EDITORIAL 09.08.10

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Editorial

month august 09, edition 000594, collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul

 

Editorial is syndication of all daily- published newspaper Editorial at one place.

For ENGLISH  EDITORIAL  http://editorialsamarth.blogspot.com

 

THE PIONEER

1. DEATHBURST IN LEH
2. A JUMBO LEAP!
3. INDIA MUST STEM GRAIN DRAIN - JOGINDER SINGH
4. PAKISTAN'S DOUBLE GAME - JL GANJOO
5. MIND OVER MATTER - CLAUDE ARPI
6. RIDING THE FAULT LINE - SHIKHA MUKERJEE
7. EX-KHMER ROUGE TALK ABOUT MASSACRES
8. WILL GAMES SPARK FINANCIAL CRISIS? - SHIVAJI SARKAR

MAIL TODAY

1. CARTOON ON SONIA GANDHI UNBECOMING OF THE BJP
2. FLOOD OF WOES FOR LADAKH
3. PAK PM IN THE LEAD ROLE
4. SC ORDER ON TN QUOTA A LET- DOWN - BY RAJEEV DHAVAN
5. OUT WITH OLD IN WITH NEW - PRABHU CHAWLA

THE TIMES OF INDIA

1. WRONG SIGNAL
2. STRENGTHEN THE BASE
3. FIRST, LOOK WITHIN - MADHU PURNIMA KISHWAR 
4. 'WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT WILL DEMOCRATISE GOVERNMENT'
5. MAKING A CONNECTION - RWITWIKA BHATTACHARYA 

HINDUSTAN TIMES

1. FROM CENTRE TO THE SIDELINES
2. THEIR NUMBER'S UP
3. HUNGRY FOR MORE - RITU PRIYA
4. IT'S TIME TO WIELD THE STICK, MR PM - PANKAJ VOHRA

THE INDIAN EXPRESS

1. MORNING, KENYA
2. A YEAR LATER
3. BRIDGE TO BANGLA
4. LET'S TALK ABOUT INFLATION - ILA PATNAIK 
5. THE PROHIBITION OF GOOD SENSE - ADI POCHA 
6. HANGING BY A HAIR - INDER MALHOTRA 
7. THE COLOUR OF MONEY - M R MADHAVAN 
8. THE TERMINAL AND I - KARNA BASU 
9. THE STARS AREN'T SMILING - HARNEET SINGH 

THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

1. COMMON SENSE
2. WHAT PREDATORS?
3. KEEP IT SOFT AND AFFABLE, DR SUBBARAO - MK VENU
4. THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FOOD SECURITY DEBATE - YOGINDER K ALAGH
5. WHY NOT GO FOR SHALE GAS - NOOR MOHAMMAD

THE HINDU

1. NATURE'S FURY IN LEH
2. A TIMELY EFFORT
3. AFGHAN PROBLEM: FOR A REGIONAL APPROACH - CHINMAYA R. GHAREKHAN & KARL F. INDERFURTH
4. RAJIV GANDHI PLAN: A VALUABLE SOLUTION - SANDEEP DIKSHIT
5. DO NATIONS NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS? - DHIRENDRA SHARMA
6. DOCTOR KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN NOT RELIGIOUS: FAMILY - JON BOONE & ADAM GABBATT
7. RENEWED DIPLOMATIC OVERTURES TO IRAN - DAVID E. SANGER
8. FIGHTING HUNGER: ROLE OF MEDIA AND JUDICIARY

THE ASIAN AGE

1. WILL BUFFET, GATES INSPIRE INDIANS?
2. ART OF DISINVESTMENT - ARJUN SENGUPTA

DNA

1. COUNTING CASTE IS NOT SAME AS CASTE POLITICS
2. HOLLYWOOD'S HINDU FACE, JULIA ROBERTS
3. WHY WE SHOULDN'T BE HOSTING THE GAMES - ANIL DHARKER
4. SUCCESS EXPANSION PRINCIPLE - ROBIN SHARMA
5. US SHOULDN'T BE PLAYING SHERIFF
6. WILL ARUNDHATI ROY NOW PRAISE THE JEHADIS AS WELL? - AMULYA GANGULI

THE KASHMIR TIMES

1. REMEMBERING AUGUST 9 
2. LOOTING OF CAPD STORES
3. INDIA SEEKS AN EXALTED GLOBAL PROFILE - PRAFUL BIDWAI
4. A COURTYARD AND OTHER PROVERBS..! - ROBERT CLEMENTS

DAILY EXCELSIOR

1. THINK OF MAKING LEH SAFE AND SECURE
2. NEED FOR A STATE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (SDMA) - BY D. SUBA CHANDRAN
3. WELCOME! HIGH PRICE OF OIL - BY DR BHARAT JHUNJHUNWALA
4. HOW INDO-PAK TALKS ARE DOOMED TO FAIL - BY DR BRAHMA SINGH

GREATER KASHMIR

1. LEH DISASTER
2. KASHMIR RESOUNDS IN WASHINGTON - PUNCH LINE BY Z. G. MUHAMMAD
3. KASHMIR: NO IDEAL SOLUTION  - BY KULDIP NAYAR
4. INTROSPCTION - DR. ABDUL MAJID SIRAJ
5. HISTORY REPEATS, ROLES REVERSE - DR.JAVID IQBAL WRITES ON THE TWO COURSE-CHANGING EVENTS.
6. IS OMAR A BOY WITH A TOY IN HIS HANDS? - GUEST COLUMN BY SEEMA MUSTAFA

THE DAILY RISING KASHMIR

1. CONFLICT PLANNING
2. "GOVERNMENT IN HELICOPTER"
3. TOMORROW MAY BE TOO LATE - DR SYED NAZIR GILANI 

THE TRIBUNE

1. TACKLING INSURGENCY
2. PRANAB AT RECEIVING END
3. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
4. THE IGNORED REVOLUTIONARIES - BY KULDIP NAYAR
5. PORTRAIT OF A LADY - BY HARISH DHILLON
6. CLINICAL TRIALS IN INDIA: NEED FOR BIOETHICS - RADHA SAINI AND SUKHWINDER SINGH
7. UNFOUNDED FEARS OF DOCTORS - MAJOR-GEN SATINDER KAPOOR (RETD)

MUMBAI MIRROR

1. IS KALMADI THE ONLY ONE AT FAULT?

BUSINESS STANDARD

1. FISCAL FEDERALISM
2. ENGINEERING HEREDITY
3. INDIAN MINDS, FOREIGN FUNDS - SANJAYA BARU
4. NO ONE PUBLISHED PAID NEWS - SUNIL JAIN
5. COMPLEX DERIVATIVES - A V RAJWADE
6. RPT, COI, CWG, CG ... - PRATIP KAR

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

1. WE NEED CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS
2. WELCOME MOVE
3. FREE REIN IN SPAIN
4. HOW TO GROW WHEN MARKETS DON'T - ADRIAN SLYWOTZKY 
5. THE RUSH TO SAFE ASSETS - U R BHAT
6. 'INDIA WILL BE OUR GLOBAL SPARES HUB' - CHANCHALPALCHAUHAN 
7. THE AGONY OF THE HEREDITARY TURKS - C L MANOJ 
8. THINK RIGHT, WIN OVER YOURSELF - K VIJAYARAGHAVAN 

DECCAN CHRONICAL

1. WILL BUFFET, GATES INSPIRE INDIANS?
2. ART OF DISINVESTMENT - BY ARJUN SENGUPTA
3. ISRAEL WILL LISTEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM - BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
4. OF ERRING NETAS, OGLING BABUS
5. PORN TROUBLE IN UP
6. WHY DO WE REACT? - BY SADHGURU
7. WHERE'S MRS OBAMA? - BY MAUREEN DOWD

THE STATESMAN

1. HIGHER STILL HIGHER
2. SPIKING THE GUNS 
3. TEACHERS IN TROUBLE 
4. QUIT THE NATION - NIRMALENDU BIKASH RAKSHIT
5. PRETTY HINDU WOMAN… - URBANE ANGST 
6. CHINA'S GENERATION OF ANGRY YOUTH
7. SAILING ROUND THE WORLD AT 14 - JEROME TAYLOR

THE TELEGRAPH

1. TEST CASE
2. THE DECLINE OF MORALITY - S.L. RAO

DECCAN HERALD

1. LADAKH IN PERIL
2. TRY HARDER
3. SQUARING ALL SIDES - M J AKBAR
4. FOR A VIEW ON ISRAEL, STEAL THIS MOVIE - BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN, NYT
5. VERDANT HAVEN  BY PARVATHI RAMKUMAR

THE JERUSALEM POST

1. SO FAREWELL THEN, TONY JUDT
2. THE CART, THE HORSE, AND THE LONG ROAD AHEAD - BY BARRY RUBIN  
3. NEW YORK CITY HAS VOTED FOR TOLERANCE - BY MARILYN HENRY  
4. COLUMN ONE: ISRAEL'S AMERICAN-MADE FOES - BY CAROLINE B. GLICK  
5. WHEN THE NEXT WAR COMES – BY DAVID HOROVITZ  
6. ENFORCE INTERNATIONAL LAW IN LEBANON - BY AVI BEKER  
7. IN SEARCH OF A MEGAPHONE - BY FAYE BITTKER  
8. THE NEW GHETTO - BY YOSSI BEILIN  

HAARETZ

1. A FURIOUS INVESTIGATION, AND THEN SILENCE - BY AMIR OREN
2. SET UP A SEARCH COMMITTEE - BY ZE'EV SEGAL
3. GALANT'S WORLD: FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES - BY ANSHEL PFEFFER
4. INVESTIGATE, AND QUICKLY
5. SEVERELY UNDERMINED. IT MUST BE RESTORED, AND FAST.
6. LIVING WITH SANCTIONS - BY AKIVA ELDAR
7. ANTI-CORRUPTION RECIPE - BY ZE'EV SEGAL
8. KEEP GAY PRIDE IN THE BEDROOM - BY YAIR SHELEG
9. A JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC RESTAURANT - BY SALMAN MASALHA

 THE NEW YORK TIMES

1. AS THE ECONOMY SLOWS
2. CHINA AND THE I.M.F.
3. THE NEW YORK CONVENTION CON
4. VULNERABLE REFUGEES, LOSING A LIFELINE
5. AMERICA GOES DARK - BY PAUL KRUGMAN
6. THE MARRIAGE IDEAL - BY ROSS DOUTHAT
7. THE FIRST CHURCH OF ROBOTICS - BY JARON LANIER

USA TODAY

1. OUR VIEW ON INTERNET PRIVACY: THESE 'COOKIES' AREN'T TASTY; YOU'RE LEFT HUNGRY FOR PRIVACY.
2. OPPOSING VIEW ON INTERNET PRIVACY: DON'T FEAR INTERNET TRACKING - BY RANDALL ROTHENBERG
3. WHY DO WE NEED RELIGION? - BY OLIVER THOMAS
4. WHEN TEACHERS ARE SLASHED, THE CHILDREN PAY - BY RANDI WEINGARTEN

TIMES FREE PRESS

1. WHEN IS A WAR REALLY 'OVER'?
2. ANOTHER TRIAL ON ETHICS
3. A 'JUST-FOR-SHOW' SPENDING FREEZE
4. CASE OF THE 16,000 MISSING REBATES
5. SIGNS OF THE TIMES
6. MARRIAGE AS A LEGAL RIGHT

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

1. GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON ASHTIANI IS DEAFENING
2. THE WAR OF THE THINK TANKS - EMRE DELIVELI
3. PYROMANIACS JOINING FORCES - JOOST LAGENDIJK
4. TURKS AND KURDS: THE PERILS OF MURKY MYTHS - C. CEM OĞUZ
5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA - SONER ÇAĞAPTAY
6. EXCEPTIONAL TIMES, EXCEPTIONAL CHOICES - YUSUF KANLI
7. TODAY RUSSIA, TOMORROW THE WORLD - GWYNNE DYER

I.THE NEWS

1. SHOEICIDE MISSION
2. ROLL OF INFAMY
3. MIANWALI
4. THE QUEST FOR AN AFGHAN SETTLEMENT - S IFTIKHAR MURSHED
5. PREM CHAND PAKISTANI - TARIQ AQIL
6. STRIVE OR PERISH - DR A Q KHAN
7. OF OTHER EVILS - AFIYA SHEHRBANO
8. RIPE FOR REFORM - ZAFAR HILALY
9. UP AND RUNNING - CHRIS CORK

PAKISTAN OBSERVER

1. GILANI DEFUSES TENSION IN KARACHI
2. SARDAR QAYYUM'S APPEAL TO UNSG
3. WORST CALAMITY AND THE WAY OUT
4. THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY - DR SAMIULLAH KORESHI
5. KASHMIR IN LIMELIGHT! - AIR CDRE KHALID IQBAL (R)
6. AN ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN - DR RAJA MUHAMMAD KHAN
7. PRELUDE TO DESTRUCTION… - HAJRA SAEED
8. THE REAL PROBLEM IN AFGHAN WAR - MOHSIN HAMID

THE INDEPENDENT

1. INTRA-BCL CLASHES
2. HOTTEST DECADE
3. A COURTYARD AND OTHER PROVERBS..!
4. JAPAN'S UNFINISHED REFORMATION
5. GROUND ZERO MOSQUE IN NEW YORK
6. JAPAN'S UNFINISHED REFORMATION
7. EVERYBODY NEEDS THE PSYCHIATRIST'S COUCH
8. CHINA AND PREMIER LEAGUE A GREAT MATCH
9. CHALLENGES BEFORE MEDIA IN BANGLADESH (PART -||)
10. BANGLADESH CODE OF CONDUCT

THE AUSTRALIYAN

1. ONCE AGAIN, IT'S A LATHAM LOSS
2. ROOM FOR MORE AMBITION FROM CONFIDENT COALITION

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

1. BEYOND BOAT PEOPLE, A GENIAL POLICY BLUR
2. ABBOTT ASKS VOTERS TO TEAR DOWN A FRACTURING GOVERNMENT

THE GUARDIAN

1. FAMILY COURTS: TIME TRIALS
2. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH: NATURE'S CHOREOGRAPHY
3. IN PRAISE OF … THOMAS COOK TIMETABLES

 THE GAZETTE

1. MAKE GRAFFITI 'ARTISTS' PAY FOR THEIR HOBBY

THE JAKARTA POST

1. SQUEEZED FROM BOTH SIDES
2. ABSENTEEISM BREAKS UP TRUST FROM INSIDE - DONNY SYOFYAN
3. DANGER ON THE HIGH SEAS OF EAST ASIA - TOM PLATE
4. FPI AND LOW-INCOME YOUTHS - SUDIRMAN NASIR, MELBOURNE
5. EXAMINING THE IDEA OF 'HOUSE OF ASPIRATION' - DJOKO SUSILO

THE MOSCOW TIMES

1. IN LOVE WITH VIOLENCE - BY ALEXEI BAYER
2. MEDVEDEV'S BIG FLUB ON 3RD PRESIDENTIAL RUNNER - BY VLADIMIR FROLOV
3. HOW TO MAKE PEACE WITH GEORGIA - BY DMITRY TRENIN

CHINA DAILY

1. MONITORING JUDICIARY
2. FITNESS ROADMAP
3. UNJUSTIFIED RENOVATION
4. DEBATE: DISASTERS
5. PREPARING FUTURE YOUNG ATHLETES - BY JACQUES ROGGE (CHINA DAILY)
6. COMING CLOSER TO CANCUN - BY FU JING (CHINA DAILY)

DAILY MIRROR

1. TWO GIRLS FROM TRINCO
2. TWO THIRDS FOR THE THIRD TERM SOON

THE HIMALAYAN

1. DO ACT
2. TRAGIC TOLL
3. BOOSTING FDI INFLOWS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT MUST - BHUBANESH PANT
4. WRONG SIDE OF DIVIDE - ARUN KUMAR SRIVASTAV 

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THE PIONEER

EDITORIAL

DEATHBURST IN LEH

ENVIRONMENTAL LOSSES LEAD TO DEVASTATION

It was one of the worst calamities to strike Leh in recent times. Through late Thursday night and Friday morning, two cloudbursts caused huge slush of mud to rapidly flow down the slopes and ravage everything that came their way. Hundreds of lives were lost and villages destroyed. We can just throw up our hands in despair and say that it was a natural disaster, and as natural disasters go, difficult to contain when set in motion. But natural calamities of this sort should make us pause and think. Surely there is something amiss in the manner we are managing our environment for such tragedies to happen. The hills are being robbed of their green cover, rendering the soil loose and vulnerable to dangerous shifts, especially in rains. The tragedy in Leh was caused by massive mudslides — some as high as twenty metres, according to an eyewitness. Water dragged the loose soil down the slopes at a furious pace, and slush was formed with the mud collected from damaged houses and nearby hillocks. Many of those who survived had to wade through slush as deep as five feet. Mudslides are not a common phenomenon there, but with the continuing destruction of green cover in neighbouring regions, Leh may well face it more regularly. Another indication of changing climate patterns, for which too we are partly responsible, is the increasing occurrence of cloudbursts. In reality, cloudbursts should have been rare in a dry and cold place like Leh. And, indeed, they were, until recently when the effects of warning appeared to be getting more pronounced. Only less than three months ago, more than 30 homes were destroyed in a cloudburst. In 2006, floods caused by cloudbursts had enveloped large parts of the district. It is not just Ladakh but several parts of the Himalayan region that are warming at an alarming rate. Increased warming leads to greater evaporation, and, therefore, more rain-laden clouds get concentrated in a small mountain area and offload water in huge bursts. The Himalayan ecosystem is fragile and the damage caused by any disturbance to its stability can be enormous, as the Leh tragedy has shown. We will continue to pay a heavy price if we ignore this reality. 

If there is an urgent need to address environmental issues, it is equally important to upgrade infrastructure in regions like Leh. Transportation and communication systems collapse just when they are most needed. The communication network in Leh was disrupted as the tragedy struck, leaving hundreds of people stranded. Some needed urgent attention while others wanted to relay the news of their safety to their loved ones. The Leh-Rohtang highway shut down, inconveniencing hundreds of tourists. What is of concern is not just the trouble caused to the stranded people, but also the fact that they add to the numbers that have to be taken care of in a crisis situation. The sudden collapse of basic services like power and telecommunication in Leh, though, is understandable — BSNL lines were uprooted and silt had filled a hydel plant — in the wake of the incident. But, with the threat of natural disasters always looming over the hill areas, authorities must find ways to build infrastructure that can withstand such tragedies to a greater level. 

 

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THE PIONEER

EDITORIAL

A JUMBO LEAP!

WILDLIFE GAIN MUST NOT BE SQUANDERED

The country has seen an impressive growth in its wild elephant population in the past two decades. It grew to 27,719 in 2008 from 25,604 in 1993. In Kerala alone, where the elephant is an inalienable part of culture, the wild jumbo population went up by more than 2,500 during that period. Almost all elephant reserves in India have shown the welcome trend, though the growth has not been uniform in all regions. The rate of shrinkage of forest cover also came down in this period, which in turn contributed to the comfort of the wildlife. However, the jumbos in our jungles are not yet out of the danger, since they invariably land into conflict with humans living on the fringes of the forests. Then there are the poachers who still find some way to sell their contraband despite a universal ban on ivory sales. The devastating effects of the rampant deforestation in the second half of the last millennium are being felt now, with the pachyderms forced to leave their natural habitats for farmlands in search of fodder and water in summers — providing yet another reason for the conflicts. These confrontations cause an average of 200 elephant deaths a year in India. Thus, human greed and official apathy remain the biggest dangers to the lives of elephants in our jungles. Diseases are another reason for the elephant deaths. Somehow, forest departments of various States tend to disregard the importance of regular observation of diseases in the jungle. If the officials could check it before it assumed fatal proportions, several elephants could be saved. At least 25 wild elephants died in Kerala due to mysterious diseases and unknown reasons since 2007. 

More than 12 wild elephants were killed by poachers in Kerala in the past three years. In Odisha, poachers brought down 12 jumbos in Simlipal Tiger Reserve in April-May alone. Poaching is happening despite the universal ban on keeping, selling and exchanging ivory, because the proposition is tempting: Ivory extracted from a single mature tusker would fetch as much as `12 lakh in the domestic market. This also accounts for the death of 81 captive elephants in 2009 in Kerala, where the animal is revered as the live form of Lord Ganesha. Official apathy is widespread, and this was the reason behind the 14 elephant deaths on the railway tracks on Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in three years. These dangers could be averted with proper intervention: Foot patrol by personnel, regular observation by doctors, determined efforts against poaching and radio-collaring are some ways to tackle the issue. The situation calls for increased alertness on the part of both the Union and State Governments. If that does not happen, the achievements made so far in elephant conservation will be rendered futile and our jumbos will face the same fate as that of our tigers. 

 

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THE PIONEER

COLUMN

INDIA MUST STEM GRAIN DRAIN

JOGINDER SINGH

As per official figures, there are more than 42 crore Indian citizens living below the poverty line as compared to 41 crore poverty-stricken people in 26 African countries. Despite the pious proclamations of the Government and launching of numerous poverty alleviation programmes at least on paper, foodgrains worth hundreds of crores go waste and more are stolen and diverted from the public distribution system.

 

A report of the year 2006-07 shows that in the previous three years, foodgrains worth `31,500 crore were siphoned off the public distribution system, turning it into state-sponsored munificence for blackmarketeers, babus and ration shop owners. 

The North-East is in a category of its own. Of the eight States in the region, not a single grain of wheat supplied to Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam has reached the targeted population. Arunachal Pradesh can claim to be a bit less corrupt as 96.2 per cent of its wheat meant for public distribution got diverted. Manipur topped the list with 97.7 per cent of its rice allocation also being siphoned off, with Nagaland following close behind with 88.6 per cent of its rice being diverted. In 2006-07, rice and wheat worth `3,289.71 crore was stolen in Uttar Pradesh. The corresponding figure in West Bengal was `1,913.76 crore and in Madhya Pradesh it was `1,038.69 crore. 

This is quite apart from the annual food subsidy bill shooting well over the `50,000-crore mark as the Government has promised a scheme of foodgrain at `3 per kg to families living below the poverty line. The Government has promised a National Food Security Act that would statutorily require a supply of 25 kg of rice or wheat at `3 per kg to BPL families. One would have no quarrel with the subsidies if they reach their intended recipients. With prices still soaring, the Government admitted to the Empowered Group of Ministers on Food in July 2010 that 61,000 tonnes of foodgrains had rotted away in granaries as they were left too long with little or no protection.

Haryana and Punjab were unable to protect the 15.5 million tonnes of wheat lying in the open under tarpaulins. While Punjab has admitted that 49,000 tonnes of wheat have gone waste, the Union Government warned that 1.36 lakh tonnes of wheat that it procured in 2008-09 and 27.38 lakh tonnes of wheat it procured in 2009-10 had exceeded the one-year period during which they can be ideally stored without rotting.

The extent of wastage of money and resources can be gauged from the following.

 

  A total of 49,000 tonnes of grain has decayed in Punjab. 

 

  The number of people the grain could have fed for a month had it been distributed is 7.1 million.

 

  A total of 2.87 million tonnes of grain is at risk of decay across the country. This grain can feed 40 million Indians for a month. 

Instead of action, the reaction of the Union Government has been holding one meeting after another after the media exposed the wastage. The problem is simply one of inadequate storage space which is not restricted only to the States of Punjab and Haryana. 

Foodgrains, primarily wheat and rice, are lying in the open all over the country because the Union Government has not paid adequate attention to the creation of storage space. Indeed, the Punjab Government very rightly came out with the view that it is better to distribute the same than having rats and other creatures eat it. It has publicly said that it has exhausted all its godowns and warehouses. They are stocking the foodgrains on roads and kuccha and unscientific plinths. 

It says that even if there is an intention to hire any space for the purpose of storage, there is nothing available. As its own godowns are full already, Punjab has been repeatedly asking the Union Government to tell other States to pick up their share of foodgrain. The problem will aggravate in the years to come as the population rises.

Our country has godowns to store 16 million tonnes of foodgrains plus another storage for 12 million tonnes in the open when we need three times the number of godowns. It is a paradox of not only waste but utter callousness in times of shortage and rising prices. If three million tonnes of grain are damaged and unfit for human consumption, it can mean an annual loss of `8,000 to `10,000 crore. It costs the Food Corporation of India `15,000 to buy and store one tonne of wheat and `19,000 to store a tonne of rice. This state of affairs exposes our Government's inability to stockpile precious foodgrains as well as gross wastage of public funds. It is poor governance of the worst kind. 

How much foodgrain do we waste annually? A reply to an RTI query in 2008 revealed that between 1997 and 2007, more than 1.3 million tonnes (1,30,000 truckloads) of foodgrains decayed in storage. The Government spent a sum of `259 crore just to get rid of the rotten food. Across the country, rot and rodents claim 20 million tonnes or a tenth of the total harvest. These lost grains keep millions hungry. Incidentally, India ranks 66 out of 88 countries on the 2008 Global Hunger Index.

Even when we purchase any item, for our household use, we make sure that there is a proper place for it and it is preserved well. On a personal level, we are careful not to waste even a rupee's worth. But in the case of the Government, there is collective and not individual responsibility. So things remain in a mess. 

The problem is incredibly simple if the Government wants to solve it. Instead of allowing food to rot, why not create the facilities for storage in advance? If in a couple of months, superstructure for Commonwealth Games at a cost of `35000 crore can be set up, why not work on a war footing to create the required infrastructure for food without which nobody can survive? But this is possible only if the Food Minister and the Prime Minister cut down the red tape and circuitous journey of Government files at every step before any work can be undertaken. Why not appoint an administrator with overriding powers and responsibility to complete the project in one year? Not only should responsibility be given but also the authority and accountability. Waste of foodgrains is a crime of the worst order and the sooner steps are taken to end it the better it will be for the nation. 

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THE PIONEER

EDITORIAL

PAKISTAN'S DOUBLE GAME

JL GANJOO

At a time when the situation in Kashmir seems to have spun out of control with a young Chief Minister running a State Government in alliance with the Congress, it is a pity that the party heading the ruling coalition is busy engaged in political games involving dislodging Mr Narendra Modi from the Gujarat Chief Minister's chair.

It is sadly obvious that the priorities for the Congress begin with its concern for power and end in its anxiety regarding its vote bank share which it keeps trying to increase by playing manipulative politics with the minority community at the cost of majority interests. Consequently, either the larger interests of the nation are neglected or deficiencies in governance lead to the ugly incidents that are being witnessed in Kashmir today.

Unfortunately, with regard to Kashmir, the Congress' actions have been guided by misplaced trust due to which it ordered reduction in troops in the State in the first instance. India held a series of fruitless talks with Pakistan, surprisingly keeping all options open but with no visible determination to act firmly against the latter's evil designs to foment trouble in the Valley. All of this has snowballed into the current crisis. The crisis in Kashmir is deeper than what meets the eye, with stone-pelters harassing Army personnel and fighting them for days together until very recently, claiming precious lives in the process. Militants are mingling with ordinary folk and provoking clashes, as admitted by none other than Mr P Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister. An agitation as long as this one cannot be sustained without the active support of Pakistan, which has played a double game with even the US in its fight against the Taliban.

The Kashmir unrest must, therefore, be treated as an issue of prime importance and any discussion bound by the four corners of the Congress party office in this regard may not result in a solution. A wider dialogue is the need of the hour. Unlike other States, Jammu & Kashmir enjoys a special status. Hence any step aimed at diluting Central authority or provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act could be counter-productive, inviting further trouble to the much-beleaguered State.

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THE PIONEER

OPED

MIND OVER MATTER

CLAUDE ARPI

The Tibetan Buddhist tradition draws its root texts from the Nalanda masters and describes itself as a 'science of the mind'. It is ironical, therefore, that an initiative to revive the Great Vihara of northern India should plan not to include its greatest champion — the Dalai Lama

It is perplexing to discover that an Indian Nobel Laureate does not possess the insight to grasp what has been the hallmark of the Indian mind for millennia. I am speaking of Mr Amartya Sen, the chairman of the Mentor Group who is trying to revive the ancient Nalanda University. Mr Sen recently made a statement showing he is out of tune with the spirit of the ancient Indian viharas. This is rather worrying for the project. One can always argue that he is just a modern economist and can't be expected to understand the subtleties of the ancient Indian mind. 

The facts: When asked about the omission of the Dalai Lama's name from the international project, Mr Sen stated that "religious studies could be imparted without involvement of religious leaders." This is a flabbergasting statement. Does it mean that 'religious studies' should be disconnected from the practitioners? 

It reminded me of the 1960s in Europe when the first Buddhist lamas were engaged as lecturers in universities, they were told not to interpret Buddhism as an 'insider', but remain an 'outsider'. It is probably what Mr Sen means when he spoke about the Dalai Lama: "Being religiously active may not be the same as (being) an appropriate person for religious studies."

These declarations from a supposedly eminent intellectual proves that Mr Sen has no knowledge of what once made Nalanda University the greatest knowledge center of the entire world. Does he know why the great viharas of Northern India attracted scholars and students from the Koreas, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia or Greece, at least till the day it was looted by Bakhtiyar Khalji's Muslim troops in 1193?

Simply because the teachers, the gurus, the pandits taught what they had practised and experienced. It is during the 8th century that Trisong Detsen, the great Tibetan King invited Shantarakshita, the Abbot of Nalanda to introduce the Dharma to the Land of Snows and ordain the first monks. Since then, the lamas of Tibet have faithfully followed the masters of Nalanda. 

During a recent encounter, the Dalai Lama explained: "I always describe Tibetan Buddhism as pure Buddhism from the Nalanda tradition. Nalanda had great masters such as Nagarjuna or Arya Asanga. During the 8th century, the Tibetan Emperor invited Shantarakshita. He was a famous, well-known scholar and master of Nalanda. He went to Tibet and spent the rest of his life there. He introduced Buddhism in Tibet. I myself studied the Nalanda tradition of Buddhism; first I learned by heart and memorised what we call the root texts. All these root texts have been written by Nalanda masters. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition is the Nalanda tradition which combines the Sanskrit and the Pali traditions as well Buddhist Tantrayana. Masters like Nagarjuna, Aryadeva and Chandrakirti wrote tantric treatises in Sanskrit."

After the Muslim invasions, the monasteries of Tibet became the last repositories of the ancient wisdom which had been virtually destroyed in India, its land of origin.

Mr Sen does not seem to understand that the Nalanda tradition is not a 'religion', but a 'science of the mind'. The Dalai Lama recounted the story of Mr Raja Ramanna, the nuclear physicist, who told him that he was surprised to find the concept of quantum physics and relativity in a text of Nagarjuna. The Dalai Lama continued: "The West discovered these concepts at the end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th century, when some Indian sages like Nagarjuna knew it nearly 2,000 years ago." Nagarjuna's concept of madhyamaka (the Middle Path) was very much a part of the Nalanda curriculum.

The Dalai Lama likes to speak about his contacts with Western scientists. They started 27 years ago: "We have had some serious discussions. We have been meeting annually; the interest is from both sides. In Buddhism, there is a lot of explanation about the mind, many categories of mind. Therefore, Buddhism should be considered as a 'science of mind'."

The Tibetan leader clearly differentiates between this 'science of mind' originating from Nalanda, Buddhist philosophy (like Buddhist relativity of things, he explains) and Buddhist religion. He said: "When I contact modern scientists, I don't put them in contact with Buddhist religion, but with Buddhist science and to some extent to Buddhist philosophy." And he adds: "It is important to understand that when we say 'Buddhist science', we mean science of the mind; it is something universal; it is not a religion. Buddhist religion is not universal, it is only for Buddhists." The Nalanda project should be based on the 'science of the mind', not on Buddhist religion. 

Unfortunately one has the feeling that Mr Sen would like to recreate a new Shantiniketan, an academic institution without its original spirit. How to lay the foundations of Nalanda International University without the spirit of Nalanda? 

Some analysts tell me, "You are wrong, it is not a question of religion or science, but of politics. Mr Sen has to take care of Chinese susceptibilities. China wants to participate and does not want to hear about the Dalai Lama." This is terribly ironic. Mr Sen is probably unaware of it, but the Chinese fought hard to impose their own system of Buddhism in Tibet, but finally it is the Nalanda path which prevailed. 

The decision was taken after a long debate, the famous Samye debate which was held in Samye (Central Tibet) between the Chinese and Nalanda schools of Buddhism. Shantarakshita before dying had predicted that a dispute would arise between the two schools of Buddhism that had started spreading in Tibet. The first one — the Chinese school, influenced by Taoism — was of the opinion that enlightenment was an instantaneous revelation or realisation. This system of thought had spread throughout China.The second school, taught by the Indian pandits of Nalanda, known as the 'gradual school' — asserted that enlightenment was a gradual process, not an 'instant one', but requiring long study, practice and analysis. The Samye debate took two years (792-794 CE) to reach its conclusion. Hoshang, a Chinese monk, representing the 'instant school' was defeated by Kamalashila who defended the Indian view. At the end of the debate, the King issued a proclamation naming the Indian Path (from Nalanda) as the orthodox faith for Tibet.

Today, the Marxist rulers in Tibet seem to have forgotten these details; they want to participate in rebuilding the Great Vihara. Fine, but it is nonetheless strange that the main living proponent of the Nalanda tradition is kept out of the project. I am sure that the Dalai Lama does not mind, but it would certainly have been a blessing for the project to have him as a mentor (or Chancellor), like Shantarakshita had done for Tibet.

It is clear that it is the spirit of appeasement and not the spirit of Nalanda which will prevail in South Block today. Very sad.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

RIDING THE FAULT LINE

SHIKHA MUKERJEE

Vijaywada session unlikely to fix rift in CPM leadership

It is ironic that there is near total symmetry in the way in which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) plans to deal with, internally and externally, issues that together make up for a seriously inhospitable environment. Its guideline for the external environment, as already stated in its draft political resolution, is to oppose the Congress, isolate the Bharatiya Janata Party and unite the Left as well as other secular democratic parties. 

The party's strategy for curbing the internal turmoil is almost identical; isolate those who disagree with the apex leadership, namely general secretary Prakash Karat, oppose those who contradict the prescribed wisdom and unite the like-minded. In other words, isolate and oppose leaders like Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for having a different take from Mr Karat and unite those who were already banded together by their inconsequence. Given the CPM's zero tolerance to differences of opinion and dissent within its ranks, the scheduled extended session of the central committee in Vijaywada to examine what ails the party and what can be prescribed for its future health will be a formal exercise. The central committee session will boil down to approving the already drafted political resolution even though the leaders of the two CPM ruled States — Kerala and West Bengal — disapprove. 

Mr Achuthanandan has declined to be present and Mr Bhattacharjee has disassociated himself from the exercise, by skipping earlier meetings of the central committee where the process of drafting the political resolution as future guidelines for politics, policies and action was given final shape. The clash within the CPM is at many levels. The crafting of information about the clashes is an exercise in burying its gravity. Power and authority within the CPM, personified by Mr Karat, does not come with direct responsibility; those who are accountable to the people, Mr Achuthanandan and Mr Bhattacharjee, because they participate in elections have power but lack political authority. Between national perspectives fuelled by an ambition to make a mark and the imperatives of regional politics, where winning matters most and electoral defeats are described as "failures of leadership," the fault lines have deepened. 

At no time in the history of the CPM has the gap between the central bureaucracy and the State leaders been as wide and with so much at stake. Between Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu there were differences — the 1996 "historic blunder" being just one, but there were no cracks. Between EMS Namboodripad and Jyoti Basu there were serious differences over the trajectory that CPM should adopt in a dynamic political situation but that clash never became quite as complicated as the ongoing one. 

At no time has the isolation been as great between regional leaders required to safeguard their histories and the national leadership that has no territorial imperatives. The clash has boiled down in the case of West Bengal to Mr Karat's favourite phrase: Whole gamut of neo-liberal policies. In Mr Karat's book the policies of the Union and State Governments that are underpinned by neo-liberalism are "detrimental to the working people's" interests. In Mr Bhattacharjee's book, West Bengal cannot insulate itself from the impact of neo-liberal policies. In Mr Karat's view, safeguarding the people's interests is a matter of "livelihoods, public distribution system, land, job security, fair wages, access to health care, education and basic services," not within the framework of neo-liberalism but in opposition to it. In Mr Bhattacharjee's view, the only way of advancing people's interests is by promoting opportunities for "corporates and big business" within the framework of neo-liberalism, albeit with some safety precautions. 

Effectively, Mr Karat's position, as it appears in the draft political resolution tabled for the Vijaywada session, is a defence of the politics of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The headway made by the Trinamool Congress was the pay-off for focussing on the interests as listed by Mr Karat. The strategy of organising "sustained struggle on local issues" is also a leaf out of the Trinamool Congress manual in the context of Singur and Nandigram. Between laying "stress on its independent role and activities" and seeking the cooperation of "non-Congress secular parties who are willing to come together to take up people's issues," Mr Karat is trying to perform a balancing act that failed miserably in 2008. The strategy collapsed as the non-Congress parties melted away before the vote on the nuclear cooperation Bill.

The question that should be raised in Vijaywada is how will the CPM's independent role and activities be measured — as opposition to the Congress's neo-liberal pro-US policies or its effectiveness in protecting its bases in West Bengal and Kerala, expanding its footprints across India (without getting into dubious seat sharing arrangements with non-Congress parties) and increasing its numbers in Parliament and in the State Assemblies?

To combine opposition to the Congress, with isolation of the BJP and achieve political success independently, the CPM's first task should be to restore order, create harmony, forge a common purpose and set realistic goals within its own ranks. The erosion of its position is not a consequence of the electoral defeats it has suffered in West Bengal and Kerala. Its ineptitude in recent months in failing to use inflation and rise in food prices to assert its independent position and organise activities to establish it is revealing. Once upon a time, the Communist Party led a people's food movement; today it can merely resolve to do so.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

EX-KHMER ROUGE TALK ABOUT MASSACRES

 

A documentary-maker scours the Cambodian countryside to find the people who conducted the pogrom and listen to their experiences and in so doing makes peace with his own past, writes Robin McDowell

For more than three decades, Cambodian villages have been home to silent killers: Former Khmer Rouge commanders who slit the throats of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of victims before dumping their bodies into shallow graves. 

Filmmaker Thet Sambath spent 10 years combing the countryside trying to find those who carried out massacres so they — together with the genocidal regime's ideological leader, Nuon Chea — could reveal the truth about one of the 20th century's darkest chapters. 

Their stories are told in the groundbreaking documentary Enemies of the People, which is playing in limited release in the US, with more theatres to be added each week into the fall, its distributor says. 

At least 1.7 million people — a quarter of the population — died from execution, disease, starvation and overwork when the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge tried to turn the country into a vast, agrarian paradise from 1975-79. 

In the film, Soun, a former militia commander, sits beneath a tree and gazes out at what are now sparkling green rice paddies. "I come back here to where I killed people," he says wearily, pointing to a half-dozen spots where swollen bodies used to pile up. "I feel terrible... My soul, my body is spinning inside. All the things I did are flashing through my mind." 

He recalls smelling blood on his hands as he was eating rice one night: Earlier, he was looking into the eyes of a beautiful tailor who was clinging to his knees, begging to be spared. Tempted, he asked if she would live with him forever. She quickly promised, but when he heard his own boss yell, "What are you waiting for! Hurry up!" he thrust his knife into her and threw her on the stack. 

Soun leads the 42-year-old Thet to confront other killers, who have to be convinced, slowly, to confess, and then to those who issued orders to kill ethnic minorities and others suspected of being traitors or spies for Vietnam. Eventually it becomes clear, as they go up the chain of command, that there was probably never an "original order" from the Khmer Rouge's inner clique to carry out massacres in the countryside. Rather, regional chiefs, and officials directly above them were interpreting what they were hearing at an abstract political level. The genocide occurred during the troubled times of the Cold War. 

The Khmer Rouge faced internal struggles from the start. The two top leaders, Pol Pot, who died in 1998, and Nuon Chea, awaiting trial before a UN-backed war crimes tribunal, supported China. But many others were looking to their powerful neighbour to the east, Vietnam. Nuon Chea confesses for the first time in the film that he and Pol Pot together decided to kill all party members considered "enemies of the people". They had to be destroyed, he said defiantly, to "save the party" and "keep the rot from spreading". But he said he was unaware — or too busy to care — what was happening in villages and the rice fields. 

The journey was a highly personal one for Thet, a senior reporter at the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. When he was a boy, his father was stabbed to death after a public meeting organised by Khmer Rouge cadre, where he objected to plans to seize livestock, gold and other personal property for the party. His mother was forced to marry a member of the Khmer Rouge militia soon after, got pregnant and died in childbirth. His brother was also killed. 

Thet thought that finding people who took part in some of the massacres would help him understand and heal. In the end, those who opened up to him, revealing atrocities they have kept secret from even their wives and children, also seemed to benefit. 

"When we find them, and they confess the truth, I feel better," Thet says. "I want this documentary to be shown all over the country. Otherwise we will be gone soon, and the new generation won't know the story." 

It took years for Thet to win Nuon Chea's full trust. By the end, the two have formed an unquestionable bond. The war crimes court reviewing Nuon Chea's case has asked for a copy of the film — co-produced by Thet and Briton Rob Lemkin — but he refused, saying he feels it would be a betrayal of trust. Thet brings Soun and another man who has admitted to ordering countless killings to visit Nuon Chea so they can ask him directly why so many people had to die at their hands. They ask, too, if they themselves might end up in court. 

"I don't know what I'll be reborn as in the next life," Soun says. "I feel desperate but I don't know what to do."

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

WILL GAMES SPARK FINANCIAL CRISIS?

SHIVAJI SARKAR

The Government needs to reflect on whether or not it can sustain 'expenses' that have not really been made but diverted and pocketed in the name of the mega-event

Is the Indian society on the path of growth or is it sliding? The question boggles the mind. If it is growing could the growth be sustained is the other question. Liberal economic rules have ensured breaking away from past morbidity. But the nation is yet to nurse itself back to health and if symptoms persist may slide once again. 

This apparently is the lesson it is drawing from the Commonwealth Games 2010, which has also come to be known as Common Loot Games in popular parlance. 

A nation organises such Games to show that it has arrived at the international scenario and can be trusted to lead other nations. Possibly by the same standard, the Beijing Olympics had also hurt the sensibilities of the world despite its resounding success, as the poor were banished from anywhere near the Games venue. 

Delhi has, in many ways, emulated Beijing. The Government is good at emulating all that is not even worth discussing. So it is also mulling over putting up giant Beijing-like screens to "cover" the filth and darker sides of the city. 

Delhi has also shown street vendors and beggars the door. In a "shining and incredible India", they do not have place at least in the national capital. It does not belong to them. The capital and its pride or shame belongs to the people who have amassed, alas looted, immense wealth even as the poor toil to serve their masters. Yes, even in a constitutional democracy, autocratic and feudal politics rule the roost. 

When the Olympics were being held in Greece in 2004, people were similarly perturbed and filled with cynicism about the success of the Games. There were similar delays and murky dealings. The Games finally succeeded. They restored the confidence of the people but in less than a decade the country has slid into bankruptcy. The Greeks are wondering whether or not this is a fall-out of the Olympics. Indians also need to think whether or not they would be able to sustain "expenses" which have not been made but pocketed systematically. 

Authorities in London say they are prepared for the next Olympics whenever it is held. It has built its hopes on the strength of what it has built and not on the strength of demolition as Delhi has done. Stadium after stadium — be it the Talkatora swimming complex or Shivaji Stadium — which were hosting national and international events were demolished only to "rebuild" them. Nobody has heard of such an extravaganza. Yes, when you hold a new event, you refurbish a stadium, put a fresh coat of paint, repair and, may be, even re-carpet it. But demolish! No one has ever heard of such a thing. Are we surpassing the antics of Mohammad bin Tughlaq? If so, we should also remain prepared to face the consequences. 

Nobody still has the exact figures of the actual and total expenses that have gone into demolishing stadia — well-built roads, footpaths, bus shelters and what not. Money was also spent on building "flyovers" where these were not needed, purchase of sub-standard buses for at least double their price and hiring equipment which could be purchased at one-tenth of their cost. Many facilities came apart leaking at the first hint of the monsoon rains.

Even the Government says it does not have a figure on this account, giving out a rough estimate ranging from `12,000 crore to `28,000 crore. This calls for amending the Constitution to bind the Government into requiring permission to spend anything beyond `500 or may be `5,000. This is an urgent requirement and there should be a cap on how many times the Government can revise its budgetary estimates. 

Its demand for `54,589 crore more for spending should not have been passed by Parliament without a thorough questioning. It should have been asked how it could go so wrong in its estimation. And if it needs that money why cannot it wait till the next budgetary process? It has placed its demand based on many considerations which do not refer to the Games. But it is on record that money allocated for other purposes has been transferred to the Games. 

Normally, such demands come in the winter session and not in the monsoon session. What is the urgency to have this parliamentary sanction before the Commonwealth Games? Is the Government in short of that much money for organising the Games? It is an obvious question. It is also a pointer to the grim crisis the nation is passing through — a crisis of confidence and fear that it might get into the grips of a Greece-like situation. 

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MAIL TODAY

COMMENT

CARTOON ON SONIA GANDHI UNBECOMING OF THE BJP

 

THE Bharatiya Janata Party has every right to put the United Progressive Alliance government on the mat over the skyrocketing prices but what its Madhya Pradesh unit has done is in poor taste. Notwithstanding its denials, it is clear that the cartoon of a woman dubbed as ' Mahangayi Dayan' on the cover of its magazine Deep Kamal is meant to be none else but Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

 

This is obvious when one considers that the prime minister, the finance minister and the agriculture minister are the other politicians whose cartoons also appear on the cover.

 

This does nothing but lower the standard of political discourse. Once a party starts stooping low to undermine its rival, there is no knowing where it will all end. Today it is the BJP that has employed such a trick, tomorrow the Congress could do it and so on till political discourse degenerates to actual violence.

 

As it is, the BJP has a propensity to use words and idioms that are increasingly being shunned in polite conversation, a practice in which its new president Nitin Gadkari has led the way.

 

For instance, a word like ' dayan' ( witch) is surely a usage that a political party should avoid. Even today, in parts of the country, widows and single women are sometimes dubbed as witches prior to being assaulted and even murdered. It is one thing for a moviemaker to have a song representing inflation as a witch, and quite another for a mainstream political party to adopt it lock stock and barrel.

 

There may be reason for the BJP to be frustrated with its present political state. But the way out of the doldrums is for the party to adopt new thinking and not make shabby attacks on its rivals.

 

FLOOD OF WOES FOR LADAKH

THE flash floods caused by the sudden cloudburst in Ladakh have unleashed widespread devastation, killing at least 105 people.

 

Ladakh, like Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, is a semi- desert region. Due to the looseness of the soil and the lack of vegetation, such regions are particularly vulnerable to landslides and flooding, even after a comparatively small amount of rainfall. Most of the people there live in unbaked mud- brick houses which are designed for dry weather and cannot withstand such rain. Given its vulnerability — because of both aridity and remoteness — a region like Ladakh needs special protection.

 

While it is unclear whether the cloudburst can be attributed to climate change, it cannot be denied that there has been a sharp increase in the incidence of extreme and unpredictable climate in recent times. This is a challenge that will only become more serious with time and is something that our weather scientists need to factor in when making forecasts. The government needs to invest much more in terms of both resources and policies to minimise the impact of tragedies such as the flash floods in Leh.

 

For instance, if the government had invested in a Doppler Radar for Leh, the cloudburst could have been predicted hours before it took place and helped save a lot of lives.

 

PAK PM IN THE LEAD ROLE

UNWITTINGLY, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani seems to have played the lead role in what could have been a masterful political satire. He was completely taken in by the Potemkin village of a relief camp the district administration of Mianwali prepared for his visit.

 

The visit was supposed to have been a public relations exercise for highlighting the federal government's relief efforts and presenting Gilani as an almost messianic figure, providing a healing touch to the victims.

 

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has been left feeling rather sheepish in what was his first visit to the affected areas. What added to his embarrassment was the fact that he was also duped of the many cheques of Rs 5,000 that he handed out to the victims at the ' relief camp'. However, it is heartening to find such humour being displayed by government officials— who are otherwise notorious for their dullness — that too in the midst of a calamity. It also provides the people of Pakistan with a Gilani joke, a refreshing change from all the Zardari jokes doing the rounds.

 

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            MAIL TODAY

COLUMN

SC ORDER ON TN QUOTA A LET- DOWN

BY RAJEEV DHAVAN

 

FAR FROM being inspired by social justice, reservations have become a political toy to support vote banking. Over the last 15 years, politicians have enacted five constitutional amendments to reverse Supreme Court judgments. In turn, the Supreme Court has lost its way — seemingly backing off, backing down, giving up.

 

The latest Supreme Court endeavour is Chief Justice Kapadia's order ( also for Justices Radhakrishnan and Swatantra Kumar) permitting Tamil Nadu ( TN) to continue 69 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes ( SC/ STs) and Other Backward Classes ( OBCs) under its 1993 legislation, but asking TN to review its decision on the basis of quantifiable data. This seems surprising because it was Justice Kapadia's own judgment in Nagraj's case ( 2006) which jettisoned reservations within a strict discipline before reservations were made and not as a statistical afterthought.

 

Precedent

 

The judicial effort to discipline reservations goes back to 1951, but in our context began its rigorous journey from Justice Gajendragadkar's judgment in Balaji ( 1963) establishing the 50 per cent norm and striking down Mysore's 68 per cent reservation. Apart from SC/ STs, the reservation provisions for OBCs were designed by the Constituent Assembly for the ' south' states which had practised reservation for decades to cover traditionally recognised OBCs in their states.

 

But to the ' old' OBCs were added ' new' OBCs. The new OBCs were discovered in the ' north', especially in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh resulting in the triumph of the Yadavs — Lalu in Bihar, Mulayam in UP and others elsewhere.

 

Now everyone is busy discovering new OBCs. While the Karlekar Commission ( 1955) did not want to stir the OBC cauldron, the Mandal Commission ( 1980) was only too glad to do so. The Mandal report was a hot potato which the Congress avoided and V. P. Singh embraced in 1990 with disastrous results. The hitherto docile ' merit students' exploded into riots.

 

Enough was enough. Peace was later restored. The Supreme Court contributed to devising the peace process by a balanced formula in the Mandal case ( 1992) reiterating the old Balaji 50 per cent limit for reservations. No doubt the 50 per cent limit can only be crossed for compelling reasons. But this going beyond 50 per cent was really for tribal states and not as a general political excuse to garner votes, which it has become.

 

Meanwhile, the Congress realised that it had been upstaged by other political parties in using and manipulating reservations context Justice Balaji norm cent the were Assembly practised traditionally states.

 

new' in of the Bihar, new Commission cauldron, was report Congress 1990 hitherto riots.

 

later contributed balanced 1992) limit cent compelling reservations for votes. From 1995- 2005, it was party to the 77th, 81st, 82nd, 85th and 93rd constitutional amendments for SC/ STs and OBC reservation — realising that the SC/ ST constituency was also slipping from its hands. This is self evident from the parliamentary debates — a fact fully analysed in R. Dhavan's Reserved ( 2008).

 

What is significant is that these amendments were challenged in Nagraj ( 2006) concerning reservations in the civil services, where the lead and only judgment was by Justice ( now Chief Justice) Kapadia.

 

Earlier in the 11- judge bench decision in TMA Pai relating to education, the court fixed 50 per cent as the upper limit which could be crossed only if there were justifiable, compelling circumstances. In fact, it would be fair to say that every per cent reservation over 50 per cent needs total comprehensive justification.

 

As it happens Nagraj ( 2006) was written by Justice Kapadia. It concerned examining whether the constitutional amendments of 1995- 2005 violated the ' basic structure' of " equality". Read between the lines, it was a brilliantly statesmanlike decision. It told Parliament that its amendments were valid since they did not guarantee reservations but simply enabled them. It told merit candidates that equality was part of the basic structure of the Constitution and, therefore, any exercise of the power of reservation would be subject to the 50 per cent rule, the creamy layer, extent of backwardness and demands of efficiency, in accordance with the criteria of reasonableness and compelling necessity.

 

Why did Justice Kapadia not follow his own judgment in the case of Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent reservation? It is true that the Tamil Nadu statute had been given extra constitutional protection. But after Justice Sabharwal's judgment in Coelho's case ( 2007), this extra protection had been ripped down.

 

Case

 

The Tamil Nadu statute was of 1993. It was 17 years old. A mandatory exercise of re- examination was necessary. This was not done. Under Justice Kapadia's own test, Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent was beyond 50 per cent. No compelling necessity had been shown. The creamy layer test is that those SC/ STs or OBCs who are no longer backward are disentitled to reservation. This has not been applied to SCs and STs in Tamil Nadu. No considerations of efficiency have been considered.

 

One way of looking at Justice Kapadia's decision on Tamil Nadu reservations is that Tamil Nadu's law enables 69 per cent reservation. Before implementation, the ' Nagraj' restrictions of 50 per cent, creamy layer, efficiency etc. would apply with full rigour as a prelude to implementation.

 

But this turns Justice Kapadia's own Nagraj decision upside down. The Tamil Nadu statute was all ready for implementation.

 

The 69 per cent quota had been, and was, being implemented. None of the Nagraj tests were being applied. Thus, it seems that Tamil Nadu had a free run subject to judicial advice that it must examine the extent of backwardness. But if the 69 per cent statute was declared valid by the Supreme Court, no high court could ignore it and all governments would implement it. The cart was before the horse and reservations at 69 per cent would remain where they were.

 

Balance

 

While all that I have said sounds full of technicalities, in fact it is not so. Few are against reservations in toto. I am not against reservations. They are necessary for social justice and to share the power of the state with SC/ STs and OBCs. But we have to find a balance. Spurred on by vote bank considerations, politicians do not want to find a balance. It has been up to the courts to do so. The 50 per cent marker came in 1963. The exclusion of the creamy layer came for OBCs in 1992 and in 2006 for SC/ STs. Efficiency was emphasised in 1992 and again in 2006. Reservations in super- specialties, technical areas or the army are not permissible. Both, the imposing of reservations and the breach of the 50 per cent requirements, are subject to compelling necessity and reasonableness.

 

The creamy layer test was absolute. Efficiency had to be considered.

 

Developed for five decades, these tests provide a balance so that the competing claims of reservations and merit are satisfied.

 

Politicians abhor this balance because it interferes with their political vote- gathering largesse.

 

The 69 per cent quota means that merit candidates only have a 31 per cent chance; and SC/ STs and OBC candidates can also compete for these 31 per cent seats. This violates the equality of opportunity.

 

It also gives efficiency a go- by by disproportionately discounting merit.

 

India's Constitution has both political as well as justice texts. If the justice texts were not there, majorities in legislatures would do whatever they want in the name of a crude numerical majoritarianism without reserve. The reservation debate has exhausted itself. Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent statute has been wrongly declared valid. But all is not over. The Supreme Court and the Madras High Court can still insist that the amendment should not be implemented without looking at backwardness, the creamy layer and efficiency in terms of reasonableness and compelling necessity. But will they?

 

comment@mailtoday.in

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MAIL TODAY

POWER & POLITICS

 

OUT WITH OLD IN WITH NEW

PRABHU CHAWLA

 

MAKING political predictions is a difficult task. Ask the psephologists. The task gets even tougher should you be brave or foolish enough to predict the moves of the Gandhi family.

 

Last week, in Parliament and the corridors of power, inside TV studios and in newsrooms across the country, one question was being hotly debated by politicians, journalists, opinion makers and those who like to be known as just analysts: Why were the Gandhis keeping a stoic silence when the government was being hauled over the coals by the Opposition which suddenly seems to have discovered a spring in its step? While the Prime Minister and his A- team were under fire for multiple failures on the price front, Kashmir, Naxalism and now the Commonwealth Games fiasco, both Sonia and Rahul were nowhere to be seen. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refrained from making a symbolic intervention. The Gen Next, once the Congress's in- house shoutdown- the- enemy brigade, kept a low profile while the UPA ministers and AICC functionaries, rather than taking on the Opposition, were busy settling scores with each other.

 

A brief interaction with the ruling party's many Mr Know- alls in the central hall of Parliament last week has now convinced me that the Gandhis are aiming to make drastic changes both in the government and the party establishment. The dilemma that faces them is: How to wield the axe without spilling much blood.

 

The exercise is expected to start next month with the re- election of Sonia as the Congress President, a mere formality. She would then become the first Congress leader to hold the post for over a decade without a break. After Indira, Sonia remains the only Congress leader in more than four decades to steer the party to a second consecutive victory in the general elections.

