RANCHI: Param Vir Chakra winner Lance Naik Albert Ekka’s septuagenarian widow could hardly walk in her Jharkhand village as old age, ill-health and working in the fields till a couple of years ago had taken a toll on her knees.
HT PHOTOParam Vir Chakra awardee Albert Ekka’s widow, Balamdina Ekka, (centre) with army men in Agartala.On Sunday, Balamdina Ekka hobbled up the stairs of Tripura Sundari temple to offer prayers, took a boat ride in the Rudrasagar Lake and adored every corner of the historic Neer Mahal in Tripura escorted by dozens of Assam Rifle soldiers.
“I can see my Albert everywhere, in the hills, lake and temple. I am happy that I could visit this place,” she said over the phone from Agartala.
When nobody thought she would be able to get out of her native village of Jari, she defied age and physical impairment to relive memories of her husband, the Ranchi’s brave heart who died fighting for the country in the 1971 IndiaPakistan war.
Lance Naik Ekka of the army died in the Battle of Hilli. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest award for valour in war.
In Tripura for the past two days, Balamdina’s boundless energy and excitement have surprised family members as well as army officers from Jharkhand accompanying her in the trip. The widow demanded that she be taken to every place her late husband went to when he was posted there.
The primary purpose of her journey is to visit her husband’s grave after 45 years of his death and bring sacred soil from the place of his burial.
Ever since she reached Agartala on Friday evening, where the Assam Rifles rolled out the welcome carpet, her excitement and energy abruptly multiplied.
Son Vincent Ekka and daughter-in-law Rajni Ekka are equally excited. “The mere sight of army jawans thumping their boots and saluting us in honour is overwhelming. Now we know how great the sacrifice of my father was,” Vincent said.
Ride out the China storm
India should focus on how to mitigate the effects of turmoil in an integrated world economy
The two slides in Indian stock markets over the past week have only served to underline what has become increasingly evident: Our economy is strongly integrated with the Chinese one, and there is no escaping the impact of a slowdown in what was until recently the engine of global growth. So hapless Indian investors catch the mother of all colds when their northern neighbour sneezes, and there is little to suggest that their sniffles will die down anytime soon. For, the Indian companies in which they invest are battling several fallouts: Poor demand for their products in China due to slow growth and a weaker yuan, the prospect of dumping of Chinese goods in India, and higher costs of servicing dollar debt due to downward pressure on the rupee.
The yuan has fallen nearly 6% since August, exacerbating a trade imbalance. Steel plants are prominent on the nonperforming asset list of Indian banks and the current situation is likely to make things worse. Global commodity prices have tanked due to a fall in Chinese demand and a combination of tepid offtake and oversupply has kept crude oil prices low. This is a big silver lining for crude importer India, on the face of it, but the underlying message is disturbing: Economic growth in some key export markets is unravelling. The falls in Chinese stocks are also disturbing for another reason. They suggest that the totalitarian regime is struggling to come to grips with financial markets, and that markets are not fully reflecting what is happening in the economy. In July the Chinese market regulator had said people who owned more than 5% in a company were prohibited from selling stocks for six months, the reason being that the markets had been falling “irrationally”. As a result, over 1,000 companies had stopped trading. In the first week of January, partly owing to the rumour that the ban would be lifted and partly because of the weak manufacturing data, the markets in China fell hugely, wiping out $2.5 trillion of wealth. Then followed a second round of devaluation of the yuan and its ripple effect: The shaving off of $194 billion from the wealth of the world’s 400 richest people. The market injection of $20 billion by the Chinese authorities could not do much to improve the situation.
The rupee has fallen sharply against the dollar, but Indian exports are still struggling because other currencies such as the euro have fallen further. India will have to come to grips with the fact that in an integrated world, much is beyond its control and it needs to focus on the things it can change: Slashing red tape, boosting investments and generating jobs. The next big opportunity for action is next month’s Budget.