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We would like to extend our extreme gratitude to Dr. Jyoti Chandirimani, for supporting our ac-

tivities throughout the year. We would also like to thank Ms. Ishita Ghosh and Dr. Sukalpa Chak-

rabarti for their unfailingly useful advice and Mr. Krishna Kant Roy for the readiness with whichhe helped us out of the problems that we faced during the course of the year.

We would also like to thank Sourav Das for his expertise in making this magazine look like much

more than just a college magazine meant for 500 students. We would like to thank all the members

of the Editorial Board, the members of Arthniti, all the contributors to both, the newsletter and the

magazine, for consistently providing us with material and assistance to create material regularly.

Lastly, we would like to thank all the students of the Symbiosis School of Economics for gradually

 building their faith in us and giving us another reason to keep on working.

Editors: Sanaya Chandar, Sarayu Nandakumar, Malavika Gode, Manasi Nikam, Nandita Ramesh,

Saakshi Puri, Tania Sharma

Contributors: Akshath Jitendranath, Soumyadeep Sen, Roshan Iyer, Shashank Pareek, Akarsh

Verma, Arnav Rawat, Krishna Betai, Arshaan Furniturewalla, Radha Karmarkar, Anmol Bhotika,

Sourav Das, Mugdha Gupta, Moritz Gundelach

Acknowledgement

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Akshath Jitendranath

When I was first asked by the members of the  Arthniti club to write this present essay, I accepted immediately.There were three reasons for my accepting this invitation:first, the name of the club resonates with how I view thediscipline of Economics. Second, I think the way I look atEconomics might be a useful insight to share with thestudents of my alma mater , who I’m sure are still grap-

 pling with the question “What is Economics?”. Third,through this essay I hope to introduce myself to my jun-iors and update my old professors by discussing, at a veryelementary level, the work I am currently engaged in.

The Sanskrit word ‘artha’  translates to ‘the means of liv-ing’. In some other contexts, the word can translate tomeaning itself. However, in all contexts, artha  is under-stood as an instrument that provides for living. It is ameans through which life is lived. Paradoxically, in adominant Indian intellectual tradition, artha is also a partof the ends of a good life, the other three parts beingkama, dharma, and moksha. Indeed, it is this duality ofthe word ‘artha’ - simultaneously a means of living andan end of a good life - that makes it anticipate the disci-

 pline of Economics.

But what is this discipline? And how does the word‘artha’  anticipate it?

The most famous use of the word is made in the great text, Arthashastra. The Arthashastra, as every Indian has beentold, is a treatise on the means of consolidating and ex-tending the authority of the State. It is the first text of itskind to be generated by human civilization. Indeed, thequestion must then be asked, why the name Arthniti for anEconomics club? Surely, if we want to invoke an Indian  approach to Economics, we ought to use the word  Arth-

 shastra for a journal or club concerning this discipline?

Here, I shall pursue this matter a little further, justifyingthe use of the word ‘arthniti’ . A  shastra is different froma niti. A shastra is associated with divine or political au-

thority. It is by invoking the authority of divinity or theState that the means of living get justified in an arthashas-tra. A niti, on the other hand, is a just principle. The au-thority of a niti  isn’t derived from divinity, but relies onthe reasoning involved in justifying the principle. It istrue, of course, that words such as niti  and  shastra have

 been used in many different senses in different philoso- phical discussions in ancient India, but there is still a basicdistinction between the respective concentrationsof niti and shastra.

 Now, Economics is a set of  principles  that outlines themeans of living –  for an individual, a firm, or a state –  andthus, is also one constituent of the good life for an individ-

ual, firm, or society. These principles, then, have to be justified by reasoning, not by invoking any spiritual or political authority.  Artha must be based on niti, not  shas-

tra. Thus, arthniti, rather than arthshastra, is rightly theappropriate word for an economic journal. It is the reason-ing involved in an argument, and not its appeals to divineor political authority, which must justify the means we useto live our life, which in the end are also a constituent ofthe good life.

It is for this reason that I feel honoured to have the oppor-tunity to write to my juniors through the channel of a stu-dents’ club named  Arthniti. By invoking the word niti,the club is dedicating itself to the use of reason and not

divine or political authority, to justify an economic princi- ple. Indeed, this is how I view Economics. It is this lessonthat I hope you will learn from Economics as well.

In what follows, I shall make a comment on economictheory, through which I will introduce to you the work Ido. It is important to pay special attention to this for tworeasons: first, all this might seem a little abstract in the

 beginning, but I assure you, pay close attention and youwill understand what I’m saying. Second, I am comment-ing on the use of reason  –  or more specifically, rationality

 –  in Economics. While we have seen rational argument to be central to Economics, I am afraid that I am reportingon the discipline short-changing the idea of rationality

itself.

Reason, as we have already seen, is central to justifyingeconomic principles. Further, a central axiom from whichmost of economic theory has been constructed is theaxiom of the rational agent. This axiom states the follow-ing: rationality entails a decision maker having a completeand transitive ordering over a set of alternatives. I under-stand that for some of you, the Sanskrit might have beeneasier to translate than these abstract words. ‘What is acomplete and transitive ordering?’ I can hear some of yousay. Fret not. Let me illustrate what I mean.

Let A be a set of three alternatives x, y, z. Thus, A={x, y,

z}

Let i  be an individual or institutional agent deliberatingover the alternatives in A.

Artha, Niti , and Shastra :

Economics and Rationality

Akshath Jitendranath (pictured above)

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Let R be the relation of i over A.

R is complete if every alternative in the set A is compara- ble to each other. That is to say, if xRy, xRz and yRz, thenR is said to be complete.

R is said to be a transitive relation if xRy and yRz impliesthat xRz.

Perhaps my meaning will be better illustrated with an ex-ample. Let us call the individual i by the name of Moham-med, and let R be the preference relation. Let Mohammed

 be an anti-terrorist specialist combatant. Let A be the setof alternatives a terrorist organisation is said to be target-ing. Now, let us specify the alternatives in A. Let x be theancient city of Palmyra. The city isn’t populated densely,

 but is rich with the heritage of the human civilisation. Lety be a central district in the city of Baghdad, much moredensely populated than Palmyra. Let z be the embassy ofthe Mohammed’s country in Kabul. The alternative z isn’tdensely populated, but is populated by individuals Mo-hammed shares an identity with, namely his nationality.

Given the three alternatives in the set A, and given thatMohammed and his team of commandoes can save onlyone alternative, then which alternative should Mohammedsave? Should Mohammed save Palmyra? Should he savethe embassy populated with people of his nationality? Orshould he save the densely populated district of Baghdad?

 Now, economic theorists assume Mohammed should or-der his alternatives in a complete and transitive fashion.This ordering will be based on some real valued utilityfunction each alternative is said to represent. But it is im-

 possible for Mohammed to compare each alternative tothe other. Further, he cannot conclusively say that onealternative is better than the other. This situation of logicalincompleteness is one we encounter very often in ourdaily lives, because we cannot compare one alternativewith respect to another alternative in the same units ofaccounting –  a real valued utility function.

However, economists have been blind to such problems ofincomplete logical relations between alternatives. In theiropinion, every alternative will have a real valued utilityfunction, which gives us a number, and the highest num-

 ber must rank first, the second highest number second,and so on. Such reasoning, which is very common amongeconomists, has two problems. First, not every alternativeis comparable in the same units of accounting. Second, adecision maker confronted with such logical incomplete-ness is branded by the economist to be an irrational agent.

