations. If
the discoms are making losses, they
will have to prepare a roadmap to cut
losses. Their respective state governments would have to back it in writing. Then only can they avail of debts,

support and grants from central agencies. We have revised the prudential
norms and also written to the banks
to revise their norms for lending in
accordance with this. We provided
an additional borrowing space of
0.5 per cent of the GSDP. Electricity
(Late Payment Surcharge and Related
Matters) Rules and Revamped
Distribution Sector Scheme are there
to help them achieve efficiencies. The
good thing is, the states are reacting
positively and the situation is improving. So, the carrot-and-stick approach
has worked.
Q. Disconnecting power appears to
be a very bold move. But electricity is
a sensitive subject and there is politics too.
There is no exemption for anyone...
the entire system is automated and
rule-based. Even if I want to game
it, I can’t. When disconnection happened for the first time, many chief
ministers and ministers (including

“IF DISCOMS
DON’T PAY UPFRONT,
THEN THEIR ACCESS
TO ELECTRICITY
MARKETS IS
CURTAILED,
PROGRESSIVELY”
those of the BJP-ruled states) called
up to seek exemptions. I had to say
sorry. If discoms don’t pay upfront,
then their access to electricity markets is curtailed, progressively.
Q. You had plans to introduce direct
benefit transfers and revolutionise appointments of state regulators along with amendments to the
Electricity Act. What’s the status on
these fronts?
Amendments to the Electricity Act
went through parliamentary procedures…. The new bill will be tabled
soon. And in many states, “loyalists”
get the regulator’s position and we
want to bring more robust decisionmaking there. „

WHY DISCOMS
WENT DOWN
India has a complex electricity sector
where multiple entities—owned by
the Centre, states or private companies—are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution
of power. Generation companies, or
gencos, such as NTPC Limited, run
power plants, while transmission
companies, or transcos, operate the
high-voltage transmission lines. There
are 56 state-owned discoms and 16
in the private sector besides smaller
agencies providing last-mile supply to
end-consumers, while dealing with
gencos and transcos at the backend.
Political compulsions have conventionally forced state-owned discoms to keep tariffs for certain groups
like residential consumers and farmers low. They were compensated either
through cross-subsidisation, that is,
industry and other commercial users
paying a higher price for power, or via
subsidies from their respective state
governments. The cumulative power
subsidy bill of states, in fact, has ballooned from Rs 75,608 crore in FY16
to Rs 1.34 lakh crore in FY23. But the
delay in the disbursal of these subsidies—which in many cases lingered
on for years—along with delays in the
recovery of bills from government
departments directly impacted the
cash flow of discoms.
It’s a vicious circle. Now, the states
have to clear the subsidy dues upfront
and reflect the true cost of supply in
tariffs. But they themselves are caught
in high debt, with most states breaching the 30 per cent threshold for the
debt to GSDP ratio. Cash-strapped
Punjab, for instance, is dealing with
losses of Rs 4,700 crore incurred by
the Punjab State Power Corporation
Limited (PSPCL) in FY23. According
to reports, the discom had to take Rs
800 crore debt to clear dues and avoid
disconnection of power, while waiting for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
regime to clear the subsidy bill. The
new Congress regime in Telangana
has also set the alarm bells ringing
by claiming that both its discoms are
bleeding with cumulative losses of
Rs 62,461 crore. The three discoms

in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, are saddled with accumulated
losses of about Rs 70,000 crore. And,
nationally, the combined losses of the
power distribution sector stood at Rs
5.41 lakh crore at the end of FY23.
Compounding the problem was
the fact that financial institutions,
deeming the discoms as too risky,
stayed away from lending for more
than a decade. In dire straits, discoms
delayed payments to transcos and
gencos, resulting in operational debt
and, in fact, increasing borrowing
costs further. This left them with just
one other option—load-shedding.
It’s a situation the country can ill
afford at a time it needs more and more
electricity to light up homes and run
factories. India has added about 100
million households to the electricity
network in the past decade. In 2023,
the peak power demand met (or the
highest supply of electricity) touched a
record 240 GW on September 1, even
as the country’s average shortfall in
electricity stood at 0.6 per cent.

THE ROAD TO REFORM
It was this tangled mess that Singh
inherited when he took over as the
minister of power in 2017. At the
time, only a fifth of the country’s discoms had cash flows healthy enough
to purchase the electricity they were
supplying to consumers. Singh’s first
task, therefore, was to enable discoms
to clean up their act. To do so, the
ministry decided to adopt a carrotand-stick approach. In June 2022,
the government issued the Electricity
(Late Payment Surcharge and Related Matters) Rules, which allowed
discoms to clear legacy dues by FY26
in a phased manner. Meanwhile, the
15th Finance Commission made an
additional borrowing space of 0.5 per
cent of GSDP available to the states,
provided they agreed to carry out
power sector reforms.
Another carrot offered to the
states was the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, launched in 2021
with an outlay of over Rs 3 lakh crore
and estimated gross budgetary support of Rs 97,631 crore over five years.
Existing schemes were merged to

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 43

THE BIG STORY

POWER REFORMS

create this new pool, where expenditure—on infrastructure upgradation
and installation of smart and prepaid
meters—is tightly monitored.
The power ministry also allowed Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance
Corporation (PFC) to extend loans
to discoms, for which additional
prudential norms were put in place.
Among these was setting up a Payment Security Mechanism to clear
current dues, a commitment to cut
discoms’ AT&C (aggregate technical
and commercial) losses on account of
technical problems, theft, payment
defaults and billing and collection
inefficiencies from around 22 per cent
to 12-15 per cent by FY25, and bridging the gap between the purchase
cost and sale price of electricity in the
same period. This commitment has
to be ratified by the state government
before being submitted to the lender
and the ministry.
And the stick? Delayed payment would result in progressive
disconnection of supply from the
power exchange. In August 2022, for
instance, local dispatch centres barred
27 discoms in 13 states from buying
electricity in power exchanges, citing
their non-payment of dues to gencos.
These legacy dues, which stood at
Rs 1.38 lakh crore in June 2022, are
estimated to have come down to Rs
40,000 crore in January 2024, and
are expected to be fully recovered by
the middle of this year.

BUT IS IT ENOUGH?
Singh may be on the right track, but it
remains to be seen whether these efforts will be sufficient to rid the sector
of its structural weaknesses. History
does little to allay the naysayers’ apprehensions. Back in 2001-02, the
then Planning Commission member
Montek Singh Ahluwalia had worked
out a bailout package for state utilities
by issuing long-term bonds. These
bonds deferred their dues to the lend-

44

INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

ers, but there was no focus on pushing
for efficiency in operations. Two years
later, the Electricity Act 2003 made it
mandatory for states to unbundle state
electricity boards (SEBs) into gencos,
transcos and discoms along with
giving teeth to regulators. The states
took their own time to unbundle their
boards; the regulators were unable to
thwart the political pressure pushing
for cheaper electricity.
Later, during the United Progressive Alliance regime, a committee under

In the next three years, state-owned
discoms had accumulated debt of Rs
3.9 lakh crore and liability of Rs 2 lakh
crore to gencos.
A year after coming to power in
2014, the Modi government launched
UDAY, or the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana, which aimed to improve
the financial health of discoms by
having state governments take over a
portion of their debt. The then power
minister, Piyush Goyal, also drew
up a five-year roadmap for reforms.

The reforms are well-directed
and pushed with a lot of will. We have
to understand that building robust—
financially and operationally—discoms
is a long-term reform. The trick is to
maintain consistency”
RAJIB MISHRA, Chairman & Managing Director, PTC India

In the past three decades, I had
never seen discoms clear their current
or legacy dues. If the present positive
trend continues for another 3-4 years,
they will become financially stable ”
ASHOK KHURANA, Director General, Association of Power Producers

former comptroller and auditor general
V.K. Shunglu recommended a series
of reforms to cut discom losses, but by
the end of FY12, their cumulative debt
stood at Rs 82,000 crore with AT&C
losses at 31 per cent. This forced the
then finance minister P. Chidambaram
to work out a Financial Restructuring
Plan (FRP) for discoms. Only six states
opted for this package; others argued
that the restrictions put in place were
unrealistic and there weren’t enough incentives to clean up the existing mess in
the sector. Besides, the regulators didn’t
have the muscle to enforce the reforms.

While the losses came down initially,
UDAY, some argue, failed because
several discoms used the funding not
to remove inefficiencies but to finance
infrastructure augmentation instead
so as to achieve the ambitious target of
100 per cent electrification.
Singh took over in 2017. But by
2019, losses had again mounted to Rs
4.5 lakh crore. The bottleneck, experts
say, remained in distribution. Discoms were reportedly either unable to
purchase power or were unwilling to
do so for fear of under-recovery of bills.
The problem was further compounded

by states offering free or highly
subsidised electricity. “States,” says
Singh, “are free to give subsidies to
any segment. But the discoms will
have to be paid upfront.... If money
doesn’t come, discoms will not be
able to pass on the benefits.”

E

arlier attempts at solving
many such problems, such
as the National Tariff Policy
2016—which required state
regulators to ensure that discoms
limited cross-subsidies to plus/
minus 20 per cent of the average
purchase price of electricity—have
fallen flat. Now, the ministry is
pushing regulators to reduce the
categories of tariffs, cut back on
cross-subsidies and ensure that
the tariff is cost-reflective, that is
consistent with the true cost of supplying electricity. But regulating the
regulators is a whole new ball game.
Former power secretary R.V.
Shahi points out that since state
governments appoint the regulators, they “look at their respective
chief ministers” to set the tariff.
The power ministry has not given
up on its efforts to rectify this, even
as its attempt to introduce radical changes in the appointment of
state regulators hit political rough
weather. In April 2021, it became
mandatory for discoms to conduct
an energy audit every year from
once in three years earlier. “Regulators have to regulate as per laws and
rules,” says Singh. “The tariff must
reflect the true cost of procurement
and supplies.” Data provided by various state regulators suggests that
tariffs were revised in FY24 to meet
this condition. Bit by bit, the tide
may turn. Here’s an encouraging
statistic—in FY23, discoms booked
a tariff subsidy of Rs 1.34 lakh crore
and received Rs 1.44 lakh crore
from state governments. If the trend
continues, it could mean the end of
the discoms’ cash flow woes. „





T H E N AT I O N
K A L E S H WA R A M

A BARRAGE OF
WOES

THE KALESHWARAM LIFT IRRIGATION
SCHEME TO TAP GODAVARI WATERS,
A PET PROJECT OF FORMER TELANGANA CM
K. CHANDRASHEKAR RAO, IS BESET BY
CONTROVERSY AND COST OVER-RUNS
By Amarnath K. Menon

48

INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

Annaram barrages went under in
the Godavari floods in July 2022.
Then, in October last year, six piers
of the Medigadda barrage suffered
serious damage, forcing the authorities to empty it. That revealed
more cracks and other damage
downstream of the Annaram and
Sundilla barrages. Sources in L&T,
the construction agency for Medigadda barrage, say its engineers
had noticed damage to the cement
‘wearing coat’ and concrete blocks
in the first flood season after KLIS
was inaugurated in 2019, but say
there was no response from the
irrigation department despite repeated reminders. The barrage was
also never emptied—essential to
examine the flood impact abutting
structure in the water holding
area—till the piers got damaged.
The trouble at Medigadda,
though, is only one of the several

“ WE WILL EXPOSE HOW THE BHARAT RASHTRA
SAMITHI GOVERNMENT OF KCR HAS WASTED
OVER RS 1 LAKH CRORE”
A. REVANTH REDDY, Chief Minister, Telangana

ANI

February 13, the Telangana government headed by new chief minister A.
Revanth Reddy took all its ministers
and legislators on a ‘study tour’ of the
Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme
(KLIS). Located in the state’s north,
on its border with Maharashtra, KLIS
had been a pet project of the previous
chief minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao
or KCR. Launched in KCR’s first term
as CM , in 2014, it was meant to end the
water woes of the semi-arid regions of
the state. Except that it is turning out
to be a Rs 1.5 lakh crore white elephant
that might well fall short of delivering
what KCR had promised. The February
13 expedition was for the government
team to assess for itself the quality of
work undertaken on the project so far.
Two days later, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
(CAG) revealed that the final cost of
the KLIS project could exceed Rs 1.47
lakh crore as against the Rs 81,911 crore
projected to the Central Water Commission (CWC). The ‘possibility of undue

benefit of at least Rs 2,684.7 crore
to the contractors’ was not ruled
out either. “We will expose how
the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)
government of KCR wasted over
Rs 1 lakh crore,” declared
Revanth Reddy.
KLIS has been plagued by
a series of structural failures at
its three main reservoirs—Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla.
After the change of regime in
Telangana, there have also been
incidents of files going missing or
getting destroyed at a KLIS office.
That, and the non-cooperation of
some project engineers in submitting information, have pushed the
current Congress government to
act swiftly on the issue.
The KLIS project had suffered
two major setbacks in the past two
years. First, two of its pumphouses
linked to the Medigadda and

THE PRECIPICE

CM Revanth Reddy
inspects a crack
at Medigadda
barrage, Feb. 13

Godavari
river

Annaram
barrage

Sundilla
barrage

Medigadda
barrage

KALESHWARAM

MAHARASHTRA

TELANGANA
KARNATAKA
ANDHRA
PRADESH

Godavari
river

SUBTERFUGE UNLIMITED
KLIS water could be the most expensive supplied by an irrigation project anywhere in the world
To increase water
lifting capacity to 3 TMC
from two, BRS regime
allegedly flouted norms
to award contracts
worth Rs 28,000 crore
to MEIL; 73 crucial
contracts regarding
design, approach
channel, pump house
and others parcelled out
in 19 days in 2016

Medigadda barrage
saw project costs
revised twice, still went
over by Rs 1,353 crore
Two KLIS pump houses linked to Medigadda
and Annaram barrages
went under in the
Godavari river floods
in July 2022

Rs 3,653 crore pressurised piped irrigation
system used in some
areas. CAG says cost
of PPIS is Rs 7,465 per
acre against open canal
system’s Rs 1,196 per acre

projected a 1.51 benefit
cost ratio. CAG report
says it will be less than
0.52 and the project
was from the beginning
‘economically unviable’

BRS government had

Irrigation dept chief

issues plaguing the project. At the
time of its inauguration, KLIS was
supposed to irrigate 70 per cent of
Telangana, covering 80 of the state’s
119 assembly constituencies. But it
has provided water to just 10 per cent
of the targeted irrigation area. The
actual command area (the extent that
can be reliably irrigated by the source)
is only 40,288 acres now against the
set target of 1.83 million acres.