 

In the party, she shares with Rahul, now the most popular leader in the Congress if not the country, a veto power that no other Congress functionary has. I understand that they are giving finishing touches and waiting for Parliament's monsoon session to get over to effect a massive shake up aimed at revitalising the party and the government.

 

The objective is clear: Four years from now, the Congress must win a majority on its own.

 

To raise its current tally from the current 206 to 272 plus, the party has no option but to concentrate on Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka and choose leaders who can make a difference.

 

Manmohan Singh Experience has taught the leadership that it is not the performance but a perfect connect with the local leaders and voters that is vital to ensure victory. At the moment, there is an utter lack of compatibility between high- profile ministers and senior party functionaries.

 

Party leaders have for long lamented that, with the disconnect that exists between the government and the organisation, it is difficult for the latter to carry the message across to the grassroots. I am told some of the senior ministers who command respect may be moved over to the organisation with a view to make Congress ministers accountable to the party. Armchair strategists who wax eloquent at seminars and TV debates may have to give way to those with a readiness to face the heat and dust and take the rough and tumble of Bharat.

 

So far, Rahul has studiously stayed away from the politics of the parent organisation even as he energised the Youth Congress to make it a parallel power centre.

 

The genuine competitive elections for Youth Congress officebearers that were held across the country at Rahul's directions were, in reality, talent scouting exercises that brought thousands of new workers into the party's fold and threw up hundreds of hugely talented men and woman who have both the drive and vision.

 

]While a shake- up in the party was never expected to pose much of a problem, getting rid of the many non- performing ministers was not that easy. Plans earlier for a purge of the old order were met with stiff resistance from the well entrenched. This time, they may not have an option. Congressmen in general know that they have a lot of broken promises to keep. But it is perhaps only Rahul who acknowledges that it is probably the last chance to convince voters that they are worthy leaders ahead of 2014.

 

Sanjay gets a rare mention in Parliament

 

FOR THE five years that he was in active politics — which include the Emergency, the Janata wave of 1977 and Indira's triumphant return in 1980 — Sanjay Gandhi remained the most controversial political figure in the country.

 

He was opposed and despised so much that since his death in an air crash exactly 30 years ago, even his most committed former followers, some of whom are powerful ministers in the UPA government, dare not take his name. It therefore came as a surprise to me last week when during a debate in the Lok Sabha on population growth, the JD( U)' s Sharad Yadav praised Sanjay to the skies.

 

Remember, Yadav was at the forefront of Jaiprakash Narayan's Total Revolution movement which led to the Emergency, during which he was jailed. Surprise, surprise, but this is what he said last week: " Some people blame Sanjay Gandhi. But I feel something has to be done to arrest the spiralling population. Sanjay felt issues such as population should be dealt with a strong hand. I feel that along with incentives there is a need for harsh measures and only then can a solution be found." And this is what health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a member of what was then known as the Sanjay brigade, had to say: " There is a difference between Sanjay Gandhi's days and now.

 

We are not going to force anything.

 

Everything has to be done through awareness and voluntarily." Though it was just a reiteration of oft- stated government policy, it was amusing to see the eagerness of some leaders to show that they are already practicing what the government is preaching.

 

Mulayam Singh Yadav vouched he had only one son, Sushma Swaraj said she had just one daughter and Maneka Gandhi also said she adhered to the one- child norm. It was just as well that Lalu Prasad, a father of nine, was not present.

 

On a more serious note, it was heartening to see our elected representatives give the subject the attention it deserves.

 

A LESSON IN NATIONAL INTEREST BY GENNEXT

WHILE the old guard in Parliament kept up their favourite pastime of hammering away at each other, there was an unexpected and upbeat message of hope and reassurance when young MP's cutting across party lines came together and put up an unprecedented display of solidarity over the troubled paradise that is Kashmir.

A joint statement they released suggested they were appealing to the youth in the Valley to shun violence and settle for dialogue, but Parliament's youth brigade left no one in doubt that they were rallying around Omar Abdullah, who at 40, is India's youngest chief minister.

 

Considering the deep divide in Parliament, the cross party concern for one from their own generation should serve as a powerful symbol of what can be achieved if the national interest is put before partisan political interest. In Parliament's central hall, I saw Priya Dutt and Deependra Hooda going around enlisting support for the statement and the 38 signatories represented the entire political spectrum. There is speculation about the brain behind the show and the list of signatories indicates that it was the Rahul Hand that took the initiative for this morale booster for common friend Omar.

 

Akhilesh Yadav ( SP), Anurag Thakur ( BJP), Dushyant Chowdhary ( INLD), and other Opposition scions who signed the statement are all Rahul's political rivals, yet share a close personal rapport with him. More importantly, like Rahul, they believe that for the larger good, it is important that politicians set aside their narrow partisan interests.

 

The scenes inside Parliament where the old guard was busy pointing fingers and outside where the young MPs jointly addressed the media showed just how wide the chasm has become.

 

So, was the joint show intended to tell the grand old men and women that they don't intend to follow in their footsteps? For the country's sake, I hope so. At least we can be sure that the future is in safe and capable hands.

 

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

 COMMENT

WRONG SIGNAL

PLANNING HIGHER H-1B VISA FEES, US AGAIN TURNS PROTECTIONIST

India is at the receiving end. The US Senate has passed a Bill aiming to raise money for a $600 million US-Mexico border security by doubling the cost of H-1B work permits. The Bill seems headed for a full congressional and presidential nod. Fees for each skilled worker visa will rise by around $2,000 per application, saddling India's tech companies with an increased annual burden of $200-250 million. India's IT firms payrolling US border security may strike some as amusing. What's not funny is that the move smacks of the kind of insidious protectionism the G20 has pledged to abjure. Nor does it make for an ideal prelude to President Obama's India visit in November. 

 

True, Obama has been hamstrung by persisting bad news on the jobs front back home, with the unemployment rate frozen at 9.5 per cent. In July, 1,31,000 jobs were cut, a worse-than-expected showing in an economy that's on the mend. Populist rhetoric about the supposed need to keep jobs from going to India and China is understandable in this context: Obama seems to be trying to reassure a domestic political constituency. However, creation of barriers to economic activity whether to restrict trade or curb movement of workers isn't sound thinking when sanctified as policy. 

 

Indian tech firms do gain big by sending thousands of skilled personnel to the US annually, to cater to clients in diverse sectors including banking and insurance. But they also pay nearly $1 billion annually in social security without gaining from it. Besides, to suggest visa programmes give them unfair leverage and amount to theft of 'American' jobs is to deny fundamental business principles. So long as it's within the rules of the game, it's for companies to decide business strategies – recruitment included – with an eye to best returns. If Indian firms encash opportunities in the US, so does American business profit from accessing skills that either aren't in abundant local supply or give an edge in terms of costs. If US businesses profit, surely that's a goal scored for America. 

 

 Sometime ago, Obama raised the India-China bogey to justify cutting tax breaks for US firms outsourcing jobs. The H-1B visa issue will deepen the perception that the professed anti-protectionist stand of the planet's number one economy is mere lip service. And it can prove counterproductive. Indian firms may not baulk at paying more to expand. The step may also have the unwitting effect of boosting outsourcing of jobs, with US firms hiring overseas instead of engaging on-site. Resort to the mantra of economic nationalism not only has little traction in a fast-globalising world, it can also boomerang.

 

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

 COMMENT

STRENGTHEN THE BASE

PRIMARY HEALTHCARE NEEDS CREATIVE POLICIES

Throwing light on the abysmal situation of basic healthcare, the latest rural health statistics reveal massive vacancies in primary and community health centres across the country. Primary health centres alone have vacant slots for 5,224 doctors, 7,243 healthcare workers and 1,701 health assistants. Community health centres are little better with 4,026 posts for specialists lying vacant. Taken together, these vacancies mean that we have only one doctor for every 10,000 people, as opposed to the WHO recommended ratio of 1:600. There are several reasons for this dismal state of affairs. The fundamental problem is lack of adequate infrastructure. Health centres are poorly equipped and most lack even basic medicines. To make matters worse, most doctors hardly turn up to treat patients but continue to draw salaries while they practise privately. 

To address this crippling shortage, a host of supply-side reforms is needed. There is a huge dearth in medical colleges that must be rectified. The country faces a shortfall of six lakh doctors and 10 lakh nurses. In this regard, the government's proposal to introduce a short-duration Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery degree is a good idea. The graduates could serve as the first line of medical professionals. The crumbling rural healthcare sector needs a smart mix of positive and negative incentives to stem the rot. In addition to well-stocked clinics and hospitals, health workers in remote villages should be given special benefits such as enhanced pay packages and hardship allowances (which can be docked if they don't turn up). Primary healthcare is an essential plank in empowering the citizen. We need creative policies to strengthen this foundation.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE

FIRST, LOOK WITHIN

OMAR AND HIS ALLIES AT THE CENTRE CANNOT DISOWN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MESS IN KASHMIR

MADHU PURNIMA KISHWAR 

It needs no political genius or secret intelligence inputs to know that Pakistan and its agents in Kashmir will gladly jump at any opportunity to add fuel to any fire raging in the Valley. But attempts by the central and the state government to disown responsibility for the present mess in Kashmir will only make for greater tragedies. 

I don't think any chief minister in the history of India has ever faced such widespread revolt against his misrule as Omar Abdullah. He is at war with his own party. National Conference cadres as well as government employees are joining mobs that pelt stones. The state bureaucracy is completely estranged and dysfunctional, the J&K police are rudderless and openly defiant, the CRPF and the army are seething in rage against Omar for using them as scapegoats by putting them in the firing line, thus successfully deflecting the tide of anger against his own misrule into an anti-India hurricane. 

 

This is not Omar's fault alone. The Congress high command has lived up to the worst fears of Kashmiris by dismissing the volcanic outburst of people's anger as the stagemanaged job of paid troublemakers, thereby proving what Kashmiris have alleged for decades: that India's intelligence agencies deliberately mislead the central government, resulting in a callous and insensitive Kashmir policy. Even senior army officers express misgivings about the role of intelligence agencies, saying they have acquired a vested interest in promoting instability as it gives them tremendous clout to play devious games and get unlimited amounts of unaccounted money ostensibly to cultivate local politicians and information sources. 

 

Kashmiris are right in asking: 'When there are protests against a ruling party in Bihar, Andhra or Tamil Nadu, have national parties ever joined together to issue statements in favour of the beleaguered chief minister and insist that the nation must stand behind him? Why is it that despite such a major, prolonged wave of unrest 
in the Valley resulting in daily deaths and injuries of civilians and CRPF personnel, none of the MPs or leaders of national or regional parties thought it fit to visit the Valley and find out what the source of trouble is? Instead all they do is issue jingoistic statements. Does it mean there is a national consensus that Kashmiris do not deserve basic democratic rights available to all other citizens of India?' 

 

The recent anti-price rise agitation by the BJP and Left parties as also most other small and big agitations in India witness widespread stone pelting, burning of buses and other violent acts. Nowhere have the concerned state governments used bullets to quell stonethrowing mobs, arrested people under the draconian Public Security Act or called in the CRPF or the army to maintain law and order. This is not to justify stone-throwing as a desirable means of protest. But Kashmiris have a right to ask why, in the case of Kashmir, do the prime minister, home minister and even BJP leaders treat the same act of stonethrowing as an "anti national" act? Why add insult to injury by labelling their anger as a stage-managed affair at Pakistan's behest? 

 

Most of those reporting from the Valley repeatedly warn that the current upsurge is not linked to a newfound love for Pakistan. The men, women and children risking their lives by defying prolonged curfews with shootat-sight orders are expressing their utter despair at the callousness and insensitivity of the coterie ruling them and the central government's rudderless policy after installing a man perceived as Delhi's puppet. 

 

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi enjoyed considerable goodwill in Kashmir. That is why several prominent leaders of Kashmir have openly appealed to the prime minister to intervene personally and save the situation, Instead we find the central government giving daily endorsement to Omar's disastrous handling of the situation and sending additional CRPF battalions to Kashmir. If the CRPF and the army are the main face of Indian democracy in Kashmir, we should not be surprised at repeated outbursts of anti-India sentiments. 

 

News reports of August 5 announced Omar's open declaration of a pact with Syed Ali Shah Geelani whereby, in return for an appeal for peaceful protests, the pro-Pakistan secessionist leader is to be provided "political space" for his secessionist agenda. This was meant to be a trump card. But it backfired the very same day. On one hand, it has brought the hitherto marginalised pro-Pakistan Geelani on to political center stage. On the other, it has left the security forces fuming because they are being given conflicting signals everyday – one day asked to shoot at sight, the second day to make peace with stone pelters. 

 

In addition to helping Geelani reclaim his lost eminence, Omar has systematically maligned the PDP, the main constitutional opposition in the state, because this party alone is capable of challenging him electorally. The more he lies about the PDP's role by repeatedly accusing it of instigating riotous mobs, the more he loses credibility. If this devious game is being knowingly backed by the central government, Kashmiris would not be wrong in believing that those in charge of Kashmir policy at the Centre are not even well-wishers of India leave alone of Kashmiris. 

 

The writer is professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.

 

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

Q&A

'WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT WILL DEMOCRATISE GOVERNMENT'

 

Ranjana Kumari, president of Centre for Social Research, is a passionate champion for women's empowerment and political power. She founded Women Power Connect (WPC), the firstever women's political lobby group in India, and is currently an active campaigner for the passage of the women's reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. She spoke to Aditi Bhaduri about the merits of reservation for women in Parliament: 

 Canawomen'slobbygroup help pass women-friendly legislation? 

WPC was formed because we felt that women needed a platform that could translate action into policy outcomes. Many women's groups are working at the grassroots, conducting research, community work, but WPC has a definitive agenda of advocacy and lobbying on women's issues with Parliament and state assemblies to convert our efforts into real policy, programme and budget. That's when real empowerment will happen. 

You are one of the major campaigners for the 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament. How will reservations benefit women? 

Participation in politics and governance is the right of every citizen, enshrined in the Constitution. If women are lacking in Parliament it's a deficit of our democracy. Women in Parliament will democratise government and give a quantum jump to all our efforts of empowering women. Given opportunities women will prove to be leaders who can change the nature of power. 

 

We do have a number of women leaders but they have not really done anything for women and some have been found to be as corrupt as some male politicians. 

 

Corruption is a systematic issue and women in power are part of that system. With good leaders we can change that. Hence we need more women. Right now, politics is dominated by the three 'Ms' – men, muscle and money. 

 

Some prominent women activists are against reservations. 

 

Many women think that asking for reservations is like asking for charity, which we should not. But given the socioeconomic reality of India we need to open doors and not wait for opportunities to present themselves. Our political system is extremely male-dominated. 

 

Do you think that the UPA can pass the women's reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha if it truly wanted to? 
 Absolutely. The current Parliament has many women in powerful positions. For Sonia Gandhi it should be a personal responsibility as it was her husband's dream to pass it. Even the BJP and the Left parties support it.

 

This is one issue where the Left, the Right and the Centre are altogether. 

 

The UPA should consult the opposition. They should issue whips so that no member is absent and should have clear floor management strategy. The government has the numbers and all it needs now is the political will to pass the Bill. 

 

There is an opinion that the Bill in its current form needs changes. 

 

Not really. Since the Rajya Sabha has cleared it any changes now will create debates. The Bill has been discussed enough. Let it go through. When the laws are made for its implementation, the nitty-gritties and concerns of all – the minorities, Dalits, OBCs – can be looked into. 

 

 Do you suggest quota within quotas? 

There is no need for that. Let the Bill be passed in its current form, then the People's Representation Act should be amended to give adequate representation to various sections of women by the political parties.

 

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

MAKING A CONNECTION

INDIA'S YOUTH NEED A LEADER AND AN INSTITUTION TO GUIDE AND INSPIRE THEM

RWITWIKA BHATTACHARYA 

Besides the sparks of violence in Kashmir, there is a fire raging throughout India. The violence in Kashmir is connected to the violence in Telangana and that is connected to the Maoist violence in West Bengal. These are symptoms of an incredible problem: the failure to involve youth in social and political processes in India. 

The Indian Youth Congress was expected to be the vehicle to mobilise the energies of young people for a brighter Indian future. Instead, it has become a family legacy controlled by the few Gandhis, Pilots and Abdullahs who continue to dominate key positions in the Youth Congress. 

 

Bright and passionate Indian students often steer clear of participating in college-level politics, recognising the thick bureaucracy that plagues the political machine. For example, several of my classmates at Harvard Kennedy School who had completed their undergraduate course in India complained that even though they were interested in participating in youth elections, they had limited access to the "resources" needed to become active members of the Youth Congress. 

 

Rahul Gandhi, though, had wisely recognised the issues of the increasing disconnect with the youth and, to combat this issue, his 'team' launched a campaign to revitalise the Youth Congress by increasing enrolment. But what good would that do? His plan focused primarily on enrolling youth. Young people today want a say in the political process and to not just be a part of an arcane institution. If the decisions continue to be taken only by a chosen few, then the disgruntlement amongst young people will continue to grow. 

 

What political impact can the young man or woman make if they have no political history, and limited financial resources? The extremists are taking to the streets and making their statement through violence. Examples are there in everyday news. The moderates are using social media like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace to organise. The inundation of political commentary on blogs proves so. And the activists are directly participating in the political process. The IIT students who had decided to run in the 2009 elections confirm this assumption. 

 

The recent growth of India's vibrant civil society is also a consequence of this movement. Fresh graduates are willing to work for NGOs and media for lower salaries but a higher sense of purpose. There has also been a growing movement amongst Indians living abroad. For instance, last year, a group of three Harvard Business School students worked to develop the Political Society of India, an organisation working to provide interns to MPs in India. Unfortunately, the complexities of getting to MPs led to a temporary suspension of the organisation. 

 

What, then, is the future course if young people in India and abroad continue to remain deprived of direct political participation? While most young people are expressing their interest in political participation through healthy means, this might not always be the case. Young people in Kashmir are screaming out against atrocities in the Valley, Telangana's young want their own identity and Maoists feel that the government has been unfair to them. Before long, 'moderate' young men and women will also be joining their screams if there isn't a strong leader and an institution to guide them. 

The young Gandhi, Pilot or Abdullah no longer inspires the young. The Indian Youth Congress is inept in capturing the energies of young people. There is a need for a leader and an institution that will effectively channel these positive energies. Perhaps the burning ashes in the Valley will give birth to such a leader… 

The writer is working at the World Bank.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

OUR TAKE

FROM CENTRE TO THE SIDELINES

 

Unusual candour was on display from a central banker last week when Duvvuri Subbarao said in a speech, "The jury is still out on the issue of fiscal dominance of monetary policy. But it will be less than honest not to acknowledge that the autonomy of monetary policy from fiscal compulsions is once again under threat, and resolving that threat requires credible efforts by both governments and Central Banks." For the Oracles of Mint Road, given to couching their utterances in Delphic vagueness, this is plainspeak. The provocation, it can be argued, has been sufficient: the finance ministry is moving legislation that will strip the central bank of its primus inter pares status among India's financial policemen, and a government obsessed with rapid growth is seen as curbing the Reserve Bank's (RBI's) zeal to rein in runaway inflation by raising interest rates faster.

 

As it is, the many hats the RBI is made to wear affect its ability to carve out independent monetary policy. Besides being the monetary authority, the Central Bank triples up as the banking regulator and the government's banker as well. The conflict of interest in these roles has led to the trifurcation of the traditional Central Bank in mature capitalist systems. We persist with one institution, netting sub-optimal solutions. Changes in interest rates crimp the government's enormous borrowing programme, and do not work their way through the structural rigidities of our banking system. Now, with the finance ministry taking upon itself the role of arbiter in any turf war between financial regulators, the RBI's commendable record in flagging systemic risk — it did protect India from many of the credit market excesses in the West — will have been given a go-by.

 

At the best of times, the RBI's targeting of the price line runs up against a troika of opposing interests: managing the exchange and interest rates with an open capital account. Add to these the development imperatives and the proclivity of the Indian economy to supply-side shocks, and the received wisdom of the central bank's main job as inflation buster takes a knocking. Prices rise in India primarily because of our insecurities in food and energy. Our central bankers are extremely sensitive to both, but have to restrict themselves to warning the larger policy establishment till such time as accelerating prices enter core inflation — minus the more volatile food and fuel. By the time it can push the policy levers, much damage has been done as is on display after last year's drought. Mr Subbarao ought to get a more sympathetic ear from a government headed by a former central banker.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

THE PUNDIT

THEIR NUMBER'S UP

 

At the outset, here's a confession: when we heard that even the finance minister is not immune to calls from telemarketers, we could not suppress a chuckle and the desperate urge to pass the message around. Once that was done, some recipients even wanted to call the FM to say: "Welcome aboard, Pranab babu". But thankfully, better sense prevailed and they came around to the view that we, the sufferers, cannot behave like the perpetrators, the telemarketers.

 

It so happened that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was in a serious meeting on a serious issue with the Opposition leaders. His phone rang and when the Lutyens' Delhi resident picked it up, it was an offer for a home loan. When Mr Mukherjee complained, other MPs joined too, grumbling about the same issue that makes all of us so terribly mad. But, unlike our complaints, this time the action was swift: the telecom minister, who is immune to our complaints, shot off a letter to his secretary to look into the matter. Now, he has promised to rein in the callers and give us, the hoi polloi, some relief.

 

For once, we must say we are not angry at the sugary sweet voices we hear every single day. That's because they have ultimately reached perfection and dialed the right number and have, hopefully, managed to dig their own graves. The telecom minister, who seems to be permanently in a switch-off mode when it comes to our grievances, will now be forced to act and also realise that if we want to buy something, we can jolly well launch our own mission for information; we don't need unsolicited advice from companies that fills the government's coffers. Meanwhile, we hear the hunt is on for the caller who made that very crucial call. All we can say is, thank you!

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

HUNGRY FOR MORE

RITU PRIYA

 

During my fieldwork in Tonk district of Rajasthan, a Dalit family once narrated a 'miracle' to me. In 2002, they faced a drought as bad as the chhappani akaal of 1900-02. But at the end of 2002, the Dalit family was pleasantly surprised: they still had some foodgrain left. This, the family members said, was a result of the good relief work done by the Ashok Gehlot government. Similar proactive State action can be seen in Chhattisgarh too: the Raman Singh government has ensured that 35 kg of foodgrain (at R3 per kg for Below Poverty Line households) reaches the targeted families. These instances of positive State intervention were successful due to strong political will, competent administrative action, decentralised operation and the involvement of the local communities in the distribution. Those drafting the National Food Security Act (NFSA) must draw lessons from these examples.

 

The National Advisory Council (NAC) wants a minimum amount of foodgrain for all households (BPL and Above Poverty Line) at subsidised but differential rates. The present levels of malnutrition, hunger and starvation deaths need urgent measures. Therefore, setting of a timeline for the implementation (a year in 25 per cent of the worst-affected blocks) in the country is welcome. However, these are minimalist measures, given that no district in the country can boast of eradication of hunger with malnutrition rates ranging from 10-80 per cent.

 

The NFSA must state the multi-pronged measures necessary for a comprehensive long-term sustained food and nutritional security. A minimum quantum of foodgrain for all at subsidised prices must be accompanied by three provisos: first, progressive increase must be made in the quantum of subsidised food to all until full nutritional requirements are met, with rules stipulated in the Act that allow for incremental changes. Second, it must state the mechanisms of implementation, especially to ensure food security for the most-vulnerable regions and population groups, including building of self-reliance so that the need for subsidised food supply is reduced. Third, it must state mechanisms of redressal in case of non-implementation and the processes of accountability.

 

However, implementing the NFSA is going to be difficult, given the supply chain issues such as corruption and the fact that the poorest cannot purchase food for a fortnight at one go, even at subsidised rates. Increase in costs due to transportation and losses in storage are the two other limitations of the existing the public distribution system on the country.

 

The Right to Food campaign has proposed a system of decentralised procurement, giving benefit of the minimum support price to farmers in all parts of the country. Local ecologically appropriate grains including coarse grains, with local distribution through panchayats has obvious advantages: nutritional value and more assured production even during dry spells.

 

Given the circumstances, many will recognise that there has been a steep decline in the culture of sharing and this has affected pro-poor interventions. In this case, the issue is compounded by the lack of recognition of the problem of hunger. States deny having this problem, except those like Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand where the situation is visible. While the state governments cite their Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) data (with anganwadi workers told by supervisors not to report high levels), the health functionaries have also stopped recognising the problem.

 

In some settings this could be a sign of economic growth. But in reality, this is a sign of the increasing alienation of the economically better-off people from the poorest. When the National Family Health Survey and National Sample Survey show that about 50 per cent of children and 40 per cent households don't get enough calories and proteins, and that 17 per cent of children are severely malnourished, the ICDS shows only 1 per cent.

 

There is also a high level of 'invisible' hunger among the poor who, habituated to poor diets, perceive it as normal. Starvation deaths are the worst and the least common manifestation of hunger. Hunger is thus perceived as a problem of only a few poor households and, therefore, no community anger builds up on the issue.

 

With neither State functionaries nor communities recognising the problem, where will the motivation to implement the NFSA come from? One prerequisite in the decentralised implementation, therefore, should be a system of local-level nutritional surveillance. The data on local food deficits and malnutrition may activate the community and local programme implementation. Proactive sensitisation of government functionaries, panchayat members, traders' associations and corporate houses espousing social responsibility that every human being has the right to food is needed.

 

Therefore, any government serious about food security cannot be satisfied merely by enacting a law. Beyond the important step of legislation, its contribution would have to be a loud-and-clear expression of political will to implement it in spirit. The moral élan of Sonia Gandhi and the executive power of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could add the necessary steam required to make this engine move. They must express the importance of provisions of the NFSA in ensuring dignity, not only of those who have to suffer the indignity of hunger, but also of those who live with large-scale hunger and malnutrition around us.

 

( Ritu Priya is Professor, Centre for Social Medicine & Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University. )

 

*The views expressed by the author are personal.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

IT'S TIME TO WIELD THE STICK, MR PM

PANKAJ VOHRA

 

Dr Manmohan Singh is set to become the longest-serving Indian prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi when he unfurls the tricolour for the seventh time from the ramparts of Red Fort this week. He will also be setting a record of sorts by being the longest-serving PM who has never been a member of the Lok Sabha. He represents Assam in the Upper House.

 

Fourteen months into his second term as the prime minister, Manmohan Singh needs to be more assertive in order to correct the direction of his government. It is perceived as a loose non-cohesive unit where ministers often take on each other publicly. In coalition politics, political compulsions are such that they do not give a free hand to the head of the government who has to perform with the tools he has been given by various constituents.

 

In the process, he and the Congress party have been unable to communicate the achievements of his government to the people and also explain its limitations so as to correct several perceptions. It would be an accurate assessment if one were to state that this government has failed to present its side of the story to those who have elected it. On every issue, when the government is on the defensive, it has no mechanism to explain its viewpoint except the Congress spokespersons trying to do the impossible. Ideally, all its constituents should collectively explain the actions of the government. In reality, it is only the Congress which is left to defend on its own.

 

What is astonishing is that whether it's about charges of corruption levelled at A. Raja, the charges of apathy against Mamata Banerjee or those of casual behaviour on the part of Sharad Pawar, it is left to the Congress media team to deflect the heat. This is where the government and its constituents need to do some homework and work out an effective mechanism for conveying its point of view. This is a serious failing which needs to be rectified immediately.

 

The prime minister has to often face the flak since like the Congress high command, he too believes in status quo. Even in the face of scathing criticism, he looks the other way and waits for the crisis to blow over. This must change.

 

Second, the government, by its actions, has to demonstrate that it has zero tolerance for corruption. The Commonwealth Games irregularities have tarnished the reputations of many top functionaries. These irregularities whether they pertain to the Organising Committee, or the Delhi government and its allied agencies or the central government need to be investigated and the guilty, however mighty, must be brought to book. After the price rise, the Commonwealth Games fiasco is becoming the greatest embarrassment not only for the various agencies involved but also for the common man who will suffer the most.

 

Singh has entered the history books but he needs to do much more. His clean and upright image had contributed to the return of the UPA government in 2009. But people expect a lot from him. His policies need to be synchronised with the interests of the common man. Even if he has no stake in the future of the party, he has to ensure that his government performs and errant ministers and bureaucrats are taken to task.

 

Even though he is not a typical politician, he has to dispel the perception that in UPA-II, the bureaucracy or unelected components of his government have more muscle than the politicians. Simultaneously, he has to tick off ambitious colleagues who are fighting for their place in the 2014 scenario and have no qualms about undermining each other. He should correct the erroneous impression that he no longer enjoys the support of the Congress high command. The time has come for him to wield the stick. He has nothing to lose. Between us.

 

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T tion c wo Indian scientists -- Ajay Anil Gurjar and Siddhartha A. Ladhake -- are wielding sophisticated mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional medita- chanting sound `Om'. The `Om team' has published six tion chanting sound `Om'. The `Om team' has published six monographs in academic journals, which plumb certain acoustic subtlety of Om that they say is "the divine sound".

Om has many variations. In a study published in the Inter- national Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, the researchers explain: "It may be very fast, several cycles per second. Or it may be slower, several seconds for each cycling of [the] Om mantra. Or it might become extremely slow, with the mmmmmm sound continuing in the mind for much longer periods but still pulsing at that slow rate." The important technical fact is that no matter what form of Om one chants at whatever speed, there's always a basic `Omness' to it. Both Gurjar, principal at Amravati's Sipna College of Engineering and Technology, and Ladhake, an assistant professor in the same institution, specialise in electronic signal processing. They now sub-specialise in analysing the one very special signal. In the introductoy paper, Gurjar and Ladhake explain that, "Om is a spiritual mantra, out- standing to fetch peace and calm."

No one has explained the biophysi- cal processes that underlie the `fetch- ing of calm' and taking away of thoughts. Gurjar and Ladhake's time-fre- quency analysis is a tiny step along that hitherto little-taken branch of the path of enlightenment. They apply a mathematical tool called wavelet transforms to a digital recording of a person chanting `Om'. Even people with no mathematical back- ground can appreciate, on some level, one of the blue-on- white graphs included in the monograph. This graph, the authors say, "depicts the chanting of `Om' by a normal per- son after some days of chanting". The image looks like a pile of nearly identical, slightly lopsided pancakes held together with a skewer, the whole stack lying sideways on a table. To behold it is to see, if nothing else, repetition.

Much as people chant the sound `Om' over and over again, Gurjar and Ladhake repeat much of the same analy- sis in their other five studies, managing each time to chip away at some slightly different mathematico-acoustical fine point. The Guardian

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

MORNING, KENYA

 

After two decades of political upheaval and painful progress, Kenya is finally feeling the pulse of a new day. It's swept out the 1963 pre-independence constitution, which inflated presidential powers and long distorted politics with tribal passions and conflict over resource-sharing.

 

After the bitter factional feud and accusations of a stolen election in 2007, opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki signed a power-sharing agreement, and in 2009 Kenya crafted a draft constitution as part of a whole raft of reforms. Parliament adopted it this April, and put it up for a national vote. The "No" team included big hitters, and the run-up to the referendum saw escalated violence and hate-speech, as the draft constitution inflamed tensions over land rights, abortion and ethnic sensitivities. However, in the end, almost 70 per cent of citizens endorsed it — a decisive blow for stability, and a system of checks and balances. The election was widely lauded for its peacefulness, signalling the people's quiet determination for change. The president and prime minister will take the oath afresh, and within five years, provincial administration will be restructured in tune with devolved government laid out in the constitution. It'll have to forge new institutions like a supreme court and a senate, cleanse its judicial system, and its parliament will have to pass 49 new laws under a timetable.

 

Momentous as this referendum was, this next stage is just as crucial and more delicate. Kenya, east Africa's largest economy, has seen sharpening inequalities and conflict — and as its patronage-heavy system makes way for stronger democratic institutions and the rule of law, this could be a real milestone for the nation.

 

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

A YEAR LATER

 

A little more than a year ago, when Operation Lalgarh began, the end was unambiguously defined, but the means were not even in sight. That end was the return of the writ of the state to Lalgarh in West Midnapore district and its neighbourhood whence the state administration had been forced to withdraw and the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities, a Maoist front organisation, had become a law unto itself. An extremely impoverished lot as in most parts of rural West Bengal, these poor villagers, who had for years reeled under the diktats of CPM cadres, had found one tyranny quickly replaced by a more violent and lawless one, which enjoyed the not-too-hidden support of the Trinamool Congress. But the sway of the PCAPA-Maoists meant that when the paramilitary embarked on Operation Lalgarh, they were para-lysed by a lack of intelligence in addition to their unfamiliarity with the jungle terrain.

 

But as reported in The Sunday Express, Lalgarh, a year later, is quite a turnaround (in fact, a successful battlefront against Maoists) although the story is far from closure. The recent successful encounters against the Maoists-PCAPA, the fact of Maoists losing control of significant territory, and the Maoist leadership's increasing desperation to sever ties with the PCAPA, reflect the core of the anti-Naxal strategy's success in Lalgarh — winning over the villagers and thereby building a human intelligence network. Such diplomacy minimises collateral damage and convinces the villagers that the state is not battling them but lawless insurgents. These bridges will be necessary for resurrecting normal life and for subsequent development. Of course, public dis-illusionment helps, especially the swing of the popular mood after the Jnaneswari derailment.

However, it's necessary to tread with caution on the political vacuum. There's discouraging news of armed CPM cadre being pushed into Lalgarh, and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should know that the writ of the state and the ground strength of the party aren't the same thing. The same goes for Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool cadre, with their penchant for (a)political rallies in trouble spots. If Bengal's two main parties don't mend their ways, the cycle of violence and lawlessness in Lalgarh cannot be broken.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

BRIDGE TO BANGLA

 

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January this year was considered a strategic gamechanger. Her party, the Awami League, had been given a firm mandate to govern in the general election in 2008; and it was expected to be better disposed towards India than its main political rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia. The pacts signed at that time focused on electricity generation and joint counter-terrorism strategy, but discussions — and agreement — were wide ranging, including especially questions of border demarcation, transit rights, and trade. Yet, in the time since, it has appeared that New Delhi has slackened off somewhat. Sheikh Hasina cannot be expected to spend too much political capital on a relationship that appears obviously one-way.

 

This is why Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Dhaka on Saturday could work out to be more important than the length of time he spent there — a few short hours — would indicate. He was there to oversee the signing of a landmark loan: the billion-dollar credit line that India's Exim Bank has given Bangladesh, agreed on during Sheikh Hasina's visit. Interestingly, much of it will focus on upgrading Bangladesh's trade infrastructure — dredging rivers, building bridges, buying locomotives and buses. This is useful; as the larger point is that the integration of Bangladesh's economy with India's must proceed apace. This will not be easy. First, regardless of India's position on freer trade, too many items still exist on the "exemption" list, raising non-tariff barriers against Bangladeshi imports into India. Mukherjee will have a major role to play here; keeping domestic special interests from sabotaging the freeing of trade in their particular sector. A first step has been made here, in sending a team from the Bureau of Indian Standards to Bangladesh to help harmonise standards, so that one major bureaucratic hurdle is cleared as quickly as possible. Second, keeping the momentum going will require effort, as much of the integration is based around large infrastructure commitments, and thus will have quite a lengthy gestation period. In the interim, small steps towards keeping up the forward pressure will need to be taken regularly — which is, again, where the non-tariff barriers come in.India can afford to be magnanimous in any deals with Bangladesh. Indeed, it cannot afford to not be magnanimous. The Bangladesh PM will need to continually explain to a domestic audience that their big neighbour is not looking to push them around. India's PM, who has made better relations along India's border a priority, will recognise that speed and visible political and bureaucratic will are essential.

 

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

LET'S TALK ABOUT INFLATION

ILA PATNAIK 

 

 Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao has argued that inflation targeting by the RBI is not desirable or practical in India. With inflation running high, India would have been better served if the RBI governor had said precisely the opposite. The country needed to hear him say that inflation control was the "dharma" of the RBI. This is a time when inflationary expectations need to be anchored, when the country needs to have confidence that something can be done about inflation, and that the RBI will use all the instruments it has to bring inflation down.

 

Instead, in his C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture in Hyderabad last week the governor gave us a bunch of reasons why he should not, or cannot, bring inflation down. For example, he said, "Food items have a weight of 46 to 70 per cent in various CPIs and are notoriously subject to supply shocks which are normally beyond the pale of monetary policy." Yet, in the credit policy speech

 

he had said that it was non-food, non-fuel inflation that was now running high. Does he accept the responsibility for high non-food, non-fuel inflation?

 

In that lecture he also said, "Should central banks persist with pure inflation targeting? The answer before the crisis was an increasingly confident 'yes'."

 

Wrong, Mr Governor. Whoever said pure inflation targeting was right? No inflation-targeting central bank gives a weight of one to the inflation coefficient in its Taylor rule. In other words, inflation-targeting central banks are accountable for inflation — but employment always matters. Central banks cannot "persist with pure inflation targeting" because they never practised it.

 

He said: "In an emerging economy like ours, it is not practical for the central bank to focus exclusively on inflation oblivious of the larger development context. The Reserve Bank needs to balance between growth, price stability and financial stability."

 

Wrong again, Mr Governor. Who said that by doing some inflation targeting one is oblivious to growth? Inflation being ultimately a monetary phenomenon, the central bank should avoid targeting growth. And, playing with the short-run trade-off has bad historical precedents. Low inflation is good for growth.

 

He asked: "Which inflation index do we target? Our headline inflation index is the WPI and that does not, by definition, reflect the consumer price situation. Getting a single representative inflation rate for a large economy with 1.2 billion people,

 

fragmented markets and diverse geography is a formidable challenge."

 

Please Mr Governor, why do we care about the WPI rather than the CPIs? Consumer expenditure patterns are heterogeneous in all countries, including those which target inflation. But they still decide to focus on an average of the population or on a specific group (for example, urban consumers in the US). So this argument seems really lame. Say instead: "Gosh, I wish I had better statistics on prices. Please CSO, NSSO, move faster and give me better data."

 

He said: "A necessary condition for inflation targeting to work is effective monetary transmission. Our monetary transmission mechanism is improving but is yet to

 

reach robust standards. It remains impeded because of administered interest rates, the asymmetric contractual relationship between banks and their depositors, illiquid bond markets and large government borrowings. These impediments to monetary transmission diminish our effectiveness as inflation targeters."

 

Careful, Mr Governor. The RBI has blocked most of the recommendations by many expert committees for development of the bond market. Please allow rather than obstruct, or rather take the lead in pushing for, reforms that improve the monetary policy transmission network.

 

He said: "Finally, large and volatile capital flows will continue to be an important feature of our external sector. Managing these flows will mean managing what has come to be called 'the impossible trinity' — balancing between the objectives of a fixed exchange rate, open capital account and independent monetary policy. Inflation targeting is clearly not possible in an impossible trinity situation."

 

Wrong again, Mr Governor. Every country faces the impossible trinity. India has chosen to open up its capital account. India could also choose to give up a fixed exchange rate. Indeed, for the last one-and-a-half years the rupee has been flexible. Now it is actually possible for the RBI to target inflation.

 

Subbarao said: "The burden of my argument is that the Reserve Bank cannot be, and indeed should not be, a pure inflation targeter. Post-crisis, the dominant view around the world is shaped by the 'new environment hypothesis' which says that flexible inflation targeting, rather than pure inflation targeting, is more efficient. According to this hypothesis, if inflation is way off target, a central bank's first call is to bring it within acceptable range, and if inflation is within the range, the central bank should focus on other objectives."

 

This sounds promising. Will the RBI do something along the lines of inflation targeting, sorry, flexible inflation targeting? Good. The RBI governor should specify what is the target and which measure will be targeted.

 

And he concluded: "To summarise, the answer to the old question, 'Should central banks be pure inflation targeters?' has shifted from an increasingly confident 'yes' to an increasingly qualified 'yes'."

 

It seems Subbarao's views have slightly changed from February 2010 (www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=471). Then, by pure inflation targeting he meant ignoring financial stability, now he seems to imply that output developments are also ignored. But that is not really the case.

 

Unfortunately, he also took this opportunity at the Hyderabad lecture to argue that the RBI should be given additional responsibilities over financial stability. A turf battle with the finance ministry on who should be in charge of financial stability is inappropriate when the RBI is unwilling and unable to perform its key function of inflation control. Whether the government chooses to set up an additional coordination mechanism for financial stability or not, the RBI is the monetary authority and the banking regulator, and without any additional titles needing to be given to it, it has the job of working for financial stability. As chairman of the High Level Coordination Committee on financial markets, nothing stops the RBI governor from taking the leadership on coordination for financial stability.

 

The writer is a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Delhi

 

express@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE PROHIBITION OF GOOD SENSE

ADI POCHA POSTED

 

So a whole bunch of kids from a B-school in Pune were having a party. According to newspaper reports, no drugs were consumed. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got molested. Some buses were, however, parked badly. And someone else didn't exactly like the choice of music being played or the volume at which the aforesaid music was being played.

 

It could have been a case of, okay we'll turn down the music, we'll repark the buses, we're sorry, we won't do it again, promise. But the kids, who were adults actually, got busted. Arrested.

 

Will they now have a criminal record? Possibly, if the courts decide that they are guilty. And chances seem high that they will be pronounced guilty.

 

Because the law is clear: the Bombay Prohibition Act 1949, states that a liquor permit is necessary for the purchase, possession, consumption and transport of liquor. (The kids didn't have liquor permits.) It also states that the person who is purchasing, possessing, consuming or transporting said liquor must be above 25 years of age and may obtain a liquor permit for the "preservation and maintenance of his health". (The kids were under 25.)

 

Open and shut. Except: Bombay is now Mumbai. And while the government wasn't looking, times have changed.

 

My question is this: should it be illegal for an adult to have a drink? Should it be illegal for a 24-year- old to have a drink, when it is perfectly legal for her to maturely elect her politicians a good 3 years earlier, that too without a permit? Yes or no.

 

My point is, decide: either it is legal or it is illegal. Why introduce a permit into the whole thing? I mean, why have a law, and then say that if you pay Rs 25 for one year then you don't have to obey the law? Or is drinking like driving? First you get a learner's licence, then you learn how to drive (or drink, but not both at the same time) and then finally, one miraculous day you get a piece of plastic or paper that allows you to crash into a lamppost, but it's okay so long as you have your licence.

 

Or is it necessary to have this system for the benefit of alcoholics who need their liquor for the "maintenance and preservation of their health"? In which case, shouldn't one also need to produce a doctor's certificate proving that one is that sort of alcoholic?

 

Okay, and here's another small and irrelevant point: the cops who arrested the kids, are they all teetotalers? And in the admittedly unlikely event that some of them are actually not teetotalers, do they, the naughty ones who indulge in the occasional sip of tipple, have valid liquor permits?

 

And by the way, do all our senior policemen and women, especially the bosses of our enthusiastic raiding party, have liquor permits? Or will we see some of them scurry to shell out their 25 bucks? And what about our politicians, some of whom like their beer? Do they all also have their requisite alcoholic permits for the maintenance and preservation of their health? And what about our judges, dare I ask, without fear of contempt of court?

 

My grandfather, incidentally, was a policeman. In the late '40s or early '50s, Morarji Desai, then I think home minister of Bombay state, put Inspector Sami in charge of the Prohibition Department. Now that Inspector Sami, my grandfather, was not unfond of his evening drink. But from that day on he did not touch a drop of liquor (in Bombay) until he retired as deputy commissioner of the Bombay police. And from what I hear and read, he implemented the law (with which he did not entirely agree) with unwavering commitment.

 

In later years, perhaps when I was an adult, I remember him talking to me about the prohibition with a measure of regret: "All that the prohibition did was help illicit gangs make lots of illicit money brewing lots of illicit liquor."

 

The people who wanted to drink, drank. They drank out of teacups, they drank raw rum disguised as cola, they drank at weddings and parties and homes. But they drank. And they drank more, much more, sometimes to insensibility, than if they had just been allowed to drink openly, normally, without fear of retribution from the law. And money was made.

 

So now here we all are in 2010. A bunch of kids from a B-school in Pune stand busted. And a law we had all conveniently forgotten stands as law again. Have we learnt nothing since 1949?

 

Postscript: I don't drink. And I value my right to make that choice on my own. But, question is: do I have that right anymore?

 

The writer is a Mumbai-based writer and filmmaker

 

express@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

HANGING BY A HAIR

INDER MALHOTRA 

 

 In the midst of the current, often burning, upheaval in Kashmir, it would be instructive to recall the last crisis of similar though not identical magnitude. Late one evening in the last week of December 1963, newspaper offices in Delhi received telegrams from their Srinagar correspondents (that was the fastest means of communication then) stating that a holy relic, much revered by the Kashmiri people, had disappeared from the Hazratbal shrine causing widespread resentment and anger.

 

The gravity of the situation sunk in, however, only the next day when reports came in that, despite the bitter cold and heavy snowfall, huge crowds from all over were converging on Hazratbal. I took the first available plane to Kashmir's capital. The entire Delhi-based foreign press corps was on the same flight. Only after reaching Srinagar did the intensity of the popular outrage hit us. The reason was obvious. The vanished holy relic — according to the state government, it was "found missing" — was a single hair of the Prophet's beard that Kashmiris had venerated generation after generation. They called it moo-e-muqqadas (sacred hair). Their fury was boundless. Even in normal times they could have its deedar (which means the same thing as darshan) only on fixed days in the year and that too, for a short time. Now they wept and wailed, fearing that they had lost the blessing forever, and cursed whoever they thought was behind the sacrilege. Some alleged that someone had stolen the relic, if not to destroy it, then at least to insult the Prophet of Islam. Hundreds of thousands of mourners who surrounded the Hazratbal shrine were absolutely inconsolable and refused to move away from there, as days passed without any trace of the missing relic. They greeted the state government's reassuring noises with contempt.

 

Mercifully, there was no violence even though the prevalent rage was unmistakable and the situation was becoming more menacing with the passage of time.

 

What compounded the situation was that the state government, to say nothing of the administration, was at that time in a shambles. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, Kashmir's iron-fisted chief minister for a decade, had had to leave under the Kamaraj Plan some four months earlier. He had seen to it, however, that no one with political weight succeeded him. The man he chose for the job was a virtual non-entity named Shamsuddin. The people nicknamed him "Chamchuddin", a play on the word chamcha that in Indian political lore means a sycophant.

 

The consequences of this state of affairs became manifest on the day when it looked that the sleepless, tired and angry crowds were on the verge of losing patience. Noor Mohammed, deputy commissioner of Srinagar, panicked that the situation would spin out of control. It did seem as if the whole Valley was hanging by a slender thread. He approached the nearest brigade commander and asked him to "take over". The brigadier replied that he would surely do his duty but he must have the request in writing. "Agar likh kar dena hai," said Noor Mohammed who later became chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, "toh mein Bakshi Sahib se poochch aaoon" (If this has be to be given in writing, then let me consult Bakshi Sahib"). The Bakshi, let it be repeated, held no official position in the state at that time!

 

At the very beginning of the crisis, New Delhi had sent to Srinagar a team of very competent officers headed by Home Secretary V. Vishwanathan. Its brief was to watch the situation, advise the state government only when necessary and otherwise refrain from interfering with it. Briskly and tirelessly busy entirely on his own was the intelligence czar of that era, B. N. Mullik. Luckily, on the day when the situation looked like it was blowing up, Mullik was able to announce that the holy relic had been recovered, a caretaker at Hazratbal had been arrested and, therefore, everybody could thank God and happily go home.

 

If he thought that he would be applauded as a hero, he was mistaken. Those who had by then assumed the leadership of the angry crowds were sceptical. The wily government must have crafted a copy of their cherished relic to hoodwink the people, they said. What the IB chief had brought must be properly verified as genuine. Shanakht (verification) was their buzzword and within minutes, it became the slogan of the masses. At this stage, Vishwanathan intervened and refused the demand. Renewed tension mounted fast.

 

In New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, though in indifferent health in January 1964, was monitoring the situation minutely. Immediately, he sent his chief troubleshooter Lal Bahadur Shastri to Srinagar. With tremendous patience and skill Shastri negotiated with the votaries of verification and persuaded them not to insist on shanakht but told them that a "special deedar" was perfectly in order. However, the process was so arranged as to be acceptable to both sides.

 

At the appointed time, the crowds around Hazratbal were mammoth but disciplined. There was a hush. Maulvi Saeed Masoodi, a respected leader, took the microphone and asked the enormous audience: "Is there anyone among you who knows moo-e-muqqadas better than Miran Shah Sahib"? There was total silence. Miran Shah then came forward and held the recovered holy relic before his eyes for a full minute. The suspense during these 60 seconds would have surprised even Hitchcock. Then he bowed his head and said a low but clear voice, "it is moo-e-muqqadas". Wild cheers greeted him. The crisis was resolved but not the underlying issue.

 

For months, crowds went on agitating: "Asli mujrim ko paish karo" (present the real culprit). Almost everyone knew that the imprisoned Hazratbal caretaker was a mere scapegoat. Also it was believed then and confirmed later that there was nothing ulterior behind what was planned to be a temporary and harmless removal of the holy relic. Apparently, a terminally ill lady in the Bakshi family wanted to have its deedar before dying. Unfortunately, its absence was noticed almost immediately. In his three-volume account of his years with Nehru, however, Mullik blandly states: "The Holy Relic's recovery was an intelligence operation, never to be disclosed".

 

The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator

 

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

THE COLOUR OF MONEY

M R MADHAVAN 

 

 Parliament was stalled for a week as the government and opposition negotiated a discussion on the price rise of essential commodities.

 

Finally, Lok Sabha had the debate on Tuesday, and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

 

There have been several debates in Parliament on this issue in recent years. Indeed, this issue has been debated in each of the previous three full sessions of the current Lok Sabha. It is interesting to see what issues were brought up in these debates.

 

Monetarist economists, such as Milton Friedman, believed that "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon". Not all economists agree with this view but almost all of them will say that change in money supply is an important contributor to price changes. However, our MPs do not seem to subscribe to this view. In nine debates since 2004 in the Lok Sabha, 224 speeches were made by MPs. Hardly any speech connected monetary policy with inflationary pressures. Subsidy cuts were mentioned 94 times while the public distribution system was blamed 43 times.

 

Another favourite scapegoat was hoarders and black-marketeers who were responsible for driving up prices — mentioned 42 times. A few speeches mentioned failure of monsoon and shortfall in crop output.

 

Note that all these issues are related to supply bottlenecks. There is hardly any mention of demand-led factors. This may be the politically expedient position. Loose monetary policy and a high fiscal deficit are not mentioned, possibly as no one wants to be seen as criticising either a pro-growth stance or rising government expenditure.

 

The debate this week saw a similar pattern. Fifty-five MPs expressed their views. Just one of them mentioned monetary policy as a possible tool to manage inflation. It is interesting to see that the content of parliamentary debates on inflation have not changed over the years, regardless of the actual inflation situation.

 

The writer works with PRS Legislative Research, New Delhi

 

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

THE TERMINAL AND I

KARNA BASU 

 

 I try not to romanticise the past. When my grandmother tells me about the price of fish in 1950, I remind her that incomes then were proportionately small. When she recalls the kindness of pre-Independence postmen, I say, "On the other hand, there were no pin codes." So I surprised myself last month when, on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to Delhi, I found myself wishing to disembark at Terminal 2.

My wish was granted. The temptress that is Terminal 3 — possibly larger than Madrid's Terminal 5, perhaps containing more escalators than Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi, taller than the Burj-al-Arab, longer than the Nile — was opening later than scheduled. This tardiness was unexpected given Delhi's otherwise superb preparations for the Commonwealth Games.

 

Perhaps my nostalgia was brought on by the fact that I was drinking shampoo-flavored whiskey. Since American carriers started charging for drinks a few years ago, I've made it a point to bring my own in travel-sized bottles. My fellow passengers think I'm mad to be drinking shampoo, but when beer costs $7 the joke is on them (except that time I washed my hair with rum by mistake).

 

Yet, inebriation alone cannot explain my abiding love for T2. Despite the hype about cutting-edge design, airports across the world are becoming glossy imitations of each other. This is not the fault of designers; rather, functional constraints and global retail considerations leave little room for differentiation. IGI Airport in fact derived its distinctiveness from its resistance to change. Little can match the experience of arriving at T2 at night — a disorienting walk through the institutional terminal followed by the first whiff of Delhi air, cold smoke in December and pungent moisture in July.

 

Departing from Delhi used to be equally fraught with possibility. Dinner at home in Mayur Vihar (insipid, to prevent indigestion) would be followed by a taxi to Janpath where we would catch the ex-servicemen's bus to the airport. If we were flying British Airways, my mother would manoeuvre us to the check-in counter manned by a Mr Prasad. She had discovered some time ago that Mr Prasad's fear of aggressive women made him likely to acquiesce to her demands for upgrades. (But when friends pressed my mother for this information she would direct them to Mr Mishra, a man whose check-in counter was more dangerous than a lion's den).

 

The relative austerity of IGI Airport only served to sweeten the anticipation of a foreign journey. This anticipation was particularly high when I prepared to fly out of Delhi one day in 2003. I had taken a year off from graduate school in the US to work as an assistant director to Rituparno Ghosh. My girlfriend, Shabnam, and I had been apart for several months, so we decide to meet in Thailand for a quick vacation.

 

The Indian Airlines check-in counters were late to open. We Indians have a natural tendency to abandon queues in favor of fan-like formations, but this was proving difficult to execute because two large pillars stood in front of the counters. The air was heavy with tension as people tried to recall lessons from years of musical chairs played in their respective colonies. They flitted through the pillars as if in a Shammi Kapoor dance sequence. But no one was smiling.

 

The check-in staff arrived, and in the ensuing chaos an Italian man got flung on to the luggage scale. A Bengali man with five suitcases asked me, "Do you know how much luggage they are allowing on this flight?" To him the luggage allowance was as unpredictable as the stock market. Three Israeli girls flashed their cleavage. A mustachioed man carrying a ladies handbag pushed me aside. When I protested, he said, "You have a complete misunderstanding of the concept." With such an auspicious start to the trip, it was inevitable that Shabnam and I would get married a few years later.

 

Just as my life continued to change in little ways, so did IGI. The airport authorities installed a gigantic Santa

Claus with a tiny head to welcome wintertime passengers. The ban on photography was lifted. For a while, the terminal was filled with signs informing people that they are permitted to take photographs. Flat-screen televisions were set up. Once, when my sister was gripped by self-doubt, she sat down next to one of these televisions, facing the audience. From her vantage point, it appeared that a sea of men was staring at her, even occasionally nodding in appreciation. Her self-confidence was instantly restored.

 

After Manmohan Singh liberalised the Indian economy, the terrors of customs too receded. That's why I was recently surprised when, upon arrival in Delhi, a customs official rummaged through my bags and pulled out my beloved new camera, the Nikon D70S. "How much did you pay for this?" he asked. I said I didn't remember, "It was years ago." "Impossible," he said, "this model was released last year. Before that there was only D70." He proceeded to fiddle with the controls and look through the viewfinder. That's when I realised what was happening. This tech aficionado was abusing his position as a customs official to test-drive electronic products. We had a pleasant conversation about the relative merits of D70 and D70S (I took care not to disagree with him), and I was on my way.

 

Terminal 3 might have so much to savour that savouring the details is no longer possible. However, I am aware that this is a small price to pay for the privilege of global interconnectedness. I was lucky, as a child, to be able to accompany my parents on their academic travels. Terminal 3 and the concurrent expansion in air travel will enable many more —Indians and foreigner — to experience the thrills of unfamiliar lands. And for the charms of the un-globalised airport, I will return to Kupang, the capital of West Timor, where I have been engaged in fieldwork. The Kupang airport has a dead-end conveyor belt. If people are slow to react when luggage is loaded, pressure builds up at the end of the belt. There is nothing more enjoyable than diving to evade flying suitcases while trying to catch one's own.

 

The writer teaches economics at Hunter College, New York

 

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

THE STARS AREN'T SMILING

HARNEET SINGH 

 

 The Money God smiled wide at the Bollywood bounty in the month of July. The film spread had a date flick, a political satire, a heartfelt coming-of-age film, a retro gangster flick, a heavy-duty political film and a Priyadarshan comedy. Hollywood came knocking with two global surefires, the Christopher Nolan-directed Leonardo Dicaprio starrer Inception and the Angelina Jolie actioner, Salt. The month-long action at the box office translated into big returns and also threw up some interesting trends:

 

Youngistan appeal: Hollywood has already woken up to the power of the fanboys and fangirls. While conventional wisdom says that the tastes of young men drives the box office, the girls have staked their claim of late. They helped make monster hits of the Twilight series and High School Musical. B-town tweens are not far behind, and have made huge stars of Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan and Shahid Kapoor. In fact the success of Karan Johar's I Hate Luv Storys (IHLS) is attributed to the "cute" appeal of Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor.