The point of this discussion is the following: rational deci-sion making is important. Misunderstanding this, aseconomists often do, has enormous consequences for thecontent of economic principles. Indeed, economists who

 posit this model of the rational agent increasingly looklike they derive their authority from divinity rather thanreason –   shastra more than niti. The rational agent of eco-nomics, like divinity, is found only in texts, seldom in reallife. However, if there is anything I can tell you by way ofadvice, it is the following: like with divinity, in Econom-ics specifically and science more generally, we must notsuccumb to the temptation of mistaking the text to be thefinal word.■ 

Soumyadeep Sen

“Negative interest rates in Japan are blowing my mind,”

 said Jose Canseco on Twitter, the provocative retired

baseball player not normally known for his economic

musings. And the truth is, he’s not the only one.  

Up until a few years ago, if an individual was made anoffer which involved paying an additional sum for givingone’s money away, one would think the person who made

them the offer ludicrous. On January 29, Haruhiko Ku-roda, the governor of the Bank of Japan, may have irre-

versibly changed this notion when he cut interest rates to -0.1% to join the central banks of Denmark, Sweden, Swit-zerland and the European Central Bank in the negativeinterest rates club. 1.1 trillion dollars worth of GermanBunds (bonds) carries a negative interest rate while inJapan an amount as colossal as 4.5 trillion dollars of gov-ernment debt carries negative interest rates. Over seven

 billion dollars worth of bonds world over have negativeyields.

 Negative interest rates, until a few years ago, were a con-cept that only existed in theory, and it seemed impossiblethat theory would ever be put to practice. The Global Fi-nancial Crisis of 2008 was the first time that the notion ofnegative interest rates being put into practice seemed likea reality. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that negative in-

terest rates were implemented when Denmark’s central

 bank set its deposit rate below zero to prevent an influx ofmoney due to the European Debt Crisis. In June 2014, theEuropean Central Bank became the first major bank to setits negative rates below zero and further cut it to -0.3%.The central banks of Switzerland and Sweden adopted

 below zero rates in December 2014 and February 2015respectively.The Bank of Japan (BoJ) became the latest to join the listof central banks which have set their interest rates belowzero. Being the third largest economy in the world, Ja-

 pan’s stance has caused a stir worldwide and negative

interest rates are now being considered as a serious optionfor monetary expansion.

Why are central banks considering negative interest

rates? 

PAYING TO SAVE: AN ERA OF NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES

European Central Bank Interest Rates

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The Global Financial Crisis, the European Debt Crisis andin the case of Japan, the lost decade represent significanteconomic set backs which have required the central banksin these countries to take some action to ensure that theeconomy recovers. Low price levels, unemployment and afall in trade in some cases have led to a number of meas-ures. First, the central banks of these countries cut the

interest rate to zero and followed it up with quantitativeand then qualitative easing policies. These policies suc-ceeded in stimulating some economies including that ofthe United States, but were unsuccessful in the case ofmost European nations. In Japan, Prime Minister ShinzoAbe’s famed ‘Abe-nomics’ does not seem to have broughtabout its desired effects, as the country is still nowherenear achieving its 2% inflation target. Recent data showthat inflation without food still stands at a mere 0.5%.The failure of these policies has led these central banks tousher in an era of negative interest rates.

How do negative interest rates work?

The implications of negative interest rates are the same as

that of reducing the short term interest rates, offered bythe central bank. Low interest rates aim to encourage sav-ers to invest the money instead, because the opportunitycost of investing is lower when the negative rates are low.

Negative interest rates aim to achieve the following

objectives:

To ensure that commercial banks lend at very lowinterest rates, because reserves held with the cen-tral bank are charged and therefore there is a severelack of incentive for holding reserves.

To encourage customers of commercial banks to borrow more and save less. In the case of negativeinterest rates, borrowing will occur at either no cost

may lead to the borrowing individual to be paid todo so.

The third objective of interest rates is not publicised bycentral banks as much as the first two. Negative interestrates will lead to some money leaving the country insearch of better investments. This process will lead to theweakening of the domestic currency which will give thehome nation a trade advantage by making its exports

cheaper and more competitive globally.

What are the possible downsides to them?Currency depreciation may be a viable alternative if it is asingle country implementing negative interest rates toachieve the same, but if it takes place in multiple countriesit can lead to major price wars.The economy is built on a foundation of below zero inter-

est rates. Lowering the interest rates below zero couldchange the way that money and credit move through theeconomy and lead to the economy being affected in wayswhich are unpredictable. It could also lead to banks ceas-ing to be a viable business. Banks are a major institutionin channeling funds from savers to investors, and if theyfail, it could lead to a total re-establishment of the work-ings of the economy. They could also lead to major prob-lems for money market mutual funds, insurance compa-nies and pension funds.

What effect have they has so far?

The initial fear with implementing below zero rates wasthat it would lead to a bank run due to the mass withdraw-

als that would result, because the incentive to save would be removed. However, as the ECB as well as the othercountries which implemented the initial rate cuts observedthat there were no bank runs and that they could cut therates further at a slow pace.The reason behind this is that individuals and commercial

 banks alike were willing to pay a small amount to keeptheir money safe, because storage costs might be moreexpensive than the amount being paid to the bank.The effects of negative interest rates are also hard to ob-serve currently, because commercial banks have still not

 passed on the negative interest rates to individual users asyet. Negative rates will be reduced further and further

until the desired economic recovery is achieved bank oruntil they begin to do more harm than good.

 Negative interest rates are still a very new concept andmore will be understood about their consequences in thefuture as central banks try and test whether they are reallyeffective or not. For now, however, it is a concept under-stood only by a few. ■ 

Map of Central Banks with Negative Interest Rates

Source: www.marketwatch.com, January 29, 2016

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Sourav Das

What is a god? Is it an immortal being, the guardian to thehuman race? Is it the supreme judge, jury and execu-tioner? Or is it merely the fabled light at the end of thetunnel? God is the cosmological constant, the part of theequation of Einstein’s general relativity that becomeswhatever the viewer of the problem needs it to become.

But to understand the true meaning of the concept whichhas been the trigger for crusades and miracles alike, wemust delve into the creation of a god, by critically analyz-ing the gods among us.

The most curious factor driving psychosocial behaviour patterns is our ability to empathise with our fellow human beings. It is the phenomenon which leads to the dynamicsof the market and forms the cornerstone to most economictheory, but that is a discussion for another time. The factwhich makes this psychosocial behaviour interesting toour current discussion is that empathy is capable of nearlyun-resisted transfer between human minds. So eventhough we are unique individuals, the deep layers of ourminds are connected to form the bare mesh of a ‘ hivemind’. This hive mind, on the basis of our very primalinstincts, amplifies certain elements which it perceives asimportant (these elements are those having roots in theearly stages of evolution of our species), fear and reward

 being two of them. But what does this have to do withgod?

Let us assume a scenario; there is a person who providesfood to the community, who protects the community fromsubstantial threats, rewards those who do good and se-verely punish those who do wrong. People are of the opin-ion that this person can control the weather in case thecrops are failing, rain fire from the sky on the enemies ofthe community and in essence belong to a higher physio-logical class of Homo sapiens. It is thus safe to assumethat this entity is by strict definition, a god.

The description given above fits the image of Kim Jong-Un as told by the people of North Korea. It also fits thedescription of the US government as given by a conspir-acy nut. To some extent, it also fits the description of the

 prime minister of India as given by an illiterate farmerfrom the backward area of a certain state. Finally, it re-minds one of a certain entity in Jerusalem some 2000years ago performing daily miracles one of which waswalking on water.

God is a fantastic social concept. It is perhaps the bestexample of how the amplifications of the hive mind act ascatalysts to promote an individual, an idea to the positionwhere they reach a supernatural status. Rationality acts asa resilient barrier to this process, only to be dismissed by

the unified empathy of the society. The best example ofthis is North Korea where an individual has attained the

 position of a living god. But then again this example is the best because the rest of the world can consciously realisethe process, unlike other scenarios where we subcon-sciously create these gods around us and then vehementlydeny it.

We live, breathe, and survive as time drills forward

through the chasms of concrete that materialises the tech-nological maze we live in. Worlds move forward, as war,

 peace, and truces are propped in place by flimsy supports,organisations and treaties that substantiate and sustain ourvery existence, preventing multiple genocides every mo-ment.

