April 29, 2020 | Adamas University

THE OTHER SIDE OF CORONA: BLESSING ON A PROFIT MONGER

Relevance of the Blog to Curricula: The concepts and applications in this blog pertain TO the topics in the following courses:

Programme UG Economics: Course Money Banking and Financial Markets (Code

CEC33102), Unit 2, Topic 2

Programme PG Economics: Course Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (Code CEC52116), Unit 4 Topics 1 and 3

Programme PhD Economics: Course Advanced Theory of Economics (Code CEC81101), Topic 4

Programme PhD Commerce: Course Advanced Finance (Code CCO81101), Module 2, Topics 3 and 6

The structure of a financial market rests upon a macroeconomic structure. The performance of a macroeconomic system reflects upon the pace of productive activities. Productive activities come to a halt if the staff and workers are unable to attend offices, factories and outdoor workplaces. As precaution against COVID-19, gathering and assembling are getting prohibited, in an increasing number of regions in the face of lockdown, leaving aside essential goods and services sectors. In the interest of safety senior citizens and children are being quarantined from their families. Out of fear the youth and the middle aged people are falling prey to mutual distrust and maintaining social distances because some of the infected victims are found to have hidden the fact during the incubation period of the virus. In short the supply of labour is diminishing side by side with the publics’ tendency of hoarding daily necessities and consumables because they like to avoid crowds in shops or stores when online vendors are unable to deliver. As a result production has become sluggish and side by side the saving tendency will be stronger and discretionary consumption will go down. Consequently the non-essential goods manufacturing businesses are likely to register losses pari passu with transporters, intermediary goods suppliers and financiers. In a nutshell there is a solid ground that stock indices crash. In these circumstances the investors need to turn to the fixed income market or interest rate market. On the eve of loosing sizeable tax revenues, the governments are not in a position to curtail wages and salaries of the staff, who are unable to attend work because of their compliance with the guidelines circulated by the government themselves on how to keep away from infection.

In the above circumstances the government will be a major borrower in the fund markets and most corporate houses will require much less volume of funds because of suspension of productive activities. Those banks and non-bank entities who are holding surplus cash and unable to lend will be happy to lend to the governments. The terms to maturities of these loans are expected to be longer than otherwise and accordingly the average yield to maturity or cost of capital would look to the higher end without any consideration of risk premium. At the same time, the basic goods producing sector would face augmentation of demand and need short term funds which can’t be expected from the stock market but can be expected from commercial paper market or from banks in the over-the-counter market.

Amidst suspension of work in all manufacturing and large scale industries nationwide, the demand for short term funds on part of essential commodity producers, vendors of softwares and online platform providers associated with education and internet service providers and a few hospitality providers can be catered to by the money market instruments like commercial papers in the case of rated entities or by banks. The selling prices of commercial papers are likely to be low because of expected default and consequent higher than before risk premium. Therefore not only from investors’ and lenders’ viewpoints but also from issuers’ and borrowers’ viewpoints, debt market is likely to serve the purpose of raising funds when the investors are not willing to subscribe to equity instrument because of viral lockdown of manufacturing and other productive activities. However this segment of industry is likely to face a higher than expected short term cost of funds.

Furthermore, the aggregate demand facing the locked-down sector shrinks in size, as a result, the thin demand is cleared by the inventory getting rid of any further production. Consequently demand for funds, working capital loans, project funding and similar everything evaporates as a result of which the price of funds goes down for the locked-down sector. For the sake of asset liability management or for any slowed down activity that need to be completed urgently now if at all long term borrowing is required, the top rated debt security issuers who earlier looked toward offshore currency markets can now take recourse home comfortably but it is difficult to predict who among the two – risk premium and term premium – reinforces the other.