 

Despite a tame, predictable plot and unsavoury reviews, IHLS made a neat profit. The success of IHLS is also a case study of the importance of budgeting in a film's commercial viability.

 

Johar played it straight; he made the movie on a moderate budget and sold it to UTV for a fair price of Rs 18 crore, which helped the distributors in pocketing profits as the risk was nullified. That's smart business from Johar. Hope other producers take notice. No wonder, they say that the film doesn't fail, it's always the budget that fails.

 

We, the people: Never underestimate the power of the people. That's probably the oldest cliché of all time. In B-town, this cliché never goes out of vogue. It's an unwritten code of showbiz that "word of mouth" publicity is the best kind. The success of Tere Bin Laden and Udaan prove yet again that stars don't maketh the movie run. These "smallies" arrived with little fanfare, without the trappings of a big star or a big budget. The producers were wise to spend judiciously on a strong marketing campaign.

 

The films picked up gradually, as the word on the street was favourable. At the end of the year, Tere Bin Laden and Udaan will be clubbed in the "hit" section.

 

Wake up stars: While the audience warmed up to the smallies, big star vehicles were thumbed down. The Sanjay Dutt-Bipasha Basu Kashmir saga Lamhaa as well as Akshay Kumar's Khatta Meetha tanked at the box office. Even the Shahid Kapoor-Kareena Kapoor starrer Milenge Milenge was rejected outright. There are reasons for these misfires: Lamhaa didn't tell us anything new about Kashmir, Khatta Meetha was neither funny nor entertaining and Milenge Milenge was dated and boring. The message is loud and clear: audience doesn't care about the stars if they don't offer anything interesting.

 

Hollywood Is here: It started last year when Roland Emmerich's disaster flick 2012 devoured the Emraan Hashmi starrer Tum Mile. The brisk business of Inception and Salt prove the growing presence of Hollywood yet again. Slowly but surely, Hollywood is making inroads in Bollywood territory. While it isn't time to hit the panic button yet, Bollywood's dream merchants would be wise to be wary of the global killer.

 

harneet.singh@expressindia.com

 

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

COMMON SENSE

 

As the hysteria over the Commonwealth Games threatens to derail the average Indian's engagement with them, it is important to throw the cold light of facts on sweeping allegations. First, yes, we could have done with better, more centralised leadership for the Commonwealth Games. Coordination between partners as varied as the Archaeological Survey of India and MCD, MTNL and DPS has obviously been suboptimal. To compare with the Asiad example, it really made a difference that Rajiv Gandhi was put at the helm (he would become the country's prime minister within two years). But leaving the matter of what-might-have-been aside, the key question now is how to get the Indian and Delhi publics all enthused once again. Demonising the Commonwealth Games just because some people made money in some deals is silly.

Allegations of corruption will have to be properly tackled over time. For now, however, the Games are fait accompli, just 55 days away. Let's focus on getting the finishing touches in place. Let's focus on sports now.

 

Second, 85% of the Rs 40,000 crore figure being bandied about is not directly aimed at the Games at all. Spread across various agencies, these monies are being used for infrastructural projects ranging from the Delhi Metro (Rs 16,887 crore for Phase II) to the augmentation of DTC fleet (Rs 1,800 crore). Usually referred to as legacy costs, history suggests that the returns on such investments are incalculable. Think about all that got delivered for the 1982 Asiad. And then try to imagine a Delhi without roads like the Ring Road or flyovers that leap over Moolchand, Sewa Nagar and Oberoi or hotels like Kanishka, Maurya Sheraton and Taj Palace. Consider that as the Asiad did then, so the Commonwealth Games are doing now, delivering infrastructure to deadlines that are far from commonplace. Of course, we will have to up the ante at fast pace before the opening ceremony, whether it is with reference to the sports venues or the connecting infrastructure. For example, the elevated road between Sarai Kale Khan and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the event, is expected to provide uninterrupted traffic flow from Games Village but is far from being completed. Lots of peripheral work on the main stadia also remains pending. All concerned agencies should recognise that this is no time to be passing the buck but only for finishing the necessary work. Directions to this end should come from the highest offices of the country.

 

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

 WHAT PREDATORS?

 

The government has been dithering over the issue of FDI in retail for some time, ostensibly because of concern for the welfare of small kirana store owners. This hasn't, however, prevented domestic players from setting up big retail outlets, none of which has been able to wipe out the kirana stores. On the contrary, many big retailers, including Subhiksha and Vishal have been struggling to stay afloat. But this clearly isn't enough for the government to change its mind on FDI in multi-brand retail—FDI is incidentally allowed in cash and carry (100%) and in single brands (51%). Now, the department of consumer affairs has floated a consultation paper that proposes the setting up of a two-tier regulatory structure for the retail sector, at the Centre and at the states. What is the rationale? Ostensibly to protect predatory, anti-competitive practices by big retailers and to safeguard the interests of the kirana store owners. It may, however, not be such a good idea.

 

The regulators will essentially check two kinds of anti-competitive practices. First, the cornering of real estate by big retail that deliberately makes it difficult for competition to survive or emerge. And second, the practice of predatory pricing where big retailers undercut their competitors out of the market and then begin to charge higher prices. The first type of regulatory intervention on the 'cornering' of real estate is highly discretionary in nature and is likely to be particularly problematic, leading to much lobbying and rent seeking activities. The monitoring of prices could turn into a perverse system of price control if too much authority is given to the regulator. The entire point of big retail in the first place is to help bring prices down. Of course, there may—on occasion—be the odd retailer who takes recourse to predatory practices, but we already have a Competition Commission of India that is supposed to monitor and clamp down on any such practices. The Competition Commission would have the necessary expertise and skills to judge when exactly practices turn predatory. It makes little sense to duplicate the work of the Commission by creating a new retail regulator at the Centre and more than 20 in the states. Perhaps the only justification for a separate regulator for retail is in political economy terms, if it helps build trust among the kirana store owners about reform in retail, something that may facilitate the quick rollout of reform. Based on experience thus far, the kirana store owners seem to have handled the challenge of local big retail fairly well without the need for a regulator.

 

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

KEEP IT SOFT AND AFFABLE, DR SUBBARAO

MK VENU

 

Some recent events would appear to have tested RBI Governor D Subbarao's somewhat soft and self-effacing leadership style at the central bank. He had to discipline one of his deputy governors who seemed to publicly disagree with RBI's decision to "not raise interest rates enough" to attack inflation more effectively. The Governor also faced a lot of pressure from within RBI to take a public stand on the recent ordinance issued by the finance ministry, which appeared to lower the central bank's institutional stature. Subbarao's response in both instances showed his unique way of negotiating matters with the fiscal authorities, on the one hand, and his own team at RBI, on the other.

 

Subbarao has a personality type that is very different from many RBI governors we have seen in the past. For one, he has a great sense of humour and even displays an ability to laugh at himself. Normally, central bank governors are burdened by the need to appear somewhat grim and decisive, without any self-doubts, because they must be seen as leading the perception game in the financial markets. This is a sort of behavioural stance that most central bank governors have to maintain.

 

Subbarao has been somewhat different in this respect. Unlike all previous RBI governors, he is extremely consultative and likes to debate critical issues with the widest range of constituents, whether money market traders, bankers, economists or other small and big businessmen. Subbarao is the first governor to have started structured interactions with these groups, prior to major monetary policy reviews, in order to get a wide array of opinions. He even surprised RBI brass by inviting for discussions some people who were the bitterest critics of the central bank and its way of functioning.

 

Some top RBI officials may have initially wondered why the new Governor was being so democratic and participative in his decision-making. For RBI's DNA was never known to be so open and participative. There is a general sense that RBI bureaucracy tended to have too much faith in its "technocratic intellectual base", to the exclusion of other obvious realities that existed around us. There were also other reasons why Subbarao had adopted a more participative approach. He was called upon to steer the central bank in the worst possible period—after the global financial meltdown—when all received wisdom in policymaking was getting turned on its head.

 

More importantly, he got a serious piece of advice from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom Subbarao had paid a courtesy call just before taking over the reins of the central bank. Manmohan Singh suggested in a somewhat lighter vein that it was easy for central bankers to lose touch with ground realities working from the rarefied space on the top floor of the RBI building on Mint Street. One must therefore keep one's ear to the ground at all times.

 

Subbarao appears to have taken that advice very seriously, and has immensely benefited from it. It is becoming increasingly clear that his decision to stay somewhat "behind the curve" on raising interest rates was a sound one. Without relying too much on technocratic calculations of inflation and real interest rates, Subbarao used his instincts and chose to straddle the middle path. He took only baby steps in raising interest rates in the past year when the inflation rate had gradually gone beyond the double digit, causing a big scare that it would derail the economy. However, growth in recent months has been quite robust. His call was proved right, in a sense.

 

He recognised that in the initial phase last year, the higher inflation rate was largely driven by rising food prices. He is the first central banker to have openly declared that food inflation caused by supply shocks is beyond the pale of monetary policy. Last week, he said in Hyderabad that "food items have 46 to70% weightage in various consumer price indices and were notoriously subject to supply shocks which are normally beyond the pale of monetary policy".

 

His recent policy initiatives have shifted focus to making monetary transmission more robust, which is a bigger priority for the central bank. You can go on raising interest rates but if the transmission mechanism is not good enough, what use is it? His approach shows a great deal of pragmatism.

 

While using the repo rate to signal tighter money, RBI is simultaneously using the new base rate mechanism to force banks to lend short term at higher interest rates. By not allowing banks to lend at below the base rate, RBI has ensured that the interest on three months commercial paper has gone up substantially—by about 1.5% in recent weeks. This is all about strengthening the transmission mechanism. Subbarao seems to be on the right track, in this respect.

 

The Governor also spoke up at the right time when the recent ordinance to resolve inter-regulatory disputes appeared to threaten RBI's institutional autonomy. He met the finance minister and expressed his viewpoint politely. The finance minister responded and made necessary changes in the law, giving RBI its due. Subbarao has done well to resist getting too confrontationist with the fiscal authorities, much as RBI bureaucracy might want him to. His soft and affable style works, for the most part.

 

mk.venu@expressindia.com

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FOOD SECURITY DEBATE

YOGINDER K ALAGH

 

There is an interesting debate on food security and we should get the Planning Commission's perspective on this. But as I write this, the Planning Commission Web site still does not have the mid-term appraisal, so Yojana Bhavan must still be polishing it. This column has, over time, taken the position that the food security programme is really important and a country growing as fast as India simply cannot ignore malnutrition on a large scale. In any case, India has the competence and resources to solve this problem. The column has also argued that despite all its failings, the Tendulkar Committee allows the mapping of malnutrition on poverty, which can be a tool of operational significance. Also the official poverty line is based originally on complete demand systems for the rich and poor separately and, therefore, provides a base for the dual pricing systems currently being advocated, including by the NAC. But the consensus ends there. There are at least two widely diverging mindsets and many variants of them.

 

One view is increasingly influential and as political pressure increases many agricultural and economic policy experts, who know better, fall in line with it. The view is that India is the 'Republic of Hunger', its agriculture is stagnating, there is large scale land alienation and with the casualisation of the labour force, hunger-driven hordes of workers throng the cities. The situation is severe in eastern India because it is not growing and inequality is increasing. In a recent meeting, when it was pointed out that two numbers from different definitions showed hunger had decreased but comparing the narrow definition in the base with the wider one at the end made it look as if it had increased, the influential policy maker behind the argument said that we should be liberal in discussing poverty numbers, whatever that means.

 

In the other view, the problem of extreme malnutrition, chronic poverty and deprivation is very severe in a relatively small percentage of the population and has decreased, between 10% to a sixth of the population should be targeted for free food. Beyond that the 'poor' could pay a subsidised price. In some regions, the 150 hunger districts were described in a stylised manner in an Express column, which has become a 'fact' since. But whichever measure of nutrition and poverty you take, as Radhakrishna's classic Presidential address to the Indian Econometric Society showed, malnutrition and poverty has gone down. Agricultural growth declined in the 1990s but has picked up in the last quinquennium. It may not be 4.5% as officials claim but is decidedly above 3%. Terms of trade are moving in favour of agriculture, profitability has improved and so has agricultural investment. With a 21% rate of investment with respect to agricultural GDP, the challenge is to see that we get higher growth. Sustainable land and water management, pricing and technological efficiency are important. The republic of hunger sidesteps all this.

 

Falling grain consumption exists. The half century of British rule up to 1947 saw falling per capita grain consumption every five years, from 200 kg per person in 1901-05 to 144 kg in 1941-45. However, calories from non-grains are rising for the poor. Surya Narayana was the first scholar to show that non-grain calories consumed by the poor, ignored by the hunger argument, are not trivial. But calorie consumption is still not going up. This was a puzzle and Pranob Sen argued that this could be on account of a taste effect. As per capita income standards improve, even the lower deciles of the population start consuming lower calorie food. You may feel richer by substituting bajra by wheat or fruit, but calorie consumption decreases.

 

Land alienation exists and very small farmers prefer to lease out their land and work elsewhere. Agricultural wages have been rising in real terms and most projections are showing a shift away from agriculture. In fact, employment is not rising in agriculture, but is rising in non-farm jobs. Not allowing tenancy under the law means that reverse tenancy is illegal and the poor man who leases out his land has no legal status. This leads to immense corruption as a lot of land is given to contractors by corrupt politicians. A legal market for land would stop all this and give the small farmer a legal face.

 

The worst part of the republic of hunger argument is that it does not recognise that diversifying agriculture creates more income for the poor. Low agricultural prices are a favourite refrain of Indian economists but these sustain poverty. We saw a long time ago that 'two rupee rice' makes the poor worse off. Later, an IFPRI/ADB model proved that a non-reforming agriculture would sustain poverty. Some mind sets don't change.

 

The author is a former Union minister

 

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

WHY NOT GO FOR SHALE GAS

NOOR MOHAMMAD

 

US shale gas is fast emerging as a new focus area for global hydrocarbon players. RIL alone has made acquisitions in three shale acreages in a span of just a few months. This marks a global shift away from offshore drilling in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. By one estimate, BP will have to spend about $30 billion on cleaning up the spill and paying compensation. The company has been forced to sell its upstream assets in various countries. Its stock prices have fallen drastically, bringing forth the serious risks of deep and ultra-deep sea drilling.

 

Meanwhile, there is a fear that governments across the world might tighten regulations for offshore drilling and insurers their risk premiums, further raising the cost of oil and gas production from the sea. Shale gas is a non-conventional natural gas, which entails a higher cost of production. But cost economics of US shale gas acreages compare well with conventional gas sources, which explains the scramble among international oil companies to get a piece of the US shale gas exploration business pie.

 

Plus, the growing interest of oil companies in the US shale gas market stems from the fact that the US is the only country to have made a breakthrough in the large-scale commercial production of shale gas. This was made possible because of advancements in drilling technology. The technology is still evolving, which means cost of production can further come down. Perhaps that is the reason international companies are betting on the US shale gas market.

 

Companies entering the shale gas business at this stage will also get first mover advantage in technology and cost economics. This is what will give them a competitive edge when exploration begins there. Projections are that the share of shale gas in the US energy basket will rise steadily in the coming decades. This has encouraged the US power sector to plan a shift toward natural gas and cut emissions. Encouraged by the US' success, India is also planning to explore and exploit its shale gas reserves. The country remains dependent on coal to meet its primary energy requirements. If India can find a big shale gas reserve, that would dramatically transform its energy landscape.

 

noor.mohd@expressindia.com

 

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

NATURE'S FURY IN LEH

 

With the death toll in the flash flood in Ladakh up to 150 (and 500 people missing), and hundreds of houses destroyed, the magnitude of the havoc wrought by the natural calamity cannot be underestimated. The floods affected Leh town and the surrounding villages, the main population centres of this thinly peopled district and also the focus of much of its economic activity. It is going to take many months for that remote corner of India to return to normal. The immediate priority is to ensure that survivors are rescued and taken to safety and provided medical care, and that all affected people have access to relief. The Army and the Air Force have already been deployed for rescue operations, to which the continuing bad weather poses a challenge. Moreover, sections of all roads leading to the ravaged area have been washed away. This means the only way to reach Leh now is by the air-link, itself dependent on the weather conditions. But all this only gives the task of rescue and relief an added urgency. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's early visit to Leh, just hours after the calamity struck, has sent out a positive signal. It is to be hoped that his government, despite its preoccupation with the turmoil in the Valley, will not be found wanting in its response to the crisis in the days to come. The Centre must provide the Jammu & Kashmir government all the assistance it needs to cope with this emergency.

 

The devastating floods were caused by a cloudburst over Leh that lasted less than two hours. A cloudburst is high intensity rainfall in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, and can cause floods. A cloudburst over Mumbai in July 2005 saw the skies dumping 950 mm of water in eight to 10 hours, paralysing the city and claiming several lives. The exact measurement of rain that fell during the reported one-hour cloudburst over Leh on August 6 is still not available. While the rain on the two days may not come anywhere close to what Mumbai saw, for Ladakh it is a huge amount. This is what puzzles meteorologists. It never really rains in Ladakh, which is geographically categorised as a "cold desert." The destruction in the floods was all the more because people in Ladakh, confident of dry conditions, have traditionally used mud in much of their architecture. The Leh disaster has come at the same time as Pakistan experiences its worst floods in a century. Across South Asia, weather patterns are changing in unpredictable ways, and require to be studied so that we are better equipped to deal with them.

 

 

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

A TIMELY EFFORT

 

If the number of species that live on land is not fully known, our knowledge of marine life diversity is much less. Even the scanty information available is not easily accessible. The Census of Marine Life (COML), a decade-long initiative involving 2,700 scientists from 80 countries, the largest-ever collaboration of marine biologists, has partially succeeded in addressing this issue. In a collection of papers published in the open access journal, PLoS One, COML has released an inventory compilation of known and new marine species along with their distribution and diversity pattern in key global ocean areas. The 25 biologically representative regions under study extend from the Antarctic through temperate and tropical seas to the Arctic. The results published do not include highly diverse areas like the Arabian Sea where the inventories continue, and the final findings are expected in October. The average number of known species in the 25 regions is about 11,000. On an average, crustaceans, including crabs, lobsters and shrimp, along with fish and molluscs, make up nearly half of all known species. The compilation challenges the notion that knowledge of diversity can be extrapolated from one location to another. For instance, about half of New Zealand and Antarctic marine species and a quarter of those seen in Australia and South Africa are endemic to those regions. South Korea, China, South Africa and the Baltic have most species relative to their seabed area. Evidently, marine species have not flourished uniformly across the world.

 

Though 230,000 marine species are known and, at least, 1,200 new species discovered by COML, 70-80 per cent still remain undiscovered. But there is a possibility that many species may be lost even before they are discovered and the diversity of known species affected, with over-fishing, pollution, and habitat loss posing great threats. Of grave concern is that these threats are real in all the 25 regions. Over-fishing occurred across a range of marine species harvested, and the spill-over of over-harvesting has resulted in the depletion of by-catch species abundance. Pollution and other human interventions such as dredging are affecting marine diversity in ways not fully known to us. While the threat from these activities is well known, enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico, and seas off China are at greater peril than the open seas. The effects of climate change, such as oxygen depletion and acidification, are beginning to affect marine life. The COML predictions of species loss may well come true unless the ecologically disruptive course is corrected.

 

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THE HINDU

LEADER PAGE ARTICLES

AFGHAN PROBLEM: FOR A REGIONAL APPROACH

IF CONDITIONS CAN BE CREATED THAT WOULD PERMIT AFGHANISTAN TO REVERT TO ITS TRADITIONAL NEUTRALITY, IT OUGHT TO HELP IN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING TENSIONS IN THE REGION.

CHINMAYA R. GHAREKHAN & KARL F. INDERFURTH

 

Ambassador Robert Blackwill is well known among the 'strategic' community in India as a person who contributed to the development of India- United States relations during his stay in New Delhi as the American ambassador to India, which also made him knowledgeable about what is now referred to, unfortunately, as the AfPak region. He is known for his bold, often unconventional and 'out of the box,' thinking on issues of peace and security. Hence, his views on how the U.S. should tackle the Afghan quagmire must be taken serious note of.

In an article in the Financial Times of July 21, Mr. Blackwill has argued that the current strategy of counter-insurgency will fail and the U.S. will not succeed in persuading enough and weighty Taliban leaders to join in a reconciliation exercise. Since the U.S. can neither win the war nor withdraw precipitously, the only alternative is to arrange for what he calls a de facto partition of Afghanistan. The southern and eastern parts of the country would be surrendered to the Pashtuns which, in effect, would mean the Taliban. The U.S. and a coalition of "like-minded countries" would establish a separate regime in the non-Pashtun north and west of the country. The U.S. and others would maintain a more or less permanent presence of about 50,000 troops and air power to continue to harass the al-Qaeda elements in the other half and across the Durand Line as well as prevent the Pashtun and the Taliban from conquering the north and the west.

 

Such a solution, he admits, will leave many non-Pashtuns at the mercy of the Pashtuns in the southern part but he writes that off as an "unfortunate but unavoidable" consequence, as he does the complete denial of human rights to women in Pashtunland. He even treats the fragmentation of Pakistan, a possible result of his solution, with equanimity. Why should the U.S., he asks, be more concerned with Pakistan's territorial integrity than General Kayani and his colleagues? And so on.

 

Mr. Blackwill's diagnosis of the ailments afflicting Afghanistan contains many ground truths, but his proposed cure — a de facto partition of the country between the Pashtun south and the non-Pashtun north and west — is infinitely worse than the disease. Firstly, it smacks of a colonial attitude. Instead of the classic "divide and rule," he is recommending "divide and depart;" the British practised them both in the sub-continent with disastrous consequences. Ahmed Rashid writing in an article in Financial Times on August 4 says: "Partition will lead to worse horrors than witnessed at India's division in 1947."

 

Secondly, while we do not speak for our respective governments, it is unthinkable that either the U.S. or India, or indeed any other "like-minded" country will look favourably at this plan and join in such blatant interference in Afghanistan's internal situation and become parties to a civil conflict. Thirdly, women in the Taliban territory will be doomed forever to a life of denial of all human rights. Fourthly, it completely ignores the fact that Afghans of all ethnicities have a strong sense of nationhood, despite ethnic divergences; if the Afghans wanted to partition their country, they would have done so long ago and on their own terms. Ahmed Rashid cites, in the same article, several previous attempts by the Soviet Union, Iran as well as by Pakistan to divide Afghanistan on ethnic lines, all turned down by Afghans of all ethnicities.

 

According to Rashid, in 1996, when the Taliban initially failed to take the north, Pakistan's ISI suggested that the Pashtun group create its own state in the south. But the Taliban refused, despite its dependence on the ISI. And lastly, a partition will hasten the very result that it is meant to delay and avoid, namely, a civil war-type situation. Afghanistan's immediate and near-neighbours would feel compelled to be dragged into the vortex. To quote Rashid again: "It would endanger Pakistan, encouraging some 40 million Pashtuns in Pakistan to link up with some 15 million Pashtun brothers in Afghanistan and forge an extremist state that gives refuge to terrorists."

 

And the consequences for India will be simply intolerable.

 

Mr. Blackwill is conscious that his prescription is not ideal; he only offers it because he sees no better or less bad alternative. But there is another, practicable though not an easy alternative approach that we have advocated in the past. We are convinced that what is needed is a regional approach to Afghanistan's problems, to address the multiple crises emanating from the region — terrorism, crime, drugs, refugees. The solution lies in less or zero interference, not more, and certainly not military intervention, in Afghanistan's affairs.

 

It is a historical fact that Afghanistan enjoyed relative stability and even prosperity when it practised, and was allowed by its neighbours and external powers to practise, a kind of neutrality in its foreign policy. If somehow conditions can be created that would permit Afghanistan to once again revert to its traditional neutrality, it ought to help in significantly reducing tensions in the region. This might appear to be a difficult or impossible goal to achieve in the prevailing climate of hatred and suspicions, but that is no reason for not considering it and working for it.

 

We believe that someone, preferably the Secretary-General of the United Nations, should engage in a diplomatic exercise to hold talks with all the parties and states concerned to establish a consensus, however defined, on arriving at a compact of mutual non-intervention and non-interference among all of Afghanistan's neighbours. The 1962 Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos provides one possible model and there could be others. The Bonn Agreement of December 2001, which brought into being the provisional government headed by Hamid Karzai, specifically tasks the United Nations to 'guarantee' non-interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs; thus the Secretary-General already has the necessary mandate to undertake the necessary consultations. The process, which would be quite protracted, should eventually consummate in an international conference where all the neighbours of Afghanistan would solemnly commit themselves not to interfere or intervene in its internal affairs, as well as not to support in any way — politically, materially or militarily — any group or faction within Afghanistan. Afghanistan, for its part, would solemnly undertake to abjure forever from inviting any foreign elements to intervene in its internal problems.

 

The final document would be witnessed by the five permanent members of the Security Council as well as by the relevant foreign powers and would be registered with the United Nations. In addition, the participants at the proposed conference would need to take one further step — to establish an international commission to supervise the implementation of the document. A monitoring group and/or a complaints procedure would need to be established. It would be essential to create some mechanism that could inspire confidence among the signatories about compliance by all of them with their commitments.

 

As mentioned above, the proposal which we are putting forward is not an easy one. It will call for a sustained effort over many months. The then special envoy of the then Secretary General took several years to persuade all the parties to agree to the terms of the Geneva Agreement of 1988 which brought an end to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The challenges underlying our proposal must not deter the required effort and political will. We are convinced that it is definitely preferable either to the imposed and bloody partition, de facto or otherwise, of Afghanistan or to the alternative of precipitate withdrawal or open-ended military engagement of foreign forces in the country.

 

(Chinmaya R. Gharekhan served as India's special envoy for West Asia and is a former U.N. under secretary general. Karl F. Inderfurth served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 1997-2001 and is a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.)

 

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THE HINDU

OPED

RAJIV GANDHI PLAN: A VALUABLE SOLUTION

WHY INDIA SHOULD TAKE FORWARD RAJIV GANDHI'S ACTION PLAN FOR A NUCLEAR-WEAPONS-FREE AND NON-VIOLENT WORLD ORDER.

SANDEEP DIKSHIT

 

For India, a country that takes particular pride in its non-proliferation credentials, the stance taken by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with regard to the first round of talks between New Delhi and Tokyo on civil nuclear cooperation in June must have come as a disagreeable surprise.

 

Days after the talks were held in Tokyo, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, a Magsaysay award winner this year for his principled and determined leadership in mobilising public opinion against nuclear weapons, met Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. Along with other activists, he was protesting against Tokyo entering into a civil nuclear agreement with a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

India, along with Israel and Pakistan, refused to sign the NPT. But the similarity in their stands ends with the fact that all the three countries termed it discriminatory. India's abhorrence to nuclear weapons was highlighted right from 1954, when it gave a call for an end to all nuclear testing. The apogee was marked by the seminal speech made in June 1988 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at the United Nations General Assembly proposing a world free of nuclear weapons, an end to be achieved through an 'Action Plan for Ushering in a Nuclear-Weapon Free and Non-Violent World Order.'

 

India has been periodically testing nuclear-capable missiles and has made known its determination to secure its assets in space, but Rajiv Gandhi's proposal for a nuclear-free world has ensured that India has never used its potential nuclear arsenal as a tool of foreign policy.

 

Rajiv Gandhi had termed nuclear deterrence to be the "ultimate expression of the philosophy of terrorism, holding humanity hostage to the presumed security needs of a few." He proposed a three-stage process of total disarmament with the accent on a regime that was global, universal and non-discriminatory. Had the West, at that point caught up in the Cold War and dominated by conservatives, heeded the call, the world today would have been nearer to the proposal's ultimate aim of a binding commitment by all nations to eliminate nuclear weapons in stages by 2010 at the latest.

 

The Rajiv Gandhi Plan was ranked among the bolder initiatives to rid the world of nuclear weapons, along with Mikhail Gorbachev's call made two years earlier for the abolition of nuclear weapons. But the U.S. immediately rejected the Rajiv Gandhi Plan. Although the USSR welcomed the proposal, its opinion did not count for much as it was by then a declining power.

 

The U.S. rejection provided confirmation of the realisation that the West would continue to factor nuclear weapons into military calculations while paying lip service to the dream of complete disarmament. And they used the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty drafting process to get India to give up the "nuclear option" it had zealously held on to for two decades. But India in 1998 decided to shed its ambiguity by testing five devices and effectively declaring itself to be a nuclear-weapons state.

 

Around the world the Indian decision was seen by advocates of nuclear disarmament as a betrayal of the cause. At first blush, this was certainly true. But in truth, for a variety of strategic and political reasons, India had felt compelled to embrace key elements of the old Rajiv Gandhi agenda. Since 1998, New Delhi has kept its earlier plan alive and relevant through frequent interventions at the Conference on Disarmament and a working paper on a Nuclear Weapons Convention at the U.N. General Assembly in 2006. India also signalled its willingness to participate in the negotiations for an internationally verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament.

 

In the post-Cold War era, India's logic for complete nuclear disarmament has acquired greater weight because of its traditional close association with arms control and non-proliferation. For, India believes that the West's current preoccupation with forcing some countries to foil their attempt to enter the nuclear club is bound to be ineffective unless non-proliferation is linked to universal disarmament. The former National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, said at last year's Munich Security Conference: "Our perception of arms control is that by addressing the issue piecemeal it merely tends to perpetuate nuclear weapons in the hands of a few chosen nations. Non-proliferation is seen as essentially an extension of the arms control regime."

 

In today's world, where the five states that are officially nuclear are unable to deter others from following the same path by invoking the NPT, the Rajiv Gandhi Plan has once again emerged as a valuable solution. It seeks to totally de-legitimise the retention of nuclear weapons arsenals, whether under the excuse of a global treaty or by states breaking out on their own. That India would not be a beneficiary of the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, unlike the NPT, only adds to the proposal's creditworthiness.

 

The Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were mollified when presented with New Delhi's approach to nuclear weapons which was once again aired at the Conference on Disarmament. But Indian diplomats face a long road ahead on this count.

 

The overhauled Indian plan now suggests the appointment of a special coordinator who would seek a consensus on setting up a committee on nuclear disarmament as the first step to revive the 22-year-old proposal. Apart from the de-alerting of weapons and universalising no-first use, India has proposed steps aimed at reaching the goal of complete nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately, the U.S. and other nuclear-weapon states are not so enthusiastic about this. Even President Barack Obama, who endorsed the 'zero option' in his Prague speech in 2009, said abolition would not happen in his lifetime. The latest Nuclear Posture Review endorses again the salience of nuclear weapons for war-fighting and deterrence. India, however, must continue to push for the acceptance of its ideas. States that wish to achieve peace or stability through the use of nuclear weapons as a deterrent are hanging on to a doctrine that has lost its relevance in a multi-polar world.

 

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THE HINDU

OPED

DO NATIONS NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

IF A NUCLEAR WAR WERE TO START TODAY THERE WILL BE NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED.

DHIRENDRA SHARMA

 

On August 6, 1945, the first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, creating a new war paradigm — destroying an entire city. On August 9, the second atom bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki. Tens of thousands of unarmed citizens, irrespective of gender, region and religion, were killed instantly. The law of warfare was thus violated by a technically advanced democratic state that swore "In God We Trust."

 

Japan is the only country that has witnessed the nuclear holocaust. Hospitals, schools, factories, offices, nursing homes, police stations, post offices, railway stations, fire engines, ambulances, tram cars, moving and stationary vehicles, homes, temples, churches and parks — everything was obliterated. A new word, "Hibakusha," was added to the Japanese language to describe the 1945 atom bomb victims and their yet-to-be-born children. Today, there are about 300,000 registered "Hibakushas" under free medical care but marriage with a "Hibakusha" is taboo in the Japanese society.

 

Today's weapons of mass destruction are far more advanced than the atom bombs dropped over Japan. Yet the mad nuclear arms race is high on the political agenda of most neo-cons, super-patriots, religious fanatics and arms dealers. David Krieger of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation rightly said: "One bomb could destroy one city. A few bombs could destroy a country and a few dozen nuclear bombs could reduce [the entire] civilisation to total ruins." If a nuclear war were to start today, by mistake or intentionally, there will be no victor, no vanquished. And with Space Age planning, it is most likely to spread into outer space.

 

Notwithstanding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, there are about 22,000 nuclear warheads mostly in the arsenal of the U.S. and Russia. Eight thousand are in the operational ready mode and 2,000 are on high alert. Also, there are 14,000 Plutonium cores (pits) and 5000 Canned Assemblies in the storages of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU). Moreover, 28 countries have the capacity to build at least one bomb and 12 countries can make 20 bombs. Besides, all "peaceful" nuclear power reactors provide rich spent fuel which is reprocessed to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

 

According to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, some 500,000 kg of plutonium are in stockpiles, which could be available to sub-nationalist "freedom fighters" of any race or religion. Once a nuclear war begins, there will be no struggle between good and evil, the jihadis and the infidels, dharma and adharma. "Survivors will envy the dead," as Nikhita Khrushchev warned.

 

Following the SAARC conference in Bhutan, ministerial meetings between Islamabad and New Delhi have rightly focussed on terrorism. But Islamabad's nuclear programme is India-specific. Its 70-80 nuclear bombs are aimed at Indian strategic locations. In contrast, New Delhi has strategically stockpiled 80-90 nuclear warheads but is committed to the no-first-use doctrine. Nonetheless, India has a Credible Nuclear Deterrence policy.

 

The question, however, is how far can the deterrence policy deter a jihadi? Would a rapid deployment n-force pre-empt a suicide bomber who might carry a nuclear device in a laptop cover?

 

During the Kargil conflict, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee realised the futility of a nuclear war. However, we do not find enough debate on the issue in political circles. While the scientific community appears meek and docile, a whistleblower risks being called unpatriotic. In the U.S., Robert Oppenheimer was penalised for opposing the nuclear arms race. In the Soviet Union, Andrey Sakharov, "the father of Hydrogen bomb," paid the price for opposing nuclear weapons. But it was his campaign against the WMDs that eventually guided Mikhail Gorbachev to bring the Cold War to an end. The history of science recorded Sakharov's courageous role.

 

The Concerned Scientists established the Nuclear Nights and Nuclear Winter paradigm in 1985, declaring that a nuclear war cannot be fought, nor can it be won. Moscow and Washington, having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nevertheless face the costly problem of keeping thousands of decommissioned nuclear warheads safe. New Delhi and Islamabad can still stay off the nuclear abyss. The problem, however, is how to overcome the outdated jingoism prevailing on both sides of the divide.

 

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev have signed a MoU to further reduce the stockpiles of nuclear warheads. The Concerned Scientists have appealed to political leaders and governments to give up WMDs before it is too late. However, it is a sad reality that the most civilised citizens around the globe still support the nuclear arms race.

 

During the Cold War years, the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed elaborate civil defence and underground survival system. There was also an early warning system in place. But due to the proximity of major population centres in India and Pakistan, there is no scope for an early warning system. In less then 30 seconds, short-range missiles, the most advanced bombers, can cover all strategic locations and major civic centres, including New Delhi and Islamabad.

 

The nuclear path will lead us to a point of no return from the nuclear night and nuclear winter lasting a thousand years. We may be divided. But peace and friendship are the only alternative for the survival of the civilisation. We call upon the leaders of India and Pakistan to "remember your humanity and forget the rest," as pointed out by the Russell-Einstein Manifesto. We appeal to Parliament to declare the South Asian sub-continent a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. If India takes the step, Pakistan will have no choice.

 

(Professor Dhirendra Sharma is convenor, Committee for Sane Nuclear Policy.)

 

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THE HINDU

OPED

DOCTOR KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN NOT RELIGIOUS: FAMILY

JON BOONE & ADAM GABBATT

 

The family of the British doctor shot dead by gunmen in Afghanistan on Sunday rejected the Taliban's claims that she was preaching Christianity to Muslims, saying she was not religious at all.

 

Karen Woo, 36, a surgeon from London, was among 10 medical workers killed in a remote area of northern Afghanistan on Friday.

 

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings, with a spokesman saying the group was shot because it was "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity". Woo's family rejected this, calling her a "true hero" who had no religious or political agenda. "Her motivation was purely humanitarian. She was a humanist and had no religious or political agenda," said the family in a statement.

 

Woo had been due to fly back to the U.K. to marry a former soldier she had met in Kabul.

 

She was with a group of eight foreign nationals working with the Christian charity International Assistance Mission (IAM) when they were ambushed by men carrying assault rifles in a forested area of Badakhshan province.

 

"She wanted the world to know there was more than a war going on in Afghanistan, that people were not getting their basic needs met. She wanted the ordinary people of Afghanistan, especially the women and children, to be able to receive healthcare," the family statement said.

 

"Her commitment was to make whatever difference she could. She was a true hero. Whilst scared, she never let that prevent her from doing things she had to do." The statement came after Woo's fiance, British security worker Mark "Paddy" Smith, spoke of losing the woman he was due to marry in two weeks at Chelsea register office.

 

General Agha Noor Kemtuz, the local police chief, said that the group had stopped for lunch in a heavily forested area at around 2 p.m., when it was robbed.

 

The team, which included six Americans, one German and two Afghans, was returning to Kabul after a two-week mission to provide basic healthcare in remote mountain valleys in Nuristan. According to the sole survivor, an Afghan man called Safiullah, the attackers first took their money and then lined them up to be shot.

 

Kemtuz said Safiullah had been spared after he cried out passages from the Koran and pleaded: "I am a Muslim. Don't kill me." IAM issued a brief statement condemning "this senseless killing of people who have done nothing but serve the poor." Woo's friend, Firuz Rahimi, said she was "a brilliant person to work with".

 

The pair co-founded another aid organisation, Bridge Afghanistan. He told the BBC last night they had spoken together on the phone the night before she left for the trip: "She was very into doing things she believed in. I will remember her for many things for the short period of time I knew her, not more than two years. She was full of dedication and a very calm person."

 

A Taliban spokesman claimed the foreigners were killed for spying and attempting to convert Afghans to Christianity — an allegation IAM denies. A statement on the Taliban's website made no mention of alleged missionary activity. It said documents found on the foreigners "revealed the enemy was on a clandestine mission against mujahideen in the area." — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2010

 

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THE HINDU

OPED

RENEWED DIPLOMATIC OVERTURES TO IRAN

DAVID E. SANGER

 

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguing that an orchestrated series of global sanctions has brought more economic pain than Iran's government anticipated, are making a renewed appeal to Iranian leaders to reopen negotiations on the country's nuclear programme.

 

The administration's opening to Iran comes as evidence mounts that gasoline shipments to the country have slowed; that at least some banks, from Europe to Pakistan, have cut off dealings with the country for fear that they will lose access to the U.S. financial system; and that Iranian officials have been unable to get foreign investment for several multibillion-dollar oil and gas projects.

 

Much of that evidence has been reported by the local news media in the Persian Gulf region and is difficult to confirm, but officials with the U.S. Treasury Department say they also believe Iran is having trouble attracting investment for oil and gas projects.

 

Ms Clinton argued that "the scope and reach" of sanctions adopted over the past two months in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia "have had real bite," and have given the West new leverage.

 

Still, both Ms Clinton, in a 20-minute telephone conversation on Friday, and Mr. Obama, in an unusual assessment to editorial writers and columnists at the White House last week, acknowledged that Iranian leaders might be unwilling to give up the nuclear programme — a huge source of national pride — despite the escalating cost.

 

"It may be that their ideological commitment to nuclear weapons is such that they're not making a simple cost-benefit analysis on this issue," Mr. Obama told the journalists.

 

In a sense, the administration's latest overtures are testing the theory behind its decision to push for ever tightening sanctions: that the financial punishment would bring Iran to the negotiating table.

 

Critics have questioned the approach from the beginning, and even one of Mr. Obama's advisers said while Iran had indicated a willingness to start some kind of talks in September, there was always the chance that the sanctions would backfire, leading the country to "speed up the nuclear programme."

 

There is also the chance that Iran, which says its nuclear programme is for peaceful uses, will figure out ways around the international crackdown, as it has done with past sets of sanctions.

 

Mr. Obama's and Ms Clinton's back-to-back public statements appeared to be part of an effort to signal to the Iranian people that the country would continue to suffer if the government did not find what Ms Clinton called "a pathway" to negotiations. A senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that in coming days, the administration would stress its view that "the economic difficulties experienced by the public" in Iran are being caused by choices the Iranian government is making. — New York Times News Service

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THE HINDU

 ONLINE & OFF LINE    

FIGHTING HUNGER: ROLE OF MEDIA AND JUDICIARY

 

Will the United Progressive Alliance Government take steps to put in place a universal public distribution system to provide food security to the people in a just and caring manner? Although there seems to be no direct governmental effort in that direction so far, the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has been projected by the media as a player interested in making PDS coverage more broad based and more inclusive, with a view to bringing relief to larger sections of the people.

 

The NAC has given importance not only to ensuring speedy relief to the affected poor but also to improving farm yields in terms of both quality and quantity so as to build sizeable buffer stocks. It has also highlighted the need to correct the system by putting an end to charges of large-scale corruption and inefficiency among the workforce. Another problem to be tackled is the shortage in high quality warehouse facilities.

 

It has been reported that a "universal" PDS could be taken up for implementation in 1,500 blocks spread over 150 poverty-ridden rural districts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Assam, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The choice of areas is apparently political. The context is heightened extremist activities in several parts of the region. More than 95 per cent of the population in these areas is poor.

 

In addition, the "poorest of the poor" who come under the Antyyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) families, constituting 2.5 crore among the 6.5 crore BPL (Below the Poverty Line) beneficiary families in India, have been chosen for receiving more benefits at prices much lower than what they pay now. The people who are in the APL (Above the Poverty Line) category in the identified districts are also entitled to 35 kg of wheat or rice, though at slightly higher prices.

 

The affected people are being brought under PDS coverage, universal or targeted. There seems to be some visible activity in this area. Although the Left parties, eminent scientists such as Professor M.S. Swaminathan, and 'the right to food' activists have been pressing for the revival of Universal PDS, the reluctance of neo-liberal economists and bureaucrats, who played a role in the replacement of Universal PDS with Targeted PDS in the mid-1990s, to violate "stop subsidies" rules is believed to be among the road blocks.

 

Apex court expresses concern

 

One thing however is quite clear. The central government will need to clarify its position in the highest court in the land soon enough. A week ago, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court expressed its serious concern over media reports that huge stocks of foodgrains were being wasted in the absence of adequate storage facilities. Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked the government to consider releasing the foodgrains to deprived people rather than allowing it to rot. They observed: "In a country where admittedly people are starving, it is a crime to waste even a single grain." The official statement of the government indicated that there was wastage of foodgrains at many places, the judges noted, adding that it might consider constructing adequate warehouses or food storage facilities on a long-term basis. "On a short-term basis, they could also consider hiring warehouses or putting up waterproof tents to save the grain. But all-out efforts must be made to ensure that not a single grain is wasted."

 

The judges were hearing a public interest litigation case on the right to food filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The PUCL's lawyer, Colin Gonsalves, had brought a report published in the Hindustan Times ("India lets grain rot instead of feeding poor", HT, July 26, 2010) to the court's attention. Citing the news report, the judges commented that it was a crime to waste food in a poor country. They told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran: "If you cannot store the grain, give it to the people to eat."

 

The Supreme Court Bench sought a response from the government to the newspaper investigation. It also wanted the central government's response to the judges' suggestion on or before August 10 so that the Court could pass appropriate orders.

 

Media vigil

 

The press deserves appreciation for its expose of the government's dismal failure to protect precious stocks of foodgrain procured from different places after spending a lot of money and time. Quoting a highly placed source, the Delhi-based daily revealed how 17.8 million tonnes of wheat and rice, which can feed 140 million people for a month, were allowed to rot. Of this, about 10 million tonnes, having seen through at least one monsoon, was at risk of rotting; if that happened, the country would incur a loss of about Rs. 17,000 crore. Tracking Hunger is an HT and Mint initiative to investigate and report the struggle to rid India of hunger.

 

Interestingly, some other English language dailies have followed up with insightful pieces. The Indian news media have come some way since the second half of the 1990s, when most of them openly abandoned any claim of being the watchdog of the interests of India's poor. The recent financial meltdown and recessionary crisis that very nearly derailed the economies of the developed world, large-scale unemployment, the collapse of livelihoods, and the sharp rises in the prices of essential commodities have profoundly transformed the context and triggered some elements of new thinking. The hope is that at least some influential sections of India's still-rising news media will now consciously and in a sustained way play the role of watchdog of the interests of the hundreds of millions of Indians who suffer from crippling deprivation and poverty.

 

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

EDITORIAL

WILL BUFFET, GATES INSPIRE INDIANS?

 

Why are Indians so stingy as far as philanthropy goes? Last week, a group of 40 US billionaires led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates — who have a combined net worth of $230 billion — pledged to give away at least half their wealth to worthy causes. This wasn't a one-time gesture by super-rich individuals trying to placate hostile public opinion after the global financial crisis. Mr Buffett has already publicly pledged to donate 99 per cent of his wealth. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have also been involved with several worthy causes around the world. But this time, they also carried a lot of other rich individuals with them. Similar examples in India would be very hard to come by.

Interestingly, Mr Buffett and Mr Gates also plan to meet wealthy individuals in India and China over the coming months to get them to take the pledge as well. There should be no lack of prospects at least — the two Asian giants have a total of 110 billionaires between them. Pledging away the bulk or even a substantial chunk of your fortune is not a particularly common concept in India — at least not yet! But it would be unfair to single out only the rich in this case. Charitable donations — whether in terms of money or time — are fairly uncommon in this country. Much of the "giving" in India tends to be in a religious or spiritual context, which is an entirely different thing.

Reviled by many for being the most ignorant, selfish and consumerist of societies, Americans could teach us a thing or two in this sphere. In 2008, individual Americans donated a staggering $229 billion to non-profit organisations of all kinds. And not just in money! It is estimated that around a quarter of all Americans volunteer time for a non-profit every year — not bad for a so-called "selfish" nation. It is not just charities which benefit from such donations. Educational institutions are pretty high up on the list too. Top American universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton are currently sitting on multi-billion dollar endowment funds. This is money collected from former students over several decades — not in the form of fees but as voluntary donations made later in life. The $25.9 billion that the Harvard Endowment Fund manages helps to pay for education and research costs at the university for many less-privileged individuals, including many from India.
It might take a very long time to change attitudes towards the concept of philanthropy in India. But some large and well-publicised examples can surely act as a catalyst. For instance, Nandan Nilekani and Arun Maira have inspired many promising corporate executives to join them in lower-paying, but more satisfying careers with the government. Similar examples of well-known business figures setting aside money for worthy causes might well inspire many more of us to do the same.

Perhaps it may be a good idea to ask successful corporate executives and top businessmen to take leadership roles for specific projects. For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on projects to eradicate malaria and polio and to help improve the incomes of farmers. Similar projects could be set up in India, inviting top business leaders — who have demonstrated their skills in other spheres — to take the lead in them. Their names would surely inspire more confidence among ordinary citizens in this country. This might also inspire us to become a little more generous with our money, knowing that it would be well spent.

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

OPINION

ART OF DISINVESTMENT

ARJUN SENGUPTA

 

One of the most effective us es of government investment in public enterprises is to disinvest them when necessary and aim at an appropriate time sequence allowing maximum raising of resources. When our experim e nt with public enterprises started, our policymakers, especially Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, we re fully aware of the potential impact of this disinvestment pr o cess. Public ownership of as s e ts was not as much the purpose of this exercise as the possibility of selling and purchasing of public assets. Controlling public policy was considered the mo st effective use of the comm­anding heights of the economy.

 

The essential role of this policy instrument was to enter the market economy with substantive sale and purchase of the assets that would raise revenue and also guide the policy development. For example, se lling government shares of specific enterprises would raise revenue while at the same time influence the prices of those assets to attract resources from the private market and also in f l­u ence the private investment de cisions according to market pr ices. If the government decided to sell some of its assets in the market it would set a floor to prices allowing the private in vestors to buy those assets and thereby convert a part of the private savings into public in v e s tment. The sale and purchase of assets is an art to get the maximum revenue out of such sales but is also meant to influence the market prices to guide investment.

Sometimes there is a misunde r standing that if public assets are sold we are giving up control of ownership and through that control of policies. So long as a total share of public investment in an enterprise does not go below 50 per cent, the government does not lose control of ownership and, therefore, control of policies. On the contrary, selective sales and purchase all ow the government to make use of its public investments as an instrument of policymaking. If the aim of those instruments are clear, policy can be fine-tuned, selling assets when they can get maximum market revenue and buying assets when they can raise the prices of those assets. Thus when this instrument is deployed to maximise flexibility it also earns maximum revenues. The management of public investment is an art trying to serve several goals at the same time, with the relative usefulness dependent on market conditions. Essentially, this allows government to have much better control over the market economy without upsetting norms of market behaviour.

I am mentioning all this because our policymakers often make a fetish of the sale and purchase of the public investments. The purpose of disinvestment just as well as investment in our public assets is to maintain a control on the prices of these assets and thereby overall process of economic development. Towards that end, sometimes the government has to sell out its assets or repurchase them, guided by market prices and the potential realisation of market revenues. So long as the net result is not a change in the ownership, the government should have the maximum flexibility to use these instruments.

Recently, the government has taken a decision towards large disinvestment through which, if necessary, the government can sell substantial amount of public assets. That will allow them to raise resources from the market but also influence the relative prices of different assets through their selective sales and purchases. Of late, there has been a substantial increase in the prices of petroleum assets. This is the time when the government should decide on wh­e ther to buy or sell more of these as sets. You should sell the as sets when you think the expected prices of those assets in the future will be going down. You should buy the assets when the expectations are for a further increase in the prices.

When India embarked on massive expansion of public in v estment it did not have quite the idea of how effective were the methods of controlling the pr ices and therefore investment in many of these assets. Public in vestment was regarded more as gaining control over ownership rather than effective operations, that is why, in the initial ye ars, any attempt to disinvest th ese public assets tended to be equated to giving up the ownership and deviating from the so-called socialist pattern of industry. The Indian policymakers ha ve very quickly learned how to use public investment to control markets, influence their pr i ces and use them for attracting investments from the private sector whether in India or ab r o ad. As the Indian economy de v e loped and the strength of Indian markets and investment in c r e ased, the value of the use of these instruments for controlli ng the markets also expanded. Ev en if the market shares of a public enterprise are not always large, they could be used by In d ian policymakers to get the ma ximum benefits from the ma rket operations. In other wo r ds, while public investment is se en mostly as a question of ownership and benefiting from the rent in terms of net benefit of the economy and also to the enterprises themselves, the fl e x ible use of public investment in different enterprises was ob v iously of a major value to the policymakers.

In this whole exercise of disinvestment or investment of public sector enterprises would ob v iously have substantial benefits, provided their operations re main flexible. The essential precondition of that flexibility was the ability of the public sector management or owners to in vest or disinvest at any particular time and the acceptance or non-acceptance of the liability of the investment. Any attempt to control such investments for reasons other than the need of that enterprise detract from the net value of such operations. So, disinvestment should be ta ken as a normal policy tool of an enterprises to be used in our interest of that enterprises, increase or decrease in ownership should be compared with increase or decrease in flexibility of that operation.
But India has learned over the last several decades of industrialisation how to use public in v estment in specific sectors such as petroleum, steel and other heavy industries and also to operate on the basis of market incentives. Investments must yield adequate returns reckoned in terms of not just commercial benefits but also social benefits calculated according to social preferences. So, disinvestment has assumed the role of a major instrument of policy intervention — a clear sign of the maturing of an economy.

Apparently, the government has worked out a programme for disinvestment with these goals in mind and we only hope they will prove to be successful in due course of time.

 

Dr Arjun Sengupta is a Member of Parliament and former Economic Adviser to Pri me Minister Indira Gandhi

 

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DNA

 

COUNTING CASTE IS NOT SAME AS CASTE POLITICS

 

Caste in India is a never-ending source of sociological problems. It is also an endless resource for political parties to exploit. The deadline for political parties to decide on whether to include caste in the ongoing population census ended last week, with a sort of resigned acceptance from most players. The parties which represent the other backward castes (OBCs) were insistent on the inclusion of caste — as they are when most policy decisions come up. The Congress started out in an ambivalent mood but then decided that including caste made most sense — in terms of both information-gathering and political expediency.

The biggest hurdle, however, had to be crossed by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Its mother organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) was opposed to including caste in the census on the grounds that India was one nation and had no need to be so divided. But some BJP members felt that caste was a factor and the OBC faction — led by Gopinath Munde — was most vociferously in favour of counting caste.

This dichotomy within the Sangh Parivar is not unusual and has its roots in a simplistic view of politics. The BJP is not just a political platform for the Sangh Parivar and its members. It is a legitimate party and indeed is the main opposition party in India. It has run the government at the Centre and aims to do so again. It also runs several state governments. Therefore, while it is a right-wing party which rode to popularity on the religion card, it has had to adjust its ideology to the demands of the Constitution, the needs of a large and diverse country and to the ever-present gods of political expediency. 

In this particular argument, the BJP has probably decided on a pragmatic approach in relation to the RSS's ostensibly "ideological" belief that a caste census will somehow fragment Hindu society. The fact is that caste exists and so do reservations for those castes deemed to be underprivileged and historically exploited. The debate is not about changing our caste policies but about counting. All the census will do is provide up-to-date figures which may well surprise many parties involved in the politics of caste. Who knows, maybe the OBC parties may get a shock of their own. It is, in the ultimate analysis, not the census which will divide us on c

 

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DNA

HOLLYWOOD'S HINDU FACE, JULIA ROBERTS

 

In spite of the early inroads into the West made by spiritual gurus like Maharshi Mahesh Yogi and the Krsna Consciousness cult, Hinduism appeared to have lost the first mover advantage to Buddhism. But now that Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts has "become" a self-proclaimed Hindu, there is some chance that Hinduism will once more gain some profile in the west.

Roberts was reportedly enchanted when she came to India to shoot Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling autobiography, Eat, Pray Love, last year and that is when she "converted". This need for the "materialistic" West to look to the "spiritual" East for enlightenment and sanctuary is almost clichéd and so are the arguments for and against. Both the abandoned religion and the chosen religion are examined closely and compared and supporters and detractors come out in large numbers.

But in fact, it is best to let Roberts "celebrate" her choices and carry on. Hinduism is a large and complex religion with many sides to it. The Hollywood version is one more addition to the spectrum, and perhaps there will be additions to the enormous pantheon as well. No can protest surely as the "pretty woman" chants and celebrates and there will be cause for both as she is unencumbered with any historical baggage here.

 

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DNA

WHY WE SHOULDN'T BE HOSTING THE GAMES

ANIL DHARKER

 

We now know what the Commonwealth Games stand for. (It's) Common (for everyone to make) Wealth (at these) Games. Toilet rolls for Rs4,000 each! Must be gold-laced. Treadmills at Rs27 lakh! The high end ones cost less than a tenth of that. 

Whatever explanation Suresh Kalmadi and his cohorts have to offer for this kind of criminal folly, it's clear that the Games have been run on two premises. First, the organisers were sure the government would keep on pouring more money since national prestige was involved. Second, the organisers were sure that no questions would be asked. Pity they forgot the media. 

There are two questions that arise from the controversy. The first is basic: should India be hosting the Commonwealth Games (CWG) at all. The second is whether we are capable of handling an event of this magnitude.

It may be a bit late to raise the first question, but it can be asked because Kalmadi and the IOA have their sights on the Asian Games and the Olympics after that. The simple answer to the question is thus No. At least not for the next few decades. The basic argument for holding large sporting events is that you create infrastructure. Heaven knows we need infrastructure, but is all of it needed only in Delhi? That's the problem: suddenly Delhi will have a whole lot of stadia, but not the rest of India. If you wanted to build infrastructure, you would draw up a master plan and distribute facilities around the country taking into consideration the sports specialty of each region. Football stadia? Look at Bengal, Goa and Kerala. Which of them needs one urgently? Hockey? Punjab, Haryana. Archery? The North East. Wrestling? UP. And so on.

Planning systematically will be of real benefit to sportsmen. It also ensures that the construction is phased out, say over 10 years, rather than rushed through in two or three years. It means better buildings, not shoddy construction.