We are glorified animals with paper and ink halting usfrom tearing ourselves apart like a pack of starved wolves.Our lives are miracles. We survive and yet we die everysecond. Safety is a term. Privacy a myth told and retold tokeep us bowed down to the few who consider themselvesas leaders; ironically, because we chose them to be. Thehuman minds act as one, yet minor differences are ampli-

fied, forcibly, to keep us enslaved by our own weak-nesses. God is being invented and formulated. Miraclesare dead. Still, we believe.■ 

Gods among Us

A look at the elemental proc-

esses behind the creation of theconcept of God

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Roshan Iyer

 New Delhi had a surprisingly lukewarm reaction to thenews of Iran’s landmark nuclear deal with the United

States in January 2016 and the lifting of sanctions thatcame along with it. The deal would allow Iran to return tothe global economy after being placed under sanctions formore than 35 years. It is obvious that the Iran issue wentmuch beyond the country’s nuclear program. If, in fact, it

was simply the nuclear issue that was the program, it isIsrael rather than Iran that should have been the primetarget in the region. In fact, other than from Iran, Israelinukes enjoy relatively less global attention that they de-serve. India seems adamant in sticking to its pro-America,

 pro-Israel policies even when logic dictates that we re-quire a clear shift in foreign policy.

For nearly half a decade Iran has been a victim of US ac-tions, first with the coup in 1953 and then with the sanc-tions imposed since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Theissue of Iran’s nuclear program merely provided the alibi

to tighten these sanctions and to entangle the world in theweb of American enmity towards Iran and its revolution-ary ideals: nationalism, justice, resistance and so on. India

too came under sanctions during its nuclear testing in thelate 90’s. Again no fingers were pointed at Israel by the

United Nations, despite the country’s nuclear progam in

 place at the time. Today there is another matter at hand:Indian foreign policy is in a dilemma. It has no choice butto “welcome” the nuclear deal, because the entire world is

welcoming it. Yet India’s decisions in the near future will

have far reaching consequences for India’s West Asian

relations.

Even during the time when Iran was under sanctions, In-dia had sizeable if volatile trade relations with it. India isthe biggest consumer of Irani oil after China. The chart

 below shows how despite heavy sanctions on Iran, thevalue of Indian exports nearly mirrored the value of un-sanctioned exports to Israel. Iran allowed India to pur-chase oil in rupees which in turn allowed Iran to easily

 purchase Indian goods with those rupees. However, the$15.7 billion bilateral trade must move beyond the old-style oil and fertiliser, cereals and chemicals export bas-ket. Tehran is beginning to offer generous incentives toforeign investors to formalise its economy: low taxes andeasy profit repatriation laws. India’s private sector can

offer consumer credit, factories for auto parts and electricvehicles, and pharmaceutical and technology investments.Fortunately for India, the only other big supplier of manu-

facturing goods in Western Asia is Israel, What Iran can-not buy from Israel, it can get from India.

Once the sanctions are removed, Iran is potentially a

Move over Israel; it’s Iran’s Turn 

It’s time India’s foreign policy

looks beyond Israel and con-

siders Iran as a major eco-

nomic and regional ally

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much bigger regional power than Israel can ever hope to be. Iran’s markets have developed strong teeth during thedecades of sanctions and are many times the size of Is-rael’s. Iran’s mineral resources are vastly more than that

of Israel and all these factors show Iran as a much moreabsorbing economic partner. On the other hand, trade be-

tween India and Israel consists of only two major prod-ucts: diamonds and weapons. In 2014, bilateral trade be-tween the two countries had reached $4.52 billion, exclud-

ing defence, 53.5%of which constituted diamonds. Withlittle else to consider, the real business between India andIsrael is the arms trade from which Israel earns nearly $1

 billion annually and is currently valued at $10 billion overthe past decade. The Israeli Army is largely equipped withAmerican equipment. This means Israeli defence compa-nies must therefore rely on sales to foreign markets. Sincea significant amount of Israeli defence research is fundedthrough Indian purchases of Israeli arms, Israel is morewilling than most other arms-producers to sell defencetechnology to India. Now considering the issue of armstrading overlaps with the issue of national security, theMinistry of Defence should have ideally spent that $10

 billion in supporting Indian defence research and develop-ment, but this has not been the practice. Other than arms,India has little to trade with Israel. However, the excellentfit between the trade and industry in India and Iran is atonce obvious.

Security is the next contentious topic when it comes todealing with Iran and Israel. Here the debate becomesmuch more multifaceted. Firstly, Israel arms-trade withIndia does not make it the obvious choice in the matter ofnational security. Purchasing equipment and weaponsworth billions of dollars, we never know how thick wasthe creamy layer of profits enjoyed by Israel in all those

arms deals by way of kickbacks. It is likely to be verysubstantial, considering the issue of corruption in bothnations. Iran has consistently brought up the“civilisational links” between India and Iran. Iran is a ma-

 jor player in the Islamic region and has still stood by Indiaon vital issues such as the Kashmir problem where it usedits veto power in the Organisation for Islamic Cooperationto support India on the issue of human rights violations inthe region. It is also reported that “not a single Kalash-

nikov held by the insurgent groups in Kashmir was ever

traced to Iran, not a single Kashmiri militant was spottedas having received training in Iran all through the past 25years.” In fact Iran and India both suffer from terrorism

arising from instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the1990’s both Iran and India supported the Northern Alli-

ance group in their fight against the Taliban and the sub-sequent anti-Taliban government put in place by the US.In the West Asian region Iran along with Russia are spear-heading the fight against ISIS. Israel, on the other hand, ismired in the Palestine issue and continues to go againstthe mainstream world opinion creating major instability inthe region. Furthermore, Iran’s regional strength is not aresult of US hand outs as is the case with the Israel. Iran’s

industrial and technological base, its military power andtrained manpower are all indigenously developed. Iran isIndia’s natural ally in the fight against terrorism.  

India may find its strongest regional ally in Iran if it playsits cards right. Although this does not mean Israeli rela-tions must be thrown out all together; instead the focusmust be on building ties with Iran. The country is eager toembrace the global economy. It contracted two Russianspace companies to build a satellite observation systemwhile China finalised a project to build a hundred smallnuclear power plants in the country. India too must joininvestments into Iran’s Indian built Chabahar port as a

start. Iran could become a vital partner for India’s long -term security in terms of energy as well regional security.It is a next-door neighbour that can supply India with oil

and gas for decades to come. Iran’s regional strength,meanwhile, may provide an opportunity to further inter-ests that both the nations share in Central Asia and Eura-sia.■ 

Source: CMIE Economic Outlook

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Shashank PareekThe People’s Republic of China and the United States donot see eye to eye on a plethora of global subjects. Onesuch subject that has grabbed significant global attentionis the territorial claims of China over two archipelagoslocated in the South China Sea, the Spratly islands and the

Paracel islands. The Spratly islands, also known as the“Spratlys”, are a group of nearly 750 geological featuresin the South China Sea which are claimed by the CHINA,Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei,while the Paracel islands, a group of 130 geological fea-tures are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.China’s claim to the island dates back to the third centuryduring the reign of the Han Dynasty when the islands andsurrounding waters were used by Chinese fishermen whoinhabited the islands, while later claims are backed by thenine-dash line. Vietnam, on the other hand, argues that itofficially documented the rights to the islands in 1771,which is well before China legally staked its claim on theislands in the nineteenth century. The Philippines claims

the islands to be a part of their sovereign territory basedon their proximity to the Filipino mainland, while Bruneiand Malaysia claim the islands because of the islands liein the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the nations

 based on the United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Seas (UNCLOS). Taiwan backs its claims on the factthat the country originally occupied a part of the Chinesemainland. Although China administers a majority of theregion, all nations except Brunei have occupied features inthe two archipelagos.Possession of the islands is instrumental in the economicand geopolitical welfare of the claimants, because controlof the islands provides these nations with significant con-

trol over the South China Sea. The South China Sea is thesecond busiest sea route in the world and comprises of athird of the global shipping traffic. The South China Sea isalso a centre for marine diversity and a massive fishinghub in South East Asia. Over and above, the South ChinaSea is estimated to hold about 28 billion barrels of oil and266 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and a plethora ofother natural resources.The official diplomatic claims to the islands date back tothe 1950s, but major tensions arose between China andVietnam in the 70s and 80s when China fought Vietnamtwice and in 1974 gained total control of the Paracel is-lands. Recent tensions among the claimants have onlyarisen in the 2010s. In 2012 China took control of the

