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By:

Kiran D. Tare

21 August 2024 at 11:23:13 am

A Scientist beyond Mockery

While Indian politics has never been particularly gentle towards intellectuals, it was unusual even by Parliament’s standards for the Director of one of India’s foremost technological institutions to be dismissed with a sneer. Opposition leader and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shameful reference to Professor Veezhinathan Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, as a “gaumutra expert,” reduced a lifetime of scien tific accomplishment to a sarcastic political...

A Scientist beyond Mockery

While Indian politics has never been particularly gentle towards intellectuals, it was unusual even by Parliament’s standards for the Director of one of India’s foremost technological institutions to be dismissed with a sneer. Opposition leader and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shameful reference to Professor Veezhinathan Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, as a “gaumutra expert,” reduced a lifetime of scien tific accomplishment to a sarcastic political label besides exposing dynastic arrogance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and charged with recommending robust, transparent, and leakproof measures to overhaul India’s public examination systems following widespread paper leak controversies. But rather than engage with solutions to problems that have resulted in the controversies, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra chose the path of cheap theatricality. Snickering from her parliamentary perch, she dismissed Prof. Kamakoti as a “gaumutra expert”. The remark immediately drew a scathing open letter from over 200 university vice-chancellors and eminent academics, who rallied to Kamakoti’s support and condemned her for diminishing scholarship itself. More fundamentally, Vadra’s sneer exposed the deep-seated pathology of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty: a reflex of aristocratic condescension toward self-made intellect, combined with an ingrained disdain for India’s indigenous traditions. Unlike Priyanka Gandhi, Professor Kamakoti is not a beneficiary of ancestral political inheritance but an intellectual titan forged entirely by merit. Holding an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras, Kamakoti has spent decades on the front lines of information security and VLSI design. His crowning achievement was in leading the team that engineered Shakti, India’s first industry-grade, open-source RISC-V microprocessor that fundamentally reshaped the nation’s technological trajectory. Shakti provided India with a blueprint for true silicon sovereignty. Kamakoti’s work extends to aerospace-grade chips designed alongside ISRO, over 150 peer-reviewed international papers, and pivotal roles on the National Security Advisory Board. Under his directorship since 2022, IIT Madras has consistently held the No. 1 position in engineering in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Yet Kamakoti’s genius also lies in tangible wealth creation. The IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), nurtured under his leadership, has spawned a portfolio of over 540 startups valued at approximately Rs. 74,000 crore ($8 billion), generating more than 11,000 direct high-tech jobs. Kamakoti’s record speaks of a scholar who stayed in India to forge its critical infrastructure and empower a generation of young innovators. The point is why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra felt entitled to mock him? The controversy stems from remarks Kamakoti made regarding ethnoveterinary traditions, where he cited scientific literature discussing the antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties of bovine bio-fluids - a field actively published in peer-reviewed global journals, including Nature. It seems that for the Gandhi family, any intellectual inquiry that touches upon ancient Indian heritage or traditional knowledge systems is an immediate target for ridicule. For decades, the Congress hierarchy has operated under an unearned superiority complex that views Hindu traditions as some backward superstition to be mocked from the high towers of westernized privilege. The contrast between the scholar and the dynast could not be starker. Professor Kamakoti is a world-class computer scientist who earned his platform through decades of gruelling research, building microprocessors and billion-dollar startup ecosystems. Priyanka Gandhi is a political heir whose primary qualification for public office remains her surname, possessing a portfolio of inherited political capital and a distant diploma in Buddhist Studies. When the academics signed an open letter in support of Kamakoti, while warning that such dismissive labelling risks undermining the constitutional duty to develop a scientific temper, they pinpointed the heart of the issue. True scientific temper means testing hypotheses with rigor, regardless of their cultural origins. True ignorance is mocking what one lacks the intellect to understand. The sharp public backlash against Vadra’s comments also reflects a profound shift in the Indian electorate. The era in which hereditary elites could belittle self-made scholars without accountability has come to a close. In a modern India driven by chip designers, space missions, and digital enterprise, the nation’s true heroes are men like Kamakoti, builders who create value through pure intellect, and not platinum-spooned dynasts whose sole claim to power is ancestral pedigree. In attempting to humiliate an eminent scientist, Priyanka Gandhi did not diminish Professor Kamakoti; she merely laid bare the intellectual vacuum of her own political lineage. When forced to choose between a self-made technocrat advancing national sovereignty and a political heir armed only with arrogance, a rising India has already made its choice.

Oil, Missiles and the Gate of Tears

As the Houthis target Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure, the widening West Asia conflict raises fresh concerns over global oil supplies and India’s economy.

