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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Civilizational Confidence

For decades, independent India suffered from a peculiar form of historical insecurity. A nation that inherited one of the world’s oldest living civilizations often appeared reluctant to speak confidently about its own past. While political independence was achieved in 1947, intellectual independence remained elusive in the Nehruvian era and the decades thereafter. That is why the Ministry of Culture’s recent efforts to showcase India’s civilizational heritage on social media and other...

Civilizational Confidence

For decades, independent India suffered from a peculiar form of historical insecurity. A nation that inherited one of the world’s oldest living civilizations often appeared reluctant to speak confidently about its own past. While political independence was achieved in 1947, intellectual independence remained elusive in the Nehruvian era and the decades thereafter. That is why the Ministry of Culture’s recent efforts to showcase India’s civilizational heritage on social media and other platforms deserve applause. Consider the famous Pashupati Seal discovered at Mohenjo-daro. Dating back more than four millennia, the steatite seal depicts a seated figure in a yogic posture surrounded by animals, believed to be a proto-Shiva figure. While scholars may continue to debate its precise interpretation, what is impossible to deny is that India remains the living cultural inheritor of the civilization that produced such artefacts. Civilizational continuity is determined by living traditions. The yogic practices, Shaivite symbolism, ritual forms, philosophical concepts, and cultural motifs that emerged across millennia continue to animate Indian life today. The thread connecting ancient India to modern Bharat was never severed. The Ministry’s celebration on X of a 4,500-year-old terracotta dice from the Indus-Saraswati Civilization similarly highlights the important truth that cultural memory endures even when empires vanish. Predictably, these efforts have triggered outrage from a familiar ecosystem of professional contrarians, ideological activists masquerading as scholars, and academics who seem to regard any positive articulation of Indian civilization and Hinduism as a threat. For this crowd, India’s past must always be fragmented, contested, and stripped of continuity. The moment Indians speak of civilizational inheritance, they are accused of ‘myth-making.’ Any interpretation that strengthens a sense of civilizational continuity is treated with suspicion, while theories that sever Indians from their own historical inheritance are celebrated as sophisticated and progressive. For decades, this self-appointed priesthood of the Indian Left-liberal academy exercised an extraordinary monopoly over historical discourse. Their approach was remarkably consistent. Hindu traditions were to be endlessly deconstructed and disparaged. Civilizational pride was to be treated as inherently suspect. Meanwhile, fashionable western academic jargon was deployed to obscure what was often little more than ideological prejudice. What particularly irritates this ecosystem is that Bharat today is increasingly refusing to seek such permission. The return of Chola-era copper plates from the Netherlands, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, forms part of this larger civilizational recovery. These records illuminate the maritime power and global reach of the Chola Empire. Likewise, the documentation of more than 8.5 million manuscripts under the Gyan Bharatam National Survey of Manuscripts represents one of the most significant cultural preservation exercises in modern Indian history. Such initiatives expose the intellectual bankruptcy of those who spent decades insisting that India’s civilizational consciousness was little more than a modern political invention. The Ministry of Culture’s recent initiatives reflect something more important than mere government messaging. They reflect a nation rediscovering its historical confidence after decades of elite condescension.

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Being the first person from the private sector to be appointed as chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as part of the government’s lateral initiative, Madhabi Puri Buch also holds the honour of being the first woman to hold the top post as capital market regulator.

But the laurels that the former private sector banker enjoyed in her earlier stint with ICICI Bank, was marred with allegations that she and her husband were having a stake in offshore entities, which were used to artificially inflate shares of Adani group companies.

Terming the allegation as `character assassination, Buch clarified that all disclosures have already been furnished and the fund in question did not invest in any securities involving the Adani group.

When it rains, it pours. This allegation was subsequently followed by Congress Party allegation that Buch had received salary and post-retirement benefits from ICICI Bank after she quit the private sector bank.

In its clarification to the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank asserted that the payments made to Buch were purely retirement benefits after her exit from the bank and they were neither salary nor employee stock options.

Prior to these allegations, Buch tenure at SEBI was all about bringing in quick reforms on operational issues by changing the format of consultation paper to bring in larger responses digitally. Being data savvy, the rationale of her decisions were democratic based on big data analysis derived from the responses received to the consultation papers.

Further she bifurcated the duties of the SEBI staff between operations and enforcement, which were done by the same persons earlier. Having worked for the private sector in the capital market domain space, Buch had a better understanding of the subject compared to officers from the administrative service in the past that reflected even in her orders as a whole-time director at SEBI before becoming the chairperson. As a whole time director at SEBI, her orders on adjudication issues were more directional to the capital market space, according to experts in the compliance space. She was also quick to revamp the old provisions of the 90s at SEBI.

Being tech and data savvy, Buch enhanced regulatory surveillance and detection of market manipulation, insider trading and fraud while also emphasizing on strengthening corporate governance by introducing stricter rules for independent directors and enhancing disclosures for related-party transactions.

To put in perspective, the annual report of the capital market regulator in the just concluded financial year revealed that the number of investigations related to insider trading jumped to 175 in 2023-24 from 85 in the preceding year while probes related to front running jumped over three times to 83 from 24 in the preceding year.

Transparency in mutual funds by implementing measures to protect retail investors along with tightening norms for initial public offers, particularly in the SME platforms were some of her other positive initiatives including confirmation of denial of any market rumours within 24 hours for the top 100 listed companies which will be extended to top 250 companies from December 1. However increased transparency and compliance with tightening regulations led to increased operational costs for the market participants and hence faced resistance from certain quarters. Born in 1966, Buch completed her primary education in Mumbai and graduated with specialization in Mathematics from Delhi and later obtained a management degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In between, she got engaged to Dhawal Buch, a director at a consumer goods multinational at the age of eighteen and got married at the age of 21.

Besides ICICI Bank, Buch also worked as a lecturer at a college in England, worked at Greater Pacific Capital in Singapore and ICICI Securities as its CEO. She also worked as executive director on several private sector companies and as a consultant for New Development Bank (Brics Bank).

What now remains to be seen, is whether Buch, who survived the 26/11 terror attack when she along with her husband, was attending a meeting at Taj, be able to overcome the current ordeal. Keeping fingers crossed for the times to come.

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