Scarborough Shoal, a small group of geological featuresoff the Filipino coast, form the Philippines and later tookover all the islands in the South China Sea in the adminis-trative prefecture of Sansha City under the Hainan prov-

ince.In 2014, China commenced massive oil drilling operationsin the region and began to reclaim and militarise the is-lands to consolidate its claim over them, including an air-strip capable of operating fighter aircrafts, docks for shipsand anti-aircraft missile systems. Other claimants havealso reclaimed land in the region in the past, but China’sreclamation has been alarming since it has reclaimed moreland than all the other nations combined in the history ofthe contentious islands. China has also been expanding itsnavy in terms of equipment and manpower.China’s actions sprung Washington into action and inlight of China’s actions, President Obama urged China notto use its military might to “elbow out” and undermine theclaims made by other nations over the disputed territory.China however continued with its activities in the region.In response, the US issued a series of warning to deterChina from asserting its claim over the region.

In 2015 and 2016, US aircrafts made a series of surveil-lance flights near the disputed islands. This action of the

US met with some opposition at Beijing which summonedthe US ambassador and warned him against the potentialimpact of US involvement in matters which are not itsconcern. The US has since deployed destroyers to patrolthe region. In order to deter China, the US has tried to allyitself with other claimants in the region and has used itsinfluence over Manila to curtail Chinese “indiscretions”.The US has also tried to provoke China by scheduling a

 joint naval exercise near the disputed region with Indiaand Japan, the two other major powers in Asia. On March4, 2016, the US deployed a carrier group near the Spratlyislands, which has been regarded as a major threat by Bei-

 jing.

The growing tensions in the region have sparked a debateover the implications of a potential engagement betweenthe US and China and another major war, howeverunlikely the situation may seem to be. There is also agrowing concern of the US trying to use its influence overthe other countries in the region to create a proxy war,which can be disastrous for the region and has the poten-tial to destabilise South East Asia in the same manner asthe Middle East. However, with North Korea proceedingwith its nuclear program, there is little hope that the USmay stand down and stop asserting its influence in theregion since Washington considers it vital to deter Chi-nese and North Korean activities. With the estimatedglobal oil reserves in decline and an ever increasing de-

mand for oil, it is very unlikely that any of the countriesinvolved in the dispute will cede their claim in the nearfuture.■ 

Lee versus Ali

Arthniti takes a look at how a

bunch of desolate islands have re-

sulted in a global standoff be-tween two global superpowers:

the People’s Republic of China

and the United States of America

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Akarsh Verma

Super Tuesday, that is March 3, 2016, marks a turning point in the US presidential campaign. On Super Tuesday,Donald Trump won seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. TedCruz won three states: Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas, and Marco Rubio won one state- Minnesota. On the Democrats’side, Hillary Clinton won seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginiaand Bernie Sanders won four states: Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Vermont. With results out for Super Tues-day, Trump has won 10 states, Clinton has won eight, Sanders five and Ted Cruz three. Hillary Clinton and DonaldTrump have pretty much been anointed as the frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican parties respectively.Since the primaries and caucuses started on February 1, a slew of candidates have dropped out including Jeb Bush.Let’s take a look at the top candidates from both the parties and what they have to offer: 

Cheat Sheet to the US Presidential Elections

DONALD TRUMP

Who is he?Donald Trump is an American billionaire, businessman, politician and a realestate mogul. Currently, Trump is the Republican frontrunner.

Who wants him to run?A shocking portion of the Republican primary electorate, Democrats (the

 progressive ones, in the hope for reforms), and “white supremacists”. The

rest of the Republican field, along with its intellectual luminaries, however,

is horrified by his statements. Trump offers to ‘Make America GreatAgain’, to realise the American dream for the people. 

Can he win the nomination?Yes. After Super Tuesday, unfortunately Trump has the best chance of win-

ning the nomination.

MARCO RUBIO

Who is he?A second-generation Cuban-American and former speaker of the FloridaHouse, Rubio was catapulted to national fame in the 2010 Senate electionafter he unexpectedly upset Governor Charlie Crist to win the GOP nomi-nation.

Who wants him to run?Rubio enjoys establishment support. He has sought to position himself asthe candidate with an interventionist foreign policy.

Could he win the nomination? Until Super Tuesday, Rubio seemed to hold the second-choice slot, right

 behind Trump, but his stumble that day is causing many observers to reas-sess whether he can actually win. Rubio’s moment of truth is likely to be

the March 15 Florida primary.

The Republicans

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/31/the-fearful-and-the-frustratedhttps://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop-donald-trump/426504/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop-donald-trump/426504/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/31/the-fearful-and-the-frustrated

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TED CRUZ

Who is he? Cruz served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the George W. Bushadministration and was appointed Texas solicitor general in 2003. In 2012,he ran an insurgent campaign to beat a heavily favoured establishment Re-

 publican for Senate.

Who wants him to run?Hardcore conservatives, tea partiers, social conservatives. 

Can he win the nomination? Cruz did better than expected on Super Tuesday, picking up wins in Texas,Oklahoma, and Alaska. That, combined with Rubio’s poor showing, is giv-

ing Cruz some new momentum, but the path from here to the nomination inCleveland is still a bit uncertain.

The DemocratsHILORY CLINTON

Who is she?We don’t need to tell you, but she’s a trained attorney, former secretary of

state in the Obama administration, former senator from New York, and for-mer first lady.

Who wants her to run? Most of the Democratic Party.

Can she win the nomination? Her grasp on the nomination looked more tenuous than ever on the eve ofthe Nevada caucuses, but her win there gives her a boost headed to SouthCarolina. She may be past her worst threat in the primary election.

BERNIE SANDERS

Who is he? A self-professed socialist, Sanders represented Vermont in the U.S. Housefrom 1991 to 2007, when he won a seat in the Senate.

Who wants him to run? Far-left Democrats; progressives who worry that a second Clinton admini-stration would be far too friendly to the wealthy.

Can he win the nomination? Sanders picked up a handful of states on Super Tuesday, but Clinton contin-ues to build a delegate goal, and she’s probably unbeatable without some

major external event. 

In the end, a Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump face-off looks the most likely for the 2016 presidential elections.However, what the trends so far have shown is that far less Democrats are coming out to vote than in 2012, whereasthe number of Republicans turning out to vote has touched record high levels. However, one cannot completely ignore

the competition from Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz; both have proven in their respective parties that they can be toughcontenders to beat by winning several states since the caucuses and primaries began in February 2016. The electionitself, on 8 November 2016, will see America vote for a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standingdown after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.■  

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Laissez Faire 2016 in Pictures

Photo Credits: Nandita Ramesh

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Photo Credits: Sourav Das

Pictured right:

Swarnabha’s high

voltage rock n roll

at the Social Fest,

 Khwaishein 

Pictured below:

Aindrilla Chak-

raborty at the LF

2016 opening cere-

mony

Pictured left:

Iconic picture fromthe Ethnic Day

2013, featured in

the LF 2016 flex

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Pictured left:

Trek to Tikona,2015

Pictured right:

Ajay Pawar eating a

crab c. 2013 (Yes, that

happened)

Pictured below:

Our first outbound to

Tamini Ghat

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Sarayu Nandakumar

Anger and anguish was felt across universities throughoutthe world as Kanhaiya Kumar, a PhD student from Jawa-harlal Nehru University (JNU) was arrested in February2016. Also the leader of All India Student Federation(AISF), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India(CPI), Kumar was charged with sedition due to the al-leged raising of ‘anti - India slogans’ by some people in astudent rally against the 2013 public hanging of Afzal

Guru.

