BY MUSKAAN CHANDRAPOTA

Who would’ve guessed that the ‘king of fruits’ aka mangoes have helped in sweetening ties among countries over centuries? South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been using this delicious fruit as a way to smoothen political relations by taking part in “mango diplomacy.” For the uninitiated, mango diplomacy is a term coined for when the famed fruits are used as a gesture of friendship and goodwill and presented as gifts by national or political leaders to each other. Here is a list of 8 instances of mango diplomacy around the world.

When Aurangzeb tried to win over Shah Abbas of Persia

The tale of mango diplomacy dates back to the Mughal era. The fruit was a symbol of power and prestige and a favorite of Shahjahan, Jahangir and Aurangzeb. At the time of his rule during the 17th century, Aurangzeb used mangoes as both currency and a form of diplomacy. He is believed to have offered mangoes to Shah Abbas of Persia to placate the king after he had proclaimed himself Emperor.. Later on, the King of Balkan too had offered Aurangzeb 200 camel loads of dry fruits and mangoes as a peace treaty.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s diplomatic tactics

The fruit was a favorite of Nehru as he carried forward the diplomatic tradition several times himself. Even though his personal preference was guavas from his hometown in erstwhile Allahabad, he understood the diplomatic importance of mangoes. In the 1950s, a gift of mangoes was given to any foreign leader who visited India and when it was his turn to travel abroad, Nehru brought mangoes. At that time Nehru transported mango saplings to foreign dignitaries to be sent overseas as gifts on occasion, when it may not have been mango season.

Pakistan to Mao Ze-Dong

In August 1968, the first crate of Pakistani mangoes arrived in China as a gift to President Mao Zedong. Then-Pakistani Foreign Minister, Mian Arshad Hussain— who was also high commissioner to India in Beijing earlier— gifted a crate of mangoes to Chairman Mao Zedong, around the time of the Cultural Revolution – of the Communist Party of China (CPC) workers.

The fruit wasn’t tasted by Mao but passed on to workers affiliated with the Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team. These exotic fruits were unheard of in 1960s China and briefly played an important role in Cultural Revolution discourse, as the physical expression of Mao’s love and concern for his people at the time.

“The mangoes were transported nationwide, despite their deterioration in the summer heat; they were replicated in wax and placed in glass vitrines for presentation and display; paintings and photographs of the fruit became objects of veneration; and they appeared as an auspicious motif on the ubiquitous Mao badges, on quilts, on household goods, and on floats at public ceremonies,” states the book “Mao’s Golden Mangoes and the Cultural Revolution” edited by historian and curator Alfreda Murck.

The events that transpired due to this unique first crate of mangoes were termed as “mango fever” or the “cult of the mango.”

Zia ul Haq to Indira Gandhi

In 1981 Pakistani President Zia ul Haq sent a basket of mangoes to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The mangoes sent this time were Anwar Rataul mangoes— this popular mango variety is known in Pakistan as Anwar Rataul and in India as Rataul. Both variants are named after a place in Uttar Pradesh, and had local sin both nations fighting over the ownership of its legacy.

Manmohan Singh to US President George Bush

When US President George Bush visited New Delhi in India in 2006, he expressed his desire to try Indian mangoes. India is the largest exporter of the king of fruits in the world. At that time, there was a ban on Indian mango exports to the US for almost two decades. Manmohan Singh offered mangoes to the US President, who famously said, “The US is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes,” inspiring a deal that would allow Indian mangoes to be exported to the US. After this, the first consignment of mangoes that landed in Washington was of the Alphonso and Kesari mangoes.

This helped strengthen the relationship between the two countries as both the Indian and American institutions began undertaking joint agricultural research projects.

Pakistan continues its age-old tradition, started in the 1980s, of sending mangoes to Indian leaders, however, India does not always respond to this exchange.

On Eid 2015, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent 10kgs of mangoes to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Further, 15kgs to President Pranab Mukherjee and 10kgs each to former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Behari Vajpayee was also sent.

This exchange however failed to reduce the cross border tensions at the time.

In March 2021, in what is known as Dhaka’s mango diplomacy move, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent over 2,600kgs of mangoes as gifts to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tripura CM Biplab Deb. The delicious Haribhanga mangoes, grown in Bangladesh’s Rangpur district, were transported at a time when Bangladeshi officials were growing concerned over India’s decision to cease vaccine exports in late March.

