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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local....

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local. This reversal owes much to policy. The recent rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which trimmed rates across categories from garments to home furnishings, has given consumption a timely push. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s September rate cuts, combined with income tax relief and easing interest rates, have strengthened household budgets just as inflation softened. The middle class, long squeezed between rising costs and stagnant wages, has found reason to spend again. Retailers report that shoppers filled their bags with everything from lab-grown diamonds and casual wear to consumer durables and décor, blurring the line between necessity and indulgence. The effect has been broad-based. According to Crisil Ratings, 40 organised apparel retailers, who together generate roughly a third of the sector’s revenue, could see growth of 13–14 percent this financial year, aided by a 200-basis-point bump from GST cuts alone. Small traders too have flourished. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates that 85 percent of total festive trade came from non-corporate and traditional markets, a robust comeback for brick-and-mortar retail that had been under siege from online rivals. This surge signals a subtle but significant cultural shift. The “Vocal for Local” and “Swadeshi Diwali” campaigns struck a patriotic chord, with consumers reportedly preferring Indian-made products to imported ones. Demand for Chinese goods fell sharply, while sales of Indian-manufactured products rose by a quarter over last year. For the first time in years, “buying Indian” has become both an act of economic participation and of national pride. The sectoral spread of this boom underlines its breadth. Groceries and fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 12 percent of the total, gold and jewellery 10 percent, and electronics 8 percent. Even traditionally modest categories like home furnishings, décor and confectionery recorded double-digit growth. In the smaller towns that anchor India’s consumption story, traders say stable prices and improved affordability kept registers ringing late into the festive weekend. Yet, much of this buoyancy rests on a fragile equilibrium. Inflation remains contained, and interest rates have been eased, but both could tighten again. Sustaining this spurt will require continued fiscal prudence and regulatory clarity, especially as digital commerce continues to expand its reach. Yet for now, the signs are auspicious. After years of subdued demand and inflationary unease, India’s shoppers appear to have rediscovered their appetite for consumption and their faith in domestic enterprise. The result is not only a record-breaking Diwali, but a reaffirmation of the local marketplace as the heartbeat of India’s economy.

The Forgotten Legacy of Thailand’s ‘Death Railway’

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

In 1957, David Lean’s Academy Award-winning film ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ captured global audiences. However, it left a bitter taste for the very men whose harrowing experiences inspired it—those who laboured on the Burma Railway, colloquially dubbed the ‘Death Railway.’

During World War II, as Imperial Japan expanded its empire across Southeast Asia—encompassing Malaya, Singapore, and the Philippines—a critical challenge emerged: Allied submarines were sinking Japanese supply ships faster than they could be replaced. This left the Japanese Army in Burma dangerously exposed. To address this vulnerability, the Japanese sought an overland route to supply their forces, and thus the ‘Death Railway’ was born.

Between December 1942 and October 1943, around 60,000 Allied POWs, alongside nearly 200,000 Tamil, Malay, and Burmese labourers, toiled under appalling conditions to construct the Bangkok-Rangoon railway. British engineers had previously deemed the project impossible due to the treacherous terrain of the disease-ridden tropical jungle. Yet, the Japanese possessed a seemingly inexhaustible supply of manpower, primarily drawn from the fall of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies.

The Japanese transported these 60,000 British, Australian, Dutch, and American servicemen to the Thai town of Kanchanaburi, where the railway’s construction would begin. Simultaneously, POWs were dispatched to build the railway from the Burmese side, aiming to connect the two ends at the Three Pagodas Pass. In just 15 months, the 415-kilometer railway, complete with its bridges, was completed. What defies belief is that this colossal undertaking was executed by men who were often sick, malnourished, and brutalized. Under the Japanese ethos, any man who could stand was expected to work—malaria or dysentery were inconsequential to them.

The conditions faced by POWs and civilian labourers during the construction of the railway were horrific. Their diets consisted mostly of rice with little meat, while diseases like malaria, cholera, and dysentery spread rapidly. Medical care was almost non-existent. No Red Cross supplies arrived. Figures like Lt. Col. E.E. Dunlop, known as ‘Weary Dunlop,’ advocated tirelessly for better treatment despite overwhelming odds. Tragically, the plight of civilian workers was even worse, with around 100,000 perishing, and among the POWs, approximately 12,500 died in agonizing conditions, as the Japanese had not signed the Geneva Convention and regarded surrender as dishonourable.

Accounts from former POWs, such as John Coast’s ‘Railroad of Death,’ reveal the grim reality they faced, while war artist Leo Rawlings’s ‘And the Dawn Came Out Like Thunder’ poignantly captures their suffering through sketches.

The survivors’ resentment stemmed from the film’s portrayal of their experiences. Lt. Col. Philip Toosey, on whom Alec Guinness’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Col. Nicholson in ‘River Kwai’ was based, was a distinguished officer captured during the fall of Singapore. Contrary to the film, Toosey actively tried to sabotage the railway project by infesting the wooden bridge with termites and consistently advocated for better treatment of his men, often enduring torture at the hands of his captors.

Toosey developed a complicated relationship with a Japanese Sergeant Major, Saito, who later testified in his defense during war crimes trials. When Lean’s film was released in the 1950s, it sparked outrage among the POW community, who felt it misrepresented their suffering and bravery. Toosey’s gentle nature did not allow him to publicly contest the portrayal, but his men insisted he address it, leading him to publish a letter clarifying the truth.

Julia Summers, Toosey’s granddaughter, examines these grievances in her poignant work ‘The Colonel of Tamarkan,’ detailing her grandfather’s struggles with memories of his captivity.

The Bangkok-Rangoon Railway stands as a testament to the human capacity for endurance and sacrifice, revealing a complex tapestry of cruelty, kindness, and resilience. It is a story that evokes profound emotions, and visiting the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Kanchanaburi—where many of these men lie buried—serves as a haunting reminder of their harrowing journey.

(The writer is a practising advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh and a military history enthusiast.)

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