The term ‘sedition’ has caught the buzz since February 9

when slogans demanding azadi in Kashmir were reverber-ated. Soon, many Indian journalists were quick to brandthe protests as anti-national and circulated a doctored clipfrom the protest which eventually led to a police crack-down. The protest was eventually squashed and the rightto dissent withheld. Consequently, public opinion on so-cial media mirrored the muzzled-up newsfeeds passed by

the media and politicians of the government in power.

The fight has shifted the attention from the intent of the protest and the Kashmir conflict to question of the validityof the right to dissent. The right to dissent, according toArticles 19 and 25 of the Constitution, allows liberty of

thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. The arrestof Kanhaiya Kumar for seeking freedom from the ills that

 plague the nation, especially among Dalits, has reverber-

ated the point made by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, whospoke about the dangers posed to political democracy dueto the co-existence of political equality and socio-economic inequality. However, dissent as a concept con-tains with it the democratic right to object, oppose, protest

and even resist.

Sedition, on the other hand, is not explicitly mentioned insection 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, but is found as amarginal note to as a term that can be used to define thecrime under the section. To qualify as a crime under thissection, it requires firstly, bringing or attempting to bring

into hatred or contempt, or exciting or attempting to excitedisaffection towards the Government of India. Secondly,such act or attempt may be done (i) by words, either spo-ken or written, or (ii) by signs, (iii) by visible representa-tion. In several cases including, Kedar Nath Singh’s Case,

five judges of the Supreme Court –  a Constitution bench –  made it clear that allegedly seditious speech and expres-sion may be punished only if the speech is an ‘incitement’

to ‘violence’, or ‘public disorder’. The proceedings of the

event which was held at JNU, despite the harsh tone of theslogans, therefore do not qualify as a criminal offence

 because they did not incite any violence.

As India is witnessing a growing disparity on several so-cial fronts, the rage coming from students like Rohit Ve-mula from Hyderabad Central University to KanhaiyaKumar or even those who raised some harsh slogans call-

Clamping Down on Dissent: Sedition in 21st Century India

Above: Protests against the arrest of JNUSU leader, Kanhaiya Kumar’s on the charge of sedition  

http://indiankanoon.org/doc/111867/http://indiankanoon.org/doc/111867/

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ing for a free Kashmir at JNU, are nothing but manifesta-tions of caste inequalities and communalism which areresulting from a repressive Hindu authoritarian govern-

ment, masked in the name of ‘development’.

Therefore, criminalising dissent in this instance is not justan act of further marginalisation and suppression but asPratap Bhanu Mehta of the Centre for Policy Research(CPR) rightly put it, the democracy in India, on its surfacehas a cacophony of voices, but once the surface isscratched, dissent in India labours under an immensemaze of threats and interdictions. This should however notstop the youth to feel empowered to use the constitutionalrights of dissent to bring forth issues that have forcefully

 been accepted as an act of subservience.

P. Sainath, former rural affairs editor of Hindu, told agathering at JNU that while it was alright for the studentsto be shocked by the attack on freedom of speech, they are

not entitled to be surprised. He further adds, “It is the

criminalisation of dissent that you are fighting. It is tomake criminals of dissidents. That is the process you are

fighting … Welcome to the rest of India.”

There is hunger among the public for justice, there is hun-ger among the public for their rights. But if governmentnarratives forever mar the constitutional rights given tothe people, especially when it comes to narrating the storyof Kashmir or the Dalits, anything that falls under the

category of dissent will be anti-national.

The most effective of all propagandas take away the rightof dissent and label it as an act of sedition so long as it cango on. But time has come for us to stand in solidarity notonly with JNU, but with Kashmir, with the people of Bas-tar and everywhere else, where an invisible war on India’s

margins seems to be brewing. ■ 

Arnav Rawat

At 18,800 feet, up in the Karakoram Range in the Himala-

yas, lies the second coldest place on Earth and the highest

 battlefield in the world. The 76 km long Siachen glacier is

a place like no other. Extremely beautiful and scenic, but

equally harsh. With temperatures that drop down to -60°

C, just surviving there is a feat in itself and only one force

in the world operates in these conditions - the Indian

Army.

The barren heights of Siachen and its nearby regions have

 been claimed by both India and Pakistan. This dispute has

its roots in the Karachi Agreement of 1949. The Indian

interpretation is that the current line of control (LoC)should run north easterly from NJ 9842 along the Saltoro

Range to the Chinese border. The Pakistani interpretation

Manning the Wall“The lands are so barren and dry, that only the best of

 friends or the fiercest of enemies visit us “ 

- Ladakh saying

The yellow line shows the Actual Ground Position Line (India).

The Green line shows Pakistan’s claim.

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is that the LoC should run from NJ 9842 straight to the

Karakoram Pass (KKP) on the Chinese border. By the

1970s, several world atlases had begun showing the LoC

running north easterly from NJ 9842; meanwhile Pakistani

maps showed the LoC running straight from NJ 9842 to

Karakoram pass. This was seen as ‘cartographic aggres-

sion’ on Pakistan’s part. The Indian government’s suspi-

cions deepened when it learned that Pakistan was issuing permits for mountaineering expeditions into Siachen. In-

dian reconnaissance patrols then started reporting sporadic

 presence of the Pakistani army.

Meghdoot, 1984 : Somewhere between 1983  –   1984,

Pakistan decided to stake claim of the region through

troop deployment. Islamabad ordered Arctic weather gear

from a London supplier. Unfortunately for them, they

were unaware of the fact that the same supplier also pro-

vided outfits to India. Having learnt of this new develop-

ment, the then prime minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi

ordered the Indian Army to be deployed at Siachen.

Thus, the race to capture the Siachen glacier began in the

summer of 1984. The first phase of the operation began in

March 1984 with the march on foot to the eastern base of

the glacier. A full battalion of the Kumaon Regiment and

units from the Ladakh Scouts marched with full battle

 packs through an ice-bound Zoji La pass for days on end.

The units under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel (later

Brigadier) D. K. Khanna moved on foot to avoid detection

of large troop movements by Pakistani radars. 

Thanks to the tip-off that gave the Indian Army a head

start by a few days, and with the rapid deployment of In-dian troops, most of the area came under India; it hasn’t

moved since. Pakistan occupies lower elevations of west-

ern slopes of the Saltoro ridgeline.

Present Situation: Up until 2003, skirmishes were very

common in the region. Even low ranking officers on both

sides could call in artillery barrages on the other side. That

however, changed after the 2003 LoC ceasefire agreement

 between the two countries. Fortunately, unlike the other

 parts of the Jammu and Kashmir LoC, this agreement has

 been mostly respected in Siachen.

Life up There: The tragic deaths of ten Indian army sol-diers in February were the most recent of deaths in the

region. The human body was never meant to live at such

heights at freezing temperatures. No matter how much a

soldier is acclimatised or no matter how good his gear is,

the dark secret about Siachen is the fact that the human

 body starts dying there: cells die faster, which basically

means every soldier who goes up there is only speeding

up the process of life, but they go up none the less.

Bathing is a ‘once in a few weeks’ ordeal; some go with-

out bathing for months. At that height, a person almost

never feels hungry, which is why food keeps getting

stacked up and stored for later, but never rots because of

the cold. Even though the beautiful white bed is very sce-

nic, you cannot look at the mountains without wearing

your goggles as the reflection from the snow can perma-

nently damage your eyes.