T

his is apart from the financial
wrongdoings, which allegedly include off-budget loans
of more than Rs 47,000 crore
from commercial banks at unusually
high interest rates. While the BRS government projected a 1.51 benefit cost
ratio (BCR), the CAG report reveals
that it would be less than 0.52 (for
every rupee spent, returns are less than
52 paise). The BRS government is also
accused of inflating the BCR to obtain
statutory clearances as well as loans
from financial institutions. ‘It indicates
that the project was, ab initio, economically unviable,’ points out the CAG.
A preliminary investigation

50 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

Only covers 10% of
target area currently

Medigadda
barrage

engineer C. Muralidhar
and KLIS counterpart N.
Venkateshwarlu sacked
KLIS was to irrigate 70
per cent of Telangana,
covering 80 of the 119
assembly constituencies.

Six piers of Medigadda damaged in Oct.
’23, forcing authorities
to empty it. This reveals
more damage downstream. Irrigation dept and
L&T blame game begins

“JUST BECAUSE MEDIGADDA HAS
A FEW ISSUES, SAYING THE KLIS
PROJECT IS A FAILURE IS NOTHING
SHORT OF A CONSPIRACY”
K.T. RAMA RAO, BRS working president

report by the vigilance department
headed by DGP Rajiv Ratan shows
that much of the work was executed
at the behest of KCR, glossing over
engineering and safety protocol. Many
approvals were issued without supporting inspection notes of the higher
authorities. The report found poor
management of the structures and
neglect in the Medigadda barrage construction. For instance, the cofferdam,
along with the sheet piles, built for the
construction phase of the barrage, was
not removed before operations began.
It is the cost overruns, however,
that are causing the highest consternation. A government expert committee
report pointed out that the Medigadda
project alone exceeded its original
contract value by Rs 1,353 crore (this

was after two revisions and project cost
being fixed at Rs 4,613 crore). What
is shocking is the cost escalation was
allowed even after the date of completion of work. The investigation report
says ‘there were several deviations from
the agreement conditions’, including issuing of ‘substantial completion
certificate’ to the agency on September
10, 2019, and a completion certificate
again on March 15, 2021, when ‘the
whole of the work was not completed’.

The 1 TMC Question
Among the multiple grounds that the
CAG offers for indictment, is also one
pertaining to the ‘taking up of additional one TMC (thousand million
cubic feet) at a huge cost’. The KCR
government had enhanced the lifting

T H E N AT I O N
K A L E S H WA R A M

capacity of KLIS from 2 TMC of water
a day to 3 TMC, awarding additional
contracts worth Rs 28,000 crore to
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure
Ltd (MEIL). The Congress alleges the
BRS regime made a killing from the
enhanced contracts, pointing to how it
had, in some 19 days, revised the design
of civil works at the pump house, approach channel and delivery mains to
accommodate the augmented pumping
capacity. The government had kept
even the CWC in the dark about how
preparations to lift 3 TMC had started
in 2016, even though the detailed
project report (DPR) was submitted
only in 2018.
The CAG has also expressed
doubts over the viability of the Rs
3,653 crore pressurised piped irrigation system (PPIS). The government
initially awarded the work for Rs 2,042
crore, but hiked it by about Rs 1,500
crore though no additional area was
brought under cultivation. Then irrigation minister T. Harish Rao (KCR’s
nephew) claimed it would help avoid
water evaporation losses. But the CAG
says the cost of PPIS works out to Rs
7,465 per acre against the open canal
system’s Rs 1,196 per acre. Further, annual electricity charges to operate PPIS
will be Rs 3,778 per acre.
Power charges, in fact, are likely
to be a huge bane. The CAG says peak
power demand to lift water from 22
pump houses would be 8,500 MW, or
46 per cent of the state’s installed capacity. The project will need Rs 10,647
crore a year to meet energy charges
(including fixed charges).
The project’s operation and
maintenance (O&M) costs are also
huge. The CAG reports peg them at
Rs 273 crore a year, with a depreciation of Rs 2,800 crore per annum. The
irrigation department reportedly
signed O&M contracts with Navayuga
Engineering Company Ltd (which built
the Sundilla barrage) and Afcons Infrastructure (which built Annaram) in
July 2023. For Medigadda, L&T says
the original contract did not specify
O&M terms. All this means that if

RUNAWAY
COSTS

KLIS has 3 barrages, 14
reservoirs, 31 lifts and
over 1,800 km of canals,
pipelines, tunnels

1.47 lakh cr.

`

Estimated final cost of KLIS
project, against Rs 81,911
crore, the cost projected
to the CWC

1.42 lakh cr.

`

needed by the state in the
next 14 years—ranging from
Rs 712.44 cr. to Rs 14,462 .15
cr. a year—for debt servicing

`

47,000 cr.

Off budget borrowings since
2016-17 used to fund project
(73% of the expenditure
incurred)

17,653 cr.

`

spent arbitrarily on pumps,
motors and auxiliary equipment without assessing
market rates

`

10,647 cr.

Estimated power charges
(including fixed charges) for
14,344 mn units a year

`

2,685 cr.

‘Possible undue benefit’
accrued to contractors

40,288 acres

Current command area of
the project, against a target
of 1.83 mn acres
Source: CAG and expert committee
report. Some figures are estimates for
when project is complete

things pan out as the DPR suggests,
when completed in its entirety, water
from the KLIS will be the most expensive supplied by an irrigation project
anywhere in the world.

The Political Battle
“KCR has done phenomenal disservice to Telangana, leaving us with this
huge financial burden,” says irrigation
minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy. “The
people’s money will have to be spent for
another 20 years if we are to run a viable
KLIS.” The Congress is also accusing
the BRS of diverting attention from the
KLIS crisis by creating a ruckus over
the handing of the irrigation projects to
the Krishna River Management Board.
KCR’s son and BRS working president
K.T. Rama Rao, though, will have none
of it. “Just because Medigadda has some
issues, saying the entire KLIS project
is a failure is nothing but a conspiracy.
If there are any problems, it is for the
government to set them right,” he says.
Indeed, the government has few options
other than to salvage KLIS, considering
the huge costs incurred and the elaborate canal system that has been laid out.
The Congress government seems
determined to fix responsibility, though
it is likely to be a long-drawn process.
Irrigation department chief engineer
C. Muralidhar and KLIS chief engineer
N. Venkateshwarlu have already been
shown the door. KCR had handpicked
both and they were continuing in the
posts after superannuation. More heads
are likely to roll in the coming months.
On February 9, the Revanth Reddy
government also approached the Telangana High Court with a request for a
judicial probe. Union tourism minister
and state BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy,
who got the National Dam Safety
Authority to investigate the piers that
sank last year, maintains that only a
CBI inquiry will lay bare all the facts.
For that, however, Telangana has to lift
the restrictions the BRS regime had
imposed on the central agency. With the
Congress wary of the BJP’s penchant
for misusing the CBI’s powers, it’s a road
the party may not go down right now. „

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 5 1

EDUCATION

RECRUITMENT EXAMS

PLUGGING
THE LEAKS

A new central legislation aims to end the old scourge of exam
paper scams for govt jobs, with heavy punishment and penalties
By Amitabh Srivastava

n January 30, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court sentenced former
Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) chairman
Satendra Mohan Sharma and nine others
to five years of rigorous imprisonment in an
examination paper leak case going back to
2010. The conviction of Sharma et al was not
the only such case in the first month of 2024.
There were at least three other such cases in
which arrests were made.
Cheating in exams for recruitment to
public sector jobs is a problem endemic to
India. Whether it is an examination for the recruitment of police
constables in Bihar (which saw 1.8 million applicants) or teacher
eligibility tests in Rajasthan, question paper leaks have been a
bane in at least 15 states in the past five years. Such leaks have
reportedly affected the chances of over 10 million job aspirants.
Several states—Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha—have
passed anti-cheating laws in their respective domains. A central
legislation to check the menace, though, had long been overdue.
That wait ended on February 5, when Union minister Jitendra
Singh introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair
Means) Bill, 2024. Parliament passed it on February 9, President
Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bill and the government
notified it on February 12.
The legislation aims to check unfair practices such as ‘leakk
age of question paper or answer key’, ‘directly or indirectly
assisting the candidate’, and ‘tampering with computer network’
and makes all such offences ‘cognisable, non-bailable and noncompoundable’. Under its purview will be all exams conducted
by the Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection
Commission, RRBs, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection,
central ministries or departments and their attached and subordinate offices, National Testing Agency and any other authority
notified by the Centre. All service providers—organisations and
personnel--engaged by the public examination authority for the

5 2 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

SEEKING JUSTICE

A protest against
the Bihar PSC exam
paper leak in Patna,
Dec. 7, 2022
ANI

conduct of the examinations will be
liable for punishment as well as penalties, which are heavy, comprising a
minimum jail term of three years and
a fine of up to Rs 1 crore.

A WIDE WEB
Leaks in exams are not exactly a
new phenomenon. It’s just that over
the years, the methods have become
increasingly sophisticated, the scale
and the stakes involved infinitely
higher, and the culprits almost impossible to catch. The CBI had filed the
chargesheet in the RRB exam case in

September 2010. Conviction has taken
about a decade and a half.
The RRB exam had been conducted for the recruitment of 1,936 assistant station masters and assistant loco
pilots. According to the CBI, Sharma’s
men used private agents to lure the job
aspirants. After taking an advance (the
CBI recovered Rs 36.9 lakh in cash),
the selected candidates were shifted
to Goa, Sholapur and Nagpur, where
they were tutored to answer the leaked
questions.
The RRB case is also one of the few
where the investigating agency has at

least been able to secure a conviction
(though the culprits can still appeal).
There are countless other instances
where investigation has hit a dead
end. This is because the exam mafia
runs a well-oiled multi-layered system,
where the various wings act in tandem,
without necessarily running into each
other. So, for a Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exam for junior engineers in
Odisha, the mastermind was a native
of Patna who managed to procure the
examination paper without having to
move out of his city, and helping him
was an employee of the press in West

TAMPERPROOF
Offences covered
under new law
Leaking of question paper,
answer key, illegal possession
of optical mark recognition
response sheet, providing
solutions at a public exam
Tampering with answer
sheets or network involved
in exam process, candidates’
shortlist document;
Manipulating exam seating
arrangements, dates, shifts
Creating fake websites,
holding fake exams, issuing
fake admit cards/offer letters

The punishment
3-5 years’ jail, fine up to
`10 lakh
Service provider (agency
conducting a recruitment
exam) liable for 3-10 years’
jail, `1 crore fine
Seizure of property of
institution involved in crime

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4 INDIA TODAY 53

Question Marks

EDUCATION

At least 41 government competitive exams have been compromised
in the past 5 years, affecting the lives of millions of aspirants
J&K

UTTARAKHAND

3 2,330
249,000

4 1,800
237,000

HARYANA

ARUNACHAL
PRADESH

1 30
4,000

UTTAR PRADESH

2 6,980
841,000

1 3,300
1,900,000

RAJASTHAN

ASSAM

1 590
66,000

7 40,590
3,841,000
BIHAR

GUJARAT

3 24,380
2,287,000

3 5,260
1,641,000
MADHYA
PRADESH

MAHARASHTRA

2 6,560
1,125,000

5 3,690
164,000

KARNATAKA

TELANGANA

2 1,660
334,000

5 3,770
674,000

Exams compromised Posts
Candidates affected

1 2,010
650,000
ODISHA

1 1,000
5,000

Source: Applicants’ data collected
from states and rounded off

Bengal where the question paper was
being printed. It was in July 2023
that the Odisha police arrested the
35-year-old Vishal Chourasia, a former
accountant in the accountant general’s
office in Patna. Police sources reveal
that he paid Rs 1 lakh to Virendra
Singh Paswan, who worked at the
Bengal press, to get the paper. The SSC
exam was later cancelled.
This wasn’t Chourasia’s first such
scam either—he was also allegedly involved in the leak of the question paper
for the recruitment of sub-inspectors
(SI) and assistant sub-inspectors (ASI)
in the Central Police Organisation
(which recruits for all organisations
under the Union ministry of home affairs) conducted by the SSC in 2013-14.
Police sources concede that a majority of the rackets get exposed only
after one or more of the accused get
greedy and try to make money on a side
deal or the candidates try to recoup
some of the money they have spent to

5 4 INDIA TODAY

JHARKHAND

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

get the question paper by passing it
on to more people. In order to prevent
further leaks and to ensure that they
are paid the whole amount, the exam
mafia keep the original certificates of
the candidates. Candidates are asked
to pay half the ‘fee’ after the exam gets
over and the questions match, and the
rest once the results are declared. Once
the full amount gets paid, the certificates are returned.