There is yet another point about infrastructure. The CWG will now cost the massive sum of Rs35,000crore. A master plan would use only a part of this total. It would earmark a portion for developing sportspersons. How often do we read about the lack of money for sporting academies (cricket always excepted)? How often have we heard complaints about the lack of good coaches because they are too expensive (cricket always excepted)? 
The second question seems unpatriotic because it questions our ability to stage an event like the CWG. Why can't we? After all, our industrialists set up massive infrastructure and manufacturing plants in record time, so organisation and planning aren't foreign to our temperament. The basic problem is with who's in charge. An industrial house has an organisational structure built on well-designed hierarchies. Every person has a career at stake. 

An Organising Committee like the one for the CWG is an ad hoc group of individuals who are either sports politicians or bureaucrats on temporary loan to committees. They have almost nothing at stake. Is it any surprise the nation's money is being wasted?

Kalmadi was once very proud of his Grand Design for sports in India. It was to spread a sports culture through the country by building facilities in each state by holding our annual National Games at different venues each year. It was a sound idea worthy of implementation. How does holding of the CWG fit in with that vision?

 

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DNA

 

SUCCESS EXPANSION PRINCIPLE

ROBIN SHARMA

 

Here's a powerful idea that just might revolutionise the way you work and live if you embrace it at a DNA level: Your life will expand or contract in direct relationship to your willingness to walk directly toward the things that you fear. Do your fears and you'll shine. Run away from them and you shrink from greatness. 
Reminds me of what Frank Herbert wrote in Dune: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

So amazing what happens when you encounter a situation that makes you feel insecure/scared and yet, instead of heading for the metaphorical exit door, you stay strong and do the thing you know you should do. First, you realise that the fear was mostly a hallucination. And second, you get some kind of unexpected reward for your bravery, because on the other side of every fear door lie gorgeous gifts, including personal growth, con?dence and wisdom. I've seen it time and time again.

It's a law of life, I guess. So run toward fear. Start small. Slow and steady always wins the race. And watch the success you so dearly deserve begin to show up. When you most need it.

On the other side of every fear door lie gorgeous gifts.

 

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DNA

US SHOULDN'T BE PLAYING SHERIFF

 

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said last Friday that her government would be discussing with the United Arab Emirates the proposed ban on the BlackBerry services of Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM). State department spokesman Philip Crowley has said that the US is in touch with RIM to understand the issues involved. It is understandable that the Canadian government should step in to defend the interests of RIM. The intervention of the US is curious and intriguing, if not inexplicable. 

RIM is in trouble not just with the governments of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which have set a deadline for sharing of encrypted date for security reasons. Failing to do so would mean a ban on BlackBerry services. India too is demanding access to data in the light of a compromise struck by RIM with the Chinese authorities. Company officials deny the arrangement. 

It is for RIM, with help from its home government, to fight its battle with the governments of UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and others. The US as a mediator in a commercial dispute raises both eyebrows and questions. As a self-proclaimed leading western power engaged in the global war against terrorism, the US would be interested in how this commercial tussle would unravel because the implications for electronic surveillance are many. 

Clinton's statement indicates that while she concedes the security concerns of governments like that of the UAE, she seems to be weighing in favour of the freedoms of a global market where western companies should not face unnecessary and unreasonable restrictions. If that be the case, the forum for resolving the issue is the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The US cannot be playing the role of sheriff in the market place. It happened earlier in the case of Google, when the company went in for a showdown with China saying it wouldn't censor search results. The US weighed in on Google's side, but Google has since decided that discretion is the better part of valour and sought a compromise. One doubts the US intervention had any bearing on the end-result.

 

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DNA

WILL ARUNDHATI ROY NOW PRAISE THE JEHADIS AS WELL?

AMULYA GANGULI

 

Even if the pro-poor credentials of the Maoists are taken at face value, one wonders to what extent one can root for the subversives — whether in the name of the poor or the ummahCivil libertarians are up in arms against any possible police action against Arundhati Roy for her pro-Maoist stance. There are several big guns like Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze who favour a virtual anticipatory bail for the Booker prize winner. Their contention is that support for Maoist insurgency does not constitute a crime. Mamata Banerjee, too, is of the same view although, as is her wont, she was far more forthright in her expression of support for the Sahitya Akademi prize winner Mahashweta Devi. West Bengal would "burn", she had threatened, if the pro-Maoist writer was arrested. 

There will be a measure of support for these views although not everyone will endorse Mamata's method of protest. The essence of such liberalism is that the freedom of expression should not be suppressed. It is also undeniable that Maoism elicits a kind of snobbery, especially among the well-off, where support for the rebels is intended to stress their superiority via an overt empathy with the downtrodden. 

Or it may be a guilt complex harboured by the affluent over the destitution of the underprivileged. It is the same complex which makes a section of the upper castes root for Mayawati. Since the Maoists are supposed to be fighting for the poor, their supporters in polite society claim a higher moral status than their critics, who are the "running dogs" of capitalism, to turn to a phrase used in Mao Zedong's time against Liu Shaochi and the chairman's other opponents during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. 

The pro-Maoists believe that their case is ethically foolproof. There are occasional muted murmurs about the violence perpetrated by the insurgents, such as the killing of policemen in Dantewada. But, as the more vocal among the apologists point out, such incidents are unavoidable where the Maoists have to defend themselves. It is the old Leftist argument about the state being the more violent of the two while the working class merely fends off the attacks of the rich and the powerful, thereby causing a few casualties in the process. The underlying assumption is that the state does not really represent the "people". The legitimacy for this stand is drawn from the historical battles of the Bolsheviks, Mao's guerrillas, Fidel Castro's jungle warriors and Ho Chi Minh's peasant army. 

The scene in India is a little different in that it is neither a monarchy, nor a dictatorship, nor is it under a regime which is propped up by the Americans, although the last allegation is made in a roundabout way. The main charge made by Roy, Mahashweta Devi and others is that Indian democracy is devoid of any sympathy for the oppressed because its present-day rulers are under the thumb of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Again, this is an old Marxist characterisation of a bourgeois government as a committee of the exploiters. 

However, even if the pro-poor credentials of the Maoist supporters are conceded for argument's sake, the point remains as to what extent this entitles them to behave as virtual subversives. The answer may become clearer if the activities of another group of militants — the Islamic fundamentalists — are taken into account. Will the state allow their supporters the luxury of using the openness of democracy to speak for them? And will the champions of human rights be as vocal in their endorsement of the jehadi cause as the Maoist uprising? Probably not. Yet, the jehadis claim to represent an even larger section of people than the Maoists, who speak for the poor in India only. The Islamists, on the other hand, believe that they are voicing the grievances of the ummah or the entire community of Muslims, who live under dictatorial regimes which are in league with the Americans.
In India, Simi and the Indian Mujahideen have joined the terrorists apparently for the reason stated earlier, and also because of the depressed condition of Muslims in this country and the violence unleashed against them by a seemingly biased state machinery during communal outbreaks — as in Gujarat. Like the Maoists, the jehadis also do not expect any redressal of their grievances under the existing system and want to supplant it in India (as well as in the Muslim countries run by America's "puppets") with one which is true to Islamic tenets. Their Caliphate is no different in this respect from the Marxist utopia. 

Despite this similarity, there are two reasons why the civil rights groups are more restrained about Islamic fundamentalists than about the Maoists. The first is the fear that the state may be less indulgent towards them if they lean too far towards the jehadis. Society in general, too, will not be all that permissive. And the second is that Islamic militancy lacks the romantic appeal of Marxism, which is not dissimilar to the unending charm of the Robin Hood legend. Islamism, with its stark puritanism based on the "opium" of religion and the oppression of women, lacks that appeal for the left-liberals.

 

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THE KASHMIR TIMES

EDITORIAL

REMEMBERING AUGUST 9 

BEGINNING OF A DECISIVE PHASE IN INDIA'S FREEDOM STRUGGLE AND A DAY SYMBOLIZING BETRAYAL IN KASHMIR

Come August 9 and India celebrates this as an historic day when the country's freedom struggle entered its decisive phase. It was on August 9 in 1942 when the Congress after experimenting half-baked constitutional reforms launched the historic "Quit India" movement asking the British empire to quit lock, stock and barrel leaving the people of India free to decide their own future. On the night of August 9 Gandhiji, Nehru, Maulana Azad and all other senior leaders along with thousands others were arrested and put in jails. The country came under the martial law and untold atrocities were committed on the people struggling for freedom. It were the young socialist leaders headed by Jayaprakash Narayan who took over the leadership to carry forward the struggle to its logical end. JP was arrested and in a daring feat escaped from Hazaribagh jail in Bihar to lead the movement. However, he was again arrested and faced the worst kind of torture by the British rulers in Lahori's Shahi Qilla jail. It was the socialist trio- Dr Ram Manohar Lohi, Aruna Asif Ali and Achyut Patwardhan-who led the struggle from underground, even violating Gandhi's norms of non-violence as a retaliation to the repression let loose by the alien rulers. It was this struggle which heralded the glorious era of freedom not only for India but other countries enslaved by the British imperialists as well. The communists under the Communist Party of India betrayed the struggle by joining the British war efforts after the Soviet Union joined America and Britain as a war ally. 

Though on August 14-15 in 1947 India and Pakistan were declared independent dominions but the peoples of the sub-continent have yet to win freedom in the real sense of the term. They are not yet free from ignorance, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, diseases, corruption, social evils and inequalities. Indian leadership failed to honour its commitment of "puran swarajya" or the full empowerment of the people at the grass-root level. In its "Quit India" resolution passed on August 8,1942 the Congress had committed itself to a fully sovereign democratic, secular and federal India with the states enjoying full autonomy including the residuary powers, leaving the centre to deal only with defence, foreign affairs and communications. Such a democratic, federal, secular and fully sovereign India is still a dream. The states have been reduced to the level of municipalities. Pakistan has failed to emerge as a modern, secular and democratic state, as visualized by its founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah in his historic speech to the Constituent Assembly of the new nation. The people of India and Pakistan owe it to the countless martyrs of the prolonged freedom struggle beginning from 1857 to ceaselessly struggle for real freedom, the cherished objective of the freedom struggle. They have also to work for peace in the region and mutual cooperation among the neighbouring countries for ushering into an era of peace and prosperity for their teeming millions. 

In Kashmir, August 9 comes as a reminder of the betrayal of the people of Kashmir by the Indian establishment for failing to honour its commitments made on October 1947 when the Instrument of Accession was signed. The accession, as clearly emphasized by Maharaja Hari Singh was limited to three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communications. Jawahar Lal Nehru as the Prime Minister of India had made it clear that the accession is subject to the ratification by the people "after the peace prevails". While the State's autonomy has been totally eroded with the Indian leadership dealing with Kashmir as a colony, letting loose a reign of terror and committing all sorts of atrocities on the freedom loving people, the commitment of allowing the people to freely exercise their will to decide about the State's future has been honoured only in breach. It was on August 9 in 1953 when Sheikh Abdullah as the duly elected Prime Minister of the State was deposed through a coup managed by New Delhi and arrested. The day for the people of Kashmir symbolizes New Delhi's perfidy. What happened after that is too well known to be repeated. New Delhi imposed on the people one puppet regime after another through rigged elections. The autonomy was eroded unilaterally and brute force was used to suppress the political urges and aspirations of the people. Sheikh Abdullah returned to power through backdoor in January 1975 under what is known as Indira-Sheikh Accord accepting New Delhi's terms. This after his Plebiscite Front struggled for "plebiscite to decide the State's future" for 22 long years. His right hand man, Mirza Afzal Beg, who negotiated with New Delhi on his behalf termed this period as "22 years of waywardness". The Sheikh perpetuated corruption, denied fundamental rights to the people, enforced draconian laws, curbed freedom of the press and silenced every voice of dissent. No doubt, he won people's mandate in 1977 elections but only on anti-India plank. He made way for dynastic rule which the people of the State are suffering till today. Those struggling for their democratic rights are being dealt with brutal force.

 

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THE KASHMIR TIMES

EDITORIAL

 

LOOTING OF CAPD STORES

GOVT AGENCIES NEED TO SUPPLEMENT SUPPLIES OF GRAINS AND RICE IN KASHMIR

Looting of contaminated and condemned stocks of rice and wheat flour by from the stores of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department by the people of Hygam and its adjoining villages in Baramulla district on Friday evening is a matter of serious concern. Though belatedly, police has registered a case in this connection on the complaints of the CAPD officials, no inquiry has been initiated as yet in this regard. The rumour mongering among the people that contaminated rice and flour has caused the dearth of some stray dogs in the locality created panic and started ringing the alarm bells in some parts of the valley. The Kashmir region as such has been facing severe shortage of grains and other essential commodities due to continued strike and disturbances during the over two months. After the situation took a turn for the worse, whole distribution system has been disrupted and people were forced to run their kitchens on cooperative basis by sharing the resources among themselves. It was appreciable on the part of the people of Shopian, who contributed about 60 trucks of rations and other essentials for the residents of Srinagar city, where the government agencies has totally failed in maintaining supply of grains and rice besides the medicines. The continued strikes and curfew have created a piquant situation and local people made it sure that the patients in the hospitals get their food and other essentials on daily basis. It is only the social cohesion in Kashmir that helped the needy get essentials from the local residents. In the case of looting of grains and rice from the stores in Hygam is a typical case and needs a serious thought for the reason that people have been forced to resort to such action as essential are not only in short supply but also not made available by the government agencies through its Public Distribution System (PDS) network during the disturbed period. More such cases can take place in the valley due to shortages of essential commodities and uncertainty over their supplies in future. But it is serious that contaminated food grains and rice have found their way in the homes of a large population which can be dangerous for the society. The stores have been stored there only to be destroyed as they have already been declared unfit for human consumption.

 

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THE KASHMIR TIMES

COLUMN

INDIA SEEKS AN EXALTED GLOBAL PROFILE

ELITE'S DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR 

PRAFUL BIDWAI

A major characteristic of the Indian elite is its insatiable appetite for symbols of grandeur and its obsession with securing entry into exclusive clubs. Examples are the jubilation over India joining the global Nuclear Club (after criticising it for decades as signifying "Atomic Apartheid") and entering the tiny league of nations which can shoot satellites into space. Not to be ignored is New Delhi's smug satisfaction at being invited into the Group of 20 largest economies of the world, and its tireless effort to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Such craving for status comes naturally to our upper crust which spends millions of rupees on exhibitionist weddings and shows uncharacteristic patience in waiting for years for membership of the local gymkhana club or golf course costing Rs 20 lakhs-plus. Status fetishism expresses itself in buying children's admissions to super-expensive schools offering international courses. 

Of a piece with this is the government's decision is to create a new numerical sign for the Indian Rupee. "With this", said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Rupee "will join the select club of currencies such as the U.S. Dollar, British Pound sterling, Euro and the Japanese Yen that have a clear distinguishing identity." Even the Chinese Yuan doesn't enjoy such elite status.

It's doubtful if the new Rupee symbol "reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture", as claimed. It's an amalgam of the Roman and Devanagari scripts-and lacks high global recognition value given the world's unfamiliarity with Devanagari. Nor does it have the pictorial quality of Greek, Mandarin or Arabic writing. 
The Dollar, Pound and Yen have been major convertible currencies for decades. The Rupee isn't convertible. The Euro sign is of recent origin, but conveys continuity with the Greek letter epsilon through a stylised "e"-and suggests a link with the European civilisational heritage. The Rupee sign lacks such attributes.

That apart, it's hard to see the world readily adopting a new sign for a currency in which very little exchange or trade occurs. Despite its recent growth, India's foreign trade represents only about 1.3 percent of world trade in goods and services. The US and China each have about a one-tenth share. Even the UK, by no means a great and growing power, has a share that's twice higher than India's. 

Even higher is the status of a currency in which sovereign governments hold their foreign reserves and commodities like oil, gas, minerals and metals are traded. Here, the Dollar remains dominant although the Euro is growing. Even the Yen hasn't been able to challenge the Dollar's dominance despite "the Japanese Miracle". 
China has just displaced Japan as the world's Number Two economy. Its foreign exchange reserves exceed $2 trillion. If China sells off its enormous holdings of US government bonds, it can bring about the US economy's collapse. Yet, the Yuan isn't the world's reserve currency. For this to happen, it's not enough that a nation has a powerful economy. And India, whose GDP is only one-fourth that of China's, isn't remotely in that league. 
The craving to place the Rupee among the world's great currencies, then, is less about global acceptance of India as an economic superpower than about its ruling elite's grandiose self-image. The world still sees India as an emerging power, not as China's peer, or even as The Next China. China is an industrial giant and a great manufacturing power. Despite its service sector growth, India isn't a great industrial power. India is seen as-and in reality, remains-a poor country.

However, our policy-makers want to raise India's profile to an exalted level politically, militarily and economically. Consider India's hubris-driven attempt to transform itself from an aid recipient to an aid donor. This became crudely obvious with British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent visit. Indian officials doggedly insisted there must be no British announcement of any aid or donation. This almost led to a diplomatic row. 

In part, this reflected New Delhi's annoyance at recent reports of massive embezzlement of British aid to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and British aid minister Andrew Mitchell's announcement of a substantial likely cut in the $610 million aid to what he called "nuclear-armed" India.

India's attempt to reduce dependence on official development assistance (ODA) goes back to the India Development Initiative announced in 2003. Under this, India kicked out all aid donors barring six-US, UK, Russia, Germany, Japan and the European Union (EU). It announced it would no longer accept tied aid. And it launched a tiny ODA programme for some poorer countries. 

The aid was terminated in a fit of pique by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which was upset at the worldwide criticism of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom and some EU countries' effort to fund the victims' relief and rehabilitation. The official explanation was that the small donors' aid was tiny and carried high administration costs. But the real reason was political-and a pretty sordid one. Thus, US aid was retained although it's minuscule (under $50 million). So was paltry Russian assistance. But Dutch and Nordic aid, although substantial, was stopped. 

Such refusal of aid is morally reprehensible. A government which has failed to eradicate poverty in 60 years and presides over huge income divides and persistent destitution has surely no right to refuse aid which could benefit India's poor. The decision was driven by the NDA's "India Shining" arrogance, which lost it the 2004 elections. But the UPA continued the policy. Indeed, it launched a power-projection drive by sending relief material and medical assistance to several countries affected by the tsunami of 2004. India tellingly used naval ships and personnel to deliver the aid.

India has since stepped up loan guarantees, technical training and ODA to some poorer countries. This was done partly to generate goodwill where India is investing, and partly to balance growing Chinese influence in Africa. But China is in an altogether different league. Its ODA is estimated at $25 billion. India's is under $1 billion on the best estimates. 

For all its strenuous efforts, India continues to be dependent on external aid. It remains a recipient of bilateral assistance, annually totalling over $2 billion-mainly from the EU and Japan. Some of this is targeted at worthy programmes. For instance, two-thirds of British Department for International Development aid goes to health and education. India also remains the biggest borrower of concessional finance from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank-essential for major programmes like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the metro railway. 

Indian aid has doubtless done some good in Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Especially relevant are Indian training programmes for judges, police, diplomats and technicians. India's $1.7-billion aid for Afghanistan has attracted praise because of its fine targeting, emphasis on capacity-building, and elimination of middlemen. 

Even if some of this is driven by strategic calculations-to neutralise Chinese and Pakistani influence-, the overall effect is positive. This is also true of India's cancellation of debt owed by countries like Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Guyana and Nicaragua.

However, much of India's aid is tied to Indian goods, services, and often, personnel. This contrasts with India's own refusal to accept tied aid! Double standards are also evident in India's economic relations with Africa, based on the extraction of oil, gas and minerals. India, like China, is practising the same kind of mercantile colonialism in Africa for which it has always, rightly, criticised the Western imperialist states. New Delhi must rethink its Africa relations and its aid policy. 

Today, neither India nor China presents a model worthy of emulation by the rest of the Third World. Their rapid GDP growth has extracted a high price: ecological destruction, especially in China, and explosive disparities. India's social sector record is abysmal. 

The UN Development Programme has just released its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) estimates, which assess deprivations in education, health, assets and services and provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than income measures. There are more MPI-poor (421 million) in eight Indian states-Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, UP, and West Bengal-than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million). 

India can set a worthy example by adopting an equitable, balanced, climate-responsible development model which assures basic needs with human dignity for all its people, including food security, safe drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, education and public participation. India can also put its growing global power to good use by acting as the representative of underprivileged peoples and nations to demand reform of today's unequal international economic order. 

Tragically, there's no debate in the country about the purposes of India's power and the broader aims it should pursue to make the world a better place. India will be ultimately judged by the world not on the basis of its GDP growth, IT achievements or number of billionaires, but its success in combating poverty, in creating a secure, peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood, and in making a better world possible. To do this, our elite must give up its delusions of grandeur.

 

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THE KASHMIR TIMES

OPENION

A COURTYARD AND OTHER PROVERBS..!

ROBERT CLEMENTS

 

In most of the residential buildings in the city I've noticed that the terrace is one area that's badly maintained, which made me think of a Chinese proverb, 'a courtyard common to all, is swept by none!'

No, no I'm not going to talk about terraces today but focus more on universal truths s often found in proverbs by wise men and others handed down to us. Here are some:

A dog is wiser than a woman; it does not bark at its master: Russian Proverb. Must have been written by a Russian coming home late after his vodka, right?

A drowning man is not troubled by rain: Persian Proverb

A friend's eye is a good mirror: Irish Proverb

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. William Blake

A hard beginning maketh a good ending. John Heywood

A healthy man is a successful man. French Proverb

A hedge between keeps friendship green. French Proverb: Yes I've seen this so often when friends decide to

stay too closely together, I'm sure you have too.

A hen is heavy when carried far. Irish Proverb.

A little too late, is much too late. German Proverb. I wish our country with its unpunctuality would learn this.

A hungry man is an angry man. English Proverb

A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on. French Proverb.

A loan though old is not a gift. Hungarian Proverb

A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly. Haitian Proverb

A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners. Irish Proverb. Aha! You men with new wives, you'll soon find this out, soon enough, and we're not talking only about sweeping are we?

A rumor goes in one ear and out many mouths. Chinese proverb

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. Greek Proverb

A silent mouth is melodious. Irish Proverb

A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger. Bible - Proverbs 151.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet. French Proverb

A trade not properly learned is an enemy. Irish Proverb

And finally a Japanese proverb you can take with a large dose of salt: A good husband is healthy and absent..!

bobsbanter@gmail.com

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

THINK OF MAKING LEH SAFE AND SECURE

 

It is a heart-rending tragedy that has taken place in our trans-Himalayan district of Leh. Cloud burst coupled with mudslides has rocked and engulfed virtually half of the district headquarters of the same name. The other half too is terribly shaken. The inhabitants there have kept awake all through the Friday night worried about the plight of their friends and relatives elsewhere. Yes, they have been concerned about their safety as well. Fearing the worst many of them took shelter in Shanti Stupa overlooking the entire town on the one side and the hills on the other. Their plight reminds one of what the people have gone through in this city in the wake of the 2005 earthquake. Unfortunately, the lower parts of Leh and some villages of the district have been dealt a crueler blow. As debris is being cleared the number of casualties is steadily rising. It seems that we are condemned to count our dead for some more time. Throbbing parts of the town like Saboo and Choglamsar have been lulled into silence. These have been among the worst hit. So have been Nimoo, Basgo and Ney villages of the district. This newspaper was the first and the only one to bring into limelight the fact that a part of the district is in peril because of unusual turn in weather. Flash floods triggered by heavy rains killed, among others, six labourers of the National Hydroelectric Project Corporation (NHPC) engaged in the installation of transmission towers under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY). In all, 11 persons were reported to have lost their lives in this phase. What has followed has been a big nightmare. Nobody is sure of the figure of victims in Leh town. One thing is clear that there is nothing like disaster management mechanism. Things can only worsen if even the Army and the para-military forces that are better trained and equipped to handle such pressures themselves are caught in a nasty whirlpool. They take time to recover. It must be said to their credit though that they forget their personal sufferings fast enough to attend to collective welfare.

 

There is need for changing our basic perception about Leh; we need to realise that it needs to be made safe and secure. Only the naïve will argue that a region known for aridity is not vulnerable to cloud bursts and floods. In recent years the extremely heavy rains, snowfall and consequently overflowing streams causing havoc along the banks have been an almost regular feature. It is to be conceded that while similar occurrences in Jammu and Srinagar get immediate attention these are at the outset overlooked in Leh. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC-Leh) has been beseeching the State Government for financial help for erecting flood protection measures. It is just a coincidence that only recently we have carried a report in our news columns about the clearance being sought for a Rs 5.5 crore-plan for the Phyang village after its 11 footbridges, 25 irrigation headworks and 60 per cent of protection bunds were washed away. Phyang is said to have come in for more suffering in the latest natural disaster. A lesson for us is to learn fast and set our house in order. This in turn is possible only if we correct our vision. It needs to be understood that Leh is more than merely being the highest desert in the country --- the roof of the world and what not. It is the only district in the country through which the great and historic Indus river flows. The glorious stream in itself is not the cause of foods. It does get swollen because of heavy inflow from the higher reaches. Leh, in addition, has two captivating lakes and glaciers. It has nallahs which are mostly dry but turn dangerous as and when it rains. During summer these narrow streams can assume deadly dimensions when the snow melts in the heights. It is not for nothing that the people living close to them have moved away. In fact, some of them were in the process of building new homes because they had lost their old ones in the earlier floods a couple of years ago; they have been taken aback again.

 

A colleague who recently visited Leh was in for a big shock. The road to the picturesque Pangong Lake was virtually washed away at a few spots. It was with tremendous effort that he could drive his vehicle out of the mess. There is a visible case for constructing permanent embankments along the nallahs. It is also apparent that their water flow has to be diverted in a manner that it does not overwhelm roads. Besides, as the calamity now tells us, we have to have a second look at the way the Leh town especially is developing. Clearly there are buildings which are obstruction to the natural run of the water. How do we come out of this maze of our own making? Town planners should be engaged to answer the problem of mudslides which are more fatal. There still remains merit in extending aid to Leh district on the basis of its size and backwardness and not merely population. A lot has been done in this direction but much more needs to be done. Just because it is sparsely populated does not mean that it does not require sufficient attention. We should never lose sight of the two more realities: (a) Leh has burst on the global tourism map as one of the top destinations; and, (b) it is eyed enviously by our two neighbours. Therefore, it has to be not one of our most captivating showpieces but also a strong fortification against enemies of the nation. We can't leave it vulnerable on any count --- not even to natural catastrophes. There are a large number of tourists from different countries in Leh even at this juncture. Arguably there is little that we can do in the face of the nature's varied moods. However, it is certainly in our hands to minimise their damaging effect. It requires that requisite paraphernalia is in place. It consists of medical facilities and (land, snow, mud) clearing equipment, on the one hand, and efficient manpower on the other. Leh has brave, dedicated and selfless persons who can look after themselves with a little help and training.

 

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

NEED FOR A STATE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (SDMA)

IN AND AROUND J&K

BY D. SUBA CHANDRAN

 

The disaster in Leh, due to cloud bursts, rains and the human and material casualties clearly highlight the need for the creation of disaster management authority at the State level in J&K, on the models of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), India's apex organization to deal with natural and manmade disasters are still in the process of evolving. J&K state need not have to wait for the complete evolution of the NDMA and then copy paste its structures and hierarchy. Instead, J&K could and should evolve its own State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), based on the current and future needs of the State.
In the last few years, J&K has faced the following major disasters - earthquake, snow slides (referred to as Snow Tsunami), avalanches and minor disasters which occur at regular intervals such as landslides, road accidents, epidemics etc. Unfortunately, the geography and topography of J&K, especially in the interiors, has been very unsympathetic to the people living there. As mentioned by a police officer in his recent book on tourism in Ladakh, there are areas in J&K, that one has to trek for more than a day or two to get a tube of toothpaste! Imagine, if there is a disaster in such a region, how much time it will take for the news to reach the district headquarters in the first place, forget the relief materials arriving there on time! 
Besides, given the presence of non-State actors in J&K, the State should also get ready to face man made disasters - from an attack on tunnel or bridge to chemical and biological terrorism. Some threats may be far fetched, but it is always better to be prepared for the worst, for it involves precious human lives.
If there is one State in India, that needs a SDMA on a priority basis, undoubtedly, it is J&K. The SDMA should focus on the following: First, organizing the first responders, with clear standard operating procedures (SOPs). From civilian authorities including the health sector to para-military forces, the first responders should be derived from the departments of Police, Power, Fire-Service, Meteorology, Health, Border Roads Organisation & GREF, PWD etc. While the core team of first responders should consist of the above, there should be other departments as well, working in tandem with the first responders. Of course, this should evolve based on the needs and requirements, which will differ as the situation may demand and are subjective according to the sub regions and districts of J&K. For example, what Poonch may require may be different from what Bhaderwah, Gurez and Leh may need in a disaster situation.

Second, such an effort (towards forming an SDMA) should be a civil-State partnership. The NDMA, though, is formed through a statute and is established primarily by the Union Government, it has sufficient space to include civil-society organizations. This is extremely important, especially in a disaster environment where the State will need assistance from the civil society groups. How much ever prepared the SDMA is, in a disaster situation the State forces may be insufficient. And there may be a large group of well meaning citizens, who would genuinely want to help the situation.

Such an initiative should be welcome and channeled properly, by including them in the SDMA. Imagine, how much of the civil society assistance could not be made good use during the 2005 earthquake in J&K? At times, over enthusiasm by these groups, in fact become a hurdle, than a help, if left unregulated. Also, the civil society groups are important to create an awareness among the people about impending disasters and how to minimize the casualties. One of the young officers, who was involved in the 2005 J&K earthquake relief operations later commented "earthquake don't kill people; bad buildings do." How true! The civil society groups, in particular the media, have a great role to play in creating awareness and also to provide help during a disaster situation. The SDMA should provide sufficient organized space for the civil society.

Third, and more importantly, the State should identify bright young officers from amongst the first responders and give them the mandate to build the SDMA. The State of J&K has quality and experienced young officers, who also have the necessary background, intellectual acumen, undying enthusiasm and energy to build such an institution. The State should make immediate use of them and create a core group, which would build such an institution. 

Fourth, there should be enough training and mock exercises for such an organization. This needs intellectual inputs and funding support. This is where the Union Government and the NDMA should help in terms of funding and sharing experiences respectively. From the NDMA to Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior, there are numerous organizations at the national level that provide quality training in facing disaster from handling equipments to field experiences. While the military and para-militaries send their officials on a regular basis to get trained, unfortunately, there is not much interest from the State Governments in sending their officials. The Government of J&K should identify different departments and send their officials to get trained.

Finally, given the nature of the threat, disaster management should be taught as a separate degree course in the universities of Jammu and Srinagar. With sincere, well meaning and forward looking Vice-Chancellors in both the Universities, designing and implementing such a course should not take much time and effort. The Chief Minister should also ensure, that disaster management is taught from the childhood, by including them in the school curriculum, as a part of social sciences. 

We may not be able to avert natural disasters. But certainly, we can avoid subsequent human casualties by proper planning, awareness and management. SDMA will be a great tribute to those lives, we have lost.
(The author is Deputy Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi)

 

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

WELCOME! HIGH PRICE OF OIL

BY DR BHARAT JHUNJHUNWALA

 

The Government's decision to deregulate the price of fuel oil and leave it to be determined by market forces is wholly welcome. Till now, Public Sector oil companies were buying oil expensive in the world markets and selling it cheap in the country. The Government was bearing the losses incurred by the oil companies. Opposition wants this policy to continue in order to protect the people from price rise. The consumer is already suffering due to high price of food items and he should not be twice burdened at this time, they say. But will cheap oil really contain price rise?

Say, Indian Oil purchased a liter of petrol from Saudi Arabia for Rs 100 and sold it for Rs 50 in the domestic market. The Government provided a subsidy of Rs 50 to make up the loss incurred by the company. This means that the true price of Rs 100 of oil will have to be paid anyways. Only it will be part paid by the consumer and part paid by the Government. Now, the Government does not have a magic wand. It cannot create money out of thin air. It prints money to make this payment. The currency in circulation increases and that leads to an overall increase in prices. Thus selling oil cheap does not truly contain the price rise. It only shifts the burden bit into the future when the impact of printing presses of Reserve Bank of India begins to be felt. Indeed, it can be said that present high rates of inflation in the country are, in part, due to earlier sale of cheap oil. The opposition's demand is merely to contain the price rise at the present time. Who is worried about the future?
The poor is not much affected by increase in price of oil anyways. Oil is mostly consumed by the rich. The middle class family going for a weekend pleasure trip in the family car feels the pinch of high price of petrol immediately. The poor consume only few goods that are transported from long distances. Thus the rich are more affected by the present price increase. But the burden of subsidy given to oil companies falls on all people, including the poor. This can be explained by a simple example. Say there are two rich persons in a village who own cars. The village Panchayat imposes a tax on all the people of the village to provide subsidy on oil consumed in the village. All the people pay the tax but the benefits are mostly obtained by the rich. The oil subsidy works similarly. All citizens of the country bear the consequences of printing of notes while the rich harvest most benefits. 

The correct method of protecting the poor is to demand reduction in taxes imposed on items consumed by the poor. That will easily nullify the impact of increase in price of oil on them. The share of oil in the wholesale price index is 7 percent while that of manufactured goods is 63 percent. It follows that an increase of Rs 4 in the cost of oil can be nullified by a reduction of 44 paise in the price of manufactured goods. Lower taxes on coarse cloth, bicycle, match box, cement, etc. will compensate the poor for the small increase in cost of these items due to increase in price of oil.

The opposition claims that deregulation of price of oil will be beneficial for the private sector oil companies. This is correct. They will get a chance to come back into the market. They had closed down their shutters earlier because the Government was providing subsidy on oil only through public sector companies. Reentry of the private companies will now become possible. But this will not be anti-poor. It will actually be beneficial for the people. A price war will take place between the private- and public players. We have seen the quality of service improve in telecom and civil aviation sectors due to such price wars. Consumers of oil will be similarly benefited. The opposition is actually trying to protect the monopoly and various malpractices that are widespread among the public sector oil companies.

The nation's economic sovereignty is also protected by deregulation of price of oil. We were importing 66 percent of the oil consumed in the country in 1947. This reduced to 20 percent upon finding of oil in the Bombay High in the eighties. The share of imports has again increased to 75-80 percent presently on the back of high growth rates and increase in the demand for energy. This demand is artificially increased further by low price of oil. Deregulation will lead to domestic prices increasing in tandem with international prices. Every consumer will adjust his consumption accordingly. The family will use the car only for reaching the metro station instead of taking a cross-city road travel. The homemaker will cook less urad- and more moong daal to save LPG gas. Companies will install desert coolers in offices instead of air-conditioners. People will install inverters instead of using diesel generators. In such various ways the domestic consumption will reduce when the price of oil increases in the international market. A basic principle of economics is that welfare is best obtained by selling goods at their true market price. Selling goods cheap is as harmful as selling them expensive. Cheap electricity, for example, has taken away the livelihood of millions of handloom weavers. Cheap oil similarly takes away the livelihood of rickshaw pullers. We should not deprive the poor of their livelihood in the shrill call for selling cheap oil.

High price of oil leads is helps in the development of alternate sources of energy. I had an occasion to study the gobar gas plants in Village Shyampur near Haridwar a few years ago. Farmers had closed down their gobar gas plants as soon as cheap LPG gas became available. Thus we lost an alternative source of energy in our infatuation with cheap oil. The same holds for solar power. The cost of solar electricity at present is about Rs 14 per unit. The price is expected to decline to about Rs 10 per unit few years down the line due to technological improvements. I reckon the cost of electricity produced from oil is about Rs 6 per unit presently. Now, assume the price of oil in the international market doubles. The cost of electricity produced from oil becomes Rs 12 per unit while that of solar electricity is Rs 10.In this situation, if the price of oil was subsidized, we would still use oil for generation of electricity because the cost to the producer would be only Rs 6 per unit while cost to the country would be Rs 12. We would produce electricity from oil which is expensive; and not the solar electricity which is cheaper-due to pricing anomalies.

Deregulation of price of oil is wholly desirable. The opposition should not build upon shortsightedness of the voter. It should attack the government on measures that are truly anti-people. They should ask for reduction of taxes on items consumed by the poor to compensate for the impact of high oil price.

 

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

HOW INDO-PAK TALKS ARE DOOMED TO FAIL

BY DR BRAHMA SINGH

 

The Indian delegation to the Indo-Pak talks, recently held at Lahore, is back in India, disappointed and demoralised, after the failure of the much touted talks. So demoralised, in fact, that its leader, Minister for External Affairs, SM Krishna, threw diplomatic probity to the winds and berated his own Secretary Home, GK Pillai, for contributing to some extent towards the failure of the talks, by making an 'untimely' adverse comment on the role of Pakistan's ISI in the 26/11 Mombai terror attack. Pakistan's Foreign Minister, SMS Qureshi, who was wholly and solely responsible for the failure of the talks must have been greatly relieved at being absolved - even if partially - of his role in their failure. Frustration and demoralisation at the failure of the talks is not, however, confined to the Government circles only. It is glaringly wide spread in the country. 

Disappointment over a failure is directly proportional to ones expectations - higher the expectations greater the disappointment. In the present context the nation's expectations, whatever the reasons, had been rather high and hence the present disappointment. Viewed in the light of the recognised tenets of political science, however, there would appear to be nothing surprising about the recent Indo-Pak dialogue collapsing under its own weight. 
In terms of political science, India's eagerness for talks with Pakistan would appear to be an effort towards establishment of preconditions for permanent peace with that country through accommodation with diplomacy as its instrument. In itself the effort would appear to be most laudable. Where things seem to have gone wrong is in the actual practice of the art of diplomacy.

While the primary objective of Diplomacy is the promotion of national interests through peaceful means, the means at its disposal for achieving its objective are three viz persuasion, compromise and threat of use of force. The art of diplomacy lies in the correct assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation being dealt with and the employment of one, two or all the three means at its disposal in appropriate measure for maximum effect. Quite obviously, persuasion and compromise will work only when the stakes involved between the two nations are not too high and the issue of peace is of mutual benefit. In that case the weaker side could perhaps be persuaded by the stronger to toe the line with offers of substantially lucrative fringe benefits. On the other hand some minor national interests may also be sacrificed for the sake of larger ones and in the genuine interests of peace. However, in cases where stakes involved between the two nations are high, threat of use of force would have to be the dominant factor in the promotion of national interests. Needless to say, here, that a country that intends to use the instrument of the threat of the use of force must possess sufficient military strength to make the deterrent look credible.

Against Pakistan India, after catering for its other multifarious security commitments, seems to be maintaining, at best, a balance of power, with just a precarious tilt in its favour. So precarious, in fact, is the tilt that it is capable of being miscalculated and misunderstood either way. In fact, as revealed by Mr Altaf Gauhar, Pakistan's Secretary Information in the 1960s, all Pakistan's wars against India "were conceived and launched on the basis of one assumption: that the Indians are too cowardly and ill organised to offer any effective military response which could pose a threat to Pakistan". Altaf Gauhar's remarks not only reflect the contempt in which Pakistan holds India's military power but also shows how it has all along been miscalculating the precarious tilt in the balance of power to be in its own favour. 

The ignominy suffered by Pakistan during the 1971 war, rather than compelling it to abjure war as an instrument of State policy, has made its hostility towards India even more ardent and resolute. It has only changed its mode of fighting from the disadvantageous open wars to the more advantageous war by proxy - for which India is yet to find an answer. The proxy war unleashed by Pakistan in Kashmir, has already lasted more than twenty years with India remaining at the receiving end all the time. The answer probably lies for India to switch over to an open war - an option that India seems to have blocked by a self-afflicted moratorium on its present military strength. 

In the light of observations noted above it would appear that India has never been in the past, nor is it today, militarily strong enough as to be able to use this strength as an instrument of Diplomacy in dealing with Pakistan. Consequently India has invariably been entering into negotiations with Pakistan under the handicap of having only two means - persuasion and compromise - available to it for diplomatic manoeuvrings. Persuasion and compromise, on the other hand, cannot by themselves succeed in ushering in peace in the region for the following reasons:-

a) The stakes involved in the dispute are very high for both the countries with no acceptable alternatives leaving little or no scope for persuasion or compromise.

b) The peace, which India is seeking through talks, is not of mutual benefit to the two countries involved. In fact, as the sponsor of the proxy war in Kashmir and acts of terrorism in the rest of India towards the promotion of its national policy objectives, Pakistan's interests lie more in fanning the fires in India than in extinguishing them. 

c) There is no other pressure of any sort - political, economic or moral - on Pakistan, either from India or any other member of the International community, which could compel it to roll-back its aggressive plans against India. India's new found friend, United States, that could have exerted any such pressure are presently too dependent on Pakistan over the Afghan war to risk earning its ire by appearing to side with India.

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

EDITORIAL

 

 

LEH DISASTER

 

Even though different governments have been planning for years together to prevent floods or to minimize damages in such eventualities but it appears that some sort of complacence has crept, may be  because there was no major flood for a long time now! Our major rivers flowing through the state continue to get silted and at places the river bed is menacingly visible. There was a plan to re-introduce river transport that could make us achieve three-fold objective of increasing the water carrying capacity of these rivers, facilitating movement of mechanized boats through these with consequential benefit of decongestion of roads; unfortunately the fate of the project is unknown till date and perhaps stands consigned to records and the press note files of the Department of Information and Public Relations! Now we don't find even the routine work of the annual strengthening of river bunds. The people too have grown indifferent to the potential flood threats that are looming large and they usually fail to agitate such issues effectively. Instead we find unscrupulous elements making encroachments over water bodies. At places the encroachments pose a serious challenge to the authorities that are in charge of water bodies. At a time when climate change is happening and we need the combined efforts of measuring what's happening with efforts to prevent it, we are not seen doing anything about it. The tragedy that struck Leh should serve as an eye opener to the state government as the freak weather conditions can wreak havoc with our places at much bigger scale than was witnessed there. Freak weather conditions can strike anywhere and anytime; this is the loud and clear message that the incident blares out. In fact there was a forewarning in the shape of floods in Leh and elsewhere in the cold desert region that ravaged some residential areas and agriculture lands only some two years ago. But then the local authorities did not think of planning for future and the nature took its toll. Neither the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council nor the state government has done anything so far to draw a lesson from the earlier floods. With the result the entire populations in the twin districts of Leh and Kargil, as also habitations elsewhere in the state, situated on slopes continue to live on the fatal edge and at risk of getting devastated by flash floods, snowstorms, avalanches, land slips and slides. Well we have an avalanche forewarning system and weather forecasting mechanism in place that help us to caution people of possible catastrophes or rough weather conditions that they would be confronted with in a particular time period. But we have not taken any of the preventive measures on the ground in the shape of relocating the habitations at high risk to safer places or turning these habitations safer by raising structures that could afford some protection to these habitations.  Coming back to the issue of preventing floods, minimizing damages caused by these we need to give immediate attention to the de-silting of the water bodies including the rivers, their tributaries and even rivulets and irrigation canals to improve their carrying capacity. The river bunds that are in bad shape at places should get due attention so that these do not breach with the rise in water level. As of now Leh is receiving due attention from Srinagar and Delhi but with the passage of time the problem of vulnerability of the places to such shocking catastrophes may get ignored.  We see no activity in Kupwara where different Nullahs are in spate and have inundated many areas as if there is no government in place. We have several  Nullahs in the state that are generally seen dry for most of the period of time in a year but turn ferocious once there are torrential rains as the storm waters from catchment areas get drained through these.  Almost all the districts in the valley have one or a couple of Nullahs passing through. Unfortunately not much attention is given to flood protection works.  We need to have thorough examination and study of the rivers and water bodies so that a comprehensive plan is drawn to prevent losses to life and property. Similarly we need to have studies carried out on the glaciers that are receding at an alarming rate and are potential threat to life and property. We need to have a comprehensive Disaster Management Plan for each district, division and state as a whole to protect life and property.

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

OPINION

 

 

KASHMIR RESOUNDS IN WASHINGTON

ALL CONCERNED OVER WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE VALLEY

PUNCH LINE BY Z. G. MUHAMMAD

 

IT was reminiscent of the marathon debates during fifties in the United Nations Security council when the Kashmir dispute with all its dimensions:   humanitarian, geo-strategic,   India-Pakistan relations, US interests in South Asia,  changing international priorities, recent uprising in Kashmir and   right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN resolutions on Kashmir   resounded     past week in the Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.- the house of United States law makers and  the seat of global power. More than two hundred delegates   from India, Pakistan, both the sides of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir Diaspora from all over the world, US think tanks, Congressmen, diplomats from various countries stationed in Washington D.C., prominent US columnists and opinion makers    pooled their heads together in the Cannon and Rayburn halls  finding ways and means for resolving the Kashmir dispute. The event was the eleventh Kashmir Peace Conference.

 The focus of the eleventh International Kashmir Peace  conference as was stated by Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director in his introductory remarks was to apprise the international community about the   the human sufferings and criticality of Kashmir dispute. It was also aimed at calling upon the United Nations to take a 'lead for achieving a fair and lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute. And 'to pursue were other initiatives have left off, towards long journey on the road to peace. Along with   a trilateral approach,    an increasing international initiative is required.'     

 

The participants at the two  Peace Conferences organized by the Kashmiri American Council and the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers seemed on the same page in impressing upon the international community more particularly the United States to play its role in ending the sixty three years suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.  Those who made their presentations in the conference included  Kuldip Nayar, Writer and Columnist, Muhammad Afzal Sindhu, State Minister, Law and Justice Govt of Pakistan, Prof. Stanley Wolpert, Historian, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi,  Ambassador Yusuf Buch, Prof. Hafeez Malik,  Villanova University, Prof. Faizanul Haq, University of Buffalo,    Mr. Ejaz Sabir, Attorney at Law.   Dr. Karen Parker, UN Delegate, Intl. Ed. Development, Dr. Attiya Inaytullah, Member Pakistan National Assembly, Prof. Angana Chateerji, Dr. M.A. Dar, Barrister Sareer Fazil,  Munir Akram, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to UN, Justice Rajinder Sachar, Dr. Rodeny Jones, M. Ahmed Bilal Sufi Presidency Research Society, Mr. Hussein Haqani, Pakistan Ambassador in Washington   Ms. Victoria Schofield, Ms. Rita Manchandi, Mr. Ved Bhasi  , Dr. Jahngir Qazi, Jitender Bakshi, Dr. Farhan Chak,   Muzzammil Thakur, Prof. Richard Sharpio, Prof. Maqsood Jafari and Ali S Khan, Executive Director Kashmir Scandinavian Council.

 

The most encouraging aspect of the conference was the concern shown for the suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and delay in the resolution of Kashmir dispute by the Congressmen. Congressmen who expressed their solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir     included    Dan Burton,    Alder holt, C Danny Davis, , Dannis Kuchinich,  Yvette Clark and  Joseph Pitts.  Congressmen Dan Burton who is known for his advocating Kashmir cause in the United States for past twenty years in his remarks that Kashmir had been very 'dear to his heart' seemed overflowing with emotions.  He sounded optimistic in stating that the day was not far off when sufferings of Kashmiris will end and they will live a free and dignified life.' The Congressmen expressed their dissatisfaction   over the situation prevailing in the state and called upon ending of the persecution of people in the state, respecting human rights and putting an end to killing of children.

They called upon India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute to the urges and political aspirations of the people of the state without causing any further suffering to the people. Equivocal  in their approach   for bringing peace in South Asia the Congressmen stated the  resolution of Kashmir dispute had become imperative. Some of the Congressmen said the President Obama was fully aware about the importance of Jammu and Kashmir for peace and stability not only in Afghanistan but for the entire south Asia.  Congressman Joseph Pitts recalled that President Barack Obama had not fulfilled his campaign promise to engage with the Kashmir issue. Taking a dig at Holbrook special envoy for the region for avoiding even mention the Kashmir word he said was a "disgrace". He emphasized the need for US administration getting more engaged in the region to end suffering of Kashmiri children. Congressman Robert Aderholt said that the ongoing Kashmiri protests were a fresh reminder that that the problem persist with all its dangers. It was not only the Congressmen who wanted the United States to get more engaged in the resolution of Kashmir problem but   many important scholars joined them. 

 

Calling for permanent resolution of Kashmir dispute  an eminent South Asia expert Prof. Stanley  Wolpert in his elaborate presentation  stated, " A permanent peaceful resolution to Kashmir Conflict requires solemn diplomatic agreement between India and Pakistan that have full support of Kashmir's most popular leaders. The United States should do whatever it can to expedited the resolution of Kashmir conflict, which has taken a greater toll of human suffering and wasted the resources than any other South Asian catastrophe since the partition of India in mid-1947.' He hoped President Obama during his visit India this November 'will assure Prime Minister Manmohan Singh America's firm commitment to assist him in any way possible to expedite the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.' Many other Indo-Pak-US expert have also pinned hopes with Obama's visit to New Delhi becoming turning point in India-Pakistan relations and resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Dr. Maleeha Lodhi while deliberating in detail upon the sovereignty, security and human rights and humanitarian dimensions of the Kashmir dispute called upon 'dismantling oppressive mechanism brick by brick in Jammu and Kashmir. 

 The most authentic and erudite Kashmir voice that was heard with rapt attention  at the Conference was Kalashpora, Srinagar born octogenarian   Ambassador Yusuf Buch,   as he is popularly known in the diplomatic  and political circle in the United State. He was arrested and exiled in 1948 by the National Conference government for his political beliefs and altercation at a Kashmiri officers meeting with then Deputy Prime Minister, Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad. Denouncing calling Kashmir movement as 'separatist' – he said separate what when we never joined and pointing out difference between 'insurgency and resistance'- he said that it is misnomer to call Kashmir movement as insurgency. He said   "this language is meant to cultivate a diplomatic culture of evasion. It aims to draw a curtain over present-day reality and provide a moral justification for inaction'. These misrepresentations are also designed to promote a "tolerant" view of a situation that is "hard and pitiless". Notwithstanding this terminology, the killings of 90,000 Kashmiris have added a "transformational reality to the dispute". He   questioned   "if ongoing   large and sustained peaceful protests going on in Kashmir would  be ignored if they occurred in a western country.'  Not mentioning the United States in an oblique reference to this country he said  that this country was avoiding taking a position on Kashmir lest it annoys New Delhi.  He identified three factors for world what he called world 'mocking at the agony of Kashmir' the first is that the world has become 'used' to a dispute that has persisted for over six decades. Second the UN, which has obligations on this issue, has been marginalized since the end of the Cold War and third "callousness if not outright cynicism to have become the reserve fund of diplomacy" on the issue. Two adjectives, he said, that are routinely used including by US officials are "historical" and "longstanding". What, he asked, is "historical" about injustices that are being inflicted every day? What is "longstanding" about unarmed teenagers pelting stones to express their opposition to Indian rule?

 Stating Kashmir was a 'symptom and not diseases' Kuldip Nayar endorsing Kashmir for its contiguity and demography could have been part of Pakistan but for Pakistan committing mistakes at the inception by sending raiders in Kashmir stated   the issue now  had become time barred blamed Pakistan for having committed mistakes in at the inception by sending raiders then joining SEATO and SEANTO.  Nayar clinging to the   stated  position of New Delhi said  that the status of Kashmir cannot be changed and country cannot allow another partition ruled out changing of borders and altering the constitution positions about Kashmir.  But Yusuf Buch in his presentation reminded Mr. Nayar of Nehrus statement on June 26, 1952:   "If after a proper plebiscite the people of Kashmir said we do not want to live with India, we are committed to accept this. We will not send an army against them. We will change the Constitution if necessary".  

 In the conference that ended with the adoption of declaration there were many other valuable presentations made by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Ambassdor Munir Akram, Senator Mushahid Hussain and one by Ahmer Bilal  Soofi that need to discussed and  debated over.  That I may do in my next column.

(Feedback at zahidgm@greaterkashmir.com)

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

COLUMN

 

KASHMIR: NO IDEAL SOLUTION

BOTH INDIA AND PAKISTAN MUST PERSUADE THEM TO ACCEPT AUTONOMY

BY KULDIP NAYAR

 

I was one of the participants at the conference which was convened by the Kashmiri-American Council and Association of Humanitarian lawyers. Emotions apart, the diaspora was concerned over the future of the land of their origin. 

 All agreed, as is the general belief in India, that a delayed political solution of the Kashmir problem is responsible for the eruption of occasional violence or protests in the state. The participants expressed grave concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir and demanded the appointment of a commission to investigate the causes of the current violence in the valley, where 43 people have died since June 11 when the present wave began. 

 I have no doubt that the mishandling of the situation and violation of human rights have contributed to the spread of defiance and destruction in the valley. But the youth were equally determined to pelt stones on security forces. 

 In fact, the reason behind such occurrences is the alienation of Kashmiris from India and New Delhi's assumption that the people will ultimately come round to accepting the status quo if they were to find the governance just, honest and working for the betterment of the state. The situation has gone beyond that. 

 There is validity in the argument that the separatists are not allowing the situation to settle down. But the fact remains that people in Kashmir have given Srinagar and New Delhi many chances — the recent one being the year-old election in which they participated to the extent of 60 per cent — to sort out the problem of autonomy. But the two did not do so. 

 Where did things go wrong? My experience tells me that the more a political party, or the administration at Srinagar, goes nearer to India the greater is the resentment of people who want to preserve their own identity. A government which is seen challenging New Delhi is liked because it gives them a vicarious satisfaction of being independent. Sheikh Abdullah, a popular Kashmiri leader, understood this. He did not question Kashmir's accession to India but placated the Kashmiris by criticising New Delhi for eroding the state's autonomy. For example, he would say that the Kashmiris would prefer to stay hungry if the atta from India was meant to trample upon their right to stay independent. It may have been a fiction but it worked. 

 Even Jawaharlal Nehru, the Sheikh's friend and supporter in political battles against the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, did not understand his rhetoric and detained him without trial in southern India for some 12 years. Still Nehru realised rather late that tampering with autonomy had taken the shape of separation and a strong pro-Pakistan tilt. He released the Sheikh and sent him to Islamabad. Unfortunately Nehru died when the Sheikh was in the midst of talks with Gen Ayub Khan, Pakistan's martial law administrator. 

 Until then Kashmir was a problem between India and Pakistan. They held talks and fought wars but reached nowhere. The Shimla Agreement converted the ceasefire line into the Line of Control. But the two failed to go further because of their domestic compulsions. The Sheikh returned to power and entered into an accord with then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that restored some autonomy which New Delhi had appropriated in his absence. But the Sheikh did not have a free hand because the bureaucracy and the intelligence agencies, by then strong, did not want him to succeed. They "treated me like a chaprasi (peon)," the Sheikh often told me.His son, Farooq Abdullah, much less in stature, tried to retrieve the situation by asking New Delhi to go back to the terms of accession, the centre retaining only three subjects, defence, foreign affairs and communications. Successive governments at New Delhi felt that they could not go back as they feared a backlash. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was the only person who foresaw the danger in not reaching a settlement. He set up a back channel which almost found a solution when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted by Gen Pervez Musharraf. 

 I was reminded of the promise Nehru made to the Kashmiris that they would be given an opportunity to decide what they wanted to do with their territory. I told them that Nehru had rejected the demand for a plebiscite in his lifetime. His reasoning was that Pakistan by joining Cento and Seato, the two military pacts against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, had changed the context of the undertaking. 

 In the '80s, the Kashmir problem became an issue. The Kashmiris too claimed a place on the table for talks on Kashmir. Rigged state elections in 1987 drove the youth from ballot to bullet which Pakistan was willing to provide. The following 10 years saw a running battle between the Kashmiris and the security forces. Thousands died on both sides. The result was a further hiatus between the Kashmiris and New Delhi. 

Three things happened. One, the anti-India Kashmir leadership constituted a joint body, the All Hurriyat Conference. Two, a secular movement acquired an Islamic edge, particularly because of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Three, the pro-Pakistan tilt changed into a resolve for independence, the slogan which Yasin Malik, the first militant in Kashmir, raised. Today that sentiment prevails in the shape of a demand that Kashmiris decide their own destiny. 

 The demand for independence may be genuine but it is not possible. I wonder even if Pakistan would agree to an independent, sovereign state when the chips are down. I opposed the demand at the conference in Washington on two counts: one, India will not agree to another partition on the basis of religion, and two, borders could be made irrelevant but not changed. I also cautioned that Jammu and Ladakh would not go along with the valley to the point of secession. 

 Yet it would be useful to find out what was the solution that Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif had reached to make the former say: "We were almost there." Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri announced at Delhi that they had reached a settlement. What was the solution? And the most important part is whether Kashmiris would accept it? Both India and Pakistan must persuade them to accept autonomy because independence does not seem to find favour in either New Delhi or Islamabad. It can tell upon India's integrity. The Kashmiris should realise that independence is not an ideal solution. 

