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Editorial
month september 28, edition 000309 , collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul
Editorial is syndication of all daily- published newspaper Editorial at one place.
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THE PIONEER
1. NIGHTMARE PRESIDENCY
2. VIJAYA DASHAMI PLEDGE
3. COALITION ERA ENDING SOON-ARUN NEHRU
4. DD, DISTINCT AT A DISTANCE-PRIYADARSI DUTTA
5. THE WEST’S DUPLICITY-PREMEN ADDY
6. DEMAGOGUERY AT ITS BEST-BARRY RUBIN
7. AD-HOCISM AS FOREIGN POLICY-CP BHAMBHRI
8. INNOCENCE TRAPPED IN A SOCIETY IN TURMOIL-DEEPIKA THUSSOO
TIMES OF INDIA
1. G-20'S HOUR
2. HIRE CALLING
LIFE BEGINS AT SIXTY-
4. 'CHANDRAYAAN-2 WILL TRY TO GET DETAILS ABOUT WATER ON MOON'
5. LAUGHING AT THE MIRROR -BACHI KARKARIA
TOO MANY ROLES...-
HINDUSTAN TIMES
1. BONFIRE OF OUR FRAILTIES
2. SIGNS OF OTHER TIMES
3. IT'S A BIT OF A STRETCH
4. HIGH OFFICE, HIGHEST PROPRIETY-PANKAJ VOHRA, POLITICAL EDITOR
INDIAN EXPRESS
1. RADICAL CHIC
2. PITTSBURGH PROMISES
3. THE CHOSEN ONES-SEEMA CHISHTI
4. PODIUM FOR MAVERICKS-ALIA ALLANA
5. ‘NUMBER OF ATTACKS DRIVEN BY RACIST ATTITUDE WOULD BE MINORITY... WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT A VISA THAT’S GIVEN FOR EDUCATION IS USED FOR EDUCATION’
FINANCIAL EXPRESS
1. OIL’S WELL, FREE PRICES
2. AND THEN THERE WERE TWENTY
3. WHY SMALL IS BIG-GEETA NAIR
4. CHINA’S YUAN UP, CAN WE CATCH UP?-VIMAL B
5. FEAR FACTOR IN GLOBAL NEGOTIATIONS-MEGHNAD DESAI
THE ASIAN AGE
1. G-20: LOFTY VOWS, BUT NO RESULTS
2. THE WISDOM OF RAVAN-DEVDUTT PATTANAIK
3. RISING PRICES: WHAT IS THE GOVT DOING?-PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA
4. UNDILUTED TRUTHS ABOUT RICH POLLUTERS-JAYANTHI NATARAJAN
THE TRIBUNE
1. G20 IS HERE TO STAY
2. US AID TO PAKISTAN
3. NEAR-ANARCHY IN BENGAL
4. CUTTING AFPAK GORDIAN KNOT
5. HOW THE US HAS BECOME A PROBLEM-BY B.G. VERGHESE
6. WHERE HAVE ALL THE DHOBIS GONE?-BY SUDHAMAHI REGUNATHAN
7. POWER PLAY IN PUNJAB
8. SHIMLA CONCLAVE CLEARS WAY FOR JUNIOR BADAL-BY GOBIND THUKRAL
9. AIDS VACCINE HERALDS NEW DAWN-BY JEREMY LAURANCE
10. MANY ASPIRANTS FOR CM’S POST-BY DEVI CHERIAN
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
1. MORE PITFALLS AT PITTSBURGH
2. TACKLING LABOUR REDUNDANCY
3. MUMBAI WALKS MORE
4. WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE-SOMA BANERJEE
5. MARKET LIKELY TO BE CHOPPY, BUT TRADERS SEE NO MAJOR CORRECTION-NISHANTH VASUDEVAN
6. LIQUIDITY TO KEEP CALL RATES STEADY; RUPEE MAY TRADE STRONG
7. 'THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS BUSINESS LIKELY TO REACH $90 M BY 2012'
8. STORIES ARE NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN-MARGUERITE THEOPHIL
9. FOREIGN BANKS OFFER NO SERIOUS COMPETITION HERE-GEORGE CHERIAN
10. 'WE NEED UNIFORM EXCISE DUTY ON CARS'-CHANCHAL PAL CHAUHAN
11. ENTRY OF 3G WILL CHANGE THE MARKET DYNAMCIS FOR NOKIA
12. CIGARETTE TAXES ARE DISCRIMINATORY: KURUSH GRANT-ANURADHA HIMATSINGKA
DECCAN CHRONICAL
1. G20: LOFTY VOWS, BUT NO RESULTS
2. UNDILUTED TRUTHS ABOUT RICH POLLUTERS -BY JAYANTHI NATARAJAN
3. VOILA! RED CHINA DECIDES TO GO GREEN -BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
4. THE WISDOM OF RAVAN -BY DEVDUTT PATTANAIK
5. OBAMA AT THE PRECIPICE -BY FRANK RICH
6. THE DEVIL WEARS CROCS -BY MAUREEN DOWD
THE STATESMAN
1. UK STEPS UP EFFORTS TO SAVE WILDLIFE
2. RACHEL SHIELDS
3. TALKS & SANCTIONS
4. SUBALTERN & STEEL
5. OF FEWER FIGHTERS
6. NEHRU AND PARTITION-NIRMALENDU BIKASH RAKSHIT
THE TELEGRAPH
1. RACE RAGE
2. GOOD EVENING
3. THE NEW GOLD RUSH
4. THE ODDEST LINKS HAVE BEEN CREATED IN INDIA’S ECONOMIC SPHERE -ASHOK MITRA
5. HALFWAY DOWN THERE -GWYNNE DYER
DECCAN HERALD
1. MUSLIMS NEED A HINDU LEADER-BY SAEED NAQVI
2. DASARA GOES DULL WITHOUT DOLLS-BY N NIRANJAN NIKAM
THE JERUSALEM POST
1. JEWISH SELF-RELIANCE
2. METRO VIEWS: THREE DAYS A YEAR
3. MARILYN HENRY
4. 'DOC, SHOULD I FAST?'
5. BENJAMIN W. CORN
HAARETZ
1. NETANYAHU'S PATRONIZING ATTITUDE -BY HAARETZ EDITORIAL
2. WHAT HAS REALLY CHANGED IN ISRAEL SINCE 1973? -BY GIDEON LEVY
3. JEWS, WE HAVE IT GOOD -BY DORON ROSENBLUM
4. ISRAEL NEEDS A SOLUTION, NOT NETANYAHU'S PR -BY AMIR OREN
5. A TALE FOR YOM KIPPUR -BY YOSSI SARID
THE NEW YORK TIMES
1. THE F.D.I.C. AND THE BANKS
2. MR. DUNCAN AND THAT $4.3 BILLION
3. HIGH COST OF DEATH ROW
4. GRIZZLIES, BACK ON THE LIST
5. CASSANDRAS OF CLIMATE -BY PAUL KRUGMAN
6. A WAR PRESIDENT? -BY ROSS DOUTHAT
7. READING INCOMPREHENSION -BY TODD FARLEY
I.THE NEWS
1. A NEW BEGINNING
2. SWINE FLU CASES
3. IS AID THE ANSWER?-BY DR SANIA NISHTAR
4. RIGHT TO INFORMATION-BY LAWRENCE CARTER
5. POLITICS OF DEALS-BY MALIK AMIN ASLAM
6. GOOD INSTINCTS ARE NOT ENOUGH-BY TALAT MASOOD
7. STATE AND ETHNIC CONFLICT-BY DR RUBINA SAIGOL
8. POSTMEN AND LIBRARIES-BY CHRIS CORK
PAKISTAN OBSERVER
1. INDIA’S ORCHESTRATED PAK BASHING
2. LET VAT BE THOROUGHLY DEBATED
3. PAKISTAN NEEDS MORE SIALKOTS
4. PEACE WAGON IN A RUT?
5. FRIENDLY FIRE-KHALID SALEEM
6. EID, EIDS & THEIR IMPLICATIONS-COL [R] RIAZ JAFRI
7. LIMITED WAR & EMERGING THREAT-ASIF HAROON RAJA
8. MYTH AND REALITY OF PAKISTAN-B A MALIK
9. THE TWIT AND HIS TWITTERING..!-ROBERT CLEMENTS
THE INDEPENDENT
1. HEART DISEASES
2. VANISHING TREES
3. KNOW YOUR VICE-PRESIDENT..!
THE AUSTRALIAN
1. GOOD START FOR G20
2. THE WORLD CANNOT ACCEPT A NUCLEAR IRAN
3. GOING THE DISTANCE
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
1. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS - AND MORE HOURS
2. THE WICKET IS GETTING STICKIER
THE GURDIAN
1. LABOUR IN BRIGHTON: HEY, HO, THE WIND AND THE RAIN
2. DRUG TRIALS OUTSOURCING: CLINICAL CONCERNS
3. IN PRAISE OF… BRIGHTON
THE JAPAN TIMES
1. LOCAL ACCOUNTING IRREGULARITIES
2. GRAYER POPULATION
3. CHINA'S CHALLENGE MOVES INDIA TO EXPECT THE WORST-BY HARSH V. PANT
THE KOREA HERALD
1. G20 LEADERSHIP
2. REVIVING HALLYU
3. SUCCESS IN AFGHANISTAN REQUIRES CHINA AND RUSSIA -RICHARD WEITZ
CHINA DAILY
1. AFGHAN PEACE NEEDS A MAP
2. SEEK BALANCED RECOVERY
3. THE CASE FOR CULTURE
4. COUNTRY ROADS TAKE MIGRANT WORKERS HOME
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THE PIONEER
EDIT DESK
NIGHTMARE PRESIDENCY
OBAMA IS RUINING INDIA’S SECURITY CLIMATE
He may not relish the comparison but it is now becoming increasingly obvious that Mr Barack Obama is the most hostile American President for India since Richard Nixon. In the eight months he has been in office, Mr Obama has snubbed India more than once. He has sent repeated signals that New Delhi is not integral to his Asian security architecture. Partly as a result of his country’s economic crisis, he has bent over backwards to accommodate China. His open advocacy of protectionism has been most visibly targeted at outsourcing of technology jobs to India. He headlined anti-trade legislation by saying it would punish those who created jobs in Bangalore rather than Buffalo, a special mention that was extraordinarily impolitic and did not go unnoticed in India. In contrast, the tariff war against Chinese tyres has not been posited in such stark bilateral terms. This past week, the Obama team reversed a decade of American nuclear pragmatism and went back to an outdated non-proliferation agenda that should have died, really, in the 1990s. Once more, India has been asked to give up its nuclear weapons and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a second-tier power. Most alarmingly, Mr Obama has swung wildly on Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak). At various points his diplomats and Generals have said different things. Yet, in all this the overarching political message has been missing.
There has been a remarkable absence of clarity on Mr Obama’s strategic goals. In the early months, it was easy to pretend he was making up his mind. Now, it would seem he has no mind. His confusion on AfPak and constant shifting of tactical milestones would suggest he has little understanding of the nature of the challenge there and, behind those engaging phrases, is thoroughly confused. If the Obama Administration’s most recent thoughts on AfPak are taken as final, the American President is looking to cut and run. He would want to begin bringing troops home by early 2012, in time for his re-election. This would mean delegating Afghanistan to the Pakistani Army, and asking it to control the Taliban. It would also activate a lethal Saudi-Pakistani-Taliban alliance. This formidable combination of wealth, geography, religious appeal, unending foot-soldiers and nuclear weapons would create a monster power straddling south and west Asia. To some degree, it could be offset by a strong India and a stable Iran, which would flank AfPak. However, Mr Obama is determined that Teheran must not pursue its Bomb and India should be pressured to sign the NPT. Strangely, he has not considered asking Pakistan to give up its nukes in return for billions of dollars of “sustained and expanded commitment”.
Given the intensely and admirably egalitarian nature of the United States presidential election process, it has always been a theoretical possibility that the country will send to the White House a person inexperienced in global affairs and unequal to the international situation before him. Often this has not been the case, and incumbents have risen to the job. Sixty years ago, Harry S Truman had limited first-hand knowledge of great power bargaining but turned out to be farsighted enough to anticipate the Cold War. Mr Obama is the antithesis of this phenomenon. He is completely out of his depth and will probably leave behind a dangerous and unsure legacy. India could have done without this neophyte.
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THE PIONEER
EDIT DESK
VIJAYA DASHAMI PLEDGE
LET DHARMA PREVAIL OVER ADHARMA
As the country celebrates yet another Vijaya Dashami symbolising the victory of good over evil, it is a measure of the times we live in that our celebrations do not reflect the reality in the country. This does not go to say that we should not cash in on the festivities. But the stark contrast between our celebrations and the ground realities should help us contemplate. For, there is nothing to suggest that we are any closer to conquering the forces of evil conspiring against this country. On one hand, the threat from jihadi terror outfits continues to loom large, while on the other, the Maoist menace shows no signs of abating: On Saturday, the Bastar MP’s son was shot dead. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, is still a free man despite having orchestrated one of the most heinous terror strikes in history, the scars of which the city of Mumbai still bears. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in the attack, still languishes in his high security prison cell, feeling the urge to demand for mutton biryani and perfume from time to time. It is a sheer travesty of justice that in spite of a special court hearing Kasab’s case, the trial seems to have lost steam altogether.
Though the Centre and the States have finally come to a common understanding about the activities of the Maoists, branding them as a threat to national security, we still are a long way away from completely liberating vast areas of our countryside from the Red terror. If the internal security situation seems a little grim, the external security situation doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The Chinese incursions that have hogged a lot of media space in the last few weeks have a sinister air about them. Although the prospect of an all-out war with China is far-fetched, it is worrisome that given the frequency of the incursions we seem to be unable to do anything about them. The candid admissions of our former naval chief and present Air Chief Marshal regarding China’s superior military prowess is certainly not for the faint-hearted. When your own top men in uniform tell you that there is no way that you can match up to your potential foe, it takes more than military rations to perk up spirits. Security concerns apart, the demon of rising food prices is yet to be slain. An erratic monsoon coupled with the lack of a cogent food security policy has pushed thousands of farmers literally to the brink of their survival. Yet, despite the ominous circumstances we celebrate. And celebrate we must. It is the hope that we will triumph over the forces of evil and conquer the challenges facing us that keeps us going. So let Ravan’s effigies burn and may Durga rid the earth of sinners. A happy Vijaya Dashami to all.
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THE PIONEER
COLUMN
COALITION ERA ENDING SOON
ARUN NEHRU
The great by-election battle is over and electoral results from 49 seats cutting across 12 States give a clear political message. Nonetheless, it would be premature to form conclusions about future political trends on the basis of these. The Congress in total lost seven seats while the BJP gained a sum of five seats. The latter’s success mainly came from Gujarat where the party won five out of seven seats that were held by the Congress. The BJP won one out of two seats in Madhya Pradesh, both of which were Congress seats. In Bihar where the RJD-LJP combine won nine of the 18 seats that went to polls, the BJP managed to retain its three seats. The losses in the State were mainly confined to the JD(U). In Uttar Pradesh the BSP won three seats, whereas in Delhi the Congress lost both the two seats that were up for grabs and also performed poorly in the Delhi University Students’ Union election.
There is a clear political message in these results for all political parties. Assembly elections are very complicated compared to Lok Sabha elections. Selection of candidates in the former is a very important issue and often local issues and local leaders prevail over the decisions and choices imposed by the State leaders. For example, look at the plight of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who gave many a ticket to defectors from the RJD after the Lok Sabha election earlier in the year. However, most of them lost in the by-elections. The BJP confusion on leadership and ideology had cost the party in the Lok Sabha election, but the effect of this was not apparent in the by-elections.
The Congress setback in Gujarat reinforces the need for a change in leadership in the State. Although statistically speaking the party did not lose much in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. But the question is whether these trends will repeat in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. I don’t think this will happen since the forces underlying the by-election trends cannot be taken to be representative of an entire State. Conditions vary in each region and in Maharashtra the Congress-NCP alliance looks stronger than the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which can suffer due to the MNS factor. While inflation in food prices and anti-incumbency trends are major issues, I see the Congress emerging as the single largest party in the State. In Haryana the Congress should win comfortably as the INLD, Bhajan Lal and son, the BJP and the BSP individually are prone to fragmentation. The Opposition in the State is in confusion and is hardly expected to match Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda although he may have trouble handling dissidence within his party.
There are no vacations in politics and important Assembly elections in 2011 may determine the Lok Sabha trends for 2014 in key States. Five States representing close to 200 Lok Sabha seats go for Assembly polls in 2011. These are West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. The Congress with 200 seats plus in 2009 may well look at 250 to 300 seats in 2014. This is within its reach as the party is favourably placed in West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that hold the key to the future. The political battle in Uttar Pradesh is evenly matched between the BSP, the SP and the Congress while in Bihar the fight is still between the JD(U)-BJP combine and the RJD-LJP alliance. We must follow developments in these five States keenly as they hold the key to the future formation of the Union Government. After more than two decades of coalition politics we may be heading for majority rule once again. And for all political parties good planning and governance is always based on a long-term strategy.
Meanwhile, we have witnessed a great deal of activity with regard to Hafiz Mohammad Saeed who masterminded the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. But despite pressure from the US and repeated insistence by India to try the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba chief for terrorism, Islamabad is unmoved. This is because the entire Pakistani establishment has been infiltrated by hardliners who are sympathetic to groups such as the LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Our bilateral relationship with Pakistan is like a game of musical chairs. Islamabad takes two steps forward, but when its aid from the US is threatened, it takes three steps back. For, it knows that the US is stuck in Afghanistan and have few options other than relying on Pakistan.
Hafiz Saeed is supposed to be under house arrest but was an honoured guest at a Pakistani Army iftar! Our options with respect to dealing with Pakistan are limited. But are we displaying the right attitude towards those who indulge in terror acts against the country? Political compromises are a part of life. But is it not strange that while we go through the rituals of paying tribute to our martyrs and heroes of the Kargil conflict, we still entertain and give prominence to the Pakistani Army dictator who was responsible for this conflict?
The position is no different in the case of the 26/11 attack where the lone terrorist caught alive Ajmal Amir Kasab’s trial can take five to 10 years to be decided, and then perhaps another five to 10 years for the Government to take a decision on the court verdict as we see in the case of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The Home Minister is without a doubt creating the infrastructure and the expertise needed to handle the security situation in the country better. But what we need is the political will and determination to pursue a ‘zero tolerance’ on terrorism.
More often than not political accidents determine the course of events. In the past 50 years little has been achieved through planned political action. External and internal security constitute our greatest challenge for the immediate future and the situation is deteriorating by the day. This is due to our denial of the ground reality. The GDP growth of the past few years has generated enormous wealth in our political structure and dynastic strains have now extended to individual seats. The prospect of acquiring huge financial assets combined with the allure of excessive security and Government facilities is weakening our polity.
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THE PIONEER
COLUMN
DD, DISTINCT AT A DISTANCE
PRIYADARSI DUTTA
For Doordarshan, the national broadcaster, the life may begin at 50. On September 15 the channel completed half a century of its existence — but no longer as sole runner, or even front runner, in this long distance race. Mr Vasant Sathe, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting during the 1980s, advised Doordarshan to scrap the autonomy of Prasar Bharati and give more functional autonomy at every level to help the in-house talent blossom.