I

t’s easy money, since there is no
dearth of desperate candidates
willing to do anything for a
government job. And so everyone,
whether they are a part of the system
itself or outside it, is willing to do
their bit for monetary consideration.
In a chargesheet that the CBI filed
on January 1 against 15 accused for
alleged irregularities in the written
exam for junior engineers (civil) for the
Jal Shakti department in J&K, seven
were security personnel, among them

RECRUITMENT
EXAMS

a former J&K assistant sub-inspector,
an ex-CRPF head constable, an exarmy sepoy. On January 9, the central
agency booked nine individuals, which
included railwaymen besides officials
of an Andheri-based private firm, in a
case pertaining to the leak of the exam
paper for the General Department
Competitive Examination for junior
clerks/ typists conducted by the Western Railways in 2021. On February 11,
Jharkhand assembly under-secretary
Mohammed Shamim and his two sons
were among the 14 people arrested for
the alleged leak of the question paper
for the General Graduate qualified
combined competition. The SSC had to
cancel the third shift of the said exam
on January 28.

A LONG-OVERDUE LAW
Paper leaks and exam manipulation
have destroyed the chances of thousands of deserving government job aspirants who, if not done in by the scam’s
success, suffer on account of cancellations and endless litigation. Nothing
can compensate them for the lost time
and opportunities, especially at a time
when government jobs are shrinking
and it takes months and years for student to prepare for a competitive exam.
Indeed, so emotive had the issue
of paper leaks become that the previous Congress government in Rajasthan amended the Rajasthan Public
Examination (Measures for Prevention
of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act in
July 2023 to raise the maximum penalty for those involved to life imprisonment. Despite this, the issue continued
to simmer and was a major poll plank
in the state election in November 2023.
While addressing a public meeting
at the time in Kota, the coaching hub
of India, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had promised to punish anyone
involved in paper leaks. That promise
now seems to have been fulfilled. Several states have passed anti-cheating
laws, but they have not had any effect.
They can now perhaps look to the more
comprehensive central law to rid their
respective states of the menace. „

EXHIBITION:
COMIC RELIEF
PG 62

ENTERTAINMENT: A
MAMMOTH MISSION
PG 60

Q&A WITH
ILA ARUN
PG 66

BOOKS: A STEPPE
IN TIME
PG 64

SPORTS

ZEN AND THE ART
OF MOTORCYCLING
EXCELLENCE
The first Indian to win a stage
at Dakar, the world’s toughest
rally, Harith Noah knows
how to keep his head down

CRISTIANO BARNI





LEISURE

Breaking Out

irst, the stereotype. He was 16
when his parents bought him
a used motorcycle as a Christmas gift. Learning to ride in
the paddy fields of Shoranur, his
hometown in Kerala’s Palakkad
district, the teenager was impressed by
a bunch of riders practising for a race
on a dirt track. A week later, Harith
Noah was competing in his first race.
Despite a good start, he came last. But
the plot had turned.
Two years later, at 18, Noah had
won the first of his five national supercross championships. On January 19,
2024, he finished the world’s toughest
rally raid, the Dakar, in 11th position,
the highest-ever ranking by an Indian.
He did not know that he had come first
in the Rally2 category in which he was
competing.

still doesn’t know what he has
achieved. In a country with the
world’s largest two-wheeler industry, he has roared to the summit of
motorcycling excellence; in a sport
viewed as the domain of adrenaline junkies, reckless to the point
of being suicidal.
“Harith is a responsible person, a very responsible rider,” says
Vimal Sumbly, head of premium
business at the TVS Motor Company. TVS recruited Noah after
his first supercross win in 2011.
“Racing is a mental game, it is
not about adrenaline. Harith is a
unique talent. He is energetic and
inquisitive, trains very hard, and
has a calm, meditative head on his
shoulders,” adds Sumbly.

A Master’s Mindset

RALLYING REQUIRES PHYSICAL
FITNESS, NAVIGATION SKILLS
AND RIDING SKILLS. IN THE FIRST
TWO, NOAH BELIEVES HE’S UP
THERE WITH THE BEST

Noah does not follow his timings or his
daily positions when he is racing. “My
mental trainer and I believe it is best
for me to not know,” he says, speaking to INDIA TODAY from Shoranur,
two days after his 30th birthday. “The
Dakar is such a long race, there are
so many things that can go wrong.
The final result depends on so many
variables. Some are controllable, others
are not. I try to focus on only the next
kilometre of riding. Wherever that gets
me, that’s where I deserve to be. I need
to be happy with it.”
Noah’s voice is a laconic drone; all
questions are answered in a flatline.
He sounds so relaxed it seems he

EDO BAUER

In the early years, Noah’s pit mechanic
and manager was his father. “I enjoyed
riding and wanted to get better, as good
as those boys riding in the paddy fields. I
wanted to slide the motorcycle and jump
like them,” he says. He was serious. After
school, he entered a correspondence
course in sports science from a UK university. That’s where he met sports psychologist Neil Roach, now his mental trainer.
Interviewers sometimes ask him to
take off his shirt to reveal a body fitting
of an MMA fighter or an exponent of
Kalaripayattu. Rallying demands extreme
physical training. “I am my own fitness
trainer. I draw from the course I studied,”
he says. He has trained at Red Bull’s setup for elite athletes in Los Angeles.
Rallying requires three basic quali-

C YC L I N G

PEDAL POWER
ties: physical fitness, navigation skills
and riding skills. In terms of fitness
and navigation, Noah believes he is up
there with the best. “I need to get better at my riding skills,” he says. Noah
competes with athletes who begin
riding as early as age 3; Indian riders
begin late. That is changing, Sumbly
says: “With MotoGP coming to India,
motorsports is now a viable career.”
Noah did enjoy a secret advantage
at the Dakar, held since 2020 in Saudi
Arabia, which has a sizeable Malayali
population. For example, the company
running the ambulance service is
from Kerala. They took good care last
year after he crashed and fractured
his spine. This year, they were there to
help during the stopovers.
When he reached Kerala two
days after his victory, there was a
crowd waiting to felicitate him at the
airport. Noah felt shy. Winning at the
Dakar is easy. Handling all the attention? That requires a skill Harith
Noah doesn’t possess. ■
—Sopan Joshi

LIEUTENANT COLONEL BHARAT PANNU HAS NOTCHED UP
YET ANOTHER WIN IN THE SELF-SUPPORTED
CATEGORY OF THE ULTRA SPICE RACE

he doubts
started
creeping
into Bharat
Pannu’s head on the
third day of the Ultra
Spice Race—a 1,750-km
ultra cycling endeavour that got underway
on January 22 from
Bogmalo Beach in Goa,
headed towards Ooty,
before making its way
back to the starting
point. He had ridden
about a thousand kilometres until then, solo
and self-supported.
But now, pedalling
in the wee hours of
the morning around
Kalpetta in Kerala, he
didn’t see the sense of
the entire effort.“The
next cyclist was trailing
me by a good distance.
It breaks you down
mentally because riding
solo is one thing, but
riding without competition makes things really
difficult,” says Pannu,
who is 41.
It was a race he
had won twice before.
Yet, he persevered with
the effort, slow and
steady, while taking
stock of the situation.
And after 112 hours and
53 minutes, he picked
up his third win in the
self-supported category over the last five
editions of the race.
Pannu broke down
the mammoth distance
into 16 sections. His
aim was simply to get
faster than his previous times on each one
of them. Every time he
managed it, he would

T

ANAY DESHPANDE

indulge in extra rest to
let the body recover.
The constant mental
calculations and the
joy of thriving in his
own company kept
loneliness at bay. “A
good indicator for me
was the final 340 km
to the finish. Anyone
who has done it knows
how monotonous this
stretch gets after four
days of riding. I was
able to bring down my
time on this section
by almost four hours,”
says Pannu.
The ride was part
The
as
pice w
S
Ultra
’S
U
N
N
PA
part of
the
r
ation fo
prepar
rica, a
e
m
A
s
cros
om the
fr
Race A
ile race
m
0
0
t coast
3,0
the eas
west to
S
of the U

of his preparation
for the Race Across
America (RAAM)—a
3,000-mile race that
runs from the west
to the east coast of
the United States. In
2019, he suffered a
broken collar bone
during a training ride
and returned home; in
2022, he finished 80
per cent of the distance before a fever
forced him to abandon it. A lieutenant
colonel in the Indian
Army, Pannu has been
training for RAAM
since September. “A
race like Ultra Spice
is a reality check. A
good performance
gives you the confidence to do well in
bigger races. I started
my ultra cycling journey in 2017 and have
grown as a rider. And
I feel ready for my
RAAM attempt come
June,” he says. ■
—Shail Desai

E N T E R TA I N M E N T

A MAMMOTH
MISSION

Richie Mehta has created an in-depth
series on man-animal conflict in Amazon
Prime Video’s Poacher

“

eautiful mess.” That’s how actor Nimisha Sajayan
describes her character, a forest department official
who’s #TeamElephant, in the latest Amazon Prime
Video series Poacher. Created by Richie Mehta of
Delhi Crime fame, the label also applies to Mehta’s
work. The London-based writer-director shows the
mess in society “through the eyes of people cleaning
it up”, he notes. Inspired by true events in Kerala, the
multilingual dramatic thriller centres on the unsung
heroes who rally together to track the network that
kills elephants to keep the illegal ivory trade going.
While Nimisha’s character Mala has an animal
activist’s zeal to capture the culprits, Poacher also
touches upon the man-animal conflict

riller
matic th
The dra es on
centr
ROES
NG HE
UNSU nd together
who ba elephant
to track hers
poac

LEISURE
in the state. Says Mehta, “One thing about animals that is
interesting is they don’t take more than they require, as opposed to us.” The show also touches on the ‘animalistic’ side
of humans through the crimes they commit on the voiceless
creatures. Mehta, fresh from the International Emmy
Award win for Delhi Crime, wanted to use the “little bit of
leverage” he had amassed in the film industry to do “something noble”. Poacher took him to Malayattoor and other
parts of Kerala and places like Dehradun, as he interviewed
forest department officials as well as former poachers as
research for the show. “My view of the ecosystem [thus far]
was the urban environment, but here is another world and
we haven’t destroyed it yet,” says Mehta about the journey,
which at one point would entail seeing the
majestic creatures in the wild.
Poacher, like Delhi Crime, is an acquisition and not a commissioned project. It
implies that Mehta finds international producers who believe in his vision and his ability
to execute it, freeing him from the creative
diktats of streaming platforms. Mehta’s work
process involves shuttling between London and
India. “It is necessary that I don’t reside in an
industry town because it is easy to get caught up
in the business of moviemaking,” he says. “Most
of my time is [spent] on creation of content and
dissemination of research and, most important,
[answering] ‘why’ this project.” Poacher adds to the
conversation around coexistence, preservation and
conservation. Sajayan, an acclaimed actor in Malayalam cinema, says it will “be an eye-opener” for people in
Kerala. “I want audiences to feel how our actions reflect
on the animal kingdom,” she says. Mehta hopes audiences
watch the entirety of the eight episodes and especially “the
last scene” to understand why he devoted nearly four years
to the project. It remains to be seen where the audience’s
loyalty lies by the end of it, but they will certainly root for
the silent guardians of the forest. ■
—Suhani Singh

6 0 INDIA TODAY

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

I N T E RV I E W

LIGHTS, CAMERA
ACTION!
Varun Grover makes his directorial
debut with All India Rank, about a
17-year-old kid trying to crack the IIT
entrance in Kota
Q. The IIT film has become a mini
genre in itself. What do you hope to add
to the narrative with All India Rank?
I wanted to do three things. First, see it as
a coming-of-age of a family and not just of
the kid. Second, place the origin of the IIT
hysteria that middle-class India had in the
late 1990s. Third, keep it centred on the
kid and not the coaching industry.
Q. What makes the 1990s so

striking for you?
The gentleness of that era is something
I see missing in today’s youth. They are
too aware, connected and sorted. At that
time, we didn’t know anything beyond
our mohallas. I set it in 1997-98 because
It was the 50th year of Independence, a
great transition phase and the comingof-age of a post-pubescent nation.
Q. You are a lyricist, screenwriter,
stand-up comedian, author and, now,
director. How do you juggle so many
hats and which comes most
naturally to you?
Stand-up comedy comes most naturally
as it gives me the most joy. There’s an
immediate response and I get to speak—
though it is getting more difficult—freely.
Writing is like a second skin. The most
difficult has been direction.
Q. Your stand-up special, ‘Nothing
Makes Sense’, heads for a Europe-UK
tour in April. What’s the response to
your blend of socio-political humour?
It is a mixed bag, because Indians outside
are a bit more touchy about things in India.
I understand it’s a survival mechanism to
be proud of the place they come from. But
there are many Indians who understand
how things are and want to listen to
stories in a satirical, funny show. ■
—Suhani Singh




EXHIBITION

Comic
Relief
An ongoing exhibition—Comics in
Bengal—at the Kolkata Centre for
Creativity brings to light a century
of Bengali comics

conic comic book writer and publisher Stan Lee once said, “A picture
is worth a thousand words, but a
comic is worth a million.” Fans and
viewers flocking to Comics in Bengal, an ongoing
exhibition at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity,
would agree. The show is being held in collaboration with Comics Culture Collective, a group of
comic scholars, bibliophiles, researchers, graphic
illustrators and cartoonists who have curated and
collated their personal collections and sourced other
works from fans to create this unique show.
That this often-dismissed medium, in a regional language, would find centre stage was not something its enthusiasts ever expected. “When I came
across a book on comics from Thailand [The Art of
Thai Comics by Nicolas Verstappen], I had won-

C U LT U R E S PAC E

A RT C O R N E R
TRI, A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART CENTRE, IS THE LATEST CULTURAL SPACE TO OPEN IN KOLKATA

hat immediately strikes you
as you walk up
to TRI, the latest art centre
in South Kolkata’s Ballygunge
area that opened on January
19, is the triangular shape of
the 1940s mansion. The name
TRI is a nod to the same as
well as a punny invitation to
visitors to “try” out the art,
culture and discourse the
space aims to offer, director
Madeleine St John points out.

