A midst tall claims about the West Bengal Assembly elections, I was constantly telling my BJP friends that Mamata Banerjee will score a hat-trick. BJP will not be able to cross double digits despite all its efforts. I was saying all this not as a politician but as a journalist based on my analysis. I have always analysed Mamata Didi’s politics in depth. She is a grassroots leader and has a first-hand experience of overthrowing the Left from power. She has suffered lathi blows and knows how to break through the opposition’s defense.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was determined to oust the Mamata Banjerjee-led Trinamool Congress out of power in this Assembly election. For that, it had started the groundwork around two-and-a-half years back. All the big-time leaders, all the outfits associated with the BJP and the RSS deployed all the power and resources at their disposal. They polarised the Hindu vote. Star campaigners were fielded and they worked day and night for this purpose. The Sangh undertook a door-to-door contact programme to woo the voters. The ‘Chanakya Neeti’ of ‘Saam-Daam-DandBhed’ was fully utilised. As the election season approached, several political developments took place that took everybody by surprise. Many leaders who had gained political stature, thanks to Didi, crossed over to BJP. An atmosphere was created that indicated that Didi was all set to lose power this time..! But was Didi the one to give up so easily? She responded to each and every attack with her own firebrand counter-attack. She left her constituency and went to Nandigram and contested against her once confidante and now BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari, who had left her and was contesting on a BJP ticket. The BJP’s strategy was successful. Mamata lost the election in Nandigram. Mamata Banerjee met with an accident during the election. Her movement became restricted. But Didi once again proved that she is a grassroots leader in West Bengal. No matter how many allegations of corruption and hooliganism have been levelled against her and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the people’s mandate went in her favour. Rather, Didi has emerged more powerful than before. Had Didi got the full support of the Congress, the situation would have been even more better. The Congress stopped campaigning in the fifth round, but by then the Congress had inflicted whatever damage it could on Mamata. Due to these initial mistakes, the possibility of division of Muslim votes increased. The BJP got its clear advantage too. The Congress and the Left suffered a humiliating defeat. Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary knew this. But it is clear that people have voted for Mamata to keep the secular forces strong

This election result of West Bengal can prove to be a big game changer in national politics. But before discussing this aspect, let us take a look at what happened in other states. Political analysts say that people have clearly told the Congress to appreciate the public sentiments and treat them accordingly. The Congress should respect the grassroots leaders who are closely connected with the people and let them take over the reins in the party. Kerala is a state where no party came to power for the second time in a row. This is for the first time that the Left retained power. The reason for this is that the Congress replaced those who were grassroots leaders and the high command handed over the leadership to K C Venugopal. Rahul Gandhi is an MP from Kerala. Analysts are saying that the Congress imposed Narayan Sami in Puducherry due to which they lost Puducherry. There was a lot of resentment against Sami due to which they lost power. Despite this, the Congress did not learn any lesson. The BJP’s strategy was successful in that they had already sacked the government of Puducherry.

In Assam, the Congress contested jointly with Badruddin Ajmal’s party All India United Democratic Front, but the strategy the latter had devised failed. Hemant Biswa Sarma was a grassroots leader, but after he joined the BJP, the Congress was in tatters and the result was that despite taking Ajmal along, the Congress could not get the desired results.

As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, I had a conversation with Stalin and also those close to him. When I went there, it was clear to me that Stalin would come to power because he had been working at the ground level for years. After Jayalalithaa’s departure, Palaniswami’s government was facing serious allegations of corruption. Stalin took full advantage of it. Despite the BJP’s help, the AIADMK could not do anything there. As far as the Congress is concerned, it was clearly at Stalin’s mercy. Stalin was not happy with the Congress, but considering Sonia Gandhi, he had allotted 25 seats to the Congress but the party lost the high-stake political battle there too.

Let us now return to West Bengal where Didi has shown amazing power. She has not only retained power in West Bengal, but also ignited a ray of hope in the opposition politics of the country. Now it is to be seen how the secular forces in the country come together and what strategy Soniaji adopts. Will she adopt the strategy like when she went to Mayawati’s house on foot? Will she adopt the same strategy and move forward with the veterans of every state..? Or become a part of UPA-2 in which Sharad Pawar succeeded in bringing everyone under one flag by becoming its convener? It is difficult to say anything right now but it is crystal clear that the fight ahead is not going to be BJP vs Secular Force but Narendra Modi vs all. In this scenario, it will be interesting to watch what Mamata Didi’s stand will be!

BEFORE I CONCLUDE

Elections are over but what is worrying is how many people might have got infected with the coronavirus as a result of their participation in election gatherings, rallies and congregations and what the virus will do to them. It is reported that coronavirus is most widely spread in Maharashtra, but the data dished out by the Government of India is very shocking. In the states where Assembly elections or panchayat elections were held, Covid-19 cases have increased exponentially due to rallies and meetings. In April, the number of Covid-19 patients increased by 5412 per cent in Assam, 1266 per cent in West Bengal, 1229 per cent in Kerala, 1227 per cent in UP, 563 per cent in Tamil Nadu and 359 per cent in Puducherry. This is something called a gross negligence!

The author is the chairman, Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former member of Rajya Sabha

Among many commercial varieties of banana, Nendran is very unique as it is the only variety that is consumed in many forms and at different stages of ripening. It is a popular variety of Kerala and Tamil Nadu with a share of 50 per cent in these states and is sold locally. Fruit is relatively longer and has a thicker skin with a distinct neck.