Despite the limited technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century India, Doordarshan offered a mixed bag of news and entertainment programmes. The channel must be commended for its reasonably good coverage of the Khalistani insurgency in Punjab, the Indian Peace Keeping Force operations in Sri Lanka, Asian and Olympic Games in 1980s. As the only source of visual entertainment at home during 1980s, it evokes a strong nostalgia in the minds of those who belong to the generation that associates itself with soap operas like Giant Robot, Hum Log and Buniyaad. The glitz and glamour of the 24x7 channels today cannot replace the simplicity of Doordarshan.
Some may like to compare either the black and white films of the Doordarshan era with that of today, or the test-match era with the T-20 age. But the former always had sobriety and class, which today’s multiplex culture lacks, for, it is just an overdose of indecent entertainment. Despite having labyrinthine red-tapes and most of its staff with greying hair, Doordarshan had a rare aplomb. Even its announcers had a measured voice with a civilising effect, so different from the anchors of 24x7 channels today who try to dominate the show by depressing the voice of their guests.
Every serial on Doordarshan, Hum Log, Yeh jo Hai Zindagi, Buniyaad, Rajani, Neemb, Bharat Ek Khoj, Byomkesh Bakshi, to name just a few, followed an original story line. They were connected with the lives of ordinary people. Today, every other serial is shot on larger-than-life sets that look so similar, showcasing unbridled glamour and viciousness. The reality shows may the latest chip, and the competition is how to get cheaper. Thankfully, on a few Bengali channels, including DD Bangla, the picture is not so grim so far.
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THE PIONEER
OPED
THE WEST’S DUPLICITY
AMERICA AND ITS TRANS-ATLANTIC ALLIES HAVE WILLINGLY SHUT THEIR EYES TO CHINA’S NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AND BEIJING’S SUPPLY OF NUCLEAR KNOW-HOW TO ISLAMABAD. THIS IS IN SHARP CONTRAST TO THE WEST’S CASTIGATION OF IRAN FOR ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME. FOR US, A PAKISTANI BOMB IS GOOD, AN IRANIAN BOMB IS BAD!
PREMEN ADDY
The plot thickens. A purloined letter penned by Pakistani rogue scientist Dr AQ Khan is in the possession of Dutch intelligence following a raid on his niece’s house in Amsterdam; a copy with his London-based daughter, Dina, was destroyed on the instructions of her sobbing father after a harrowing session of ISI interrogation. There was, however, another copy; it belongs to the English journalist Simon Henderson, who has been on the trail of the ‘father’ of Pakistan’s Islamic bomb since the mid-1970s, when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ruled the roost in Islamabad as premier. The trail went cold; Henderson’s projected biography of Khan was in deep freeze until 2003, when America’s fraught relationship with Iran reached critical mass. Khan’s dealings with the Tehran regime made him the cynosure of baleful eyes, the ISI’s most of all, since Washington was keen to nobble the errant doctor Frankenstein.
The story was up and running again, ignited by a call from Henderson’s ‘Deep Throat’ telling him of Khan’s renewed interest in establishing contact through a telephonic code. Henderson’s tale in The Sunday Times Magazine (September 20) is as riveting as it is intriguing. He writes: “The first customer of its (Khan Research Laboratories) enrichment plants was China — which itself had supplied Pakistan with enough highly enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs in the summer of 1982,” and subsequently tested one of its own on Pakistan’s behalf in May 1990, as revealed in a book, titled Deception, by two other journalists working for the paper.
After 9/11, US pressure on the Pervez Musharraf Government mounted. The General was probably offered a way out by his American interlocutors: “Work with us and we will support you. Blame all the nuclear nonsense on Khan”. Done. Gen Musharraf’s peans to Khan may have echoed in every corner of Pakistan, yet our hero soon put Khan under house arrest under ISI watch. Li Chew, the senior Minister who ran China’s nuclear weapons programme, had Khan warned about the Pakistan Army: “As long as they need the bomb, they will lick your balls. As soon as you have delivered the bomb, they will kick your balls.” Khan’s demure rephrasing to his wife read: “The bastards first used us and are now playing dirty games with us.”
The West’s haste to impugn Iran for its nuclear ambitions contrasts strangely with its discreet silence on China’s complicity in the illicit traffic of nuclear proliferation, masterminded by their common ally, the Pakistan Government and its military controllers.
Years before the inconvenience of Al Qaeda and the Taliban became corrupting flesh, the Reagan Administration and its immediate successor headed by George Bush Sr provided the protective arm of the CIA around AQ Khan, when Richard Barlow at the agency’s Pakistan desk blew the whistle on his dubious activities. The recalcitrant Barlow got the boot for his refusal to recant. Questions remain about the murky Anglo-American relationship with Pakistan. What are its true contours, what its hidden depths? And how do they fit in with Beijing’s anti-India realpolitik?
The philosopher Hegel went to some pain explaining his “Cunning of Reason;” but it was base cunning surely that drove the Countess of Minto’s triumphal entry in her diary on the troubled future that awaited India following the birth of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1905 after her husband, the viceroy of India, had presided over its rite of passage. Against malevolent odds, India survived partition and has prospered.
Meanwhile, in the north and east of the sub-continent was created an Army cantonment called Pakistan, where are today seeded myriad agonies that wait to blight England’s once green and pleasant land.
Islamic terrorism, incubated in the very Muslim dominion whose seed was blessed with the holy water of the Raj, stalks the United Kingdom. The bomb plot designed to destroy transatlantic airliners in mid-flight and the long gaol sentences awarded the plotters — Tanvir Hussain, Abdulla Ahmed and Assad Sarwar — by a London court, are further evidence of the looming Pakistan-bred Islamic monster.
The late Robin Cook, spoke boldly of an ethical British foreign policy, on assuming office as New Labour’s Foreign Secretary. He cut a forlorn figure on the back benches of the Commons as his master, Mr Tony Blair, announced Britain’s support for the US war to destroy Saddam’s non-existent “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq.
And so to a panoramic view of games great and small. British media Piranhas are much given to ritual attacks on Stalin’s August 1939 non-aggression pact with Hitler, describing it as the road to World War II. The British Government’s betrayal of Czechoslovakia in the Munich settlement of 1938, which forced the surrender of Czech Sudetenland to Nazi Germany and Hitler’s subsequent march into Prague are rarely mentioned. Similar indulgence marks their approaches to the dilatory tactics of the British delegation at the Moscow talks with the Soviet Union to forge a common front against the Third Reich.
The Right-wing Max Hastings in his recent study of Churchill as warlord refers to the intense hatred of Russia in the higher echelons of the British establishment where hopes burned brightly for a Russo-German conflict of mutual destruction. Stalin refused to oblige, buying time with his own accord with the Fuhrer. He repeated the performance with fascist Japan a year later (without being blamed for Pearl Harbour), thus laying for the Soviet Union the spectre of a war on two fronts. The Germans suffered irreparable loss at Stalingrad when Soviet forces from the far east joined the battle to deliver the coup de grace to Hitler’s vaunted Sixth Army.
Hastings reveals British disbelief at the possibility of French defeat, with an Army ensconced behind the supposedly impregnable Maginot Line; the same British elements dismissed any prospect of sustained Soviet resistance to the Nazi onslaught.
At the fag end of the war, Winston Churchill asked his military staff to draw up a plan for an Anglo-American assault with remnants of the Wehrmacht on the Soviet Union. Operation Unthinkable, as it was called, would have been an act of unsurpassed treachery. Conceived in Churchillian folly as a defence of the national interest, it was never implemented.
Joseph Stalin, true keeper of the seamless robe of grand strategy, had the last word. His stock in Russia is high and rising. Understandably so.
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THE PIONEER
OPED
DEMAGOGUERY AT ITS BEST
OBAMA TALKS A LOT, BUT YET TO ACT
BARRY RUBIN
It is difficult to overstate the absurdity in context of President Barack Obama’s performance at the Israeli-Palestinian photo opportunity at the UN. The outstanding theme is his commandist style.
We will reverse man-made global warming, he has said. We will have a health care bill. This is like the style of an Arab dictator, proclaiming that his will is all and that uttering words make something so. It is not the style of someone helping two parties solve a problem or of a mediator.
But let’s allow William Shakespeare to explain it:
“Why, man, he stands on top of the narrow world
Like the Colossus of Rhodes, and we little men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves disgraceful graves.”
Yet this thundering, you-will-do-this style is combined with an extraordinary weakness, equally self-willed. Giving orders when you are tough is scary; giving orders when you are weak provokes derision. If America won’t use force or be tough or face confrontations or define enemies as such, then the gap between such arrogance and weakness is a chasm into which US foreign policy will fall.
This might wow them in elite salons of the United States but in lots of other countries, people have to lean against the wall to try to stop themselves from laughing.
Personal note: I don’t want to keep bashing Mr Obama, it’s simply that he keeps saying and doing things that defy satire and beg for the harsh criticism and exposure of absurdities that he is not getting in the mainstream media.
But how can one do otherwise when confronted with these statements by him:
“It is past time to stop talking about starting negotiations; it is time to move forward,”
Arab-Israeli negotiations have been going on for 60 years but Mr Obama really seems to believe they have just been waiting for him to give the go-ahead signal.
As I keep stressing the only reason there have been no negotiations for six months — a point the media never points out — is that Mr Obama introduced the demand that Israel freeze all construction on settlements. This issue had never prevented talks before but once Mr Obama raised the anti, well the Palestinians couldn’t be less militant than America’s President.
Instead, the New York Times tells us rather vaguely: “(Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud) Abbas has in the past refused to return to peace talks unless Israel freezes settlement growth in Palestinian territories.” Really? In the past like before January 20, 2009?
“There is a way, I think,” said Mr Obama in an interview with ABC, “to relaunch the peace process and not get bogged down with this question, because we’ve just wasted six months on this issue. We could waste another six months. I think that’s not good. I want to move on to peace.”
This could be called the stamping my little foot strategy. And incidentally I’d wager that Mr Obama has no idea of any way to resolve the conflict quickly. Those questions he doesn’t want to get bogged down with are basic and existential ones. And, again, it is his fault that six months have been wasted (he’s also wasted six months on confronting Iran, but that’s another issue).
Instead, Mr Obama wants to leap to permanent status. When was the last time that happened? Think back to 2000 when President Bill Clinton advanced to final status talks and that only after more than six years of preparation called the Oslo peace process. At Camp David the talks quickly fell apart and the Palestinians launched massive violence. And for the last nine years those involved have been saying that it was a mistake.
The best way to get the limited progress possible is not through grandstanding and demagoguery but finding solutions on small things that can strengthen the status quo and limit violence for the decades needed by the Palestinians to want to make real peace with Israel.
Yet perhaps Mr Obama thinks he’s Alexander the Great who, when faced with the Gordian Knot, rather than untie it merely cut through it with his sword. Mr Obama, who carries no sword, can’t do that with a dozen issues that could be listed at this point.
The fact that this man has no real experience in international relations is beginning to tell. No matter how good (or bad) the advisors are, they cannot fully make up for a President who hasn’t a clue of how to deal with an issue like this. I don’t want to be unfair but this seems literally to be true.
And then there’s his style. Mr Obama makes it sound as if countries must do things not because it is in their interest to do so (with American help, pressure, and even threats being part of that interest) but because he wants it and it will benefit him.
“We cannot continue the same pattern of taking tentative steps forward and then stepping back,” Mr Obama said. “It is absolutely critical that we get this issue resolved.”
But a man who knows more about these issues, Nahum Barnea, the Left-of-Centre Israeli columnist, put it this way: “The Americans discovered that they want an Israeli-Palestinian agreement more than the leaders of both sides desire one.”
Barnea might have more accurately written, “Should have discovered” because evidently the President hasn’t yet found this out.
Instead, Mr Obama stated, “It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that’s necessary to achieve our goals.”
Flexibility? Common sense? Sense of compromise? What place is he talking about?
The writer is director of the GLORIA Centre, Tel Aviv, and editor of the MERIA Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader and The Truth About Syria.
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THE PIONEER
OPED
AD-HOCISM AS FOREIGN POLICY
FROM THE CASUAL REFERENCE TO BALOCHISTAN AT SHARM EL-SHEIKH TO THE DILLY-DALLYING ATTITUDE ON THE RECENT CHINESE INCURSIONS, THE UPA CONTINUES TO FLOUNDER
CP BHAMBHRI
It is hardly expected of our regional political party leaders to offer an appropriate and coherent agenda of foreign and security policies for the country because their worldview is limited - even narrowly confined - to a universe of reality which is co-terminus with their own State or region or even sub-region. However, a national party in power at the Centre, with a coalition of other parties, cannot be forgiven if it fails to do so.
First, by de-hyphenating terrorism and referring to the Baluchistan issue in a joint communique issued after the meeting between Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers at Sharm el-Sheikh in July, the Manmohan Singh Government has completely disregarded the public opinion back home. The UPA Government’s ‘ad-hocism’ was further demonstrated on the issue of intrusions by the Chinese in the Indian territory. The issue of Chinese intrusion continued to engage the attention of Indians, including a section of former diplomats and military personnel. But the Government did not consider it proper to state facts and it completely failed to provide effective leadership on such a sensitive issue.
When the Manmohan Singh Government finally woke up, the Government in its wisdom warned the media to stop the ‘China hype’ because it could be ‘dangerous’ to the bilateral relations of the two countries. What a response by a Government of a democratic country?
The problem of ill-defined boundaries between India and China is root to the ups and downs in relationship. All kind of conflicting statements were made by all and sundry and the Government repeatedly stated that India-China relations are quite ‘normal’. Instead, the focus was on scientist K Santhanam’s statement that Pokharan II nuclear test of 1998 was a ‘dud’. The Government should have either firmly snubbed him or it should have maintained that the statements in defence of the effectiveness of nuclear test made by former President Abdul Kalam and former NSA Brajesh Mishra are authentic and the Government does not accept any other version on this issue. Later, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan made an official statement that India does not need any more nuclear tests because Pokharan II of 1998 was quite adequate.
Why such silences on sensitive issues of foreign and security policies?
To top it all, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s statement that Pakistan had always used American aid to build its security apparatus against India, spoiled the UPA Government’s party of completing 100 days in office. Should not have the Government lobbied against Gen Musharraf’s claim and ask the US to reconsider its monetary help to Pakistan in its fight against terrorism? But no. And that US as a friend has been the latest discovery of the Manmohan Singh Government. In the inimitable words of VK Krishna Menon, American guns supplied to Pakistan cannot fire only in one direction because every gun can be turned against an enemy by the person who possesses that gun.
The US has been equipping Pakistan for fight against Taliban, Al Qaeda and in the ongoing American-led war in Afghanistan. Does the UPA Government accept this alibi of America and Pakistan and still continue to believe Americans or Pakistanis?
Pakistan has its own interests in Afghanistan and those interests do not converge with the national interests of Americans in this whole region of south and central Asia. India also has its own interests in Afghanistan but in this ongoing war of America in Afghanistan, it is not India but Pakistan which carries great leverage with the Americans. This deep linkage between America and Pakistan has been revealed in a report on September 22 by the US General Stanley McChrystal in which he has warned that Indian influence in Afghanistan has been increasing and he further states that “…increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India”.
This report by an American General again exposes the lack of foresight in Indian policymaking because Afghani people or the Hamid Karzai Government may be positive about India’s economic and humanitarian activities in the building of Afghanistan but we do not have any military leverage to defend our interests in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Pakistan, Al Qaeda and Taliban forces are determined to rule over Afghanistan where Indians will have no role to play.
It should not be forgotten that several workers from India and even the Indian Embassy have been targeted by Islamists in Afghanistan who enjoy patronage and protection of Pakistan.
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THE PIONEER
OPED
INNOCENCE TRAPPED IN A SOCIETY IN TURMOIL
LACUNAE IN LAWS WEIGH HEAVILY ON YOUNG OFFENDERS IN MILITANCY-INFESTED JAMMU, WRITES DEEPIKA THUSSOO
In the District Court in Jammu when I was rushing to appear before the excise magistrate in November 2008, I saw a boy, barely 10-year-old, handcuffed and being brought to the court by a policeman from the District Jail. As I realised this was a blatant disregard of the law, which clearly stipulates the rules for juvenile trial, I confronted the policeman but got a rather sheepish response.
He reluctantly answered, “The boy has been arrested with his father and uncle on the international border. Today he is to appear before the court. Since every one is brought here handcuffed, why not he?”
This was clearly a gross violation of child rights and what made the matter even graver, it was in the premises of the court, meant to uphold justice for all.
As I probed further, I found the policeman quite forthcoming. He said that the police have been ordered to take juvenile delinquents handcuffed to the court. This was an outright violation of the law and it was happening in a State where the Juvenile Justice Act, 1997 stands extended.
Clearly, in my sincerity of purpose and intensity of emotions, I had overstepped the authority. I was called into the court which demanded my reasons for interviewing the accused and the policeman. The court grilled me on my actions at interviewing this young offender without the permission of the district judge. A little intimidated but knowing that I was on sure ground, I stated my reasons plainly. This went against the letter and the spirit of the Juvenile Justice Act. I knew that had I waited for permission, it would have been a lost chance. Such offenders are often bundled out of the court room as soon as the hearing is over and taken to the ‘felons’ or the district jail where these juvenile delinquents are kept. I openly said as much to the court, deciding it was better for all the cards to be on the table.
I left the court making a humble submission that such juvenile offenders should not be brought handcuffed. I knew I had made a point, not merely in terms of a humanitarian appeal which is demeaning to the offender but on the strength of the legal point. The judge kindly acquiesced on the matter and it was a small battle won for restoring the dignity of a young boy who was on the wrong side of the law. My submission worked as I later came to know that the accused boy was being taken without the handcuffs.
The incident raises a number of questions about the state of child rights in militancy-infested Jammu. One can take this single case as a sample which demonstrates how the children in conflict with law in the insurgency-ridden Jammu are treated. Directly or indirectly due to militancy, poverty and unemployment, many children are pushed towards crime and militancy. There is a crying need to address this issue with clarity, compassion and action. Concerned individuals and organisations need to come forward to the rescue and rehabilitation of the such children who need protection, guidance and a supportive framework to make a transition from offenders to law-abiding children caught in a society of turmoil.
The treatment and proceedings governing juveniles delinquents have a legal basis in India and these need to strictly adhered to. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child contains provisions that specifically relate to the situation of children in conflict with the law. Article 12 states that children have the right to be heard in judicial proceedings affecting them, Article 37 refers to the prohibition of Torture and Deprivation of Liberty and Article 40 deals with the Administration of Juvenile Justice.
The CRC goes beyond the procedural aspects to ensure that the dignity and sense of worth of a child in such circumstances is not compromised. Article 37 clearly addresses that no child shall “be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest or deprivation of liberty.” Article 40 states that a child in conflict with the law has the right to treatment, which promotes the child’s sense of dignity and worth.