In the other way round the demand for gilt-edged securities this time is expected to soar high but at the same time if supply increases because of the need of the fiscal policy to pull up the economy from recession. As a result it is difficult to say whether their yields consequent upon the market rate of interest are more likely to rise or fall. However this is a bad time for corporate debt market because of expected defaults. Overall the above factors are likely to exert an upward push to the term structure of cost of funds in absence of printing money by the central bank for financing government expenditure against government securities and instead, financing government expenditure through placing these securities with the banking sector. If the central bank prints money, this will push down the interest rate facing the real sector and boost some investment and employment at the cost of inflation. So a trade-off may be required between inflation and unemployment.

This is the time a profiteering dealer of rated securities should have the best buy of the chosen top rated stocks as safe as gilts at low prices on the one hand and on the other hand the best sale of his fixed income portfolio.

Disclaimer: This blog is purely academic in nature, not responsible for loss if any of any trader or investor following the suggestion here.

AN ENIGMATIC ROLE OF A SUBTLE BOND THAT SUSTAIN LIFE IN EARTH

Introduction:

The earth is surrounded with the grip of fear of a microorganism named, COVID-19. It triumphs throughout all the continents in mother earth and is imperiling lives. In this situation of morbidity and fear, I as a chemist would like to emphasize on a subtle but powerful chemical bond that plays fundamental role to make life happens in this beautiful earth billions of years ago.

In a grime mist within the disc of the galaxy it is appallingly cold which causes to move “water molecules” very slowly. As soon as two slow moving clod water molecules meet each other, they get gluey together, it can be vehemently said that this stickiness is the harbinger of life in the universe, so it is worth understanding what the root cause of this stickiness is.

Hydrogen bond in water:

In a water molecule (H₂O), due to the difference in electron attraction capability, the covalent bond (i.e. O-H) becomes dipolar, where partial negative charge concentrate on oxygen and partial positive charge develops on hydrogen atoms. Consequently an electrical attraction between these dipoles of different water molecules develops an electrostatic attraction as shown in the picture and hydrogen bonding occurs. Hydrogen bonding is directional and of electrostatic in nature and is the reason for stickiness.

Molecular processes of life:

It is known to us that ‘Life’ adopts various levels of complexity both structural and functional to reach from molecular levels to supramolecular levels which are capable of performing numerous functions. Leaving this evolutionary outcome which is impulsive, in this writing we shall emphasize on the interactions that take place between biomolecules are facilitated by well-known chemical bonds and forces that obey the universal laws of physics and chemistry.

Leaving all the enunciating list of properties to define life if only concentrate on very basic properties those are minimum requisite which must be justified as prerequisite of life to start the molecular process are as follows:

i) Genetic and catalytic tasks performed by functional molecules/groups to sustain life:

Here genetic tasks imply exchanging information which are coded sequentially by chemical groups and catalytic processes reduce the barriers of several chemical reactions to synthesize molecular constituents. Consequently, molecular replications occur, which are vital criterion of molecular process of life. Nucleic acids, proteins and RNA are doing these tasks to preserve basic molecular constituents to continue life for billions of years.

ii) Advent of molecular constituents with genetic and catalytic capabilities through the process of natural selection.

Any form of life which satisfies above two prerequisites must possess a variety of functional groups consisting of a huge number of atoms to store genetic information as well as catalytic processes for their evolution. Topology of such chain of functional groups ( a very large sequence of atoms) must be able to take any shape instead of linear. To pass the information from one group chain to another they must interact with one another.

Functional group chain and their interactions:

The existence of these “functional group chain” infers that adjacent chemical groups along the chain must be held together by chemical bonds which leads to a specific structure maintaining their atomic sequences. Moreover, along with these intra-chain bonds, to continue genetic tasks of copying and translating information, the chains of the functional molecules are expected to undertake molecular association (or dissociation) that comprises of sequential pairing (or un-pairing) of a series of chemical groups located along adjacent chains. Thus molecules in chain will be able to attain required conformations through folding, which is an intramolecular form of bonding. when the functional molecules interact with each other must be directional because the molecules involved bonding interactions must recognize one another other before accomplishing functions like catalyze chemical reactions, synthesis or recycle molecules/functional groups, exchange information among several functional group chains. These directional interactions, needed for intermolecular recognition, plays pivotal role of genetic exchange of information. To preserve the conformation and functionality of the group chains, the energy exchanged during these intermolecular bonding as well as recognition, must be lower than the inter-chain bond energy.