Efforts for boosting the Agricultural Exports started during 2014-15 when K.R.Jyothilal, an IAS officer was Secretary (Agriculture) in Kerala. When D.K.Singh, another IAS officer took over as the Agricultural Production Commissioner, he looked at the possibility of exporting Nendran to countries with Indian diaspora, especially in the context of State Agriculture Export Strategy announced by Kerala Government in 2019. However, there were a large number of issues that were required to be addressed for considering such export. One of these constraints was the high cost of transportation by air. Discussions revealed that transportation by sea would be 1/7th of the cost incurred by air. However, transportation by sea posed another challenge and this related to the longer period required for shipment to EU and North American countries. On account of their perishable nature, agricultural products cannot survive long distance container transport.

Despite the challenges relating to transportation by sea, it was decided to promote Nendran Banana. In consultation with National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB), Trichy it was decided to conduct some research work on the development of a protocol for the long-distance shipment (30-35 days) of Nendran Banana to Europe. Financial assistance for the project was obtained under the RKVY scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council, Keralam (VFPCK) was entrusted to execute the project. The project was designed in a PPP mode with the participation of multiple organisations like Department of Agriculture, Agri (PPM Cell), VFPCK, NRCB, Krishna Traders, Trace X and others. Under close monitoring and guidance of the current Agricultural Production Commissioner, Ishita Roy, the first consignment was shipped on 08.03.2021 from Kochi port. It reached London Gateway port on 09.04.2021 after sailing for 32 days.

The project enabled evolution of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) relating to pre and post-harvest handling and cultivation practices. As a part of the entire exercise, 15 farmers were selected after field visit by NRCB scientists. Frequent visits to the farms by the officials and documentation of inputs used was ensured. Integrated nutrient management, pest and disease management practices etc. were conducted for getting good quality fruits.

A well designed and administered traceability system was integrated in the value chain. A Bangalore-based agri start-up provided food safety and supply chain traceability software as a service platform through a mobile application. The barcode provided in the clusters / cartons had the entire value chain data captured. The consumer could provide feed-back after scanning the barcode.

Selected fields were visited every week during bunch emergence/flowering stage and tying of bunches that flowered simultaneously with same color ribbons. Repeating the same, during the following weeks and tying with different color ribbons every week for easy identification/harvest of bunches of same maturity.

Harvesting was done on March 2nd 2021 ensuring 80-85 % maturity.

Harvested banana was transported to APEDA Certified Packhouse of VAFPCL at Nadukkara. Here, pack house protocol that included washing, grading and fungicide treatment was followed. To delay ripening, bananas were packaged in vacuum. It was then palletized and kept in cold storage for 12 hrs to bring down the temperature to 13.5 degree Celsius ensuring 80-85 % RH. Reefer containers were used to maintain the temperature and humidity conditions while transporting to the port. After port clearances, the consignment was loaded to ship that sailed on 8th March 2021. The ship reached London Gateway Port on April 9th 2021. On arrival, bananas were still green without any deterioration in appearance and quality

The feed-back received about the bananas was overwhelming. The demand for Nendran is building up in UK markets. The enquiries from other European countries as well as Middle east countries have been extremely encouraging.

There were a few other operational challenges that had to overcome to be overcome. Farmers had various apprehensions about assured income from exports. They had to harvest bananas a bit early as compared to their usual practice for domestic market. Early harvest reduced the weight of the bunches that impacted their income. Further, for export, the ‘hands’ needed to be uniform and hence the first and last ‘hands’ in a bunch had to be discarded and domestic market need to be sought for selling the same. The ‘hands’ had also to be de-handed in the field itself and the bunch covering removed carefully. The entire operation had to be carried out carefully on flat surface that entailed additional labor charges. During the initial trials the farmers could be convinced but this would be a challenge as the venture is scaled

The other set of challenges centred around selling the rejected bananas at the time of packhouse operations which was also good quality for domestic market but discarded due to packing specification of 5 bananas per hand. VFPCK could sell it through the VFPMC and Thalir network operated by VFPCK. In future too it would entail coordination with a number of agencies.

The temperature (below freezing point) in London was another challenge. This delayed the ripening. However, with the support of NRCB Trichy and the technical experts in London and by adjusting temperature in ethylene chamber and exposure timing, ripening was triggered. It yielded the desired result.

The success of the project will pay the way for new market prospects by integrating Kerala to the global value chain and thereby ensuring farmers better and consistent price. The reduced logistics cost shall benefit the producers as well as consumers.

Remarkable feature of this project was the support from the Agricultural Minister, Sri. V.S. Sunil Kumar. Ishita Roy and her team have demonstrated that if there is a vision, a well-defined strategy, meticulous planning and commitment to execute, it can be made to happen by taking all the stake holders, including the politicians, into confidence and by conveying a value proposition.

Anil Swarup has served as the head of the Project Monitoring Group, which is currently under the Prime Minister’s Offic. He has also served as Secretary, Ministry of Coal and Secretary, Ministry of School Education.

April 26th is celebrated as World Intellectual Property (IP) Day every year since 2000, when the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) decided to celebrate this day in recognition of coming into force of the WIPO Convention on this date in the year 1970. India joined WIPO in the year 1975. In its statement at WIPO’s general Assembly, India reiterated its commitment to a strong IP regime. To quote from the statement given on 21st Sept, 2020, “India has taken significant steps towards promotion of innovation and creation of a dynamic, vibrant and balanced intellectual property system with particular focus on encouraging startups. We have also been actively involved in global effort to produce an effective and safe vaccine against Covid-19 as part of our contribution to this important global public good.”

Every year to celebrate this day, a special theme having interface with IPR is chosen. A review of these themes over the last 21 years makes it an interesting compilation of areas in IPR requiring attention of the world.