The current status of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1996 in the State is that it has been extended on the pattern of the earlier Central Act, which stands repealed by the Children Care and Protection Act, 2000, at the Central Government level. Sadly in Jammu & Kashmir, which needs a legal protective mechanism for young offenders, the provisions of even the earlier law being adhered to are not evident. It is pertinent to note that the State Government has neither ratified the new Act by the Central Government nor has it implemented the beneficiary provisions of the older Act.
The lacuna in the legal provisions weighs heavily on young offenders who are being kept behind the bars along with professional criminals.
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TIMES OF INDIA
COMMENT
G-20'S HOUR
Move over, G-8. From now on, G-20 is the ''premier forum'' for global economic cooperation. That's the message from the Pittsburgh summit of developed and major developing nations. Cynics mock the too-many-cooks approach to economic firefighting and decision-making that they claim will result.
But others hail the change, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh many of whose policy prescriptions appeared in the final communique. Indeed, the worst downturn since the Great Depression is reason enough to go beyond the symbolism of G-20's elevation. Status quoists forget that the world has been executing an economic bailout demanding all hands on deck. That's why managing a crisis triggered by Wall Street's meltdown has seen China and India push growth vigorously, doing their bit to keep the world economy from tanking.
Thanks to their growing clout, China, India and Brazil need a prominent place in any international decision-making architecture. Given emerging economies account for around half the world's output, only pretension can drive G-8's claim to calling the shots.
It's good that a levelling framework will allow G-20 countries to work together to ensure their policies promote sustainable, balanced growth. G-20 also did well to agree to shift a higher percentage of IMF's quota share to developing countries. Since IMF will keep tabs on global economic stability, it can't remain associated with a few rich nations.
G-20 rightly backs a rebalancing of US-China economic ties. For years now, the US has seen inflated import bills while China has ridden on trade surpluses. America pledging to reduce debt-fuelled spending and China committing to boost domestic demand isn't just a G-2 affair. The action the two sides take will be critical for future global stability.
There was consensus as well on an issue strongly pushed by India: stimulus measures will stay for now. While G-20 can pat its back for preventing a recession from turning into a depression, it's too early to end rescue operations. Exit strategies may be globally coordinated but, for now, countries need more than green shoots to sign on.
Multilateral consensus-building is always work in progress. Broad guidelines were adopted to raise regulatory standards for financial institutions, with the Financial Stability Board assigned to mark progress. But there was some discord on bankers' pay and banks' capital requirements. It's, however, debatable whether there can be rigid global prescriptions in such matters.
There was also talk about resisting protectionism, but many nations haven't walked this talk. Overall, the summit formally initiated the move away from an economic governance structure straddled by an elite club of rich industrialised nations. Economic diplomacy has to reflect 21st century realities, and that's where Pittsburgh scores.
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TIMES OF INDIA
COMMENT
HIRE CALLING
Noble vocations are the manifest destiny of many a neta's offspring. Look at Maharashtra. When party tickets to fight elections are given to 'kin'dred souls, it's thanks to a kinship less of blood than of the sweat and tears that go into public service. Inspiringly, kids, grandkids, nephews and nieces of luminaries like the president and assorted people's representatives are entering or aspire to enter the assembly poll fray. The bad press they're getting for it is unfair. The child shouldn't pay for the sins (or bills) of the father; in politics, the favour's usually done the other way round. Why, then, must political GenNext be told 'no-kin-do' about a line of duty pa or grandpa chose? Why wait till kin-dom come to fulfil a higher calling?
As Friends of Kin say, the hereditary principle applies to everything under the son. Take the triumvirate doctor-lawyer-engineer that's pursued in the marriage market. Doctors' children become doctors, and it's not just to get the best brides. Shaadi-related monopolies stand shaken in any case due to post-slowdown job insecurity. Forget doctor & co, even golden babalog like phoren-settled IT engineers or bankers have been replaced by humble babulog as eligible bachelors. Like blondes, government servants now have more fun. That's thanks not only to Sixth Pay Commission generosity but also the babus' sinecure...er, secure...posts.
Besides, in 21st century India, people no longer wear job-linked straitjackets. There's eased professional mobility. The employment market is so diversified, the call of political duty even goes unheeded. Else, a potential political heir wouldn't step into Rakhi Sawant's stilettos rather than his dad's kohlapuris. Clearly, the Great Indian Wedding is itself now a televised career option. Just think: picking out a dulha or dulhaniya and getting paid for it! More, swayamvar or biwi-hunt assignments don't end with getting hitched. Getting unhitched and rehitched to the power of infinity is on hire as well.
Again, a political heavyweight in Maharashtra has an actor-son; a similar biggie in Bihar has a cricketer-son. Neither Junior has scored big yet, but neither desires vote-garnering as a job alternative. Finally, with the wrecking of the old work-linked caste system, greybeards too have professional wanderlust. A political veteran recently renounced mute membership of his strife-torn party, becoming an idol breaker-cum-bestseller writer. Refusing to say "Jinnah yahan, darna yahan", he took the plunge. So, political dynasty is doubtless a venerable institution. But its babylog on vocation should realise politics isn't always Naukri No. 1.
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TIMES OF INDIA
TOP ARTICLE
LIFE BEGINS AT SIXTY
Sixty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country has undergone astounding changes. Beijing's achievements are still more impressive when you consider that for nearly half of those 60 years, politics had taken China on a detour away from economic development, responsible governance and engagement with much of the rest of the world.
Thirty years ago, nobody imagined China could become the world's third largest economy, that Beijing and Taipei would transcend long-standing hostility. Nobody predicted Chinese leaders would travel the world to lavish welcomes, because their arrival brought the prospect of investment, trade, aid and perhaps even salvation from the financial crisis of the time.
Nearing its 60th birthday, the People's Republic of China is at the crossroads. Now it has spent exactly half its national life pursuing the sort of free market economic "reforms" perceived as radical departures when first introduced by Deng Xiaoping.
After 30 years of what Deng called "reform and opening up", or 'gaige kaifang', China is ready for a new era of change. It needs a new model to address some negative effects 'gaige kaifang' has brought. From battling environmental degradation to mending the rift between rich and poor, from tackling corruption to re-examining foreign trade practices the international community perceives to be mercantilist, China's challenges are many.
In years past, the media sometimes nicknamed China's political sensitivities as "the three Ts": Tiananmen, Tibet, Taiwan. A decade ago another taboo topic was added; the list became "three T's and an F", to include the emergence of the religious sect Falungong.
Today Falungong is barely on society's radar. Many young Chinese have little idea about what happened in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago. Tibet is a source of political tensions, but today those types of frictions derive from new economic realities and extend far beyond Tibet. And Taiwan? For much of society, Taiwan is seen as a source of popular music, tourists and investment, no longer the adversary Mao Zedong faced off against 60 years ago.
China faces fresh challenges: how to foster creativity, and how to control Han Chinese chauvinism. For all its manufacturing muscle, scientists and engineers, China is not yet perceived as a centre for technological innovation. One problem is the educational system.
It focuses on rote learning and hierarchical thinking. Another is lack of adequate synergies between government, academia, industry and capital. For nearly 15 years the government has had something called the "863 project", intended to channel state funds and policy support behind an effort to develop, buy, borrow or steal modern technologies.
Yet a funny thing happened. It dawned on Beijing that many Chinese students and engineers who'd spent time overseas could bring back a whole new mindset. If China's academic system is too big and unwieldy to change totally, at least some Chinese returnees can be wooed back to run labs and other facilities where people can be trained to think outside the box.
The future of Chinese innovation may depend partly on the contribution of these returnees they're called "sea turtles" or 'haigui', in a pun on the phrase referring to Chinese who went abroad and then returned. Thousands of these "sea turtles" are already working in labs, universities, companies and R&D centres in China. Two ministers are "sea turtles", one at the ministry of science and technology and another at the ministry of health.
I am not equally optimistic about how or whether Beijing can solve the challenge of growing Han Chinese chauvinism. As China has grown more assertive in the world, Chinese have grown more confident and proud about not just their state but also their race. The result: a surge in what some call "patriotism" and others call "nationalism" a deep pride
in being Chinese and, sometimes, a resentment of members of other races perceived to be slighting the Chinese people. In some cases, this has worked in the government's short-term interests. When unrest broke out last year in Tibet and Xinjiang, ordinary citizens supported the government's eventual suppression of protests by Tibetans and Uighurs and virulently opposed foreign critics of the Chinese government.
Civil unrest has served to strengthen the government's hand by consolidating grassroots Han Chinese support behind the regime. Today, we see how that dynamic can boomerang. Han Chinese residents in Xinjiang recently took to the streets in protest against local government authorities, demanding hasher action against ethnic Uighurs accused of attacking Han Chinese with syringes. The result of rising chauvinism may be that cracking down against ethnic Uighurs or Tibetans is seen as the less risky alternative to cracking down on Han Chinese.
How Beijing deals with the surge of ethnic Chinese chauvinism or nationalism could be a test of the country's remarkable achievements. The government must use wisdom and foresight to accommodate Chinese pride without alienating the ethnic minorities and without alarming the international community which is hoping to see China grow into a superpower that is as responsible as it is rich.
The writer is Beijing bureau chief of an international news magazine.
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TIMES OF INDIA
Q&A
'CHANDRAYAAN-2 WILL TRY TO GET DETAILS ABOUT WATER ON MOON'
G Madhavan Nair , chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has played a key role in the design and development of the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the workhorse of ISRO. The PSLV launched the Indian mooncraft, Chandrayaan-1 on its journey to the moon. The mission has won worldwide acclaim after one of its foreign payloads, NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, discovered water molecules. Nair spoke to Srinivas Laxman :
WHAT'S THE IMPACT OF THE DISCOVERY ON OUR SPACE PROGRAMME?
The discovery of water has really reinforced India's position as a growing space power. Its status has considerably gone up and this is evident from the several congratulatory messages which we have received from different parts of the world and the various space agencies. We will be getting more and more significant data.
WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?
In the mooncraft there are a number of supporting instruments. These will be used for further confirmation of the presence of water molecules. This whole process is expected to take three to six months. In addition, we are also eagerly awaiting the results from NASA's LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) spacecraft that will crashland at Cabeus, a crater near the moon's south pole, on October 9. This mission is also expected to search for water ice.
ON FRIDAY, YOU SAID IT WAS ISRO'S MOON IMPACT PROBE (MIP) WHICH CRASHLANDED NEAR THE SHACKLETON CRATER IN THE LUNAR SOUTH POLE ON NOVEMBER 14, 2008, THAT FIRST DETECTED SIGNS OF WATER. WHY WAS THIS IMPORTANT FACT NOT PUBLICISED EARLIER?
The MIP first detected signals of water while it was descending towards the lunar surface on November 14. Since it was a short duration flight we could not make any positive announcement that it had detected signals of water until we got firm proof and confirmation. This took about 10 months and now that we have concrete evidence about the presence of water we decided to announce the discovery by MIP.
IN WHICH PART OF THE MOON WAS WATER FOUND?
In the polar regions.
WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE SECOND INDIAN MOON MISSION, CHANDRAYAAN-2?
We expect to launch it in 2013. It is a joint Indo-Russian mission that, apart from the orbiter, will have a lander and two rovers. This mission will also attempt to obtain more details about water.
HAS ISRO STARTED RECEIVING SCIENTIFIC PROPOSALS FOR THIS MOON FLIGHT?
Yes, suggestions have started coming in and the process of evaluating them will start soon.
WHICH IS ISRO'S NEXT MISSION?
We are preparing for the launch of the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle towards the end of December that will have an indigenous cryogenic engine. The rocket will carry the GSat-4 communication satellite.
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TIMES OF INDIA
SUBVERSE
LAUGHING AT THE MIRROR
BACHI KARKARIA
"Where should the ego go? Id is difficult to say.'' In fact, it is so big that it cannot fit anywhere other than in its own inflated niche, mounted on a pedestal, and lit up in flashing neon.
By now, this series has explored all the reasons why Indians find it so difficult to produce a true, belly-shaking, sides-aching, tears-streaming, rolling-in the aisles kind of laugh. We have deconstructed humour to the point where we have mangled the life out of it. Now it's time to subject it to the real ELISA test. Do we harbour the humour-immunodeficiency virus? Not just any one of this HIV's many mutants, but its most critical.
The million-dollar question is: "Can we laugh at ourselves?" Goon, take a wild shot. Actually a tame, even domesticated, guess will do. The answer lies all around us. And, no, we don't find it funny.
The ultimate test, the gold standard of humour is the ability to be able to take a dig at ourself. Not just a squeamish half-hearted prod, but a full-blooded ripping apart as if we were about to uncover a great mystery if not King Tut's tomb itself.
Some of us have learnt the civilised art of laughing politely at a joke at our expense though the rest of our body language invariably and unmistakably reveals our real response to such an affront. However, the self-deprecating genre of humour is something we find almost impossible to acquire.
This is silly. One, because to laugh at ourselves is far better (and safer) than being the target of someone else's arrows. And, two, when you say something disparaging about yourself, the subtext is exactly the opposite.
If i say that i suffer from a hopeless case of techlexia, what i am actually conveying is that my brain is wired to higher things, and/or i wouldn't be a techmeister if someone gave me a bumper, Diwali, 'upto 70 per cent off!' offer of attaining Geekdom 2.0. So while the laugh may appear to be on me, it's i who is actually having the last smirk.
Yet this simple point seems to elude us. We cannot laugh at ourselves, and we certainly cannot stomach anyone laughing at us. Our egos are way too big (read, way too fragile) to be able to survive such desecration. The medical term for both conditions is acute and irreversible self-confidence failure.
The most recent example is the way Congress knickers went into a twist over Shashi Tharoor's tweet. In matters of this haiku of the hi-tech age, it is an infinite relief to come across a smart, urbane message as opposed to the usual tsunami of banalities: "Have just settled down to a packet of Maggi. Have refused to share even one squiggle with Sunita. Or Snowy."
The party should have ignored the cattle class and holy cows retort for the trivia that it was even if they could not bring themselves to ha-ha-hee-hee over it. In our newspapers, politicians are always 'quipping' even when all they have said is "I am a disciplined soldier of the party." (Actually that is a joke, albeit an unintended one.) So when a minister actually does make an upfront, applaud-cheer-or-just-throw-money quip, we should be falling over our feet in gratitude, not stoning his gym-hard body.
Instead Shashi baba was made to stand in the corner with his finger on his lips by Madam. And, worse, subjected to the prim, pursed-lipped, "We are not amused" disapproval of Queen Victoria Natarajan on prime time news.
The irony is that it was left to the most po-faced man in the party, habitue of the 'dismal science' of economics, Manmohan Singh, to see it as it was, and declare that "It was just a joke."
You'd think Tharoor had revealed a state secret. Or had he? The truth is that all of us fancy ourselves as a holy cow. How can we turn the sublime into the ridiculed? That's our farce. And our tragedy.
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TIMES OF INDIA
DÉJÀ VU
TOO MANY ROLES...
Play the characters of twins. Turn into triplets if necessary. As in all forms of art, quality cinematic creativity is born out of the need to look around the stereotype. Similarly, when an actor gets an opportunity to play both father and son, for instance, he is able to showcase his versatility and make a creative impact that matters. But the problem begins when people try too hard, leaving aside the need to restrict their imagination.
They create not one or two but a handful of characters, all played by the same person. Priyanka Chopra plays as many as 12 characters in Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Rashee? While Priyanka has acted beautifully in the film, is it realistic to expect that the audience will ignore one basic similarity between the many characters, which is that all of them are being played by the same actor? Many of us might appreciate Priyanka's chameleon-like ability to change colours, but what about the average viewer who limits himself to watching Priyanka replace Priyanka, before she replaces herself once again?
The late Sanjeev Kumar played nine characters in Naya Din Nai Raat. Kamal Haasan played as many as 10 characters in Dasavatharam. Known to be an actor par excellence, Sanjeev Kumar displayed an amazing ability to change from one character to another. But while the masses applauded the man when he played two characters in the comic epic Angoor, Naya Din... fell flat at the box office. That Dasavatharam wasn't a rock show either makes a point for others to learn from. No matter how talented an actor might be after all, nobody can doubt either Sanjeev Kumar's or Kamal Haasan's abilities it is important to ensure that the person isn't made to do too much.
A film in which the protagonist turns up in virtually every scene, and that too in a different avatar that merely reminds us that she is the same person, is a bad idea. The average viewer does not go to a film to analyse the actor's talent. A seeker of entertainment, one can get bored very easily when the same actor tries to do many different things. Does that mean film-makers and actors should stop conducting experiments that satisfy their creative urges? Certainly not. But when they create, or play, so many characters, one thing they should not expect is magic at the box office.
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HINDUSTAN TIMES
EDITORIAL
BONFIRE OF OUR FRAILTIES
THE VICTORY OF GOOD OVER EVIL EVERY DUSSEHRA SHOULD REMIND US OF OUR DUTIES
As on every Dussehra evening, we will be reminded again about the natural victory of the forces of good over evil. Thousands of effigies of Ravana will play metaphor to this universal belief that takes shape from universal hope. And yet, while the war against darkness in its many forms is played out every year on the platform of mass theatre, in the real world there exists a more dangerous symmetry between good and evil, a more evenly matched battle. For one, there lies the problem of fixing what is good and what is evil. India in 2009 is at the crossroads. That inaction itself can be a vice, even an evil, can be gauged from decades of indifference that not only the Nation-State has shown towards vast swathes of its own people, but also that of the citizenry at large.
The innocuous-sounding term `chalta hai' has arguably been the most potent enemy of our country that still sees India's schizophrenic reality of First World capabilities with Third World miseries exist in full widescreen Technicolour. It's easy -- far too easy -- to blame that behemoth called The Government for all that ails us. People get the kind of government and its auxiliaries that they deserve, or at least that they grow comfortable with. The prime function of a democracy is to make popular will policy. Not always has popular will been for the obvious good.
On another level, there is another battle between good and evil going on -- a real one. The Prime Minister has reiterated that tackling Maoist extremism is India's most dangerous challenge. On his part, the Home Minister has made a strong argument for not shirking from the necessary duty of physically uprooting this menace and then going on a damage control mission for decades of under- or non-development among so many of our citizens. Amartya Sen, in his magisterial book, Idea of Justice, invokes the argument and counter-argument exchanged between Arjun and Krishna before the Kurukshetra war. While the former makes a cogent point about the means being more important than the end, the latter wins out when he states that one must do one's duty. If there is any lesson to be learnt from the victory of Rama over Ravana, it is this: a just war against the many ills beleaguering our nation must not be avoided. Being in denial about them is more than half the battle lost.
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HINDUSTAN TIMES
EDITORIAL
SIGNS OF OTHER TIMES
WE SEEM TO BE SLOWLY LOSING OUR NATIONAL SYMBOLS ONE BY ONE. MAYBE IT'S TIME TO GET SOME NEW ONES
Just when India was getting set to roar on the world stage, bad news regarding the dwindling population of its national animal, the mighty tiger, started making headlines. Now we hear the lotus is wilting, nay, dying. And before there's a burst of celebration in certain camps, let us warn you that this is not a reference to India's main opposition party's diminishing fortunes, but the very real possibility of a rare species of our national flower being lost forever. According to a BBC News report, the extremely rare Nymphaea tetragona -- a rare species of the lotus -will be gone soon, as conservation efforts to save this unusual flower have come to naught.