Till now it is comprehensible that intra-atomic bond among atoms to build functional group chain requires highest value of dissociation energy while intermolecular interactions requires for chain pairing for genetic information exchange requires somewhat less stronger bond than earlier but must possess directionality in its characteristics.

Roles of Chemical Bonds:

Covalent, ionic, and metallic bonds are the three principal forms of chemical bonds in nature. In covalent bonding adjacent atoms share their electrons in common orbitals; since the geometry of the orbitals creates optimum bond angles, covalent bonding is very directional. However, ionic bond arises from the electrostatic attraction between opposite charged ions are less directional than covalent bonds. Metallic bonds form due to electrostatic attractive force between free conduction electrons and a lattice of positively charged metal ions and also do not possess directionality. Therefore, covalent bonding is the feasible to form intra-atomic functional group chain but is not suitable to form inter-chain pairing or un-pairing interactions since the very nature of sharing of electron pair in common orbital in case of covalent bond would lead to formation new but unwanted electronic orbitals among inter chains, altering the atomic sequences of the chains, contrary to the constraint that the functional molecules must not be precious by inter-chain interactions This would lead to destruction or distortion of information going to be shared. This non-invasive nature of bonding can only be satisfied by weak forces of interactions like hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, van der Waals interactions. However, van der Waals interactions are too weak to sustain in various conformation and also it is non-directional. Halogen bonds can be characterized similarly to hydrogen bonds in terms of nature of bonding and directionality but the larger size of halogens (Cl, Br, I) will cause steric hindrance which will restrict torsional bond angles to adopt any conformation while packing.

Hydrogen bonds: the major player:

From the above discussion, it is obvious that hydrogen bonding is the best option to carry out inter-molecular interactions among chains of functional groups. As mentioned earlier that, hydrogen bonds are directional in nature and this directionality rises with increase in its strength (by changing electronegative partner as well as distance between two dipoles) because the stronger bonds are more difﬁcult to distort. Due to small size of hydrogen, the hydrogen bond shows orientation effect which is very important prerequisite for molecular recognition. Transfers of protons through hydrogen bonds are often coupled with electron transfer processes which are essential molecular processes to maintain neutrality in biochemical systems. At pre-biotic condition, due to the presence of high energy irradiation, hydrogen bonding might also played a medium for extended proton delocalization both in ground state and excited state following absorption of photons are absorbed. In conclusion it can be claimed that the prebiotic processes which initiate genetic and catalytic activity among functional groups with a signiﬁcant and extensive presence of hydrogen bonding

Linus Pauling quoted regarding hydrogen bond “It has been recognized that hydrogen bonds restrain protein molecules to their native configurations, and I believe that as the methods of structural chemistry are further applied to physiological problems it will be found that the significance of the hydrogen bond for physiology is greater than that of any other single structural feature.”

At last I would like to conclude that the COVID-19 has given us a boon to redefine our mental bonding among us irrespective of the boundaries of nation, caste, creed etc.in terms of being human with sense of fellow feelings with each other. Mental bonding among us, voice of sanity must flourish the life of people as well as the planet in equal measure after overcoming this pandemic situation. .

References:

1.Hydrogen Bond and life in universe by Giovanni Vladilo , ID and Ali Hassanali, Life, 2018,8,1

Requirements and limits for life in the context of exoplanets C.P. McKay,. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2014, 111, 12628–1263

How COVID-19 situation can boost a student’s career in Biochemistry?