2001 – Creating the Future Today

2002 – Encouraging Creativity

2003 – Making IP your Business

2004 – The Importance of IP for Economic, Social and Cultural Development

2005 – Think, imagine, create

2006 – IP – It Starts with an Idea

2007 – The Link between IP and Creativity

2008 – Celebrating Innovation and Respecting IP

2009 – Promoting Green Innovation as the key to a Secure Future

2010 – Innovation – Linking the World

2011 – Designing the Future

2012 – Visionary Innovators

2013 – Creativity – The Next Generation

2014 – Movies – A Global Passion

2015 – Get up, stand up. For music

2016 – Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined

2017 – Innovation- Improving Lives

2018 – Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity

2019 – Reach for Gold: IP and Sports

2020 – Innovate for a Green Future

An analysis of these themes highlights the need to focus on creativity and innovation for future of humanity. One of the striking themes have been for the year 2018 which focused upon ‘women in innovation and creativity’. Theme for the World IP Day 2021 is ‘IP&SME – Taking your ideas to market’. Focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is very important, especially for countries like India which has a large population requiring employment and livelihood. Leveraging IPR can provide these SMEs with a wherewithal to build resilient businesses and become more competitive. A suitable IPR may help the SME to protect their innovation in technology or otherwise (patents), build their brand (trademarks), secure their designs and creative works (copyright and design laws). Not only this, local producers may also get geographical indications (GI) and agricultural producers may benefit from plant variety protection. Cultural and Traditional Knowledge of indigenous SMEs may also be protected and prospered.

SMEs in India: The small scale sector has played a very important role in the socio-economic development of India. The Small Scale Industries plays a vital role in meeting the constitutional goal, as it aims at removing regional disparities, facilitate the equitable distribution of national income and wealth, and earn return on investment in shorter period (Naik SD, 2002). In India the concept of MSME has originated from the concept of Small Sector Industries (SSI) in India. The conceptual and legal framework for small scale and ancillary industrial undertakings is derived from the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (IDRA). In 2007, Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries (Krishi Evam Gramin Udyog Mantralaya) and Ministry of Small Scale Industries (Laghu Udyog Mantralaya) have been merged into a single Ministry, namely, “Ministry Of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Sukshma Laghu Aur Madhyam Udyam Mantralaya).

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 seeks to facilitate the development of MSMEs as also enhance their competitiveness. MSME in India are classified in two Classes: (a) Manufacturing Enterprises- The enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production of goods and (b) Service Enterprises: The enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services. MSME is classified as per their investment thresholds, which used to be different for manufacturing sector (on the basis of investment in plant and machinery) and Services sector (on the basis of investment in equipment). Now, it is only on the basis of investment and annual turnover. The distinction between manufacturing and services enterprises have been done away with.

• A micro enterprise is defined as a unit where the annual turnover does not exceed five crore rupees;

• A small enterprise will be defined as a unit where the annual turnover is more than five crore rupees but does not exceed Rs 75 crore;

• A medium enterprise will be defined as a unit where the annual turnover is more than seventy five crore rupees but does not exceed Rs 250 crore.

STARTUPS – Government of India (GOI) launched the Startup India initiative in January 2016 which was intended to provide an impetus to the entrepreneurship culture in India. Intention is to promote a startup culture and allow younger population to take risk with their ideas and become ‘job-creators’ rather than slog as ‘job seekers’. India’s demographic dividend required a suitable channelization of human resource. The Startup Action Plan of 2016 (SAP) addressed three key areas for empowering potential startups, i.e. (i) handholding and simplification (ii) funding support, incentives and (iii) incubation and industry-academia partnership (VK Singh, ADBI – WP 1146, 2020).

Startups and IPR: Among other benefits, Startup action plan provided with legal support and IPR facilitation benefits by fast-tracking of startup patent applications so that they can realise the value of their IPRs at the earliest, provided panel of facilitators to assist in filing of IP applications and legal support and fast-tracking patent examination free of charges. The startups have to only bear the cost of statutory fees payable. As a result of these initiatives, it is reported (Evolution of Startup India – Capturing the 5 year Story) that as of November 2020, 5,020 Patent applications have been filed, 1,170 patent applications filed for expedited examination by Startups; of these 884 applications have been examined and 459 Patents have been granted, 12,264 Trademark applications have been filed. 510 patents and designs facilitators and 392 trademark facilitators are empaneled under the scheme.

Achieving SDGs through IPR: Francis Gurry director of WIPO had rightly said that “Intellectual property as a policy exists to create an enabling environment for – and to stimulate investment in – innovation; to create a framework in which new technologies can be traded around the world and shared. The economic imperative at the heart of innovation is fundamental to the process of societal transformation that the Sustainable Development Goals aim to achieve.” The 17 SDGs are aimed towards ending poverty, protect the planet and ensure that everyone lives in peace and prosperity. Promoting creativity and innovation is much required to have out-of-the box solutions for achieving the SDGs by 2030.

SDG 9 deals with building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. One of the indicators of this SDG 9 has a goal to “Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to value chains and markets.” Innovation is further essential also to achieve SDGs 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and wellbeing), 5 (gender equality), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and 13 (climate action). Each of these SDG goals opens up several opportunities for the SMEs to innovate at the local level. COVID-19 has shown us the importance of producing locally, be it the sanitizers, the masks, the vaccines and the recent one being the ‘oxygen’.

Creating an IP ecosystem with rule of law is very important. In India, while we have all laws for protecting IPR, and our Global Innovation Index has also progressed, still enforcement of IPR has always been a concern. It is about building a culture of compliance to IP Laws. We will not be able to help our own SMEs with IP protection, unless we have a strategy which encourages and facilitates creation, development, management and protection of IPR. National IPR Policy 2016 gives the clarion call of “Creative India; Innovative India” (Rachnatmak Bharat, Abhinav Bharat).