Add to this mix the rise in peacock poaching, and the fact that no one even remembers what a hockey stick looks like, then swirl the thought around in the muddy waters of a shrinking Ganga, and you might chance upon the very real possibility that our national symbols could be disappearing one by one. Perhaps we need a new, easy-to-recall list, including icons that represent the signs of our times, and are not nearing extinction. For example, we could replace the peacock with the pigeon as a tribute to the Great Indian Communications Revolution. Given the abundant reminders these birds liberally leave behind in our offices and homes, they'd be pretty hard to forget.
Well, we never hear the strains of Vande Mataram every time the Boys in Blue lift a championship cup, or Leander Paes his doubles partner, so maybe it's time to tune in to that other national song of jubilant times -`Chak de'. But for the handful of our readers who fear that all will soon be lost, here's some good news. That wily ol' banyan tree has a long innings ahead and mangoes are always just a season away. As for the rest, maybe it's time to give ourselves a national makeover.
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HINDUSTAN TIMES
EDITORIAL
IT'S A BIT OF A STRETCH
IT'S WRONG TO LINK A NATION'S ATTITUDE TO WAR WITH THE NATURE OF ITS PEOPLE AND ITS SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS, SAYS PRADEEP MAGAZINE GARY KIRSTEN AND PADDY UPTON ARE HERE TO TRAIN A CRICKET TEAM. THEY SHOULD REFRAIN FROM GIVING US LESSONS ON OUR HISTORY, CULTURE, RELIGION AND RACE
Afour-page dossier that is not just meant to improve the Indian cricket team's performance but also make them better human beings has generated a lot of debate, praise and even derision for all the wrong reasons. Messrs Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton, the two South Africans responsible for coaching and providing psychological inputs to Team India, have circulated a document to the players which touches upon various aspects of team development, some very routine, some supposedly very bold and even revolutionary in nature.
It refers to India's history and gives reasons why we are a docile nation that has always been reactive in nature. It urges the team to be proactive and adopt strike-first methods to win matches, especially outside India.
This is something that should please our right-wing politicians and their followers. The document does not stop there -- it gives us examples from the 1971 war, saying how Indians reacted only after cities in northern India were bombed by Pakistan, and then links it with statistical data of how poorly we have done overseas in cricket by never attacking any team. This incursion into the past needs a serious debate; had any Indian coach said this, he would've already been reprimanded, if not sacked.
But the portion that has hogged a lot of news space and generated a lot of mirth among cricketers from even more `aggressive' and `liberated' countries is that which links fulfilling sexual urges with performance on the field. It talks about how excessive testosterone levels lead to aggressive behaviour and how increased sexual activity leads to rise in testosterone levels.
The inference to be drawn here is that since we are docile as a race, sexual activity will lead to the players being more aggressive, and hence to better performers on the cricket field.
How we wish that we had known of these findings when China attacked India in 1962! Our soldiers could have been sufficiently advised and even provided with partners before sending them to the battle field. Maybe a war that we lost could've been won?
But jokes apart, the relationship between sex and performance on the sporting field has been debated endlessly and there has been a lot of research done on the subject over the years. Among the many theories, however, none is as conclusive as Kirsten and Upton (or perhaps only Upton, since Kirsten tried to distance himself from the document on Friday) would like us to believe. Football teams and their coaches have grappled with this problem and have not come to any satisfactory conclusion. It has been left to each individual who, as long as he does not breach the team's discipline, and the moral and ethical code of the society he lives in, is free to indulge in what he thinks is good for him.
Sex as a part of training input has, to my knowledge, not been part of any coaching manual, especially in cricket. That is why we could see players from other countries blushing and demurring when told about team India's new `vision' document. And since many of the Indian team members are married, obviously `going solo' would be a better option for them unless their wives are patriotic enough to forgive them their indulgences for the sake of India's victory.
That the coaches have good intentions and want India to be aggressive so that they become the best team in the world is not in question here. But to use war terminology to make `us' understand our limitations as a sporting nation is as amusing as it should be shocking. Going by this logic, the empire on whom the sun never set should have been the best team in the world, something it rarely was. England, who colonised almost half of the world, is a struggling cricket nation and does not have an enviable record even in other sports.
How do we explain the rise of the colonised `slaves' -- the West Indies cricket team -- which for the better part of Eighties was the most outstanding team the history of the game has known, giving lessons to their English `masters' and to the rest of the world?
Australia has never been at war, yet it was the best team in the world for the last decade. The point I'm trying to make is that to link a nation's attitude to war with the nature of its people and its sporting achievements is fraught with serious danger. Even the best of historians have refrained from passing such judgments.
In any case, is being the aggressor and going to war such a good thing that youngsters should feel proud of it? Should they feel embarrassed that their forefathers never attacked any nation? In fact, if anything we feel proud of the fact that India never had any imperial designs and did not loot and plunder other nations?
Kirsten and Upton are here to coach and train a cricket team -- something they are qualified to do.
They should refrain from giving us lessons on our history, culture, religion and race. Pradeep Magazine is the author of Not Quite Cricket
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HINDUSTAN TIMES
EDITORIAL
HIGH OFFICE, HIGHEST PROPRIETY
PANKAJ VOHRA, POLITICAL EDITOR
The Congress's decision to field President Pratibha Patil's son, Rajendra Shekhawat from Amravati in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, was a needless one. Equally, for the President's family to ask for a party ticket while she holds this high office is in violation of propriety. This one single action has put a shadow on the perception that the head of State is above the pressures and pulls of politics.
Various parties do field candidates for presidentship but once an incumbent is elected, he or she is expected to dissociate from any party affiliations. There are certain constitutional positions whose sanctity needs to be preserved at all costs.
There appears to be little justification for the President's son to contest on a party ticket in these polls. If Rajendra Shekhawat indeed was so keen on proving his mettle, he should have either waited for his mother's term to get over or entered the fray as an Independent. The President's office cannot be dragged into any controversy.
From the Congress standpoint, it would have been difficult to refuse a ticket to the President's son. But uncomfortable decisions need to be taken in the larger interests of the country. In giving the ticket to Rajendra, the party has sought to deprive its own minister and two timeMLA, Sunil Deshmukh, of another chance.
Deshmukh is contesting as an Independent and if he wins because of his commendable work, there will be many people who'll be embarrassed. And even if he loses, and so does the President's son, there will be some difficult moments.
According to party activists, Rajendra has not done enough work in Amravati and his father, Devi Singh Shekhawat, the President's spouse, had lost his deposit from the seat when he contested on a Congress ticket in 1995. This happened when the President herself was the MP from the area. Since the election process has started, many allegations are bound to resurface and the President's office will be needlessly dragged into controversies.
Rajendra had also embarrassed his mother earlier when as part of the official entourage of the President on a tour of Latin America as a VVIP member in April last year, he had gone off to Miami on a private visit for a day. Officials had explained that he had a business meeting with University of Florida functionaries in connection with the educational institutions run by the family.
The embarrassment caused by the first family is similar to what happened many years ago when V.V. Giri was President.
There were numerous stories that were doing the rounds and the late Chand Joshi wrote an exclusive report in HT in the early seventies on how vegetables grown in Rashtrapati Bhawan were being exported. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was deeply embarrassed by all this but maintained a silence as Giri was her candidate against Neelam Sanjiva Reddy when the Congress split in 1969 for the first time.
The President's office is sacrosanct.
Many Presidents like Rajendra Prasad, S. Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain served with great distinction and brought dignity to the position. There are a lot of expectations from Pratibha Patil. She may be a mother but she cannot forget that she is also the President. She must intervene and prevent the controversy from getting out of hand. One way would be to ask Rajendra Shekhawat to withdraw his nomination.Between us.
pvohra@hindustantimes.com
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INDIAN EXPRESS
EDITORIAL
BIG BROTHER?
Ever since George Orwell so clinically documented the travails of Winston Smith, state control over the lives of its citizens have come to be judged by the standards of ‘1984’. How then does one judge the national intelligence grid proposal that makes 20 databases held by ‘public authorities’ accessible to 11 Central agencies? NATGRID, it is claimed, would enable law enforcement agencies to better pool their information, including bank accounts and insurance details, rail and air travel itineraries, internet and telephone logs and income tax histories.
Government officials dismiss worries of privacy being infringed by pointing out that this is innocuous information that can already be accessed by investigating agencies. But unlawfully accessed, a citizen’s surfing history, phone lists and income tax details can be used to intimidate, coerce and blackmail. Even in the hands of a vindictive state official, they could be used to harass, especially if the intention is to grind an axe or blackmail. These are not idle concerns, these are very real worries that the proposed national intelligence grid must answer well before it gets off the ground.
The tension between civil liberties and national security exists in every liberal democracy. The question will always be asked: how much personal freedom are we willing to give up to feel more secure. But the question is nuanced and the tension subtle. Rigorous checks on what information is pooled, on what grounds agencies can ask for it, and what the punishment is for leakage, would go a long way in protecting privacy as well as enabling the intelligence agencies to do a more efficient job. Claims of national security operate on public trust, trust that the government will not use it as an excuse to infringe on a citizen’s liberties. The national security grid must, therefore, not dismiss the need for checks.
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INDIAN EXPRESS
EDITORIAL
RADICAL CHIC
Kobad Ghandy has gripped the popular imagination — what is the London-schooled son of a strawberry ice cream magnate doing in the thick of revolutionary guerrilla warfare? In interviews, he spoke with a sobriety that seemed at odds with the apocalyptic Naxalite vision — he spoke of schooling problems, of boiling water to beat disease, of reducing child mortality. His wife and comrade, Anuradha Shanbagh, also shunned her cushioned life after her encounter with urban poverty. Ghandy and Shanbagh were part of a category of young people who were jolted awake to politics, by the moral urgency of addressing widespread rural exploitation. At a time when the Congress and the big two Communist parties were situated on different points of a “democratic” socialist spectrum, the Naxalite revolt brought the “spring thunder” of Maoism to India, as Gail Omvedt puts it, with the goal of agrarian revolution and armed struggle.
Certainly, over the decades that dream disintegrated for many young revolutionaries, and the brutality of the Naxalite way has ensured that none but the most militantly committed to their extortionist ends have stayed on. The extremism of their goals and the excesses of their method make them the most dreaded enemies of the state. And yet, as a perceptive Planning Commission study admitted, growth and good administration has simply passed over certain geographies and people, and Naxalites thrive in this development and governance vacuum. When extremist movements of any stripe supply much-needed healthcare or schooling, they supplant the state’s legitimacy. If they are seen to provide a certain rough justice through people’s courts (violent and imperfect as they may be) or by the enforcement of minimum wages or forest rights, that is because the state is perceived as an indifferent, abstract entity.
But what is arresting about examples like Kobad Ghandy (however repellent their ideology) is the fact that what stirred them to action was a cause so utterly removed from their insulated worlds. That possibility of a fierce sympathy between someone from the urban overclass and a forgotten, faraway group of tribals, is fascinating. And while romanticising the Naxal cause is ignorant, hollow and extremely dangerous, it would be as short-sighted to ignore grievances that that cause feeds on.
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INDIAN EXPRESS
EDITORIAL
PITTSBURGH PROMISES
WILL history judge Pittsburgh as the inflexion point in global political economy in terms of substantively, as opposed to symbolically, broadening the power base? There were things agreed to at the G-20 meeting that, say, two years back would have been considered near unmentionable. The best example is peer review of major countries’ macroeconomic health. Perceptive economists have long argued that if some of the world’s biggest economies run fiscal/monetary/exchange rate policies that seem destabilising and if there’s no mechanism to discuss the dangers of such policies, global economic management is effectively meaningless. Pittsburgh has made the idea of such a mechanism politically acceptable. How this works out, whether in the short term this works out at all, how America or China (the two great de-stabilisers) will take to peer review, are all valid questions. But the potential now exists for a better system, of which a better and reformed IMF, another Pittsburgh promise, will be a key part.
Pittsburgh may have delivered in some areas it didn’t seem to deliver. The vagueness and the evident lack of unanimity on financial regulation is an efficient outcome. Remember, globally applied Basle norms did not stop the crisis. Bank behaviour does need to change, banks’ capital reserve requirements should become pro-cyclical (increasing in booms and reducing in busts) — but these are really national questions dependant on internal financial/political structures. India, Indonesia and Italy shouldn’t be looking at a common set of finance guidelines.
The Indian delegation has let it be known that it is happy with Pittsburgh’s outcome. There’s reason to be happy. But there’s also reason to be self-aware. India’s place at the global high table, or India’s relative ranking there, is dependant on the economy producing about a decade of high growth. This is wholly doable provided the national purpose is clear. For example, India must address the problems with its overpopulated, small holding model of farming. It must act upon the recognition that its manufacturing base needs to be hugely broadened, that its basic education system needs a huge revamp, that its banks are too hemmed in by regulation (there’s a space between the way Lehman functioned and the way SBI has to function). These are essentially political questions. India’s politics will need to be consistently motivated by its economic ambition. Can we bet on that?
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INDIAN EXPRESS
COLUMN
THE CHOSEN ONES
SEEMA CHISHTI
Some years ago, just as his hold over the television watching public in India had peaked, Lalu Prasad made a trip to Pakistan, the land of the well-heeled, well-spoken and khandani politician. He charmed his hosts with his ready wit, one-liners and, most of all, the shocking revelation that he was a first generation politician and that his early school years were spent wandering around on the back of a portly buffalo in the wilds of Bihar. It said a lot about India.
Several others over the years — whether thrown up by the national movement, Periyar’s, JP’s, Communist and Telangana, Lohia, Ram Mandir or Mandal movements — were marvellous testaments to the large Indian political canvas, its openness, its ability to accommodate not just dissent or difference but diversity of origins. This is obviously something rare, and to be treasured in a poor and large democracy. There was even a stone-cutter woman MP from Bihar, and several silent examples still exist.
But suddenly, it is threatening to become like Bollywood, an arena of immense possibilities being choked by just sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, even a nephew-in-law. It appears that people in key leadership positions in several parties are anxious to hand over to immediate and blood relations. Like family jewels, the “MP-ship” or “MLA ticket” is part of the family inheritance. Even caste seems to have been narrowed down to an obsession with kinship. Initially, the BJP tried to be snooty about it and indicate that playing house was something just the Congress did, they did not have a “dynasty”. But, over the years, children of various leaders have taken over, projected as legitimate heirs of political jagirs of all sorts.
In small towns and panchayats, this is sometimes more starkly evident and more openly talked about. Mayoral elections and other municipal-level elections offer an excellent microcosm to watch a phenomenon which is now played out at all levels in political parties.
It cannot be legitimately argued that those who are sons, daughters or even nephews-in-law carry a millstone, and that they not be permitted to do what their parents did. That would violate basic individual rights, and would also militate against the virtual guild system that has very much been part of the Indian tradition (doctors, lawyers, engineers all taking up their parent’s craft without a murmur). Also, in cases where political kin actually secure huge margins of victory and pass the democratic test, to make a case for not allowing sons and daughters to contest would be problematic.
But a damning consequence of this obvious change in the criteria for who gets the ticket, an implicit recognition that leaders’ children would inherit, and that too in the lifetime and under the watchful eye of the parent, has resulted in the weakening of the political party system in India. As even those who are first generation “fighters” in politics — for example, Karunanidhi, Thackeray, Mulayam Singh, Sharad Pawar, Purno Sangma and innumerable many in the Congress and the BJP (most recently Vilasrao Deshmukh, Shinde and Gopinath Munde) — hand down opportunity directly to their families, how elections are fought has changed.
As the party machinery is not exactly cranked up to help candidates uniformly, those anxious about their scions pump in disproportionate amounts of influence and money to ensure that they land a victory. The older democratic process of the party machinery taking responsibility for ensuring victories has been virtually replaced by a smaller (in the short-term, more “efficient”) family core, which then proceeds to run politics and campaigns like a contractor would, something which ultimately saps traditional essence of a political party. This system is not transparent and ultimately shuts the door to new entrants and aspirations, taking away the only thing that has the power to help people in an unequal society like India — the promise of equality of opportunity.
What is ironic is that most cases of “handing over” to children are made on the basis of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But the script is very different from what it is made out. In the mid-late sixties Indira Gandhi was struggling to make a mark, but her father, India’s first prime minister, never really left it for her. A cursory reading of the political history of the times functions as a textbook tutorial on how to capture a party as large and restless as the Congress. Young Indira moved smartly and politically. Apart from intelligently using her confidantes (most of them Kashmiri pandits like herself, though not necessarily related to her), she even adopted an ideology to take on the old and snarling guard brilliantly after
her father’s death in order to settle herself in. This was a succession ensured by the successor well after the predecessor had passed on! Of course, there is something about hailing from political families — the expectations, dinner-time conversations, turbulence, personal tragedies and possible horrors that sharpen the mettle of children and those watching from up close, something that trains those schooled in it in a very special way. Consider again, in neighbouring Sri Lanka, a Sirimavo Bandaranaike or a Chandrika Kumaratunga who have seen and undergone miseries which are the stuff of screenplays, something that earned them their place in the power matrix, family, history, tragedy and personal fortitude all mixed in a way that detangling them is not always possible or recommended.
The problem is not that children of leaders cannot do what their parents did. To suggest that is unconstitutional. But what subverts the spirit of this great democracy is when the only problem confronting leaders seems to be to secure their kin a foothold.
Several of us laughed cynically when there were reports of laptops being used to evaluate the winnability of ticket-seekers before decisions were taken. But, in retrospect, there was something promising in the whirring of the hard-disk as it chose somewhat randomly. The certainty of some of the choices made in the most recent ticket distribution could not be filling anyone with much hope.
seema.chishti@expressindia.com
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INDIAN EXPRESS
COLUMN
PODIUM FOR MAVERICKS
ALIA ALLANA
The assembly of theatrics — that is how the United Nations General Assembly (GA) is frequently dismissed. The fact that some maverick routinely steals the podium and then dominates the airwaves gives greater ammo to such criticism. Perhaps it would all make greater sense if we understood the General Assembly’s use as a stage, a venue for rhetoric and drama, rather than a forum of straight forward discussion.
This year it has been dominated by Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi. Some of the more colourful snippets from his speech included his opinion of the Security Council as the “terror” council; the prospect of the UN’s relocation on account of delegates’ jet-lag and immigration woes. Of course, he conspicuously avoided mention of the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie bombing — the one subject that has commandeered international attention.
Similarly, Castro’s four-and-a-half-hour anti-America tirade can be waved away as mere sensationalism. Castro stood behind the podium dressed in military uniform, decked out with a pistol holster (he was asked to leave his pistol behind at the door). Was this not to display that The General was addressing them? Bay of Pigs was the talk du jour, but Castro’s speech did not touch upon it. That was left to take place on the sidelines.