 Courtesy: The Dawn(The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi)

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

OPED

INTROSPCTION

IF WE ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO RESIST, WE CAN HOPE FOR A BETTER AND SECURER FUTURE, WRITES DR. ABDUL MAJID SIRAJ

 

IN the midst of political cataclysm pervading in Kashmir and perpetuated from over decades there could be a window of optimism through the dark alleys.   The current outbreak of ubiquitous violence and its public response has a singular guise.   Every city and village is involved.   Every day people come out, defy curfew, demonstrate shouting anti-India slogans, facing head on forces that are fully prepared to shoot and kill.  There are no suicide missions declared but the crowds of youth offer their lives as ultimate sacrifice with the clear objective of freedom that drives them.   The present wave of dissent manifests itself with a theme of common purpose that runs through all shades of the resistance movement.  No one makes heroes or promotes a party.   It is slogans of freedom that reverberate in the skies.  The blood of youth including from young women is not allowed to dry before more is strewn in the streets of the beleaguered State.

 Such times of a revolution have come to other nations of the world.  They all came through the worst and emerged as successful nations.  In the past the world took notice of violation of human rights and demanded answers from India.  Now it is India that is compelled to take notice of its own behaviour in Kashmir.  Leader of opposition Mr. Advani demanded a report on Kashmir's alarming situation.  The optimism emanates from the natural laws that govern and indicated in aphorism of finite time singularity the conflict has assumed virulent proportions and will have to resolve.  There is the historical determination of similar struggles that culminated into free nations.   

 The political developments in the subcontinent and obligations to significant challenges from natural and ephemeral disasters will exhort governments to take Kashmir dispute as a priority to solve.  The international community may seem to be mute observers but behind the scenes pressures are mounting.  In addition there is no strength left in the fetters of oppression until they disintegrate.  

 Notwithstanding the success of political travails, people of Kashmir need to look inwards for hard introspection and find what else needs to be done.   It is at this point that an act of catharsis for some may be an essential prelude to ultimate deliverance.  The nation has to be prepared for a new form of life and living.   Eschew all failings of a consummate society like corruption, deceit and greed.  It will help the whole nation if no one receives or pays or condones bribe.  All people learn to respect all others.  This will result in an implicit egalitarian brotherhood that will be difficult for any aggressive force to penetrate.   I find this action necessary because over the years of incompetent governance people who were born and brought up in turmoil become hardened and reclusive.   They need to open up and understand a segment of their society and in the process the larger picture will emerge. The young men and women prepared like this will cherish the two strands of liberationism, one too raise social consciousness and the second to enlist support for the struggle.

(Feedback at majidsirajuk@yahoo.com  and  www.kashmircaselaw.com)

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

OPED

 

 

HISTORY REPEATS, ROLES REVERSE

QUIT INDIA (1942) AND ABDULLAH'S ARREST (1953)!

DR.JAVID IQBAL WRITES ON THE TWO COURSE-CHANGING EVENTS.

 

9th August, India the oppressed nation under the British yoke, asked her tormentor to leave lock, stock and barrel in 1942 and in 1953, history repeated albeit with a reversal of roles, India put in prison the very person she had banked on to sell brand India to Kashmir. History is bizarre, its lesson difficult to decipher, as you see nations exercising the very option that was found abhorring, when the whiplash of history struck them.   In 1953, with Abdullah's arrest in Kashmir, a needless query was put on a nation, which was imparting moral lessons to the rest of the world. Vis-à-vis Kashmir, the question looms large, and as it stands today, no answers are forthcoming-the confrontation continues. 

 In 1942,   the wheel had turned full circle. All else politically possible, socially viable and nationally feasible had been tried. Faced with mere promises of addressing India's concerns only after World War Second came to a fair conclusion, India felt it had had enough. Britain, the paramount power wanted to ensure India's active participation in the war effort.

 

Congress, the RAJ felt, held the key. Mahatma Gandhi was a pragmatist. He would not be fed on promises. The RAJ could have his cooperation, at a price! The price he demanded was total Indian Independence. He had a sound argument; a man in bondages could not fight.

 Churchill was managing a difficult coalition in Britain. So was Mahatma Gandhi. Congress, India's political conglomerate was never ever, since its inception in later part of 19th century, an ideologically homogenous force. It was, at best an umbrella provided to cover the ideologically diverse political forces. They had nevertheless a common aim - India's independence.

However, with Gandhi's call to Britishers to quit India, the division in the conglomerate became apparent. Communists though a separate party had always played the second fiddle. With the call, they were seen playing a different tune. Russia had switched ends, with Germany pushing towards East in addition to West of Europe. Contrary to Stalinist perception, Hitler did not extend the courtesy of keeping East of Europe in communist hands. Stalin joined allies. In India, Communists preferred to fight fascism of Germans rather than the imperialism of the British.

  Mahatma Gandhi was, however in no mood to give the Brits an easy ride in India. Revered as a saint across length and breadth of a country of continental proportions, he was nevertheless down to earth in calculating the pros and cons of the struggle, he nourished. Britain had their satellites in Indian states; Maharajas, Rajas and Nawabs. With this support plus the left handed support of communists, the RAJ felt, they had enough on board to checkmate Mahatma.  Gandhi however, was not the one to be checkmated so easily. Whatever Britain might have gained in material terms and in human resources was made questionable in moral terms. Deftly, he would put a question mark on the projected Christian values of the west. He would squeeze their democratic space, their talk of equality and fraternity.

Moreover he had a word of advice for 'Allied' forces. That was to avoid an active confrontation and resist the 'Axis' not by force of arms but by his own novel political tool of 'Satyagarah'. Although attributed to him, Mahatma did not claim it to be a novel method. Jesus Christ, he would remind the West had sermonized on turning the other cheek, in facing violence. "An eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind" said Mahatma. Hard nosed with stiff upper lip, the characteristics British Islanders were known for, remained un-impressed except for pacifists, of whom there were not many, especially with Churchill at the head of proceedings in Britain.   

 Quit India was an investment in future. And the future did not prove too distant. Within five years, just a breather in the life of nation; Mahatma's anointed successor, Nehru was announcing the arrival of a new dawn. At midnight of 15th August.1947, he was talking of tryst with destiny. Nehru was the star of the show, not Mahatma. He was in distant Noakhali in Bengal trying to cool tempers of his frenzied countrymen. India had gained independence amidst a blood bath. The investment in human terms lay shattered in avenues, lanes and by-lanes across the subcontinent. 

 Sheikh Abdullah, preferred to lead his people out of communal holocaust, rather than be led by and overtaken by a hateful sentiment. In his case especially, the stakes were very high. Yet, he walked a path angels fear to tread. Mahatma Gandhi saw a ray of hope emanating from Kashmir, while the rest of country was in mad frenzy. Abdullah saw the fallout of sub continental madness in a part of his own state and even with that he was able to keep his main constituents in the vale of Kashmir away from eye for eye frenzy, helped without a doubt by the centuries old Kashmiri values of tolerance. Tolerance that held in the face of grave provocations, until it became a time tested one. Abdullah however had worked-up alliances, which did not stand him in good stead, in the testing time that lay ahead. The one he cherished most was with Mahatma's anointed successor-Pundit Nehru!

 Sheikh and Pundit had taken to each other like proverbial lovers. Both saw lot of romance in politics, as both were romanticists, with high sentimental level, levels where pitfalls are not far away, due to equally high expectation level. Sheikh had switched to secular plank, once he was convinced that deprivation is universal and dispossessed might and do exist in all religious, social and ethnic groupings. He opted for secular India, in preference to his co-religionists in Pakistan, with the hope that his Kashmiriyat would find a space in the larger Indian national perspective. He had doubts that the other side might dilute the cultural essence of Kashmir, in the name of religion.

 True, Abdullah was religious too and felt strongly that his spiritual belief is not in variance, with the specific features of Kashmir's culture. He had worked it out that strata of religion in Kashmir had a comforting cushion in sub strata of culture. He saw no reason or could visualize, no difficulty of a similar workout at a higher strata of functioning, a merging of beliefs.

However, what was workable at the local level, could not work at the wider strata of Indian nationhood. Or, the working was not to the level of Abdullah's expectations. 

 Abdullah, in addition was full of fresh ideas and due to high comfort level with his people, he thought, whatever he would plan, would be easily implemental. And it was not an empty boast. The pace and intensity of his land reforms, one and all concede was phenomenal. He achieved it with a rapidity that would have done credit to a socialist of highest order.  In the autocratic rule before 1947, most of the large land holdings belonged to the community, which had the same ethnicity and religious hue, as that of rulers.

As it could not be objected to on socio-political grounds, a communal colouring was given to the highly desired reform. In addition, there was an attempt to dilute the cultural and religious mix, which Abdullah had hoped would find space in Indian nationhood. It was easier said than done.

Abdullah's insistence on maintaining the ideal, gave a handle to his detractors to mock him, with the slogan of- Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan!

 Abdullah had just on hope, in the face of heavy odds. His friend Nehru, unfortunately failed to provide the support, he needed to pull through. The gathering storm resulted in reversal of roles, a reversal from the high moral ground of 1942. Kashmir's comfort level with India has failed to come to the levels of expectations of the days the relationship of trust was first put in practice. 

 Alas! The political honeymoon was short lived, though relationship continues, the usual roll down rocks now and then. The political sagacity needed to put it on track is lacking, the lost credibility would need a huge political input and not the force of arms. Sooner, the better!

Yaar Zinda, Sohbat Baqi 

[Reunion is subordinate to survival]

 

(Feedback at Iqbal_drji6217@yahoo.co.in or javid.iqbal46@gmail.com.)

 

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GREATER KASHMIR

OPED

 

 

IS OMAR A BOY WITH A TOY IN HIS HANDS?

WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENTS ARE THESE THAT ARE SO DENSE, SO ARROGANT AND SO COMPLETELY AGAINST THE PEOPLE THEY ARE IN POWER TO SERVE

GUEST COLUMN BY SEEMA MUSTAFA

 

THE flames are searing the skies, and everyone seems to have run out of water. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is using petrol instead of water as is Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram, but the Opposition and the separatists in the state are running around with dry cans, unable to take even a step that could cut into the public anger and anguish with some measure of success.

 The people of the Valley ---young, old, women, men----have taken to the streets in what is fast becoming a major civil disobedience movement. Every protest, every clash with the security forces, every person dead or injured, is bringing out more and more people on the streets with the situation now far beyond the control of the state government, or for that matter the UPA government at the centre.

 Omar's aunt Khaleda Shah told me in an interview recently that it was as if a "child (Omar) had been given a toy (Jammu and Kashmir) to play with." He did not have the ability or the experience to handle the sensitive border state, and as events have proved, managed to only fuel the fires that have now spread across the state. When he rushed to Delhi for talks, one received any number of messages and phone calls from Kashmir insisting that he had gone to offer his resignation. That was the hope and the belief. But it was not to be.

 The chief minister emerged from his meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and a plethora of central politicians and bureaucrats to inform the media that the two governments had decided on the law and order option as the first recourse. And that the path they had decided to take at the crossroads was not that of peace and reconciliation, but of further confrontation. Curfew would be enforced stringently and the Rapid Action Force would be sent to Jammu and Kashmir to quell the protestors. Strict action would be taken against those who took the law into their own hands, the chief minister declared even while he claimed that his preferred option was that of a political settlement. But even so dialogue, he added, could only happen after peace was restored.

 Hundreds and thousands poured into the streets after his media interaction, clashing with the security forces, mourning the deaths of their relatives and friends, and made it clear in a strong message that they were not going to be intimidated by government threats. It was surprising that even after the days and weeks of violence---with 30 persons dying in just a few days---the chief minister and New Delhi had failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation, and the basic fact that the protests in Kashmir today are very very different from anything the state has witnessed in the past.

 There are no terrorists from across the border. There is no Lashkar, that the central government imagines is lurking behind every tree and boulder. The separatists have lost their voice, and whether they are in jail or not is a matter of complete indifference to the people agitating on the streets. The protestors have not asked for their release. The Opposition barely exists in the peoples' consciousness and there is no one today, no one person or group whose voice the Kashmiris are willing to listen to. The most credible separatist leader today in the Valley is supposedly Hurriyat's Ali Shah Geelani, recognized as such by even his rivals as well as political parties like the Peoples Democratic Party. He was released from arrest to make an appeal to the people to continue with the protest peacefully and to desist from violence. His call fell on deaf ears, the protests continued, the clashes between the people and the security forces killed and injured, and there is no indication that his plea will be heeded.

 In earlier columns one had asked Omar Abdullah to speak to the people, to reach out, to establish contact, to bridge the gap and take quick measures to bring back trust and confidence. Now one can only say that it is too late. He is not in control and given the fact that he was hooted at by people when he visited a hospital, it is clear that he has lost all support. He is not seen as someone who can handle the situation, or a leader who even understands what is going on. And is continuing in office as there is no one else today who has the stature and the ability to bring Kashmir back on an even keel. One asked a senior opposition leader to name one person in whom the people could repose confidence, and the response was silence.

 The options thus are few but necessary. One, why are the people so angry? Because---and this one has gathered after speaking to a variety of Kashmiri leaders and journalists---they do not see any hope in sight. The talks with Pakistan have stalled, governance in the state is abysmal, nothing moves---files or jobs, the leadership at all levels is indifferent and apathetic, and there is not a word from either Delhi or Srinagar, not a gesture that can make them think otherwise. The generation born and brought up in conflict does not have the patience of those who have grown up in better days, they have known sorrow and despair in their early years of life, and are not just frustrated and angry but also terrified that nothing will change for the better.

 So what is the answer? Speak to the people with patience and kindness and with concrete action, or speak to them with guns and bullets? The second option should not have existed for the government at all, but given the paucity of leadership at both the state and the centre and the not very high calibre of those in politics one finds that governments today are unable to communicate with their people, particularly distressed people, without guns. Restore law and order becomes the clarion call of governments, even as the more devious in authority try and use the period to discredit the people, brand them as terrorists, and thereby justify the use of more and more violence by the state.

 

 A good government would have immediately implemented a series of measures. These could have been a mix of political and developmental measures on the ground, not just in rhetoric. Backed by a statement of concrete steps and a time frame by the Prime Minister, the two governments could have put together a list of steps that would inspire at least some confidence after taking most of the Opposition in the state on board. Release of political prisoners for instance, would have got the separatists on board, and a personal call by the chief minister might have charmed even a reluctant Mehbooba Mufti. After speaking to more friends in Kashmir one will attempt to put these down in the next column asking… if the ordinary citizen has the answer, why does it continue to defy governments?

 The point is that a lot could have been done, and one wonders at political leaders who did not even bother to try the peaceful approach, and went straight into intensifying confrontation. What kind of governments are these that are so dense, so arrogant and so completely against the people they are in power to serve? The situation in Kashmir is as never before, realise that and react to that otherwise the consequences will shake not just the state but the nation.

(The author is National Affairs Editor, News X.

Feedback at seemamustafa@gmail.com)

 

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THE DAILY RISING KASHMIR

EDITORIAL

 

CONFLICT PLANNING

 

KASHMIR FALLS IN SEISMIC ZONE V; IT IS ALSO WORLD'S 'DANGEROUS PLACE' – GOVT SHOULD NOT DELAY RELIEF WHENEVER NEEDED

The state government has a secular, liberal constitution. The government response to public sufferings should, therefore, not be guided by political or ideological prejudices. Even if a stone thrower is hurt in Police firing, the authorities should have prompt system to know whether his family can afford the costly treatment or requires the state aid. There should be a proper policy at the levels of planning and financial management that would make the public outreach during turmoil far easier than in peacetime. This policy should be free from political biases and interference from self-appointed custodians of India's national interest. If India really wants to win hearts and minds of people in J&K, the local government here would be damaging India's cause more than the stone throwing mobs if it shies away from reaching out to those hurt in the confrontation. Hundreds of Kashmiri youth, who have braved bullets on head, chest and face during the ongoing turmoil, are undergoing treatment in Valley's various hospitals. Out of the total fifty deaths, seventeen have occurred due to loss of blood and lack of emergency drugs. Several boys lost their eyes to the edgy pebbles that are being propelled toward the crowds by CRPF men as a new war tactic. 

 

Those dead have left daggers in the hearts of their kin. But those who survived and are moaning in hospitals are a lifetime, irreparable scar for their families. The important aspect of this tragedy is that all those wounded Kashmiris belong to average, lowbrow social class. Most of them live on less than Rs 150 a day. These families are right now the priority if the government wants to reconnect with the masses. Such state of affairs generally evokes a wave of social emotion. Volunteers rush with aid. Some noble citizens offer cash to meet the huge costs of treatment. While the people need to organize themselves better to reach out to these needy, the government should take it upon itself that no family prays for the death of its kin when the doctor prescribes a small drug dose costing Rs 1000.  Owing to a variety of reasons, including chronic corruption, public service goals in J&K are met largely by accident rather than planning. It needs a full-blown uprising to convince the government that the boys in Srinagar's volatile downtown require a healing touch. The government goes on approving the conventional architecture for long-span bridges in rural areas until a low-intensity flood washes them away. The teachers are held accountable for attendance only when the separatists display the street power. Counseling for youth is mooted only after the stone throwing assumes popular sanctity and the secessionist slogans replace the folklore. When the deadly earthquake hit the subcontinent in 2005, the government woke up to the idea of preparedness. The so called 'Disaster Management Cell' came into being as a response to the earthquake; as if the government did not know that J&K falls within seismic zone V. Strange. Examples galore but the point is why those who rule a state with peculiar features choose to function like the authorities of Punjab or Karnataka. The state is geographically disputed between two nuclear countries, politically unstable and militarily extremely sensitive. Such a state needs not just planning but special planning. On priority the government should put aside Rs 10 Crore corpus fund to mitigate the urgent sufferings. For long-term, let there be a proper budgeting for disaster as well as the conflict.

 

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THE DAILY RISING KASHMIR

OPINION

 

"GOVERNMENT IN HELICOPTER"

TO REACH OUT TO THE PEOPLE, OUR "ELECTED" MINISTERS USE AIR ROUTES RATHER THAN ROADS

 

We have heard about "Government in Exile", like the one headed by Tibetian spiritual leader Dalai Lama. But the coalition government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has given a new dimension to its functioning. It is the government mostly run with the help of helicopters. That means the Blackberry and the latest gadget IPad too has failed.

On Thursday the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir flew to a distance of few kilometres to reach the Institute of Medical Sciences, ironically named after his grand father "Sher-e-Kashmir". This was done to avoid the contact with the "people on ground" whose chief minister he is. So the "connection is intact" but given the situation he had no option but to avoid an eye-to-eye contact with those whom he rules. At the end of the brief visit the "jeering episode" proved him right as he could hurriedly pack up from there.

 

When Union Home Minister P Chidambaram asked the state government to reach out, it was done very quickly, courtesy—the Helicopters state owns. Teams of Ministers were fanned out in different districts and they held "Awami Durbars" in fortified Dak Bungalows and later named them as "meeting with Civil Society". So the meaning of Civil Society too was changed since all those who attended those handful meetings were either NC and Congress workers or the officials who were summoned by the government making their participation mandatory. So the "elected" ministers never touched the roads and flew in air. Even if someone dared to do so he had to do it at the cost of killing his sleep and travel during night. But the connection with people is intact. Even after flying by air, three ministers had to be rescued in Islamabad when "their electorate" surrounded them. Army had to be called in and the police officers were in tizzy to save their jobs.

 

Not only this the chief minister and ministers who made visits to outside Valley could not reach to airport by road but used Helicopters from Nehru Helipad to take a flight or return to highly secured mansions in Gupkar or Sonwar.

 

The latest addition, if the sources are to believe is that vegetables for daily use are also imported from Delhi and Jammu on almost daily basis. The fresh vegetables for chief minister, ministers, DGP and other top officials are ferried almost on daily basis since markets in Kashmir are closed for two months now.

 

One wonders if this political unrest would have taken place a few decades back when helicopters were not in vogue how would have been this "reach" with the "own people" nee "electorate" be possible. So all the time God saves people.

 

So don't worry the government is in touch with its people, it does not matter whether by road or by air. Igor Sikorsky Zindabad, as he gave us "Government in Helicopter". He is known as "Father of Helicopters".

 

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THE DAILY RISING KASHMIR

VIEW POINT

 

TOMORROW MAY BE TOO LATE

 

UNLESS THE KASHMIRI LEADERSHIP AND THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN DON'T MOVE AWAY FROM THEIR SELF-SERVING RHETORIC ON KASHMIR, ALL OUR TOMORROWS WILL BE BLEAK

DR SYED NAZIR GILANI 

At least 48 Kashmiri civilians have died so far in police and CRPF action since June 11 and the general population remains under curfew. It is unfortunate that the government which is under oath to do good to all manner of people and security forces who have been admitted into the State to protect 'life', 'honour' and 'property' have failed at core to honour their trust.

The first question that merits attention is in regards to the authority of the government. The basis of governance is the transfer of free opinion of an individual in a free and fair periodic secret ballot. It is unfortunate that after staging this process (ballot) and securing a semblance of a free transfer of opinion the present government is at war with its own mandate. Jammu and Kashmir Government seems to run to a third party in Delhi to seek a solution and of course not for the ongoing street unrest but for welding the cracks in its ability to govern.

It remains for the political wisdom and democratic traditions of Government of India and others in opposition whether they would wish to remain on the side of the people of Kashmir or would err to stand behind the hangman in Kashmir. If NC and Congress coalition collapses for the non discharge of its duty to the electorate, it should be allowed to fail and people should be engaged to suggest an interim alternative. An installation of any other political party to lead the government on a new date and dressed in a new attire would not be the cure. It would a recycling of the old stereotype in Kashmir.

It is encouraging that the Government of India has begun a series of consultations with Kashmiri opinion makers to explore ways to salvage the situation in Kashmir. We hope the process is not the old stereotype and the 'opinion makers' also are not slaves of local prejudices and remain fully mindful of the restraints on their ability to understand the Kashmir issue, if not better, at least keeping in mind the distribution of the people under three administrations, the Diaspora (State Subjects), controls of two sovereign States (India and Pakistan), territorial integrity as defined in article 4 of the J&K Constitution, Legislative authority in accordance with article 48 of the J & K Constitution (read with UN Security Council Resolution of 30 March 1951), Preamble of PaK Constitution and the respective references under the Constitutions of India and Pakistan. All may not be in favour of the people of Kashmir and it is the duty of Kashmiri opinion makers to collate the favourable jurisprudence and increment the case of their people. Wise one's always take a decision on the balance of favourable evidence.

The Government of India would be making a serious error if it goes cold in its duty towards the people of Kashmir and is caught in a process to have "talks to give shape to the real talks". Dialogue with the people of Kashmir first and a dialogue with the Government of Pakistan next remain fundamental to any forward movement. Similarly for Pakistan a dialogue with the people of PaK and Gilgit and Baltistan (State Subjects) first and a dialogue with the Government of India next remain fundamental to a way forward. The two countries do not have to gather evidence to solve a murder case. They have to resolve the question of the title of self determination of a people distributed and controlled by them after August 1948.

India and Pakistan have a local, national and an international discipline to resolve the question of self determination of the people.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (M) has taken a timely step to address an aide memoire to UN Secretary General and invite his attention to the situation in Kashmir (Valley). He has brought to the attention of UN Secretary General that "India has declared an open war in Kashmir. There is blood of innocent children and teenagers spilled on the streets of Kashmir who are being shot dead for demanding the implementation of the solemn pledge made to them by the world community that they would be allowed to decide their future." One should not hold back honest appreciation of the concern shown by Mirwaiz. It is a welcome and substantive step. However, it seems that Mirwaiz did not wait for an input from others concerned (as invited) and that there is an absence of a credible and well organised team of experts or opinion makers in All Parties Hurriyat Conference (G & M) who could assist the leadership to discharge their trust in keeping with the complexity of the Kashmir case.

The aide memoire would have been more relevant for the cognizance of UN Secretary General and helpful to the people of Kashmir if it had made a direct reference to the failure of UN Secretary General under articles 98 and 99 of the UN Charter (Purposes and Principles).  For some time the UN Secretary General has not been making any reference to Kashmir in his (their) annual report to the General Assembly as required under article 98. Under article 97 Secretary General is the chief administrative officer of the UN. However, under article 99 the Secretary General has the right to bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. Under article 20 the Secretary General is responsible for convening special session of the General Assembly at the request of the Security Council or a majority of the members of the UN.

It raises a fundamental question as to whether APHC (G&M) has a reliable understanding of Kashmir case. There is another valid question whether it has been working in accordance with its political discipline adopted on July 31, 1993 and whether the Government of Pakistan has been discharging its trust duties under UNCIP resolutions.

Kashmiri leadership and the Government of Pakistan seem to be doing all except the required relevant in the interests of the people of Kashmir. Unless the two and the people move from the self serving rhetoric on Kashmir, all our tomorrows are bleak and we shall remain restrained in a cul de sac of no honourable exit. Tomorrow may be too late and Kashmiris may lose the constituency of sympathy at home, in India, in Pakistan and at the international level. Our leaders need to revisit their agenda and advocate the right of self determination for all people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The government in Srinagar and the government of India have a higher burden of responsibility to discharge.

Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations.  He can be mailed at dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

TACKLING INSURGENCY

INDIA MUST RE-ORIENT ITS CENTRAL POLICE FORCES

 

FOR over five decades India has been fighting insurgency and terrorism, a phenomenon that has been witnessing a steady rise. The latest in the series has been the violent Naxalite movement that has expanded across India's 'Red Corridor' which has steadily grown from 50 districts in 2001 to 223 of 639 administrative districts in 2009 located across as many as 20 of 28 states.

 

Yet, after all these years India does not have a force that is specially trained to combat counter-insurgency. Much of this task continues to be the responsibility of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which, of late, has come under brutal attack of the Naxalites. Much has been said about the competence, training, equipment and leadership of the CRPF, which is one of the world's largest central police organisation comprising a sizable 206 battalions that are in perpetual deployment in tasks as varied as crowd control and riot control, guarding of vital installations and historical places of worship, election duty and relief and rescue operations to fighting terrorism. Is it any wonder that neither the CRPF nor any of the other central police organisations such as 159 battalion strong Border Security Force are able to combat the rising menace of insurgency and terrorism in a country where the state police forces have become ineffective to handle such challenges.

 

The only specialist anti-terrorist force is the National Security Guards (NSG), which again is a small sized force trained to undertake close-quarter anti-terrorist and counter-hijacking operations. But then, commandos of both the Special Action Groups of the NSG comprise deputationists from the Army. Again, the only counter-insurgency force is the Rashtriya Rifles, which again comprises cent per cent Army deputationists. It is a matter of deep concern that one of the world's fastest growing economies with the third largest military force does not have a civilian central force trained and equipped to deal with the menace of terrorism and insurgency that shows no signs of abating. The government must give this serious thought and rectify this grave anomaly.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

PRANAB AT RECEIVING END

DON'T LET PESKY CALLERS GET AWAY WITH IT

 

TWO years ago the Supreme Court took up a common complaint from cell phone users about unsolicited calls and suggested that since the "national-do-not-call registry" had not proved effective, it should be replaced by a "call registry", requiring those willing to receive calls from telemarketers to register themselves. Those who had hoped for some relief after the apex court's intervention underestimated the government's ineffectiveness in dealing with this public nuisance. The issue once again cropped up when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee got a call from a telemarketer while he was in a meeting with Opposition leaders on Thursday.

 

Pranab's discomfiture has woken up Communications Minister A. Raja. Provoked by wide media coverage of the incident, he has directed his Secretary to seek the operators' explanation on what action they had taken to stop the social menace. Given the track record of the minister and his ministry, not much should be expected from this prompt action other than a possible sacking of the unfortunate caller. Even the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been sleeping over the issue. It is reported that the regulator is "trying to evolve some mechanism to stop unwanted telemarketing". How many years does it take to nail the offenders, registered or unregistered?

 

If the TRAI or the Communications Ministry has absolutely no idea about how to handle the problem, it can at least act on the Supreme Court's suggestion, to start with. Secondly, every service provider can be mandated to put in place an effective system to redress consumer complaints and ensure hefty fines on unwanted callers/institutions out to sell a bank scheme, some insurance policy or a housing plot. If the problem still persists, the licence of the defaulter needs to be cancelled. If the Communications Minister and the TRAI can't stop the blatant invasion of citizens' privacy, do they deserve to continue in their posts? Make way for someone who knows how to deal with telecom firms.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

GATES-BUFFET INITIATIVE IS EXEMPLARY

 

THE pledge by 40 US billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth to philanthropic purpose in response to a campaign by Microsoft chief Bill Gates and legendary investor Warren Buffet is an act of great magnanimity worthy of the highest commendation. Buffet, who owns the insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc has in fact pledged 99 per cent of his wealth. As New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is himself a billionaire said recently, "The reality of great wealth is that you can't spend it and you can't take it with you."

 

Considering that this year's Forbes list of the richest people in the world featured two Indians in the top 10 — Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal — and 10 of Asia's top 25 rich are from India, Mr Buffet's recent statement that he and Bill Gates will travel to India and China to meet wealthy individuals to motivate them to join the campaign, is noteworthy. Going by the philanthropic record of India's rich in general, it is anybody's guess if there would be any takers for the campaign in this country. With poverty and illiteracy running deep in India, there is much that people of means can do to provide succour to the teeming millions and to give mass education a boost. But the level of corporate social responsibility discharged by the Indian corporates falls far short of requirements. There is a general obsession to amass riches by means fair or foul and an equally strong urge to hoard wealth. A lot of the philanthropy is an eyewash and is designed to achieve political ends.

 

The multinationals, some of whom make a killing in India, spend much less towards corporate social responsibility than they do in their own countries. There is indeed need for public-spirited bodies to raise consciousness for greater corporate responsibility. That it is mandatory for all public sector oil companies to spend at least 2 per cent of their net profits on social responsibility is something which needs to be replicated in respect of all undertakings, public and private.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

THE IGNORED REVOLUTIONARIES

HOW THEY CONTRIBUTED TO INDIA'S FREEDOM

BY KULDIP NAYAR

 

IT was a long haul, from New Delhi to Sacramento, near San Francisco in the US. Yet, the journey was worth undertaking despite the hazards at my age. It was a pilgrimage. This is the place where half a dozen Sikhs, staunch Marxists, led a contingent of people to India to light the flame of revolution in 1913. The purpose was to free India from bondage. They made two attempts through sea routes, roping in even a few Sikh regiments under the British.

 

Both times the revolutionaries, known as the Gadhari babas (the elderly revolutionaries), were betrayed by the agents planted within their ranks. The well-known intellectual, Hardyal, who was part of the Gadhar movement, also betrayed the babas and went over to the British side when World War I commenced. Communist leader Sohan Singh Josh, living in India, said that by changing sides, Hardyal brought shame on himself and his past. Barkatullah, also a revolutionary, stood firm on the side of the Ghadarites. His grave is visited by scores of people every day.

 

The British set up a tribunal to try those who had defied the Empire. Many were hanged with barely a ripple in India. Even today the country hardly knows their sacrifice. Only a few of the revolutionaries like Kartar Singh Sarabha and Sohan Singh Bakan are known in certain areas of Punjab. There is no mention of them in any textbook throughout India.

 

The labour settled in Canada too charted the Komagata Maru, a Japanese merchant ship, and sailed to India. The ship found no port on the way to Calcutta to berth. They too were butchered by the British. However, the difference between the effort from Canada and that from San Francisco was the difference of ideology.

 

From Canada a rich Sikh, Gurdip Singh, hired the ship to carry cargo but the Komagata Maru became the focus of revolution because the labour on the ship defied the owner and raised the standard of revolt. Mewa Singh, an unknown local priest, shot William Hopkinson dead in the Vancouver court where he was waiting to denounce the philosophy which the Gadhar Party was trying to expound.

 

The Komagata Maru incident provided the spark that lit the fire of defiance among the Indians abroad. The Ghadar, the party's organ, wrote relentlessly to exhort people to revolt. Several thousand men living abroad caught the earliest boat to reach India.

 

Some five years ago, migrants from India settled in California —Sacramento is its capital — constituted the Gadhar Memorial Committee to organise functions in memory of the Gadhari babas. The committee holds a meeting every year on the second Saturday of July.

 

I was the main speaker this year. People from different parts of America thronged a big hall and sat through the four-hour-long meeting when half a dozen speakers dilated on the sacrifice and selflessness of the Ghadari babas and wished if India could let its countrymen know how a handful of ordinary men embarked on the task of ousting the British. Among the speakers was the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

 

The Gadhari babas started the struggle from a small building which is there even today in the midst of living quarters of San Francisco. The Government of India has taken over the building and looks after its maintenance. New Delhi needs to spend more on setting up a museum to display things that are associated with the babas. One of their documents, already framed, says that a free India they envisaged would have a federal structure and would be called the United States of India.

 

The Ghadari babas were among the labourers who went to America and Canada in 1906 from Punjab, largely from the Doaba region. They constituted the Ghadar Party. They brought out a weekly in Urdu, Ghadar, to spread their message. Subsequently, they brought out its Gurmukhi edition. This reminded me of Harijan, launched by Mahatma Gandhi, to guide the national movement for independence.

 

The Sikhs were the backbone of the Gadhar Party. Gurmukhi was its language and the gurdwara its meeting venue. The party brought Sikhs back into the political mainstream and washed away the stigma on the community for having supported the British in the first national uprising in 1857. The party was secular. In one of the booklets which the Gadhar Party issued had one poem:

 

No Pundits or Mullahs do we need/ No prayers or litanies we need recite/ These will only scuttle our boat/ Draw the sword; this time to fight/ Though Hindus, Mussalmans and Sikhs we be,/ Sons of Bharat are we still/ Put aside your arguments for another day/ Call of the hour is to kill…

 

The difference was that the Gadhar Party had no compunction in propagating the use of force while Gandhiji's faith in non-violence was unshakable. No doubt, he is responsible for winning us Independence, yet the sacrifice of the revolutionaries — Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukh Dev came to the scene later — was not small in importance. They made the British falter in their confidence to rule India.

 

The Ghadarite committee is preparing to celebrate in 2013 the centenary of the babas' movement. I wish the Government of India could participate in the celebrations to recall their role. Gandhiji paid a tribute to the bravery of the revolutionaries in his reply to Sukh Dev's letter. "The writer is not 'one of many.' Many do not seek the gallows for political freedom. However condemnable political murder may be, it is not possible to withhold recognition of the love of the country and the courage which inspires such awful deeds. And let us hope that the cult of political assassination is not growing if the Indian experiment succeeds, as it is bound to, the occupation of the political assassin will be gone forever. At any rate, I am working in that faith."

 

Revolution has such a cleansing effect that people give up their selfish way of living and adopt a policy that involves all in a battle for egalitarianism. Today's India has to remember this the most.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

ARTICLE

PORTRAIT OF A LADY

BY HARISH DHILLON

 

THERE is in my house, a photograph of a lady.  A simple photograph,  in a  simple  frame.  Yet every visitor, who comes to the house, stops to look intently at it.  They comment on how beautiful the lady is – and she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen,  on the grace and dignity with which she stares into the camera, on her regal bearing and the air of authority that she exudes.  And then, after all these comments, they turn to me and ask; "Who is she"?  And I always answer with a deep feeling of pride; "She is – was my Mamiji."

 

Yes, she is in the past tense now because she died in the early hours the other day.  Her name was Mrs Lakhinder Nakai, widow of Lt-Gen JS Nakai. My first memory of her goes back to when I was in class VI in Sanawar.  My Mamaji had just got married and on the way for their honeymoon in Shimla, they stopped  to meet my sister and me.  Apart from the very welcome gifts of food and money that she brought, my heart warmed to her because of her beauty and grace.

 

She was a perfectionist in every way and she could not tolerate any thing less in those around her.  This became especially difficult when her husband became an army commander.  When she tried to impose her deep sense of propriety on the wives of the junior officers, she was called ruthless, arrogant and snobbish.  But many of these young officers' wives, in years to come, were grateful to her for the so called ruthlessness and what it had taught them.

 

With those she cared for she was generous to a fault.   Seeing my bare lobby, she went home, rolled up one of her exquisite carpets and had it delivered to me.

 

Many remember her for much more than her demand for perfection.  They remember her as spending day after day persuading the civil administration to make land available to mother Teresa for setting up a home for the destitute and the dying. They remember her for her concern for the welfare of the young army wives who lived a lonely life in separated family accommodation while their husbands were posted to field areas.

 

In the end, life was not kind to her.  She was struck by Parkinsons, in a particularly virulent form.  She wasted away, became frail and weak, a sad shadow of her former self.  But she retained her dignity till the very end.  She did not want people to see her condition and feel sorry for her.  She saw this in my eyes, the last time I went to see her and, after a polite five minutes, she said, "Harish – please go."

 

I know people will still come to my house.  They will stop in front of that portrait and they will ask; "Who is this"?  And I will tell them, with my heart swelling with pride; "This is a lady, who kept her dignity even in the face of death.  She is my Mamiji!".

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

CLINICAL TRIALS IN INDIA: NEED FOR BIOETHICS

RADHA SAINI AND SUKHWINDER SINGH

 

THE recent directions of the Medical Council of India state that health care providers are not entitled to endorse any specific pharmaceutical company product to patients and also not to conduct any drug trial on patients without proper ethical considerations. The amendment further states that no research study or clinical trial should be conducted on human beings without taking into consideration the bioethics and hence no one shall be subjected without his/her consent to medical or scientific experimentation.

 

As a matter of fact, more than two-thirds of pharmaceutical company based clinical trials are conducted in developing countries as compared to developed countries. It is estimated that one in four clinical trials in the world are now conducted in India and the turnover for the industry is expected to touch $ 1.52 billion by this year (2010).

 

India has a global market share of almost 50 per cent in the clinical trial business at present. The main reason behind conducting clinical trials in India and many other developing countries is the fact that many of the mission hospitals and charitable hospitals are fund starved, have poverty stricken patients, and hence high enrolment rates and good patient compliance which provide a smooth platform to unscrupulous medical practitioners for their vested interests, gifts and monetary allowances .Thus the practice of using poor people as guinea pigs for the clinical trials goes on with impunity.

 

Every clinical trial being conducted on human population must adhere to four basic principles of ethics, namely principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance and justice. The work of the Institutional ethics committee (IEC) is to not only review the proposed research protocols but also to timely monitor the working of these trials with a view to evaluating the compliance of ethics during the period of trial.

 

In the case of drug trials appropriate approval must be obtained from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) as is necessary under Schedule "Y" of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, amended in 2005. But the question arises as to what extent in actual the pharmaceutical companies obtain the clearance from the DCGI. The investigator should also get approval of the ethics committee of the institution before submitting it to the DCGI.

 

Every clinical trial must register with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) of the ICMR before its beginning and enrolling study participants. The Indian Good Clinical Practices (GCP) based on international guidelines issued by WHO and International Committee on Harmonisation (ICH) provide operative guidelines for ethical and scientific standards for the designing of trial protocol.

 

Proper informed consent must be obtained from every research participant and in case an individual who is not able to give informed consent, the consent of the legal guardian must be taken and it should be totally on a voluntary basis in a way to protect the client's autonomy.

 

Informed consent can be waived in the conditions where research is done in emergency situations, publicly available information, documents, records and biological samples from deceased individuals, leftover samples after clinical investigations etc. At every step the confidentiality of the client must be safeguarded.

 

All research participants are also subjected to free ancillary care i.e. care/treatment which a client may require during the time he is undergoing the trial. So in such a case all payments, reimbursements and medical services to be provided to the participants should be approved by the IEC.

 

Similarly every research participant is also liable to get post-trial assess and special care must be taken when trials are to be conducted on pregnant women, lactating mothers, children and other vulnerable populations involving mentally challenged individuals and handicapped people.

 

The investigator must safeguard the confidentiality of research participant unless a court of law demands it, or there is a threat to a person's life, in case of severe drug reaction. Proper compensation for accidental injury, temporary or permanent impairment must be provided by the sponsor pharmaceutical company and this must be decided at the beginning of the trial. There is also a need to have a strong pharmaco-vigilance programme to monitor the adverse effects of drugs.

 

The results of the study also must not be disclosed to the media unless proper ethical background is formed and necessary permissions are obtained from sponsors, principal the investigator and the institution and that must always be with objective to benefit the community at large.

 

The Medical Council of India has also amended criteria for appointment of medical teachers and hence every assistant professor, lecturer will have to publish sufficient number of papers before being promoted to the post of Associate professor or Professor. Young staff that does a lot of research and writing may be forced to share authorship and at times give away the first authorship. Hence they are left on the whims and fancy of their bosses or respective Heads of Departments.

 

The Medical Council of India must form stringent guidelines related to ethics involved in conducting the clinical trials and this will not be effective unless and until some punitive measures and laws are made and implemented. Licenses of such doctors need to be cancelled /revoked by the state councils and at the same time deterrent punishments be given to them.

 

The need of the hour is a massive, propulsive and compulsive propaganda about the bioethics education in medical and nursing practice. Let us all save our poor patients who on one side are afflicted and cursed with deadly diseases and hence find it all the more hard to cope in terms of finances and resources and on the other side, unknowingly become guinea pigs in the hands of such unscrupulous physicians who for their vested interests even do not hesitate to bring a shame on the noble Hippocratic oath and self-respect.

 

Ms Radha Saini underwent long-term training programme on Bioethics funded by the NIH AND the Fogarty International Centre, USA, under the auspices of the ICMR, New Delhi, and is working as Lecturer in Gian Sagar College of Nursing. Dr Sukhwinder Singh is Vice-Chairman of Gian Sagar Educational Trust,Ramnagar

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

UNFOUNDED FEARS OF DOCTORS

BY THE ENACTMENT OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, THE GOVERNMENT HAS PROVIDED THE CONSUMER AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE CIVIL COURTS, WHERE ADMITTEDLY THE LITIGATION IS NOT ONLY EXPENSIVE BUT ALSO DRAGS ON FOR DECADES

MAJOR-GEN SATINDER KAPOOR (RETD)

 

IN the article "The Doctor and the Consumer Protection Act" (July 12), Dr Gurinderjit Singh has recommended that the medical professionals should be excluded from the ambit of the Consumer Protection (CP) Act because the Benches of consumer fora are likely to commit errors in their orders and because the complainant has to pay no court fee many frivolous complaints are being filed. The apex court, having discussed all aspects related to dealing with the cases of medical negligence, in a landmark judgement, in the case of the Indian Medical Association Vs VP Shanta, had held that the treatment given by medical professionals comes under the purview of the CP Act. It was also the view of the court that the medical professionals cannot be left out of the ambit of the CP Act merely because they belong to the medical profession and that they are governed by the Indian Medical Council Act, which puts them under disciplinary control of the Medical Council of India/State Medical Councils, as it gave no solace to a sufferer of medical negligence and as such his right to seek redress could not be extinguished.

 

By the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, the government has provided the consumer an alternative to the civil courts, where admittedly; the litigation is not only expensive but also drags on for decades. The government, through the Consumer Protection Act, has promised to provide "cheap and speedy" justice to the consumer.

 

This Act, even though pro-consumer, adequately protects the doctors as well. It is settled law that in cases of alleged medical negligence, a doctor or a hospital cannot be held to be guilty merely because the patient did not respond favourably to the treatment. It is also settled law that the negligence has to be proved by cogent evidence. It is understood by the Bench that there is inherent danger in performing certain operations or procedures and once the patient has been informed of these and subsequently something goes wrong, the doctor or the hospital is not to be held liable.

 

As long as the doctor possesses the requisite medical qualification to treat the patient and the required infrastructure, facilities, equipment and para medical staff to treat the patient as well as to meet expected emergencies is available and the treatment given is as per accepted norms/protocol, the doctors and the hospitals have nothing to worry.

 

The law is also settled that a doctor cannot be held negligent only because another doctor would have performed better or would have adopted a different line of treatment or procedure. A doctor is only expected to treat a patient as any other doctor of average competence would do and to follow anyone of the accepted norm/procedure or practice. The result of the treatment is of no consequence in coming to the conclusion regarding medical negligence.

 

Now looking at the other side of the coin, we have a helpless and hapless consumer who is to grapple with sickness as well as financial stress due to expenses of treatment and who in an unfortunate situation has also to deal with litigation involving medical negligence. In our country where quacks treat patients, medical practitioners without any recognised degree are countless, homoeopathic doctors are administering allopathic injections and are prescribing allopathic medicines, nursing homes/clinics are being run under most unhygienic conditions, patients are being treated without proper diagnostic tests, no record of treatment or diagnosis is maintained, wrong limbs, organs or teeth are being operated or extracted, operating instruments are being left inside the body, no proper receipt for the payment is given, doctors employed in government hospitals perform operations in private clinics/hospitals without making any entry in the treatment record for fear of discovery, recommendation to push a sufferer of medical negligence to a civil court is not only against the statute but is also inhuman.

 

It beats all logic that a doctor wants to avoid adjudication of a complaint by the consumer fora, where the Bench, in addition to a retired judge with vast judicial experience, also has two dignified and mature members, drawn from society, to take a more balanced view.

 

The writer is a former member of the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, UT, Chandigarh

 

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MUMBAI MIRROR

VIEW

IS KALMADI THE ONLY ONE AT FAULT?

'STARTLING' REVELATIONS ABOUT THE CWG HAVE BEEN IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR A WHILE, BUT FEW SEEMED TO CARE UNTIL NOW

In 1991, jewellery tycoon Gerald Ratner, who successfully turned his family jewellery business into a billion-dollar public enterprise, made a speech where he called his products "total crap" and boasted that some of his earrings were "cheaper than a prawn sandwich". It immediately wiped off much of his fortune and Ratner lost his job. It was a moment that has been immortalised in the annals of corporate history, with the phrase "doing a Ratner" becoming a textbook case of what not to do as a leader. By those standards, Suresh Kalmadi has not yet had a real Ratnerlike gaffe but perhaps that is because he didn't need to. Much of the reality of the Commonwealth Games has been self-evident for months to anyone who lives in the capital. One doesn't need a Kalmadi gaffe to see unfinished stadiums, potholed roads or overshooting budgets. 

 

Perhaps the real surprise is the intense screeching we are seeing daily on our television screens. The collective might of the press has suddenly descended on the Commonwealth Games as if it has discovered a long-kept secret. This might have been understandable if the Games were being held in some forlorn backwater where access was difficult. But the Games have been a daily presence for nearly a decade now in the nation's capital, where almost every national media group is also headquartered. Did the reporters and editors who are leading the charge now not notice a thing earlier? For instance, the Comptroller and Auditor General's report indicting the Games effort came out in August last year. It was also covered at the time by one or two major outlets and it's a bit silly now to see breaking news tickers about it as if it is a brand new revelation. Similarly for the costs, virtually every month that Parliament has been in session in the past five years or so, some MP or the other has raised a question over the costs of the Games. The Games' burgeoning budget is a disaster but it has never been a great secret for anyone who cared to look. The scandal about the payments to London firms apart, if you only saw the television coverage, however, you would think that we have been hit by a calamity overnight. 

 Perhaps the problem is in the culture of minute-to-minute breaking news where the Commonwealth Games is only 'news' in the two months leading up to it or when someone else hurls a charge. With honourable exceptions, much of our press has had its vision too close to its nose. As the media theorist Michael Schudson has argued, news, defined by its gatekeepers in the newsrooms, is a shared set of suppositions and it ends up being much more of a purveyor of conventional wisdom than we think. Now that the Commonwealth Games is a 'story', what we are seeing on our screens is a minute-by-minute shooting match against Kalmadi, who has come to personify the problems of the Games. All this without any real debate about the structural reasons behind this disaster such as the failure of the various government agencies that were responsible – DDA, SAI, MCD, NDMC – and the lack of accountability from the rest of the government. Kalmadi has much to answer for, no doubt, but the Organising Committee is also a convenient scapegoat in the kneejerk media assault we are seeing. We have had better informed coverage of the Maoist problem from the dark corners of India than of the Commonwealth Games which sits right in the heart of the capital. 

 

The fact is that the Games are an indictment of our deeper political and governance structure. In Parliament on Friday, as the entire Opposition stalled proceedings, the BJP MP Kirti Azad went so far as to call the government a blind "Gandhari". Does it only take screeching media headlines to elicit this kind of Opposition vigilance? Why was the government not held accountable earlier when something could at least have been done? The Left, the Samajwadi Party and the JD (U) at least have a clear conscience on this but the BJP would do well to look at its own record. The Games bid was initially won under the Vajpayee government and in the intervening years, the BJP's local leaders in Delhi have rarely questioned the Sheila Dixit government in the State Assembly or in city administrative bodies on the priorities shaping the flow of Games money. It is very well to question the government now – and it must be held accountable – but there is a lesson here for everyone who is being sanctimonious. 

 Kalmadi may be the face of these Games but the real story is how virtually every stakeholder seems to have done a Kalmadi.

 

NALIN MEHTA

 

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******************************************************************************************BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

FISCAL FEDERALISM

CENTRE'S VETO ON GST NEEDS TO BE VETOED

 

Until a fortnight ago, there were no doubts about the government's ability to meet its target of rolling out the goods and services tax (GST) from April 2011. The broad framework of the proposed GST regime had many flaws, but what gave satisfaction to public finance experts was the fact that at last a basic and workable structure was in place. There were too many exemptions and more than one rate for goods, but the three-year transition period held out the hope that at the end of it, the country would see a single GST rate of 16 per cent at the Centre and the states. This was way above the 12 per cent rate recommended by the 13th Finance Commission, but the big relief was that the Centre had managed a broad consensus among most states on GST and it was even ready to introduce a Constitution amendment Bill in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session.

 

That sense of relief has dissipated rather prematurely after last Wednesday's meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST. There are now grave doubts about the Centre's ability to adhere to the target of rolling out of the GST from April next year. Three issues have contributed to this dramatic change in outlook. One, the proposed Constitution amendment Bill has vested the Union finance minister with a veto power as a member of the GST Council of finance ministers. Two, the proposal to create a GST Disputes Authority under the provisions of the Constitution amendment Bill has met with opposition from many states. Three, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's suggestion to include petroleum products within the GST ambit has underlined the need for a fresh discussion paper on the new tax structure.

 

 It is reasonable to argue that a GST Disputes Authority should be created through a Constitution amendment Bill, without which it cannot have jurisdiction over both the Centre and the states. The states' argument that the Authority's creation could be mandated under separate GST legislations to be passed by the Centre and the states, therefore, does not hold much water. Similarly, the inclusion of petroleum products under the GST may be a desirable goal, but its implementation at this stage is not advisable. Any such proposal will necessarily mean further delay with a new discussion paper and the April 2011 deadline for the new taxation regime will surely be missed. The most contentious of all the proposals is the veto power for the Union finance minister in the GST Council. If indeed all decisions of the Council will have to be approved with a two-thirds majority, there is no reason why the Centre should retain a veto power. The idea of a veto power is intrinsically inimical to and inconsistent with the quasi-federal structure that binds the country together. Tinkering with that structure is neither beneficial for anyone nor desirable. The Centre should note that the opposition to the Union finance minister's veto power at the GST Council has come not only from the Opposition-ruled states, but also from some Congress-ruled ones. The least the Centre should now do is to withdraw the veto power for the Union finance minister in the Council and thereby uphold the federal principles that define Centre-state financial relations in India.

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JBUSINESS STANDARD

EDITORIAL

ENGINEERING HEREDITY

A NEW TYPE OF CASTE SYSTEM AT AN IIT

 

Many Indians have continually complained that Indian politics has been destroyed by dynastic rule. This is apparent not only at the Centre but also in the states. In fact, there is an interesting story about an erstwhile state chief minister. Some journalists pointed out to him that all his government's contracts and other largesse go out to his sons only. He, famously quipped that whoever gets it will be somebody's son, so why not his own? Indeed, the advantages and disadvantages of birth are borne by most in India. This is something that has been with us since ancient times — the caste system. And our modern-day society has added layers of sophistication to the way it plays out. Thus, it has become useful for some to be branded as low caste as was witnessed a couple of years ago in the riots and protests organised by the Gujjars of North India who wanted scheduled-caste status. And, it plays out every day as groups fight to be classified as other backward castes. Thus, what was traditionally thought to be a disadvantage is now increasingly viewed as a blessing, in disguise. No wonder most political parties like playing the caste card.

 

The caste system that had its roots in the occupational categorisation of people has been refurbished in modern, democratic India. Thus, lawyers' children become lawyers and, doctors' children doctors. The same is true of film stars and musicians. And, if you think this is true only of politicians, professionals and artists, think again. The importance of birth and nurture in influencing career preferences is understandable, but its institutionalisation is bizarre. That is what has happened, of all places, at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. For over 40 years now, it has now been discovered, the faculty at IIT-Kharagpur have been giving special preference to their own children in admissions to the prestigious institution. They did not have to compete with the rest — more privileged or less. While at one level the faculty has fought caste quotas in higher studies, they have been quietly using quotas for their own children.

 

 The justification offered by some is that without this quota system, the institution would not be able to attract good faculty in that corner of the country! In other words, if you feel strongly for your children, it is all right to carry out a persistent fraud on the rest of the country. Unfortunately, if a poor man steals to feed his family, he is jailed. But this is not at all contradictory if you can recall what we started with. In India, it matters which family you are born to, not so much what you do. So, from now on, every time someone feels that the government is being divisive by offering sops to various groups, remember what former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said — in a democracy, the people deserve the government they get.

 

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BUSINESS STANDARD

INDIAN MINDS, FOREIGN FUNDS

GOVERNMENTAL BUREAUCRATISM AND NIGGARDLY CORPORATES DRIVE THINK TANKS ABROAD FOR FUNDS

SANJAYA BARU

 

India's best-known "think tanks" are becoming increasingly dependent for their funding on foreign benefactors. In economic policy, national security and foreign affairs, India's premier think tanks and research institutions find it easier to raise funds abroad than at home, be it from a bureaucratic and feudal governmental system or from a miserly and disinterested corporate sector.

 

 While some ministries, like external affairs, defence and commerce, have their own government-funded think tanks, others have their favourites in the non-governmental sector. Both are required to kowtow to the extant dispensation in the respective ministries — and many of these institutions have become sinecures for retired or retiring civil servants.

 

Indian corporates, on the other hand, have never been a major source of funding for research, even if they are increasingly funding education. Thus, Bharti's Sunil Mittal, the only Indian mentioned in a Wikipedia list of world's 100 top philanthropists, has liberally funded school and college education, including institutions like the Indian School of Business, but when it comes to supporting think tanks, he has so far preferred to help the Carnegie Endowment rather than any policy think tank in India. Same applies to most of India's celebrated billionaires.

 

While Tata Sons have for a long time funded research institutions, Indian think tanks find the process of securing such funds becoming increasingly bureaucratic and so prefer courting foreign funding agencies. The Ambani family set up the Observer Research Foundation, with an impressive office, but it has so far attracted more retired diplomats and policy-makers than active researchers!

 

While India's billionaires give away millions to Yale and Carnegie, India's own think tanks are increasingly forced to turn to foreign funders because neither the government nor Indian corporates are willing to offer them untied funding.

 

\Almost all the non-government economic, defence and foreign affairs think tanks and research institutions in the nation's Capital are today more dependent on external sources of funding than domestic sources, government or non-government.

 

Major sources of research funds include multilateral financial institutions, like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank; western and eastern private foundations like Ford, Rockefeller, McCarthy and Sasakawa; and, foreign governments that fund agencies like Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

 

This is not a new phenomenon. There was a time when, in fact, India's premier social sciences research funding institution, the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), was itself receiving more funds from the Government of Netherlands than from the Government of India. Today, few foreign funding agencies bother routing their funds through the ICSSR, they do so directly.

 

Before worried nationalists raise a cry against this trend, they should find out what shape and condition of disrepair the ICSSR itself is in. Not only does the ICSSR have an officer of the Indian Administrative Service as its member-secretary, it has more than one council member without even a doctoral degree! Indeed, even radical social scientists who don't like either government or corporate funding find it alright and easier to approach global non-governmental organisations for financial support.

 

In the field of international relations, India has as many as 65 listed research centres and "think tanks". Of these, as many as 36 are located in New Delhi. A large number of these centres are funded by the government and the university system, but the most prominent ones are, in fact, funded by foreign governments and funding agencies! A substantial part of high-quality research on India's relations with countries like China and Pakistan is, in fact, funded by foreign funding agencies.

 

It is not as if attempts have not been made by Indian scholars and researchers to secure corporate funding for Indian think tanks. But in most cases a mountain of effort is required, both in terms of lobbying and paperwork, to secure a molehill of funding. And, after all that and much interference in the running of the institution, there is little interest in the institution's intellectual output.