One of its 7 objectives focuses upon the commercialization of IPR which essentially pushes us towards getting the financial value of IPRs created. This is specifically important for the SMEs. “There is a need to create a public platform to connect creators and innovators to potential users, buyers and funding institutions”. Startup India and Make in India schemes of the government are somewhat trying to move in this direction. IPR policy recognizes the need for creating materials for MSMEs highlighting special support mechanisms for them to develop and protect IP, and also providing financial support to the less empowered groups of IP owners or creators like farmers, weavers, artisans, craftsmen, artists etc. through financial institutions like rural banks or cooperative banks offering IP friendly loans.

MSMEs are being supported through reduction in fees for filing of IPRs. These reduction range from 50-60% for trademark and design filing. A new Scheme enables MSMEs for a financial assistance for filing applications for IPR protection amounting to up to Rs 1 lakh for patents (domestic), up to Rs 5 lakh for patents (international), up to Rs 10,000 for trademark and up to Rs 2 lakh for GI registration (PIB, 16th September 2019).

Protecting Competition: One of the challenges for the SMEs could be aggressive competitors who do not want to play fair and utilize IP litigation for the purposes of threatening small players with consequences. This is referred to as ‘Sham litigation’ or ‘Bad-faith litigation’. A Case in point could be the JCB Case (Case 105 of 2013), wherein CCI in its prima facie order directing investigation by DG was of the opinion that JCB may have abused its dominant position by filing a bad-faith litigation before Delhi High Court alleging infringement of its Design rights. The matter involved the product “Bull Smart” (low cost backhoe loaders, a light construction equipment) to be launched by Bull Machines Pvt. Ltd. which JCB alleged to be a breach of their design rights before the High Court.

It is interesting to note that this was the first ever case in which ‘dawn raid’ was conducted by the Director General (DG) of Competition Commission of India, however, Delhi High Court stayed investigation in this matter. CCI approached Supreme Court and it was only in 2019 that Supreme Court allowed the usage of evidence gathered during the ‘dawn raid’. Long duration taken for deciding such matters also dampens the spirit of law to protect and promote competition. Irrespective of the outcomes, a swift decision on jurisprudential issues would go a long way in helping meet the objectives of the legislation, especially when the matter in question is about ‘bad-faith’ litigation. The final outcome of this case is still awaited. This case illustrates the need for adequate protection of SMEs from bad-faith litigation.

Women in SMEs and IPR – It is disheartening to know that there is only 13% women running small businesses. While low financial inclusion of women entrepreneur is dubbed to be the main reason for this problem, there are several other social factors which contributes to this problem. Demonstrating creativity and innovation by women in SMEs may help bridge this gap. As owners of IPR, women innovators may shine as small entrepreneurs to begin with. A study by WIPO shows that India ranks 7th in percentage of women who are active as inventors in different countries, however still this number doesn’t match with the percentage of women running small businesses. Patent Rules provide for an expedited examination of international patent application if the applicant or one of the applicant is a female (natural person category).

IPR Rankings – India has witnessed a substantial jump of 33 places in Global Innovation Index rankings since 2015. India ranks 48th among the 131 economies featured in the GII 2020 released by WIPO along with Cornell University and INSEAD Business School. However, in a report (International Intellectual Property Index) released by US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), India ranks 40th out of 53 global economies. Amidst the rising pressure on invoking compulsory licensing provisions in relation to the COVID vaccines, India continues to remain on the US ‘Priority Watch List’ for alleged violations of IPR, be it patent, copyright or trade secrets. This is indeed a ‘catch 22’ situation for the Government which has to balance the rights of the IP owners and the socialistic objectives of the constitution. Supreme Court has recently remarked that Central Government cannot leave it to the market forces. This is a debate in which the common man of India has to engage and weigh the options, for which awareness about IP rights is essential.

Awareness is still lacking: The 2012 National Study on Intellectual Property and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises – India, under the WIPO Development Agenda highlighted “Contrary to the common belief that awareness about IPR among MSMEs is completely missing, some MSMEs appear to be aware of IPRs and comprehend the need for protecting IPR. The awareness seems to be more about trademark and designs as compared to patents. However, the number of MSME engaged in IPR activities is still very small considering the large size of the MSME sector in India”. In the last 10 years things have changed a lot, however, still IPR is yet to get its due focus. IPR as a mode of investment and its treatment at par with the tangible assets like land, machinery, equipment is yet to happen in India. IPR and its commercialization has to become the mantra of success for the SMEs.

When India has resolved to be Aatmanirbhar, it would be crucial for the SMEs to bring their ideas to the market. ‘Vocal for local’ would not be successful unless the local producers realize the potential of getting IP rights legally so that the fruits of their innovation are not lost in transition. While discussing startups, one should not forget the rural artisans who have been self-entrepreneurs like potters, blacksmiths, weavers, cobblers, stone workers, carpenters, engravers etc. However, they have been generally left out from policy making, because of being clubbed with non-farm workers (Solanki 2018). Schemes like ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) may become more successful when the indigenous and specialized products get their GI protection, whether it is ‘Nagpur Orange’ of Maharashtra or ‘Kutchi shawl’ of Gujarat, Odisha’s Rasgulla or Mizo Chilli of Mizoram.

Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh is Dean, School of Law at UPES Dehradun. Views are personal.

The Allahabad High Court, on April 19, on a suo moto PIL regarding the surging COVID-19 crisis in the State of Uttar Pradesh gave elaborate directions to the State government to enforce a lockdown in five cities of the state, namely Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi and Gorakhpur forthwith from 19th April – 26th April. The court had directed the State govt. vide its order dated 13th April to state the steps it was planning to take to tackle the ongoing situation, the response to which was found inadequate by the court in the affidavit filed by the govt. This occasioned the court to pass these directions. The court, while passing the directions observed: “Public health is the top most priority and call of the moment and any complacency of any degree today will cause havoc to people. We can’t shirk away from our constitutional duty to save innocent people from the pandemic which is spreading due to the negligence of a few” While it is considered to be an ideal and heroic step taken by the judiciary to protect the people from the pandemic, the directions may not stand the test of judicial scrutiny when viewed in purely legal sense on the touchstone of established jurisprudence on this issue.

