Editorial 1: The latest developments in Yemen
The story so far:
- Hundreds of prisoners captured during the war in Yemen were reunited with their families between April 14 to 16 amid diplomatic efforts to halt the conflict. The main warring sides in Yemen are the Iran backed Houthis and the pro Yemen government, Saudi led coalition.
The Houthis
- The Houthis are an Islamist political and armed movement that emerged from Sa’dah in northern Yemen in the 1990s. The movement was called Houthis because its founder is from the Houthi tribe.
- The Houthis are followers of the Shia Zaidi sect, the faith of around a third of Yemen’s population. Officially known as Ansarallah (the partisans of God), the group began as a movement preaching tolerance and peace in the Zaidi stronghold of North Yemen in the early 1990s.
Saudi Arabia’s Intervention:
- Saudi Arabia interfered in Yemen after the Shia Houthi rebels captured Sana’a, the capital city, and the internationally recognised government of President Hadi moved to the country’s south.
- Saudi Arabia started a military campaign in 2015, at Hadi’s request, hoping for a quick victory against the Houthis. But the Houthis had dug in, refusing to leave despite Saudi Arabia’s aerial blitzkrieg. With no effective allies on the ground and no way-out plan, the Saudi-led campaign went on with no tangible result.
The war
- The conflict in Yemen began in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring protests. President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Mr. Hadi found himself faced with an insurmountable task of tackling Yemen’s economic and security problems.
- The Houthis, backed by Iran, took advantage of Mr. Hadi’s weak control and captured the Saada province in the north, and then Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, in 2014.
- The thought of Iran backing the Houthis in control of Yemen bothered neighboring Saudi Arabia due to its differences with Iran. Saudi Arabia then led a coalition that included other Arab countries and sent troops to Yemen in 2015.
- However, they were unable to oust Houthis from Sana’a as well as from the north of the country. The war has continued since then and has only ceased once in April 2022, when the Houthis and the Saudi led coalition announced a two month ceasefire ahead of Ramzan, the holy month of Islam. This was Yemen’s first nationwide truce in six years.
The Stockholm Agreement
- The warring parties in control of parts of Yemen had signed the Stockholm Agreement in 2018 whereby they had committed to freeing conflict related detainees. The agreement was brokered by the United Nations.
Impact on Yemen
- According to the UN, Yemen is now the largest humanitarian crisis in the world with 80% of its population dependent on aid and protection.
- Over three million people have been displaced from their homes since 2015, and public service sectors like healthcare, water, sanitation, and education have either collapsed or are in a dire situation.
Impact on the world
- Yemen is strategically important because it sits on the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, through which much of the world’s oil shipments pass.
- Intelligence agencies consider AQAP (AL Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula) as the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda because of its technical expertise and global reach, and the emergence of IS affiliates in Yemen is another serious concern.
- Crisis in Gulf will impact global market through supply and price of crude.
- The conflict between the Houthis and the government is also seen as part of a regional power struggle between Shia-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.
India and Yemen
- India had actively supported Yemen’s independence from the British and was one of the first countries to recognize Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) in 1962 and People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) in 1967 which merged to become Republic of Yemen in 1990.
- Yemen is a member of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) among others and has been steadfast in its support for permanent membership for India in an expanded UN.
Impact on India
- The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula form part of the extended neighbourhood of India. Any turmoil there would affect India specifically, its oil imports and the presence of large workforce (remittances).
- One of India’s most important shipping routes passes through the Gulf of Aden, accounting for imports of $50 billion and exports of $60 billion every year.
- The route is so important that the Indian Navy has maintained a presence in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 to protect Indian vessels.
- Indian nationals, including Hindus, Muslims and Parsis, have lived in Aden since the mid-1880s with more than $80 billion of incoming remittance annually.
- Therefore the crisis in Yemen can affect the remittances and destroy the shipping routes.
Editorial 2: The future of India’s civil society organizations
The context
- Central government has been accused of weakening India’s civil society organizations (CSO) both in the pre legislative stage and in the redress of lacunae in the implementation of government schemes.
Role of the civil societies
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CSOs play vital role in the following:
- Plugging the Implementation Gap: NGOs play important role in the promotion and implementation of important rights-based legislation such as RTI, FRA 2006, RTE 2010, and the MGNREGA
- Support for sectors untouched by the state: g. providing aid to migrants, human and labour rights, Tribal welfare (Nilgiris Wynaad Tribal Welfare Society (NWTWS)), Women advocacy (ActionAid India, Sewa, Eklavya, Sathin, Disha work for women empowerment)
- Promotes community-based organizations such as SHG, and Farmer’s organizations: these organizations are critical in bringing about changes at the grass-roots level
- Work as Pressure Group: NGOs mobilize people for their rights as well as educate communities against harmful policies of government e.g. Narmada Bachao Andolan work for the rights of displaced people
- Bring about behavioural changes: NGOs work against superstition, false faith, Beliefs, and Customs e.g. Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS); or Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith, CEBF)
- Promoting Environmentalism:g. Green Peace, Vanashakti NGO, etc.
All the new initiatives of the government require the participation and awareness of people and there is no better organisation than the civil society to achieve this objective.
Issues of civil societies
- Because civil society is seen to be the new frontier for war and foreign interference, there has been a systematic clampdown on CSOs lobbying for greater constitutional and civil freedoms by a plethora of the state's governing instruments and nonstate actors.
- This has been further exacerbated by restricting the access of CSOs to resources Including
- canceling Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA clearances
- revoking 12A/80g Licenses, imposing retrospective taxes, and
- pressuring private companies and philanthropists to redirect funding.
Challenges faced by NGOs in India
- Inaccessibility of Fund
- The politicization of NGOs
- Involvement in Anti-national activity
- Lack of transparency and accountability
- Undermine India’s Development: An IB report said in 2014 that working of NGOs such as Greenpeace, Cordaid, and Amnesty have reduced India’s GDP by 2-3%
- Loss of registrations
- Non-utilization of fund for which it was meant
- Civil societies are under deep suspicion:
- In the 73rd graduation ceremony of the Indian Police Academy in November 2021. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had warned budding police officers that “civil society was the new frontier of war”.
Need of realignment
- Because of the financial and structural constraints imposed on them, CSOs/movements are bleeding conscientious youngsters, who naturally need some financial sustenance.
- Without sustained support, CSOs cannot positively mould public discourse or make a tangible impact on the nation at large.
- With governments consciously avoiding CSOs/movements, their ability to shape policy is diminished which adversely impacts organisational morale.
Way forward:
- We need to collectively forge a plan of action for this sector’s future. The one possibility that could emerge is that young activists could be inducted into political parties, either within the party organization or in an aligned body. This could create an institutionalized moral force within the parties. This would order parties a layered systematic approach to thorny issues.
Conclusion
- Inaction today will directly contribute to the extinction of civil society, arguably the fifth pillar of Indian democracy. Transcending instrumental exigencies, conscientious Indians must find the courage to work together and only through such a principled coalition can we first safeguard, and eventually further, the constitutional idea of India.