1.Kohli’s reluctance to play Ashwin is a sign of serious problems in the composition of the team

An Indian set a batting record on the first day of the fourth cricket test of the ongoing India-England test series. A most unlikely one for the record holder, Shardul Thakur. Primarily a bowler, he now holds the record for the fastest ever fifty scored in tests in England. Given the long history of test cricket in England and generations of exceptional batsmen who have played there, it’s quite a record.

The unlikeliness of it is appropriate. It seems to reflect the approach to selecting the Indian team by the captain Virat Kohli and the management.

Kohli’s reluctance to pick Ashwin, the best spinner in the side whose bowling in overseas conditions has improved in the last three years, has baffled many former players. Some have been vocal about it.
Looking at the issue from Kohli’s explanation, it appears Ravindra Jadeja is indispensable even if his bowling has been harmless because he is the better batsman among the spinners. No one questions Jadeja’s superiority as a batsman.

However, there are questions on why Jadeja has become so indispensable that Ashwin cannot even get a look in, assuming Kohli will not play two spinners outside Asia.

It may have a lot to do with the fragile middle order that is long past its shelf life. Kohli, the batsman, appears to have passed his peak even if he remains a quality player. But the current middle order is among the more unreliable ones in test cricket which brings in the prospect that it needs to be bolstered by a batting all-rounder.

So, there is the issue of the captain’s lack of faith in the best spinner in the team, who may well be the top practitioner of his craft in test cricket. Add to this the captain’s reluctance to deal with his fragile middle order which has rendered it necessary for India to look for batting saviours from among the bowlers. In short, the Indian test team has a serious problem regardless of the outcome of this series. Unless the approach to selection changes, the problem is going to get worse.

2.Grounded old party: Congress’s weaknesses are so debilitating that chances of revival look increasingly bleak

Robust opposition parties make for strong democracies. But India has been poorly served in this department for a while, with Congress’s steady decline. Amid frequent factional wars in state units and a central leadership in disarray, the party is looking woefully unprepared for 2022 assembly elections in seven states. Even the longer-term fixes needed to arrest the party’s diminishing mindspace among voters are getting delayed while smaller opposition parties with no following beyond their home state are displaying increasing impatience with Congress’s weak ground game against BJP.

The biggest problem confronting Congress has been the declining appeal of centrist politics in the last decade. India’s political centre has shifted rightwards and presidential styles of governance that encourage populist rhetoric and celebrate ‘strong’ leaders are current flavours, even in some opposition-governed states. An ageing brainstrust that failed to recognise these trends, a deracinated scion at the helm, and second-rung leaders obsessed with factional battles are liabilities that have personified Congress talent deficit. Even more damaging has been the party’s inability to retake lost social bases across many states.

In earlier eras, Congress had perfected the art of simultaneously messaging to the poor, farmers, Dalits, Muslims and women in various ways through patronage, slogans, laws and token representation. But the big tent couldn’t possibly accommodate a billion people and newer parties appealing to regional, caste and religious sentiments chipped away. Congress is still laying claim to around 20% of votes polled in Lok Sabha elections but BJP has pulled away to a 37% vote share. A claw back is looking increasingly unlikely nationally, though assembly elections routinely see wild vote swings.

Regional parties which go through phases in the wilderness like RJD, BSP, DMK, SP, JD(S), Shiv Sena, JMM and TDP benefit from a core base that never deserts them. Congress would be hard pressed to identify such a bedrock in many states. On paper, it may have the opportunity to mobilise constituencies like farmers, middle class etc who have been left disappointed by the economic downturn. But even here the vote banks are fragmented by region and competing parties are many. The wide chasm between voters and Congress cannot be bridged by just parliamentary disruptions, press conferences and Twitterverse outreach. Minus organisational wherewithal, smart messaging and narrative coherence necessary to reach its potential voters, Congress has lost political visibility on ground and in mass media. Now time is fast running out for a 2024 revival.

3. Review projects in Himalayan states

Instead of approving hydro and road projects, step back and assess impact. In an era of the climate crisis and extreme weather events, the Himalayas cannot endure the kind of rampant construction that needs large-scale hill cutting, change in the land-use pattern, fragmentation of natural systems and overexploitation of resources

Eight years after the Supreme Court (SC) imposed a moratorium on allowing hydro-electric projects in Uttarakhand, the Union ministries of environment, power and jal shakti have reached a consensus on green-lighting the construction of seven hydel projects on the Ganga and its tributaries in the state. Their consent has been conveyed to the SC. On the list is the Tapovan-Vishnugad project, which was destroyed by a flash flood in Chamoli district, in February. If the SC, which imposed the moratorium after the 2013 flash floods, accepts the decision, it may pave the way for several other hydel projects in the state. Since the moratorium, the environment ministry’s position has shifted from accepting the first expert committee’s report that blamed dams for aggravating the 2013 disaster to backing the latest expert panel’s conclusion that 26 hydel projects can be built with design modifications.

The unwise push for hydro-electric projects is not the only challenge. The ₹12,000 crore all-weather Char Dham road, which will connect the Hindu shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath, has contributed to the back-to-back landslides this monsoon. According to a report in this newspaper, the Char Dham road has witnessed 25 major landslides, forcing the closure of two stretches of roads at Tehri Garwhal for indefinite periods. Activists claim that since the commencement of the construction in 2016, there have been at least 200 landslides and the death of close to 200 people due to construction work or landslides. Just as it is doing in the case of hydro-electric projects, the State has moved ahead with the Char Dham road despite warnings by key members of a SC-empowered panel (2019). They have argued that the road width must be reduced to contain the adverse environmental impact of the project.

In an era of the climate crisis and extreme weather events, the Himalayas cannot endure the kind of rampant construction (highways, buildings, dams) that need large-scale hill cutting, change in the land-use pattern, fragmentation of natural systems and overexploitation of resources. Instead of the construction spree, the need of the hour is to go slow, evaluate what has been done, and draw up a sustainable development plan not just for Uttarakhand but all the Himalayan states. Keep their fragile ecology, not short-term political or economic considerations, at the heart of all decision-making. What is done today will have implications for generations to come.