Considering the present global scenario of Covid-19 pandemic students who are going to enter their graduation and post-graduation courses, a BSc and MSc degree in Biochemistry will give them immense opportunity to not only get great jobs related to private and government health sectors but also in research and development section to generate vaccine and test kit development. Biochemistry provides the knowledge of chemical reactions of substances in living organisms. As a biochemist, you have to study biomolecules and the respective biochemical reactions that are controlled by enzymes and many other regulatory biomolecules. The in-depth knowledge of a biochemist in enzymes, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and other numerous processes related to the metabolism of mankind provides immense opportunity to build carriers in the health sector.

A student who is interested in a career in vaccines can start with an undergraduate degree i.e Bachelor of Science (BSc) in fields of Biochemistry and then pursue MSc and Ph.D. As an interdisciplinary subject, biochemistry students get ample knowledge and training in subjects like clinical biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology, etc. which gives them a cutting edge over other bioscience students. Moreover, through the study of the bioinformatics course (as a part of Biochemistry course curriculum) students are enlightened regarding the in-silico analysis of different databases (like epitope mapping, etc.) which have immense importance in current vaccine designing approach called vaccinomics. Students get a thorough knowledge of structural intricacies of protein molecules along with immunology; these two subjects in combination provide the foundation of vaccine development.

Because of the present scenario and the aftermath of the outbreak, the pharmaceutical industry especially the drug discovery sector is going to face a big challenge which in turn will need a huge number of young professionals. After the discovery of the corona drug/vaccine, it needs to reproduce on a huge scale to meet the demand of the worldwide market, not only the R&D sector but also the quality control and quality assessment sector need to recruit lots of industry-ready fresh biochemists. Besides, after the discovery of a lead molecule as a potential drug/vaccine, a series of biochemical tests are required where diverse skills of biochemistry could become handy. Young people with knowledge in biochemistry will certainly hold an advantage at this time. Drug discovery studies nowadays need strong background knowledge of bio-molecular interactions, the structure of target proteins which can be easily acquired through undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in biochemistry.

Having a basic degree in biochemistry will also help one to serve in the fields of clinical and medical biochemistry which will need a battery of human resources in a very recent future due to the recent Covid-19 outbreak. As a part of the medical team in a hospital, the responsibility of a clinical biochemist is to test patient samples and interpret the data for a medical personal. Mainly they have to analyze blood, tissues, or urine samples through computer-aided and automated testing procedures. They also have to design experiments in search of different chemical functions in our bodies in search of different abnormal biochemical conditions. Along with doctors they have to work in close association with scientists, chemists, pharmacologists, and toxicologists. Biochemistry students can easily consider themselves as future health professionals.

In the history of drug development phytochemicals always played an important role. Currently, various plant-derived drugs used throughout the world. Moreover, in recent years interest developed in the secondary metabolite or the ‘natural drug’ production. In many cases, it is very difficult to study the biosynthetic pathway of these metabolites. Through the plant tissue, culture techniques production of specific medically important secondary metabolites like alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, volatile oils, tannins, resins is also possible. Thus these traditional systems of medicine become a hot favorite for many scientists as well as industrialists. In the fight against COVID-19, this industry may play a vital role through their photoproducts. An expert biochemist is always in the top priority list of these industries.

With the increase in worldwide population size study of virology became more important, as in the last few decades human races are threatened several times by none other than different viruses. Virus related research always the most favourite area for any biochemists. The unique nature of the virus has placed it in a focus of the questions asked at the molecular level since the biological nature of viruses can be seen most directly to be the expression of molecular attributes and chemical reactivities. A properly trained biochemist can become a virologist as the solution of viral problems lies within the core of the biochemistry of the proteins and nucleic acids. Thus, after completion of M.Sc. A biochemistry degree, a student can pursue his/her doctoral and post-doctoral research carrier in virology which is a very promising field in the current scenario. An academically-minded student can easily fulfill his/her dream of becoming Faculty of Biosciences by cracking national/state level teaching eligibility tests like SSC, NET, SET, etc.

Therefore, time demands to study Biochemistry in BSc and MSc so that they can serve humanity shortly.