The importance of the assembly lies as much in what is not said about the pressing issues of the day. Take the Khrushchev shoe banging incident for example. A Philippines delegate asserted that the peoples of the Eastern Europe had been “deprived of political and civil rights” as the Soviet Union had “swallowed” them up. This made a great splash, but there was no talk of the Union. Khrushchev later confided, “It was such fun! The UN is sort of a parliament, you know, where the minority has to make itself known, one way or another.”
Then there was Hugo Chavez a few years ago: “Yesterday, the devil came right here... the president of the United States... The stink of sulphur is still hanging around the table in which I stand in front of.”
The Assembly has, for the past four years, been the Ahmadinejad Show. In his 2007 address he said: “Some seek to rule the world, relying on threats, while others live in perpetual insecurity and danger.” This was in the same speech where he once again called for the “annihilation of Israel”.
While this year the most pressing issue that the UN faces is that of nuclear non-proliferation, there was no talk from Ahmadinejad on the nuclear issue. Yet, within a week Ahmadinejad for the first time in the Islamic Republic’s history sits in front of the international delegation to talk of the country’s nuclear programme.
What then explains this trend? Why do these “despots”, “tyrants”, “bad boys” skirt around important issues? Propaganda analysts maintain that remote communities, communities with a heavily censored press though lacking basic facilities, have access to news. Thus, the orator needs to ensure that the bite-sized information he transmits and which will be repeatedly played is in keeping with his policies. Such that those who tune in hear “the advertising jingles and political slogan which either desire to shape their social and economic reality or which in fact they already do so”.
Note the role media plays in this as well. The much hyped “terror council” snippet is said within this context:
“Sixty-five wars broke out after the establishment of the UN and the Security Council... The Security Council since its establishment did not provide us with security but on the contrary provides us with terror and sanctions.”
So what use is the General Assembly then, critics ask.
The GA still remains the concert of nations. What happens on the sidelines is the real deal. On the sidelines of the GA the Security Council met to discuss nuclear non-proliferation and Resolution 1887 was passed.
Bernard Gwertzman of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations maintains: “In this era of international relations, we may need to start thinking less about formal international treaties and agreements and much more what you might describe as coordinated national policies.”
So as far as the General Assembly goes, maybe we should just sit back and enjoy the show because the real transactions of international politics are taking place all around it.
alia.allana@expressindia.com
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INDIAN EXPRESS
OPED
‘NUMBER OF ATTACKS DRIVEN BY RACIST ATTITUDE WOULD BE MINORITY... WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT A VISA THAT’S GIVEN FOR EDUCATION IS USED FOR EDUCATION’
Hello and welcome to Walk the Talk. I am Shekhar Gupta at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi and my guest this week a very distinguished Australian and believe it or not, he is not even a sportsman or a cricketer. Peter Varghese, the new High Commissioner of Australia to India. Welcome to Walk the Talk
PV: Thank you
SG: And good day to choose when you have this exhibition on sort of pictures exhibiting your multiculturalism
PV: That’s a wonderful coincidence actually because there is a great way of demonstrating that contemporary Australia has a very multicultural society and the question of who is an Australian would involve an answer that will just bring in every part of the world
SG: Maybe take a whole foolscap sheet
PV: Yes, absolutely
SG: But you know you don’t need an exhibition because you are a very good example of that. Parents born in Kerala, you born in Kenya, brought up in Australia. You are a wonderful example of multiculturalism
PV: That’s true. And my experience is not at all unusual for contemporary Australia that we have people from all over the world. You know something like 40 per cent of Australians have either born themselves overseas or one of their parents have been born overseas. So even though we are a small country in population terms, I think, the multicultural story in Australia is quite an exciting one when you look at the way, really in the space of a generation, not longer than that, we have developed into what is a very pluralist, multicultural but distinctively Australian community
SG: I’ve noted you say Australian, not Australian
PV: Well the Australian accent is going to vary
SG: Accents are varying all over the world now as populations get globalised
PV: Not a regional variation, but an individual variation in Australia
SG: There are surveys done on nationalities, ascribing certain characteristics to them, the famous roper survey. Very interesting that for so many decades now they have characterized the Australians as people in the category called fun-loving. That speaks for the great sporting tradition as well
PV: That’s certainly one element in the Australian character, but I think Australia is also, you know, a country that puts a lot of premium on hard work, and even though our international reputation may be for being relatively laid-back , I think Australia these days is a country and economy which is moving at quite a fast pace
SG: I don’t think anybody has ever seen an Australian sportsman who would look laid back – in any game
PV: We hope not because that competitive spirit in Australia is very strong
SG: Sport is an indicator of national character and I don’t think anybody takes chances with the Australians.
PV: Well we have a wonderful tradition of sporting competition between India and Australia
SG: Oh absolutely and you beat us a bit too often.
PV: Well you are doing pretty well at the moment
SG: So we need to restore that balance….but it’s a great rivalry now. For a long time nobody could beat Australia. And then India sort of leveled it.
PV: Yeah. All these things always go in cycles. You can never afford to be complacent or too despondent, I think.
SG: But you know, the timing of your appointment. Everybody has been quick to draw the linkages, linkages in India as well as the Australian media. And linkage being the current state of our relationship because of the attacks on students,etc
PV: Yes
SG: Do you see a special responsibility or burden or concern as you come in
PV: Well I think the timing of my appointment is really, completely coincidental because this is a decision that has been in the making for a very long time. And well before, we ran into any of these difficulties over students. So I don’t think anyone should read anything particular into the fact that I am coming to India to take up this position at this time. I mean, I’ve been a professional diplomat for over 30 years. And for me this job represents a wonderful professional challenge. Because this is a relationship which is already moving quickly, growing fast but it has huge potential and there are very few big relationships with the growth issue left in them if you are a professional diplomat
SG: Right. All the others are in close control now.
PV: Well all the others are well developed relations and I mean, obviously they are also moving but the room for moving with India is bigger than any other of the big relationships
SG: But there is a special, there has to be a particular appreciation of the situation now because Australia has got sort of difficult press in India over the past few months
PV: We have. We have. I mean I don’t think you can go through this sort of negative coverage that we have had in the Indian media over the student issue and not take a bit of a hit
SG: Right
PV: And one of the things that I want to do while I am here is to explain what is happening in Australia, to explain what we are doing where we see problems, and we do recognize where there are problems
SG: What’s your understanding of what’s been happening?
PV: Well, its actually quite a complicated story because it has a law enforcement dimension, it has an
educational institution dimension, and it has almost a sociological dimension. We’ve seen a very rapid rise in the number of Indian students coming to Australia and of course, we welcome them as we welcome all our international students. Many of the Indian students who
SG: It’s also a big export for Australia – education
PV: It is, it is. But you know education is one of those things which I don’t think you can view in a very narrow perspective. Sure, it’s a service export for Australia and its an important part of our economy. But the thing about education is that its much more than that. and it is absolutely crucial in building relationships because when you leave your country and go to another country to study, you are not just engaging in some sort of transaction, you are learning about another country, you are experiencing something different. And you are contributing to the country to which you have gone and one of the things that I keep saying is that the educational relationship is a reciprocal relationship, its not a one-way relationship. You know I had the privilege of serving in Malaysia, as my last position as high commissioner and there I saw the way in which an educational relationship can create real connections between two communities and also how students who come to Australia can change the perspective of Australians.
SG: But some of that unfortunately is not happening vis-à-vis the Indian students in Australia
PV: Well there is no reason why it shouldn’t happen
SG: Yeah
PV: And I don’t think that we should look upon the Indian student experience as a negative experience in Australia. The great majority of Indian students in Australia, our surveys confirm this, say that they enjoy being in Australia, that they are, appreciative of the way in which they have been welcomed in Australia and that they are having generally a very positive experience.
SG: You said that there are three dimensions to the problem
PV: Yes. Well, the first dimension is this is an issue of crime in urban areas. And much of the crime is going to be opportunistic and it will depend a little bit on where you are and when you are there. Indian students, many of them are working part-time, often because they have taken out loans and they need to earn money as well as to look after themselves, find accommodation, pay for their food and clothing. So many of them are working late shifts. They, in Melbourne…
SG: Legally or illegally?
PV: No, no legally. Legally. I mean, we allow students to work 20 hours a week, during the holidays they can work for as long as they like
SG: I see
PV: and so, we are not, not suggesting that they are working illegally. But typically many of them will live in low-cost neighbourhoods because they cant afford to live in more expensive neighbourhoods
SG: Or in rough neighbourhoods
PV: So in some ways they put themselves at double the risk because they’re working shift hours, they’re commuting in the early hours of the morning to neighbourhoods which have probably a higher crime rate than they were living in affluent, middle class suburbs. So, they, as a result I think have been victims of opportunistic crime. Now, I am not saying that in Australia there haven’t been any cases where some of these attacks had a racial element to it.
Sg: But not all of them have a racial element
PV: Not all of them and not even close to the majority of them would have. I think the number of attacks which had driven by a beggeted racial attitude would be very much the minority and something that I think most Australians would find apparent
SG: What is the element of racism in Australian society
PV: Well, you know, I often say that for a country to go from where Australia was say in the 50s to where it is today could not be possible if racism was embedded in the society. You cannot absorb that number of people from different countries, different cultures, different colours and remain a socially cohesive and united society if people had a fundamentally racist attitude. So I think the Australian story is actually an example of how at the individual level Australians have been remarkably willing to accept someone for who they are
SG: But have the economic stresses of the past few years caused a problem
PV: Well the economic stresses I think
SG: Drought, downturn
PV: well, I think times of economic stress will always accentuate some difficulties but if they do it is very much at the margins. And I don’t think there is any evidence that economic stress is causing fundamental intolerance to develop in Australia. And Australia has been very fortunate with economy. I mean, we have had
SG: you benefited from the commodity boom
PV: We have benefited from the commodity boom. We had 16 straight years of economic growth
SG: We heard about crane drivers getting 70,000 Australian dollars a year
PV: Wow. Its true. The resource boom, particulary in Western Australia and Queensland attracted a lot of labour to those parts. And quite highly paid
SG: You said there is a law and order enforcement aspect to it and what are the other two aspects
PV: Well the other aspect is, we have had some cases where students have come from India to Australia and enrolled in educational institutions which turned out to be not properly prepared and equipped to teach the courses. And that has caused problems
SG: So they were fly by night
PV: Some of them were operators that weren’t capable of delivering what they promised
SG: So are you moving against them?
PV: We certainly are. We are introducing legislation requiring institutions to re-register under tougher criteria and if they don’t meet those criteria they would be struck off the list
SG: Frankly some of this is also a function of the brutal undersupply in India
PV: Sure
SG: Because in India now the yearning for higher education is so desperate and because India doesn’t give enough capacity, people just go overseas and then maybe sometimes they don’t choose very carefully
PV: Well it could be that. it could be that people are being given incorrect information, like to believe that they will get something when they get there, they don’t. but your point about the incapacities is very relevant because from where I sit, the possibility to work in partnership with India on education issues is really quite large because this is a very big structural issue for India. And India recognizes there is an education deficit which needs to be filled and government here is working very hard to do that. so I think there is a natural fit between where India wants to get to and Australia has to offer
SG: So do you see India and Australia working together in this?
PV: Absolutely, absolutely
SG: is that part of your agenda as well?
PV: It’s very much part of my agenda but I believe it is also part of the Indian government’s agenda and certainly
SG: Indian government is desperate because now people want education and they will be angry if they don’t get it
PV; And I think we can do this in several ways. We can continue to offer education in Australia to Indian students. But I think there is also scope now for us to look at doing something here in India, preferably in partnership with an Indian partner
SG: Helping build Indian institutions…one reason you get sharp reactions to attack on Indian students is that people also know there is a certain degree of anger about the fact that they are being forced to go just because there is no capacity available. Then you pay money, you beg, steal and borrow, and then you hear about some kid getting thrashed. So a lot of the families start worrying
PV: Yes, yes. I fully understand the worry that parents would have particularly if what they are seeing in the media back home is some suggestion that the whole Australian community has gone on an anti-indian rampage. I mean, any parent, I am a parent, if your kids are a long way away you are going to worry and I think its important to get across the message that Australia is by and large a very safe country. No country has zero crime, regrettably. But by any measure, I think, the crime rates in Australia are low
SG: And you said the third aspect was sociological
PV: Well the third aspect relates more to the way in which the education and migration systems seem to have been blurred. And we have had some cases where those coming to Australia ostensibly to study appear to be really there in order to aquire a visa and permanent residency. And this is relevant because often they will be doing even more of the sort of shift work
SG: So the main purpose is to work and the educational affiliation is a smoke screen
PV: Is a smoke screen. And we are taking steps to prevent that from happening.
SG: Will you sort of make visas tougher?
PV: Well we are not going to make visas tougher, but we are going to make sure that a visa that’s given for education is used for education. So, we are a country of migration, the integrity of our immigration system is very important to us, we have a global non-discriminatroy point system and we are determined to ensure that that system continues to operate
SG: Tell me, you as somebody of Indian origin, from your childhood, in your years as student, as a professional did anything ever happen that made you feel like you were an outsider in Australia? Did you face any racism of any kind?
PV: My overall experience in Australia has been very positive. I came to Australia when I was eight years old. so I did virtually all of my primary education in Australia, all of my secondary, all of my university education in Australia. And my experience was that I found Australians willing to accept me for who I was
SG: Right
PV: did I ever encounter a hostile reaction or an incidence of racism? Sure. But I could probably count on one hand in the 40 plus years that I have been in Australia, way that has happened. And I think it is the strength of Australia that individuals…
SG: And have you seen it get better or worse over the decades
PV: Well, I think if anything the objective evidence suggests it’s got better because Australians have been dealing easily with much larger numbers of people coming into the country from different backgrounds. I mean when we came to Australia in 1964 it was very unusual to see anyone of an Asian background in the streets
SG: And now there are whole Asian streets
PV: Well, now you walk down the street, and it is such a kaleidoscope of faces
SG: You were heading the office of national assessment, like our national security council, and you spoke to the prime minister directly. What did the prime minister tell you about India, where did he place India in the big picture from Australia’s point of view, particularly when you were coming in here?
PV: Well he is a huge enthusiast about India and my instructions are very simple. He wants to take India to the frontline of our diplomatic relations. He is someone who sees India as a country which will exert increasing influence regionally and globally. He sees India’s economic rise as one of the pivotal developments of this century and he recognizes that india’s strength as a pluralist democracy is something which will bring it closer to Australia. So he is very keen on building up this relationship
SG: There’ve been many hiccups of late. Attacks on student is one thing which plays badly in the media
PV: Yes
SG: But there is also the decision to go back on the decision to sell uranium to India when you had a change of government there?
PV: Yes
SG: There was also that Mohd Hanif case
PV: Yes
SG: Indian doctor who was arrested and now there’s been this ADB vote. So it looks like a series of setbacks, in a relationship which was completely non-controversial, except sometimes on the field of cricket
PV: Well those controversies on the cricket field can be quite important
SG: Well some of the TV channels here actually linked attacks on students to that. so that became particularly nasty press
PV: I mean, I wouldn’t put it as a series of setbacks and I think you’ve got to look at each of these issues in their own right and on their own merits. And sometimes not all of the facts are right when they are being discussed. I mean, uranium I recognize is an issue between India and Australia. But you know this is an Australian policy that goes back a very long way. It was started in fact by Malcom Fraser. He was the libro prime minister of Australia. And it is been the consistent policy of successive Australian governments
SG: Previous government had decided to make it shift
PV: Mr Howard made an exception to long standing Australian policy and the Rudd government is returning to what has been long standing Australian policy and this was something which was in the Labour party platform at the last election and it’s an issue which
SG: They could not have gone back on it
PV: Well, it’s an issue that attracts very strong views in Australia and as I say it’s not a new policy and I think it’s very important to understand that this is not a policy that is explicitly directed at India. This is all about Australia’s position vis-à-vis the non-proliferation treaty
SG: Well, the nuclear deal was a policy explicitly directed at India by the NSG and the rest, there was an exception made by 46 countries and there was an expectation that you know the follow ups also will be on the same basis, expectation in this country
PV: Well, Australia was an active supporter of lifting the ban in the NSG because we recognized that this was an issue that was important to India and we recognized the broader significance of the US-India nuclear agreement. So, from my point of view, we wanted to do what we could do to ensure that that global restriction was lifted
SG: Right
PV: But it was never part of the deal when we lifted, when we agreed to lift the restrictions on the NSG, that we would be locked into selling uranium to India. I mean, the two are quite separate. One, is a national position
SG: and one is a party position
PV: No, no. one is a national position about Australian sales to India. The other is about the way in which the international community engages India
SG: Because you know it will not be seen like that in India. It will be seen as you know we were getting the dividend that was logically ours after the nuclear deal and a change of government in Australia has gone back on that
PV: Well
SG: That’s a statement of fact
PV: Yeah, I think the Indian government appreciated the position Australia took on the NSG. They appreciated the fact that we did not oppose lifting the ban and indeed they appreciated the fact that we actively supported lifting the ban. So let’s take that as a positive, in its own right.
SG: And the vote at the ADB?
PV: Well, here again, I think
SG: Because Chinese objected to loans being given to projects in Arunachal Pradesh because they claimed it was disputed territory and there was a vote and you know it looks like the western world was divided too because in some ways you see Australia is a western power, not an eastern power
PV: Right, well here again I think it is important to understand what the facts of the case were. Australia fully supported the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh in the India country strategy for the ADB. So there can be no question of what Australia’s position is on whether or not Arunachal Pradesh projects should be included in the ADB’s programme.
SG: right
PV: And that’s the key point. This is only an issue about how the ADB should publicly characterize the India country strategy. And the position we took there was to support what the ADB management wanted which was to issue a press statement on the India country strategy which was silent on Arunachal Pradesh. And the reason the ADB management wanted to take that position was that they didn’t want the ADB as an institution getting involved in a political border issue between India and china. So Australia wasn’t casting a vote in favour of china and against India, Australia was casting a vote to support the ADB’s leadership position
SG: Let me ask you a direct question
PV: Sure
SG: Does government of Australia have a position on the status of Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India
PV: Look, with most territorial disputes Australia’s position is to urge peaceful resolution between the two contesting parties and that is the position of most countries to disputes relating to the borders of other countries. So we neither support nor oppose the Indian position on the status of Arunachal Pradesh.
SG: Because there is a feeling that Australia, particularly the Rudd government, feels overawed by China, there is a mood of quick capitulation to China
PV: Well, I think that would be to completely misread the way in which Australia and China interact. And I don’t think Australia is an unique position here. we have a very strong economic relationship with China, we seek to engage China in a range of issues
SG: But you have some of the same problems that we have, that we keep hearing about, you recently rejected Chinese getting 50 per cent share holding in one of your mining companies, one of your regulators have now talked about keeping China limited to 15 per cent equity in your resource companies. So you see the same anxieties here
PV: We didn’t actually reject that bid, the bid in a sense fell apart
SG: Your Rio Tinto people have been picked up for espionage no less
PV; Well, that’s right. But you know what’s the issue here, the issue here for all of us is how do we constructively engage with China and how do we ensure that China’s rise will not be destabilizing and I think the strategy that we all have which is that we engage China, we bring them into regional and international institutions, we encourage China to play by the rules, and we give China the room to have a voice in regional and international forum. I think what we are doing there is precisely what India is doing with China, it is precisely what the United States is doing with China, it’s what Japan is doing with China, so I think to characterize ours, our position as a capitulation would be quite inaccurate.