W



“We aim to make it an
accessible space, open to
anyone in this city,” explains
St John. “In addition to display of cultural artwork, TRI
[will function] as a multidisciplinary platform that will have
a full calendar of cultural
programming, workshops,
performances, lectures and
panels providing a robust
engagement with art.”
Open To Sky Architects
restored the mansion
that belonged to the city’s

part of the city.
industrial
I
me TR
“Our affection
Thapar family,
The na nny
for Kolkata has
keeping the
is a pu to
ion
been the driving
façade intact,
invitat “try”
to
s
force towards
while turning
r
o
it
e
r
is
v
ltu
our mission,”
ar t, cu
the interiors
out the course the
says co-founder
a tasteful
and dis e aims
Natasha Thapar.
white and
spac
r
“We’re immensely
bringing a glassto offe
proud of our accomwalled skylight on
plishment, transforming the
the roof. Meanwhile,
building into an art centre
loud music from a local
that aspires to become
Saraswati puja celebration
a cornerstone of cultural
echo through the building,
engagement in Kolkata.”
making the space an intrinsic

LEISURE

IN TOON (Clockwise from left)
Comic strips Bantul the Great, Robir
Abirbhab and Anandamath, and a
comic in Sandesh magazine

From political, detective
and crime thrillers...
Bengali comics have
straddled various genres
over the years

dered idly whether a book on comics in
Bengal would ever see the light of day.
I immediately dismissed the thought,
thinking that it would be too diverse
and hard to classify,” admits Pinaki De,
comics researcher and practitioner and
a member of the collective.
But what was only an amorphous
thought is slowly becoming a possibility
with this ongoing exhibition that has
managed to scan and archive many
books, periodicals, magazines and
newspaper strips.
It has been about a century since
one of the first comic strips was pub-

lished in Bengal. ‘Jemon Kormo Temni
Phol’, a picture-story by Shukhalata
Rao that was printed in the Poush 1328
issue of the famous literary magazine
Sandesh, is regarded as the first Bengali
comic complete with speech bubbles. It
was written and illustrated by writeractivist Rao who was also part of the
illustrious Ray family—Satyajit Ray’s
aunt and Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury’s eldest daughter.
“This exhibition aims to uncover
the vibrant legacy of storytelling, adventure and creativity that has shaped
the comic culture in Bengal,” says Richa

City-based gallery
Experimenter, among the
curatorial partners for TRI
in 2024, brought together
Prabhakar Pachpute’s Sea
of Fists and Kallol Datta’s
Volume 3 Issue 2 | 2.0 for
TRI’s opening exhibitions.
Pachpute’s characteristic charcoal-drawn bodies
of farmers with their heads
replaced by sickles, spades,
pickaxes and fists has taken
over TRI’s ground floor. The
first floor belongs to Datta’s
ambitious installation where
the clothes maker has juxtaposed garments and textile
objects donated by various
people across Manipur,
Japan and elsewhere with
foliage and soil denoting

Agarwal, chairperson, Kolkata Centre
for Creativity. The artworks also mirror
the sociopolitical climate of their times.
For instance, the Swadeshi movement,
Bengal’s partition and the Noakhali riots are depicted in ‘Sanyashi Ak Jatri’,
in the pre-independence mouthpiece of
the Congress, Sonar Bangla.
From the early comics, political, detective and crime thrillers, advertising,
pseudo-historical, biographical mythological and science fiction, Bengali comics have over the years straddled various
genres and each is showcased.
The exhibition also briefly dwells
on translated comics like Aranyadeb
(Phantom) or translations of Tintin,
Tarzan and Henry and how they impacted the milieu. While the translations became hugely popular and
‘captured the imagination of an entire generation’, they invite a question.
Raised by Abhijit Gupta, professor in
Jadavpur University’s Department of
English, in his illustrated talk on the
inaugural day of the exhibition: “Was
it at the cost of Bengali voices?” The
question, one hopes, will lead to encouraging answers. ■

histories and stories associated with the garments.
“Trained in women’s
design, Datta wanted to
escape the literal boundaries of clothing in the fashion
industry, and so he transitioned into the fine-art
world,” explains St John.
“Initially, he used mannequins or similar forms to
showcase his garments,
but, recently, he began making garments without a body
in mind. Everything you see
here is recycled clothing
and the foliage which was
fresh when first installed but
has now started to decay
echoing life itself and the life
cycles of our clothes.”
Assistant curator

—Malini Banerjee
Comics in Bengal is on at the Kolkata
Centre for Creativity till March 9

Muskan Kaur Sukarchakia
points at a bridal tunic
belonging to a grandmother
from Lahore, which carried sediment in its seams
because the tradition was
for the community’s women
to spread soil in the fabric
so the bride could carry
her home with her to her
in-laws. Kaur recalls how
this suggests “material
memory”—the basis of historian Aanchal Malhotra’s
Partition-themed book
Remnants of a Separation. ■
—Devarsi Ghosh
Sea of Fists and Volume 3
Issue 2 | 2.0 will be on
show at TRI (53/2/2, Hazra
Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata
700019) till April 15

LEISURE
BOOKS

A STEPPE IN TIME

The late historian Charles Allen’s last book—Aryans—delves into the origins of
these enigmatic peoples and the controversies surrounding them

Charles Allen’s Aryans:
The Search for a People, a
Place and a Myth is a tour
de force survey of the latest that we know about
these enigmatic people,
informed by linguistics, history, archaeology and, now,
genetics. Born in Kanpur
in 1940 as the sixth generation of a family of British
officials in India, Allen
developed a life-long interest in the Indian subcontinent. Aryans was his swan
song, the culmination of a
lifetime of fascination with
these long-lost people and
an abiding interest in their
origins. He died in 2020,
with the book unedited.
That task was left to Allen’s
collaborator David Loyn,
who insists he has made
no original contribution to
the text.
Due to the reality
that in the 19th century,
Sanskrit was arguably the
oldest recorded IndoEuropean language, the
speculation around the
homeland of these peoples
often focused on Central
and South Asia. Aryans or
Arya was, of course, the
name of the early Indian

6 4 INDIA TODAY

Indo-Europeans, and 19thcentury scholars assumed
that this was the original
endonym. In the early 20th
century, these ideas about
Aryans synthesised with
the regnant white supremacist ideology to produce
a race science which theorised that blond supermen
were civilisation-bearers
across the world, from
India to England. The most
horrible mutation of these
ideas became part and parcel of Nazi ideology, rendering the study of Aryans
toxic for generations.
But, as Allen notes,
the term ‘Aryans’ does not
apply to the Indo-European
peoples as a whole. Rather,
it was the endonym of the
Indo-Iranian peoples, from
the Persians of Iran and
the Indo-Aryan speakers
of northern India, to the
early steppe nomads like
the Scythians. To this day,
one of the largest tribes of
the Ossetians of the North
Caucasus, descendants of
steppe Iranians, call themselves Iron, a term directly
descended from Aryan. But
the ancestors of the other
Indo-European peoples,
including the Germans, did
not call themselves Aryans.
Today, we know far
more about the Aryans
than we did a century ago,
thanks to the advances of
scholarship, which allow
researchers to clear up

M A RC H 4, 2 02 4

ARYANS: The Search for a
People, a Place and a Myth
by Charles Allen
HACHETTE
`799; 400 pages

mysteries and bring clarity to what were muddled
questions. A century of
archaeology culminated
after World War II in the
work of Marija Gimbutas
and her students and
intellectual heirs like J.P.
Mallory and David Anthony
in fixing the origin of the

Today, we know
far more about the
Aryans than we did a
century ago, thanks
to the advances of
scholarship

early Indo-Europeans, and,
therefore, the Aryans, among
the kurgans of the Eurasian
steppe. These imposing burials reflected a hierarchical
society that seemed to lionise powerful men, and their
rapidity in migration from
one end of Eurasia to the
other implied domestication
of animals and perfection of
the nomadic lifestyle. The
best data today from archaeology, linguistics and genetics
suggest that the early Aryans
were a branch of IndoEuropeans who migrated
eastward out of the Corded
War Culture of Poland and
Belorussia, eventually reaching the Urals and diversifying

outward as the Andronovo people.
Aryans notes that fragments of the
early society of these steppe nomads
can be found in the earliest IndoAryan texts, from the Vedas to the
Mahabharata, but the early Indian
Aryans are only intelligible in light of
the synthesis with the earlier Indus
Valley Civilisation.
Near the end of Allen’s life,
paleogenetics emerged as a field,
and his narrative ends with the
controversies and conclusions
that emerged out of the work of
researchers like David Reich and
Niraj Rai. Again, politics intersects
with scholarship, as Aryans dissects
contested claims by various scholars
motivated by the search for truth
and political palatability. What the
DNA clearly shows is that the steppe
ancestry found in modern Indians
is a relative latecomer, not present in the Indus Valley Civilisation
populations, and likely correlates
with movements of Andronovodescended societies after 1800 BC
through the Bactria-Margiana
Culture (BMAC) into modern-day
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
DNA has not cleared up all the
mysteries, nor is archaeology or linguistics a closed book. But Aryans
shows that we are likely most of
the way there. The early Aryans
were cultural revolutionaries,
domesticating the modern horse
and pioneering the deployment
of war chariots. This transformation allowed them to dominate the
Eurasian steppe for thousands of
years before the rise of the Turks,
and enabled their intrusion into
the rich and populous lands to their
south. It is perhaps a supreme irony
of history that the prehistoric shamans of the Ural valley 4,000 years
ago would leave their strongest
cultural mark on the Brahmins of
modern India, thousands of miles
away in a clime and culture entirely
alien to the original Aryans. ■
—Razib Khan

Q A

Everyone Loves a
Good Villain
Singer-actor Ila Arun’s turn
in Hotstar’s Aarya 3: Antim
Vaar as a menacing villain
shows her versatility

Q. How did it feel
to play such a negative
character?
It is against my nature to be vindictive but then that is the true challenge
for an actor—to portray what is not natural
to you with conviction. I believe that every
character has many shades and one has to
take into account all the factors that have
contributed to the creation of that personality. To play a role different from
your own personality is an artistic
achievement and I am glad I
could accomplish it.

Q. Singer or
actor, which do you
lean more towards?
Thanks to my singing for films, I
am popular as a singer, but I have
actually been a theatre person for
over four decades. My heart is in
theatre. I have written five adaptations of Henrik Ibsen’s plays and
co-directed two along with K.K.
Raina as well as acted in
them.

Q. What is your
dream role?
I want to do roles that will
have me enter a world that I have
not experienced before. Playing the
role of a person with a weakness and
the helplessness of having to function
in a society that does not understand
that weakness is a big challenge for
any actor. To genuinely portray
how that person feels or
functions would be a big
accomplishment.

Q. What was
it like, working with
Sushmita Sen?
I have worked with Sushmita earlier, when I played her mother in Chingaari. I have always found her to be
a very strong and, at the same time,
a very soft person. It is remarkable
to see how she came back to work
after her heart attack and did all
the action scenes with so
much dedication.

—with Shashi Sunny

Photograph by MILIND SHELTE

66



Volume 49-Number 10; For the week February 27- March 4, 2024, published on every Friday Total number of pages 68 (including cover pages)

RNI NO. DELENG / 2005 / 15332 *Not for sale. To be circulated
free with India Today in Mumbai, Delhi & NCR, Chennai,
Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. “Supplement
to India Today issue dated March 4, 2024”.

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DREAM CARS

THE FINEST LAUNCHES IN 2024

LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie
Vice Chairperson and Executive Editor-in-Chief

Kalli Purie
Group Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Bhatia
Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa
Chief Executive Officer Manoj Sharma
Group Creative Editor Nilanjan Das
Group Photo Editor Bandeep Singh
Deputy Editor Chumki Bharadwaj
Creative Editor Sanjay Piplani
Senior Art Director Angshuman De
Deputy Visual Research Editor Prabhakar Tiwari
Principal Photo Researcher Saloni Vaid
Production Harish Aggarwal (Chief of Production),

Naveen Gupta

IMPACT TEAM
General Manager Suman Sharma
Head Luxury North and East Sweta Kapoor

Group Chief Marketing Officer

Vivek Malhotra

Volume 20 Number 2; February 2024
Copyright Living Media India Ltd. All rights reserved throughout
the world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited.
Printed and published by Manoj Sharma on behalf of
Living Media India Limited. Printed at Thomson Press
India Limited, 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road,
Faridabad-121007, (Haryana).
Published at F-26, First Floor, Connaught Place,
New Delhi-110001.
Editorial/Corporate Office: Living Media India Ltd., India Today
Group Mediaplex, FC-8, Sector-16A, Film City, Noida - 201301.
Editor: Raj Chengappa
India Today does not take responsibility for returning unsolicited
publication material.