The Biology Behind RT-PCR and Rapid Test Kits for Covid-19 Detection

Student Contributor: Students of UG 3^rd year Biochemistry

Presently, in the battle with Covid-19, we need an enormous number of diagnostic tests to be performed on suspected populations to flatten the epidemic curve. Time demands to perform tests and detect more numbers of infected people so that they can be quarantined and in turn, the infection can be checked. World Health Organisation (WHO) has already recommended two tests for the diagnosis of the Covid-19 disease. Among them, the first one and the most reliable testing method is RT-PCR based detection of viral RNA in the swab samples of suspected persons. There is a limitation of the RT-PCR test as it takes two to three days to get the results. As the virus is spreading at higher rate early detection is now very important to prevent the spreading and this is where the other recommendation from WHO comes handy which is much quicker in producing results than RT-PCR. The rapid test kit based on the detection of antibodies to SARS CoV-2 is the other diagnostic tool that we can use for the detection of Covid-19 infected people. The test takes a very short time and we can check the utmost range of individuals with it. Although the rapid test which is nothing but an immunodiagnostic test is not that accurate like the RT-PCR based test it can provide early and quick detection. But one factor must be remembered that the rapid test isn’t the final method to verify the Covid-19 infection. There are question marks regarding the accuracy of rapid tests as IgM and IgG antibodies are generally detectable in the blood after several days (10-14) of Covid-19 infection. Hence, for confirmation, one needs to perform the RT-PCR test. Here we are going to discuss the biological background associated with both the test the RT-PCR test and the rapid test kits.

Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that makes RNA dependant DNA copies and polymerase chain reaction or PCR is a thermal technique based on which DNA molecules can be duplicated using sequence-specific primers. RT-PCR based diagnostic kit uses a throat or nasal swab of a suspected person and these samples are first transported to laboratories in ice-cold conditions. Then in the lab, the viral RNA present in the sample is reverse transcribed to DNA using reverse transcriptase enzyme and then the DNA is then amplified using specific sequences of DNA i.e. primers having complementarities to viral sequences. This PCR consists of 30-40 cycles in which exponential amplification of the viral genome can be detected using a chemical signal. The test is highly specific and sensitive as it uses primers designed based on viral genome sequences. The full genome sequence of the SARS-CoV2 virus has been made available on January 10, 2020, in Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) platform and this genome data has helped immensely to design effective primers for RT-PCR test kits. But there are also limitations as RT-PCR is a bit time consuming and requires people with scientific expertise.

The COVID-19 Rapid test is a qualitative lateral flow immunochemical assay for the detection of IgM and IgG antibodies simultaneously for SARS-CoV-2 in blood, body fluid, or plasma specimens. The test cassette contains recombinant SARS-CoV-2 substance conjugated to colored particles. Once a specimen is added to the sample well of the cassette, any IgM and IgG present in the specimen can bind to the antigen conjugate and it forms colored coronavirus antigen-antibody complexes. This mixture moves laterally on the membrane to the test region. In this test region, anti-human IgM and anti-human IgG are immobilized onto the membrane. This captures any IgM and IgG complexes that have formed which causes the appearance of colored lines.

Therefore, if the sample contains SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibodies, a colored line can be seen within the IgM test line region. If the specimen contains SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, a colored line can be observed in the IgG test line region. To serve as an internal control, a colored line will always appear in the control line region, indicating that the proper volume of specimen and buffer has been added, and the proper procedure has been followed. If the test kit is faulty the internal control will not produce any color. So, in that case, whichever line shows the color the test result should not count.

(A) If only the control line appears on the strip it means the sample is negative.

(B) If IgM is detected more than IgG that means the patient could be in the early stage of infection.

(D) If each of them is detected in the same quantity that means the patient is within the active phase of infection.

In conclusion, it can be said that rapid tests can be performed on a bigger population to quickly screen out probably infected people and then can be confirmed with RT-PCR tests. In this way, we can use both the technique in our fight to Covid-19.