SG: And where do Australia and India go? We had an exercise together last year, Malabar
PV: Yes, yes
SG: We are doing well on trade
PV: We are doing very well on trade, I think it is our fastest growing
SG: Some part of our relationships on strategy, on trade are doing fine
PV: Yes
SG: How do we build on that now?
PV: Well, I think the fundamentals are doing very well and I think the way we build on that is to keep broadening out those areas of mutual interest that serve each of our country well. I think on the economic front there is a lot that we can do together, particularly on energy security, with coal and natural gas and this is a big, an important issue for India. I think we can do more to promote direct investment by our companies. I think if we can look at the merits of free trade agreement that have
SG: Now that India has one with ASEAN
PV: ASEAN and we have just about to finish a feasibility study so we hope that will be a positive conclusion I think on the security and strategic side we are both Indian ocean countries, we both have a very strong maritime focus in our strategic thinking. I think as India comes closer to east Asia
SG: India has a Look East policy
PV: India has a Look East policy and the gravitational pull of your economic interests will take you even further east. I think that will create a common agenda for India and Australia in terms of east Asian regionalism, architecture, confidence building measures. I think multilaterally there is a lot we can do together.
SG: well, all I can say is you will have a very fruitful and very exciting tenure here. there wont be one dull moment
PV: Well, I am very excited about..
SG: So if I use a cricketing term, I think you are set for a good long innings, may you score a lot of centuries and runs
PV: Thank you
SG: And enjoy yourself and before someone else tells you I’ll tell you what we say about Malayalis in India. There is no corner of the world where you wont find one Malayali. So I think this very good Malayali has found a very good corner
PV: Thank you very much. I enjoyed the conversation
SG: Thank you. Just the right man at the right time
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FINANCIAL EXPRESS
EDITORIAL
OIL’S WELL, FREE PRICES
Global oil prices have hardly made the headlines in recent times, hovering as they are between $60 and $70 per barrel. This is widely considered to be the upper end of the comfort zone for oil marketing companies in India, given the administered pricing mechanism. So, it is interesting to note that even in a period of relatively benign oil prices, ie. the first quarter of financial year 2009-10, leading oil marketing companies are reporting under-recoveries. For IOC, BPCL and HPCL, the under-recoveries on account of transport fuel in Q1 FY 10 were to the tune of Rs 2.2 billion, Rs 1.5 billion and Rs 1.7 billion respectively. The under-recoveries are larger on account of cooking fuels—Rs 29.6 billion, Rs 9.2 billion and Rs 8.1 billion respectively. Obviously, the under-recoveries for 2009-10 are likely to be much less than for 2008-09 because oil prices are not expected to hit close to $150 per barrel any time soon. Yet, global prices of crude oil are surely going to inch upwards as economic recovery takes stronger hold, particularly in the US and EU but also in China and India.
The government may not be feeling the heat at the moment. Upstream oil companies are offering discounts to cover the under-recoveries on account of transport fuel subsidy and the government is issuing oil bonds to finance the shortfall in cooking fuel. But this is unlikely to be a sustainable solution as oil prices rise. The only solution, as we have argued repeatedly in these columns, is to deregulate the pricing of petroleum products. The government has appointed yet another committee, to add to a long list of previous committees, to look into the issue of deregulation of oil prices. There isn’t anything new another committee can say. They can, however, urge the government to deregulate while global prices are still in the $60-70 range. At this price, there won’t be a significant rise in transport fuel prices when deregulation does take place. If oil goes above $100, and it well might, then the government will be reluctant to incur the political cost of deregulation. Also, the government is struggling to contain a widening fiscal deficit at this point in time. It is too early to withdraw stimulus, but it can cut expenditure on oil bonds. In FY 09, the government spent Rs 713 billion on oil bonds. In FY 10, this amount will be less, but could still be a significant Rs 305 billion, according to some estimates. Surely, that money is better spent elsewhere or even saved.
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FINANCIAL EXPRESS
EDITORIAL
AND THEN THERE WERE TWENTY
In the end, contrary to what the cynics believed, the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh actually achieved quite a lot, a lot more than international clubs of this kind end up achieving usually. Perhaps most importantly for the immediate future, the G-20 countries pledged to continue with fiscal and monetary stimuli measures, dropping the thought of an ‘exit’ strategy for now. That is a wise decision. While things have improved for the global economy in the last few months, we are still not clear of the woods. Any withdrawal of stimuli at this stage could have sent the global economy into another sharp glut. Another issue of importance in the near medium term was bankers’ pay. There was reportedly significant divide between key G-20 members on this subject before Pittsburgh, but it seems to have been sorted quite sensibly. There will be no formal caps on executive pay. As we have argued in these columns before, such caps would not have solved the fundamental problems in finance. However, countries have agreed to examine rules that would compel bankers to be paid with a longer time frame and perhaps more in stock options than cash. This would prevent some of the short termism that was at the root of this crisis. Obviously it isn’t easy to arrive at precise rules and one can’t be sure everyone will sign up to them, but for now the intent of the G-20 leadership is clear—no caps, but no short-termism either. Also capital adequacy norms will likely be evolved in the future to prevent excess leverage.
But beyond these two immediate issues, what is perhaps the most important outcome from the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh is the clear shift in the balance of power that emerged in the aftermath. By committing to replacing the G-8 with the G-20 as the main body to preside over the international economy, rich countries have ceded considerable space to important emerging economies in the governance of the global financial architecture. India, of course, played a crucial part in this change—as India did in forcing developed countries to restructure IMF to give greater voting rights to emerging economies. The time frame for the change could have been quicker than two years but given that this change has taken 65 years coming, one can’t quibble too much over two years. But it isn’t simply about structures. There is a noticeable change in substance as well. For the first time, developed countries will subject their own economic performance to peer review by other countries and by IMF. Of course, enforcement remains a problem but if the US has in principle agreed to reduce its deficit and increase savings, while China and Germany have agreed to reduce their surpluses and increase domestic consumption, then much progress has been made in addressing the fundamental macroeconomics behind this crisis. A word of caution to the Indian leadership: we are still marginal players compared to China, the US, and EU—we need to grow at 9% for another decade before we have as much influence as they do.
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FINANCIAL EXPRESS
COLUMN
WHY SMALL IS BIG
GEETA NAIR
The rear mirror view is not flattering. Did automotive companies get it all wrong in India? Was their India entry strategy right? Did they err in not attacking the small car market earlier? They have taken 5 to 10 years to discover a gaping hole in their portfolio. Is it too late now to explore the small car market when every other company is looking at the small car to push their volumes and sustain growth in the Indian market? Ford has unveiled the Figo. General Motors has a small car and has also tied up with Reva for the small electric car. Toyota Motor Co, Honda has started work on their small car. Work is on for Bajaj’s small car. Volkswagen is racing ahead, so is Nissan. Not having a small car in the portfolio now looks suicidal.
It is the Nano Effect. Ever since Ratan Tata delivered the Nano, automotive makers have scratched their head and scurried back to their drawing boards to work out their small car strategy. They may not acknowledge it but it was a wake-up call for them. It only highlighted the fact that the Indian market was and will continue to be a small car market, with a 70% of the market share currently.
Passenger vehicle sales have grown from 7,07,198 units in 2002-03 to 15,51,880 in 2008-09 but if these carmakers had a small car strategy these numbers could have looked different. Considering the kind of volumes most of the players have in India, it may not be wrong to say that their choice of vehicles for the Indian market was not the best. They chose to focus on low hanging fruits and play it safe. Whatever was there in their portfolio was tweaked and launched in India.
Why did they fear to take this route? An explanation could be that they were totally intimidated by the volumes clocked by Maruti Suzuki when they entered India and thought is safe to be in segments where Maruti Suzuki did not have leadership.
Globally there is a now a shift expected towards the smaller car. Had these companies made efforts to have a small car for India, they would have been in a better position to grab this opportunity and ramp up. They could have benefited from this global shift in consumer preferences from fuel guzzlers to small cars.
geeta.nair@expressindia.com
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FINANCIAL EXPRESS
COLUMN
CHINA’S YUAN UP, CAN WE CATCH UP?
VIMAL B
The rise of a currency as the intervention currency, anchor currency and the reserve currency is not an accident. There were clear reasons why the dollar emerged as the uncontested leader among other international currencies such as the pound, yen and the deutsche mark after the Second World War.
Firstly, the US economy surpassed the UK economy in size in 1872. Secondly, the two World Wars pushed the US from being a net debtor to a net creditor. The emphatic claims of dethroning the dollar after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods regime did not result in the same. The current account surpluses and low inflation rates constituted an obvious set of explanations as to why the dollar retained its supremacy into the nineties.
Will these reasons play out once again and help the yuan become an international currency? The attempt by the Chinese authorities to make transactions using the yuan more prevalent suggests that policy efforts to internationalise the yuan has been initiated.
If the past were to be an indicator of the determining factors of internationalisation, much of it on the yuan remains to be done. On the trade front, the currency of a country that has the largest share in international output, trade and finance has a natural advantage. Being the manufacturing hub for the world and racing ahead to become the world’s largest economy, China has clearly made headway on this front. Furthermore, early this year, Hong Kong was the first city outside Mainland China to have been allowed to start trade settlement using the yuan. The three-year swap lines worth 650 billion yuan ($95 billion) with Hong Kong, Argentina, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Belarus since the start of the year has increased the access to the yuan for trade settlement.
Earlier this month, the Chinese Ministry of Finance began to issue six billion worth yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. Although Bank of China and Export-Import Bank of China have been issuing such bonds for a couple of years now, this was the first time government bonds were issued. All these point to the policy intention of internationalising the yuan.
In order to use the yuan as a vehicle currency, quotation currency and as a currency in which investment into debt is possible, capital and money markets in China should be open and free of any controls.
Comparing the development on this front, the Chinn-Ito and Lane-Milesi Ferreti databases measuring de jure and de facto openness of economies allows one to take a snapshot of relative openness across economies.
In 2007, on the de jure front, China scored -1.13 compared with 2.53 for Hong Kong, the United States and other advanced economies. On the de facto front, China scored relatively better than its own de jure score at 1.12 compared with 2.78 for the United States and 23.90 for Hong Kong. Clearly, much work remains to be done to make the yuan convertible. A fully liberalised capital account is not a sufficient condition to create an enabling environment for internationalisation of the yuan. Deep and liquid markets, debt and otherwise, are far more crucial. Domestic financial development is also an integral part of going global as markets that cannot provide sufficient liquidity and depth will not be able to support its currency going global.
The policy challenge for the authorities to tackle is that of simultaneity: deep and liquid markets cannot happen without greater liberalisation of the capital account, while liberalisation of the capital account may yield no result without deep and liquid markets. The Chinese authorities have some homework to do to develop its financial sector before an international yuan is present in the global markets.
Another important determinant of an international yuan is to do with network externalities. The value of the yuan as an international currency is derived from the number of people who use it. Given that the currency is tightly managed, and that the PBOC decides who gets to use more of the currency, internationalisation comes in direct conflict with the goal to manage the currency, and to prevent any erosion of value of its external assets.
In other words, a currency cannot be a reserve currency unless it is international, and the currency cannot be international when confidence in the value of the currency is not high because of intervention and poor domestic inflation management. Once again, China needs to take its stance on this matter before the goal of an international yuan is materialised. The dollar, euro, yen and the pound have been on the centre stage for many years. The rise of the yuan and even the Indian rupee is certain. The Chinese have started making their moves for internationalisation of the yuan although the euphoria over the baby steps towards internationalisation has no economic significance until macroeconomic policy challenges are resolved.
India, with similar macroeconomic policy issues in this regard, will eventually have to start thinking about putting the rupee on the global platform.
The author works with NIPFP
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FINANCIAL EXPRESS
COLUMN
FEAR FACTOR IN GLOBAL NEGOTIATIONS
MEGHNAD DESAI
The Chandrayaan has detected water on the moon. When you see the NASA presentation, you realise why physical sciences are way ahead of the social sciences. There is no machine that will detect ‘green shoots of recovery’ on any surface on Earth with the accuracy that the Chandrayaan did with the M3 instrument. No one is agreed about whether the recession is finally over or if the recovery will be this year, next year or never.
G-20 which intervened dramatically in April last, needed no subtle instruments to know that the world was facing an abyss. It acted quickly to restore confidence, suppressed its internal disagreements and came up with a fat number of $ 5 trillion for the expected reflation. Or was it just $ 1 trillion ?
The details did not matter. Six months later, there is a feeling that the output recession is over though employment is lagging behind. The worst is behind us. But while that is good news, that also creates a problem. Lacking real urgency, countries emphasise differences. Global imbalances need correction and IMF has launched new SDR bonds which have had a modest take up. But China is not ready for any greater change in its economic policy. It is easier to say that China in particular and Asia in general should abandon its export obsession and redirect itself to domestic consumption. America should stop being the World’s lone excess consumer and save and export more. The US would like everyone to agree to a sustainable growth strategy and have a global supervisor to check on national policies.
Obama may want IMF or Gordon Brown a revamped G-20 secretariat to do oversight, yet the US Congress will
refuse to cede such powers to an outside agency. The Germans and French already know that their reluctance to match the Anglo- Saxon splurge of fiscal reflation has paid off and their recovery is quicker and sounder. The corner having been turned, the full recovery to a level that prevailed before September 2007 will take different shape and speed in different economies. There is no case for co-ordination let alone concerted action, even if we knew what to do.
Still the G-20 has been a good thing for global governance. The reason for this was clear to see last Wednesday in UN General Assembly. If Gaddhafi could rant on for 90 minutes and obey no rules, who would trust the UN to solve the world’s problems? The Commonwealth expels members for violating its norms; the WTO insists that members qualify to join by adapting their economies to a common set of rules. They have serious agenda and voting procedures. The UN has neither and every year the UNGA is a spectacle of the impotent and irresponsible wasting everyone’s time and the powerful staying away.
Hence the G -20 . It is small and serious and covers 90% of world’s GDP. It acted under emergency conditions last April and will tick over at a less effective but still useful pace. But the G-20 has lessons for the climate change problem. Despite the best scientific evidence and many concerned people—Rajendra Pachauri and Nicholas Stern among them, the world is still not seized of the urgency of the issue. The UN session was hot air and while many efforts were made to detect movement on part of China or the US, the findings were less reliable than what the M3 found on Chandrayaan.
Kyoto has come and almost gone. Copenhagen is already in danger of failing and many are saying that it should be postponed for another year so that serious business can be transacted. I am sceptical of any concrete result. Treaties may be signed, targets may be agreed but when the leaders go home, their short-term economic interests override. The reason is simple. The leaders know that while the warnings of several degrees rise in temperature are credible, their citizens are not yet focussed on the issue enough to suffer. It is not like the recession; it will happen by 2030 or 2050. The world lived for 60 years with the threat of nuclear annihilation and did nothing.
So let us have every treaty we can , but what will work is much more modest thinking on how to change household and company behaviour. How to make small changes in prices via taxes and subsidies to cut consumption of carbon emitting products and services, how to initiate new technologies which will help people adapt their behaviour without too much hardship—an electric car rather than a petrol driven one rather than no car, for example.
It will be many small changes as people slowly adapt in light of changing environment which will work. I doubt that we will have a real climate catastrophe like the recession scare which has just happened. The difficult task is to act in absence of a scare.
The author is a prominent economist and Labour peer
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THE ASIAN AGE
EDITORIAL
G-20: LOFTY VOWS, BUT NO RESULTS
It is not surprising that the two-day G-20 summit in Pittsburgh did not produce any breakthroughs because the various views were clearly defined and irreconcilable even on the eve of the summit. There was no substantial decision on financial sector reforms even though the financial sector was the main villain in the downfall of the global economy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put it starkly when he said the collapse of the US financial markets caused a huge loss of $900 billion in just one year to the non-oil developing countries for no fault of their own. There was also no road map of how and when the stimulus packages would be withdrawn. This is frightening because no politician wants to take the risk of withdrawing stimulus packages, preferring to continue and add to the fiscal deficits in their countries. This means there is another bubble in the making in the stock markets and real estate sectors, to name just two, and there could be another crisis waiting to happen, if not round the corner then at least in a few months, unless some action is taken.
US President Barack Obama, in his now famous trademark style of dishing out warnings like a schoolmaster to errant students, is unable to rein in the powerful financial lobby in the US. In fact, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of rich nations, has already cocked a snook at the G-20, warning that overemphasis on banks, bonuses and under-regulation would only do more harm than good. They say it would only treat the symptoms, not the cause. So a major struggle is ahead and it’s not going to be pretty. In this context, the re-balancing of the world economic order by giving a greater say to the G-20 over the G-8 seems a pyrrhic victory for India, Brazil, China and South Africa. It sounds good on paper, but what it actually means in reality remains to be seen. It could turn out to be a mere debating society on the world stage which does nothing for ushering in a new economic order.
The bottom line is that unless the US reforms its financial system, the world economies are in danger of yet another crisis. The US has poured in billions of dollars primarily to save the banks that caused the global financial meltdown. If they had put even half of that money into the real economy it could have built their badly needed infrastructure, whether bridges, railroad systems or power, and created much-needed employment. It is only the government that can put money of that magnitude into infrastructure. If it doesn’t and falls prey to the machinations and money power of the financial sector, the problems of the US will not go away. It is an irony that unemployment figures in the US are growing by the week while hefty bonuses to bankers have been resumed. The situation is bad and, according to some statistics, 1.4 million people are losing their medical insurance every day not to mention an equal number of foreclosures on mortgages. If these statistic are correct, it’s a scary situation for the US and the other national economies. Mr Obama talked of the rest of the world bearing equal responsibility, but what can the rest of the world do if he doesn’t set his house in order? America is still the world’s largest economy and consumer spending accounts for 70 per cent of this economy. And this spending keeps some of the world’s other economies ticking.
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THE ASIAN AGE
OPED
THE WISDOM OF RAVAN
DEVDUTT PATTANAIK
Ravan abducted Lord Ram’s wife, a crime for which he was killed by Ram himself. So says the Ramayan. The epic makes Ravan the archetypical villain. And since Ram is God for most Hindus, Ravan’s actions make him the Devil incarnate. This justifies the annual burning of his effigy on the Gangetic plains during the festival of Dussehra.
But in the hills of Rishikesh or in the temple of Rameshwaram, one hears that tale of how Ram atoned for the sin of killing Ravan. Why should God atone for killing a villain? One realises that like most things Hindu, the Ramayan is not as simple an epic as some are eager to believe.
Ravan was a brahmin, the son of Rishi Vaishrava, grandson of Pulatsya. Ram, though God incarnate, was born in the family of kshatriyas. In the caste hierarchy, Ram was of lower rank. As a brahmin, Ravan was the custodian of Brahma-gyan (the knowledge of God). Killing him meant Brahma-hatya-paap, the sin of Brahminicide, that Ram had to wash away through penance and prayer. Another reason why this atonement was important was because Ravan was Ram’s guru.