It is a well-established principle of law that the judiciary cannot take policy decisions or assume unto itself the task of law-making as they fall within the exclusive domains of the executive and the legislature respectively and any such step would amount to judicial overreach or judicial overstepping. This has also been acknowledged by the Allahabad High Court in its order wherein it states “We know that putting a lockdown to public activities is a matter purely in the nature of policy decisions by the concerned government”. The reason for this impermissibility is the doctrine of separation of powers which although not strictly engrafted in our Constitution, is a part of its basic structure as has been held by the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharti v. State of Kerala AIR 1973 SC 1461. The doctrine enunciates that the three organs of the government have to function in their exclusive spheres without encroaching upon the functions of others, unless permitted by the Constitution. Our Constitution has entrusted the functions of policy making, even in the most emergent situations on the executive wing headed by the President of India for the Union and the Governor for the States and the judiciary has the power to test the validity of these decisions taken by the executive. For instance, in the event of an armed rebellion or the constitutional failure of the machinery of the State, it is only the respective executives of the Union or the State which have the power to impose an emergency and the constitutional courts can merely test the validity of these actions to see if there was enough material available with the executive to base its decision (SR Bommai v. Union of India, AIR 1994 SC 1918). The analogy can also be extended to the ordinance making power of the executive to deal with the immediate situations when the legislature is not in session. Even the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 under which the governments have been framing the regulations and promulgating orders to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic provides for power of central or state government to take such actions.

The Supreme Court had specifically dealt with this issue in the case of Asif Hameed v. State of J&K AIR 1989 SC 1899 wherein it held that “The Constitution does not permit the court to direct or advise the executive in matters of policy or to sermonize qua any matter which under the Constitution lies within the sphere of legislature or executive, provided these authorities do not transgress their constitutional limits or statutory powers.” Thus, it is clear that the only power that the judiciary reserves with itself in such matters is to consider the validity and propriety of such actions, namely the power of judicial review.

The reason for such a restriction on the judicial power was explained by the Supreme Court in P. Ramachandra Rao v. State of Karnataka (2002) 4 SCC 578 while quoting the following monograph from the book Judicial Activism and Constitutional Democracy in India: “It is plain that the judiciary is the least competent to function as a legislative or the administrative agency. For one thing courts lack the facilities to gather detailed data or to make probing enquiries. Reliance on advocates who appear before them for data is likely to give them partisan or inadequate information. On the other hand if courts have to rely on their own knowledge or research it is bound to be selective and subjective. Courts also have no means for effectively supervising and implementing the aftermath of their orders, schemes and mandates. Moreover, since courts mandate for isolated cases, their decrees make no allowance for the differing and varying situations which administrators will encounter in applying the mandates to other cases. Courts have also no method to reverse their orders if they are found unworkable or requiring modification.” Highlighting the difficulties which the courts are likely to encounter if embarking in the fields of legislation or administration, the learned author advises “the Supreme Court would have well left the decision-making to the other branches of government after directing their attention to the problems rather than itself entering the remedial field.” Thus, it is clear from these decisions that the maximum power which the court holds in such matters is to direct the attention of the executive to such problems and to take steps for their redressal instead of itself becoming the policy framer for the reasons stated above.

There is yet another reason why such an action on the part of the Allahabad High Court is problematic. Imposition of lockdown anywhere makes a case for violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution and can be sustained only on it being a reasonable restriction imposed via due procedure established by law. Such a law, as per Article 13(3) has to be either an administrative action (within the realms of its delegated powers) or a primary legislation enacted by the legislature. It does not include the judgements rendered by the Courts. It is well-established that the judiciary is not State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution (Rupa Ashok Hurra v. Ashok Hurra, (2002) 4 SCC 388) and thus, determinations by the judiciary cannot be challenged for violation of Fundamental Rights under the Constitution.

Hence, it is clear that the directions given by the Allahabad High Court do not have a legal backing and are against the established canons of Constitutional principles. The Supreme Court has stayed the operation of the directions on a plea filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh challenging the validity of the directions and a final decision is awaited.

The complexity of West Bengal politics sets itself differently complex to the shades of National politics. There has been a range of common identities like upper class, elite, working class etc. over which parties have fought intensely in the former elections but this time there are newer subjects like the Bengali identity card, migrants, illegal migrants and most importantly the saffron card of Hindutva alongside with newer strategies to draw the minority Muslim population, but to a greater political irony all of this co-exist in West Bengal irrespective of the wide stretched ideological terms. Adding to this ironic existence, what is also interesting to acknowledge in the political culture of West Bengal is the different party banners and flags hanging from a common point, highlighting that the external politics of West Bengal is bonded with an internal affection.

Elders in families, who have been there around the 70s and 80s are mainly Congress and Left supporters. However the number of CPI(M) supporters has diminished out of their traditional approaches which didn’t align with the modernist populist tendencies of the late 1980s political system. The ones in the age group of 40-50 are mainly with the TMC and the new age political wokes are the major support masses for the BJP. The ideological concrete that existed in West Bengal during the Left years, has shrinked after the coming in of Mamata Banerjee and has been replaced by populist measures. An extension to this populist tendency has worked for the BJP’S advantage too in the state and the party whose existence in the state has been from the 80s is turning into a stronghold for the BJP mainly because of the Modi factor. Meanwhile the soft Hinduisation of the cadres of ‘secular’ parties across the political spectrum cannot be sidestepped in assessing the ascendancy of the Hindu Right in the state, and the Left’s tacit support of it.