WHILE THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO FUEL YOUR
enthusiasm or drive your passion, ask any committed gearhead and you’ll
know, “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the ride.” That is why this Spice
Auto Special is a loving testament to the streamlined beauty and raw power of
automobiles. But while love for cars is an enduring affair, extended fidelity to a
single one can be tough. As Caroll Shelby, American automotive designer, racecar
driver and entrepreneur often said: “I’ve always been asked, what is my favourite
car, and I’ve always said, the next one.” If you are anything like Shelby, there’s
plenty to rejoice about among the new cars lined up for 2024 with the number
and frequency of launches in the premium and luxury categories in full throttle.
Interestingly, a startling majority of the line-up of luxury cars that we picked
to watch out for in the coming year are electric vehicles, a testimony to the
overwhelming shift in focus of the luxury segment towards sustainability; the
rising popularity of SUVs is another notable trend. Of the ICE cars, the most
eagerly awaited at the top end is the Purosangue—the SUV equivalent from
Ferrari. The four-door four-seat model has a front-mounted engine, and a
rear-mounted gearbox replete with every bit of engineering finesse that a
thoroughbred Ferrari could summon. The other car in the super luxury car
territory, which is gaining a lot of traction is the luxury MPV from Lexus—the
LM. The LM’s 4-seater configuration presents top-notch luxury with businessclass recliner seats, 48-inch display, 23-speaker audio system, fold-out tables,
wireless chargers, a refrigerator, and even an umbrella holder. Of course, the
Maybach version of the EQS SUV from Mercedes easily tops the electric list, but
the tiny and only SUV from the Mini brand stands its ground, making up for its
diminutive size with funky looks and whimsical character.
Yet for automobile manufacturers these days, overall design incorporates
a lot more than just looks. Styling studios are responsible for a multi-sensory
experience, encompassing the look, tactile aspect, sounds, smell and much more.
In the luxury category, one of the most dynamic changes in the design vocabulary
in the last quarter has been Jaguar Land Rover’s very vocal shift towards
minimalism. The company calls this new approach, reductive design, and the
stark, minimalist cabin interior of its recently unveiled new Range Rover Velar has
stirred up many conversations, especially around its hard key-free centre console,
packing everything into a futuristic 11.4 inch touchscreen.
Not exactly minimalist, Mercedes-Benz goes by the design adage, ‘sensual
purity’, which forms its core DNA, especially seen in recent concept cars such as
the Vision Maybach 6, Concept EQG or AMG GT 6. According to Santosh Iyer,
MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, “In all our EVs, including concept cars,
white plays an important role as it is the colour of the future.” Keeping in step
with a future-forward outlook, Spice brings you the finest EVs on Indian
roads today as luxury car manufacturers registered double-digit growth in
sales of EVs last year.
If the electric drive is woven into the dreams of a sustainable future, the
romance of a good cigar’s seductive notes and a dram’s portfolio of delightful
sensations appends the contemporary anthology of the good life. Read our
story ‘Match Point’ to explore the inspired pairing of classic cigars and spirited
brews. But the dovetailing doesn’t just park there; the lingering aftertaste is the
stuff of legend.

e-mail your letters to: letters.editor@intoday.com

(Aroon Purie)

INDIA TODAY SPICE

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FEBRUARY 2024

CONTENTS
F E B R U A R Y

2 0 2 4

16
FENDER
BENDER
The new design
rules of the
automotive world

24
SPIRITED
MATING

20

The coming
together of
cigars and
brews

ELECTRIC
DREAMS
The finest EVs on
the roads today

32
SHINING
BRIGHT
The new Samsung
Galaxy S24 Ultra gives
that much extra

28

34

SCENT AND
SENSIBILITY

FIRE AND
SMOKE

The country’s first
luxury fragrance
brand comes home

What makes
Fireback Goa’s
hottest hangout

6

RNI NO. DELENG / 2005 / 15332 *Not for sale. To be circulated
free with India Today in Mumbai, Delhi & NCR, Chennai,
Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. “Supplement
to India Today issue dated March 4, 2024”.

AUTO SPECIAL
THE GOOD LIFE

FEBRUARY 2024

COVER STORY

DRIVING PASSION

INDULGENCE
PAIRING CIGARS
AND SPIRITS
FRAGRANCE
INDIA’S FIRST LUXURY
PERFUME BRAND

THE MOST EXCITING CAR
LAUNCHES OF THIS YEAR
DREAM CARS
THE FINEST LAUNCHES IN 2024

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY NILANJAN DAS/AI

INDIA TODAY SPICE

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FEBRUARY 2024

FETISH

Simply Dive-ine

I

f you thought that Victorinox’s pursuit of excellence extended only to
its legendary Swiss Army Knife™, you
may want to check out the new Victorinox Dive Pro, which allows the brand
to transfer its meticulous attention to
watch detail. This new watch is ideal
for those who look to performance
and precision as key parameters to
purchase decisions. Each of these ISO
6425 certified diver’s watches is tested
for a water resistance up to 300 metres
and can brave sand, dirt, impact, and
vibration. As per diving norms, shock
resistance and anti-magnetic protection ensure punctuality and reliability.
What’s more, clear lines, strong shapes
and innovative material combinations
come together to embody the brand’s

INDIA TODAY SPICE

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FEBRUARY 2024

signature design. The watch also comes
with a five-year warranty. The new
Victorinox Dive Pro offers a variety of
appealing material and colour combinations, as well as a 38-hour power
reserve and a day and date display with
quick setting. Further, a clear dial with
oversized dots and hands that glow in
two colours—Swiss Super-LumiNova®
blue for diving and green for time indicators—ensure easy readability in any
condition. To ensure personalisation,
the new Victorinox watches offer a wide
range of inter-changeable straps with
straps made of paracord, rubber, metal,
leather, wood and more. Who says you
can’t have your cake and eat it too?
Price on request; Availability Brand
stores and online.

D&
TRIE ED
TEST

HOTSHEET

r
t
rfect fo
It’s pe eather—ligh
w
y
r
a
Febru inters and .
w
s
mmer
dry su

BEAUTY

Soul Connection
Imagine the allure of wild mountain rose in your self-care
routine. That is the level of sweet indulgence you can expect
from The SoulTree Saumya Rasa Bodycare Range with warm,
intense notes complemented by a woody, amber, and musk
base. Crafted and enriched with 100 per cent fresh wild
mountain rose essential the Mystical Manjula Collection
comprises The Mystical Manjula face and body mist, Mystical
Manjula shower gel and Mystical Manjula body lotion.
Price `1400; Availability www.soultree.in

Beautylicious
The clean, green, skincare brand 82°E finally expanded its
repertoire to include body care with four new products.
Of these the Body Milk SPF 20 PA ++ with coconut
and ceramides is particularly effective providing deep
hydration without an oily overhang. Despite the promise
of coconut, unfortunately it bears no fragrance for those
who like a nudge to the olfactory senses.
Price `1,800; Availability 82e.com

Be the Change
With intriguing names for products such as Spark
Change moisturiser and Peace Host cleanser, skincare
brand Dab To Fab does make cause for pause. Their
brand philosophy revolves around supporting the
skin microbiome, especially their comforting and
lightweight moisturiser which strengthens the skin
barrier against ageing stressors, using pro-resilience
ingredients to improve the skin’s ability to withstand
irritants and afford damage recovery.
Price `2,650 (Spark Change, 50ml);
Availability https://dabtofab.co

Rest and Repair
As icons go, Lancôme’s
Advanced Génifique Serum
was a gamechanger back in
2009 when it was launched.
Now, post a series of
unprecedented tests to certify
its ‘tested for life’ status, it is
touted as the brand’s most
advanced skin repair serum
with the ability to transform
skin quality within seven days.
Price `8,600 (50 ml);
Availability
www.lancome.inw

D&
TRIE ED
TEST

TRIED &
TESTED

y
-stick
A non on that
lati
u
m
r
fo
ily, it is
bs eas
absor rfect for
pe
in.
ive sk
sensit

INDIA TODAY SPICE

Feels terr
ific on the
skin, ev
don’t top en if you
it
elaborate up with an
night time
routine.

5

FEBRUARY 2024

COVER STORY
A U TO I LU X U R Y I N E W L A U N C H

THE HAUTEST SET OF WHEELS TO HIT THE INDIAN ROADS THIS YEAR

T

here has been a remarkable step-up
in the number of launches in the
premium and luxury categories after
the Covid-19 pandemic and the
frequency of luxury car launches is only going to
intensify in 2024. Of the eight vehicles that we
have picked out to watch out for in the coming
year, that six of them are electric vehicles is a
testament to our times and the obvious shift
of the focus of the high-end market towards
sustainability. Five of the eight are SUVs and
another one is a UV that again is in keeping with
the trends of the past few years.
Of the ICE cars, the most awaited one right
at the top is the SUVish vehicle from Ferrari,
the Purosangue that will be priced in the
super luxury car territory while the one that is
gaining a lot of traction is the luxury MPV from
Lexus—the LM. But the one company that has
really upped the game in the luxury segment
is Mercedes-Benz. Not only has it lined up a
number of exquisite cars for the Indian market,

it also got the concept that signifies the epitome
of luxury, the Mercedes-Maybach Vision 6 to
display at the NMACC in Mumbai. In addition
to the CLE Coupe that will be the highlight
of the ICE models coming to India this year,
the Maybach version of the EQS SUV from
Mercedes will top the electric list of vehicles
from Mercedes. The small and only SUV from
the Mini brand will make up the bottom end of
the spectrum of luxury cars to watch out for in
2024 with its stylish looks and funky character.
And last but not the least are the two sedans that
will go head to head against each other in the
segment that sees the most volumes in India—
the executive luxury sedan. BMW is readying its
long wheelbase offering for the Indian market
and apart from the electric version will also have
ICE versions of the car on offer in the country
while Mercedes will stick to the ICE versions of
the sixth generation of the E-class, albeit also
with the LWB model.

Yogendra Pratap

The Vision MercedesMaybach 6

By ANAGH BHASKAR

BMW i5
The 8th-gen 5 Series has also brought with it the all-electric i5. The evolutionary
design of the all-electric i5 has been inspired by the older 5 Series, but maintains
the 7 Series/i7 look, using the same exterior design with certain changes,
which include blanked-grille and more aero optimisation. Other elements
include a completely new fascia with new yet familiar kidney grille design,
sculpted headlamps and crescent shaped LED DRLs, while the rear gets large
wraparound LED taillamps. The i5 will be launched in India in the LWB
(long-wheelbase) and right-hand drive configuration—the only market in the
world to get this configuration. It also debuts a digitised cabin, with a 12.3-inch
instrument display along with a 14.9-inch infotainment display, the same setup
that has been seen in the new 3 Series. The sedan also gets the 31.1-inch 8k roofmounted display from the i7 in China, but it remains to be seen whether this
makes it to India.

BMW i5 M60 xDrive
Engine/e-motors
Front and rear electric motors/
dual electric motors
Power 601bhp (boost), 517bhp
Torque 820Nm (boost), 795Nm
Transmission automatic, single-stage
fixed-ratio
Battery 81.2kWh
Price `90 lakh -1 crore (est)
Tentative launch date August 2024

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COVER STORY
A U TO I LU X U R Y I N E W L A U N C H

Lexus LM
Lexus debuts the LM luxury-MPV, which will be sold in India for the first time with
bookings already underway. Being a sister model to the Toyota Vellfire, the LM has the
same dimensions as the new Vellfire, but uses its own Lexus design aesthetic with the
large grille, sleek headlamps and the large glasshouse. The LM measures 5,130mm in
length, 1,890mm in width and 1,945mm in height. It comes with sliding doors on each
side and sits on a set of 17-inch or 19-inch alloy wheels. More importantly, Lexus will be
offering the LM in both the 7-seater and 4-seater configurations, with the latter presenting
a suite of top-notch luxury with business-class recliner seats, 48-inch display, 23-speaker
audio system and other amenities such as fold-out tables, wireless chargers, a
refrigerator, and an umbrella holder. Lexus also offers a dimmable glass panel
on the partition that can be raised and lowered for privacy. Rear passengers
get a dedicated voice control system, which can operate a number of
functions. Sound deadening and insulation has been key for Lexus with
Lexus LM 350h
the second-gen LM as it gets a specially designed headliner, noiseEngine
reducing wheels and tyres and active noise cancellation that cuts
2.5-litre
4-cylinder
petrol with
sound detected through a microphone when driving. Lexus will be
dual
electric
motors
(hybrid
system)
offering the LM with the 350h powertrain in India.

Power Total system : 250bhp
Torque 242Nm (engine), 270Nm
(front motor), 121Nm (rear motor)
Transmission: CVT
Price `1.5-1.8 crore (ex-showroom, est)
Tentative launch date April 2024

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COVER STORY
A U TO I LU X U R Y I N E W L A U N C H

Lotus Emira
Engine 3.0-litre
supercharged V6
Power 405bhp
Torque 430Nm
Transmission DCT
Price `1.8-2.2 crore (est)
Tentative launch date
November 2024

Lotus Emira
The auto marquee will be bringing the Emira sportscar to India this year
after adding the all-electric Eletre to our roads. The Emira is the last internalcombustion engined car to be developed by Lotus and features a 405bhp V6
mated to a DCT automatic as well as a manual transmission. The Emira has
beautiful sportscar proportions—low nose, sculpted panels, raised tub and a
sloped roofline. As far as sportscars go, the Emira follows the rulebook quite
closely. The car comes with a number of aerodynamic bits to channel air over or
through the body work to maximise downforce and reduce drag. The cabin of
the Emira comes with a 10.25-inch infotainment display running smartphone
integration as standard as well as a 12.3-inch instrument display. Modern
appointments include a 10-speaker KEF audio system, 12-way adjustable sports
seats, cruise control, automatic climate control and ADAS features. Like the topspec Eletre R launched in India, the Emira too is expected to arrive loaded to
the brim with features as offered in international-spec models. There are many
upgrades that have been done to the chassis, suspension and powertrain of the
car to make it performance friendly while maintaining the raw driver feedback.