As President Donald Trump struggles to extricate the United States from the increasingly intractable conflict with Iran, the Middle East has become more combustible still. The Houthis, the Yemeni militia once regarded as a peripheral actor in the region’s wars, have opened a new front with remarkable audacity. Over the weekend, they launched coordinated strikes involving ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones against Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure, hitting sensitive Aramco facilities in Jazan and Yanbu. The attacks were not merely another salvo in Yemen’s long war but a warning that the conflict is spilling across borders and drawing ever more of the Gulf into its vortex.


This is not the first time the Houthis have targeted Saudi Arabia since the Iran conflict erupted. Riyadh and the Yemeni militia have traded blows before, in a rivalry that stretches back more than a decade. Although a fragile truce had tempered hostilities, the recent escalation has shattered any illusion of stability.


Last week, the Houthis effectively closed the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi shipping, bringing a substantial portion of the kingdom's oil exports to an abrupt halt. The narrow maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden is one of the world's most vital trade arteries, carrying nearly 10 percent of global seaborne oil. For Saudi Arabia, it is an economic lifeline, with an estimated three-quarters of its oil exports passing through the strait. By disrupting this route and now striking Aramco's production facilities in Jazan and Yanbu, the Houthis are attacking not only the kingdom’s present oil exports but also its future production capacity.


Cheap Weapons

These strategic blows are being delivered with relatively inexpensive ballistic missiles and drones, allowing a lightly equipped militia to inflict outsized economic and geopolitical costs.


The anti-ship cruise missile – Al-Mandab, named after the strait itself, can strike targets up to 300 km away. This radar guided missile costs a few hundred thousand dollars.  


Another example is the QUDS - a subsonic cruise missile gifted by Iran. It can travel nearly 150 km and costs just 50,000 dollars to make the missile.


Houthis also rely on cheap drones like the SHAHED series. Some of the cheaper variants like SHAHED 131 cost just 10,000 dollars. Experts highlight that the Houthis are hurting the Saudi economy with weapons that cost less than what an average American makes in a year. The Yemeni group says that they are in no mood to stop the attacks.


This leaves us with two big questions: Where are Trump’s guarantees and where is Pakistan?


The United States has always projected itself as a net security provider, a pitch that was sold to Riyadh for decades. Today, when Saudi Arabia is battling Houthi attacks, the United States is missing.


Islamabad is missing in action too. Islamabad has a mutual security pact with Riyadh. An attack on one is to be treated as an attack on the other as per the agreement. When it comes to billion-dollar loans or weapons, Pakistan is usually the first in line. When it comes about keeping promises, Islamabad is nowhere to be seen.


Coming back to the Bab-el-Mandeb (which literally translates as the “Gate of Tears”), the name now carries an ominous resonance, especially if that gateway remains closed. For Saudi Arabia, the strait is an economic artery. The kingdom’s prosperity is built on the uninterrupted flow of oil exports, and any disruption to this vital route threatens its economic foundations.


Today, Iran has tightened its grip around the Strait of Hormuz, while the Houthis are turning the Bab-el-Mandeb into another pressure point. The conflict is no longer confined to Iran’s borders or its confrontation with the United States. It has spilled into the Red Sea, into the arteries of global commerce, and into the heart of the world’s largest oil-producing region.


Impact on India

Renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, particularly targeting Aramco oil facilities, could have significant economic and strategic implications for India, one of the world’s largest crude oil importers.


India imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements, with Saudi Arabia remaining among its top suppliers. Any disruption to Aramco’s production or export infrastructure could tighten global oil supplies, leading to a spike in international crude prices. Higher oil prices would increase India’s import bill, widen the current account deficit, and put pressure on the rupee. Costlier crude could also fuel inflation by raising transportation, manufacturing and energy costs, complicating the Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to manage price stability.

 

The attacks also heighten concerns over the security of energy infrastructure and shipping routes in the Gulf. If hostilities spill over to the Red Sea or threaten maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping insurance premiums and freight costs could rise. This would affect not only crude oil imports but also India’s trade with Europe and West Asia.

 

India also has strategic interests in the Gulf due to the presence of over nine million Indian expatriates in the region, many of whom live and work in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries. Escalating conflict could pose risks to their safety and disrupt remittance flows.

 

While India has diversified its crude sourcing in recent years by increasing imports from countries such as Russia, Iraq and the UAE, prolonged instability in West Asia would continue to expose the Indian economy to energy price volatility. The situation underscores the importance of expanding strategic petroleum reserves, diversifying energy imports, and accelerating the transition towards renewable energy to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.

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