Editorial 1 : J & K task isn’t finished
Context: 5-year anniversary of abrogation of Article 370.
Introduction
The pain, tears and blood witnessed by Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have been caused by various factors including Pakistan’s terror factory, radical Islam, Cold War geopolitics, fraught federalism and separatist politics. The situation became worse due to Article 370, which was abrogated exactly five years ago today.
Interconnected Forces that Created Terrorism in the Valley
- Troubled Pakistan
- No Pakistani Prime Minister has completed a full term in office because of its powerful army/military.
- The Pakistani army uses the false threat of India to establish its supremacy over the State and society of Pakistan.
- The military’s incompetence is now fuelled by its partnership with religion.
- Cold War Geopolitics
- Kashmir became a pawn in Cold War chess game, with 13 UN resolutions supporting Pakistan in the decade after India’s mistaken 1948 reference.
- While India didn’t compromise its sovereignty, Pakistan fully embraced America joining the Baghdad Pact in 1955.
- The Afghan Mujahideen armed by America through Pakistan after the fight with USSR turned their eye on Kashmir.
- Radical Islam
- The Sufi Ahle-et-Quad Islam sect of Kashmir has nothing in common with the Wahhabis.
- Kashmiri practices of veneration of ziarats, shrines and relics are considered parasti (idol worship) by Wahhabis.
- Pakistan’s claims on Kashmir are religiously rooted in the eternal conflict between Dar-ul-Islam (house of Islam) and Dar-ul-Harb (house of infidels).
- Kashmiriyat didn’t prevent the attacks on Valley Hindus, but radical Islam’s tools of terror, guns and religious conservatism don’t have deep Valley roots.
- Fraught Federalism
- Most other state governments only deal with Delhi (centre government) obliquely, remotely and infrequently.
- J&K found it more challenging to find a middle path between centrifugal (away from Delhi) and centripetal (towards Delhi) power it is because of intense engagements of Delhi with J&K since independence such as UN reference 1948, Article 370, three wars with Pakistan and three Delhi Accords.
- Separatist Politics
- Article 370 made soft separatism a profitable local political strategy.
- J&K suffered ‘elite capture’ and became a closed society, economy and polity.
Failing Pakistani Strategy
- Pakistan’s two-instalment strategy for Kashmir – independence followed by annexation has failed.
- This strategy was financed by over-invoicing America for their 1980s proxy war in Afghanistan.
- America failed to realise that the radical Islam will eventually turn its attention to America and western world.
Way Forward: Job is not finished yet
- The recent attacks in Jammu region show the desperation on other side and remind us that the job of ending terror in J&K is far from over.
- Risk taking to restore peace must continue by:
- Making J&K police the frontline of fighting terror
- Shutting down UN office in Srinagar
- Encouraging new political class and politicians
- Restoring statehood by starting with the Delhi model
- Isolating Pakistan globally
- Increasing private investment and creating jobs
Conclusion
Abrogating Article 370 was always a necessary, but not sufficient condition for ending terrorism. But it must be kept in mind that, necessary comes before sufficient.
Editorial 2 : Going after the weeds
Context: A push for direct-seeded rice and zero-tillage wheat for climate smart and sustainable agriculture.
Introduction
Reducing the environmental footprint of India’s two major cereal crops i.e. rice and wheat is a key area of focus for agricultural scientists and policymakers in India.
The current developments
- The current kharif season has seen the commercial planting of two basmati varieties (Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985) and two non-basmati rice hybrids (Sava 134 and Sava 127), developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and Savannah Seeds Pvt. Ltd (South Aian subsidiary of Texas based RiceTec Inc.) respectively.
- These contain a mutated acetolactate synthase (ALS) gene that enables farmers to spray Imazethapyr for controlling weeds in rice.
- Common weeds in rice: jangli chawal, motha, patthar-chatta.
- In the coming rabi season, Mahyco Pvt. Ltd (Maharashtra based company) is expected to launch its wheat varieties, Goal and Mukut, which are also amenable to Imazethapyr application for controlling weeds.
- Common weeds in wheat: gulli danda, bathua.
- Mahyco and Savannah Seeds have formed a joint venture to take their Imazethapyr-tolerant ‘FullPage’ direct seeded rice (DSR) and ‘FreeHit’ zero-tillage (ZT) wheat technologies to farmers for making the cropping system more climate-smart and sustainable.
Current methods
- Rice: Puddling-cum-transplantation by flooding the paddy field.
- For the first 2-3 weeks after transplanting, the field has to be irrigated every 1-2 days to maintain a water depth of 4-5 cm. This is necessary to prevent weed growth during the crop’s early stage.
- Water acts like a natural herbicide, preventing the weed seeds from germinating and killing the already emerged seedlings.
- The traditional puddling-cum-transplantation route requires up to 30 irrigations, each consuming over 200,000 litres of water per acre.
- It is highly water and labour-intensive method.
- Wheat: Stubble burning and repeated ploughing.
- Farmers burn the stubble from the previously-harvested paddy crop.
- The field is ploughed initially twice using a harrow or cultivator, followed by an irrigation and either one more ploughing with a rotavator or two with harrow/cultivator.
- All this is done before sowing, primarily for weed management.
Herbicide-tolerant solutions
- Direct-seeded rice and zero-tillage wheat replace water and repeated field ploughings with a chemical herbicide (Imazethapyr) to take care of weeds.
- Direct-seeded rice dispenses with the need for any paddy nursery, puddling, transplanting and flooding of fields. The paddy seeds can be sown directly, just like wheat.
- There is roughly 30% saving of water, apart from labour in transplanting and weed management, and fuel used for puddling.
- Zero-tillage makes it possible to sow wheat directly – without any paddy stubble burning or even land preparation.
- Sowing is done with no tillage, saving both cost and time.
- Imazethapyr is sprayed along with Metribuzin, a selective herbicide already used in wheat, when the crop is about 25 days old.
Need for Imazethapyr
- Direct Seeded Rice cultivation at present is based on two herbicides: one “pre-emergent” (Pendimethalin, applied within 24 hours of sowing) and the other “post-emergent” (Bispyribac-sodium, after 20-25 days). But these aren’t effective against all weeds.
- Imazethapyr is a broad-spectrum herbicide with a wider weed-control range. It is also safer, as the ALS gene isn’t present in humans and mammals and the chemical will not bind itself to them.
The science underlying Imazethapyr-tolerant rice and wheat
- The Imazethapyr-tolerant rice and wheat varieties have an ALS gene that has undergone mutation.
- ALS gene is already present in rice and wheat, not introduced from outside.
- The ALS gene codes for an enzyme that helps synthesise essential amino acids for plant growth and development.
- Imazethapyr sprayed on normal paddy and wheat binds itself to the ALS enzymes, inhibiting their production of the amino acids.
- Thus, the herbicide kills the crop along with the weeds, as it cannot distinguish between the two.
- Imazethapyr-tolerant rice and wheat varieties contain a mutated ALS gene, whose DNA sequence has been altered using a chemical mutant or radiation.
- As a result, the ALS enzymes no longer have binding sites for Imazethapyr and the amino acid synthesis isn’t inhibited.
- The plants can now tolerate the herbicide, which only kills the weeds.
Conclusion
The non-genetically modified (GM) herbicide-tolerant technologies in sync with the adoption of direct-seeded rice and zero-tillage wheat confer the benefits of reduced water & fuel consumption along with no environmental pollution. It becomes essential to reduce the ecological footprint of our two main cereal grain crops in order to make cropping climate smart and sustainable.