 

India's most respected strategic affairs guru, K Subrahmanyam, who ran a government-funded think tank, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), as an independent and autonomous institution that respected the intellectual freedom of its faculty but found it very difficult to get anyone in government to listen to them or support their research work, once remarked to this writer, "I remember explaining to the director of Chatham House (UK) that the basic difference between IDSA and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is that the former gets all its money from the government but cannot get the time of the day from them, while the latter has to raise its own resources but gets all data and relevant information from government sources. Our senior bureaucrats have burdened themselves with so much of trivia because of the lack of a culture of delegation that they have no time to read such outside studies. Therefore, they have no use for them."

 

The armed forces have become a bit liberal in funding think tanks, but these remain boutique institutions without the scope or size of a defence think tank like RAND in the United States.

 

I am not suggesting for a moment that as a consequence of this pattern of funding, Indian scholars have mortgaged their minds to foreign funders. Far from it. India's most respected scholars, fiercely independent in their thinking, will never sing for their supper and allow the one who pays the piper choose the tune. Yet, for a country as big and important as India, it is a matter of great shame that so much of our best research and most important research institutions depend so much on external sources of funding.

 

Disclosure: The writer is on the governing board of Centre for Policy Research, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi, and a consulting fellow of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

NO ONE PUBLISHED PAID NEWS

SINCE THE PRESS COUNCIL'S REPORT HAS NO NAMES OF THOSE PUBLISHING PAID NEWS, THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO ASSUME

SUNIL JAIN

 

Many years ago, when model Jessica Lal's killer was acquitted, The Times of India headline said sarcastically, "No one killed Jessica Lal". Given how the Press Council of India's (PCI's) latest report on "paid news" talks about it becoming "pervasive, structured and highly organised" — including the presence of "rate cards" or "packages" for publication of news — and yet doesn't name any of the guilty newspapers that are paid for publishing news, the only conclusion is that no one published paid news!

 

Sure, as the PCI says, it has a limited mandate which does not allow it to penalise those found guilty of malpractices, and that in the case of TV news, even this limited mandate doesn't apply. But surely, naming and shaming was something it could have done quite easily — all of which tells you that the newspapers in the paid news business are so powerful they prevented the PCI from even naming them. As for admonishing or passing strictures, which the PCI says it has the power to do, you can just forget about it. So, even if its suggestion that Section 15(4) of the Press Council Act of 1978 be amended so as to make its directions binding is acted upon, it's unlikely anything is going to come out of it.

 

 While talking about newspapers publishing paid news, either for politicians or for corporate entities, is one thing, proving it is quite another. Many have suspected, for instance, that the "private treaties" publishers like the Times of India group have are nothing but paid news — the newspaper gets equity in your company in return for free ad space; but since the value of the newspapers' investment goes up only when your company does well, the allegation is various newspapers tend to publish only good news about their "private treaty" companies. But how do you prove it?

 

It's much the same in the case of politicians. Saying they're all corrupt is easy, but finding the money trail isn't. Well, the way you'd do it in the case of politicians is to examine their decisions. So, in the case of the 2G licences, you don't have to actually trace the flow of funds to those in the ministry (that, presumably, is something the CBI, which is investigating the case along with the CVC and the CAG, will do) — all that you need to do is to point out that a handful of companies got licences in 2008 at the same rate they were sold for in mid-2001. Similarly, in the case of mining licenses or any other concessions, if no bids are called for, this is enough to show complicity.

 

But this is precisely what the PCI's sub-committee comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Kalimekolam Sreenivas Reddy did. To begin with, it got a lot of testimonials from people that, in the normal course, you shouldn't take lightly.

 

  It cites the case of Shri Parcha Kodanda Ram Rao of the Loksatta Party in Andhra Pradesh who formally told the Election Commission he'd paid Eenadu to publish favourable news about himself and had even included this in his official expenditure statement. 

 

  BJP leader Lalji Tandon is on record saying the largest-circulated (Indian) language newspaper refused to publish any news about him unless he paid money. Others who have made similar allegations, about other newspapers, are BSP's Tamil Nadu secretary K Ramasubramanian (in a letter to the PCI), Atul Anjaan of the CPI, Sandeep Dikshit of the Congress party and Sushma Swaraj of the BJP. 

 

  Former Civil Aviation Minister Harmohan Dhawan is quoted, from magazine Pratham Pravakta, as saying representatives of newspapers like Punjab Kesri, Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar approached him to say that if he bought their "package", he would get good coverage; others who made similar allegations in the magazine are Santosh Singh, the Congress party candidate from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh; Ramakant Yadav of the BJP from the same constituency; the Samajwadi Party's Arshad Jamal, and so on.

 

Since you can argue that this is just one man's word against the other's (all newspapers accused of this have denied their involvement), the sub-committee gives examples of such news items. The Ranchi edition of Dainik Jagran (April 13, 2009), for instance, has a story on how the RJD candidate from the Chatra Lok Sabha constituency "is getting support from every class and section"; another story on the same page had another news item of how the JDU candidate from the same constituency would emerge a "clear winner"! Several other such examples are cited — Andhra Jyothi had a story saying the TDP candidate from Narasapuram would get a "huge victory"; another page had a story talking of "victory, victory" for the Congress party candidate in the same constituency. It's like publishing a Samsung ad on page 1 and a Nokia one on page 11!

 

The clincher, of course, is The Hindu's Rural Affairs Editor P Sainath's story on how three competing Marathi newspapers — Lokmat, Pudhari and Maharashtra Times — used the same words from the beginning to the end to praise Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. When quizzed by the PCI, Chavan suggested all newspapers may have used the material distributed in press conferences — believe that if you will — and then said, "According to me, the appropriate forum for challenging such complaints is through an election petition in a court of law."

 

Despite the sub-committee report documenting all this, the PCI's 13-page "detailed report" does not mention even one instance cited in the 71 pages of the sub-committee report which, it says, "may remain on record of the PCI as reference document", nor does it annex the report — the actual report, though, is not on the PCI's website (it can be accessed at http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 35436631/The-Buried-PCI-Report-on-Paid-News).

 

Given this, doesn't it seem hypocritical for newspapers to go on loudly about the corruption in the Commonwealth Games or the mining scandal of the Reddy brothers? Perhaps we should stick to headlines like "No one made money in Commonwealth Games" or "No one involved in Karnataka mining scam". It might not tell you anything, but nor does the PCI report.

 

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

 

 

COMPLEX DERIVATIVES

THERE IS AN OBVIOUS DICHOTOMY AND HYPOCRISY INVOLVED IN GOLDMAN'S CLAIMS OF LOOKING AFTER ITS CLIENTS' INTERESTS

A V RAJWADE

 

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Goldman Sachs in April, alleging that the firm committed securities fraud, made misleading statements, and failed to disclose material facts to investors while marketing a highly complex collateralised debt obligation (CDO). Last month, the case was settled with Goldman agreeing to pay a fine of $550 million, the largest ever by an investment bank, merely acknowledging that it had made a "mistake" and that the offer documents had "incomplete information". Given the large number of complex derivatives over which end-users have lost a lot of money in India and in many other countries, it would be interesting to look at the details of the case.

 

 It all started when John Paulson approached Goldman with a proposal to structure and market a complex CDO. (Paulson is the hedge fund manager who made billions of dollars for his investors and himself from the mortgage market crisis in the US.) Paulson told Goldman that he had chosen the underlying debt obligations "for their high likelihood of default", and intended to short the securities. (Paulson's selection was impeccable: 83 per cent of the underlying bonds were downgraded in six months and 99 per cent in nine months!) He also made clear that his "purpose in structuring the deal was to take a short position against the investments they were making". (Both quotations from Financial Times editorial of April 17). Goldman brought in an independent credit advising firm, ACA Management, to vet the portfolio and, apparently, gave ACA an impression that Paulson intended to take a long position in the securities, exactly opposite to his purpose in structuring it, which was known to Goldman. ACA allowed its name to be used and indeed wrote credit default swaps on the security. (It incurred a billion-dollar loss when the deal soured shortly after it was structured and marketed.) Incidentally, last week, the Reserve Bank of India placed on its website the draft report titled "Internal Group on Introduction of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) for Corporate Bonds" for public comments.

 

Goldman was sued for failing to disclose in the marketing material or offer documents, that Paulson was involved in structuring the CDO which he was shorting; telling investors that ACA, an independent RMBS (Residential Mortgage Backed Securities) expert had selected the portfolio; and for misleading ACA. Neither Paulson nor ACA was party to the suit. This is the case that has now been settled with a fine and Goldman's admission of a "mistake". (In a less "sophisticated" era, Goldman's actions would have been described as "cheating".) The fine, too, was about half what observers were expecting, and the firm and its management escaped from any criminal charges. The settlement was welcomed by investors and Goldman shares jumped up on its announcement. The case against Goldman employee Fabrice Tourre, who was involved in structuring the deal, continues. But, as part of the settlement, Goldman has promised full cooperation with SEC in pursuing the case, even as it has agreed to bear his legal expenses! He obviously knew what he was doing. One of his emails produced in the case says: "More and more leverage in the system, the whole building is about to collapse anytime now… Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab… standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!"

 

Goldman is an investment bank that claims that it is "long-term greedy"; in other words, it does not look at quick gains. Its website emphasises the firm's commitment to its clients' interest in the following words: "Whether a mid-size employer is Kansas, a larger school district in California, a pension fund for skilled workers, or a start-up technology firm, our clients' interests come first." It also claims that the firm's core values are "team work, excellence and service to our clients".

 

At first sight, there is an obvious dichotomy and hypocrisy involved in the firm's claims of looking after clients' interests and its actions at the heart of the SEC suit. Goldman's initial defence was that it sold CDOs only to sophisticated investors who required no protection. They knew, or at least should have known, what they were doing, the old doctrine of caveat emptor. In other words, such investors were "counterparties" and not customers or clients to whom it owed any duties! (The banks that lost huge sums in the investment included IKB in Germany and RBS in the UK, both subsequently rescued with public money. Citizens of Cedar Rapids, a small town in Iowa, are facing higher taxes because its treasurer invested in the CDO. Perhaps he was a sophisticated investor!) Goldman had also claimed that it did not "sponsor" the issue and was not obliged to endorse the quality of the investment.

 

Incidentally, Goldman is facing law suits also in the UK and Germany, and an Australian hedge fund has claimed damages of $1 billion in respect of another CDO (Timberwolf) in whose structuring and marketing Goldman was involved. Perhaps the only people who would benefit by their dealings with Goldman are going to be lawyers!

 

avrajwade@gmail.com  

 

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

RPT, COI, CWG, CG ...

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST SHOULD ALWAYS REMAIN MATTERS OF PRINCIPAL CONCERN FOR COMPANIES

PRATIP KAR

 

History has shown that the relationship between money, power and ambition can be very specious. This has often driven kings, business leaders and politicians to pursue policies that are not in the interest of the constituencies they oversee — these can be shareholders or stakeholders in the case of businesses or other enterprises; and the state in the case of those who claim to be political leaders. The underpinning of money, power and ambition is greed; and just as love is blind, greed is insatiable.

 

What makes the relationship very complex is the inevitable association of money with ownership of assets in some form or the other. Moreover, determination of ownership itself is not so easy; and what are the responsibilities of those who manage them? The clarity of roles between owners and managers is often facetiously forgotten. It is for no small reason that Adam Smith said that the butcher, the brewer, or the baker provides our dinner because of his regard to his own interest. It can also not be concluded from the Principles of Economics that self-interest generally is enlightened or that enlightened self-interest always operates in the public interest. It is for this reason that a structure of rules, systems and processes is put in place in organisations, institutions and business enterprises to ensure good governance. The Merchant of Venice, (Act 1 Scene 1), feared for the safety of his argosies sailing out of sight on the high seas. How are owners' interests to be protected? How is oversight to be exercised over those delegated to run the venture? Who sets the direction of the enterprise and ensures accountability? The great trading companies of the British and Dutch empires, established with the patronage of the monarch, operated under rules set by the state. Though practised for as long as there have been corporate entities, it is only since the 1980s that we have given this structure the name "corporate governance". If management is about running the business, governance is about seeing that it is run properly. Corporate governance would allow people outside looking into a business to see that the people inside who are governing the business are actually running it well, taking decisions with intellectual honesty and applying care and skill in making business judgements. Hence the need for direction, control, responsibilities of the board, management and supervision, audit, disclosure, accountability, and so on. These principles of corporate governance would equally apply to the governance of any enterprise, be it a club or a company.

 

The importance of corporate governance becomes apparent when the structure breaks down. The enterprise is faced with disastrous consequences. We have seen a display of disaster and depravity in several companies in different countries at different times in the last three decades. Interestingly, all these failures in corporate governance fall into an identifiable pattern (see "Patterns in governance failures", Business Standard, April 13, 2009).

 

Some of the distinguishing features of this pattern are that when there is an initial period of spectacular growth, it is never questioned; nobody asks "why?". There is a sense of unerring infallibility leading to complacency, which translates into aggressive leadership style. Then, when signs of failure become evident, the following sequence of events takes place: 

 

  Efforts are first made by the management, the chief executives or whosoever is in control not to acknowledge the problem. 

 

  But then the exposure of problem becomes too big to hide. It metastasizes — the cancer is in the fourth stage. A financial and accounting fraud is discovered. 

  The board or the entity which is in control refuses to acknowledge any knowledge of wrongdoings. 
 

  The end then comes very quickly. The enterprise declares bankruptcy, there is financial depravation or a new owner takes over.

 

The sequence of events was seen in the case of Enron where Kenneth Lay was trying to convince the media, even as he was handcuffed, that he did nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any wrongdoing; the board of directors said it did not know anything. This is just one example from the corporate world. But such financial problems, which were till now the domain of the business world, have now started invading the world of Indian sports too, where big money and big spending are involved, suggesting the specious association of money power with ambition. We have seen an abundant display of this in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (see "Lessons in corporate governance", Business Standard, May 10). We are now seeing a repeat of this in the Commonwealth Games.

 

At this point, the alphabet soup in the title needs to be explained to readers. RPT stands for related party transactions; CoI stands for conflict of interest, and CWG stands for Commonwealth Games. CG, which stands for corporate governance, is the thread that links the three terms. In most cases — be they in Europe, the US or India — RPTs and CoI are two of the areas over which concerns have been repeatedly raised in the light of recent corporate scandals. The IPL and the CWG are not exceptions to this rule.

 

RPTs are diverse complex business transactions between a company and its managers, or directors or principal owners. In public accounting, these are considered difficult to audit and a potential indicator of audit risk (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 2001). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has identified RPTs as one of the nine major reasons for leading companies to restate financial statements. Regulators, market participants and other corporate stakeholders commonly regard these transactions as potential CoIs, which can compromise management's agency responsibility to shareholders or a board of director's monitoring function. All RPTs are not abusive. But they have the potential to become abusive where a party in control of a company enters into a transaction to the detriment of non-controlling shareholders. According to the Guide on Fighting Abusive Related Party Transactions in Asia, 2009, it remains one of the biggest corporate governance challenges in Asia. A coherent regulatory system dealing with RPTs, particularly disclosure, board oversight and shareholder approval, should be established in each jurisdiction to facilitate implementation and enforcement efforts. Though there are Accounting Standards by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, this should remain a singular concern of boards of Indian companies. At present, this is not the case with many companies and their boards .

 

When private interests of individuals influence their public decisions, thereby enabling individuals to take advantage of their public position for personal benefit, situations of potential conflicts arise. In a sense, all issues related to CoI are integrally related to the overall governance of a company and its board's effectiveness. Conflicts may often lead to compromising the company's ability to enter into fair contracts and influence the independence, quality and integrity of the decision itself, which might weigh adversely on shareholder value.

 

These two areas, RPTs and CoI, should always remain matters of principal concern for the boards of companies. Well-governed companies, besides complying with the Accounting Standards, have instituted ways and means to deal with situations of RPTs and CoIs effectively. If not managed in a transparent and legal manner, these situations can impose a heavy burden on the financial resources of a company, distort competition, affect optimum allocation of resources, waste public resources and lead to corrupt practices. This should also be something which audit firms that care for reputational risk should keep under strict vigil, for the accounts to give a true and fair picture of the affairs of companies or enterprises they audit. Otherwise, they would be certifying falsehood and as it is said in The Merchant of Venice: "What a goodly outside falsehood hath?"

 

The author is associated with IFC's Global Corporate Governance Forum and the World Bank; he was formerly the executive director of Sebi.

 

Views expressed are personal. pratipkar21@gmail.com

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

WE NEED CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS

BUT WITH STRINGENT REGULATION

' YOU never want a serious crisis to go waste,' was how Rahm Emanuel, US President Barack Obama's chief of staff famously put it at the start of the financial crisis in 2008. The RBI's discussion paper on introduction of credit default swaps (CDS) — a form of insurance — for corporate bonds shows the central bank has taken his advice to heart. It strikes a reasonably good balance between not curbing financial innovation and prudence. Thus, insistence that users can buy CDS only to the extent that they have an 'underlying' risk, restrictions on related-party transactions, standardisation of products and centralised clearing and settlement are all good ideas. CDSs allow market players to manage credit risk better by buying insurance against default. And with sanity slowly returning to the market, they are being seen for what they are: useful financial instruments that could go wrong — like any other such instrument — if regulators sleep on the watch. In India, there is the added attraction that it may liven up the largely-inert market for corporate bonds. 

 

But as the financial crisis, especially the near-collapse of AIG showed, CDSs carry risk. Market failures like asymmetric information, moral hazard and principal-agent problems pose an ever-present danger. Moreover since CDSs allow market participants to replace one type of risk (credit risk) with another risk (counterparty risk), there is a need to guard against systemic risk by limiting the buildup of risky positions by imposing appropriate position limits, capping leverage and laying down more stringent capital requirements. Neither US nor the European laws authorise any position limits. This should not deter us. Given the nascent stage of development of our financial markets, we need to lay down limits. For the same reason, it is unwise to leave it to protection sellers to decide the maximum amount of protection they can sell or to draw up their own margin policy for managing the counterparty credit risk on account of CDS transactions. This arrangement can be revisited when the market matures. Regulation, backed by supervision, even if at times intrusive, must be the new mantra.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

WELCOME MOVE

REDUCING THE NUMBER OF TAX DISPUTES

 

WHEN the total tax revenue under dispute is estimated to be in excess of Rs 70,000 crore at the end of 2008-09, it is never too late to find the solutions to reduce the backlog of cases. The proposal of the finance ministry to set up two panels to find ways to reduce litigations in direct and indirect taxes is welcome. Now, this is not the first attempt to reduce the backlog of tax litigation. The Centre had tried to create a separate tribunal to speed up disposal of tax cases. Unfortunately, the National Tax Tribunal Act, 2005, faced legal challenges and it may be years before the Supreme Court clears the fog. But reducing litigation does not necessarily address problems that gave rise to litigation in the first place. Disputes between taxpayers and the department are commonplace, and the amount of money locked up due to appeals — which may include adjudication and not just litigation — before the income-tax department is estimated at almost Rs 2 lakh crore as of March 2009, or a little under 4% of the nominal GDP of that year. The tax department needs to get to the root of the problem that leads to disputes between the authorities and taxpayers. Foremost among the problems is the poor drafting of the tax laws, leading to different and opposing interpretation of the provisions by various stakeholders. This problem can, and hopefully will, be addressed in the new direct taxes code as well as the goods and services tax law. Second, cases pile up because of the unwillingness of the litigants to settle cases. Of course, that is true of all litigation, as observed by S H Kapadia, the Chief Justice of the country. Reluctance on the part of the system to take a decision favouring the taxpayer also adds to the chain of appeals and, thus, the pendency of cases. 
    Clearly, what is required is a cultural change in the manner in which taxes are collected and arrears recovered. More seriousness is required at various levels of the dispute-resolution mechanism than is currently in place, and attempt must be made to dispose of cases in a timebound manner. Also, we must bring down the number of levels of appeal and incentivise settlements over disputes.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

FREE REIN IN SPAIN

MICHELLE OR MARIE ANTOINETTE?

 

CALL it the fringe benefits of the top job: when dad is the president of the US, then mom taking the girls off on a cultural expedition means a lot more than filling up the SUV and setting off for the airport. No wonder Michelle Obama's sudden penchant for showing First Daughters Malia and Sasha bits and pieces of Europe has tarnished the Obama gloss a bit. Just as the professorial president ticks off wayward Wall Street and exhorts fellow Americans to pull up their socks, his wife decides to let her hair down with some 40 of her closest friends in tow — besides Sasha — in sunny, sunny Spain. The White House has been quick to say that the expenses of the top-flight hotel and gourmet meals are being footed by the entourage; and the cost of cordoning off museums, streets, stores and beaches are being handled by the Spanish presumably. But there is no word on who pays the $100,000 bill for the posse of secret service and White House personnel, not to mention the cost of taking Air Force Two on this little trans-Atlantic round trip. Last time the three Obama ladies decided to take in the sights (of London and Paris), they had hitched a ride on Air Force One, sort of like Indian families of ministers and civil servants commandeer official Ambassadors for shopping trips. But this time, Michelle and Sasha actually left the world's most powerful man to celebrate his 49th birthday alone at home while they frolicked in Spain and Malia went off to camp. 

 

Of course, the Western institution of the summer holiday has weathered the downturn, but most people have contented themselves with more modest breaks. Even Queen Elizabeth took her glum brood off for just a cruise around the few isles left in her shrunken domain, that too on a chartered ship, having dumped the Royal Yacht Britannia some years ago in the name of cost-cutting. Unfortunately, Michelle's pricey preferences are leading to her being likened to a certain feckless (and eventually headless) French queen…

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

CITINGS

CITINGS

HOW TO GROW WHEN MARKETS DON'T

ADRIAN SLYWOTZKY 

THE good news is that we've recently begun to observe a new form of business design innovation — a new response to the challenge of growth that is being pioneered by a handful of far-sighted companies. These companies are focused on creating new growth and new value by addressing the hassles and issues that surround the product rather than by improving the product itself. 

 

They have shifted their approach from product innovation to demand innovation. Rather than being about value migration, demand innovation is about creating new growth by expanding the market's boundaries. It focuses on using one's product position as a starting point from which to do new things for customers that solve their biggest problems and improve overall performance. Thus, companies skilled in demand innovation do more than simply take value and market share away from traditional businesses. They create new value and new growth in revenues and profits, even in mature industries that appear to have reached a plateau. 
 

Because demand innovation involves a new and emerging set of skills, many businesspeople will find it challenging to understand and master. But it can be done. Value-migration businesses focus on reallocating value by responding to pre-existing demand; new-growth businesses focus on growing new value by discovering new forms of demand. We see traditional product-centred companies across a wide range of industries beginning to discover and create new business spaces with growth opportunities that will last not months or quarters but years or decades.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

 

THE RUSH TO SAFE ASSETS

INSTEAD OF HOLDING A CONCENTRATION OF 'SAFE' US GOVERNMENT BONDS, SURPLUS COUNTRIES SHOULD HOLD A PORTFOLIO OF ASSETS ACROSS THE RISK SPECTRUM, TO SAFEGUARD AGAINST A FUTURE FINANCIAL CRISIS, SAYS U R BHAT

 

IT IS now more than two years since the global financial meltdown, but the global economy still suffers from severe economic imbalances on account of large current account deficits run by some countries and the huge foreign exchange reserves that are held by the surplus countries. In 2006, the US current account deficit accounted for as much as 2% of world GDP. These imbalances have come about because of several factors. In the 1970s, it was inflation in the West on the back of the oil cartel raising crude oil prices to stratospheric levels that transferred unimaginable wealth to avery few in west Asia. 

 

In more recent times, it has been the insatiable appetite for cheap consumer goods in the West that has helped some Asian countries accumulate huge foreign exchange reserves. The large foreign exchange reserves held by the trade-surplus countries have, in turn, created a massive demand for safe assets for investment of these surpluses, and this is seen as one of the root causes of the global financial meltdown in 2008. 

 

Over the last decade, while the robust export-led growth in several countries in the emerging market space led to generation of significant current account surpluses, these markets have not attained the maturity to create sufficiently-liquid stores of value in which the surpluses can be invested. These surpluses, therefore, find their way to safe assets that are largely issued by the developed countries. 

 

Among such financial assets are sovereign and quasi sovereign bonds issued by nations that are seen to respect property rights and have well-tested bankruptcy procedures, resilient, liquid and deep financial markets with minimal risks of government expropriation. 

 

Some developed countries are privileged to be in a position to issue large volumes of these safe assets that has resulted in falling yields on their bond issuances. The incessant rise in gold prices can also be largely ascribed to the growing demand for safe assets. 

 

In his recent paper on this subject, Ricardo Caballero of MIT has argued that it is this insatiable hunger for safe debt instruments and the scarcity of such instruments that created the setting for the large global banks to exploit the opportunity. These banks effectively addressed the safe asset shortage phenomenon at a profit by creating synthetic safe assets from the securitisation of lower quality ones by slicing and dicing them to various tiers, ably assisted by willing credit rating agencies but at the cost of exposing the economy to the systemic panic that unfolded in 2008. 

 

It is worth considering the possible policy options that are available to address the acute shortage of safe assets. The surplus countries can moderate their demand for safe assets by partly investing in riskier assets. The memories of the Asian financial crisis of the mid-1990s are possibly too fresh for these newly-surplus countries to consider taking higher levels of risks with their reserves. 

 

Despite the current global slowdown, over the last 12 months itself, Asian countries have generated a current account surplus of around three quarters of $1 trillion. Their holding of foreign exchange reserves is in excess of $6 trillion,around two-thirds of the global foreign exchange reserves. 

 

The key takeaway from the global financial meltdown of 2008 and the ongoing sovereign credit crisis is that a suitable framework should soon be put in place for addressing the potential systemic problems that has widespread acceptance across countries. Such a framework would need an agreement on the holding of a diversified portfolio of assets across the risk spectrum by the surplus countries instead of a concentrated portfolio of safe assets. 

 

THE diversified investment portfolios of sovereign wealth funds of countries such as Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Norway and even China in a small way are examples that more of the surplus nations would need to follow. The surplus countries have a significant stake in the stability of the global financial system and, therefore, the choice before them is to either facilitate an orderly adjustment in the global imbalances or run the risk of defaults on the huge financial claims held by them that they can ill-afford. Getting an agreement in place to addressthe massive global imbalances, therefore, should not be an impossible task. 

 

Another policy alternative is for the asset-producing countries to supply adequate triple-A assets even beyond their fiscal needs that, in turn, would require them to invest in riskier assets themselves. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) that enabled the US government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen the financial sector in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis is an example of such a policy in action. 

 

Although the programme was much criticised, in retrospect, it should be conceded that it was indeed appropriate for solving the systemic crisis because the fear that the government would be left holding companies such as General Motors, Citigroup and AIG for several years have not come true. Most of these investments made to bail out the marquee US companies have been repaid and the rest appear to be on track to repay. 

 

While Tarp was a fire-fighting exercise, it is worthwhile developing a widely-acceptable institutional mechanism to manage systemic risks in an orderly manner with private investors absorbing the consequences of most shocks, but the government providing some form of mandatory fee-based insurance against alarge systemic event. 

 

The move to increase capital requirements of banks has to be seen in this light. Another alternative is to have contingent capital injections in banks through convertible bonds that get compulsorily converted when the financial strength of a bank falls below a pre-determined threshold. The imbalance between the demand for, and supply of, safe assets has indeed worsened over the last two years, with several sovereign bonds being downgraded and many others on the verge of being downgraded. 

 

 It takes several years to set right such imbalances even when effective policy interventions are in place. It is, therefore, imperative that an institutional mechanism to address such systemic problems is put in place soon.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

ET I N T E R A CT I V ETAKASHI NAGAI

'INDIA WILL BE OUR GLOBAL SPARES HUB'

CHANCHALPALCHAUHAN 

 

HONDA Motor Co (HMC), Japan's second-largest carmaker, is among the most profitable automakers worldwide. Seen as real competition to the mammoth carmaker Toyota Motor Corp, the company, through its local joint venture Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), has cruised comfortably during its decade-old journey in the Indian market. However, the financial crisis followed by the global economic meltdown has hurt sales. Its recently-launched cars have not propelled its market share. Adding to its woes are the fluctuations in the yen. Takashi Nagai, who took charge as the president and CEO of HSCI in April, has a daunting task ahead to better sales and profitability. 

 

"We want to increase volumes without compromising Honda's global quality and safety standards. We will continue producing durable cars to keep our brand value intact," said Mr Nagai, who has spent nearly three decades in Honda and is an experienced hand in production. 

 

A stronger yen has made imports dearer, making its cars uncompetitive in the domestic market and forcing several rounds of price changes. The company's gamble to launch a super-niche hatchback — with the debut of Jazz — has left its factories underutilised. Jazz is selling a third of its original target of over 2,000 units a month. 

 

That is not the only problem for Nagai. Sales of other sedans such as the Civic and Accord and its premium SUV CR-V are also sliding. The only icing on the cake is its City sedan which is a segment leader — right from its inception — and also serves as its breadand-butter model. However, even that has started to stagnate. Overall, sales in the first quarter of the current fiscal year dipped 4% to 12,240 units, but all these learnings are expected to produce radical changes. 

 

The market is changing and so are consumer preferences. As a precursor to this shift, we would be the first choice for aspirational cars. The City has consistently set the benchmark in past decade and our small car, expected next year, would set standards for all other compact cars in India," Mr Nagai said. 
    Honda entered the US market in 1982, coinciding with the entry of Suzuki Motor Corp's debut in India. Although the company has come under flak for overpricing its cars, there is a perceptible change in the works at its Indian headquarters in Greater Noida. 

 

A new R&D team has taken charge to increase localisation to maintain price competitiveness of its products in the local market. While Jazz carries the highest 77% local content till now, the company aims to make it over 80% for the new small car. Does it mean that Honda cars would come cheap in India? Not exactly. 

 

The company is attempting to use locallyavailable material for the new car, but there are constraints. "We have roped in our suppliers for the two-wheeler unit, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, and joint-venture outfit, Hero Honda Motors, to deliver at Indian prices conforming to our global standards. So, prices will be very competitive keeping in mind the evolving value-for-money concept of the Indian customer," Mr Nagai said. 

For a company that has one of the lowest market shares, cutting costs is an ambitious task. It sold a little over 61,800 cars last fiscal year and generating volumes is a key to cut costs. It is looking at utilising its second plant at Tapukara in Rajasthan initially to make components, to be followed by cars. 

 

Backed by its trusted set of Indian suppliers, Honda is developing the necessary infrastructure to produce critical engine and transmission parts for its new cars and also feed overseas markets of Thailand and Indonesia from locally-produced spares. 

 

"India would be our global hub to produce several critical parts that otherwise would have been imported. It would help us to leverage India's low-cost production base for our global operations," he said. 

 

The India thrust comes from Honda's successful three-decade operations here, which also makes it one of the single-largest Japanese investor over the past three decades. Besides, its five cars and dozens of two-wheelers for India backed by world's largest twowheeler company Hero Honda, it operates five major companies in India, also making utility products. While its overall operations are growing, the automotive vertical would see some drastic changes once the small car is launched in the second half of 2011. "Whatever we do, our endeavour is to keep our profits intact and bring world-class products at Honda global standards," Mr Nagai said.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

SEREN DI PITY

THE AGONY OF THE HEREDITARY TURKS

C L MANOJ 

AS IF Omar Abdullah's contribution alone were not enough, now we have the collective 'GenNext intervention' from Delhi on J&K! Right when the country's youngest chief minister has squandered away, in a matter of a year, the hope and optimism the last two successful Assembly elections and the subsequent political process had generated in J&K, around 40 young members of Parliament, cutting across party lines, issued a joint appeal, urging the agitating Kashmiri youth to join the negotiation table. On the face of it, their resolve indeed is praiseworthy. But the problem lies in an uncomfortable question; about the political and social credentials of these MPs, barring a few exceptions, to be the true representatives of the youth of democratic India and their credibility to command the respect and trust of the country's aspiring and struggling youngsters, from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. 

Before going to the fault-lines in these young MPs' political makeup, one should look at the backdrop and timing of their 'peace move'. It took almost two months of agitation and nearly 50 deaths on the streets of Kashmir for Omar to realise the basics of politics and governance; that in a democratic system, the true leaders have to remain constantly in touch with, and reach out to, the people and not remain like a king in an ivory tower especially when outbursts of popular discontent are on display. 

 

It was only after the cultivated 'bright kid' image of Omar was razed down, ironically, by the very (stone-throwing) youth of his home state through 24×7 reality TV shows, that he thought it fit to visit a hospital to see the injured. It was exactly on 'Omar's day out' that his young friends in Parliament chose to launch their own 'peace mission'. It is a different matter it took some experienced political brains in Delhi and the octogenarian Syed Ali Shah Gilani in Srinagar to provide the battered young CM a temporary relief. 

 

In short, in their two-month silent watching of Kashmir crisis and their final decision to venture out, Omar and his young friends put up a perfect display of synchronised reflexes. Did these young MPs snap out of their collective slumber to see their own potential future in Omar's total disconnect with the youth of his state? 

The plot only thickens when you consider that these so-called young turks had neither been shaken nor stirred by a series of recent events that had special significance for India's youth. Many young couples are being hounded or hacked to death in the name of 'honour killings' or 'upholding the caste pride' by hoodlums. But none of us had the privilege of seeing these young MPs, supposedly champions of India's youth, issue an appeal for reason or launch a movement against caste authority. Instead, one of them vowed to take 'the khap panchayat cause' to the PMO! 

 

We recently saw a young Dalit girl being made to wash toilet at the school where she studied, leading to her suicide, and how a social boycott forced the Uttar Pradesh government to abandon its plans to employ Dalit cooks in schools. But none of this pricked the conscience of these 'young and progressive' MPs. 

 

The nation is also witnessing an animated debate on how to tackle the Maoist problem, especially when many young men and women of the neglected social sections are joining the radicals' bloody war against the state. Have you heard our Gen-Next MPs air their views on the matter? They also suffer no bout of collective anger when the Commonwealth Games, meant to boost the spirit of Indian's sporting youth, has turned out to be a mega show of corruption and mismanagement. 

 

But, then, it is no accident that these young MPs who display their collective agony over their friend Omar falling flat on his GenNext nose, remain indifferent to the real issues and causes of the Indian youth. Because, they, like Omar, owe nothing to India's youth, or their aspirations for becoming what they are; MPs, ministers, chief minister and tomorrow's rulers. They have made it big not because they have risen from a genuine youth movement or political process or by charming the voters with some exceptional talent. 

 

They owe their rise to just two factors: the powerful political families to which they belong to, and the way they systematically and collectively degenerated our democratic system into hereditary rules that ambush the genuine youth activists, snuff out their political careers and leave voters with no genuine choices. 

 

And the fact that most of the national and regional parties, including those that harp against the 'dynastic Congress', have started accepting family raj and started churning out their own Hereditary Turks is posing amajor threat to the democratic process. 

 

As Srinagar revealed the disconnect between Omar and the youth on the street, no wonder his true cohorts in Parliament too felt the heat.

The GenNext MPs who stoically watched honour killings and atrocities on Dalits have rallied behind Omar Abdullah 

The young Abdullah's failure is testimony to the hollowness of the politics of youth iconography by political lineage 

Will the critics of dynastic politics stop celebrating these 'young turks' who sabotage the careers of youth activists?

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

CO S M I C U P LI N K

THINK RIGHT, WIN OVER YOURSELF

K VIJAYARAGHAVAN 

GREAT minds, indeed, think alike! Besides the remarkable similarity between the observation of Bhagavad Gita (6,6) and that of A J Cronin on 'victory over oneself', a powerful reminder of James Allen is also very much akin to the earlier stanza of the Gita. This exhortation of Allen, reflecting the message of the Gita that one is, in the final analysis, his own friend or his own enemy, reiterates that if one were authentic, clear and skilful in his actions and thoughts, no one else can ever cause him any damage. 

 

Dealing incisively and candidly about various aspects concerning right approach and attitude, Allen talks thus of the right thinker, "He perceives that no wrong can reach him but by his own ill deeds. He understands that his welfare is in his own hands and that none but himself can rob him of repose" (extracts from his article, Are You Troubled?). 

 

The art of right reaction to matters, which would ensure one is not damaged by situations, transactions or developments, is also summed up in these immortal lines of Ella Wheeler Wilcox in her poem, Worthwhile, "'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,/ When life flows along like a song;/ But the man worthwhile is the one who will smile/ When everything goes dead wrong." 

 

Retaining one's cheer and thus his presence of mind too, is, thus, a vital stage in attaining that sublime 'victory over oneself'. This is brought about by being watchful and aware of one's instincts and impulses (those 'fight and flight' responses) and thus refining them by and by (shanihi, shanihi). This verily, also, is the art of transition from being reactive to being 'proactive'. 

 

In this process of ensuring that one's base self is always guided and corrected by one's own evolved self within, is naturally inbuilt that self-honesty and self-responsibility, whereby one divines the existence of those causes for his problems within his own self. This 'change management', which is thus also applicable to one's searching self, serves to bring about the needed changes in various aspects without too — situations, transactions and relationships. 

 

Practical application to the guidance as in the Gita, in the manner elaborated by James Allen, would thus serve as the external manifestation of the tangible progress within towards 'victory over oneself'. And attaining this, one, indeed, can 'never know defeat'!

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                                                                                                               DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

WILL BUFFET, GATES INSPIRE INDIANS?

 

Why are Indians so stingy as far as philanthropy goes? Last week, a group of 40 US billionaires led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates — who have a combined net worth of $230 billion — pledged to give away at least half their wealth to worthy causes. This wasn't a one-time gesture by super-rich individuals trying to placate hostile public opinion after the global financial crisis. Mr Buffett has already publicly pledged to donate 99 per cent of his wealth. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have also been involved with several worthy causes around the world. But this time, they also carried a lot of other rich individuals with them. Similar examples in India would be very hard to come by. Interestingly, Mr Buffett and Mr Gates also plan to meet wealthy individuals in India and China over the coming months to get them to take the pledge as well. There should be no lack of prospects at least — the two Asian giants have a total of 110 billionaires between them. Pledging away the bulk or even a substantial chunk of your fortune is not a particularly common concept in India — at least not yet! But it would be unfair to single out only the rich in this case. Charitable donations — whether in terms of money or time — are fairly uncommon in this country. Much of the "giving" in India tends to be in a religious or spiritual context, which is an entirely different thing. Reviled by many for being the most ignorant, selfish and consumerist of societies, Americans could teach us a thing or two in this sphere. In 2008, individual Americans donated a staggering $229 billion to non-profit organisations of all kinds. And not just in money! It is estimated that around a quarter of all Americans volunteer time for a non-profit every year — not bad for a so-called "selfish" nation. It is not just charities which benefit from such donations. Educational institutions are pretty high up on the list too. Top American universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton are currently sitting on multi-billion dollar endowment funds. This is money collected from former students over several decades — not in the form of fees but as voluntary donations made later in life. The $25.9 billion that the Harvard Endowment Fund manages helps to pay for education and research costs at the university for many less-privileged individuals, including many from India. It might take a very long time to change attitudes towards the concept of philanthropy in India. But some large and well-publicised examples can surely act as a catalyst. For instance, Nandan Nilekani and Arun Maira have inspired many promising corporate executives to join them in lower-paying, but more satisfying careers with the government. Similar examples of well-known business figures setting aside money for worthy causes might well inspire many more of us to do the same. Perhaps it may be a good idea to ask successful corporate executives and top businessmen to take leadership roles for specific projects. For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on projects to eradicate malaria and polio and to help improve the incomes of farmers. Similar projects could be set up in India, inviting top business leaders to take the lead in them.

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

ART OF DISINVESTMENT

BY ARJUN SENGUPTA

 

One of the most effective uses of government investment in public enterprises is to disinvest them when necessary and aim at an appropriate time sequence allowing maximum raising of resources. When our experiment with public enterprises started, our policymakers, especially Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, were fully aware of the potential impact of this disinvestment process. Public ownership of assets was not as much the purpose of this exercise as the possibility of selling and purchasing of public assets. Controlling public policy was considered the most effective use of the commanding heights of the economy.

 

The essential role of this policy instrument was to enter the market economy with substantive sale and purchase of the assets that would raise revenue and also guide the policy development. For example, selling government shares of specific enterprises would raise revenue while at the same time influence the prices of those assets to attract resources from the private market and also influence the private investment decisions according to market prices. If the government decided to sell some of its assets in the market it would set a floor to prices allowing the private investors to buy those assets and thereby convert a part of the private savings into public investment. The sale and purchase of assets is an art to get the maximum revenue out of such sales but is also meant to influence the market prices to guide investment.

 

Sometimes there is a misunderstanding that if public assets are sold we are giving up control of ownership and through that control of policies. So long as a total share of public investment in an enterprise does not go below 50 per cent, the government does not lose control of ownership and, therefore, control of policies. On the contrary, selective sales and purchase allow the government to make use of its public investments as an instrument of policymaking. If the aim of those instruments are clear, policy can be fine-tuned, selling assets when they can get maximum market revenue and buying assets when they can raise the prices of those assets. Thus when this instrument is deployed to maximise flexibility it also earns maximum revenues. The management of public investment is an art trying to serve several goals at the same time, with the relative usefulness dependent on market conditions. Essentially, this allows government to have much better control over the market economy without upsetting norms of market behaviour.

 

I am mentioning all this because our policymakers often make a fetish of the sale and purchase of the public investments. The purpose of disinvestment just as well as investment in our public assets is to maintain a control on the prices of these assets and thereby overall process of economic development. Towards that end, sometimes the government has to sell out its assets or repurchase them, guided by market prices and the potential realisation of market revenues. So long as the net result is not a change in the ownership, the government should have the maximum flexibility to use these instruments.

 

Recently, the government has taken a decision towards large disinvestment through which, if necessary, the government can sell substantial amount of public assets. That will allow them to raise resources from the market but also influence the relative prices of different assets through their selective sales and purchases. Of late, there has been a substantial increase in the prices of petroleum assets. This is the time when the government should decide on whether to buy or sell more of these assets. You should sell the assets when you think the expected prices of those assets in the future will be going down. You should buy the assets when the expectations are for a further increase in the prices.

 

When India embarked on massive expansion of public investment it did not have quite the idea of how effective were the methods of controlling the prices and therefore investment in many of these assets. Public investment was regarded more as gaining control over ownership rather than effective operations, that is why, in the initial years, any attempt to disinvest these public assets tended to be equated to giving up the ownership and deviating from the so-called socialist pattern of industry. The Indian policymakers have very quickly learned how to use public investment to control markets, influence their prices and use them for attracting investments from the private sector whether in India or abroad. As the Indian economy developed and the strength of Indian markets and investment increased, the value of the use of these instruments for controlling the markets also expanded. Even if the market shares of a public enterprise are not always large, they could be used by Indian policymakers to get the maximum benefits from the market operations. In other words, while public investment is seen mostly as a question of ownership and benefiting from the rent in terms of net benefit of the economy and also to the enterprises themselves, the flexible use of public investment in different enterprises was obviously of a major value to the policymakers.

 

In this whole exercise of disinvestment or investment of public sector enterprises would obviously have substantial benefits, provided their operations remain flexible. The essential precondition of that flexibility was the ability of the public sector management or owners to invest or disinvest at any particular time and the acceptance or non-acceptance of the liability of the investment. Any attempt to control such investments for reasons other than the need of that enterprise detract from the net value of such operations. So, disinvestment should be taken as a normal policy tool of an enterprises to be used in our interest of that enterprises, increase or decrease in ownership should be compared with increase or decrease in flexibility of that operation.

 

But India has learned over the last several decades of industrialisation how to use public investment in specific sectors such as petroleum, steel and other heavy industries and also to operate on the basis of market incentives. Investments must yield adequate returns reckoned in terms of not just commercial benefits but also social benefits calculated according to social preferences. So, disinvestment has assumed the role of a major instrument of policy intervention — a clear sign of the maturing of an economy.

 

Apparently, the government has worked out a programme for disinvestment with these goals in mind and we only hope they will prove to be successful in due course of time.

 

- Dr Arjun Sengupta is a Member of Parliament and former Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

ISRAEL WILL LISTEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

 

I just saw a remarkable new documentary directed by Shlomi Eldar, the Gaza reporter for Israel's Channel 10 news. Titled Precious Life, the film tracks the story of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a four-month-old Palestinian baby suffering from a rare immune deficiency. Moved by the baby's plight, Eldar helps the infant and mother go from Gaza to Israel's Tel Hashomer hospital for lifesaving bone-marrow treatment. The operation costs $55,000. Eldar puts out an appeal on Israel TV and within hours an Israeli Jew whose own son was killed during military service donates all the money.

 

The documentary takes a dramatic turn, though, when the infant's Palestinian mother, Raida, who is being disparaged by fellow Gazans for having her son treated in Israel, blurts out that she hopes he'll grow up to be a suicide bomber to help recover Jerusalem. Raida tells Eldar: "From the smallest infant, even smaller than Mohammed, to the oldest person, we will all sacrifice ourselves for the sake of Jerusalem. We feel we have the right to it. You're free to be angry, so be angry".

 

Eldar is devastated by her declaration and stops making the film. But this is no Israeli propaganda movie. The drama of the Palestinian boy's rescue at an Israeli hospital is juxtaposed against Israeli retaliations for shelling from Gaza, which kill whole Palestinian families. Dr Raz Somech, the specialist who treats Mohammed as if he were his own child, is summoned for reserve duty in Gaza in the middle of the film. The race by Israelis and Palestinians to save one life is embedded in the larger routine of the two communities grinding each other up.

 

"It's clear to me that the war in Gaza was justified — no country can allow itself to be fired at with Qassam rockets — but I did not see many people pained by the loss of life on the Palestinian side", Eldar told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Because we were so angry at Hamas, all the Israeli public wanted was to (expletive) Gaza... It wasn't until after the incident of Dr Abu al-Aish — the Gaza physician I spoke with on live TV immediately after a shell struck his house and caused the death of his daughters and he was shouting with grief and fear — that I discovered the (Israeli) silent majority that has compassion for people, including Palestinians. I found that many Israeli viewers shared my feelings". So Eldar finished the documentary about how Mohammed's life was saved in Israel.

 

His raw film reflects West Asia I know — one full of amazing compassion, even among enemies, and breathtaking cruelty, even among neighbours.

 

I write about this now because there is something foul in the air. It is a trend, both deliberate and inadvertent, to delegitimise Israel — to turn it into a pariah state, particularly in the wake of the Gaza war. You hear the director Oliver Stone saying crazy things about how Hitler killed more Russians than Jews, but the Jews got all the attention because they dominate the news media and their lobby controls Washington. You hear Britain's Prime minister describing Gaza as a big Israeli "prison camp" and Turkey's prime Minister telling Israel's President, "When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill". You see singers cancelling concerts in Tel Aviv. If you just landed from Mars, you might think that Israel is the only country that has killed civilians in war — never Hamas, never Hezbollah, never Turkey, never Iran, never Syria, never America.

 

I'm not here to defend Israel's bad behaviour. Just the opposite. I've long argued that Israel's colonial settlements in the West Bank are suicidal for Israel as a Jewish democracy. I don't think Israel's friends can make that point often enough or loud enough.

 

But there are two kinds of criticism. Constructive criticism starts by making clear: "I know what world you are living in". I know West Asia is a place where Sunnis massacre Shias in Iraq, Iran kills its own voters, Syria allegedly kills the prime Minister next door, Turkey hammers the Kurds, and Hamas engages in indiscriminate shelling and refuses to recognise Israel. I know all of that. But Israel's behaviour, at times, only makes matters worse — for Palestinians and Israelis. If you convey to Israelis that you understand the world they're living in, and then criticise, they'll listen.

 

Destructive criticism closes Israeli ears. It says to Israelis: There is no context that could explain your behaviour, and your wrongs are so uniquely wrong that they overshadow all others. Destructive critics dismiss Gaza as an Israeli prison, without ever mentioning that had Hamas decided — after Israel unilaterally left Gaza — to turn it into Dubai rather than Tehran, Israel would have behaved differently, too. Destructive criticism only empowers the most destructive elements in Israel to argue that nothing Israel does matters, so why change?

 

How about everybody take a deep breath, pop a copy of Precious Life into your DVD players, watch this documentary about real West Asia, and if you still want to be a critic (as I do), be a constructive one. A lot more Israelis and Palestinians will listen to you.

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

OF ERRING NETAS, OGLING BABUS

PORN TROUBLE IN UP

 

Computer-literate officials in the Mayawati government of Uttar Pradesh are in deep trouble these days. A woman official in the finance department recently lodged a complaint that some senior babus were surfing pornography sites during office hours and it was becoming increasingly embarrassing for women to work in such an atmosphere.

 

The complaint, expectedly, sent shockwaves in the chief minister's secretariat and the concerned authorities were immediately asked to identify which computers had been used to view X-rated sites.

 

Now IT wizards are screening all computers one by one. Junior officials whisper that it is senior babus who are hooked on to porn sites all day. "Since Mayawati rarely visits her office and works from her residence, these officials keep busy at computers," said a junior babu. "However, when action is taken, it will be the smaller officials who will suffer."

 

The controversy has put an end to the state government's plan to push e-governance with a vengeance.

 

Perils of a loose tongue

 

If there is a "foot-in-the-mouth" award, it should be given to the Madhya Pradesh BJP president Prabhat Jha.

 

He recently stirred up a controversy with his comment that security personnel belonging to paramilitary forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force are no less than dacoits and smugglers.

 

Speaking at Indore the other day, the state BJP chief said Naxalites were using weapons and firearms purchased from the security personnel. After his comments created an uproar, Mr Jha quickly retracted his statement and said he held the security forces in high esteem. He added that his remarks were only aimed at some wayward cops acting against the national interest.

 

Despite this, a petition requesting that Mr Jha be tried for sedition has been filed in a local court by a state Congress spokesman.

 

Singing a new tune

 

Former Orissa minister and senior Biju Janata Dal leader Kalindi Behera was already an astute politician and experienced teacher rolled into one. Of late, he has got two more new identities — a singer and a lyricist. Mr Behera recently penned seven devotional songs in praise of Sai Baba.

 

The Anand Dham Trust last week released an album — Bhakti Arghya — that contained all the seven songs composed by the politician. Mr Behera has also rendered the title song in his own voice. Though friends of Prof. Behera say that he is just exploring his artistic self, political circles feel he is now looking at some kind of divine intervention to be back in the state council of ministers.

 

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik dropped him from his council of ministers in 2008 when at least 19 people died in a liquor tragedy at Berhampur. He was excise minister then. Perhaps all this devotion will open the doors again.

 

Back to school

 

Chhattisgarh BJP MLA Baiduram Kasyap, 62, must be cursing the day he decided to resume his studies and clear the Class 10 exams. All went well till the tribal legislator from Chitrakoot was charged with arranging an impersonator to sit in a pre-test for Class 10, which began on July 17.

 

When the controversy refused to die down, Mr Kasyap tried another trick. On the last day of the examination, he invited the electronic media to cover him writing his examination. He began writing the exam in real earnest with the cameras trained on him.

 

After scribbling half-a-page of the answer sheet, he came out of the examination hall to talk to reporters. "I hail from a poor tribal family and I dropped out of school due to poverty", he said. "Hence I wanted to set an example for others, particularly my tribal brethren. But my rivals created unnecessary controversy by making false allegations."

 

After this emotionally charged soundbite, he walked out in a huff and sped away in his car leaving his exam paper unfinished. But, he was termed successful in the examination, giving rise to yet another controversy.

 

A BJP Gandhi?

 

former BJP chief Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh has been inducted into the Uttar Pradesh BJP executive as state secretary. His supporters in Varanasi have put up hoardings that scream "Pankaj nahi ye aandhi hai, Doosra Mahatma Gandhi hai."

 

But Rajnath baiters are obviously not amused at the comparison.

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

WHY DO WE REACT?

BY SADHGURU

 

What is the basis of reaction?

 

For most of you, most of your reactions are just helpless reactions. Many times you tell yourself, "Next time I should not react like this". But the next time your reaction gets even more violent. This is happening, isn't it? Especially when you go about telling yourself, "I don't want to react, I don't want to react", you become a total reaction.

 

First of all, why are you reacting? What is the basis of reaction? This reaction is coming in you fundamentally because you're still a collection of people. Please see that you're not an individual; you're a collection of people operating up there in your mind. When you're not an individual, you're naturally a reaction, because everything that you have within you is something that you have received from outside. Please look sincerely at everything that you know as "myself" — your beliefs, your opinions, your likes, your dislikes; everything has been gathered from outside. Even your idea of what's beautiful and what's good has been received from outside.

 

So the first thing to do is to remove yourself with everything that you are not; to see that you are not this or that. One day just sit by yourself and strip yourself of everything you're identified with, piece by piece — your education, ideology, home, family, body. Something so tremendous will happen if you do this successfully, and, of course, you will no longer be a reaction.

 

This may not be possible for everybody. Some need to be supported physically, emotionally and energy-wise also. So there's a whole integrated practice; something to do with your energy, body, emotion and mind. This combination works much better, but if you have a razor sharp mind, you can just sit down and say, "This is not me. Take it away".

 

This is one of the most ancient spiritual processes and there are many step-by-step methods to get there. In India we call this "nethi, nethi, nethi" —"this is not it", "this is not it", "this is not it".

 

— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet, and
internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru's wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life. He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org[1]

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

WHERE'S MRS OBAMA?

BY MAUREEN DOWD

 

WASHINGTON

 

Her critics used to paint her as a scary Marxist. Now they cast her as a spoiled princess.

 

During the campaign, she was caricatured on the cover of the New Yorker as a fist-bumping, gun-toting Black Panther. Now she's mocked by a New York Daily News blogger as a jet-setting, free-spending Marie Antoinette. (On Spain's Costa del Sol with Sasha on her husband's 49th birthday, she did, in effect, say let him eat cake — alone.)

 

Michelle Obama is the most popular figure in the administration, but last week she had her first brush with getting brushed back in the press.

 

Some of the women anchoring news shows on MSNBC debated whether the First Lady was being "mean" to her husband by deserting him on his birthday for a girls' getaway to Spain, and whether it was sort of sad, as one put it, that the President, drowning in troubles, had to go to Chicago to find friends (including Oprah) to celebrate with.

 

Andrea Tantaros, a Fox contributor and former Republican operative, wrote a harsh Daily News blog post calling the First Lady a "material girl" for going on a glitzy vacation at a luxury resort in Marbella with a cavalcade of secret service agents, friends, children and staff, even as "most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns — or forgoing them altogether".

 

In politics and pop culture, optics are all. And Michelle's optics sent a message that likely made some in the White House and the Democratic Party wince.

 

She seemed to be gigging her husband a bit: I'm going to do what I want to do. I can't worry about whether it gives the Tea Partiers ammo or makes Democrats (including you) campaigning against the excesses of the rich look hypocritical. Even if the country is sliding into a double-dip recession, I'm going abroad to a five-star hotel on Air Force Two and give a boost to another country's economy.

 

To defray possible criticism of their upcoming 10-day trip to Martha's Vineyard, Michelle belatedly agreed to a weekend family vacation on Florida's gulf coast. On Friday, Spanish police closed a public beach for the American entourage. If Michelle had wanted a closed beach, she could have headed to our gulf sooner. There are plenty of multi-star hotels there, and she and the girls could have cleaned a few pelicans.

 

Certainly, as Obama adviser David Axelrod says, "not everything is political theatre". The Obamas shouldn't have to poll, as the Clintons did, to figure out where to go on vacation.

 

"Folks in the public eye are also human beings", Axelrod told me. "If you have the ability to show your kid a part of the world and you can do that together before they get to the age where they don't want to do anything with you, I don't think it's right that you have to defer it because of the politics."

 

But as Michelle and friends frolicked in the land of flamenco, the birthday boy got few gifts from the news.

 

More Democratic candidates shied away from appearing with him. The latest disappointing jobs report prompted evening news reports about Americans' fears of falling into what one called "the abyss". And a CNN poll showed that a quarter of Americans still doubt the President was even born here.

 

The job of First Lady, tightly constrained by convention, is hard for modern women. Michelle is a gutsy Harvard Law School grad who started as her husband's mentor. Any colouring outside the lines can cause problems, as Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton learned when lampooned as Marie Antoinettes.

 

Michelle has done such a good job that she silenced her vituperative conservative critics for a year-and-a-half. But perhaps the strain of debunking that "angry black woman" stereotype by playing the smiling, conventional First Lady, talking to Ladies' Home Journal about vegetable cleanses and portion sizes, made her want to assert her independence in the one place she could: her schedule.