The political system in West Bengal has been eroded by all together different phenomena to that of the larger national politics. So it is very natural to see a political figure critiquing a rival today and the very next day become a part of the same. Perhaps this is the reason that of the candidates the BJP has fielded in the state majority of them have their roots in the ruling TMC and interestingly the RSS led dominance of BJP has also become a marginal factor in West Bengal, where most of the BJP biggies have their roots in the TMC. The erstwhile card of BJP has seen an alternate way in the state and not only that the larger catch of this political rivalry between the BJP and the TMC lies in a shared partnership of the past. TMC was a part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from 1999 – 2004. In the Lok Sabha election of 1999, Trinamool Congress won 8 seats with BJP.In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, TMC won 1 seat with BJP and in the 2006 Vidhan Sabha elections, TMC won 30 seats with BJP. On an interesting note, the current foes were former friends.

However putting the onus of this variable relations on the TMC-BJP isn’t the only fascinating feature of West Bengal. The current alliance partner of Sanjukta Morcha (Sanyukta Morcha) – Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian National Congress were the former political rivals in the state and Mamata Banerjee was a part of the later. The All India Trinamool Congress has its root in the Indian National Congress and back then the politics of West Bengal circulated across Left Front and Congress. The politics of West Bengal underwent an initial crucial change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election, defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress. The Left Front, led by Communist Party of India (Marxist), has governed for the state for the subsequent three decades.The deepest levels of distrust and hostility of supporters from both parties against each other fester at the grassroots till date and this is an obstacle that will need to be overcome for the partnership to present itself as a viable political choice for voters.However today the alliance with the Congress is the only survival strategy for the CPI (M).

Stretching the political curiosity in the state the AITC-Congress alliance in 2009 was another considerable shock as Mamata Banerjee had walked out of the Congress to form the Trinamool Congress in 1998 and making things worse the party had contested both the 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Meanwhile the former state rivals of the Congress, the Left parties were providing crucial support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre until 2008, when they withdrew support over the Indo-US Nuclear Deal issue and this is believed to have given the Trinamool Congress a decisive edge over the Left in the state.A section of the CPI(M) state leadership has always blamed the CPI(M)’s all-India leadership’s decision to withdraw support from the Congress for the Left Front’s downfall in West Bengal.

In the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress bagged victory along with the alliance that included the Indian National Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) but after coming to power, TMC began engineering defections from the Congress and chopped the feathers of its own alliance partner. It began with two Congress MLAs walking across soon after the election, and several leaders and workers subsequently switched to the TMC. In September 2012, Mamata withdrew support to the UPA government at the Centre, protesting against FDI in retail, increase in the price of diesel, and the limits on the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households.Since the 2016 Assembly polls, 17 out of the Congress’s 44 MLAs have joined the TMC. So Mamata Banerjee led TMC not only replaced Congress as a major opposition in the Left ruled years but walked every step in hijacking the West Bengal presence of Congress.

Accurating the legacy of, ‘Tit for tat’ for the first time the TMC tasted its own bitter recipe when Mamata’s second in command and Mukul Roy defected to the BJP in 2017. Roy can be termed as the biggest boon BJP received in West Bengal paving it’s for a saffron rule with a TMC coating. After Roy switched several TMC biggies have followed him to the BJP leading to the ginormous 2019 Lok Sabha performance, when the party won 18 Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of 40.3% compared to the Trinamool Congress’s 22 seats with a vote share of 43.3%. BJP continues shopping TMC leaders and this is the reason why the party is being seen as a potential winner in the 2021 elections.

Moreover the void in Opposition space in West Bengal allowed the BJP to gain ground in 2014 and 2019. The 2014 Lok Sabha election results provided further evidence that the theory of a Congress-Trinamool Congress tie-up having led to the Left’s defeat in the state, was incorrect and it was the Left which suffered the biggest damage. The Congress’s vote share went down from 13.5% in 2009 to 9.6% in 2014, whereas the Left Front’s vote share fell massively from 43.3% to 29.6%. The biggest gainer of the erosion in Left Front’s support-base was the BJP, which increased its vote share from 6.1% to 16.8% and managed to win two Lok Sabha seats in 2014 which was equivalent to the Left’s share.

A lot of Left cadres shifted support to BJP inorder to defeat TMC irrespective of the BJP using its usual majoritarian agenda to destabilise and branding all other political parties as appeasers of the Muslim minority. It is interesting that to counter the wooing of the Muslim voters miffed with the TMC camp and to prevent the community votes shifting to parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which may indirectly help the BJP, West Bengal witnesses a new minorities based party Indian Secular Front floated by Cleric Abbas Siddiqui of the popular Sunni Muslim shrine Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district, who has raised the hopes of the Congress-Left Front alliance, which is allegedly trying hard to counter attempts by the BJP and the ruling TMC to polarize the electorate.

Considering the grassroot opinion on the dynamic changes of West Bengal Shuvajit Sarkar who is an SFI Leader comments that, “Before 2011 politics of defection wasn’t there in West Bengal, even in Congress’s time when it was centrally very strong and was a major opposition in West Bengal”. According to Mr.Sarkar – ‘Defections happen from TMC to BJP because TMC has gained it’s ground with BJP’S support and ideologically they are alike’. Mr.Sarkar also highlighted that when Gujarat Riots occurred, there was a national level political criticism of BJP but the then alliance partner TMC didn’t condemn the matter. He further added that, “TMC grassroot workers are against BJP but not the party stalwarts”. According to him – BJP and Left are two parties who have organisational structure but it’s ironic how BJP is accommodating and preferring over faces who have no commitment to its ideology. Mr. Sarkar even made a pivotal point about the BJP countering the party’s Hindutva card that, “there are staunch Hindus who support non-BJP parties, so Hindu vote bank isn’t working to BJP’S advantage”. According to Mr. Sarkar – People of Bengal will vote for issue politics.

