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Amitav Ghosh recalled Delhi University’s rich intellectual life in the 1970s–80s, lamented its current decline, and discussed his new book Ghost-Eye, reflecting on climate change and Calcutta’s uniquely contrarian identity.

The revered author, Amitav Ghosh, recently remarked that

“Delhi University in the 1970s and 1980s… was as good as any university in the world. I went from Delhi University to Oxford in 1978, and while I loved Oxford — it was a wonderful place — intellectually speaking, Delhi University was far more exciting. We had read more and engaged much more deeply with our subjects.

He further added, “To see the university now being literally destroyed in this way feels like a tragedy. What we see in the US and elsewhere is that institutions take a very long time to build, but they can be destroyed almost overnight — and that is exactly what we are witnessing.”

He made the statement at an event in conversation with writer Keshava Guha at the Ambassador hotel, discussing his recently launched, 11th book “Ghost-Eye”. The book includes a poignant perspective on the repercussions of climate change.

The book also pays homage to the city of Calcutta in which he grew up, “Calcutta continues to go in the opposite direction from the rest of the world. It’s a very unique kind of identity: whatever everyone else is doing, Calcutta is exactly the opposite,” he said on Monday at his book’s official launch.

He further stated the omnipresence of the Bengali voice in him wherever he goes “If I open my study window in Brooklyn, I hear Bengali, coming up from the streets. It’s a strange thing. But still in the minds of Bengalis, Bengali continues to be a language of intimacy rather than a language, an international language as such. So there are always these strange sorts of experiences,” he said.

Image Credits- The Wire

Divyanshi Dusad

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The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, recently attributed the major slow-down of India’s automobile sector to the “millennial mindset”. Here is looking into the same, and beyond.

The Union Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, stirred a wasp’s nest recently, when she commented that the Indian millennials’ preference for app-based cab provider services such as Ola and Uber, is one of the leading reasons behind the ongoing grand fall of the Indian’s automobile sector. According to Sitharaman, who is an alumna of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Economics, there has been a change in the mindset of millennials who now prefer cab aggregator services for their daily commute, instead of committing to paying monthly instalments for a car. She also cited metro as a reason for why young urban consumers are buying fewer cars.
Sitharaman’s analysis comes at a time when India’s auto industry is facing the worst setback in its history. In August this year, when sales fell by 41 percent, we had the tenth consecutive negative month for domestic passenger car sales in India. The broader industry scenario also reflects on the reality of the automobile industry with car companies putting brakes on investment, dealerships shutting down in large numbers, and lakhs of jobs already gone Maruti, India’s largest automobile producer, has reported its seventh consecutive month of contraction in the demand for cars. In conversation with the Economics Times (ET), Maruti Chairman, R.C. Bhargava, said that the situation could get even worse, since he sees more workers in the automobile sector getting fired in the near future. The automobile production industry gives employment to around 7.6 million people in India. However recently, due to fall in the demand (and hence, the sale) of cars and other vehicles, the production of automobiles has left 20 to 30 percent people of this number, unemployed.
Going by the numbers, this auto slowdown is mere a reflection of our country’s overall economic woes than anything else. Consumption, the main component of the economy, is falling; the growth rate of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen to a six-year low; and unemployment is pegged at a 45-year high.
Sales of buses and trucks also saw a precipitous 39 percent fall last month, compounding the auto industry’s trials. According to Bloomberg, it actually is a pointer to the general fall in demand in the Indian economy — something that extends way beyond the country’s millennials and their buying behaviours.
According to ET, millennial consumers are deferring buying decisions in view of the uncertainty of India’s economic indicators. Other factors down the line that have contributed to the auto slump include
the sluggish urban income growth that has ploughed the demand for cars, “haze” car norms that are confusing buyers, the shadow-banking crisis has made loans scarce,thegovernment’spushfore-vehicles in the country, and the rising fuel prices. Moreover, a drop in private investment and banking crisis has led to a weakened consumer demand.
On the other hand, millennials today are hyper-aware of their impact on the planet, and are consciously buying less. They are also waiting for eco-friendly options to emerge in the market. Abhinandan Kaul, a first-year student of St. Stephen’s College agrees, “Our generation is well-read and conscious about the decisions they make as global citizens, so making efforts towards green-living is a priority for many.”
According to some analysts, millennials are saving up for efficient electric alternative vehicles and waiting for cars that will comply with the new pollution standards (Bharat Standard-BSVI-whicharetobeemployed from April 2020 onwards).
Tanmay, a law student, affirms, “People our age use cabs for commuting, but there are many other lynchpin factors affecting this sector.” The reasons for the auto-industry’s plunging sales are varied, and millennials’ aversion to owning cars may have only had a brief impact, if at all, on car sales numbers. This impact, however, cannot be extended beyond the country’s urban centres, where cab service apps enjoy wider user bases.

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa for DU Beat

Bhavya Pandey

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