 

The inimitable columnist Mary McGrory once said that if a First Lady simply made her husband toast, that was

enough, given how hard his job was.

 

And because his predecessor mucked things up so royally, US President Barack Obama's job is ridiculously hard. But at moments when you think Michelle might make her husband toast, or better yet a martini, she's often off on a girls' trip.

 

When healthcare passed after a difficult year and the President celebrated with his staff on the Truman Balcony, the First Lady was with her daughters on Broadway to see Memphis.

 

When the BP oil spill stained the White House, making the President seem so impotent that he had to make his first national address from the Oval Office, the First Lady was playing with her mother and daughters in Los Angeles, staying at the Beverly Wilshire. She was taking in a Lakers game the night of his address.

 

During the campaign, Michelle tried to offset her husband's existential detachment with familial warmth. Now that he holds the world's loneliest office, he needs that more than ever.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

HIGHER STILL HIGHER

BOTH SIDES AGREE TO DISAGREE

Parliament has failed the people. The uproar and the disruption have as usual yielded nothing. Both the Treasury and Opposition benches have agreed to disagree, never mind the ballooning food inflation. The current rate of 9.53 per cent registers only a marginal decline. A government ~ faltering on every critical issue ~ ensured that there would be no voting after the debate. For all the soundbytes, the Opposition obliged and eventually played on the back foot by merely urging the Speaker to direct the government to take corrective steps. The legislature is safe with privileges intact; the executive is unscathed. Yet the judiciary has been conveniently overlooked. Neither side appeared to be moved by the recent Supreme Court indictment over the rotting foodgrain in several states owing to inadequate storage facilities. And in the midst of malnutrition, if not virtual starvation, of a large segment.  Sharad Pawar is much too culpable; he has of course spared us a tissue of mis-statements by not making a presentation on the final day. Pranab Mukherjee's performance was calculatedly evasive, though he has acknowledged the collective responsibility of the Centre and the states. Both have failed. Gallingly, the finance minister pleaded that shortfall and hoarding are "beyond the government's control". This begs a very simple query: Why hasn't the Essential Services Maintenance Act been invoked? It is a fundamental failure of governance if hoarding cannot be curbed; one is driven to the conclusion that the crime has been tacitly condoned.  Mr Mukherjee was diversionary on the equally critical diversion of PDS supplies to open markets.  He sounded pretty helpless on the price front, turning down a proposal for tax reduction and attributing the crisis to international crude prices. 

Periodic assurances by his economic advisers that the inflation rate will decline shortly are only for the birds. If the minister was evasive, the Opposition leader was feeble. While wrapping up the debate, Sushma Swaraj merely regretted that the government hadn't rolled back food prices. It is the ineptitude of the government that has been on display. At another remove. it was the Opposition's raucous lung-power that was in evidence. And amidst the bedlam, the Food Security Bill ceased to be a priority, let alone universal PDS.

 

SPIKING THE GUNS 

TRUST DEFICIT IN MOD BUYING

RED tape can prove self-strangulating. That is the inevitable conclusion drawn from the recent decision to suspend the trial/selection process to end the Army's decades-long requirement for medium-artillery because a single-vendor situation had emerged after the CBI called for blacklisting a Singapore-based supplier suspected of corruption in another defence deal. Revised and re-revised regulations proscribe single-vendor evaluations, and to further complicate the situation the sole supplier left in the race was the latest incarnation of the firm that first brought murky defence deals into public focus ~ Bofors. That was way back in the mid-1980s, and the Army is yet to make up for the shortfall of some 900 artillery pieces that were denied to it when the deal with the original Swedish firm was scrapped in the wake of the political furore that cost the Rajiv Gandhi government re-election. However, what is of grave immediate concern is more than the gaping hole in the firepower profile (incidentally the Bofors field-howitzers functioned superbly at Kargil), but how "anti-corruption" regulation has proved a quagmire that has delayed or stymied acquisition of weaponry the forces require. Not that those safeguards have actually worked, corruption in the procurement system remains rampant. Could there be a more scathing condemnation of national character than an inability to eliminate a trust deficit in the personnel involved in providing the soldier his guns? Whether the crook is civilian or military, he constitutes a national disgrace. That he appears to be everywhere adds to the shame. 

 A couple of related questions arise. Those who would care to recall some of the slogans that did the rounds during Gulzari Lal Nanda's anti-corruption drive might remember the one that read: "To take a bribe is as bad as to give a bribe". While the list of blacklisted foreign arms producers runs long, the number of persons nailed for receiving their bribes is short ~ undisclosed for political reasons? And if a shortage of that particular equipment has been felt for over 30 years why has no attempt been made at indigenous development? The DRDO can experiment with missiles, radars, aircraft and tanks but fights shy of modern cannon? What squandering of the legacy of the man who cast the celebrated zamzamah that Kipling so eulogised!

 

TEACHERS IN TROUBLE 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN 

THE dust raised by the steps taken in West Bengal to enforce the law on corporal punishment has produced tragic sub-plots like a teacher in Hooghly rushing to the home of a student she had slapped earlier in the day in school. Her fear was that the parents would file a complaint with the local police, and that would be enough to fetch her admonishment or even suspension. This raises serious questions. Exceptional cases such as a suicide by a student have alerted school authorities while the government has realised that its responsibility cannot be restricted to schools that it runs or aids. But while public attention is focused on cases of corporal punishment that are coming to light, there is the other side of the coin that finds teachers now finding it difficult to distinguish between acts of discipline and steps against delinquency. There are reputed schools where teachers have followed well-established principles of conduct that are seldom questioned outside the classroom or, at worst, settled at the level of the principal. This is because the teachers are not only competent but command trust and can rarely, if ever, be accused of bias or cruelty. None of this may matter in the new climate in which schools across the board will be expected to follow the rulebook. 

This can leave teachers confused and make it more difficult to deal with cases of indiscipline or sheer mischief. While some of them may be inclined to give up in despair, others may still be committed to the highest principles of their profession. They are expected to be experienced and responsible enough to distinguish between torture and taking such steps as are necessary to let children develop. It would be a disaster if the academic atmosphere is vitiated to the extent where teachers are compelled to perform permanently in a climate of fear. While it is necessary to protect children from irresponsible and incompetent teachers, the guidelines may not benefit either schools or students without there being a clear reference point on maintaining standards. The government and the law have to continue to deal with aberrations. For the rest, schools and teachers need to be spared the current blast of external pressures.

 

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THE STATESMAN

ARTICLE

QUIT THE NATION

HOW A GANDHIAN MOVEMENT BECAME VIOLENT 

NIRMALENDU BIKASH RAKSHIT

 

IT is a well-known fact of history that Mahatma Gandhi called for the ouster of the British government on 9 August 1942 with his "Quit India" war-cry. Public enthusiasm was stirred to the point of a violent revolt.  According to the historian, Tara Chand, it was an unprecedented and "spontaneous revolt" that hastened the end of British rule in India. 

Surprisingly enough, Gandhi was not inclined to start a mass struggle at that critical juncture.  In his reckoning, the call for such an agitation would suffice. And if it did take off, the British authorities would try to settle scores with him. At worst, it would result in a "fifteen-day anarchy". Thereafter, negotiations would settle the crisis. 

The Mahatma was disillusioned by the Cripps Mission of March-April, 1942. He had expected that Britain, then in war with Germany, would try to enlist Indian support and come to terms with the nationalist leaders. But even at the height of the crisis, aggravated by Japan's advance towards Burma since December 1941, Britain stuck to its imperialist stance. Stafford Cripps was sent to India to negotiate with the Indian leaders, but he had nothing tangible to offer on the basis of which a settlement could be reached. The Mahatma, after a brief meeting, advised him to go back by the next flight, because his offer was similar to a "post-dated cheque". 

National liberation

Gandhi concluded that a bolder step needed to be taken in the interests of national liberation. Of course, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of his faithful disciples, had a different take. According to him, the dramatic escape of Netaji and his adventurous scheme to inflict a mortal blow to the government from abroad inspired Gandhi to do something within India. As Azad has written: "He had no clear idea. The only thing he mentioned during our discussions was that unlike previous occasions, this time the people would not court imprisonment voluntarily. They should resist arrest and submit to the government if only physically forced to do so. Gandhiji's idea seemed to be that since the war was on the frontier, the British would come to terms with the Congress as soon as it was launched. Even if this did not take place, he believed that the British would hesitate to take any drastic step with the Japanese knocking at the door" (India Wins Freedom, p 75-76).  

Nehru and other leaders were opposed to such an idea. Though at the Haripura session (1938) and Tripuri session (1939) the Congress had resolved that if, due to its "fascist" policy, Britain was involved in a global war, India would not support the war effort in any way. Nehru viewed the war as one; he felt that it was their bounden duty to support Britain, an apostle of democracy. He and some other leaders tried to restrain Gandhi from launching a mass movement, because, in their view, it would directly serve the interests of Japan. Nehri wrote in his Discovery of India (p 483) that Gandhi had no clear idea of the international situation; his call for a Quit India movement sought to weaken Britain's struggle for democracy. 

Thus, for some time, the Mahatma ploughed a lonely furrow. Even the working committee of the Congress rejected his proposal of launching a mass struggle in April-May 1942.  Yet he soldiered on. He told Louis Fischer: "I am a man possessed with an idea. If such a man cannot get an organisation, he himself becomes an organisation" ~ (One Week With Gandhiji, p 83). Before long, Nehru, Azad and others realised the implications and they began to toe the Gandhian line. On 14 July, the working committee accepted his proposal and, on 7 August, it was passed by the AICC with a thumping majority. 

But  Gandhi did not actually intend to launch a struggle against the Raj; he simply wanted to exert pressure on the British to grant some concessions. He did not chalk out any plan or programme.  It was a phase marked by conviction and confusion. The Mahatma sounded the war-cry "do or die".  He told the people, "Take a pledge with God and your conscience as witness that you will no longer rest till freedom is achieved and will be prepared to lay down your lives in the attempt to achieve it." In the same breath, he  advised them to fight peacefully and with non-violent means. He sought an interview with the Viceroy to inform him about the peaceful objectives of the Congress.  The Viceroy was furious over the declaration of a "rebellion" by the Congress. The Mahatma sent Miss Slade, popularly known as Mira Ben, to convince the Viceroy that the term was emotionally coined by Nehru and that the proposed movement would be totally non-violent. The Viceroy curtly refused to see her, and a crisis was seemingly in the offing.

Crackdown by the British

Suddenly, on 9 August, the British launched a crackdown. Prominent Congress leaders were arrested and the party was declared illegal. The people reacted with processions and strikes. They were assaulted, arrested, and even fired at. The movement took a violent turn. The mobs cut telegraph and telephone wires, damaged railway lines, raised barricades, and set post offices, police stations, and government offices on fire. The government deployed the army to crush the movement. 

 Apart from the usual repressive measures, the British used machine-guns and fired from the air. The people became still more restive. At Ballia in UP, Midnapore in Bengal, Satara in Maharashtra and several parts of Bihar, the people set up a parallel government in order to paralyse the British administration. It was officially admitted in 1942 that the police resorted to firing on no fewer than 538 occasions. An estimated 960 people were killed and 1630 severely injured. An enormous amount was collected as fines.  

The extent of the violence suggests that the Quit India movement was not exactly Gandhian in nature.  It was called on the presumption that it would either remain largely non-violent, marked by pressure tactics. As it turned out, the movement escalated to an armed revolt that continued  for two years. 

It is, however, difficult to say whether or not the people followed the instructions conveyed by Netaji through the Berlin Radio.  He did not oppose the violence. But the fact is that the revolt proceeded through violence as he fondly desired. On 31 August 1942, he advised the people to: (i) hold protest-meetings; (ii) publish secret bulletins; (iii) occupy government offices; (iv) punish the police officers; (v) erect barricades; (vi) set government offices on fire; (vii) destroy communication links; (viii) damage railway, bus and tram services; and (ix) to attack police and railway stations. It can rightly be claimed that though the Quit India movement was called by the non-violent Mahatma Gandhi,  it did ignite the country as desired by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. 

 

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THE STATESMAN

PERSPECTIVE

 

PRETTY HINDU WOMAN…

URBANE ANGST 

 

Julia Roberts is a Hindu. So am I. But, unlike her, I would only admit to it if you held a gun to my head. 
 In all other situations, I have equal contempt for all religions, a little more for some than for others ~ I may not be a Pretty Woman but I do like to think of myself as a Thinking Man who gets it contextually, is always game for insights into the matrix of self, people, places and paraphernalia that makes each individual's existence fit in the context of their specific earthly life in all spheres and, hell, I even celebrate the mundane, so why shouldn't I? 

I hasten to clarify that I have nothing against adherents of any faith ~ it's not their fault that both nature and nurture have conspired to make them believers ~ but apart from being a Hindu-If-Gun-At-Head I am also a Muscular Liberal. This is sometimes confused with being a Neo Conservative but it's not the same thing at all, despite certain commonalities of interest. 

Also, I believe in the rule of law and don't give a toss that its origins, as of the social contract or the notion of equality of opportunity, emanate from the Christian tradition; approximations of these theses, both theoretical and practical, can always be found in other faiths but that's not my game. I am not an insecure Hindu who wants to push his religion's case to be the new "it" thing; that's a derivative discourse best left to socially disabled, sexually inept and intellectually moribund proselytisers of all faiths. 

In fact, I am the only Muscular Liberal Hindu-If-Gun-At-Head I know who doesn't want to convert anyone. Just couldn't be bothered; there may be safety and legacy in numbers but there is also such profound boredom there. I am morally ambivalent ~ each to their own as long as it doesn't break the law of the land ~ but aspire to be ethically correct at all times as a matter of faith. So, I think I'm an irregular sort of Hindu, the only one I aspire to be despite the Sanatan Dharma regulars (respect). 

Longish preamble, but necessary I think. Because only Hinduism as an Indic civilizational way of life, and that's the notion of the religion that claims me when push comes to pistol (you didn't seriously think I was from the ranks of the Ram Sene/Bajrang Dal did you?), allows me to take the above position without being excommunicated or worse. Indeed, it's a moot point who would, if they could, excommunicate me because there isn't any central ecclesiastical authority I recognise or one that can enforce such a decision if I don't go by the book, as it were. It's also for these and other such reasons that Roberts can declare she is a practicing Hindu without having a love interest from that faith to pander to or cultural particularity to take into account, and without having to change her name, her diet, her profession or even how she chooses to dress. 
Because in the essence ~ not core, mind, but essence ~ of this way of life is the individual and his/her freedoms in all spheres (what more religious and perhaps less muscular Hindus refer to as the individual path to salvation). Don't get me wrong, though. This is not some airy-fairy new age traveller number that makes of a flawed, living, breathing religion a kind of hippy-happy, anything goes, structureless entity. Of course not. The empirical realities of caste, kinship and family structures and what they have come to represent in the form of group rights trumping individual rights, to take just one example, mitigate against such a reading of the religion. But still.  

Roberts can just get up and leave at any point and at any time of her choosing, without ascribing any reason whatsoever. It's what philosophers call the "right of exit" from any cultural/religious community for each and every member thereof without having to give up their adherence to the cultural context of their lives ~ whether that be a result of choice or circumstance or as most often a bit of both ~ and this includes how they eat, love, pray... 

 

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THE STATESMAN

PERSPECTIVE

CHINA'S GENERATION OF ANGRY YOUTH

 

Following 30 years of reform and opening up, China's educated youth are split into two distinctive groups. Some of them, benefiting from the country's growing economic success, have become intellectual elites with dominant social status. Their less fortunate peers, who missed these opportunities, are still struggling at the bottom rungs of society. 

In such an unfavourable context, they may turn into so-called "angry youth", radically critical citizens furious over any malpractice by public powers, and thereby sowing the seeds of social inequity. This group, who defy mainstream values, will have a profound and far-reaching impact on Chinese society. 

The social underdogs are those who usually stay in cities after leaving school. They do not have stable jobs or local household registration. 

This group mainly consists of three kinds: idle youth from urban families relying on their parents' income; unemployed college graduates from the rural areas swarming to cities looking for jobs or the so-called "ant tribe"; a new generation of migrant workers born after the 1980s who have had secondary education and who fight for their livelihood in cities but are still identified as farmers. 

Among the three, utmost attention should be paid to jobless college graduates from rural families, especially the new generation of migrant workers. The new generation of migrant workers accounts for five to six per cent of the total population of 130 million migrant workers. 

The difference between jobless urban and rural youth and the new generation migrant workers is that the rural labourers have no basic living guarantee in cities once they lose jobs. As city dwellers, their urban counterparts can, however, continue with their parasitic life, either relying on social welfare or on parents to get by. 

Irrespective of the family backgrounds of these "angry youth", most of them attribute their miserable lives to unfair social systems, rather than themselves. 

A typical ideology of this energetic group, labelled "angry youth consciousness" is taking shape gradually. Contrary to the mainstream social values, this ideology reflects a shared outlook among the underdogs. 
Once this consciousness takes root, it will cause more social unrest at the grassroots level. We can see this budding mentality at internet forums where views opposing mainstream values are expressed with regard to political proposals or controversial social issues. These defiant opinions reflect the social underdogs' dissatisfaction and protest and, if not checked, will aggravate hatred against the bureaucracy. 

Although the older unemployed migrant workers are also in a weak position in the social strata, survival is their most pressing problem, not political participation. Even if they cause social unrest, they usually blame it on their employers directly rather than the local governments. 

But the expectations of poor educated youth are different from common migrant workers. Most of the youngsters will probably think of corruption by officials first when they accuse the unfair social system for their personal troubles. 

A simple comparison between their better-off classmates and themselves may easily direct their dissatisfaction to the system. Gradually, they will become apathetic to life and resent society, and become increasingly rebellious. 
The problem of poor educated youth is closely related to the exclusive nature of institutions formed after the reform and opening up. The main feature of the exclusiveness is that huge obstacles exist which prevents members at the bottom rungs of society from climbing up the social ladder. 

Children of the rich and powerful always have better opportunities and corner more social resources. The abuses of public power and financial resources are eating into the very foundation of social fairness and justice. The monopoly of power and wealth by the elite few intensifies the "angry youth's" strong resistance to official homilies on social values. Breaking the monopoly of public power to provide upward flow on an equal footing is urgently needed. 

Decision-makers should get a keen glimpse of the underdogs' lives and try to understand their concerns and behaviour. Political research should not only focus on elite intellectuals, but also reach people at the grassroots to understand the dynamics of China's domestic governance system. 

And, developing basic social identification among the youth is crucial to promoting their emotional attachment to society. Through building a fair social security system, governments at various levels should provide citizens with equal public services regardless of their backgrounds. 

china daily/ann

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THE STATESMAN

PERSPECTIVE

 

SAILING ROUND THE WORLD AT 14

JEROME TAYLOR

 

As Laura Dekker's boat finally set sail for the start of a voyage that could one day lead her to be crowned as the youngest person to sail solo around the world, it was her lawyer Peter de Lange who provided the most succinct explanation as to why a 14-year-old would undergo such a task. "Laura has salt in her veins," he said.

For the past 12 months, the teenager has been stranded on dry land following a bitter legal dispute between her family and Dutch child welfare services who refused to let her leave the country. But the schoolgirl finally set off from Den Osse harbour for the start of a two-year odyssey which will see her journey for months on end without support or company through some of the world's toughest seas. 

Her court case provoked a debate over whether someone so young should be allowed to take on such a daunting challenge. Supported by her father Dick – and belatedly by her mother after she dropped her initial opposition – Laura argued that she was an accomplished sailor who could tackle a solo global voyage and keep up with her studies at the same time.

Welfare officers in the Netherlands disagreed, launching a legal bid to stop her from undertaking the voyage and even threatening to take her into care. But, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the young sailor, a court in the Netherlands struck down a supervision order which had barred the teenager from going abroad, arguing that the ultimate responsibility for Laura lay with her parents. 

Speaking to reporters next to her 38ft yacht Guppy, the teenager dismissed any concerns for her safety, even though she will have to travel through pirate-infested waters and battle tropical storms on her own. "I am not really afraid," she said. "I am very happy. I want to see the world and it would be great to become the youngest (person to circumnavigate the Earth)". 

For the opening stages of her voyage to Portugal she will be accompanied by her father. "We want to be sure that the boat is completely ready, so this is the last test sail," Laura explained. "From Portugal I start officially by myself, sailing towards the Canary Islands."

Part of the reason the court lifted the supervision order was because she made a series of adjustments, opting to travel in a larger boat, taking first-aid courses as well as practising solo runs across the North Sea and undergoing sleep-deprivation exercises. She will not try to circumnavigate the globe in one go, opting instead to take regular stops to meet her family. She will also avoid the ocean during stormy seasons. Her route will take her across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific, past Malaysia and Thailand, around the southern horn of India and through the Gulf of Aden, a stretch of water notorious for piracy. 

Her voyage is part of a trend that has seen younger and younger participants attempt to snatch the record. Last year the 17-year-old American Zac Sunderland became the youngest sailor to sail around the world – only to have his record broken six weeks later by the British sailor, Michael Perham, also 17 years old. In May, the Australian sailor Jessica Watson reduced the age record once more, completing a circumnavigation in less than seven months, just shy of her 17th birthday. If Laura is to beat Jessica's record she will need to complete her circumnavigation by not later than 16 September 2012.

The Independent

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THE TELEGRAPH

TEST CASE

 

The passive voice is a mixture of things —convenient, mysterious, evasive, flexible —depending on the use to which it is put. The Supreme Court recently ruled that DNA tests in paternity cases should be ordered only when "eminently needed". The question here is not only who will do the ordering but also who will decide on the eminence of the need. A lot turns on the latter because fathers need to be identified usually when the complaint is against an injustice done to a woman. But the Supreme Court stated clearly, in the context of a particular case, that a state women's commission could not order a DNA test. Here a woman had been fighting a matrimonial case against her husband, who had moved court to have his marriage annulled. But she also applied to the Orissa women's commission, alleging that he had dumped her after making her pregnant. The commission asked for a DNA test to establish who her child's father was, and a lower court had upheld that order. The Supreme Court's ruling puts 17 more such DNA tests that the OWC ordered in limbo. Among these is one relating to a paternity case against a Biju Janata Dal legislator. The ruling amounts to a clipping of the commission's wings.

 

Who is to decide whether knowing the identity of the father is "eminently needed"? The Supreme Court has warned against the possibility of "bastardizing" an innocent child in this search for truth, especially if the mother and her spouse were living together at the time of conception. The Supreme Court's sensitive appreciation of the possible social problems of a child from a broken or divided home is truly heartening. But it is disturbing to think that the OWC could also have thought those 17 DNA tests absolutely necessary, that the high number may not be an index of its casual attitude but an indicator at the rate at which women are exploited or abandoned or betrayed. No doubt the court in its wisdom has in mind the fine balance between the good of the child in society and justice for wronged women.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

OPINION

THE DECLINE OF MORALITY

LIBERALIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION HAVE INCREASED GREED

COMMENTARAO: S.L. RAO

 

A recent issue of a popular news magazine carried a cover story on the lifestyles of many well-to-do urban young people. It described a hedonistic life of late nights, intimacy between the sexes, expensive meals and other entertainment. These are the young people whose misguided parents give them a lot of spending money or some who hold highly paid jobs during the day and play hard afterwards. The National Council of Applied Economic Research publications show a decline in the numbers of the very poor and a rise in the numbers of the better-off. Inequalities in India are fewer than in China and other countries. However, the mental conditioning of avoidance of ostentatious consumption that prevailed till the early 1980s has gone. It is good that there is no longer a sense of guilt for spending on oneself but the ostentation it has brought to many is undesirable.

 

The opening of the economy from the time Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister to the wider opening under P.V. Narasimha Rao has made it possible to buy almost anything made elsewhere, at prices comparable to other countries. Consumption has become a mantra, especially for many young people. The credit-card culture that has easy credit for immediate consumption of almost any good or service led to the recent decline of the American economy, which got used to living on debt, both at individual and country levels. In a country with so many poor people, this creates enormous disparities in society. The influence of the media, especially the soaps on television, and the lifestyles depicted in the cinema, have all played a major role. The other strong influence, especially on the young, has been the globalization of information and ideas that the internet and cheap travel have made possible. Change is inevitable, but not if it also leads to a loss of compassion and to hedonism.

 

The counterpart of the allures of consumption is the desire for more money and more goods. Some have tried to get it the easy way through theft, swindling, and so on. Politicians and bureaucrats have used other underhand ways. When they are in government, they use the government machinery to determine policies and their interpretation of them to earn the highest underhand incomes. Businessmen help themselves by feeding these desires of those in government to get contracts and other favours which are worth a great deal.

 

As the second half approaches in the life of the present government in India, it has been repeatedly said that this one is the most corrupt government that India has ever had. This was said about the Indira governments, about H.D. Deve Gowda, Narasimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi, A.B. Vajpayee and the United Progressive Alliance. Indira Gandhi is recognized as having institutionalized corruption. She did this by centralizing all major appointments in the government, the public sector and the academia. Her office had to be part of every major purchase decision by the government. Successor governments have built on her legacy. The National Democratic Alliance government took longer to learn the process, since many in it were new to power and to the mechanics of earning financial returns from power. But they learnt their lessons, although participation rates and earnings may have been lower than their predecessors.

 

Many of us expected that a diminished role for the government in economic decisions after economic liberalization would reduce the illegal opportunities for making money. Indeed, this happened in some instances, as in the lobbying for and auctioning of licences and permits which ceased after the abolition of licence-permit raj. When information technology made it possible to almost eliminate human interventions in many actions of government officials, we naïvely thought that would be the end of corruption. Certainly, railway ticket issues are more transparent as are airline tickets. In states like Karnataka, land records are less likely to be fudged. With competition in telecommunications, one no longer pays extra to get a telephone or a linesman to attend to a fault. Perhaps even traffic policemen will, over time, as use of information technology develops, not take a bribe in lieu of a large fine because a rider on a two-wheeler is not wearing a helmet, a driver or passenger in the front seat is not wearing a seat belt, a car jumps a red light, and so on.

 

But there are much larger sums to be made. For a few years the chairman of the National Highway Authority of India was changed almost every year. The reason was that all road contracts had then to go to the minister for approval. Similarly with environmental clearances: the minister some years ago took all the final decisions. Or take the sad story of our national carriers, which have in a short span lost their entire lustre. They are heavily in debt, losing vast sums, and are known to have lazy, indifferent and indisciplined employees. Yet the top management slot is always with a joint secretary. The fact that even when the airlines were haemorrhaging money through losses, valuable routes were surrendered to private airlines, and many brand new aircraft were ordered when other airlines were cutting orders, might be explained, since bureaucrats are more accustomed to bowing to the wishes of ministers. Defence contracts, project execution contracts and large purchases by public sector enterprises, city improvement programmes — there is much money to be made by the government decision-maker. Rarely does he and his political boss not make money.

 

A semi-literate chief minister of Jharkhand is said to have made thousands of crores and sent much of it abroad. So did a racehorse owner. Similarly, a small-town crook involved many politicians and bureaucrats in selling fake stamp papers for many years, milking governments of substantial revenues. Matters have reached such a stage that last year's food inflation is suspected to have benefited associated ministers and bureaucrats at the cost of the health and nutrition of millions of people. The former held back the stocks with the government so that prices could keep going up. When they are to import wheat or sugar, they invariably inform the world so that international traders are able to rig prices.

 

Corruption in the government is all-pervasive and has affected eminent professionals as well. Chairmen of the two top regulatory bodies for medical and technical education have been charged with taking decisions regarding the recognition of substandard institutions — allegedly with money. The University Grants Commission is said to have given permission to many deemed universities, though they were not qualified. Hospitals, nursing homes, chemists, all are part of this suspected nexus with government regulatory and other officials, which allows the former to make extra money at the cost of patients.

 

This loss of moral values has accompanied economic liberalization and globalization. Neither can it be blamed for it has enabled India to become an economic powerhouse in the eyes of the world. But it is sapping the moral fabric of the country. Ostentatious consumption cannot be controlled by fiat unless we reverse to a licence-permit raj, with corruption but no economic growth. It needs a fiscal system that provides disincentives, a control on personal debt by regulators, and most importantly, the example set by leaders. Sadly we have none.

 

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EDITORIAL

LADAKH IN PERIL

'OUR PREPARED-NESS TO FACE NATURAL HAZARDS IS LOW.'

 

The cloudburst that struck Ladakh on Thursday has left behind a trail of death and devastation. The death toll has crossed 130 with around 450 people reported missing. Hundreds of homes have gone under water following the flash floods. The Srinagar-Leh Highway has been cut off as a crucial bridge between Syong and Nemu was washed away. With the Manali-Leh road hit by a landslide, this route into the disaster-hit region is blocked. The runway at Leh airport, which was under mud, has been cleared enabling rescue and relief planes to land. A camp of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police too has been severely damaged. Rescue operations are on but these efforts are hampered by the destruction of transport and communication infrastructure. Medical help for the injured too has been undermined as Leh's main hospital has been flattened. Relief operations during natural disasters are always difficult as infrastructure is destroyed. This problem is all the more acute in Ladakh's case given the altitude of this region. Current rescue and relief efforts are focusing on Leh. There will be communities in isolated and remote parts of this district that will need attention too.

Heavy rains and consequent floods and landslides have been reported across the Himalayan region. Strife-torn NWFP in Pakistan is now battling the havoc caused by floods. But heavy rains and floods in South Asia during this time of the year are an annual event. They are routine. Rains, especially cloudbursts, in Ladakh are not. Ladakh is a rain shadow region. The mighty Himalayas act as a barrier to advancing monsoon clouds. Hence, this is a region that gets just around 9 cm of rain annually. On Thursday, Leh reportedly received an unprecedented 2 cm of rain — what it receives on annually over the entire month of August annually — within minutes.

If natural hazards are turning into disasters in India and other parts of Asia, it is because our preparedness to face them is low. A cloudburst, while not expected, should not be crippling our cities and towns. They are because infrastructure we have in place is flimsy. It was not the cloudburst that brought Mumbai to its knees in July 2005 but its shoddy infrastructure and poor preparedness for natural hazards. And it is similar substandard infrastructure — shaky houses and public buildings — that collapsed like a pack of cards under a cloudburst in Leh.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

TRY HARDER

'TELEMARKETERS HARASS THROUGH CALLS AND SMSES.'

 

Hope of relief from harassment through telemarketing calls seems to be on the horizon. The telecom ministry has promised to take action. It appears that it was when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was interrupted in the middle of an important meeting with Opposition MPs by a call on his mobile offering him a home loan and the incident came to the notice of the telecom ministry that the latter seems to have realised that telemarketers were going too far. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which has failed to come to the rescue of millions of other harassed citizens so far, has decided to finally respond to the finance minister's plight. Telemarketing calls are not just annoying; they can prove expensive too, especially when such calls are received when one is abroad. TRAI has made some attempts to clampdown on such calls. For instance, it did set up a 'do not call' registry. Though the effort did cut down the number of unsolicited commercial calls one received, it did not halt them. Telemarketers have continued to harass through calls and SMSes. It appears that TRAI is now considering creating a 'do call' registry instead of the existing 'do not call' one. This means that those who want such marketing information delivered to them via mobile would have to register asking for it. Besides, it is considering stern action against mobile operators as they are the ones who have the list of subscribers. Since it is they who are leaking subscribers' numbers to telemarketers they will have to face the music henceforth. There are suggestions too to impose very hefty fines on mobile operators and telemarketers who persist with these pesky calls.

Some are suggesting imposing a ceiling on the number of calls/SMSes from a particular number, wireless or wireline, to force telemarketers to register with the telecom department the objective being that once these telemarketers are registered, their identity becomes known making action under them easier. These are interesting ideas and it remains to be seen whether they work to rein in the aggression of the telemarketers.

In the past, TRAI has announced a measure to stop this intrusion into our privacy, this persisting harassment and then done little to follow up with steps to tackle the loopholes. Will the current announcement be yet another instance of raising false hopes? Millions of mobile users across the country are hoping that the ministry will try a little harder to stop the harassment this time.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

MAIN ARTICLE

SQUARING ALL SIDES

M J AKBAR

'As far as the people are concerned the difference between grace and disgrace has evaporated.'

 

Governments never seem to understand a basic fact of the democratic dialectic: no opposition wants its demands met. It prefers a government to be stubborn, so that it can string out the accusation long enough for it to sink so deep into the public consciousness that it cannot be extricated by delayed redressal. There is not much political value to an accusation unless it becomes an intrinsic part of campaign rhetoric. In theory, the opposition turns a day in parliament into a verbal festival over the Commonwealth Games because it wants accountability for corruption. In practice, opposition parties need to maximise the advantage by being able to go to town — and village — with the message that the government has not only stolen the people's money, but is so thick-skinned that it will do nothing about the thieves. The obduracy of authority is the ultimate gift to opposition.

In real terms, it hardly matters whether Suresh Kalmadi goes now or after the Games. His role as the sports czar of India is effectively over. It is only a question of whether he gets a nice gift at the farewell party — which, of course would be the closing ceremony of the Games — or he is sent towards the sunset in lonely isolation. As far as the people are concerned the difference between grace and disgrace has evaporated. It could hardly be otherwise given the scale and sheer audacity of the corruption. It is possible that the bunch in charge of this lucrative extravaganza thought they had squared all sides. There were junkets aplenty, across the political divide. The BJP's Vijay Goel went to Beijing for 'technical studies' as did the Congress' Jagdish Tytler: neither had anything to with CWG but must be worthy of technical doctorates by now. Perhaps they were being given early training for the Asian Games. Delhi's Congress legislators Haroon Yusuf  and A S Lovely went to Melbourne to find how they run city transport, which of course is why Delhi's traffic has already become better than Australia's. Naturally they travelled first class. This is nothing but big-budget back-scratching between pals, an insurance policy against exposure: if everyone is guilty then no one is guilty. The officials have piled up enough flying miles to look after family holidays for a couple of years. They might all have got away if they had not all been so confident about the spread of the swill. But there are always a few who refuse to be co-opted. They keep our democracy democratic.

Mobile target for Jaya

 

Time turns corruption into a milch cow. If A Raja had been dropped from the Cabinet after the telecom storm burst, the collateral electoral damage would be limited. Now that he is being retained, he will become the perfect mobile target for Jayalalitha during next year's Assembly election: 'mobile' is the perfect metaphor, of course, since Raja will be wandering around the state. A good cartoonist could do wonders with Raja posters, if Jayalalitha has one — and has the will to leaven her anger with a bit of wit.

Governments do understand a second fact of our political debate: the issues that agitate parliament and media are seasonal. Their expectation is that they will seem less important to the voter once the initial froth has subsided. If the big tent does finally manage to produce a circus, the memory of the gravy train that brought it will dissipate in the merriment. Who will bother to hold anyone accountable after the Games are over? It is not in the government's vested interest to do so. It is not within the opposition's capability to do so.

The tendency to elide through crises with token gestures can become a self-defeating habit. This was the initial approach to the building anger in Kashmir, and now the people do not take even a well-meaning gesture seriously. Omar Abdullah was literally driven away, and had to be bundled out to his waiting helicopter by a frantic security posse when he visited a hospital. He cannot travel a few kilometres through his capital in a car; he needs a helicopter. He reached the flood-distressed region of Leh with far more alacrity than he had shown in the city from which he rules, because, for the moment at least, he has become chief minister of Jammu and Leh rather than the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Perhaps he, and Delhi, believe that Ramzan, the month of fasting that begins this week, will bring calm. It could. Surface calm however is not peace. There are no short cuts in governance.

Does government need to worry about Opposition fulminations if there is no election visible? That is the only accountable moment that the ruling system takes seriously. Since we do not have the law of recall, governments tend to dismiss street anger as an emotion that can be assuaged nearer an election. Lack of popular support, however, saps the energy of authority.

A weak government weakens the nation.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

IN  PERSPECTIVE

FOR A VIEW ON ISRAEL, STEAL THIS MOVIE

BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN, NYT

Destructive criticism only empowers Israel to argue that nothing Israel does matters, so why change?

 

I just saw a remarkable new documentary directed by Shlomi Eldar, the Gaza reporter for Israel's Channel 10 news. Titled 'Precious Life', the film tracks the story of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a four-month-old Palestinian baby suffering from a rare immune deficiency. Moved by the baby's plight, Eldar helps the infant and mother go from Gaza to Israel's Tel Hashomer hospital for lifesaving bone-marrow treatment. The operation costs $55,000. Eldar puts out an appeal on Israel TV and within hours an Israeli Jew whose own son was killed during military service donates all the money.

 

The documentary takes a dramatic turn, though, when the infant's Palestinian mother, Raida, who is being disparaged by fellow Gazans for having her son treated in Israel, blurts out that she hopes he'll grow up to be a suicide bomber to help recover Jerusalem. Raida tells Eldar: "From the smallest infant, even smaller than Mohammed, to the oldest person, we will all sacrifice ourselves for the sake of Jerusalem. We feel we have the right to it. You're free to be angry, so be angry."

Community feelings

Eldar is devastated by her declaration and stops making the film. But this is no Israeli propaganda movie. The drama of the Palestinian boy's rescue at an Israeli hospital is juxtaposed against Israeli retaliations for shelling from Gaza, which kill whole Palestinian families. Dr Raz Somech, the specialist who treats Mohammed as if he were his own child, is summoned for reserve duty in Gaza in the middle of the film. The race by Israelis and Palestinians to save one life is embedded in the larger routine of the two communities grinding each other up.

"It's clear to me that the war in Gaza was justified but I did not see many people pained by the loss of life on the Palestinian side," Eldar told the Israeli newspaper 'Haaretz'. "Because we were so angry at Hamas, all the Israeli public wanted was to (expletive) Gaza. ... It wasn't until after the incident of Dr Abu al-Aish that I discovered the silent majority that has compassion for people, including Palestinians. I found that many Israeli viewers shared my feelings." So Eldar finished the documentary about how Mohammed's life was saved in Israel. His raw film reflects West Asia I know.

I write about this now because there is something foul in the air. It is a trend, both deliberate and inadvertent, to delegitimise Israel — to turn it into a pariah state, particularly in the wake of the Gaza war. You hear the director Oliver Stone saying crazy things about how Hitler killed more Russians than Jews, but the Jews got all the attention because they dominate the news media and their lobby controls Washington. You hear Britain's prime minister describing Gaza as a big Israeli 'prison camp' and Turkey's prime minister telling Israel's president, "When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill." You see singers cancelling concerts in Tel Aviv. If you just landed from Mars, you might think that Israel is the only country that has killed civilians in war — never Hamas, never Hezbollah, never Turkey, never Iran, never Syria, never America.
I'm not here to defend Israel's bad behaviour. Just the opposite. I've long argued that Israel's colonial settlements in the West Bank are suicidal for Israel as a Jewish democracy. I don't think Israel's friends can make that point often enough or loud enough.

But there are two kinds of criticism. Constructive criticism starts by making clear: "I know what world you are living in." I know West Asia is a place where Sunnis massacre Shiites in Iraq, Iran kills its own voters, Syria allegedly kills the prime minister next door, Turkey hammers the Kurds, and Hamas engages in indiscriminate shelling and refuses to recognise Israel. I know all of that. But Israel's behaviour, at times, only makes matters worse — for Palestinians and Israelis. If you convey to Israelis that you understand the world they're living in, and then criticise, they'll listen.

Destructive criticism closes Israeli ears. It says to Israelis: There is no context that could explain your behaviour, and your wrongs are so uniquely wrong that they overshadow all others. Destructive critics dismiss Gaza as an Israeli prison, without ever mentioning that had Hamas decided — after Israel unilaterally left Gaza — to turn it into Dubai rather than Tehran, Israel would have behaved differently, too. Destructive criticism only empowers the most destructive elements in Israel to argue that nothing Israel does matters, so why change?

How about everybody take a deep breath, pop a copy of 'Precious Life' into your DVD players, watch this documentary about the real West Asia, and if you still want to be a critic (as I do), be a constructive one. A lot more Israelis and Palestinians will listen to you.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

VERDANT HAVEN

BY PARVATHI RAMKUMAR

The experience was dreamlike and at the same time majestic.

 

It was a bright, sunny morning. And as was wont, and expected, even, the power went off. Now that I couldn't switch on the television, or the computer, there seemed to be absolutely nothing to do. I didn't think I could get any work done without my computer, and I certainly couldn't stop myself from getting bored. I'm an avid reader and I could've read some of the novels I'd queued up… but I didn't feel particularly inclined towards that either. That's when my mother suggested taking a break, and spending time on the terrace until the power came back on. I assented, grabbed a chair and headed upstairs.

Bangalore is a city of concrete and fast rising buildings, zooming cars and deadlocked traffic. The city is always on the move, always teeming with life.

Nevertheless, I expected some solitude on the terrace of my home. And once there, I was stunned. The emerald foliage of the trees was drenched in golden sunlight, and their leaves rustled and sang in the gentle breeze. I heard the melodies of strange birds I couldn't name, and I saw them soar above in the sprawling blue sky. Crickets chirped like chiming bells, and even the distant echoing barks of a dog seemed ethereal. Almost unreal. It was dreamlike and at the same time majestic; heaven's gentle touch was subtle yet omnipresent.

The balmy weather was rejuvenating, and the skittering butterflies in colours brighter than a rainbow appeared to me real living jewels. The occasional roar of an aircraft seemed far, far away… belonging to a world far removed. The honks of cars were muted, faded… like soft echoes from a mountaintop.

Studies have shown that natural surroundings reduce stress, besides boosting body immunity, perhaps concrete proof of what we've always known instinctively. And this is easy to believe. Swaying trees laden with iridescent flowers in a park, the bubbling waters of a shining brook, and the quiet chirrup of birds and a cricket… combined, the sounds of tranquil bliss. Even at home, where there is no gurgling brook nearby, the very presence of trees was rejuvenating.

I felt my boredom melt away… I found myself appreciating, enjoying, nature. Here, it seemed, was a world of beauteous plenty. Of serenity.

And by the time the power came back on, I was reluctant to draw myself away. To quote Jane Austen: "To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment."

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

SO FAREWELL THEN, TONY JUDT

 

The NYU lecturer's essays against Zionism and rejection of the Jewishness of the State of Israel thrust him onto the public stage.

 

The death of Tony Judt, historian of contemporary Europe, offers an opportunity to revisit a case of strongly anti-Zionist sentiments held by a prominent Jewish intellectual.

The London-born Judt – who passed away on Friday at the age of 62 at his home in Manhattan, after being diagnosed two years ago with Lou Gehrig's disease – produced remarkably lucid and readable studies of 19th and 20th century social history. However, it was the New York University lecturer's polemical essays and public statements against Zionism, and his rejection of the legitimacy of the Jewishness of the State of Israel,

hat thrust him onto the public stage.

 

In a much-cited October 2003 essay in The New York Review of Books, Judt called to dismantle the state and to replace it with "a single, integrated, bi-national state" between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – a recipe for national suicide for the sovereign Jewish entity.

This categorical rejection of Zionism put him in a class with other contemporary Jewish intellectuals of the Diaspora such as Jacqueline Rose, Michael Neumann and Joel Kovel, who have chosen to single out Israel for opprobrium that is rarely, if ever, directed at other countries that choose to adopt unique religious or cultural-based nationalities.

At the center of Judt's attacks on Israel was a stubborn refusal to accept the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in a distinctly Jewish state. In the above-mentioned article, entitled "Israel: The Alternative," Judt posited that Israel artificially imported "a characteristically late-19th-century separatist project into a world that has moved on, a world of individual rights, open frontiers and international law."

For Judt, an "ethno-religious" state that provides special privileges to its Jewish citizens – such as the Law of Return – and seeks to preserve its Jewish character through Jewish symbols, is an anachronism "in an age when that sort of state has no place."

Yet Judt applied totally different rules when he scrutinized nationalism outside of the Israeli context. In A Grand Illusion? An Essay on Europe, Judt acknowledged that the nation-state was "the only remaining, as well as the best-adapted, source of collective and communal identification."

With all the desire for a supranational framework that provides universal equality, and eradicates the bigotry and discriminations of cultural and religious distinctions that cause war and strife, argued Judt, there is no substitute for the social cohesion and communal identification provided by a unique national identity.

Therefore, a "truly united Europe" is so unlikely that it would be "unwise and self-defeating to insist upon it."

As a result, Judt was extremely pessimistic about attempts to create a politically homogeneous Europe devoid of borders and cultural distinctions.

For Israel, by contrast, the time has come to "move on," "to think the unthinkable," to replace the Jewish state with "a single, integrated, bi-national state of Jews and Arabs," in his vision. For Judt, European particularism was an undeniable fact, but the Jewish variety was outdated.

WHY THE double standard? Irrational prejudices are difficult, if not impossible, to fathom, belonging as they do to the murky realm of the psyche.

Judt made some unfortunate comments over the years.

In October 2003 he called then-deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert a "fascist" for publicly threatening to assassinate Yasser Arafat, who at the time was presiding over a wave of suicide bombings.

In October 2006 he described Senator Joe Lieberman as "very ostentatiously Jewish." As recently as June, after the Israel Navy's interception of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara, with its fatal repercussions, Judt asserted that "Thanks to Israel, we [the US] are in serious danger of 'losing' Turkey" – as if the gradual process of Islamic extremism that has gripped Turkey since the rise to power of the AKP had nothing to do with that country's changing orientation.

And what really seemed to have bothered Judt was his subjective feeling that, as an identifiable Jew, he was somehow being represented by Israel.

"The behavior of a self-described Jewish state affects the way everyone else looks at Jews," wrote Judt. His solution? Do away with the Jewishness of the state.

Yet as Judt himself noted, quoting Arthur Koestler (when writing recently about the Israeli lobby in the US), "fear of finding oneself in bad company is not an expression of political purity; it is an expression of a lack of self-confidence."

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

COLUMN

THE CART, THE HORSE, AND THE LONG ROAD AHEAD

BY BARRY RUBIN  

 

Only when there is a clear Palestinian stance in favor of a workable two-state solution will Israelis have to make tough decisions.

 

There is a great deal of passion about the difference between "Left" and "Right" in Israel. Yet these gaps are far less significant than people think. I'll start with an anecdote that illustrates this point even as it seems to contradict it.

First, though, let me quickly add that these debates used to be very important.

After the 1967 war, Israeli society conducted a quarter-century-long argument over whether Israel should trade territory for peace. It was disrupted by the peace agreement with Egypt (a right-wing government returned the Sinai). Finally, in a sense, the two sides agreed to test the assumptions of the debate in the 1990s' Oslo process. (The peace with Jordan also involved some territorial concessions.) The majority of Israelis agree that the Oslo experiment showed the fallacy of thinking that yielding land would bring peace. Some hold that the experiment was worth trying, others not. What is important, though, is that the result showed that neither the Palestinians nor Syria was ready to make full peace.

 

Thus, a new Israeli consensus was made: • In exchange for full peace, Israel would give up all of the Gaza Strip and almost all the West Bank, with border adjustments or land swaps to adjust the borders by about three percent.

• Israelis doubt the Palestinians are ready for a full peace, and are more skeptical than they'd been during the Oslo experiment, which cost thousands of Israeli lives.

• True, there is no consensus about precisely how east Jerusalem should be handled. What is basically accepted as the highest priority is incorporating the Jewish Quarter of the Old City (captured by Jordan in the 1948 war, after which all its Jewish inhabitants were expelled), access to it through the tiny Armenian Quarter(about one city block), and the Western Wall, with the Temple Mount next. The Arab-inhabited areas are likely to be traded away as long as there is no significant security threat to the Israeli portion of the city.

• Palestinian refugees must be resettled in Palestine, not Israel.

• The rise of an Islamist threat, including the seizure of Gaza by Hamas, makes real peace seem even further off.

• The status quo is sustainable for a long time. If Palestinian misery is the motive to break the deadlock, then why don't we see any eagerness to make peace, negotiate with Israel, and get a state on the part of the Palestinians themselves? Within this framework, the governments of Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Binyamin Netanyahu have all functioned along similar lines. There is no strong alternative vision; there is no real alternative to current policies.

NOW, HAVING given this context, here is the anecdote. During a dialogue meeting between different viewpoints in Israeli society, there was a panel discussion on which Yossi Sarid participated. Sarid, one of the Israeli Left's most important leaders, is now formally retired from politics.

He is widely respected for his honesty, open mind, and his willingness to think "inconsistently," which is to me one of the highest virtues.

According to the account, Sarid said: "There is no way to prevent the division of Jerusalem, or giving away Eastern Jerusalem and the Arab neighborhoods to Palestinian rule." Another panelist, Avi Rath, replied: "We have seen what happens when land gets given away to the Arabs. They [the Arabs] don't just sit quietly and eat hummus…."

Sarid reportedly got up and walked out.

As I said earlier, this appears to illustrate the wide gap in Israeli views, yet this apparent chasm is easily bridged in practice. Actually, such arguments about what Israel should offer in exchange for peace are probably at the lowest frequency in 40 years.

First, both Sarid and Rath know that Jerusalem is not about to be divided because there won't be any comprehensive peace agreement on the horizon for many years. While Sarid and others on the Left fear that trying to hold onto Jewish settlements or parts of Jerusalem could destroy the chance for full and permanent peace, they also know (unlike many foreign observers) that this is not the problem. In 2000, for example, Barak offered to yield on virtually all these points.

Second, they both also know that if Israelis are ever confronted with the immediacy of dividing Israel, they would be doing it in a situation where the reward would be a credible end to the conflict and a remarkable improvement in Israel's situation and their own lives. To make concessions in exchange for a great opportunity is tempting; to make them in exchange for nothing, a weaker position, or demands for still more unilateral concessions is not so attractive.

A very high standard of proof would be needed that things would be different and that there would be a lot more hummus-eating than fighting going on.

Third, despite Sarid's declaration, there would be a real margin for negotiation. Israelis have no particular passion for keeping the "Arab neighborhoods" aside from security.

They have a very different feeling about the Old City, particularly the Jewish Quarter and Western Wall. But if everything else were to be in place, this issue alone would never make peace impossible.

And finally, Sarid knows that the record shows territorial concessions may make things worse.

So Israelis get heated about discussing a comprehensive peace agreement. But one thing is certain: Only when there is a clear Palestinian stance in favor of a workable two-state solution will Israelis have to make tough decisions.

Until the day comes when the Palestinian Authority offers a credible proposal to resettle refugees in Palestine, provide serious security guarantees, include minor border modifications, end incitement and terrorism, accept Israel as a Jewish state, and show itself able to deliver the Gaza Strip, these debates will remain theoretical.

On the Palestinian side, debate on these issues has not even begun.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs and Turkish Studies. He blogs at www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

COLUMN

NEW YORK CITY HAS VOTED FOR TOLERANCE

BY MARILYN HENRY  

 

9/11 was despicable and devastating. Does that mean there cannot be a mosque on Park Place, near the site of the Twin Towers?

 

 'No Catholic church should be within a few blocks of any school or playground." No, no one seriously said that in New York recently, at least not in public. But it seemed apropos to one reader commenting in The New York Times last week after a vote by Manhattan's Landmarks Preservation Commission cleared the way for an Islamic center and mosque to be built two blocks from Ground Zero.

Many opponents of the center, officially called the Cordoba Initiative, have dramatically played the racist fear card, with vociferous anti- Muslim sentiment that brands billions of Muslims for the terrorist acts nine years ago of 19 men in four airplanes.

 

Of course that act on 9/11 was despicable and devastating.

Does that mean there cannot be a mosque on Park Place, near the site of the Twin Towers in this nation that celebrates religious freedom and the right to worship? "By similar logic, to protect children from abuse, no Catholic church should be within a few blocks of any school or playground," wrote the Times reader, referring to the scandals regarding pedophile priests.

What is the Cordoba Initiative to symbolize – tolerance or extremism? It depends on whom you listen to.

The city has voted for tolerance.

Bravo to Manhattan's Landmarks Preservation Commission. It refused last week to designate the mosque's intended site – a building once used by a discount clothing store – as a landmark. A landmark status would have prevented the Cordoba Initiative from demolishing the site (and a neighboring building) to erect the center, which is said to be modeled on a Jewish community center or YMCA. Now it can construct the site, called Park51, which will include the mosque, an interfaith chapel and a memorial to 9/11.

AMONG THE OPPONENTS was the Anti-Defamation League, which vigorously has defended the religious freedom of many faiths, but found that the mosque was a bit too much. It issued a one-size-almost-fits-all statement that simultaneously called freedom of religion the cornerstone of American democracy, condemned religious prejudice and "condemn[ed] those whose opposition to this proposed Islamic Center is a manifestation of such bigotry."

Then it registered its opposition to the site. "Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right," the ADL said. "In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right." The problem with this argument is that the protection of religion and religious minorities in the US is only about rights. It is the legal rights guaranteed by US law that have provided the ADL's armor for decades. Is there some instance in which American Jews would find it acceptable to say: "Oh, let's forget about my rights and the US Constitution; let's talk about your pain."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in a speech after the commission's unanimous vote, recalled that religious freedom was not always a given. "Of all our precious freedoms, the most important may be the freedom to worship as we wish. And it is a freedom that, even here in a city that is rooted in Dutch tolerance, was hard-won over many years," he said. "In the mid- 1650s, the small Jewish community living in Lower Manhattan petitioned Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant for the right to build a synagogue – and they were turned down."

The mayor noted that Muslims were among those murdered and grieving on 9/11. "It is my hope that the mosque will help to bring our city even closer together and help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any way consistent with Islam," he said.

Many Americans apparently need some serious lessons about Islam. Take the lieutenant governor of Tennessee, Ron Ramsey. Speaking about another proposed mosque and Islamic center, in the town of Murfreesboro, near Nashville – where there do not seem to have been reports of Muslim terrorism – Ramsey distinguished himself for ignorance or bigotry, or both. Campaigning to become the Republican candidate for governor, Ramsey reportedly said: "You could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult or whatever you want to call it."

ZEV CHAFETS, formerly the spokesman for Menachem Begin, recently was a guest on a public radio talk show in New York. He was promoting his new book Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One. As it happens, Chafets was scheduled to speak after Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a Sufi Muslim who is founder of the Cordoba Initiative, and Daisy Khan, the imam's wife.

Chafets, not known for his liberal leanings, made a significant point before discussing his book about the right-wing talk show host Limbaugh.

"I heard the imam and his wife just now and I thought that he was saying important things," Chafets said. "I think Sufi Islam, from what I know of it and I am not an expert, is a moderate and sensible and reasonable, if I can say that without being condescending, form of Islam, and I think it is all to the good.

"We keep asking where are the moderate Muslim voices, and here is one," he said. "And I think that ought to be encouraged."

How true, and how tragic that it falls to a city commission whose task is to identify architecturally significant buildings to make our moral choices and to teach tolerance.

The Islamic center will be new, not the Muslims' presence. They have been worshiping at the site for about a year. "Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure," Bloomberg said. "And there is no neighborhood in this city that is off limits to God's love and mercy."

We should thank the Landmarks Commission for reminding us.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

COLUMN

COLUMN ONE: ISRAEL'S AMERICAN-MADE FOES

BY CAROLINE B. GLICK  

 

It wasn't a US Army sniper who killed IDF Lt.- Col. Dov Harari and seriously wounded Capt. Ezra Lakia.

 

It wasn't a US Army sniper who killed IDF Lt.- Col. Dov Harari and seriously wounded Capt. Ezra Lakia on Tuesday. But the Lebanese Armed Forces sniper who shot them owes a great deal to the generous support the LAF has received from America.

 

For the past five years, the LAF has been the second largest recipient of US military assistance per capita after Israel. A State Department press release from late 2008 noted that between 2006 and 2008, the LAF received 10 million rounds of ammunition, Humvees, spare parts for attack helicopters, vehicles for its Internal Security Forces "and the same frontline weapons that US military troops are currently using, including assault rifles, automatic grenade launchers, advanced sniper systems, anti-tank weapons and the most modern urban warfare bunker weapons."

Since 2006, the US has provided Lebanon some $500 million in military assistance. And there is no end in sight. After President Barack Obama's meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in June, the White House proclaimed Obama's "determination to continue US efforts to support and strengthen Lebanese institutions such as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces."

And indeed, in late June, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates informed Congress that the Pentagon intends to provide the LAF with 24 120mm mortars, 24 M2 .50 caliber machine guns, 1 million rounds of ammunition, and 24 humvees and trailers. The latest orders should be delivered by the end of 2011.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the administration has already allocated $100m. in military assistance to Lebanon for 2011.

According to Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper, in written testimony to Congress, last week Obama's nominee to head the US Central Command, Gen. James Matthis, claimed that relations between US Central Command and the LAF focus on building the LAF's capabilities "to preserve internal stability and protect borders."