The story goes that after shooting the fatal arrow on the battlefield of Lanka, Ram told his brother, Lakshman, "Go to Ravan quickly before he dies and request him to share whatever knowledge he can. A brute he may be, but he is also a great scholar". The obedient Lakshman rushed across the battlefield to Ravan’s side and whispered in his ears, "Demon-king, do not let your knowledge die with you. Share it with us and wash away your sins". Ravan responded by simply turning away. An angry Lakshman went back to Ram, "He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything". Ram comforted his brother and asked him softly, "Where did you stand while asking Ravan for knowledge?" "Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly". Ram smiled, placed his bow on the ground and walked to where Ravan lay. Lakshman watched in astonishment as his divine brother knelt at Ravan’s feet. With palms joined, and with extreme humility, Ram said, "Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now you are no more my enemy. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world". To Lakshman’s surprise, Ravan opened his eyes and raised his arms to salute Ram, "If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy.
Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things that are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Ram. My last words. I give it to you". After these words, Ravan died.
With 10 heads, 20 arms, a flying chariot and a city of gold, the mighty Ravan is without doubt a flamboyant villain. His sexual prowess was legendary.
When Hanuman entered Lanka in search of Sita, he found the Demon-lord lying in bed surrounded by a bevy of beauties, women who had willingly abandoned their husbands. Ram, by comparison, seems boring — a rule-upholder who never does anything spontaneous or dramatic. He is the obedient son, always doing the right thing, never displaying a roving eye or a winsome smile. It is not difficult, therefore, to be a fan of Ravan, to be seduced by his power, to be enchanted by his glamour, and to find arguments that justify his actions.
One can’t help but wonder: Why does the poet Valmiki go out of his way to make his villain so admirable, so seductive, so enchanting?
Valmiki describes Ravan as the greatest devotee of Shiva. In many folk versions of the epic, such as Ram-kathas and Ram-kiritis, we are informed that Ravan composed the Rudra Stotra in praise of Shiva, the ascetic-God. He designed the lute known as Rudra-Veena using one of his 10 heads as the lute’s gourd, one of his arms as the beam and his nerves as the strings. The image of Ravan carrying Mount Kailash, with Shiva’s family on top, is an integral part of Shiva temple art.
Perhaps, say some scholars, this expresses the legendary battle between Shiva-worshippers and Vishnu-worshippers. Ram, who is Vishnu on earth, kills Ravan who is Shiva’s devotee. But this argument falls flat when one is also told that Ram’s trusted ally, Hanuman, is a form of Shiva himself. Valmiki is clearly conveying a more profound idea by calling Ravan a devotee of Shiva. And to understand this thought we have to dig a bit deeper.
Shiva is God embodying the principle of vairagya, absolute detachment. He demonstrates his disdain for all things material by smearing his body with ash and living in crematoriums. The material world does not matter to him. Ravan may be his great devotee; he may sing Shiva’s praise and worship Shiva every day, but he does not follow the path of Shiva.
In reality, Ravan stands for everything that Shiva rejects. Ravan is fully attached to worldly things. He always wants what others have. He never built the city of gold — he drove out his brother, Kuber, and took over the kingdom of Lanka. Why did he abduct Sita? Avenging his sister’s mutilation was but an excuse. The real reason was his desire to conquer the heart of a faithful wife. And during the war, he let his sons brothers die before entering the battlefield himself.
Ravan has 10 pairs of eyes, which means he can see more. Ravan has 10 sets of arms, which means he can do more. Ravan has 10 heads, which means he can think more. And yet, this man with a superior body and superior mind submits to the basest of passions.
Despite knowing the Vedas and worshipping Shiva, he remains a slave of his senses and a victim of his own ego. He arrogantly shows off his knowledge of detachment but is not wise enough to practice detachment. Deluded, he gives only lip-service to Shiva. This pretender is, therefore, killed by Ram, who, like Shiva, is another form of God.
Dr Devdutt Pattanaik is a Mumbai-based mythologist who has authored books on the relevance of sacred narratives and rituals in modern times
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THE ASIAN AGE
OPED
RISING PRICES: WHAT IS THE GOVT DOING?
PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA
The spectre of inflation has returned to haunt India. It is not even six months since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government returned to power but its inability to control food prices is arguably its single biggest failure till now. The inflation rate will eventually come down sometime in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future and the government will surely take credit for bringing prices down as and when that happens. But the near-term appears rather bleak.
Unfortunately for the majority of people in the country, food prices are expected to continue to rise in the coming months. Those in positions of power and authority may not be particularly bothered as the spurt in inflation has come quite early in the tenure of the UPA-2 government. But this government’s management of the country’s food economy clearly remains inadequate and this deficiency is guaranteed not to increase the popularity of the ruling coalition.
Many believe that the haphazard way in which the country has exported food products (in particular, dal, and also rice and wheat to an extent) over the recent past, has been less than prudent. One example would suffice: in the course of calendar 2006, exports of onions surged by over 60 per cent while retail prices at home shot up by around 150 per cent. Managing food supplies, calibrating exports and imports and coordinating the activities of at least three important ministries — agriculture, commerce and finance — is not simple.
Add to this, corruption and the scenario becomes murky. The outcome of the official inquiry into the rice export scam is awaited. During 2008, at a time when there was a ban on its exports, consignments of non-basmati rice from Indian found their way to a clutch of African countries — ostensibly as "humanitarian aid" — through a selected group of exporting firms. Curiously, some of these consignments were diverted through Europe.
Since elections to the Maharashtra Assembly are round the corner, a section within the Congress in the state has vent its ire against Union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar for his alleged inability to keep sugar prices low during the festive season. Mr Pawar’s defence of his track record in Krishi Bhavan has not been particularly convincing since the country is now preparing to import sugar. His biggest challenge is to balance the interests of farmers and consumers. After all, he is both agriculture minister as well as minister for consumer affairs. This particular balancing act is not easy in the best of times — it is certainly tougher than managing cricket in the country.
The Congress and the NCP will fight the elections together. Past bickering will be forgotten. Both parties are quite happy that Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will cut into the votes of his uncle and cousin’s party, the Shiv Sena. And, as always, crocodile tears will be cynically shed for the plight of the proverbial aam aadmi but little will be done to alleviate the hardships of ordinary households as their real incomes get sharply eroded on account of high food prices.
Even official data indicates how alarming the situation is. For the week ending September 12, the rate of inflation as measured by a point-to-point comparison of the wholesale price index (WPI) stood at 0.37 per cent against 0.12 per cent in the previous week, after having remained in negative territory for 13 weeks. But this hardly tells one the real story for the WPI is an economy-wide index covering as many as 435 commodities.
If one looks at the disaggregated figures, the true picture emerges. Even within the WPI, prices of primary food articles jumped by over 15 per cent while prices of vegetables shot up by a huge 45 per cent. The home-maker is naturally sceptical if she is to go by what is often called "headline" inflation figures measured by the WPI.
The governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Duvvuri Subbarao recently remarked that the annual rate of inflation as measured by the WPI could go up to 5.2 per cent by the end of March 2010. The deputy governor of the RBI, K.C. Chakrabarty, has said this figure could be six per cent by the end of the fiscal year. What is not clear is how much of the rise in inflation would be driven by high food prices, but if current trends continue (and one hopes it will not), the scenario ahead appears particularly dismal.
The monster of inflation is not easily tamed because it is a consequence of a variety of factors, some of which cannot be easily quantified, such as psychological expectations. A combination of two broad sets of factors — described by economists as "demand-pull" and "cost-push" factors — contribute to inflation. The drought, the rise in rural incomes on account of (among other things) the rise in minimum wages given under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the higher minimum support prices for wheat and rice given to farmers, are among the factors that have contributed to the current rise in food prices.
The artificially low WPI rate of inflation is a consequence of a statistical aberration, what economists call a "base effect" since the rise in the index was at a high of nearly 13 per cent in August 2008, the highest level in 13 years, that is, since May 1995, the last year the current Prime Minister had served as finance minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. (In August 1991, three months after Manmohan Singh became finance minister, the WPI inflation rate had hit a high of around 17 per cent.) The high inflation rate in 2008 was to a great extent driven by high energy prices since India imports three-quarters of the country’s total requirements of crude oil and petroleum products.
If there is one economic phenomenon that affects the lives of everybody, it is inflation. Irrespective of their ideologies, all economists agree that inflation is like a tax on the poor as it results in an indirect transfer of resources from the poor to the rich. Inflation shrinks the real incomes of the underprivileged while the incomes and profits of the affluent rise. When inflation is driven by high food prices, it becomes a double tax on the poor because the poor spend a relatively much higher proportion of their total incomes on food unlike the rich.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an educator and commentator
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THE ASIAN AGE
OPED
UNDILUTED TRUTHS ABOUT RICH POLLUTERS
JAYANTHI NATARAJAN
It came as no big surprise to anyone at all that US President Barack Obama made a speech filled with noble intentions, but very little concrete action, on the issue of climate change at the Climate Change Summit, which just concluded in New York. Environment activist had great hopes that the US President would think "out of the box" and take the lead in ensuring that the US, one of the worst offenders on climate change, would offer something solid and substantial to the world by way of emission cuts, thereby setting a benchmark for other countries to follow. The annual emission of CO2 by the US has been 23 tonnes, as opposed to a world average of four tonnes, and a lowly one tonne per annum by India. However, Mr Obama did not make that all-important commitment and the future of the Climate Change Summit at Copenhagen on December 7, 2009 remains a triumph of hope over experience.
The Indian perspective on climate change is obviously shaped by the further truth that per capita energy consumption in India is one of the lowest in the world, with India consuming 530 kg of oil equivalent per person of primary energy in 2004 compared to a world average of 1,770. There can be no doubt that in dealing with the issue of climate change it is vital to emphasise that the only equitable way to deal with the issue would be to have common but differentiated goals and responsibilities for all nations.
In other words, those who were responsible for creating the problem in the first place — those rich and developed countries that ruined the environment for all these years — will in all equity have to contribute more significantly than less developed countries who never really polluted the atmosphere, and whose growth and development have lagged behind.
Historical emissions are something which have to be factored into any reasonable discussion on climate change. After all, carbon emissions released into the atmosphere centuries ago are just as lethal as emissions that continue to be released even today.
The Centre for Science and Environment has put out a very disturbing and important publication containing basic facts about climate change. It observes in this section: "Rich countries account for seven out of every 10 tonnes of CO2 emitted since the start of the industrial era. Historical emissions amount to about 1,100 tonnes per capita of CO2 for the US and the United Kingdom compared to 66 tonnes per capita for China and 23 tonnes per capita for India. This is the natural debt of the rich countries as against the financial debt of industrialised countries and it has to be paid." As far as current emissions go, "Rich countries are still the major emitters of total CO2. Between 1980 and 2005 the total emissions of the US were almost double that of China and more than seven times that of India. The current emissions of the developed countries are also very high. With just 15 per cent of the world’s population, they account for 45 per cent of its CO2 emissions".
It is, therefore, very clear that although developing countries have and even now contributed little to the problem, the impact of climate change will be the greatest upon developing countries like ours.
The frequency of extreme weather events leading to natural disasters may increase and we may face multiple risks arising from increase in sea levels, recession of Himalayan glaciers, problems with water availability, food security and public health. This disproportionate impact of climate change will be further magnified as a result of our vulnerabilities, inadequate means and limited capacities to adapt to its effects. In fact, adaptation, which is the key to the development process, is constantly being challenged by the variability of climate change and its impact on us.
Thus it is that following upon some years of excellent growth, we are now staring at the bleak fallout of drought this year and assessing the fate of our agriculture. In fact, the issue of adaptation is so crucial to a developing country like ours that we spend nearly two per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) on adaptation measures like cyclone warning and protection, coastal protection and flood control, food security and flood relief. At this point in time, India accounts for 16 per cent of the world’s population and accounts for less than five per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, India accounts for about 1.1 to 1.2 tonnes per capita of CO2 equivalent.
We have estimated that even if our growth continues at 8.5 per cent in 2020, our emissions would not have crossed 2.5 tonnes and we will therefore, in keeping with the commitment made by our Prime Ministers, remain at all times below the per capita emissions of developed nations, whereas China has gone ahead to emit nearly 23 tonnes per capita at current emission rates.
It is for this reason that India talks about common but differentiated responsibilities. In order to prevent environmental catastrophe and maintain world temperatures at below two degrees Celsius, it would become incumbent upon known polluters, historical polluters and developed nations to agree to as much as 40 per cent cuts in their CO2 emissions. Even with those cuts, they would be emitting far more and using up far more energy per capita than a developing country like India.
It is also very important to remember that our emissions are development-related emissions, while those of developed countries are lifestyle-related emissions. Equity will be ensured only when developed countries own up to their profligate ways and cut back upon emissions instead of taking a back-door route, which is increasingly being resorted to, namely investing in cheap technology transfers on climate change technology to a developing country, thereby earning "offsets", or brownie points, which are meant to condone their lack of responsibility in not cutting back on emissions.
Technology transfer, an equitable intellectual property regime and resource mobilisation for climate change strategies are commitments which developed countries must make to developing countries, sans conditions or offsets. The world is too small now to allow for inequity and greed and it is this spirit which should inform the discussions at Copenhagen later this year.
Jayanthi Natarajan is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and AICC spokesperson.
The views expressed in this column are her own.
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THE TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL
G20 IS HERE TO STAY
EMERGING ECONOMIES LEAVE AN IMPACT
A broadening of the global governance structure is manifest in the manner in which G20 has emerged as the premier forum for discussing international economic issues, eclipsing G8. If there was any ambiguity on this count it was removed by the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the end of the Pittsburgh summit that “with the rise of Asia, with growth of India, China and Brazil, the economic decision-making has to take into account the views of these countries if it is to have an optimum impact.” That this summit bore the unmistakable stamp of Dr Singh was clear from the manner in which he managed to convince the developed world that the time was not ripe to withdraw the stimulus packages aimed at helping countries — especially the developing and poor economies — overcome the worst economic crisis in eight decades. Before leaving for Pittsburgh, Dr Manmohan Singh had called for reform in global financial institutions. His suggestion has not gone unheard. Besides, the IMF has been empowered to monitor G20 economic policies so that the members stick to the agreed goals.
Banks and bankers’ pay came under sharp focus. It was quite a climbdown for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had threatened a walkout on the issue of capping pay packages of bankers. Germany too pushed the issue of limiting bankers’ remuneration, but the US and Britain stressed that imposing a ceiling was not practical. The tendency of large banks to gamble, putting to risk depositors’ money, was hotly debated, but there was no agreement on separating banks’ retail and investment operations. The summit was worried about financial institutions repeating mistakes of the past, falling in the “too-big-to-fail, too big-to-save” trap.
Chinese President Hu Jintao focussed on the “yawning development gap” between the developed and the developing countries. US President Barack Obama summed up the spirit of the summit when, calling for a “new era of engagement”, he said: “We cannot tolerate the same old boom and bust economies of the past. We can’t grow complacent. We can’t wait for a crisis, to cooperate.” One could not help feeling at the summit’s end that the emerging economies were now making an impact and that the world order was on the mend.
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EDITORIAL
US AID TO PAKISTAN
ONE SMALL STEP TOWARDS ACCOUNTABILITY
India’s concerns expressed at the misuse of US financial assistance to Pakistan have ultimately resulted in the legislation tripling US aid for Islamabad getting the rider that it will have to ensure that the funds are used for the intended purpose only —fighting terrorism. This is the result of a concerted drive against the Kerry-Lugar Bill, promising $1.5 billion US aid to Pakistan annually for five years. The inclusion of the accountability clause in the legislation was a must for allaying India’s fears owing to the conduct of Pakistan in the past. Recently a noted US security expert pointed out that “most of the aid we have sent them over the past five years has been diverted into their nuclear programme”.
Former Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf himself admitted some time ago that much of the aid his country got from the US during his tenure went into strengthening Pakistan’s defence forces vis-à-vis India. This should have been enough for the Obama administration to stop all kinds of financial assistance to Pakistan in the interest of peace in South Asia. But the US has gone ahead with what it had promised to Pakistan. The pretext to help Pakistan financially is the unending threat from Al-Qaida, the Taliban and other terrorist organisations. However, the way Pakistan has been fighting terrorist forces shows that it has developed a vested interest in not eliminating these elementing root and branch. The terrorist factor has been helping Islamabad in getting an uninterrupted flow of funds from donor countries.
But this has been adding to the problems of India, as all such aid, given in the name of combating terrorism, has been promoting arms race in the subcontinent. This can be prevented if there is a strict aid monitoring arrangement. The accountability clause in the Kerry-Lugar legislation must lead to the creation of an aid monitoring mechanism to ensure that Pakistan is unable to misuse the funds it will get from the US for battling the forces of terrorism.
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EDITORIAL
NEAR-ANARCHY IN BENGAL
CPM AND MAMATA MUST FIGHT MAOISTS JOINTLY
Political violence in West Bengal is acquiring bizarre dimensions. Maoist leaders have been calling up newspaper offices to warn that the CPM office in Enayetpur, 10 kilometres from Midnapore town, would be blown up if the armed CPM activists holed up in the office do not surrender. CPM leaders have gone on record to say that the party would take up arms and retaliate in kind. While this latest “encounter” continued earlier in the week, security forces were nowhere to be seen. Indeed, they were not expected to reach Enayetpur before Tuesday morning. The tandava of political violence, so evocatively described by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, continues unabated and West Bengal, or at least a part of it, appears to be spinning completely out of control.
With the state police unable to curb lawlessness, disarming political activists in the state was never going to be easy. In West Bengal, all political parties are guilty of encouraging the gun-culture but it is the CPM, being the ruling party, which has repeatedly been caught on the wrong foot. The party’s misadventure in Nandigram is still fresh in public memory. But it is the CPM which is now targeted by Maoists. Scores of local CPM leaders in Midnapore have been killed by Maoists in recent months, but the state police has not been able to stop the killings or catch the culprits. Under the circumstances, the Left Front government will find it difficult to persuade the cadre to give up arms. But if law and order is to be restored and Maoists are to be isolated, that is precisely the “poison” that the CPM must swallow and set an example for others to follow.
The last decade has been marked by growing political violence in the state. Political rivals have been burnt to death, rival villages have been attacked with bombs and people have been killed on the flimsiest of provocations. But even the presence of 6,000 central paramilitary forces in the Lalgarh area does not seem to have brought the situation in Midnapore under control. Maoists have continued their killing spree, striking terror and ambushing policemen. They have become a threat to all political parties and Ms Mamata Banerjee will be well advised to make common cause with the CPM on the issue of law and order.
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THE TRIBUNE
COLUMN
CUTTING AFPAK GORDIAN KNOT
HOW THE US HAS BECOME A PROBLEM
BY B.G. VERGHESE
EVEN as the United States last week piloted a unanimous resolution through the UN Security Council calling for universal adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and stricter controls over potential proliferation, London’s Sunday Times reproduced the letter A.Q Khan sent his Dutch wife for publication in 2005 as insurance against his being harmed by the Pakistani authorities whilst under interrogation in Islamabad. He disclosed that he had on instructions from above both supplied and received nuclear-related material and technology from China and North Korea and supplied nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
Further, an ISI functionary, Mr Khalid Khwaja, told Islamabad’s ARY TV on September 9 that he had arranged at least five meetings for Osama bin Laden with Mr Nawaz Sharif, a former Prime Minister, and had himself held over a hundred meetings with the Al-Qaeda chief before 9/11. All these “revelations” have been well documented and known for years.