 No equipment is touched with bare skin because the skin

on your hands would stick to the metal and peel right off.

Other than that, one may also get frostbite. However, the

 biggest unseen danger are crevasses (cracks in the gla-

cier). Siachen receives snowfall of a couple dozen feetevery year, which means these crevasses easily get cov-

ered up with snow. They can be as deep as several dozen

metres, making them ‘death pits’.

Surviving in Siachen is not just about adding layers on

you and keeping warm. To survive in a place where the

oxygen is just 10% of that on the plains, even taking a few

extra steps or stepping out of your post at the wrong time

can seriously affect your health.

The Demilitarisation Debate: 869 Indian army personnel

have died in Siachen glacier since Operation Meghdoot,

and that too because of natural factors and environmentalconditions, and not from the enemy’s bullet. According to

a report in The Hindu, the Indian government spent about

Rs. 938.54 crore on Siachen just last year, which is still

very less compared to the average Rs. 2000 crore in the

 previous years. Not to mention the deteriorating affect it

has on the flora and fauna of the region due to military

deployment. “All this, for just that 76 km of ice?” is a

question that has been asked by many. Any logical person

would agree it is a waste of resources and of human lives,

which is why many have proposed to once again demilita-

rise the area.

Pakistan shows more interest in demilitarising the areathan India. Demilitarising is a very logical and sensible

approach to the whole Siachen issue; it saves both the

countries from spending crores of money and more impor-

tantly, saves lives. But demilitarisation is a very big step

for any country which requires trusting the other country

and ‘trust’ is difficult word to associate with these two

countries, considering their history together. 1947-48,

1965, 1971, 1984 are all examples of this, especially the

1999 Kargil confict when Pakistani troops had occupied

Indian posts because the troops had vacated those posts

for the winter. So, even though the proposal of demilita-

rising the glacier appears a very logical proposal, it is byno means an easy decision for either government to make.

If the Indian army is ordered to pull back, then it will not

leave a single bullet or a single man behind; but if it is

asked to stay there and continue guarding the glacier, then

it will fight till the last bullet, till the last man. The Sia-

chen glacier is just one example of the many sacrifices

made by the Indian defence and paramilitary personnel.

Too often, the ordinary citizen takes freedom for granted

and forgets the armed forces, remembering them only

during terror attacks. Whatever may be the political mo-

tives governing the situation in Siachen and whatever are

the steps taken by each government in the future, the sac-rifices made by the men on the glacier must not be forgot-

ten. ■ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh_Scoutshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh_Scouts

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Krishna Betai

* DISCLAIMER: The characters depicted in thisevent strictly do not belong to the English Premier League. The occurrence of the Player of the Yearbeing awarded to players from any other league is

 purely coincidental. 

To play for a major football league team is one thing, tohold the most coveted accolade, the Player of the Year orthe Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball),  is another. Every foot-

 baller strives to make his mark in the most watched sporton the planet and to be recognised as the best footballer inthe world. FIFA, the global governing body of the sport,holds this prestigious award ceremony every year to cele-

 brate the best football player in the world. After evaluat-ing each player on the basis of sporting performance andgeneral behaviour off the field, the Golden Ball isawarded to the most deserving player.

The irony lies in the fact that while football is a teamgame, the Ballon d’Or ceremony recognises individualtalent. The voting criteria for the coaches, players, and

 journalists is arbitrary; one cannot compare players withdifferent roles on the football field — it is obvious andnatural that the players at these positions will score lessergoals than the attacking player in a given season. Anaward that is based on individual statistics such as thenumber of goals scored, the number of assists, and othervariables in the performance equation cannot be given to a

 player on the basis other factors, making the whole proc-ess ridiculously subjective.

Mere sympathy is not enough to console the disheartenedand frustrated fans of the English Premier League (EPL).

Despite the EPL being recognised as the “best league inthe world”, it is upsetting not to see a single player be-

longing to this league in the 23-man shortlist for the Bal-lon d’Or. The last time a player from the EPL won the

award was in 2001 and was received by the home-grownMichael Owen. Since 2008, two players have dominated

the podium — Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and tocontest against them is probably one of the greatestachievements for a player. The chances of these players towin are so far-fetched that they seem to be just fill-ins. Anardent fan of the Premier League may question the exclu-sion of EPL players in the pool of nominees and may ac-cuse the entire process of nominating and voting of beingfraudulent, and has all the right to do so.

The Ballon d’Or celebrates the already celebrated, hon-ours the honoured, and glorifies the glorified, adding justanother trophy to the winner’s glistening cabinet. Fansmay argue that it is a marketing gimmick by FIFA, just a

 publicity stunt. Or it is just another reason for fans to seethe two greatest players, Messi and Ronaldo sit besideeach other, which adds more salt to the bitter rivalry be-tween the supporters. The award ceremony is more of anentertainment show, much like the Oscars; there is alwaysa hue and cry about the unconventional suits worn byMessi, and the varied expressions on Ronaldo’s face dur-ing the event, and about everything else unrelated to thegame itself, which makes it anti-football, as reported byseveral journalists.

What is the real reason behind the exclusion of PremierLeague players in the nominees list of the Ballon d’Or?

Cynical eyes scrutinise the English Premier League asmany fans, pundits, and journalists have begun to questionthe credibility of the “best football league in the world”.

Fans worry that the Premier League focuses too much on

And the Ballon d’Or Goes to* 

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 becoming the most entertaining and competitive league,instead of increasing the quality of its players, which hasled to its dismal representation at the annual event. Lon-don, Manchester, and Merseyside once used to be themagnets to the finest football talent in the world, althoughthe Ballon d’Or nominees list suggests otherwise. As of today, the best league in the world in terms of the

strength and skill of its players is the Spanish PremierLeague, also known as La Liga. It has shunned critics whoclaim that the La Liga lacks the strength in depth with asubstantial amount of statistics that tip the scale in its fa-vour. Over the last decade, the team winning the EnglishPremier League has lost an average of 4.8 matches perseason, whereas the team winning the La Liga has lost andan average of 4.1 matches per season. These statistics are

 pretty much the result of the domination by two megaclubs, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. The success ofthese two clubs has resulted in an unmatchable virtuoso,which is clearly lacking in England, Germany, or Italy.The charismatic charm that the two clubs possess drawfans towards them, which shows its effect on the voting

 boxes at the award ceremony.

Strong players make a strong league. Thus, it is the re-sponsibility of the football clubs to attract world-classtalent and take the level of competition to the next level.There is a reason why brilliant players in the English Pre-mier League end up leaving for La Liga or the Serie A (inItaly): the EPL is unable to create a favourable environ-ment to attract the best players in the world.

On the one hand, countries like Spain, Italy, Denmark,and Belgium are tax havens for the players who are paidseven-digit salaries. The tax laws are supposedly quitefavourable for foreign players outside England. A tax wasintroduced in Spain in the year 2004 known as the‘Beckham Tax’— a 24 percent flat tax was levied on the

non-resident players instead of the progressive tax rate of43 percent. This move resulted in an influx of foreign

 players in the country. This clearly shows the level ofleniency in Spain when it comes to taxation. On the otherhand, there is England, where the only way in which theEnglish Premier League can attract the best players in thegame is by offering massive transfer fees and salaries.

However, with a view to increasing domestic employ-ment, the Football Association (the governing body in theUK) has tightened work permit rules to limit the foreign

 players entering England, and to promote and help thehome-grown talent to develop. It has laid down strict pre-requisites for the players outside the European Union — a

 player must have played more than 75 competitivematches for his national team. Furthermore, the nationalteam must be ranked in the top 70 in the world. This isdone so that the internationally-recognised foreign playersmake significant contributions to the development of thegame at the highest level. Recently, Prime Minister DavidCameron has proposed a memorandum called ‘BREXIT’,which calls for Britain’s separation from the rest of the

European Economic Area. If this happens, it would be-come much more difficult for the foreign players to enterEngland. Consequently, the English Premier League willnot be permitted to attract foreign, world-class talent.