Stretching the observations of Mr. Shuvajit Sarkar his ideological rival and the Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Mr. Gurpreet Saluja comments that, “The inclusive culture is a part of West Bengal politics and hails from the point of people who are always welcoming a change which according to Mr. Saluja will work on the advantage of the saffron party this time. Mr. Saluja made a point also mentioned by Mr.Sarkar which throws bright light on their mutual rival Mamata Banerjee. According to both of them, ‘Mamata came with a good agenda as a grassroot political worker but after coming to power she completely sidelined the grassroot issues and turned to a corrupt hegemon with her party projecting her as one. According to Mr.Saluja this is where the BJP one of TMC’s former alliance partners, emerged as the most stiff competition.

The 2021 Assembly elections is the time when the old bastion of Centre Left vs Left is seeing a saffron sway projecting Right vs Centre Right, making way for a political system which is unique to the land of largest democracy. However still West Bengal sets a milestone example to the scattered and differential National politics with its peaceful coexistence of political rivals to the extent of hailing from a single family. Be it Tathagata and Saugata Roy; Jayant Sinha and Yashwant Sinha or to the newest example of Suvendu Adhikari and Sisir Adhikari the personal relationships haven’t widened a bit irrespective of the political differences. That is why a TMC candidate can be seen celebrating Holi with BJP nominees irrespective of the parties tied on a tough battle because West Bengal delivers all together a different political taste to the ideologically contested politics of India.

The ruthless march of COVID-19 throughout the globe is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting the health of hundreds of thousands of people. The consequences of measures taken worldwide to curb the pandemic are having a growing impact on the global economy. This article aims to offer key highlights on the impact being felt by the industry due to factors including, but not limited to, the migratory nature of the hospitality work force and the pause on global travel, tourism and restaurant services.

Business impact on travel and tourism:: Accounting for the unprecedented travel restrictions, the United Nations World Tourism Organization expects that international tourists will be down by 20% to 30% in 2020, when compared to the last year. To put this into context, they also drew a comparison from the SARS outbreak in 2009, which led to a decline of just 0.4% of the international tourist market. The hospitality industry accounts for 10% of the global GDP.Disruptions to production, initially in Asia, have now spread to supply chains across the world. All businesses, regardless of size, are facing serious challenges, especially those in the aviation, tourism and hospitality industries, with a real threat of significant declines in revenue, insolvencies and job losses in specific sectors. Sustaining business operations will be particularly difficult for small and medium enterprises.

In India: The hospitality industry is likely to be hit hard. Experts suggest that domestic hotel companies will face a weak Q4 FY20 and a weaker Q1 FY21. March has borne the brunt of many large-scale cancellations across the corporate, MICE and leisure segments. Tier 2 and tier 3 hotel markets in India continue to witness a small erosion in business for now. Occupancies in at least the first half of March were only partially lower despite the spread of the virus in some states,

In Europe: Industry experts have attempted to predict the effect upon the global hotel industry for 2020, estimating a profit decline of 11-29%. The KHN, which represents bars, cafés and hotels, has said that the emergency measures to limit the spread of the virus are already causing a serious impact. Cancellations have risen by almost half – the KHN survey found that hospitality owners believe that they could make losses of 33% due to the emergency measures put in place by the government.

In China: Compared to 2019 figures, occupancy is down by as much as 68%. As China was the first market to deal with the coronavirus, it is also the first to show signs of stabilization. As per data, 87% percent of the country’s hotels are now open and occupancy is beginning to rise.

Other countries: Hotels across the U.S. are experiencing unprecedented booking cancellations due to the pandemic, which could eliminate up to four million posts (this accounts for 50% of all hotel jobs in America). The average occupancy in Italy is down by 96% ; the United Kingdom is down by 67%.

Impact on jobs in hospitality:: The World Travel & Tourism Council has recently warned the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a cut 50 million jobs worldwide in the travel and tourism industry. As per an Oxford economics study, Asia is expected to be the worst affected and data suggests the industry could take many months to recover. Following travel bans, border closures and quarantine measures, many workers cannot move to their places of work or carry out their jobs which has effects on incomes, particularly for informal and casually employed workers. Given the current environment of uncertainty and fear, enterprises are likely to delay investments, purchases of goods and the hiring of workers. As per data, the impact on the Indian hospitality industry could render a majority of the people in hospitality in India, jobless. As a result of this pandemic, the Indian tourism industry is looking at pan India bankruptcies, closure of businesses and mass unemployment. Overall, it may be that the nature of hotels and restaurants will change to leaner and more efficient operations, where a balance between smart and skilled labour is sought after. Due to fear, a large part of the labour force is seeing a domestic-mass immigration, which means a majority of the front line staff at hotels will have moved back to their native areas. Temporary work forces will be the first to shrink, afterwhich the impact will be felt by permanent employees as hospitality companies may be hard-pressed to cut costs. This may lead to a large number of people changing their industry to go where the cash flow is quicker. This global exodus could have a severe impact on the talent pool and may not recover until confidence is reinforced by employers and governments alike. Only through a compassionate approach taken by businesses can the workforce be saved.