In a season of confessions, President Zardari told retired Pakistani officials on July 7 that “militants and extremists were … deliberately created and nurtured (by the Pakistan State) as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives” (obviously against India and within Afghanistan). These “strategic assets” and “heroes of yesteryear until 9/11 … began to haunt us as well”. General Musharraf, currently a fugitive from a treason charge at home, next stated that US military aid given it for the war on terror was diverted by Pakistan to bolster its defences against India, a fact well established but persistently denied.
In recent years, Pakistan had emerged as the epicentre of both terror and nuclear proliferation. Most terror trails around the world lead back to Pakistan. But the country remains in denial and pleads that it is possibly a greater victim of terror than anybody else. But pleading innocence and blaming non-state actors will not wash as they are still protected and patronised by Pakistan. This is evident in the manner in which the Jamat-ud-Dawa chief and former head of the now-”banned” LeT has been treated as a state guest even as India has provided evidence of his leading role in the planning and execution of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai. That the mastermind was not caught on the spot with a smoking gun has been used by Islamabad to argue that there is not a scrap of evidence against Hafez Saeed. If so, Osama bin Laden is as blameless.
Despite the most damning evidence of complicity and guilt, Pakistan remains Washington’s favourite frontline protégé that can do no wrong. Now General McChrystal, the US Commander in Afghanistan, has reported that “while India activities” ($1.2 bn investment in the country’s reconstruction and development) largely benefit the Afghan people, increasing Indian (economic and political) influence is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan and India”. This is not the first time that the US has advised the world to do more but India to do less in Afghanistan lest this upset Pakistan. The bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul by suspected ISI agents was one reminder of Islamabad’s strange nervous disorder. It believes that Afghanistan is a privileged backyard that it needs for “strategic depth” against imagined Indian machinations.
This totally sick mindset has seen Pakistan symptomatically tilting at Indian windmills since its very inception to prop up a missing self-identity, a pastime regrettably encouraged by the US and Britain. Thus Pakistan’s established invasion of J&K in 1947 and violation of its related UN commitments thereafter has been converted into a “dispute” with India. This has enabled it to practice blackmail through blatant nuclear proliferation and state-sponsored jihadi terror, with the knowledge and financial assistance of the US despite spawning the Taliban and its offspring and the spread of lethal arms and drug trafficking in its wake. When the US mistakenly uses 9/11 as the reference point for global terror, it ignores the preceding decades of vicious and bloody terror unleashed by its protégé on India which has suffered enormous collateral damage that is scarcely ever acknowledged.
This charade cannot go on. Ms Hillary Clinton, in a moment of candour while testifying before the Senate at her confirmation hearings, described US policies towards Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past couple of decades as “incoherent”. The nature of the “incoherence” was not spelt out but can be listed as permitting the most flagrant and dangerous nuclear proliferation that has gone unpunished, the siphoning away of US arms and finances to build the Taliban to fight the US and India, using drugs as a currency of control and subversion, and providing an inspirational home for exporting radical Islam and related terror.
The Americans now realise they simply cannot win the botched-up war in Afghanistan. What is planned is another “surge”, which could well be followed by a declaration of “victory” and withdrawal while Afghanistan burns and is left under Pakistan-Taliban hegemony. The latter scenario flows from the unrequited $ 7.5bn dollar military assistance promised to Pakistan over the next five years over and above economic aid. This will further entrench the Pakistan military and ISI in what has become a garrison state at the cost of civil-democratic ascendancy. The critic will denounce this thesis as anti-Pakistani. On the contrary, it is the current US-NATO policy that can be so labelled whereas the “demilitarisation” of Pakistan would be a truly pro-Pakistan posture.
The basic fact to understand is that the US is not part of the solution in the AfPak theatre: it is the problem. This does not mean that it should cut and run. On the contrary, it must stay and fund and provide logistical support for a turn-around of the mess it has created, and the reconstruction of Afghanistan to follow. A US-NATO military withdrawal will by itself reduce the military heat while a UN-led regional peace-keeping and enforcement force takes over. The $ 7.5bn military assistance to Pakistan could be drastically cut and civil aid to that country made strictly contingent on a genuine withdrawal of the Pakistan Army to the barracks in its own country except for any legitimate aid-to-civil power role, verifiable disbandment of all jihadi formations and nodal institutions, and an end to state-sponsored cross-border terror.
The military and the ISI must be brought under civilian control and the powers of the National Security Council, that vests the military with civil power, redefined. Equally, a programme for disinvestment or civilianisation of the Fauji Foundation and the other military foundations that dominate economic life must be rolled out. Finally, A.Q Khan must be properly investigated and China’s nefarious role fully exposed. Aid could be leveraged to achieve these ends
A regional conference on Afghanistan under UN auspices, that includes Pakistan, Iran, India, Russia, China and Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbors, along with the US-NATO combine, must create a new framework and timetable for peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan with all forces being placed under a UN, not US, command. Both Pakistan and India could play a military role in this peace-enforcement exercise. The entire arrangement should have the backing of Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga or supreme tribal assembly. This is the way forward. Otherwise, the latest UN resolution will remain another dead letter.
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THE TRIBUNE
COLUMN
WHERE HAVE ALL THE DHOBIS GONE?
BY SUDHAMAHI REGUNATHAN
Ram ram ji, “he would call…and we knew the dhobi had come. When the dhobi announced himself, there would be a desperate desire to escape or else you would be landed the job of counting the clothes he brought back and writing the list of the new clothes he would be taking to wash. Now that may sound simple, but do you remember where the diary in which the list last noted down was?
A search will begin. Enquiries will begin with, “Who wrote the list the last time?” “How many times do I tell you to put things where they belong?” And so on. Finally beneath the three-day-old newspapers, or above the almirah or even amongst our schoolbooks it would be found, but rarely on the dhobi box where it was meant to be.
The dhobi was an institution who would collect all the dirty clothes, wash, iron and even starch them. There are places dedicated to the dhobi in almost all towns of India. There is the Washerman’s Peth in Chennai, called so even today and there are dhobi ghats in every city or town. Even in Malaysia and Pennag there are streets still known as Dhoby ghaut.
By now the old man (generally dhobis were old, I don’t know why) would have spread out the clothes item wise on a clean white sheet. You had tick mark against the clothes that had come and if anything had been left behind then you had to note it down and tell him…one pant remains, two shirts have not come…and so on.
Generally the dhobi could recognise garments as belonging to a certain household but nevertheless he had a mark made in indelible black ink on one corner of the garment, which was generally like two lines and a dot or three lines and so on.
The dhobi was very much a part of the family. He would advise the brothers not to dirty their shorts and study more or he would share problems of inflation with the grandmother or mother and take instructions on starching their saris real crisp. He would wash the dhotis of men with extra care and flourish.
Periodically there would be questions on where he washes and if the water was clean and the dhobi always presented the picture of a very clean dhobi ghat. When my father wanted to irk my mother he would point out to the sewage waters falling into the Yamuna and say the dhobi actually washed there. I do not know which is right, but we still gave him clothes when he came the next time.
Today as my washing machine hurtles in a spin, I miss my leisurely dhobi time, when the world seemed one large family, all working for you!
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THE TRIBUNE
OPED
POWER PLAY IN PUNJAB
SHIMLA CONCLAVE CLEARS WAY FOR JUNIOR BADAL
BY GOBIND THUKRAL
The Akali conclave in Shimla may have disappointed those who thought that the ruling party in Punjab would devise a policy framework to take Punjab out of the present fiscal mess, pitiable state of governance and stinking sleaze.
Those who know the Akali supreme leader, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, now into his fourth term as Chief Minister, understand the limited capabilities of the leader, though he commands wide acceptance. They ought to have little doubt as to how much he and the Akalis can deliver.
The much-publicised “vichar baithak” had one-point agenda: put a strong stamp on the leadership of the younger Badal, Sukhbir Singh. Gradually and definitely the way to the top slot for this ambitious young man is being cleared from any potential hurdles.
Mr Badal, an old war horse, has no rivals among the Akalis today. His status demands unflinching loyalty. He has placed his immediate family and close relations in positions of power and has drawn his line of succession whether one appreciates it or not.
To recount, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal is the party president and Deputy Chief Minister and he rules the party and directs the state apparatus.
His nephew, Manpreet Singh Badal, though embittered, is the Finance Minister; his son-in-law, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon looks after the all important food and supply and excise portfolios.
There are other not-so-distant relatives. His daughter-in-law is a member of the Lok Sabha and her brother, a minister till yesterday, is a powerful MLA, calling shots in Punjab’s Majha region.
There are no rivals to the house of Badals. Once an arch rival, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who headed the SGPC for over 25 long years and deprived Mr Badal a few chances to lead the state, is no more.
Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, the Dal president who commanded a good following, is a spent force. Capt Kanwajit Singh, the late Cooperation Minister, was a formidable challenger as an ideologue and strategist. Mr Badal never had such a free hand to run the affairs of the party and the state.
It is important to note the hidden purpose of the conclave rather than what was dished out to the waiting media. It is all right for the Akalis to drum up issues like federalism, autonomy, riparian laws for river waters and transfer of Chandigarh.
But the Dal has to be consistent. These issues are basic to Punjab: to be forgotten when sharing power at the national level and brought back when the Congress is in power. People who filled jails, faced bullets and died observing a fast-unto-death do understand the game now.
It is indeed laughable when a senior leader like Mr Badal says that he does not want a Chief Commissioner for Chandigarh and the Administrator, the Punjab Governor, should head the administration as this would dilute Punjab’s claim to Chandigarh. He accepts a badly administered city which is the Capital of both Punjab and Haryana.
No experts are needed to declare that Punjab’s economic and fiscal matters are in the doldrums. Short of cash and faced with a huge subsidy bill, the cash-strapped government has virtually been selling over Rs 400 crore worth of government securities each month this year, in order to pay salaries and meet other dire expenses.
Since January 2009, it has raised Rs 3,458 crore by getting its state development loans auctioned through the Reserve Bank. It has to raise Rs 5,000 crore this way during this financial year. Its annual plan is in a limbo.
Punjab has a huge annual subsidy bill of Rs 4,500 crore. The power subsidy bill has gone up to an astonishing Rs 3,142 crore – up from Rs 2,602 crore last year – and there are no signs of an increase in its revenue.
Manpreet admits this dire situation and was looking forward to clear policy lines at Shimla. In an interview, two days before the conclave, he tried to set the agenda for a debate on the current fiscal situation, lack of schools, health facilities and acute power shortage, but failed miserably.
Many centrally sponsored schemes offer huge funds for development. Since the government has no money to contribute its matching share, many such schemes are falling by the way side.
Punjab’s cities and towns are the filthiest and slums dot all around. This often leads to sickness and a huge expenditure on medicines and wastage of manpower due to illness. But look at the lackadaisical attitude of the government. Punjab’s response to the Centre’s flagship programme, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, tells a sad story. The total Central allocation for Punjab was Rs 617 crore. However, during the past four years, the state managed to use only Rs 69 crore.
Punjab has to come up with projects worth about Rs 1,100 crore to avail the remaining Rs 535 crore. Despite efforts by the Union ministers and officials, there has been little progress. Meanwhile slum dwellers are condemned to live sub-human lives.
The Badals do not have to dish out demands each passing day and blame the Congress for Punjab’s ills. Who, by the way, has pushed Punjab’s current debt to Rs 62,000 crore?
Manpreet was prevented from raising any serious issue. Three senior leaders told him not to spoil the bright and breezy mood as the party report card was full of achievements.
It is good to demand special agricultural zone status for Punjab, with all incentives, facilities and fiscal subsidies on the lines of those extended to SEZs for industry. And ask for a 50 per cent share in the state’s contribution to the Central taxes.
It is also good to document the history of the Akalis since 1920, put up a museum of history at the party office in Amritsar, though the Akalis are not yet an object of a museum. A documentary and a book on its history are also in order. But do the leaders have to travel all the way to Shimla and spend huge money to announce these programmes?
Sometime back the Chief Minister had publicly censured his young Finance Minister and asked him to refrain from earning “brownie points by betraying people”. But Manpreet is in no mood to leave the arena without a good fight. He wants the “leadership to catch the imagination of people, convince them hard decisions are good in the long run. My treasury is not for buying votes, but for the welfare of Punjab. I am willing to take the risk of opting out of elections or even politics... My own honour is not bigger than Punjab’s. Competitive populism has consumed the state – it has downgraded our human resource element.”
All he hears from his colleagues is “let’s take loans”. Nobody is bothered as to how these will be returned. He wants a referendum on free power. He says he is more than sure the farmers will overwhelmingly reject free power.
Strangely, he too does not talk of good governance and corruption. Is anyone a game for a debate on Punjab?
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OPED
AIDS VACCINE HERALDS NEW DAWN
BY JEREMY LAURANCE
The scientific naysayers who claimed a vaccine against HIV would never be possible have received their comeuppance. After years of setbacks and growing doubts, a jab to prevent the worst disease of modern times, which currently affects 33 million people worldwide, may be in prospect after all.
The world's largest HIV prevention trial, involving 16,000 people in Thailand, reported yesterday that giving a combination of two vaccines lowered the risk of contracting the virus by 31.2 per cent. That is not enough for a viable vaccine that could be used globally against HIV but it is the first indication that an effective jab – one that provides at least a 50 per cent reduction in risk – might be possible.
The World Health Organisation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids hailed the result as a "significant scientific breakthrough". Seth Berkley, president of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, said it was "very exciting news".
The advance comes after more than 20 years of research, the expenditure of billions of pounds and four previous vaccine trials with single agents which failed to demonstrate any protective effect. It is a victory for the US and Thai researchers who pushed through the $120m trial in the face of heavyweight scientific opposition. One of the chief critics was Robert Gallo, a discoverer of HIV, who had scoffed: "We'd learn more if we had extract of maple leaf in the vaccine."
Another blow came when a group of two dozen scientists wrote to the journal Science in 2004 that the inclusion of one of the candidate vaccines, made by Vaxgen – which had failed a previous trial – was "completely incapable of preventing or ameliorating" HIV infection. The group questioned "the wisdom of the US government's sponsoring" the Thailand trial.
A poll of 35 international Aids researchers published by The Independent in April 2008 revealed a mood of "deep pessimism" within the scientific community, with a substantial minority admitting an HIV vaccine might never be developed. Aids organisations had called for the funds spent on the search for a vaccine to be diverted to other prevention efforts. Now the results of the Thai trial are in, its critics may have to eat their words.
The first vaccine used in the trial, called ALVAC, is based on a canarypox virus that has been disabled which is used as a "Trojan horse" to smuggle three genetic fragments of HIV into the body, priming the immune system to recognise and kill HIV-infected cells. The second vaccine, AidsVAX, contains a protein designed to encourage the body to produce neutralising antibodies to destroy HIV before it infects healthy cells. The researchers warned that the two vaccine components might not work in other parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where different strains of HIV are circulating and the population has a different genetic make-up.
Thailand was chosen 18 years ago by the WHO for HIV vaccine trials that were then thought to be imminent. Scientists predicted that a vaccine to prevent the infection would be ready long before a treatment for the symptoms could be developed but the opposite turned out to be true.
Millions of people are keeping the virus under control with drugs. But these are not a cure. In contrast to virtually every other microbe known, there is no documented case of anyone who has ultimately cleared the virus from their body completely. That is why developing a vaccine to prevent the infection has been a priority.
The trial, funded by the US Army and the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was run in Thailand because it is a country with a high rate of HIV, with a good health infrastructure and the Thai government was willing to host it.
Sheena McCormack, senior clinical scientist at the UK Medical Research Council, and the African-European HIV Vaccine Development Network, said the results of the Thai trial were statistically significant. "This is encouraging. It is proof of concept and strongly suggests we may be able to achieve a vaccine. It will help us select and design vaccine candidates for the future," she said.
The next stage would be to examine the immune response generated by the vaccine in the Thai trial. Each volunteer received four doses of one vaccine and two of the other – six jabs in all. Some got strong immune responses which failed to protect them from HIV infection while others with weaker immune responses were protected.
"Obviously, if the immune response is very strong but it is not protective that is no good. The next task is to analyse the immune responses. But with 16,000 participants in the trial that is a challenge," she added. — By arrangement with The Independent
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THE TRIBUNE
CHATTERATI
MANY ASPIRANTS FOR CM’S POST
BY DEVI CHERIAN
The Maharashtra state Congress panel was formed by the AICC to frame a poll strategy and hold alliance talks with the NCP. We have veterans Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, CM Ashok Chavan, state minister Narayan Rane and PCC chief Manikrao Thackeray acting together to make sure they come back.
But party men often wondered how this panel worked because the end goal of all its members is the same. All of them want to be the CM. While Deshmukh thinks he is born for a record-stint at the CMO, Shinde prays Sonia Gandhi will reward him with the office that was snatched away from him in 2004.
Ashok Chavan, who rocked Prithviraj Chavan's mid-day dream, hopes Rahul will continue to bless him. And despite the odds, Rane hopes to finally make it. Thackeray expects he'll emerge as the dark horse.
While all this is odd, the weirdest is that we have the screening committee headed by a Haryana minister. He has never been in the organisation or really has any knowledge of Maharashtra.
Congressmen wonder if this was a ploy to get him out of Hooda's way during the candidate selection in the state too or was this a promotion of sorts? Hooda and he really don't have any love lost.
RAJIV FOUNDATION
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into public life is eagerly awaited. She has taken over the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, established in 1991, exactly a month after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The foundation works in areas where Rajiv's interest lay: national development.
This foundation has always kept a low profile, but has been doing some excellent work. The trustees of the foundation include, besides her mother and brother, Dr Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram, Suman Dubey,
M.S. Swaminathan, Y.K. Alagh, R.P. Goenka, V. Krishnamuruthy and former Commonwealth Secretary General S. Ramphal. Their efforts will soon begin to show results.
RAMLILAS GO HIGH TECH
Ramlila celebrations are no more as simple as they used to be. This year they have gone high tech and innovative and can give serious competition to any Star Wars movie.
To ensure that swine flu does not dampen the spirit of Delhi-ites, Ramlila committees also have the facility of watching the show live on the web.
High-tech innovations are also being used to attract people. Showing Hanuman flying across the stage to get "Sanjivini booti" and special light and sound effects to create the thunder, clouds and war scenes have become common across Delhi.
This year some of the Ramlilas will also have sparks coming out of the swords of Rama and Ravana when they clash. The swords will be connected to welding machines to give this effect. A high-quality sound and lighting system and a flying Hanuman have become really common in all Ramlilas.
Because of special effects, Kumbhkaran, when woken up from his sleep, will be seen spitting fire. CCTV cameras have also been installed in some areas for security reasons. Ravan effigies may go as high as 110 feet.
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THE ECONOMIC TIMES
EDITORIAL