Tighter immigration rules, stringent tax laws, and stricterwork permit rules have made England lose its magnetismfor world-class players. As such, the best players migrateto countries like Spain to enjoy tax benefits and maketheir mark in the league, leading to worldwide recogni-tion. This has an adverse impact on the names that appearon the nominees list of the Ballon d’Or. The unconducive

environment for footballers in England have resulted inthe morose representation of the English Premier Leagueat the Ballon d’Or. ■ 

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Arthniti Cover Contest Submissions 2016

Right:

Mugdha Gupta,

Urban Poverty

Left:

Anmol Bhotika,

Welfare vs. Growth

Sourav Das, Time

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Malavika Gode

Think of the uncovering of explosive news stories and you

think of a glossy, powerful million-dollar corporation likeWikiLeaks, for whom even the CIA is no match. You

 picture John Oliver and his team at HBO, taking on Don-

ald Drumpf, backed by the power and reach of the inter-

net. However, before the internet was the powerhouse it is

now, journalists dug up important stories the old fash-

ioned way  –   rummaging through libraries, knocking on

doors, and usually, having doors slammed shut in their

faces. The more important the story, the deeper it was

 buried.

The movie Spotlight, directed by Tom McCarthy, with a

talented cast including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton,

Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci, explores one such

story. The movie follows the investigation of an elite team

of  Boston Globe reporters into the systemic abuse of

young children in the Catholic Church, by priests, often

high ranking ones, and the casual air with which this

chronic molestation was brushed under the rug. It docu-

ments how the team fought a long, hard battle over the

course of a year, to uncover truths that no one seemed to

want to hear, about one of the most powerful organisa-

tions in the world. With the initial aim of exploring the

story of one Boston priest allegedly abusing a child, the

team uncovers a mountain of shameful cover-ups that begins to tumble down, involving over 200 priests and

 brothers in the Boston diocese and then several more all

over the world.

This movie does a great job of bringing out the gravity of

the story being covered without resorting to sensational-

ism. It focuses simply on the story of the journalistic in-

vestigation, without much emphasis on lurid detail. Thisdoes result in some dull moments in the story, but the

writers must be respected for sticking to the story they

wanted to tell, without any box-office frills.

Spotlight and similar movies, such as All The President’s

Men, which follows The Washington Post’s uncovering of

the Watergate scandal, also highlight the importance of

the investigative journalist in media houses. In a world

where papers go to print every single day, and sometimes

twice a day, and a media brand’s viewership depends on

getting to ‘breaking news’ stories first, where is the utility

of having journalists spend weeks and sometimes months

following murky leads on a single story? However, it is

the dedicated work of such investigative journalists that

shines light upon stories that don’t come into public

knowledge. And these stories are not just relevant in the

era before the internet. After the economic crisis of 2008,

director Charles Ferguson began intensive research about

the systemic corruption prevalent in the financial services

industry in the USA, coming out with the award winning

documentary Inside Job.

Spotlight is a movie that is important both for its simple

and effective portrayal of investigative journalism in ac-

tion, as well as the spotlight it shines on a shameful prac-tice deeply rooted in one of the most powerful institutions

in the world. ■ 

Spotlight: Movie Review

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Arshaan Furniturewalla

The concept of a rational individual, as prescribed by for-mal theory, is very familiar to most people studying a

social science. Given how often the idea that humans arerational is refuted, it seems natural to assume that societyin general has some standard of what is to be consideredrational or sane behaviour and, accordingly, what is to beconsidered irrational or “insane” behaviour.These conceptions are more or less stable in any particulargeneration or time for a society. Unsurprisingly, peoplewho are insane are (almost by definition) considered in-sane by at least almost all self-proclaimed sane individu-als who use the word. Some persons go so far as to applythis label of insane to those who lived in the past and, insome cases, even to entire societies from older times. Go-ing by linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, many scholars would

affirm that a single copy of the New York Times todaycontains more information than the average seventeenthcentury Englishman encountered in a lifetime. It is easythen to shun the (what would now be considered) crazy

 beliefs our ancestors had, considering how much moreknowledge the modern man has at his disposal.What is intriguing however is that from the great body ofknowledge that is considered valid today, a good amountof it predates the information age we are in, sometimes bymillennia. That is to say, even contemporary academicsthat helped their respective bodies of knowledge progresswould have likely done so by standing on the shoulders ofgiants or, working over the set of knowledge that existed

 before them, as opposed to discarding all of it and startingfrom the ground up. In other words, these lunatics of the past have often said useful things.Consider for example Isaac Newton, the man who, manywould say, started the scientific revolution. It might beintuitive to classify a person who had such (what mightnow be considered) rational beliefs as sane, given the nu-merous contributions he made to modern science (throughhis insights into gravitation, for example).Surprisingly, Newton himself demonstrated a great inter-est in what we today call studies of the occult; his writingson alchemy and mysticism far exceed his writings on sci-ence and mathematics. He engaged in a quest to constructthe philosopher’s stone and held on to theories that were

disregarded even by alchemists of his time. For example,he believed that both Greek myths and the Bible containedhidden knowledge that, when decoded, would describesecret alchemic techniques. On top of this, Newton set aminimum date for the apocalypse as 2060; as Keynes putit, “Newton was not the first of the age of reason; he wasthe last of the magicians”. This case of scientists and men of reason making claimsfar beyond their field of study is nothing new and moreinteresting instances can be found by looking back a cou-

 ple millennia to around the fifth century B.C.Pythagoras is a household name today, given his lastingcontribution to geometry in the form of “Pythagoras’

theorem”. There are however, more interesting achieve-ments biographers have attributed to Pythagoras, includ-ing his ability to talk to animals, his golden thigh

(literally), his power to exist in many places at the sametime, the fact that he was the son of Apollo and manyother superhuman feats. Pythagoras and his followers tooktheir mathematics very seriously. Among other mystical

 beliefs, they held that mathematics was the closest thingshumans know to the soul since, just like the soul, mathe-matics too is both incorporeal (abstract) and immune toerror. A claim that many modern mathematicians mightfind misplaced in an academic text and, perhaps, naive.As generations have passed, fields of study have lookeddeeper into themselves, compartmentalising knowledgewithin boundaries of what can be considered rational tospeculate about, given the tools of investigation one hasaccess to. As Will Durant observed, the scientific expertknows “more and more about less and less” while those

who are more philosophical, seeking principles by whichto synthesise the universe in a broader sense (perhaps as

 Newton, Pythagoras and many others would like to) havefound themselves knowing “less and less about more andmore”.

This greater expertise, sadly, has a cost. As economistsinvestigating the field of education have observed, theaverage age of achievement in academia has been risingrecently, due to the greater body of information one has tomaster before making new discoveries. Giving a singleexample, Einstein, one can see, was very young whenmaking his breakthroughs, as compared to many modern

 prodigies. Some have speculated that this rise in the timeneeded for an individual to make landmark discoverieswill persist until a “knowledge event-horizon” isachieved, wherein the costs needed to make a paradigmshifting discovery, in terms of time, are so high that the

 benefits come too little and too late to justify devoting anyeffort to it.■ 

Insanely General Claims and the Compartmentalisation of Knowledge

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Radha Karmarkar

It is not the nightmares that we fear

But the wake of blasts and thuds,

The sun rises darker hereAnd the moon shimmers over blood.

Where realm after realm leaves deep scars

Over lands that once were lovely,

Where love and food are forever sparse

And the houses are no more homely.

We cannot paint our houses bright

And to talk aloud is condemned fool,

There exists no wrong or right

Only the men with the guns rule.

And often when we step out

For daily work or to learn,

Or to buy some bread, we always doubt

To our homes we’ll ever return. 