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Mercedes-Maybach
EQS 680 SUV
Engine/e-motors:
dual electric motors
Power 650bhp
Torque 950Nm
Transmission automatic
Battery 108kWh
Price `3-3.5 crore (est)
Tentative launch date
September 2024

Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV
The Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV is nothing short of a landmark model
for the German automaker. This is the first-ever Maybach-branded electric SUV,
marking the first time that the ultra-luxury name has been bestowed to an EV. It is
based on the EQS SUV, hence the dimensions and the proportions haven’t changed;
what has changed, however, is the entirety of its appearance. It gets Maybach
colours, two-tone paint with exclusive Maybach configurations. It even gets the
Maybach-design alloys with 22-inch diameter. The cabin comes with the MBUX
Hyperscreen with three-displays integrated into the width of the dashboard, these
come with Maybach-inspired themes. The rear executive seats come with electric
adjust, ventilation, massage, neck and shoulder heating, two 11.6-inch rear displays
and gesture controlled lighting. Also present inside the luxurious cabin are tables,
silver-plated champagne glasses, Burmester audio system and Active Ambient
Lighting. The SUV comes with special rubber-mounts and acoustic foam to further
deaden the noise from outside. The SUV also gets the Airmatic air suspension, rearaxle steering and multiple driving modes.

COVER STORY
A U TO I LU X U R Y I N E W L A U N C H

Volvo EX90
Volvo is committed to converting to electric propulsion, and the brand’s flagship EV
is the EX90. Unlike the XC40 Recharge and the C40 Recharge which are already on
sale in India, the EX90 is the first car from the brand to be based on an all-new electric
architecture. The EX90 has dimensions similar to the existing XC90, and comes with a
design aesthetic seen in electric cars from Polestar (Volvo brand). The cabin of the EX90
brings a 14.5-inch vertical touch display with Google operating system, which is always
connected thanks to a 5G connection. There are features such as panoramic sunroof,
phone key, Bowers & Wilkins audio, and a full host of luxury appointments. Volvo has used
a material called Nordico for the cabin, which is made from recycled bottles and corks.
Volvo claims the EX90 to be the safest car they have made, with Lidar tech guidance for
the ADAS, and automated braking as well as a number of sensors and cameras. This will
also enable the Pilot Assist system, which is capable of changing lanes, but will be offered
as an OTA, and unlikely to be offered in India.

Volvo EX90
Engine dual-electric motor
Power 517bhp
Torque 910Nm
Transmission 9-speed
automatic
Battery 107kWh
Price `1.5-1.8 crore (est)
Tentative launch date
July 2024

16

Ferrari Purosangue
The Purosangue is the SUV equivalent from Ferrari, and the brand calls it
a four-door four-seat model. The Purosangue has a front-mounted engine,
and a rear-mounted gearbox and every bit of engineering finesse that the
Maranello-based automaker could conjure. This essentially means that
the car has similar driving characteristics to the front-engine sportscars
that Ferrari makes. The front houses a Roma inspired split-headlamp
design, while elements have been taken from other models as well, it
rides on 22-inch front and 23-inch alloys. The doors are counter-hinged,
with the seating configuration designed as two in the front and two in the
rear, with the rear-passengers also getting full-bucket seats with electric
adjustablity. The cockpit has been inspired from the SF90 with a digital
instrumentation and a minimalist and information heavy infotainment
display, as well as a 10.2-inch co-driver display. The Purosangue is a
thoroughbred Ferrari and employs a naturally-aspirated V12 pumping
725bhp sent to all four wheels, capable of launching the car from 0 to
100kmph in 3.3 seconds.

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Ferrari Purosangue
Engine 6.5-litre
naturally-aspirated V12
Power 725bhp
Torque 716Nm
Transmission 8-speed DCT
Price `5-7 crore (est)
Tentative launch date
June 2024

COVER STORY
A U TO I LU X U R Y I N E W L A U N C H

Mini Countryman
The third-gen Mini Countryman is now one of the core models of the British brand, which
also comprises the Cooper and the upcoming Aceman. The Countryman is larger now,
measuring 60mm taller and 130mm longer than the older car. The new design language
has given the Countruman an edgier look, with slightly squared headlamps. Mini is
offering configurable lighting signatures for both the front and rear LED lights, courtesy of
OLEDs, allowing customers to choose their look. The cabin employs a new steering and
a massive 240mm diameter circular display. The minimalist approach means that there is
no instrument panel, just a head-up display. The overall increase in size has meant that the
space inside the cabin has also been increased. With Mini focussing on sustainability, the
Countryman’s cabin comes wrapped in a special eco-friendly material.

Mini Countryman
Engine 2.0-litre four-cylinder
turbo petrol
Power 218bhp
Torque 260bhp
Transmission automatic
Price `45 - 55 lakh
Tentative launch date
August 2024

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Skoda Enyaq iV
Engine/e-motor dual
electric motors
Power 265bhp
Torque 425Nm
Transmission two-speed
automatic
Battery 77kWh
Price `50 - 60 lakh
Tentative launch date
May 2024

Skoda Enyaq iV
Skoda will finally step into the EV game in India with the Enyaq iV. The electric SUV is based
on VW Group’s MEB platform, and measures 4,648mm long and 1,877mm wide, almost the
same size as the Kodiaq SUV. The brand is most likely to launch the Enyaq iV 80x, which is
the top-spec variant of the EV, which comes with a dual-motor setup with AWD, providing a
total of 265bhp. This is paired to a 77kWh battery pack which can be charged with a 125kW
DC charger. The Enyaq iV 80x can launch from 0-100kmph in 6.9 seconds while the WLTP
range is certified at 513km on a single charge. When launched, the Enyaq will compete
primarily against the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Volvo XC40 Recharge and the BMW iX1.

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THINKING

DESIGN
WITH A DYNAMIC NARRATIVE PUNCTUATING AUTO
DESIGN, SPICE BRINGS YOU THE MOST RELEVANT
SYNTAX OUTLINING THE CONFIGURATIONS.
By RIAAN JACOB GEORGE

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AUTO

DESIGN I TREND

W

INSIDE JOB
Show cars by
Tata Design
Studio and the
likes make driving
more experiential
(Left); Kia Motors
is leading the
pack of affordable
SUVs with designled interiors
(Opposite page)

hile the power of pulchritude
still commands its undisputed
spot as a purchase parameter,
when it comes to manufacturers, overall design incorporates a lot more than
just looks. Previously, design studios at manufacturers were reduced to a styling studio focussing
only on appearance, but today, this very styling
studio is responsible for the multi-sensory experience, which encompasses the look, tactile aspect,
sounds, smell and much more.
“Today it is not only about making a vehicle,
but about making a mobility experience,” says,
Ajay Jain, Head India Studio & Global Design
Strategy, Tata Motors. “The most important
aspect is that we as an Indian brand, with an
evolving Indian customer, have a huge strategic
advantage of designing cars in the country, without the baggage that other multinational manufacturers might carry. The India Design Studio at
Tata Motors is therefore being very contextual in
partnership with our European studios. Today,
the focus is on high quality, precision, and materials relevant to the Indian market.”
While on the subject of design-forward cars,
Tata’s Jain cites a few examples of recent showcars in their stable, “Avinya, Curve and Sierra;
each is intrinsically a Tata but has a highly dynamic design. The Avinya, for instance, is so avant
garde with respect to its all-electric proportions
and technology. We’ve even managed to transform the ever popular Nexon and Harrier with
minor changes on the front and colour changes in
the cabin to make it more design forward.”
“Design is ever evolving and with the future of

mobility moving towards electric, there has been
a sea change. Hyundai & Kia Motors have been
churning out designs that really set them apart
with cars like the retro chic Ioniq 5 and the EV9
respectively, reshaping SUVs offering superior
space and comfort. BMW is another auto marque
that has pushed the boundaries of design with
the omnipresent grilles that have self-healing tech
and super smart interiors offering electrochromic roofs and stylish crystalline touches,” says
Renuka Kirpalani, senior automotive journalist.
While international brands have been fast changing their narratives, Kirpalani is quick to point
out that Mahindra has also become extremely
design forward. “Locally, Mahindra, with its new
EV range, has taken the design language of their
products forward by leaps and bounds. While the
use of large glass areas, sharp angular lines outlines the trend on the exterior, the interiors offer
high quality materials, large screens and the move
towards phygital and voice controls.”
Design tweaks
Hyundai, on the other hand, seems to be investing heavily into forward design, as steadfastly as
performance and technology. A case in point is its
recent release of the Hyundai Creta and its new
global design language which the South Korean
car maker is calling Sensuous Sportiness. Tarun
Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India says: “The design renders of the new Hyundai Creta are avant
garde indeed. This is a contemporary and adventurous SUV, which boasts a robust stance and
an authoritative presence on the roads.” From a
design standpoint, the new Creta features a para-

AUTO

DESIGN I TREND

metric black chrome grille and upright
hood design and other elements like a
sporty spoiler and a redesigned tailgate.
On the inside, the Creta offers an integrated infotainment and digital cluster
screen, which is now becoming a design
‘norm’ in many vehicles.
Similarly, German auto giant Volkswagen’s urban luxe sedan, Virtus, is
a talking point for the manufacturer
with respect to its design. The Virtus
sees a sharp and sculpted silhouette,
complementing its long wheelbase. The
DRLs have been designed in a futuristic
manner, but also make the car look
optically wider. Chrome and gloss black
elements have been juxtaposed to the
front to make the sedan look sporty and
powerful. Digital interfaces have been
seamlessly incorporated by the designers into the car interiors, paired with
luxurious materials, upping its overall
premium appeal.
In the same vein, Kia Motors’ newly
launched compact SUV and mid-sized
SUV Sonet and Seltos have seen major
facelifts with a strong focus on design.
The South Korean giant has not only
made significant changes to the signature tiger nose grille, but enhanced
the silhouettes with shoulder and
waist lines. But it is on the inside of
both these Kia cars that the designers
have gone all out to ensure experiential design. Whether it is the stylised
user interface, premium materials for
the tactile element or even futuristic,
redesigned digital clusters that ensure
drivers get a more immersive driving
experience, the average Indian consumer is getting big bang for his buck.
Is minimalism the
next big thing?
In the luxury segment, one of the most
noteworthy design language changes in
the automobile world in the last quarter
has been Jaguar Land Rover’s very vocal
design shift towards minimalism. The

company calls this new approach, reductive design, and quite evocatively so.
When the company unveiled its brand
new Range Rover Velar, with its stark,
minimalist cabin interiors, it sparked off
a host of Instagram debates about the
hard key-free centre console. In what
is seemingly a design coup, the British
carmaker has done away with hard keys
and packed everything into a futuristic
11.4 inch touchscreen. The exteriors
too, have witnessed certain cosmetic
changes. In an exclusive chat with Arvinder Singh Powar, Colour and Materials Designer at Jaguar Land Rover’s UK
headquarters claims that “the new-age
SUV customer does seek a decluttering
of the interiors and a penchant for a
calm sanctuary within the car. Reductive
design does eliminate that visual noise.
Further, there’s an elegant, tactile mix of

CRAFTING A MOBILITY
EXPERIENCE
Hyundai (above) and
Volkswagen (Bottom) are
enhancing the in-cabin
experience through smart
design touches; Land
Rover’s new reductive
design as seen on its
new Range Rover Velar
(Extreme right)

materials and colour palette that makes
it a reclusive cocoon of sorts. It’s all
been well thought out. At the end of the
journey, the driver and passenger needs
to feel better. Now that’s a challenge.”
Indicating clearly that carmakers want to
now reduce visual noise, focus on clean
lines and reduce whatever clutter. This
is resolutely the way forward.
While not exactly minimalist, but
extremely design-forward, MercedesBenz has always had some of the best
designed cabins in the business. We’ve
recently seen ultra-plus cabins with
the Hyperscreen, which truly redefine
the infotainment experience, ambient
lighting, an in-car fragrance package
and even a host of wellness ‘ambience’
settings that can be activated through
the infotainment. One thing is for sure,
at Mercedes-Benz, the cabin is as experiential and immersive as it gets. In the
case of Mercedez-Benz, their design
adage goes by ‘sensual purity’, which

is the aesthetic soul and core DNA of
the Benz design narrative. Their recent
concept cars, Vision Maybach 6, Concept EQG or AMG GT 6, are cases in
point. Santosh Iyer, MD and CEO of
Mercedes-Benz India illustrates how
designs are shifting in the manufacturer’s cars, “In all our EVs, including
concept cars, white plays an important
role as it is the colour of the future. On
the inside, the Hyperscreen is a design
innovation because it is three-dimensional and framed under a sculptural
slab of double-coated class. On the
outside, the components of cars like
the EQS are made from resource-saving
materials (80kg of material used is from
recycled and renewable raw materials).
The floor coverings in the cabin use a
new yarn made of regenerated nylon.”
What then is the future consumer
chasing after? Is it an easier, more
sensorial drive experience? More
technology? Enhanced AI to maximise

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FEBRUARY 2024

efficiency? Or a focus on all things
electric, perhaps.
Kirpalani predicts: “Going forward,
design will play a large role with little
else differentiating EVs. Design will be
more about offering consumers the
experience that sets a car apart. While
extensive use of AI, screens, voice-based
controls, smart glass areas point to
some of the future trends, autonomous
driving and electric mobility will also
play a key role in how design pans out
in the future.” Mercedes-Benz’s Iyer
concludes, “In terms of design, we think
customers perceive the combustion engine more like a chrono watch, whereas
they perceive an electric car more like
a smart watch. Customers of today
have grown up with technology and are
significantly more tech savvy. Our cars
today have become nothing short of a
gadget on wheels, they are designed to
be intuitive, personalised and an extension of one’s personality.”