AR-VR-MR-The future of higher education

Background

In the 21st century, technology is actually taking over education – whether it is skill building programmes in colleges, real world specialized knowledge and learning of abstract ideas in schools. The shift from standard ways to experiential techniques of transacting learning has viewed new age systems such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality(VR) and Mixed Reality – a blend of AR/VR – that happen to be playing a major role in driving learning as well as edtech engagement.

Understanding AR-VR-MR

Now before discussing additional we should realize the terminologies AR-VR-MR.

AR-The phrase augmented truth was believed to be coined in the first nineties by Thomas Caudell, The verb augment describes the activity of adding to a thing in order to really make it much more significant. It derives using the Latin augere meaning’ to increase’.

Augmented reality uses the earlier phrase virtual reality, popularised with the eighties by US laptop scientist Jaron Lanier, a first pioneer in the the industry.(https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/augmented-reality.html)

Virtual Reality or VR (VR) is actually an immersive experience even called a computer simulated reality. It refers to personal computer technologies with reality headsets to create the realistic sounds, pictures along with other sensations that replicate a true setting or even establish an imaginary world. VR is actually a means to immerse owners in a completely virtual world. A true VR environment is going to engage all five senses (taste, sound, touch, smell, sight) though it is essential to suggest that this is not always possible.

Mixed Reality: MR – The phrase “Mixed Reality” (MR) is actually utilized for videos in which VR content is actually mixed as well as overlapped with real time film sequences. To be able to do this, the individual in the VR is captured with the help of green screen technology. The role of the actual digital camera is then hooked up with the placement of the virtual digicam. Outside parties are then in a position to see what the individual in the virtual world is now experiencing.

Importance of immersive technologies in education:

Immersive technologies are able to help pupils understand theoretical concepts a lot more quickly, ready them for professions through simulated happenings and keep them interested in learning.

Immersive reality is actually bumping us within the deep end, essentially speaking. Colleges and universities big and small are actually launching centers and labs new devoted to research on the subject areas of augmented reality, 360-degree imaging and virtual reality. The very first academic conference held entirely in virtual reality just recently returned for the second year of its, hosted on Twitch by Lethbridge College found Alberta along with Centennial College found Toronto. Majors in AR and VR have started showing up inside advanced schooling throughout the United States, like applications on the Savannah School of Design (GA), Shenandoah Faculty (VA) as well as Drexel Faculty Westphal (PA).[Source: https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/05/15/9-amazing-uses-for-vr-and-ar-in-college-classrooms.aspx] Educationists have most lately positioned the timing for wide adoption of these systems in training at the two year to three year horizon. The survey has expected that by the season 2021, sixty % of advanced schooling institutions within the United States will “intentionally” be utilizing VR to produce simulations and set pupils into immersive environments. [Source: https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/05/15/9-amazing-uses-for-vr-and-ar-in-college-classrooms.aspx]

VR may be used to teach a lot of items, starting from history to anatomy.

Now think you would like to teach history to kids; needless to point out, getting them enthusiastic about the learning process could be tough. But there is a way out – one may particularly may make use of an Augmented Reality (AR) movable app via what pupils will point their smartphone cameras at pictures in the books of theirs and virtual items will show up on smartphone screens.

Educators are able to make use of augmented reality to teach any subject they need – using the alphabet to geography to chemical make up.

Role of Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality in education

AR, VR, MR are actually the realities of the upcoming classroom teaching systems in future. Classroom learning is actually in the process of change at an unprecedented speed. Technology is making the way of its to the classroom, raising the interactive components which many pupils are benefitting from.

Pupils these days are already familiar with different technologies, which is the reason computerized resources and apps can be best used in a classroom environment.

A survey of India Today with regards to VR and AR specially in the contemporary circumstances of COVID-19 says the following. Experiential learning is actually being applied in India in the type of virtual labs, social networking platforms, augmented and virtual reality equipment, as well as gamification of learning.