Managerial implications:: Most prominent theme that emerged was related to the skills of the employees. This was visible in the way experts felt about the vital learnings from the ongoing crisis, where multiskilling was considered as a latent solution to the issue of reduced redundancy and retaining employees in the long run. This reflects that going forward managers must take cognizance of the evolving practices related to the employees’ engagement in multiple job roles, which is expected to become a norm in hospitality and tourism. Research in past indicates that this may be achieved by delegation of additional responsibilities, on the job training, and across departmental work projects. The added advantage of multiskilling may also reflect in the form of retaining usefulness of employees during lean seasons or in low demand . Hygiene and sanitation remained a recurrent sub-theme throughout the responses, be it about foreseeable consumer behaviour or learnings for the industry and educators or trainers. The issue of hygiene has been well documented in tourism and hospitality literature . However, for a developing country like India that deals with issues like over-crowdedness and congestion, it is too serious a concern to be overlooked . This issue, in the light of the recent publication by Lancet (Lodder and de Roda Husman, 2020), where the researchers have speculated presence of SARS-COV-2 in human waste water becomes more consequential if not managed effectively. The seriousness of this issue can’t be emphasised enough and regardless of the type and size of the establishment, next crucial aspect that is likely to govern the survival would be the presence of standards of waste management and effective sanitation practices visible in all forms of hospitality operations. Hospitality management must consider wearing masks mandatory until a sustained solution, for instance the most contemplated solution+COVID-19 vaccine, is achieved. Irrespective of type of operations, managers must consider creating dedicated task forces among employees to address hygiene issues and related training and awareness creation. Basing on the responses received it seems clear now that there is stark need of formulating national standards for tourism and hospitality enterprises, and their implementation and monitoring should be effectively carried out, failing that should invite relative penalties. The need of national standards also resonate with recommendations . One such standard practice could be mandatory temperature checking and its record keeping at the entry and exit points of work places and institutions. The notion of retaining optimism and hopes of revival remained high.

Furthermore, the industry heads reflected on the immediate challenge of managing fixed costs when the enterprises are continuing to lose business. Lodging and food service sectors are known to have higher fixed costs and are sensitive to the shocks and instabilities in the market . In this regard the responses conveyed similar challenges that the organisations faced.

“COVID19, now globally carrying the status of a pandemic, has led to a worldwide crisis with its effects on the hospitality industry potentially heavier than those of 9/11, SARS, and the financial crisis in 2008. Challenges faced by many of the organisation in today’s scenario is very common -Managing Fixed Expenses, Payroll, Morale of the Employees and specially Cash Flow”.

“As the payment cycle of the hospitality industry varies from 90 to 60 days except the weddings so working capital to meet out the fixed cost is a challenge”.

“Various cost cutting measures implementation wherever it is possible. Can’t do much on fixed costs.”

These reflections are indications of the acknowledgement by the industry actors of the ongoing struggle and the need to keep the business running while facing the uphill task of meeting their expenses on regular basis. To add to this, the industry is familiar with the variations in demand and it can be argued that unlike other sectors that may ensure steady income, tourism and hospitality oriented businesses are aware of the potential slack times arising out of various reasons like seasonal demand and crises. Employees and employers likewise need to strengthen their competencies and should sail through these tough times, also because if cost cutting is done, for instance, in the form of employee reduction or layoffs, the re-hiring would be needed as and when the industry recovers. Retaining employees is argued to be less expensive than letting employees leave . This argument holds relevance particularly in the Indian context where “it is noted that reducing staff or laying off employees may not be the most favored action”.

Impact on the talent pool:: With the incumbent lay-offs, it is possible to offer upskilling opportunities to front-line staff, so as to beef up their resumes and increase their probability in securing a job at the time of the market up-turn. This could curb mass-migration to the other industries that could increase the gestation period of the hospitality market’s recovery phase by reducing specialized workforce. In this scenario, the training and upskilling of a replacement batch would take a longer time to recover – causing companies innumerable issues. However, innovative methods can be applied to aid the market in boosting and preserving the numbers for when the market finally normalizes.

Summary:: At no point in history has such an incident occurred, where businesses in almost 200 countries have been paralyzed due to a common factor. Only time will truly tell the full impact of COVID-19 on the global business scenario. The landscape of hospitality could possibly change forever, and in order to stay relevant, we must find creative ways to secure our industry. A vast amount of research on global hospitality trends is being shared on the internet, which can help inspire paradigm-shifting ideas. However, adoption of those ideas by the market will be key in finding the light at the end of the tunnel. It is possible that employers and governments who remain connected and concerned about their resources decide to retain a majority of their people, thereby reducing the stress on their HR cycle and giving them the competitive advantage. Tourism and hospitality industry thrives on the patterns of visitations and a considerable efforts are placed by decision makers to attract visitors to support the sector and enhance the multiplier effect from the industry. But due to the ongoing situation travel restrictions are being observed at national and international levels. These travel bans, border closures, events cancellations, quarantine requirements and fear of spread, have placed extreme challenges on tourism and hospitality sector . Air travel, for instance, has been regarded as an amplifying and accelerating factor for influenza and this segment has witnessed significant curtailments as the need of personal safety and survival has become pivotal . It has also prominently reduced the need for leisure travel and search for hedonistic getaways. Despite the enormous blow, the sector is salvaging resources and ways to remain afloat for now, be it sturdier negotiations with suppliers for mutual sustenance, extensive cost reduction practices, or minimum mandatory period for accommodation bookings when visiting tourism destinations. Correspondingly, accommodation providers have extended support, mostly at some price, for those needing isolation during quarantine period and to those who are involved in treating COVID patients and cannot return to their usual place of residence. These initiatives, for now, indicate the ad hoc coping mechanisms adopted by the industry and appear to remain in place until some stability is attained.

It is possible to offer upskilling opportunities to the front-line staff, so as to beef up their resumes and increase their probability in securing a job at the time of the market upturn. This could curb mass-migration to other industries that could increase the gestation period of the hospitality market’s recovery phase by reducing specialized workforce.