The gift was appreciated by the ministers with PM Narendra Modi saying how “touched” he was by this “thoughtful gesture” in a letter he wrote to her. Mamata Banerjee wrote to the top leader, addressing her as “Hasina Di” saying, “I like the mangoes you had sent. I heard about Rangpur’s ‘Haribhanga’ mangoes, but I never had the opportunity to taste one. I have distributed the mangoes to everybody. The mangoes brought with them your love and the essence of Bangladesh.” Modi’s first and only international visit since the Covid-19 outbreak was to Dhaka in March of that year.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to PM Narendra Modi

Keeping her tradition alive since she first became the Chief Minister in 2011, Mamata Banerjee had sent Bengal’s pick of mango varieties – Himsagar, Malda and Lakshmanbhog to PM Modi towards the end of June 2021. This was at the time of the finished Assembly elections in West Bengal, when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi fought a fierce election for the state, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a devastating defeat. Mamata Banerjee was re-elected as Chief Minister after the TMC won a landslide victory. The gifting of the mangoes of West Bengal was a gesture of goodwill towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

___________________

Courtesy: C. N. Traveller

The post The age-old South Asian tradition of mango diplomacy first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Kathmandu/Islamabad: School closures have led to alarming inequities in learning opportunities for children in South Asia, despite significant efforts by governments and partners to expand remote learning, according to UNICEF research conducted in India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

School closures in South Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic have interrupted the learning of 434 million children. According to UNICEF’s research, a substantial proportion of students and their parents reported that students learnt significantly less compared to pre-pandemic levels. In India, 80 per cent of children aged 14-18 years reported lower levels of learning than when physically at school. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, 69 per cent of parents of primary school children reported that their children were learning “less” or “a lot less.” Girls, children from the most disadvantaged households and children with disabilities faced the biggest challenges while learning remotely.

“School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low connectivity and device affordability,” said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. “Even when a family has access to technology, children are not always able to access it. As a result, children have suffered enormous setbacks in their learning journey.”

Despite significant efforts from governments, low connectivity and access to digital devices have severely hampered efforts to roll out remote learning.

In India, 42 per cent of children between 6-13 years reported not using any type of remote learning during school closures. In Pakistan 23 per cent of younger children didn’t have access to any device that could support remote-learning. Poor and disadvantaged households have been the worst hit, with many families struggling to afford even a single device.       

Even when devices are available, UNICEF’s research indicates that they are often underutilized and that children’s access to them is often limited. For example, in Pakistan, among children with access to devices, only about 24 per cent could use them when they wanted to.

The research found that student-teacher engagement, when regular and reciprocal, is a strong predictor of success in children’s learning, especially for younger students.

However, the surveys found that most students had little or no contact with their teachers after schools closed. In Sri Lankan private primary schools, 52 per cent of teachers reported contacting their students five days a week, but this number dropped to only 8 per cent for teachers from public primary schools.  

“The safe reopening of schools must be considered an utmost priority for all governments. Parallel investing in teachers will ensure that teachers and schools can adapt to all situations. The more teachers are trained, equipped and supported on distance and blended learning, the better they will be able to reach all their students,” added George Laryea-Adjei. “This is a critical investment we need to make for children as the region gears up for future waves of COVID-19. We need to build systems which can weather any storm and keep children learning, no matter the circumstances.”

To ensure that children keep learning, UNICEF is calling on:

• Governments to prioritize the safe reopening of all schools, while also ensuring that children are able to pursue quality learning remotely if necessary
• Teachers to assess children’s learning levels and ensure catch up is enabled through a “learning recovery” period
• Governments to prioritize the vaccination of teachers to support the safe reopening of schools
• Governments to train and equip teachers to better reach children and adolescents with limited or no access to technology through a combination of modalities including mobile devices, TV, radio, and printed materials
• Governments and donors to protect and expand investments in education, including critical pre-primary and foundational literacy and numeracy
• Private sector and civil society organizations to work with governments in improving connectivity and creating high-quality, multilingual remote learning content tailored to students’ needs
• School administrators and education officials to provide more guidance to teachers to engage with their students and use different types of learning techniques
• Parents and caregivers to receive adequate support and guidance to continue home-based learning

School closures in South Asia have compounded a situation which was already precarious. Even before the pandemic, almost 60 per cent of children in South Asia were unable to read and understand a simple text by the time they are 10 years old. In addition, 12.5 million children at the primary level and 16.5 million children at the lower secondary level were out of school.

___________________

UNICEF Press Release

The post Covid-19: Repeated school closures lead to learning loss first appeared on Sindh Courier.