Gamification of learning is actually a good pedagogy which maximises pupil commitment as well as engagement by integrating game things in learning environments.
Virtual labs are actually interactive environments for producing as well as conducting simulated experiments grounded on real world phenomena so that pupils are able to work together with an experimental apparatus or maybe another activity via a pc interface.
This gets rid of the issue of accessibility along with the absence of physical infrastructures for lab based learning, particularly in science topics.
VR allows pupils using e learning platforms on devices that are mobile to directly interact with review material. This will keep their engagement levels high and also inspires them to learn better and more.
On the various other hand, AR facilitates trainers and teachers in executing tasks, they previously have not or maybe can’t, in a secure environment.

Finally, in conclusion it can be said that collectively, all of these are engaging pupils in ways such as never before and are actually creating their impact and usage in the future.

Religious Sentiments and writing Indian History: The Role of Fake News in India

I begin my paper from a popular African saying and which was written on the walls of the school of social sciences, JNU where I spent much of my student life, i.e., until the lions have their own story teller, history will always glorify the hunter’.

India, which is a land of diversity and which is known for having people who speak differently with many cultural variations, eating habits and most importantly they practice different religions. It is a composition of multi-ethnic groups with Hindu majority. This is because historically speaking Culture is a changing variable in India and new ideas are constantly adopted replacing the old ones that make the country India unique, beautiful and secular.

Nevertheless, many of the dominant cultures of the past have been so persistent that the impact of abrupt change has ragged their beliefs and value system. However, the constitution of India explicitly declared India as a secular country, religious sentiments have always been made a provocative issue among the religious communities to sprawl a fiery discourse and accuse each other creating disharmony and discrepancy. As a result of this in 2017 (April) Supreme Court of India concerned by the misuse of the Section 295A of Indian Penal Code which provides up to three years jail term for hurting religious sentiments limited the application of the penal provision to deliberate and malicious acts rather than casual observations that are not driven by mischievous intent. But this problem is more severe when it comes to writing down India’s history particularly the history of religions in India.

Recently a passionately disputed battle is taking place over the interpretation of Indian history. Debates about rival descriptions of Indian prehistory or the struggles among the religions of ancient times and medieval South Asia- the nature of rows and arguments that should be heard anywhere else at scholarly conferences- have in India become the subject of political rallies and mob riots and all types of violence.

In this background we have the emergence of the fake news becoming institutionalized, which makes situation even worst. More that the fake news, it’s the false narrative of what has actually happened or happening has more serious repercussions. My paper is thus based on some not very old incidences and their impact on the Indian history writings.

What we have seen in the past?

On January 5, 2004, an incident at one of India’s leading centers of historical research, the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute in the town of Pune, southeast of Mumbai, demonstrated how serious things had become. (Times of India, January 6, 2004)

Just after 10 A.M, as the staff were opening up the library, a group of more that twenty jeeps drew up. Armed with crowbars, around two hundred Hindu militants poured into the institute, cutting the telephone lines. Then they began to tear the place apart. These people annulled the library shelves, and for the next few hours they kicked around the books and danced on them, damaging an estimated 18,000 volumes before the police arrived.

More seriously still, they severely damaged a first century manuscript of the great Hindu epic the Mahabharata, as well as a set of palm leaf inscriptions, some important relics from the prehistoric sites of Mohenjodaro, and a very early copy of the Rig Veda- the world’s oldest sacred text- once used by the great German scholar Max Muller. (The Hindu, February 01. 2004)

The second incident took place when (I was a student) in the University of Delhi on 26 February, 2008 some people who called themselves ‘activists’ allegedly manhandled the HoD of the History Department, Prof. Jafri. (The Hindu, February 26, 2008) These activists abused him before they ravaged his office and they also threw stones into the classrooms and broke doors, windows and furniture of the department in the North campus.