The conflict has always been near

But hopes sieve as fast as they flood,

The sun rises darker here

And the moon shimmers over blood.

Conflict

Radha Karmarkar

The leaves beneath my feet crunch

As I walk the dusty plane

The alley with the wooden benchTakes me down the memory lane.

Where once long ago we lived

Like a big family, we shared

Moments of joy, so vivid

For each and everyone one we cared.

But now the houses lie barren

Broken windows, scattered mud

An unknown hush upon the walls,

An alley that’s stained with blood. 

The aura of a war zone

Reflects deeply upon my face

With a hurtful pang, I realise

 No longer do I recognise this place.

The place where once we sang

The songs of happiness, a splendid culture!

Where temples and church bells rang,

Blessing us with a great, bright future!

Morning walks and evening plays,

Tea times and cricket games.

Ice-cream vans all in those days

Before the devastating war came.

And now, collecting every memory I could,

I turn around, leave my childhood.

With a small shrug, hand resting on my cane

I wonder, through war, what did we really gain?

The alley with the wooden bench,

Takes me down the memory lane,

It takes me down the memory lane.

The Alley with the Wooden Bench

Question: What do you call a black man on the moon?

Answer: An astronaut.

Question: What do you call a dog with no legs?

Answer: Doesn’t matter what you call him, he isn’t com-

ing.

A man entered a local paper’s pun contest. He sent in ten

 puns hoping one of them would win but unfortunately, no

 pun in ten did.

Question: What is the similarity between a banana and a

helicopter?

Answer: Neither of them is a police officer.

Question: What do you get when you cross a joke with arhetorical question?

Anti-Humour

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A Year with Arthniti:

Experiences of the Editorial BoardWhen I took up the responsibility of being the co-club head inJuly 2015, my only agenda was for the club to be functional allyear long. For the club to be functional all year long, we neededdedicated members who, sans logs, were willing to put their timeand effort into creating what we envisioned. Every Wednesday,

 break-time was spent deciding what the club’s activities should befor the rest of the semester and in six weeks, we came up with asolid plan: to institute a monthly newsletter. What seemed like asolution to keep the club active at that point was just the starting

 point for a lot of challenges that came along our way.It became a part of my routine in the first half of each month towork out a strategy to raise funds. The remaining two weeks werespent on editing and formatting, phoning a few printers everyother evening to pick up print jargon and experiment with various

 papers and ink given our monetary constraints.I really believe that the club has evolved a lot especially in termsof the articles that we receive since the publication of the firstnewsletter and it is just fabulous to see how all of us have grown,equipped ourselves with new skills that are not of our primaryexpertise.To all my juniors and fellow club-members for the years to come,Arthniti is like a start-up. It is in your capacity to build this club

and take it to new heights. It prompts me to say that althoughsome of the problems faced can take the entire year to be re-solved, the most exciting feeds will be discussed in this space,will be debated and will hopefully translate what SSE is all about.

SARAYU NANDAKUMAR, CO-CLUB HEAD

Sarayu and I had started thinking about our plans for Arthniti be-fore our third year began. We decided to contest the elections to-gether as co-club heads, probably the best decision that we havetaken as members of Arthniti.

Considering that Economics students aren’t expected to know

their way around the details of printing, editing and formatting,our activities form a unique blend of extra and co-curricular work.People who are now active members approached us to help with

web design, editing, formatting, digital design, and fundraising, besides contributing as writers. Realising that each newsletter and

magazine is a hugely collaborative activity is my most distinctiveexperience of working with the club.

The one event that perfectly encapsulated the cocktail of emotionsthat has been the last year with Arthniti was the student-facultymixer. From the frustration of dealing with the implication that anArthniti party just didn’t sound “cool” enough to the immense

relief that enough students eventually turned up, we were taken

through the entire spectrum of human emotion in the space of afew hours. Two weeks later, we fulfilled our promises and distrib-uted the third and final edition of the newsletter.

While I did take the internal decision of never organising a partyever again, the support that we witnessed that day from our col-lege-mates and teachers made me realise that despite all the chal-lenges, all that time and effort was worth it.SANAYA CHANDAR, CO-CLUB HEAD

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H G Wells once said ‘No passion in the world is equal to the passion toalter someone else’s draft’. A year as economic editor for Arthniti hasconvinced me of the truth of his statement, but perhaps for different rea-sons. Being an editor for the newsletter and magazine has let me glimpsethe breadth of literary and journalistic talent that SSE has to offer: I am

 pleasantly surprised. As you can guess, not all the writing we receive isgreat, but our criticism and the spurned author’s patience is well re-warded as we get to see our feedback being implemented, and the au-thor’s quality of work increasing tremendously over time.It hasn’t all been coffee and red ink. One of the highlights of the Arthnitiyear has been the mixer that was held at Frozen Monkey, which sawmuch patronage, some gracious and some grumbling, by students andfaculty members alike. The funds being used to finance an edition of thenewsletter gave legitimacy to our frolic. It seems the SSE spirit resides inus all. MALAVIKA GODE, ECONOMIC EDITOR

I was always involved with writing clubs; from school magazine to theFrench society (I understood very little here, but it was nevertheless fun).This was the best year of all the three years that I spent in Arthniti (Yayto SanSar!).Working with like-minded persons is always rewarding; the nerdy talks,the obsession with grammar and punctuation, appreciation for differentkinds of cinema and our common objective of producing good work. Thearticle Nandita and I wrote for NCC canteen was by far the most amusingexperience. We got to ask curious questions of the elusive NCC boss.Who knew that there would actually be a story behind our adda?Working on the blog, I realised how difficult it is to get other people tocollaborate to produce something. However, I am glad that I got the op-

 portunity to see the blog grow and of course the opportunity to see theclub grow.P.S: The student-teacher mixer was a brilliant idea. Our club could or-ganise it every year for the college as a whole and make a tradition of it.MANASI NIKAM, BLOG EDITOR

Arthniti as a club managed to do a lot of things this year, but its biggestachievement, in my opinion, is that it was able to bring people together.

Sitting in one of the fifth floor classrooms on a Wednesday, discussingideas for the next issue of the newsletter is what I will remember aboutthe club. We got a lot of work done, but we had a lot of fun too. The clubwas a safe place, but it also was a voice, especially for enthusiastic jun-iors who would always come up with great topics to write on. I hopewhen the editors sit together to write for the magazine next year, theywill be able to say the same thing. NANDITA RAMESH, ECONOMIC EDITOR

Looking back to the beginning of the year, I remember sending in one ofmy writings to become a part of Arthniti. I was told, in a week, that I wason the Editorial Board for the club, and my happiness knew no bounds. Ithas been an overwhelming journey with both the club heads and all themembers of Arthniti. Sticking to the deadlines, and sometimes not stick-ing to the deadlines, but still managing to put forward a newsletter every

semester has been the biggest victory from my end. Working onOeconomica Scriptis was tedious but definitely worth it since as a reader,I got to read some amazing articles and reports. Finally, I'd like to paymy gratitude to Sarayu and Sanaya for being so patient and for teachingme so much in this one year with the club.SAAKSHI PURI, EDITOR

Working with Arthniti this past year has been an incredibly enjoyable, enriching journey for me. Right from the onset, I've learnt a lot, not just by constantlyworking to improve the quality of my own work, but through the example of oth-ers. Working on the newsletter month after month while juggling deadlines wasalways an exciting experience. Working with our club heads, Sanaya and Sarayu,has helped me improve not just as a writer and an editor, but has also taught thekind of work and effort that goes into making a good magazine as a whole. Ourwork on Oeconomica Scriptis wasn't the easiest thing, but was a new and interest-

ing experience nevertheless.For all the efforts we have all put in and the work we have collectively done,working with Arthniti has been one of the most satisfying experiences of thisyear. TANIA SHARMA, EDITOR

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