LOOK NO
FURTHER
The Mercedes
EQS has an
industry first 56
inch screen

SIMPLY
T
ELECTRIFYING

By DHIRAM SHAH

With jaw-dropping looks, stellar
performance, and oomph features that
rewrite the narrative of desire, these luxury
EVs are the stuff of electric dreams.

INDIA TODAY SPICE

20

FEBRUARY 2024

he luxury electric vehicle
(EV) market in India has
witnessed stellar growth
over the last few years,
which has come as a bit of a surprise
to many. It was just four years ago
when Mercedes-Benz became the
first automaker to launch the first
luxury EV in India by introducing
the EQC 400. The Indian market
has quickly transitioned to a position
where top-end automakers are scam-

AUTO
LU X U R Y I E V

pering to bring their latest and greatest models. Luxury car manufacturers
registered double-digit growth in
sales of EVs last year, and the demand
is only expected to continue increasing over the coming years. While
the market is getting crowded rather
quickly with more options added with
every passing day, we have brought
you the top five luxury EVs currently
on sale in India: Audi Q8 e-tron,
Rolls-Royce Spectre, BMW i7, and
Mercedes EQS 580. Here’s why they
are better than the rest.
The (Lu)X Factor
The luxury quotient (LQ) of a flagship
motorcar often becomes the crucial
deciding factor for potential buyers,
and all four EVs on our list score very
high in this aspect. However, the two
cars that clearly stand out are the
Rolls-Royce Spectre and the BMW i7,
both of are top scorers when it comes

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FEBRUARY 2024

to LQ. Spectre is the first batterypowered model to carry the Spirit
of Ecstasy hood ornament, yet the
British automaker got it right in the
very first attempt. Everything from its
game-changing ‘silent cabin’ to its unmatched ride comfort to its stunning
design, the Spectre is simply flawless.
While the massive electric luxury
sedan shares Rolls-Royce’s signature
design DNA, it carries subtle styling
elements like the coupe-styled rear
that separates it from the rest of the
range. On the other hand, the BMW
i7 looks nearly identical to the rest
of the newly-updated 7 Series range,
which carries a bold and shocking
design. Despite its polarising exterior
design, there’s no debate on the LQ
of the range-topping BMW EV.
Attention-grabbing
Aesthetics
Interestingly, all four luxury EVs on
our list are delightfully diverse when
it comes to their design approach.
The Audi Q8 e-tron is very similar
to the rest of Audi’s SUV range as far
as design and overall vibe, which is
not a bad thing at all. It looks sporty
and premium from every angle. The
Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 features
an understated design that prioritises
aerodynamic efficiency for better
range, yet it doesn’t falter when it
comes to grabbing eyeballs. The
BMW i7’s bold design shocks and
awes since it is so anything put out
by the German brand. It sports a
polarising look that you might absolutely love or hate but cannot ignore.
However, the design exudes opulence
thanks to its blunt face with its massive grille and muscular stance. On
the other end of the spectrum is the

AUTO
LU X U R Y I E V

Spectre, which is quintessentially
Rolls-Royce with its gob-smacking
opulence. While the British luxury
carmaker has given the Spectre some
unique design elements to make it
aerodynamic, the massive EV is just as
majestic as the rest of its stable mates.
This is perfectly demonstrated by
the signature Pantheon grille, which
has been reworked for better aerodynamics and, mercifully, hasn’t been
replaced by anything hideous.
Unmatched Comfort
The Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 has
a familiar S-Class-like cabin layout,
although it is not as roomy. Nevertheless, being the flagship EV model, it
doesn’t skip on any of the comfort
features or amenities. However, the
highlight inside the cabin is the gigantic Hyperscreen and the single
curved glass panel that stretches
from pillar to pillar. It is made up of
three screens and boasts impressive
technical specifications, including
eight CPU cores and 24GB of RAM.
It also features artificial intelligence
(AI) that constantly learns the driver’s
habits. From one giant screen to

CHARIOTS OF
FIRE
Clockwise
from opposite
page: The BMW
i7 features a
futuristic cabin
with touchscreens
for door controls
and a large
entertainment
screen. The RollsRoyce Spectre’s
cabin boasts the
industry’s best
sound insulation.

another, the BMW i7 can be ordered
with a massive 8K theatre screen for
rear passengers. The 31-inch display
comes with Amazon Fire capability
and folds up flat against the lined sunroof when not in use. The tech-heavy
cabin of the i7 feels like the inside of
a spaceship with screens of all sizes
all around. However, it doesn’t come
at the expense of cabin comfort and
luxury. The Rolls-Royce Spectre offers a beautiful blend of traditional
luxury and cutting-edge technology.

582km on the WLTP cycle with the bigger 114kWh battery.
The German manufacturer has updated the model with improved levels of regeneration to increase range. The BMW
flagship luxury sedan, with its 101.7kWh lithium-ion battery,
offers a comparable range between 591 to 625km on the
WLTP cycle. Without any surprises, the Rolls-Royce Spectre
offers the lowest range among the four. The claimed range of
the uber-luxe sedan stands at 530km.

The cabin layout and the controls are appropriately conventional, replete with plush leather seats, thick wool carpets, and
authentic metal switches that scream opulence. But where
the Spectre truly shines is cabin comfort and isolation, which
remain unrivalled.
Negating Range Anxiety
Range anxiety is still one of the biggest reasons for scaring
away buyers from adopting EVs. The luxury EV that tops the
list in this aspect is the Mercedes-Benz EQS 580, with its labtested range of 857km under ARAI test conditions. It is super
impressive, considering that its kerb weight stands at 2.6
tonnes. It is achieved with the help of the massive 107.8kWh
battery pack and record-breaking drag coefficient of 0.20Cd.
The Audi Q8 e-tron comes a close second with a range of

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23

Uncompromised Performance
Despite offering the best creature comforts and amenities, all
four of these flagship luxury EVs are more than capable when
it comes to performance. In fact, a few of them are sportscarquick. The 408bhp Q8 e-tron can accelerate from zero to
100km/h in 5.6 seconds, while the Mercedes-Benz EQS 580,
with its dual-motor setup, has 536 horsepower on tap and can
gallop to 100km/h in 4.3 seconds. The Rolls-Royce EV is also
powered by two electric motors that produce a cumulative
output of 576bhp and can sprint to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds.
Right at the top of the list is the BMW i7 M70 xDrive with
650hp, which helps the luxury sedan do that same sprint in
just 3.7 seconds.
While speed is thrilling, what truly works in favour of these
EVs is the green drive they enable. After all, future forward
technology is the face of a sustainable tomorrow.

FEBRUARY 2024

Match Point
Serenading the love month, here’s to the idyllic
coupling of classic cigars with beguiling brews.
By SHANKER GANGADHAR

T

here is art and there is
art. Much before Anish Kapoor and Banksy
magicked up the fleeting pleasure of transient art—aligning
togged out men and women on public
steps as an unusual installation, or
unsigned masterpieces appearing overnight on random city walls—there was
consumable art. The art of luxurious li-

bations and the enchantment of Cuban
classics coming together in the whimsical salons of good taste, their permutations combinations as numerous and
varied as American actress Tallulah
Bankhead’s lovers. Legend has it that
pairing whisky and cigars dates back
to the 18th century during the AngloSpanish War when an alliance of Great
Britain and Spain fought against France;

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FEBRUARY 2024

INDULGENCE
C I G A R I A LC O - B E V

CIGAR IMAGES COURTESY CINGARI

the whisky came from Scotland and the
Spaniards brought along their Cuban cigars. Interestingly, they share flavours: a
good cigar’s seductive notes and flavours
and a dram’s portfolio of dreamy sensations have much in common.
The dovetailing doesn’t park there.
Classic Cuban cigars are always made
from leaves grown in Cuban earth using top tobacco such as Fronto leaves.
So are great malt whiskies on the soil of
their birth. Location, location location
are the only words that matter in matters of cigars and whisky. Off the Scottish coastline are littered almost 800
mostly uninhabited islands, which are
home to many malt classics. Similarly, a
combination of climate and soil specific
to Cuba is the reason for the unique
taste of Habanos stogies. Like whisky
is aged in barrels, cigars are fumigated
in a vacuum chamber. Like distilleries
employ professional tasters, there are
professional cigar smokers who blind
test the cigars for their aroma, draw, and
burn. The fumigated cigars are then
placed in humidors for three weeks to
remove the excess moisture. Whisky
is stored in different flavoured casks
until it matures. After the trademark
paper band is put on the stogie, the
cigars are packed in pinewood boxes,
with the lightest cigar on the right and
the darkest on the left. Cask strength
malts are bottled at the same strength
they have in the cask to which filtered
or ideally Scottish spring water is added

to release its flavours. The rule is there
are no rules in pairings. Conventional
wisdom suggests a full bodied Maduro
will go well with a full-bodied whiskey
like Ardbeg Uigeadail and Lagavulin 16.
On the other hand, a deceptively mild
Partagas Series D No 4 is soul mates
with a strong Highlands whisky like
Clynelish 14 single malt. Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2, a medium-bodied
cigar imbued with flavours of coffee and
cocoa complements a Highland Scotch
such as the fruity Dalwhinnie 15, poignant with bittersweet spice like the romance of Amadís and Oriana, but with
a happy ending. A Hoyo de Monterrey
Le Hoyo de Río Seco, the fattest but not
the shortest Cuban regular-production
cigar is redolent of herbs and tastes of
cinnamon, nutmeg, oak and caramel, an

ideal companion to Jack Daniels without the coke. Woodford Reserve 1999 is
a perfect running mate for the Nicaraguan San Cristobal Clasico with its dark
Ecuadorian wrapper and tastes of chocolate and earth. On the other hand, a
creamy VegaFina Churchill cigar is
Damon for Remus Highest Rye Straight
Bourbon’s Pythias. Try A Montecristo
No. 2 aromatic of coffee, leather, and
spice with a glass of Balvenie 15 aged in
Oloroso sherry casks. Remember that
the tasting comes first: allow the whisky
to fully spread over your palate before
drawing on your cigar.

DOUBLE CROSS
While there are no
rules in pairings,
tasting comes
first—allow the
whisky to fully
spread over your
palate before
drawing on your
cigar.

Rummy Affairs Partagas Capitols These Mareva-sized cigars (5 inches by 42
ring gauge) that come in a cool metal tin have a perfect draw and burn which lasts
about 40 minutes. Its best partner would be the Appleton 21 rum from Jamaica whose
signature orange note blends subtly with the cigar’s coffee and chili flavours. Another
rummy mix is the Ramon Allones, a sweet dark Robusto with a coffee finish, and the
complex Bacardi Gran Reserva Especial 16, which has a portmanteau bouquet of
vanilla, berries, cherries, plums, toffee and banana.

Indian Embrace Ramon
Allones makes a fickle lover with
rum, with the Indian single malt
Indri tailgating it close. Havana
meets Haryana as Indri, which
won the world’s best malt
prize offers its caramel, vanilla,
honey and raisin flavours with
counterpoints of charred melons
and dried fruits, earth and spice,
a deep kiss to the cigar’s spicy,
peppery, leathery tastes.

Oeno Meenie
Mo Monte Cristo
Double Edmundo:
This medium to light,
unpretentious smoke
loaded with gradually
travelling scents of
leather, wood and
earth is a perfect partner for full-bodied, fruity red
wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot which
mingles sensuously with the coffee, spice, and
wood flavours of the smoke.

INDULGENCE
C I G A R I A LC O - B E V

Ageless Romance The great Cohiba Siglo
VI is an opera of a smoke with a star cast of dark
chocolate, black cherry, and black pepper and
earth. Its best co-star is a Hors d’Age (beyond
age) bubbly like the spicy and macho Paul Giraud
Très Rare, a Grande Champagne blend of clove,
pepper, dried fruit and a wonderful ranci—the
taste of aged eau-de-vie slumbering for decades in
an oak cask. The creamy medium bodied Cohiba
Medio Siglo, a short fat boy makes love slowly
and subtly to a Riesling like the Pyramid Valley
‘Lebecca Vineyard’ Marlborough Riesling 2005
whose delicious fruity combo of honey and baked
fruits results in a rich union. Another swain is the
Lagavulin 18, imbued with the flavours of vanilla,
lemon and sea-wet rock is a malt that recalls
the intense fluidity of legendary ballet partners
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev.

Subliminal Farm Vegueros
Entretiempos: Cuban cigar makers have a
habit of paying homage to special things
and people. The medium bodied Vegueros
Entretiempos flavoured with earth and grass
is a tribute to the cigars the Vegueros (farmers)
of Cuba make and smoke. A premium Cuban
coffee such as a Serrano Lavado Superior with
its classic caramel, nutty taste is an after dinner
pairing as companionable and trustworthy as
a wife you’re in love with even after decades.
The romance of Usquaebach and the fragrant beauties of Vuelta Abajo is an enduring
liaison that adds to the contemporary mythology of good living. And like all romances, it is
rich with daydreams and lingering aftertastes
that promise more forevers.