While the reason of the devastations done on the Bhandarkar Institute was the brief mention of the institute in the acknowledgements of a short scholarly book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India by James W. Laine, a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota. This book, which had been praised by scholars when it appeared in the spring of 2003, was a study of Shivaji Bhonsle (1627-1680), a near divine ruler, the Hindu guerrilla leader from western India who successfully challenged the Mughal Empire and eventually had himself crowned as Chatrapati (Lord of the Umbrella) of an independent Maratha state.

In his book, Laine suggested that Shivaji was not a legitimate son of his father and that his biological father was Dadaji Konddev who was actually his guardian. This demonstration was a result of a horrified review, which was published, in a Marathi weekly magazine, and a series of protests began. In October in the same year, an elderly Sanskrit scholar whom Laine had recognized in his acknowledgments was beaten up and his face had smeared with tar. To anticipate the Oxford University Press withdrew further violence and in November the author issued the book from the Indian market, and an apology for causing offense.

Opening his campaign in Maharasthra, the then prime minister of India, issued a ‘warning to all foreign authors that they must not play with our national pride. We are prepared to take action against the foreign author (Laine) in case the state government fails to do so.”

In the second case also we heard about the similar reason. Some groups (activists) have raised objections to the inclusion of an essay by scholar A.K Ramanujan titles ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three thoughts on translation’ for the course on ‘Ancient Indian Culture’. They claimed ‘objectionable’ references to Hindu gods. The Academic Council of Delhi University dropped this celebrated essay on the Ramayana from the B.A History (Honours) course shows that religious sentiment hurt’ theory has gained such attention.

In both the cases the problem of the protestors was that these historical writings hurt the sentiments of the ‘Hindu community’ and therefore it should be withdrawn. There is hardly an academic demand as there is no possibility of explanation or debate. And quite clearly, the way in which the activity was organized, it was an act of political opposition to the History and its writing. In both the cases the article and the book were withdrawn. Was it because the matter came up in the court or it was taken to the media or both? Surprisingly both the matters were settled out of court.

So why did this happened? It’s because of the media and their false projection of the popular sentiment that makes violence legitimate means of protest. What this initial action and the reaction of the state or university raise are the question whether groups beating up faculty or vandalizing library can change courses and books or syllabi. And these I think is very fundamental question that people like me in the academics have to face and answer and take a position on.

What should we realize?

Fake media and the fake narrative in fact create a category of people who don’t take the trouble to read and to study and to understand what the matter is before they just stand up and start shouting and screaming and wanting the removal of it. What people don’t recognize is that the story of mythical hero Ram or mythical heroin like Padmavati or the even the historical man Shivaji, extends over a huge historical period. So inevitably there will be variations, modifications and additions to their story.

Then the questions arises that why is the discipline of history so important for the current establishment? One reason is that since history of India is one of the oldest in the world and with so much diversity that any group aspiring power to rule will need to have a historical legitimisation. They need to divide society and for this history writing become crucial. In the present scenario as academia has been questioning those concepts, there has been no similar move to change perceptions in the wider society. To a certain extent the visual and the print media is to be blamed because they have nurtured and fostered the impulse of there being definitive versions of every single major text or person in our Indian cultural heritage and they have totally underplayed the fact that there have been differences and variations.

The real problem is that so much individual and sometimes political capital gets invested in certain narratives, that evidence is simply not updated. Quoting authority is seen as more important than primary material. The disparagement for facts, in turn, has discouraged the systematic checking of primary evidence. These groups have continuously sought popular acceptance on the plea that they are the exclusive custodians of nationalism, based on a national identity that is unambiguously Hindu.

Conclusion

In conclusion it is important to burst fake news in India because we are becoming used to taking myths as fact, which poses danger to each and every person of this country. The print and television industry has undergone a massive expansion since the 1990s. There are now more than 100,000 newspapers and magazines. India has over 400 news channels in various languages and another 150 channels are awaiting clearance. In short, there are more news channels, newspapers and digital outlets than ever in independent India- but paradoxically also perhaps fewer voices that are ready to stand up and be counted.