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LA H
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ES

A Rose by any
other name...
Born in Madurai and crafted in Grasse, LilaNur Parfums
introduces India’s scented secrets to the world.
By CHUMKI BHARADWAJ

INTERVIEW
PERFUME I BRAND

A

n invocation to the gods; an homage
to the blushing bride and a peerless
companion in beauty rituals, the rose
celebrates the glory of India in all its
dimensions. But Gul Rouge, a roseled, India-inspired scent from LilaNur Parfums
expresses this affinity through the lens of French
master perfumery. Unlike the cloying sweetness
of traditional Indian rose attars and scents, this
perfume captures the almost liquid sweetness of
the Rose Centifolia with the spicy, more complex

Anita Lal (founder
of Good Earth) and
fragrance and brand
expert Paul Austin

notes of Rose Damascena to summon a sensual
essence that is dewy fresh with an air of subtle
sweetness. Pitching LilaNur Parfums is India’s
first luxury fragrance house, Spice noses through
this India-scented love letter to the world with
brand creator Anita Lal (founder of Good Earth)
and fragrance and brand expert Paul Austin.
“I am proud to say that we are the first Indianinspired fine fragrance brand to be invited into
the likes of Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods, Neiman
Marcus and Moda Operandi,” says Anita Lal.

Q.

Why did you feel the need to launch an entirely new vertical, even though Good Earth
has had its own scents since 2022?
LilaNur Parfums is a completely unique proposition and
very different from anything at Good Earth. I’ve always
found it perplexing that Western fragrance brands have
sourced ingredients from India, making use of its diverse
floriculture and biodiversity and yet there was no luxury Indian fragrance brand. There was a visible gap in the market
for an India-inspired niche fragrance brand, which led to the
creation of LilaNur Parfums. While it has been selling out of
Bergdorf Goodman and Harrods internationally, in India, it
retails at Good Earth currently and will expand its retail base
across other premium outlets in the near future.

Q.

What prompted the timing for the India
launch of the brand?
LilaNur Parfums homecoming was a strategic decision taken
after introducing the brand at New York two years ago, and
London about a year ago. We wanted to highlight India’s
rich floriculture and unique biodiversity at a global stage,
before bringing it here. Given that India’s fragrance and
luxury market is growing rapidly, and increasingly people are
seeking high quality, unique fragrances, we felt now was the
perfect time to launch the brand in the country.

Q.

Tell us a bit more about the collection?
As we proudly say, we are born in Madurai and
crafted in Grasse. I always dreamt of creating a fine fragrance
brand, inspired by India. I find the alchemy of French
perfumery fascinating and so I wanted the fragrances to
combine intrinsically Indian ingredients with the mastery of
French perfumery. For the launch collection, I travelled to
Grasse and invited four of the world’s best known perfumers—Honorine Blanc, Olivier Cresp, Fabrice Pellegrin and

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FEBRUARY 2024

INTERVIEW
PERFUME I BRAND

patchouli, summon a mysticism and allure to the drydown—a
symphonic, joyful, and luxurious love affair between two great
perfume cultures.

Clément Gavarry, each of whom share a passion for India’s
fragrance culture—to create special fragrances that use Indian
ingredients as the muse. The result was our stunning collection of seven Eau de Parfums. Malli Insolite celebrates Jasmine as its core ingredient, capturing the intoxicating
perfume of Jasmine Sambac harvested at its peak with an
added salty note that enhances the flower’s beauty, while
crafting an element of surprise. Rajni Nocturne is pure Indian
tuberose at its heart, harvested before dawn to capture its
voluptuous beauty. This is a perfume that conjures enchanted
evenings. Davana Cédre is a holy Indian plant according
to Hindu tradition, dedicated to the deity, Shiva, the god
of transformation. Davana is prized for the multi-faceted,
herbaceous scent of its flowers and leaves. In this unique
composition, the plant’s enticing balsamic fruitiness meets
the elemental warmth of cedar, bringing a spiritual element to
the grounding nature of wood and creating the sensual effect
of two distinct ingredients harmonising as a beautiful whole.
Agar Épicé’s earthy note takes on a brighter, lighter character,
sparked with ginger, cypriol and guaiac wood essences, embedded in velvety sandalwood. This is a spicy, complex interpretation of oud unlike any other.
Gul Rouge captures the exotica of the versatile rose, while
Vettiver Mousson captures the smell of welcome downpours
and fresh flowers in the earthy, grassy aroma of vetiver, associated in India with a feeling of profound tranquility. Incarnation
is a tribute to the romance of India, crafted through the lens of
classic French perfumery. In this complex and elegant chypre,
effervescent aldehydes shimmer atop a gorgeous bouquet of
heady Indian jasmine, soft rose, and powdery orris. A trace
of spicy temple incense, together with amber, vetiver, and

INDIA TODAY SPICE

Q.

What inspired the choice of ingredients?
LilaNur Parfums have been composed around Indian
ingredients such as Jasmine Sambac, Tuberose, Rose,
Centifolia, Vetiver, Davana and Agarwood. Every ingredient
evokes an emotional connection with India. Walking through
Madurai’s fields of jasmine is one of my most fragrant and
treasured memories. With Malli Insolite I wanted to contrast
its lush floral essence with a modern facet of woody minerality. With Davana Cedre, I wanted to accent it with the sweet,
herbaceous tonality of davana used in the garlands of Southern India. The idea was to cultivate the best of floriculture
from India with the design dialogue of France that creates
something as unique as LilaNur Parfums. The result was
masters of perfumery creating something that not only stood
out but transcends with numerous notes from Madurai to
Grasse.

Q.

Closest competitors
LilaNur Parfums is an entirely unique proposition
and proudly so. The brand’s essence is captured in its IndoFrench connection wherein we procure our ingredients from
Madurai, and craft the same in Grasse. I don’t believe there is
anything similar out there currently.

Price `21,200
Availability Good Earth Raghuvanshi Mills, Mumbai

Good Earth Khan Market, Delhi; https://www.goodearth.in

30

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TECH

PRODUCT I REVIEW

The Shiniest
Star in the Galaxy
From AI-enabled almost everything to one of the best cameras in a
mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a device in its own league.
By SULABH PURI

I

’ll be back”. Much like Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s famous one-liner
in the iconic movie The Terminator,
Samsung comes back every year with
something bigger and better. It’s not without reason that they are one of the most
sought-after smartphones in the Android
lineup. This year, they have introduced
the new Galaxy S24 Ultra, part of their
premium flagship in the Galaxy S series.
If the launch event held earlier this year in
the US is anything to go by, people (technophiles and newbies alike) will be falling
over themselves to grab one. We managed
to get our hands on this lean, clean, so
much more than a calling machine at the
event and we are in love. High on style and
technology, here’s why Samsung continues
to rule the roost.

Top Tier Performance
It would not be incorrect to call the display of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra a
disco ball on steroids. The Ultra boasts a colossal 6.8-inch display with more
pixels than a Picasso painting. Under the hood, it has a brain like a tech-savvy
octopus, featuring tweaked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU with 8 cores. RAM and
storage are set at 12GB and 1TB (respectively, top variant). And, let’s not forget
the cameras—the Ultra’s quad setup is like having a photography studio in
your pocket, capturing every detail from ultra-wide to telephoto with flair. It’s
a quirky tech extravaganza you won’t want to miss with a whooping 200MP
main camera.

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AI Calling
AI has been the buzzword that no one can get enough
of and everything in this smartphone has a dash of AI in
it. For instance, users can click any image and just circle
an area (using the supplied S-pen stylus) in the image to
know more about it. AI will quickly do a search and let
you know about it—a first in any smartphone. If you’re
struggling with a language or words from a different
language, fret not because the Live Translate tool in the
smartphone is a real-time two-way voice and text translator that can translate text messages and even voice calls
in jiffy. There are several quirky AI innovations added to
the Galaxy S24 Ultra and sources tell us more are in the
offing in the coming months.

The Click Chic
What is a top-end smartphone without great camera performance? With the S24 Ultra’s Quad Tele System (with
the 200MP lens) and 5x optical zoom, images remain
clear at various magnifications, including 100x digital
zoom. Nightography capabilities excel in low light, aided
by larger pixel sizes and improved stabilisation. Galaxy AI
editing tools simplify edits and offer creative control. Super HDR provides lifelike previews, and one gets beautiful images from the selfie camera as well. Overall, the S24
series offers comprehensive imaging solutions for stunning results at every stage, making it a keeper.

The Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a solidly built device
that makes use of titanium in its structure. It has become
flatter from the front and sports the latest Corning
Gorilla Glass Armor. This is the best screen protection
available right now so there’s no risk of your keys or loose
change scratching it in the pocket. Moreover, it is also a
gaming powerhouse. Sporting the Adreno 750 GPU
coupled with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, you will get max
frame rates with no lag in any demanding game. Users
can also record 8K video at 30 FPS, but, we found the results to be better at 4K at 60FPS. Overall, if you are in the
market to pick up an Android smartphone, the Galaxy
S24 Ultra will not disappoint.
Price `1,59,999 (12GB RAM + 1TB Storage)

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HOSPITALITY
R E STA U R A N T I R E V I E W

The Party is Lit
Hidden behind an old Portuguese bungalow in Siolim, Goa,
Fireback is a captivating Thai restaurant and bar helmed by
acclaimed chef David Thompson.
By RUPALI DEAN

W

PHOTO: ROHIT CHAWLA

Fireback will blow you away—literally and
figuratively. Thompson successfully summons
his culinary expertise to craft authentic Thai
curries and stir fries that anchor an extensive
menu boasting tantalizing small plates and
delectable grills. This is not somewhere you
come for a defiant Som Tam and a bowl of
Tom Yum. Instead, marvel at the Josper grill,
which enhances grills and skewers with fiery
perfection. Indulge in succulent turmeric
prawns, southern-style pumpkin, fluffy omelettes, delightful small plates such as pomelo
salad festooned with toasted coconuts and
ginger, placed on betel leaves and grilled eggplant gorlae.

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FEBRUARY 2024

ON THE
WATERFRONT
Clockwise from
above: Fireback
is a modern glass
house; Stir fried
seasonal greens;
The Josper grill
takes centrestage
in the Fireback
kitchen; Rose
cocktail; The
restaurant offers a
unique beverage
programme with
innovative Thai
cocktails

PHOTO: NOLAN LOBO

PHOTO: NOLAN LOBO

ith an authentic menu, scenic
riverside views, and a delightful
array of innovatively crafted Thaiinspired cocktails, this long-awaited restaurant
is perched inside a glorious contemporary glass
house, and sits cheek by jowl with the resplendent St. Anthony’s Church. Fireback has been
launched by EHV International (Indian Accent
fame) with legendary Chef David Thompson
as Culinary Director. Drawing inspiration from
the majestic Siamese Fireback, the national bird
of Thailand, it derives its name from this emblematic creature, while also paying homage to
the fiery-grilled culinary techniques that underscore the creation of their delightful dishes.
Why all the fuss? Because the cooking at

PHOTO: NOLAN LOBO
PHOTO: ROHIT CHAWLA

Its smoke and wonders all the way
where the menu is concerned. Thai curry
achieves masterly status with offerings
such as the Massaman curry, an intense,
comforting dish punctuated by meltin-the-mouth tender lamb, crispy fried
pumpkin, potatoes and roasted peanuts,
and the red curry that glorifies soft shell
crab unabashedly. As the focal point, the
outdoor bar is inviting and offers delicious
handcrafted libations inspired by Thai ingredients. All in all, Fireback is the perfect
go-to for a night about town. My tip: come
as part of a big group; you can book ahead,
you’ll get better seats (ask for those beside
the fish pond) and of course you can try
more food. Yes, the interiors are elegant
and glamorous, but you didn’t just come
for the sexy decor. You came because once
you eat at Fireback, you may never order
another Tom Yum.
WHERE Irada Home, House No. 60/1
A1, Siolim North Goa 403517
CONTACT +91 9209717970;
www.firebackrestaurant.com
COST FOR TWO `2,500
(without alcohol)

INDIA TODAY SPICE

35

FEBRUARY 2024

LAST LOOK

Golden Dragon
Whatever sweep of fortune the Year of
the Dragon may spell for you, one thing
is for certain, the Chinese New Year
ushers in an emblematic iteration from
all major watch marques to mark the
event. Breguet pays homage to 2024 by
celebrating the Year of the Dragon with
two new watches.
Abraham-Louis Breguet’s tourbillon
has been a horological inspiration
since its launch in 1801, and it is this
mechanism that has been brought
to life by the 749-component Calibre
588N1, a hand-wound movement with

a 60-hour power reserve and a 2.5 Hz
frequency. With this masterpiece,
the brand spotlights a version in
which a dragon twirls between the
two tourbillons. The entirely handengraved gold dragon secured to the
two barrel bridges is depicted clutching
a pearl made of mother-of-pearl in its
talons. According to legend, this pearl
possesses the sacred essence that
gives the dragon its power; it is also
supposed to represent wisdom. The
rhodium-plated gold rotating plate
employs a hand-guilloché with a fan

motif. The gold bridge below the main
plate features an anthracite galvanic
treatment and guilloché-work with a
Clous de Paris hobnail motif. If that isn’t
adequate draw, Breguet offers each
client a one-of-a-kind timepiece, where
the shape and colour of the dragon can
be personalised as needed. Choices
that vie for individuality range from the
colour of the Roman numerals to the
hands as well as the strap.
Price on request;
Availability Brand Stores
—By Chumki Bharadwaj