And how is that border protection going? Tuesday's unprovoked LAF ambush of Lt.-Col.

Harari's battalion within Israeli territory showed that the LAF is fully prepared to go to war against the US's closest ally in the region, in order to deter IDF units from crossing the border.

Indeed, they are willing to commit unprovoked acts of illegal aggression to harm Israel.

As The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday, there is no reason to be surprised by what happened.

Since 2009, LAF men have frequently pointed their rifles at IDF soldiers operating along the border. In recent months they have also cocked their rifles while aiming them at IDF forces. It was just a matter of time before they started shooting.

The same aggressive border protection is completely absent, however, along Lebanon's border with Syria. Since 2006, the LAF has taken no actions to seal off that border from weapons transfers to Hizbullah. It has taken no steps to protect Lebanese sovereignty from the likes of Syria and Iran that are arming Hizbullah's army with tens of thousands of missiles.

THEN THERE'S Centcom's "internal stability."

For the past four years, in open breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which set the terms for the cease-fire that ended the Second Lebanon War, the LAF has done nothing to block Hizbullah from remilitarizing and reasserting control over southern Lebanon.

Moreover, the institution that the State Department views as the anchor of a multiethnic, independent Lebanon did not lift a finger against Hizbullah when Hizbullah staged a coup against the Saniora government in 2008.

In a sense, by effectively collaborating with Hizbullah, the LAF did ensure "internal stability."

But it is hard to see how such "internal stability" advances US interests.

In stark contrast, as the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the US-supported Lebanese Internal Security Forces have used US signals equipment to help Hizbullah ferret out Israeli agents. According to the Times, "A strengthening Lebanese government is helping Hizbullah bust alleged spy cells, sometimes using tools and tradecraft acquired from Western nations eager to build up Lebanon's security forces as a counterweight to the Shi'ite group."

The US has refused to reckon with the consequences of its actions. As the Times reported, last week Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow visited Beirut and said that continued US aid and training to the LAF would allow the Lebanese Army to "prevent militias and other nongovernmental organizations" from undermining the government.

It bears recalling that Hizbullah has been a partner in the Lebanese government since 2005. Since its successful coup in 2008, Hizbullah has held a veto over all the decisions of the Lebanese government.

It also bears recalling that during the 2006 war, the LAF provided Hizbullah commanders with targeting data for their missiles and rockets.

The LAF also announced on its official Web site that it would award pensions to families of Hizbullah fighters killed in the war.

Unfortunately, the LAF is not the only military organization aligned with Israel's enemies that the US is arming and training. There is also the US-trained Palestinian army.

As Israel Radio's Arab Affairs commentator Yoni Ben-Menachem reported last month, the IDF is deeply concerned about the US-trained Palestinian force. Ben-Menachem recalled that since 1996, Palestinians security forces have repeatedly taken leading roles in organizing and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel.

Hundreds of Israelis have been murdered and maimed in these attacks.

The Palestinian force being trained by the US Army represents a disturbing, qualitative upgrade in Palestinian military capabilities.

OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi warned IDF ground forces about the new USPalestinian threat in May.

As Mizrahi put it in a speech at Tze'elim training base cited by Ben-Menachem, "This is a well trained force, better equipped than its predecessors and trained by the US. The significance of this is that at the start of a new battle [with the Palestinians] the price that we will pay will be higher. A force like this one can shut down a built-up area with four snipers. This is deadly. These aren't the fighters we faced in Jenin [in 2002]. This is an infantry force that will be fighting us and we need to take this into account. They have offensive capabilities and we aren't expecting them to give up."

The IDF assesses that the US-trained force will be capable of overrunning small IDF outposts and isolated Israeli communities.

To date, the US has spent $400m. on the Palestinian army. The Obama administration has allocated an additional $100m. for the next year.

And the US is demanding that Israel support its efforts. In a General Accounting Office report issued in May, Israel was excoriated for hampering US efforts to build the Palestinian forces.

The GAO railed against Israel's refusal to permit the transfer of a thousand AK-47 assault rifles to the Palestinian forces. It criticized Israel's rejection of US plans to train a Palestinian counterterror force. It complained that Israel does not give freedom of movement to US military advisers to the Palestinian forces in Judea and Samaria.

The US claims that what it is doing cultivates stability. It argues that the Palestinian and Lebanese failure to prevent terror armies from attacking Israel is due to their lack of institutional capacity to rein in terrorism rather than the absence of institutional will to do so. The US claims that pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into these Lebanese and Palestinian armies will enable them to become stabilizing forces in the region that will engender peace. What the administration ignores, however, is the fact that the members and commanders of these UStrained forces share the terrorists' dedication to Israel's destruction.

TO ITS undying shame, Israel has publicly supported, or, at best failed to oppose these American initiatives. By doing so, Israel has provided political cover for these US initiatives that endanger its security. Although it is crucial to call the US out for its sponsorship of terroraligned armies, it is also important to understand Israel's role in these nefarious enterprises.

Israel has gone along with these US programs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it has been due to domestic politics. Sometimes it owed to Israel's desire to be a team player with the US government. But generally the Israeli rationale for not loudly and vociferously objecting to US assistance to enemy armies has been the same as Israel's rationale for embracing Yassir Arafat and the PLO in 1993 and for every other Israeli act of appeasement toward its enemies and allies alike.

Successive Israeli governments have claimed that by supporting actions that strengthen Israel's enemies, they gain leverage for Israel, or, at a minimum, they mitigate the opprobrium directed against Israel when it takes actions to defend itself. In Lebanon, for instance, Israel agreed to the US plan to support the Hizbullahdominated Saniora government in the hopes that by agreeing to give the Lebanese government immunity from IDF attack, the US would support Israel's moves to defeat Hizbullah.

But this did not happen. Indeed, it could not happen. The pro-Western Lebanese government ministers are beholden to Hizbullah.

Whether they wish to or not, former prime minister Fuad Saniora and his successor Hariri both act as Hizbullah's defenders to the US.

And once the US committed itself to the falsehood that the Sanioras and Hariris of Lebanon are independent actors, it inevitably became Hizbullah's advocate against Israel as well. The logic of appeasement moves in one direction only – toward one's enemies.

The same holds for the Palestinians. Israel believed that once it capitulated to international pressure to recognize the PLO the US, the EU and the UN would hold the PLO to account if it turned out that Arafat and his minions had not changed their ways. But when Arafat ordered his lieutenants to wage a terror war against Israel rather than accept statehood, the US, the EU and the UN did not rally to Israel's side.

They had become so invested in their delusion of Palestinian peacefulness that they refused to abandon it. Instead, at most, they pinned the full blame on Arafat and demanded that Israel support their efforts to "strengthen the moderates."

And so, in this demented logic, it made sense for the US to build a Palestinian army after the Palestinians elected Hamas to lead them.

And so on and so forth. In every single instance, Israel's willingness to embrace lies about the nature of its enemies has come back to haunt it. Never has Israel gained any ground by turning a blind eye to the hostility of the likes of Salam Fayyad and Saad Hariri.

It is true; the US is abetting and aiding the war against Israel by supporting the LAF and the Palestinian military. But it is also true that the US will not stop until Israel demands that it stop. And Israel will not demand that the US stop building armies for its enemies until Israel abandons the notion that by accepting a lie told by a friend, it will gain that friend's loyalty.

caroline@carolineglick.com

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

COLUMN

WHEN THE NEXT WAR COMES

BY DAVID HOROVITZ  

 

There is no Arab interest in another round of conflict, says Matan Vilna'i. But still, the deputy defense minister is preparing the Israeli home front for the worst.

 

 'No, no, no, no, no," said Matan Vilna'i – to make sure I'd got the point. Then he added, "Absolutely not," in case I was still missing it.

I'd asked him whether Israel was on the brink of another war – what with the renewed Kassam fire from Gaza, a spate of briefings at which senior officers have warned of the expanded Hizbullah and Syrian missile capacity, and the recent highly unusual IDF decision to reveal the specifics of Hizbullah's military deployment in the "human shield" villages of southern Lebanon.

"Go back over the years," urged the deputy defense minister.

"Every spring for generations, there are war threats.

 

They're meaningless. They're right about once every few decades."

The fact is, he continued, "There is no Arab interest in a war. No Israel interest. After a war, we'd all be back exactly where we were before."

We were speaking on Sunday, a day before the missile barrage at Eilat and Aqaba, and two days before battalion commander Dov Harari was killed and company commander Ezra Lakia badly injured in the worst incident at the northern border since the Second Lebanon War four years ago.

Those flare-ups underlined the perpetually incendiary tensions on Israel's frontiers. They also underlined the imperative – despite Vilna'i's "no, no, no, no, no" assurances – to constantly prepare for the worst.

And that is precisely what the former deputy chief of the General Staff is currently doing: assiduously preparing this country for war – just in case.

Preparing Israel for the new kind of war we get dragged into these days. Wars where the home front is the front line, where civilians are prime targets, and where, Vilna'i added in our interview, we can currently expect precious little international sympathy.

From his office high in the Kirya military complex overlooking the jam-packed streets and homes of Tel Aviv, Vilna'i is overseeing the protection of that vulnerable home front – the construction of a "support network" that is supposed to spring into action if sovereign enemies like Syria and Iran, or their Hizbullah and Hamas proxies, start emptying their immensely expanded missile arsenals into civilian Israel.

To some extent, according to Vilna'i, we are all already at war, and by "we" he means the free world, and by "war" he means the battles against terrorist aggressors fighting from within civilian areas.

The practical aspects of Israel's capabilities and challenges in this new war environment dominated our lengthy interview, but the conversation also, inevitably, ranged across diplomatic and domestic political issues.

Vilna'i, the bullet-headed ex-military man with the subterranean baritone, is a Labor hawk, an ex-general who came within a whisker of making chief-of-staff and who names Yitzhak Rabin as his mentor.

He's the kind of Labor pol whom Likud doves cite as being closer to their line of thinking than the strongly pro-settlement- growth likes of Danny Danon and Tzipi Hotovely. And he, in turn – to what would be the dismay of the traditional Likud Right – cites Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as being likely to make "the right decision" on terms for peacemaking with the Palestinians.

"THERE'S BEEN a drastic change in the nature of war worldwide, and we're at the focus," said Vilna'i, as he elaborated on the new environment in which military conflicts now play out.

"We're currently in World War III. It broke out on 9/11.

It's a war without conventional fronts; a war without armies facing off against each other.

And the focus of this war is the civilian population. When we are acting in Gaza, for instance, we are responsible for the Israeli population, keeping it safe, obviously. We're also responsible for the Palestinian population, because they are being used as human shields.

 

The enemy fires from within them. We respond with maximal caution and get hit with the Goldstone Report."

He neither sighed nor even paused at the injustice of it all.

"That's the new nature of war."

In Israel's particular context, he said, one critical strategic component that hasn't changed is the centrality of Israeli deterrence. This is a theme that many of Israel's defense chiefs reiterate in such conversations – the conviction that, even though Israel did not achieve a decisive victory against Hizbullah in 2006, and chose not to try to achieve one against Hamas in 2008/9, both those conflicts bolstered Israel's capacity to scare the enemy into holding its fire.

As Vilna'i put it, they emphasized to those Iranian-backed proxies to our north and south that it would be wise for them to think twice before engaging Israel again: "In simple language, we're the neighborhood bully," said Vilna'i. "So you don't want to start with us.

Start with us, and you get whacked."

Again, in common with many Israeli military chiefs, he recalled Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's ostensibly rueful public reflection that, as paraphrased by Vilna'i, "If I'd have known what I was going to get [in the Second Lebanon War], I wouldn't have started."

In Vilna'i's assessment, Nasrallah, and by extension Iran, were still licking their wounds at the time of Operation Cast Lead, which is why they chose to keep Hizbullah out of that conflict.

"In 2008, in Gaza, [Hamas's Ismail] Haniyeh had anticipated that Israeli Arabs would start disturbances, and that Hizbullah would fire rockets at Haifa," he said. "It didn't happen.

Israel's [Arab] citizens understand the rules. And Hizbullah, I imagine, said to itself, 'We don't want to get whacked again. Let Haniyeh do this on his own.'" Which begs the question, amidst the latest spate of attacks across our borders, and especially the confrontation near Misgav Am in the North, of whether that deterrent capacity has now dangerously eroded.

Our military correspondent Yaakov Katz noted in Wednesday's paper that the latest fatal flare-up didn't come out of the blue. Soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces – most of whom are Shi'ite, and many of whom openly cooperate with Hizbullah – have repeatedly trained their weapons on IDF troops at the border in the past year or so. "The IDF has also noticed a radical shift within the LAF top command, which has increased its anti- Israel rhetoric," Katz added.

"When this is the spirit of the top command, it is not surprising that... the company commander who is positioned opposite Misgav Am ordered his troops to open fire at the IDF on Tuesday."

Since 2006, Hizbullah has massively strengthened its missile capacity, freely importing weaponry from Syria, and deploying in the heart of the 160 Shi'ite villages in southern Lebanon. In a radical departure from security norms, the IDF last month released precise details of Hizbullah's deployment in one typical village, Khiam – specifying the locations of command structures, weapons caches, missile launchers and even the improvised explosive devices intended to thwart any IDF ground attack.

The goal was plainly both to prepare the international community, so that the world would better understand how Hizbullah's ruthless and cynical use of the villagers as human shields would determine the nature of future rounds of conflict, and to make plain to Hizbullah that Israel knew exactly what it was up to – that the intelligence flaws that undermined the 2006 war effort had been corrected. Israeli military sources, indeed, are adamant that while Hizbullah likes to claim that it knows far more about how the IDF functions than the IDF knows about its operations, the reverse is true. The publication of the Khiam specifics proved the point, they say.

For his part, Vilna'i made no grandiose boasts, but he did point to boosted Israeli capabilities in what he said were four crucial components in the new war era, as they apply in the case of Hizbullah.

"First, they know we can hit their missile launch points.

In the Second Lebanon War, within minutes, the IAF, with excellent intelligence, neutralized Hizbullah's longrange capability."

If Hizbullah has markedly expanded its arsenal since then, Vilna'i indicated, Israel has markedly expanded its capacity to confront it. "We have wonderful people," he said. "Working day and night."

Second, he went on, "we have the capacity to work inside enemy territory, to prevent them firing. Capturing territory. That's the component that most resembles previous conventional war."

That's the component, it might be added, that did not function effectively four years ago, when the political stewards – of a conflict they preferred not even to acknowledge was a "war" – hesitated and changed their minds repeatedly about the deployment of ground forces, and when flaws were exposed in the IDF's preparation, training, logistics, equipment and more.

The conviction in the defense establishment today is that such failures have been rigorously examined and rectified. Security chiefs also now routinely stress that Israel has made plain it will hold the sovereign state of Lebanon responsible for any cross-border violence and strike back, at Lebanese sovereign targets, accordingly – as even Tuesday's confrontation indicated.

"We won't go in that deeply, pursuing each missile," is how Vilna'i put it. "We'll strike hard so they'll realize it's not worth it."

Third, said Vilna'i, is that Israel has made major strides in missile interception in recent years. "It's not a 100 percent capability," he cautioned, "but it's important, especially for long-range missiles. We're the only state that can do this. The Arrow is deployed."

And finally, he came to the issue of civil defense, his particular focus as deputy minister.

"For a long time, we neglected this because it wasn't so important. With Lebanon, with missiles hitting even deeper than Haifa, we recognized the new importance.

We needed to find an answer. Ehud Olmert, to his credit, gave responsibility for this to the Defense Ministry rather than the Ministry of Public Security. That was the right decision. From a military point of view, the whole country is the front."

He waved toward the window and the bustling city.

"Tel Aviv is the home front."

SINCE DECEMBER 2007, said Vilna'i, the ministry has been legislating, implementing and practicing to protect the citizenry.

"Yesterday I was in Beersheba for a drill: a chemical missile landing in the center of town. I was the general in charge of the Southern Command for five years," he recalled. "I was in Beersheba during the first Gulf War. We had nothing at the time. We had good people and good will but that was all. Now, there's an organized command structure. The mayor [Ruvik Danilovich] has answers to all the emergency needs. He has an IDF team supporting him, a police team, a municipal team."

If war broke out, while the IDF would be doing its utmost to swiftly counter Hizbullah's goal of firing hundreds upon hundreds of missiles into Israeli residential areas, the home front would be equipped "to ensure routine within the emergency situation."

"We're going city by city," Vilna'i said of the preparatory work. "When a missile hits, we'll have a network to deal with the damage – to cope with the injured, to make sure there's water and food."

He stressed that there was precious little of Israel that would be off-limits to enemy missiles – including Jerusalem. Military sources have indicated recently that Hizbullah has plenty of missiles sufficiently accurate to distinguish between east Jerusalem and the west. Vilna'i was more circumspect, but chilling.

"In a matter of time," he said carefully, "they'll be able to distinguish between west and east [of the capital]; next, they'll be able to identify specific targets [around the country]. They'll be able to hit strategic targets.

They'll throw 500 missiles at us – most will hit open areas; others will cause damage. And the impact of a missile," he said, in his no-nonsense, unemotional tones, "is akin to a bus blowing up, plus the surrounding damage."

World War II-style bomb shelters were a thing of the past, he noted. The need now was for protected rooms and protected public areas in which people might have to spend a fair amount of time.

"Bomb shelters? That's a concept from London 70 years ago. Stay down there for a while. That's the way it was for me in Jerusalem in the War of Independence. In a bomb shelter, there was room to stand for maybe half an hour until the danger had passed. Nowadays, as the Second Lebanon War showed, people may have to spend a month in these rooms."

About a third of Israeli residents have a protected room, he said, and legislation was in the works to ensure protection for all, "without spending billions and turning the whole country into a construction site."

As an example, he noted that "there are lots of underground areas in this country. Vast. Here, next to the Habima theater, they've just built a five-floor underground parking garage. Well, every floor has an adjacent shelter that can hold 1,000 people. Each city is checking what it needs and the government will work with them."

FROM THE practicalities of Vilna'i's job, our conversation turned to the wider context – the diminishing international empathy for Israel in its relentless battle for survival, the superficial misperception of Israel as a Middle East Goliath, and the ostensible international conviction that Israel could do much more to ease its plight by showing greater determination to partner the Palestinians toward statehood.

"So long as we are seen as an 'occupying people,' we're in trouble," said Vilna'i, who took pains to define Labor as "not a left-wing party," but rather as "a centrist, Zionist party.

"The world is cynical and not balanced. The UN Human Rights Council has never dealt with Darfur, where there are massacres. It only targets Israel," he said.

Was he suggesting that if Israel was not present in the West Bank, it wouldn't have been hit with Goldstone's critique of Cast Lead? "No, we would have got it anyway," Vilna'i said. "But the fact that we are seen as an occupying power works against us. Goldstone would have been seen differently."

So what does he suggest? "I'm not prepared to compromise in any way on Israel's security needs. We have to take care of ourselves. No one else can," he began. "The terror threat has also changed.

It used to be cross-border and more recently the whole country is vulnerable to terror too. So terror has become a strategic weapon. And its perpetrators don't want a peace deal. And we have to face up to it.

"But we also have to look to our place in the free world, alongside Europe, North America, Australia... The occupation plays against us in this. That doesn't mean we should flee and run. It does mean we have to find the right balances – which is what we're trying to do with the Palestinians."

Vilna'i, who is 66, was drafted into the IDF a year before the Six Day War – rising to deputy chief of the General Staff via the paratroopers and the Sayeret Matkal commandoes.

With the passion of one who fought in them, he recalls that after the 1967 and 1973 wars, "the world was amazed by us. We were the extraordinary David."

e could also have mentioned the 1976 Entebbe rescue, in which he participated, and which underlined Israel's gutsy, innovative, daring underdog credentials.
"Now we are seen as a Goliath," he added bitterly. "They forget that we're still little David – demographically, territorially."

He said he always reminds visiting politicians from abroad that "you're sitting somewhere that has thousands of missiles aimed at it, aimed at civilians. There's nowhere else like this on the planet. Not in Washington, Paris, London or Berlin. In Jerusalem, yes. In Tel Aviv, yes.

People ignore this. They say they're sick of it [the conflict].

We used to be the heroes of the world. Not any more."

In this respect, "Tom Phillips is right," said Vilna'i, referring to the interview I published in this space last week with the departing British ambassador, whose content I had discussed with Vilna'i before we began our conversation.

Except, I noted, Tom Phillips seems to believe that Israel can do a whole lot more to fix things on its own.

Vilna'i appeared to take the point, responding: "Every decision-maker in this country is conscious of his responsibility for the fate of this country. We pulled out of Gaza.

We said we'd be done with it. What developed? The No.

1 terror state in the world. Less than an hour from here.

It doesn't all depend on us."

In fact, Vilna'i went on, "every area we've left so far, we've been hit with missiles from there. And if we relinquish Kalkilya, there'll be rockets at Tel Aviv. If we relinquish Tulkarm, there'll be rockets on Netanya. Actually," he added on reflection, "we have relinquished Tulkarm [to the day-to-day running of the Palestinian Authority], but we're still militarily overseeing things there."

His voice, usually so low as to set my tape recorder vibrating, now rose a couple of tones in frustration.

"There are two sides to this game," he said. "And to my disappointment, the Palestinian side has not handled things right. In Gaza they could have shown the world – to change Gaza into the Hong Kong of the Middle East.

Why didn't they? Is that my fault?" Still, Vilna'i is forgiving. "Salam Fayyad understands all this," he said of the PA prime minister. "He's trying to do [things right] in the West Bank. But the fear is that some extremist terrorist group will take control, as happened in Gaza."

Were Israel prepared to pull back further in the West Bank, would the PA prove more effective in maintaining control than it did in Gaza? "If this is done in a measured way," he said carefully, "the answer can be yes, with the stress on the measured process. In the West Bank, they are fighting for their lives [against the Islamists], not ours," he said.

The PA forces, he elaborated, were "doing well," by which he meant firmly enforcing law and order. Invoking his mentor, he indicated that PA troops were curbing extremism without exaggerated concern for legal and human rights niceties: "As Rabin said at Oslo: 'Not Bagatz [the High Court of Justice] and not B'Tselem,' 17 years late."

In Gaza, he noted, Hamas didn't conquer the entire Strip when grabbing power in 2007. "It took over a few key power centers. It literally slaughtered – slit the throats of – the Fatah leaders. It threw some of them off the roofs of eight-story buildings and took over Gaza. The world doesn't want to remember that. But that's the fact. So I'm very pessimistic about Gaza. It'll be a long process.

"The Gaza population already realizes that terrorist control is no good for them," he asserted. "Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] sees himself as part of the solution.

The way back is via an agreement of one kind or another.

But it's complicated. Really complicated. Any agreement [with the Palestinians] needs components relating to Jordan on one side and Egypt on the other. In Gaza there's a limit to how many people can live there. There'll be a population explosion in the end. The only solution is via the Egyptian border. Territorial swaps are part of it.

The first brick, which we are now trying to build, is a Palestinian state."

ON THE vexed issue of peacemaking, Vilna'i is evidently somewhat, but not entirely, persuaded of Abbas's and Fayyad's intentions and capabilities. He's also somewhat, but not entirely, persuaded of our prime minister's readiness to go halfway to meet any genuine willingness for progress.

"With the Palestinian leadership now, there has been a change," he said firmly. "It's not [Yasser] Arafat – who'd say one thing in Tel Aviv and something else in Ramallah.

Ultimately, he was a terrorist in his essence. These are different people."

Vilna'i goes so far as to assert that "Abu Mazen always spoke about peace. He opposed Arafat on this and that wasn't easy. With all the difficulties, there is an opportunity here. Tom Phillips is right about that."

Vilna'i recognizes that Abbas and Fayyad have yet to show a strategic willingness to persuade their own people of the need for compromise. But he also asserts that not all of Israel's leaders are blameless in this regard. Abbas and Fayyad "understand the need" to tell their people it's time for peace, he said. "But the question – and the very same question applies to our leaders – is what they're prepared to tell their people."

Switching quickly to the Israeli side of the equation, he added: "Rabin, for instance, dared to spell out [the imperative for a two-state solution]. In private conversations, all the leaders of the right understand it. All of them have done, for generations. It began with Menachem Begin.

"But there's a constant problem on the right," he elaborated, the Labor politician in him fully surfacing now.

"At big public rallies, they say one thing, and in power, they say something else. That cliché about 'What you see from there, you don't see from here,' and so on. Menachem Begin, as prime minister of Israel, in his greatness, decided to leave Sinai. He had Labor as his security net.

Menachem Begin took a decision as prime minister, not as head of the Likud. [Binyamin] Netanyahu is standing in Begin's shoes."

And how does Vilna'i anticipate Netanyahu filling those shoes, come the moment of truth? "Everyone except for a tiny minority on the far right recognizes that the only solution is two states for two people," he reiterated. "All the discussion today is about the complexities of getting to the two-state solution.

Netanyahu will have to make a decision in the next few months. He's vacillating and I understand that. He'll have to decide on whether to extend the building freeze.

He'll have to decide if he's Menachem Begin or not."

Again, which will it be? "If you're asking me, he doesn't know himself. He's smart and he understands what's at stake, believe me."

In terms of territorial compromise, Israel wanted to believe, 20 years ago, that it could reach an accord while relinquishing less than 90% of the territory in the West Bank. As the years passed, the assessment became progressively bleaker. What does Vilna'i envisage as the final price? "We'll have to relinquish a great deal more than people think," he said. "But that was always the case. There was never an American decision to recognize the settlements.

There were intermittent understandings, but never clear recognition, and the Americans are our best ally."

Returning to his earlier theme, Vilna'i repeated: "The extended occupation is beginning to work against us, and this international delegitimization can only be offset by a peace agreement. I don't want to be, as Tom Phillips put it to you, 'Fortress Israel.' I want to be integrated with the rest of the world."

And he signed off with an assessment that, if accurate, will dismay plenty of Israelis and please many others: "The prime minister will have to make a decision and in my opinion, he'll make the right decision. I say that on the basis of my knowledge of him and of the discussions that are being held. The grand strategy is clear. The question will be how it is achieved in terms of internal politics.

And, by the way, I personally don't think anybody will be in a hurry to leave this coalition – not Shas and not Israel Beiteinu."

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

OPED

ENFORCE INTERNATIONAL LAW IN LEBANON

BY AVI BEKER  

 

The latest developments show how lawfare has become a strategy overshadowing political efforts to negotiate order.

 

Two recent developments in Lebanon show the extent to which international law has become a double-edged sword in the regional quest for stability and in international efforts to fight terrorism.

 

As more analysts around the world look closer at last week's flare-up along the border between Lebanon and Israel, it becomes evident that the incident is related to the long-expected report by the Hague Special Tribunal for Lebanon's inquiry into the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and 22 other people in a car bomb in February 2005. The immediate concern must be seen as part of the increasing internal tensions within Lebanon which is expecting the indictment of Hizbullah members by the Tribunal.

 

The 2006 war with Israel was preceded by another investigation of the same murder by the United Nations which implicated Syria in the killing. The political balancing efforts in Lebanon, which brought together arch-enemies like Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Saudi king, as well as Sunnis, Shi'ites and Christians will fly in the face of any effort by an international legal organ to pursue justice in Lebanon and in the region.

The second development was the IDF's exposure last month of aerial photos, videos and maps showing how Hizbullah is once again ruthlessly violating the Law of Armed Conflict. Using Lebanese civilians in 160 villages as human shields and embedding weapons caches, missile stockpiles and command-and-control centers alongside hospitals, mosques and schools makes a mockery of international humanitarian law.

These two ominous developments may trigger another round of violent hostilities on the Israeli-Lebanese front. They also demonstrate how lawfare, the abuse of the law as a weapon of war, has become a strategic feature which is overshadowing political efforts to negotiate political order within Lebanon and with its neighbors. It shows again the asymmetrical and double standard nature of international humanitarian law which doesn't allow Western military forces to defend the lives of their citizens and cannot apply enforcement measures against rogue regimes and terrorists.

FOR SEVERAL Islamist fighting groups and terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, the humanitarian principles of the Law of Armed Conflict had become the major source of inspiration and guidance. These methods of legal maneuvers in the battlefield are viewed by Islamists as a critical component in their strategic and tactical planning.

They are well aware that Israel and other Western countries are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it, and they exploit it in a very cynical and brutal fashion.

It is wrong to argue, as many legal experts claim, that existing international law is ill-equipped in dealing with the so-called "non-state" entities. It is true that traditional Law of Combat was built on the assumption of a conflict between two states which are striving for international legitimacy and would, therefore, abide by some measures of legal restraint. However, existing instruments of international law contain ample references which can cover acts of self defense and measures taken in the war against terrorism. The problem lies only with the politicization and selective interpretation of covenants which follow some more fashionable post-modern trends and are often inclined to glorify acts of terrorism.

It becomes worse when a United Nations voting bloc comprised largely of undemocratic member states continues to dictate international human rights norms and can hijack, against the rules of the Charter, the debates and agenda relating to international peace and security.

A fair reading of Hizbullah's threats against the civilian population in Israel coupled with its brutal abuse of humanitarian rules can be easily recorded as systematic war crimes in their making. In addition the group continues to violate resolution 1701 of the Security Council which forbids the arming of groups outside the Lebanese Army. Thousands of missiles, rockets and huge ammunition are being smuggled to South Lebanon with the full cooperation of Iran and Syria and the blind eye of the government of Lebanon.

The fallacy and the serious omission by diplomats and legal experts lies in their disregard of the explicit responsibility of each party in armed conflict, including the defender, to protect its civilian population and remove it from military targets. The duty of "distinction" goes both ways and article 51.7 of the Geneva First Protocol emphasizes that while civilians are protected by the principle of distinction, no party can use its civilians as shield for its military objectives. It reads: "The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations."

Hizbullah, which is today a full-fledged member in the Lebanese government, can no longer hide behind another distorted interpretation of humanitarian law and claim "non state" status. It should be emphasized: there are no restrictions in article 51 of the United Nations Charter regarding the exercise of the inherent right of self defense against non-state entities.

Last week's provocation by the Lebanese Army makes it even more responsible to the Hizbullah violations of humanitarian law and will nullify future claims that Israel violates the principle of proportionality in attacking targets inside Lebanon. When the enemy makes it a clear strategy of using civilian shields in its war effort it is permissible to use a large degree of force against multiplied targets, including infrastructure, as long as the force is intended to remove the continuing risk posed by its rockets.

Lawfare has become a major arena for the delegitimization campaign against Israel. In the past Israel had to incorporate a doctrine of pre-emptive or preventive strikes to compensate for its very narrow margins of defense against variety of threats. While Israel should always maintain its high standards of moral and humanitarian behavior in combat it must tell the world that no army can endanger its soldiers in order to avoid hitting targets which are using civilians as shields. Israel must develop a "lawfare" preemptive strategy which will alert the world on the misuse and the moral collapse of international humanitarian law.

The writer is former secretary general of the World Jewish Congress. He teaches in the MA program of diplomacy at Tel Aviv University and International law at the Law Faculty of the Ono Academic Center.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

OPED

IN SEARCH OF A MEGAPHONE

BY FAYE BITTKER  

 

From the moment the train hit the minibus until we boarded another train, there was no announcement about what had happened.

 

There was only one thing missing during the three-hour ordeal that followed the deadly train accident near Kibbutz Gat on Thursday night: a megaphone to inform, calm and direct the hundreds of worried passengers who were unwilling participants in the unfolding drama.

Like a scene from "The Poseidon Adventure," confused passengers were left to figure out what had happened when their train from Tel Aviv to Beersheba came to an abrupt stop at 7:05 pm.

 

Outside, rescue crews had to deal with horrific wreckage and the death of a whole family. Inside, a full cast of clueless characters spent much of their time running up and down the aisles, though there was nowhere to go and very little we could do.

The train driver performed admirably in an otherwise impossible and tragic situation. He could not avoid hitting the minibus stuck on the tracks, but he did manage to slow the train and avoid injuries among the train's passengers. Silence filled the air as the train lost power and stopped following impact. And then came a deafening organizational silence that left us all to our own devices – in this case, smart phones, digital radios and mobile computers – to figure out what was happening.

For two hours, from the moment of impact until we boarded another train, there was no official announcement or explanation about what had happened. No statement that there had been an accident.

No request for passengers to remain seated so as not to impede the rescue efforts. Not even a statement that there would be an "unexpected delay."

AND THIS is where I started to wish for a megaphone: One that I could hand to the many security people rushing up and down the aisles as they called for doctors or medics. Or for the very professional staff who had to deal with the endless questions and loudly voiced complaints of passengers focused only on their own situation and not on the larger picture – the genuine tragedy that had just taken place. Into this vacuum, the "Poseidon Adventure" factor began to take effect. People started yelling at each other or into their phones, creating an atmosphere that only made things worse.

We were all witness as the helicopter crews arrived quickly and ran with stretchers toward the scene of the accident, only to leave empty-handed less than 10 minutes later, as there was clearly no one who could be saved. Everyone heard firsthand from someone who had gone to help about the horrific sight outside.

As a seventh year medical student noted: "I am sorry I went. There was nothing that I could have done to help, and now the images of their smashed bodies will be with me forever."

 

In an intrinsically Israeli way, everyone wanted to help but didn't know how. A megaphone would really have saved the day. When it was time to leave the train and move to the new one that had just come from Kiryat Gat, there was no easy way to direct people. Though paramedic crews walked the aisles looking for people who needed assistance, the majority of passengers had to manage their way down the steps, down the slope where the train had stopped and down the tracks toward the new train.

There was no general announcement for those who needed assistance to stay on the train. No orderly movement car by car.

Instead, young and old, with packages, suitcases and the giant duffle bags of soldiers returning home for the weekend, all made our way in the dark. Everyone tried to help the person next to them, catching the hand of the stranger who was wearing the wrong shoes or too long a skirt for walking down gravel hills, without the help of one calm voice managing the scene, moving the crowds efficiently and quickly.

What was missing here was a director, one person in charge of dealing with the passengers.

One person who made sure that all the extras knew their role. It would have had a hugely calming effect and reduced the tensions on the train. It would have kept the Shelly Winters among us from losing control.

So please, Israel Railways managers, when you prepare your report on this accident, please add a megaphone to your list of future recommendations. Sadly, given the performance of Israeli drivers, this kind of accident is likely to happen again, and your very professional staff could use all the help it can get.

The writer is director of Publications and Media Relations at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

OPED

THE NEW GHETTO

BY YOSSI BEILIN  

 

There is little the current government can do to change the world's attitude toward Israel – except change its policy on peace.

 

Political Zionism led by Theodor Herzl would not have come into existence were it not for anti-Semitism in Europe, pogroms in Russia and a fear lest the emergence of the Jews from the ghetto and their integration into the economic, political, media and academic systems of the day provoke a sharp and violent reaction. There were alternative Jewish movements aimed at reaching the Land of Israel on the basis of religious motives or in order to build a new society founded on agricultural settlement and social justice. But that was not the Zionist movement as established in 1897.

The real dream of most of those who established Zionism at the end of the nineteenth century was to integrate into Europe. Since they concluded that this was not practical, and considering that a return to religious life in the ghetto was not desirable, they adopted a fallback option whereby the Jewish people would move to a state full of Jews that by definition could not be anti-Semitic.

 

The awful failure of the Zionist vision was that it was realized after and not before the Holocaust.

The existence of a nascent Jewish "Yishuv" in the Land of Israel saved a few hundred thousand Jews from the Nazis but not the millions for whom the gates of the world were locked. The main importance of Israel in my view is that it is the only place in the world unconditionally open to Jews wishing to come here.

Herzl's vision described a country with a fully empowered Arab minority living in amity with the Jewish majority, a country living at peace with the world and accepted by it. In the prevailing reality prior to the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, Israel was a foreign implant, living by its sword, boycotted by the entire Arab world – the exact opposite of the original vision.

But Israel of the 1990s was the Jewish state closest to the vision of Herzl and his colleagues: the Arabs living in Israel enjoyed relative prosperity and a far higher level of equality, the Arab boycott was partially abandoned and 13 Arab states engaged in discussion with Israel concerning regional development (in the multilateral talks on water, economic cooperation, refugee rehabilitation, environment and arms control).

The peace process encouraged many countries to establish diplomatic relations, and Israelis were proudly welcomed by the world in view of their rapid economic development and scientific and other achievements. The original Zionist dream, which delegated to Israel a global mission in the fields of international law, human rights, aid to developing countries, etc., was very close to realization. Our status in the United Nations and in other international organizations was never better.

THE PAST 10 years were ones of dramatic reversal. Without asking whether this is exclusively Israel's fault (I don't think it is), the facts speak for themselves. Against the backdrop of the violent second intifada, the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and, most recently, the events surrounding the Gaza flotilla, Israel finds itself in a situation reminiscent of the 1970s, when the UN adopted the insane decision (rescinded only 17 years later) to define Zionism as a racist movement.

Today's Israel has been pushed almost completely out of the Arab world, the Arab boycott has returned, and formerly friendly countries are turning their backs. Various parties in international academia and the trade union movement are passing resolutions to boycott their Israeli colleagues, and representatives of the Israeli government have a hard time completing their prepared remarks even in American universities.

There is little the current Israeli government can do to change the world's attitude, combat the boycott efforts and neutralize the attempts to turn the country into a new ghetto – one from which it is inconvenient and even embarrassing to depart. The country is led by an extreme right-wing coalition, most of whose spokespersons are busy vindicating the arguments of our international critics. Israel's number one diplomat, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, is perceived as a fascist-leaning racist. He cannot hold an intimate conversation with a single serious actor anywhere in the world.

In order to extricate itself from this new ghetto, Israel needs to change its policy.

Were the present government to do so, Israel would be forgiven the composition of its leadership. But the likelihood of this happening is slim because Israel's leaders believe in the path they have chosen: some of them suffice with lip service to peace while others don't even bother with lip service and state openly that they don't believe in peace. None are prepared to pay the price for peace.

In this reality, the only possibilities for change are a strong American policy that leads both sides to peace, or waiting for the next elections. Meanwhile, Israel will continue to pay an unbearable price of isolation from the world.

The writer is a former minister of justice who currently chairs the Geneva initiative and is president of Beilink.

This article was first published on www.bitterlemons-international.org and is reprinted with permission.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

A FURIOUS INVESTIGATION, AND THEN SILENCE

ATTORNEY GENERAL YEHUDA WEINSTEIN HAS STOPPED THE BIG HAND OF THE CLOCK ON BARAK'S RACE TO APPOINT A NEW CHIEF OF STAFF YESTERDAY.

BY AMIR OREN

 

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein stopped the big hand of the clock on Barak's race to appoint a new chief of staff yesterday.

 

Weinstein called a meeting between state prosecutor Moshe Lador, Lador's deputy on criminal affairs Yehoshua Lamberger, and the chief of intelligence and investigations in the police, Maj. Gen. Yoav Segalovich. Despite the military background of the Galant document affair, the Shin Bet was not brought into the picture, since the suspected offense, forgery of a document credited to help GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant, is a purely criminal one.

 

Preferring the police over the Shin Bet in this case has an added benefit: The police investigative department is fairer and more effective than the Shin Bet in investigating senior Israeli personalities. The Shin Bet has many running cases, which prevent it from getting to the truth and instead bring about miserable results.

 

The police, unlike the Shin Bet, are not subservient to the prime minister, and do not offer him or members of his cabinet any exaggerated diffidence.

 

After the meeting with Weinstein, Segalovich rushed back to Lod, to the compound housing his headquarters, the elite Lahaf 433 unit, and the investigative units.

 

Segalovich decided to hand the investigation to the international and aggravated crimes unit, headed by Haim Ifergan, a veteran intelligence man and cousin to the "X-ray Rabbi" Yaakov Yisrael Ifergan of Netivot. But the X-ray's powers are not likely to be needed in this case: It's fairly clear. The investigation is expected to be closely monitored by the chief of the international department, Chief Superintendent Yaron London, who will head the investigation team.

 

Internationality aside, Segalovich's work method closely resembles El Al's red-eye to New York: A noisy, well-lit takeoff, some commotion, but then darkness and silence up until very close to landing. Segalovich is trying to educate his investigators on media silence and isolation, but this time it may turn out rather difficult, as the investigation was conceived in the media and is dealing with the media.

 

In a similar investigation some years ago, when police were hunting for the source of the leak on the investigation into the affairs of Ariel Sharon, someone on Channel 2 helped police find Haaretz's source.

 

No such good will is expected this time around, when the publication in question originated on the channel itself. Segalovich will have to decide whether to request a court order to seize the document, although, as he knows, journalists will still strive hard to preserve the anonymity of their sources. The forensics lab may well be put to use.

 

The investigation was meant to start yesterday on the civilian side of the case. From this perspective, a senior official like the defense minister chief of staff Yoni Koren, faces more risk than his old youth movement instructor 35 years back, Yoav Galant.

 

It may well be that Yoav 1, Segalovich, will not meet Yoav 2, Galant, even once throughout the investigation. The best result of the investigation, as far as Galant is concerned, will be Segalovich ruling that the document is forged and that a suspected forger has been located.

 

But this won't be enough if the investigators also confirm that activity for Galant, in the spirit if not the letter of the memo, has been taking place in PR spinmeister Eyal Arad's office. The supreme task for Galant is to clear himself in the eyes of the Netanyahu family from the terrible stain of relations with Arad.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

SET UP A SEARCH COMMITTEE

IN LIGHT OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF'S GREAT POWER AND INFLUENCE IN CRITICAL DECISION MAKING, THE CREATION OF AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH COMMITTEE FOR THIS POST SHOULD BE CONSIDERED.

BY ZE'EV SEGAL

 

The Basic Law on the Army was passed in 1976 and has not been amended since, despite various bills tabled over the years and de facto departures from its dictates. For example, the law does not grant the prime minister any standing in the area of defense and does not even mention the position at all. But in practice, prime ministers are highly involved in defense matters.

 

Under the law, which sets out the fundamental principle of the army's subordination to civil authority, the defense minister is in charge of the army on behalf of the government. The IDF chief of staff must carry out its directives, but the prime minister is not authorized to issue any direct orders to the chief of staff.

 

The chief of staff's duty to obey the defense minister remains in effect, unless and until the cabinet expresses an opinion on a specific matter - a conclusion derived from a clause specifying that the chief of staff is subject to the authority of the government and subordinate to the defense minister. "Subject to" implies control, and takes precedence over "subordinate to."

 

A ruling handed down by the High Court of Justice in 1979, regarding the settlements in the West Bank, emphasized that a cabinet resolution on a given issue takes precedence over a directive from the defense minister.

 

According to an academic article on the Basic Law on the Army, published in 2000 by professors Mordechai Kremnitzer and Ariel Bendor, there is "no room to doubt the chief of staff's status as subordinate to the minister of defense and to the government."

 

According to the law, the chief of staff "shall be appointed by the government upon the recommendation of the defense minister." This provision grants special authority to the minister of defense: Without the minister's recommendation, the cabinet cannot appoint a chief of staff. It can be assumed that the minister's recommendation is also required in the event the cabinet decides to dismiss the chief of staff.

 

The minister's authority in this matter is heightened by the absence of a clearly defined vetting process on the part of a search committee, as is required with the office of attorney general. In that case, the cabinet may only appoint a candidate approved by an independent search committee.

 

A 2000 cabinet resolution includes the IDF chief of staff among the positions whose appointments must be approved by a panel after the defense minister makes his choice. In contrast to the search committee for the attorney general, this committee's approval is mainly pro forma.

 

In light of the chief of staff's great power and influence in critical decision making, the creation of an independent search committee for this post should be considered. The defense minister would then be required to choose from among the candidates recommended by the panel.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

GALANT'S WORLD: FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

FROM THE SHAYETET 13 NAVAL COMMANDOS TO HIS POST AS GOC SOUTHERN COMMAND, MAJ. GEN. YOAV GALANT HAS MADE QUITE A LOT OF FRIENDS.

BY ANSHEL PFEFFER

 

Over the course of his military service - from the Shayetet 13 naval commandos, through his term as military secretary under prime minister Ariel Sharon, to his post as GOC Southern Command - Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant has made quite a lot of friends.

 

"He knows how the world works," one of them said yesterday. "He had to learn how to be a politician during his years in the Prime Minister's Bureau, and he's certainly not a little boy. Whoever runs this army can only benefit from knowing who's against who."

 

Galant maintained links with prominent personalities he became acquainted with during his military career. The affair is now at the center of notes strategic consultants Eyal Arad and Lior Horev as close associates, and the leaked document in question bears their office logo. The two advisers, who were members of Sharon's "farm forum," knew Galant well from the time he served as Sharon's military secretary. But both deny keeping in touch with him over the last two years.

 

Galant's connection to Sharon began in the 1980s, when he commanded a platoon in the Shayetet, the IDF's elite naval commando unit. There he became acquainted with Omri Sharon, Ariel Sharon's son, who served as munitions officer in the Shaldag unit.

 

"We stayed in touch through the years," Omri Sharon said yesterday, but denied any involvement in the events related to selecting the next chief of staff.

 

Other close friends of Galant's include Yoni Koren, chief of staff for the defense minister; Chemi Peres, President Shimon Peres' youngest son, a former combat helicopter pilot and now one of the leading venture capital fund managers in Israel; and millionaire Benny Steinmetz, who is also Galant's jogging partner.

 

Galant has stayed in touch with many Shayetet veterans as well, including news anchor Gadi Sukenik. Associates of the two men told Haaretz that Sukenik regularly advises Galant on media affairs.

 

Sukenik himself was more reserved about their relationship, however. "Calling me his media advisor would be an exaggeration," he said.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

INVESTIGATE, AND QUICKLY

THE TRUST OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS IN BOTH SYMBOLS OF LEADERSHIP HAS BEEN SEVERELY UNDERMINED. IT MUST BE RESTORED, AND FAST.

 

The public-relations consultant Eyal Arad did the right thing yesterday in asking the police to investigate whether the document bearing his firm's seal was forged.

 

The exposure of the so-called Galant document - which apparently reveals a concerted campaign in support of GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant's appointment as IDF chief of staff - has escalated the "war of the generals" between two lieutenant generals, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and current army chief Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as a handful of other top brass vying for Ashkenazi's post. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did the right thing, too, in vetting the matter with the attorney general and Ashkenazi himself, who said the army would cooperate with any investigation.

 

Both the document's contents and its timing must be investigated at once to determine whether manipulation or misinformation was involved. The public good requires police investigators to plumb the incident to its depths, without fears about probing the actions of senior figures. The head of the police's Investigation and Intelligence Division, Yoav Segalovich, must not be impeded in completing that very task.

 

The Basic Law on the Army grants the defense minister wide-ranging powers as the government's representative to the military. But supervision over those powers lies with government ministers, charged as they are with protecting the public good. Only the defense minister has the authority to recommend a chief of staff to the government.

 

The prime minister controls the political agenda and can therefore decline to bring the matter before the cabinet, but unless he is looking for a fight with the defense minister, the meeting will end with a victory for the defense minister and the office he holds. The choice of an army chief is influenced by political power games between the prime minister and the defense minister, but the Israel Defense Forces is not their private militia, and the choice of who will head it must not be influenced by the political caprices of either politician.

 

Allowing Barak to select a chief of staff rests on the assumption that 30 years of service in the field and the war room allows him to pick the most suitable out of a roster of highly qualified generals. But that assumption needs to be proved, given that the ever-present squabbles between government bureaus, sometimes with outside interference, give reason to lower expectations that the most qualified man will be offered the job.

 

The government is the IDF's commander, and the chief of staff is the army's senior officer. The trust of soldiers and civilians in both symbols of leadership has been severely undermined. It must be restored, and fast.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

LIVING WITH SANCTIONS

ECONOMIC DISTRESS, WHICH HAS DEEPENED SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR, HAS NOT BROUGHT CUBA ANY CLOSER TO DEMOCRACY.

BY AKIVA ELDAR

 

HAVANA - On the potholed highway from the Havana airport, which like endless squares and streets is named after Jose Marti, a symbol of Cuba's rebellion against Spain, conspicuous signs welcome new arrivals. The portrait of Che Guevara in his beret and Fidel Castro with his beard, next to slogans marking 51 years since the revolution, can enlighten anyone who believes in sanctions.

 

A few days later, on a rural road, we watch horses lazily pulling carts, a common mode of transportation in Cuba, past a colorful poster proclaiming "homeland or death." Only once, in a restaurant in someone's home in the old quarter of the city of Trinidad, do we see a Cuban cast an angry glance at the pictures of Che Guevara and President Raul Castro and curse the regime under his breath.

 

In Plaza de Armas in the center of Havana, a newspaper vendor offers the latest issue of the official paper containing a speech by the elderly leader. The full version of course. This year is the 50th anniversary of the U.S. embargo on Cuba following the socialist revolution and Castro's alliance with the Soviets. The USSR disintegrated, but the old regime in Cuba remained.

 

Fifteen years ago, after the arrest of dozens of members of the opposition and the downing of two civilian planes by Hermanos al Rescate (Brothers to the Rescue ) an American organization of Cuban exiles, Bill Clinton placed restrictions on investors and business people operating in Cuba. Castro (Fidel ) went and Castro (Raul ) came, and the system (with slight modifications ) remained.

 

In the lobby of Hotel Habana Libre (formerly the Hilton ), which served in 1959 as Castro's headquarters, tourists from Canada are perusing a propaganda poster against "the American terrorists." When evening comes, they will dance and drink mojitos with crowds of Cubans, young and old, who flock to the seafront Malecon esplanade to watch the summer carnival.

 

The next day, in the resort town of Varadero, a young Cuban woman will invite them, in English, French and German, to a dancing lesson. Like the taxi driver, the waiter, the elevator boy and the saleswoman in the souvenir store, she is a state employee. Most are university graduates, whose wages are the equivalent of $10 to $15 a month. The state provides them with free education, healthcare and vouchers for rice, beans and oil. There's also a voucher for rum, the national drink. The main thing is to be happy.

 

Economic distress, which has deepened since the end of the Cold War, has not brought democracy closer to the little southern neighbor of the United States. The country is rafting distance from Florida's beaches, but its people are not allowed to buy a cellphone, not to mention a satellite dish. A female doctor who is sent (by the state, of course ) to another country has to leave her small children behind in the homeland as a deposit.

 

And yet 11 million Cubans do not rebel against the dark regime that has dominated their lives for more than 50 years. Fear of the long arm of the authorities, or devotion to communist ideology wins out over the shame of poverty (it should be noted that there is almost no hunger in Cuba ) and the longing for freedom.

 

The museum at the Bay of Pigs, which immortalizes the story of the failed U.S. attempt to have Cuban expatriates bring down Castro's regime, recalls the incident on the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli military's deadly attack on the deck of the Turkish vessel has joined the heroic ethos of Hamas and strengthened the group's stature among the Palestinian people. Those in the know say that nothing unites the Cuban people more behind the Castro brothers than hatred for gringos - the Americans who imposed a blockade on them.

 

To relieve the shortages somewhat, Raul Castro has led minor economic reforms, including the privatization of a number of sectors of the economy. But it's a long way from that to reform of Cuba's communist government, like the distance between Hamas in Gaza and democracy.

 

In Washington they are beginning to understand that sanctions alone will not lead Cuba on a new path. When will they understand in Jerusalem that economic distress and religious oppression, with no real hope for release from foreign occupation, will not lead the Gaza Strip on the right path?

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

ANTI-CORRUPTION RECIPE

PUBLIC TRANSPARENCY HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN TO BE THE SUREST RECIPE FOR COMBATING GOVERNMENTAL CORRUPTION.

BY ZE'EV SEGAL

 

The High Court of Justice's rejection of a petition against the decision not to prosecute Ehud Olmert in connection with the sale of the state's stake in Bank Leumi was to be expected. After skillfully analyzing all aspects of the case, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador decided not to indict Olmert; the reason cited was insufficient evidence, as opposed to lack of guilt. Only the latter reason has the power to remove all taint of guilt from an individual's actions.

 

Lador walked the tightrope between ethical blemishes in the conduct of an elected official and evidence that the official's conduct constituted the criminal offense of breach of conduct. Lador deliberated, as his ruling shows, between the "black" of criminal action and the "gray" of morally unacceptable behavior.

 

Lador did not find in Olmert's conduct the "severe aspect" that is necessary for a criminal conviction, according to the precedent established in the Shimon Sheves case, though there was a conflict of interest between Olmert's private social relationships with figures involved in the tender and the public interest he was obliged to protect as acting finance minister.

 

The High Court, according to Justice Edna Arbel, a former state prosecutor, found Lador's late-2008 ruling "well-founded and well-argued." The nonintervention is also based on the fact that the High Court "does not generally evaluate the reasonableness of the judgment applied in evaluating the evidence."

 

In practice, the High Court of Justice has never interfered in a decision not to prosecute due to insufficient evidence. That said, it does not refrain from expressing its opinion about public ethical failings in the conduct of a public figure when evidence of such failings is brought before the court. One can understand Olmert's satisfaction with the bottom line, that he will not be prosecuted in this affair, but it would be inappropriate to ignore the preceding lines in Lador's ruling or the High Court's decision.

 

Lador found "aberrations" from the norms of appropriate conduct in Olmert's dealings with potential investors and saw a "difficulty" in his private meeting, in his home, with an attorney and family friend who represented a business group, at which Olmert transmitted to her inside information about "the mood in the Finance Ministry," even if this information did not give the group a significant advantage in a deal that was not completed.

 

Arbel ruled that the picture painted by Lador's decision "does not leave the reader with a comfortable feeling" and is "worrisome," particularly in light of Olmert's private meetings with the lawyer/associate and his failure to report them to treasury officials, which "go beyond poor judgment."

 

In addition to touching on ethical deficiencies, the High Court ruling also contains more general remarks that could serve as a warning for the future. The intersection of private social ties and public financial interests over which a public figure has authority is not necessarily grounds for criminal prosecution, but it is a recipe for a clear conflict of interest that is unacceptable in the eyes of the public and can, under certain circumstances, lead to an indictment.

 

The same holds for granting a favor to a friend that has no immediate financial element, when it can be assumed that the public figure believes he will derive benefit in the future "in the form of a job with the acquaintance, contributions or the use of the friend's connections."

 

Elected officials - cabinet ministers, Knesset members and mayors - should take note as they attempt to block legislation that would make public their declarations of assets and private interests that could conflict with their judgment on public matters.

 

The duty of cabinet ministers and MKs to submit declarations of assets to the state comptroller and the speaker of the Knesset - a duty that is insufficiently enforced - is a recipe for ethical failings and criminal offenses by dint of being concealed from the public. Ministers see the annual obligation, despite the confidentiality, as a bother.

 

If the MKs and cabinet ministers were to "bother" the public, every year, by revealing their assets and their personal interests, perhaps it would reduce the kinds of behavior that came to light in the convictions of former ministers Abraham Hirschson and Shlomo Benizri and the various investigations against Olmert. Public transparency has long been known to be the surest recipe for combating governmental corruption.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

KEEP GAY PRIDE IN THE BEDROOM

PARADES JUST REINFORCE THE NEGATIVE IMAGE OF GAYS AS PEOPLE PREOCCUPIED WITH THEIR SEX LIVES AND WITH FINDING SEXUAL PARTNERS.

BY YAIR SHELEG

 

The rabbinical document that embraces the members of the gay community is important primarily because of what it does include. It recognizes same-sex preference as a matter that is not reparable and calls for gay people to be treated with the same human dignity as others and given the same standing in the religious community as others.

 

But the document is also important for what it does not say. It does not capitulate to contemporary political correctness, which is not content to show respect and confer equal rights on gay people, but also seeks to confer on same-sex couples the same moral and social status that straight couples have. That approach should be rejected, first and foremost because nature itself has done just that.

 

That only heterosexual love is capable of bringing progeny into the world reflects the fact that creation, whether in its divine or its evolutionary form, has determined this to be the normative type of sexuality. Even in an era that seeks to divorce sexuality from procreation, the ability to produce children does retain its value, just as the concept of a "normative family" remains valid.

 

It is legitimate and worthwhile to avoid blurring the distinction between showing human respect to gay people and respecting their right to have children, on the one hand, and viewing the family network they create as being equal to that of a normative family, on the other. This distinction has still greater force with regard to gay pride parades. One can support the desire of gays and lesbians to wage a political struggle for equal rights without endorsing gay pride parades, which spearhead an assertive and brash wide-ranging media and cultural campaign endorsing same-sex preferences.

 

An unnecessary provocation, the flamboyant approach is unworthy. It is reasonable to assume that the adamant opposition evinced by religious circles in Jerusalem to pride parades does not relate only to the same-sex preferences they express, but also to the flagrantly overt sexual appearance the Tel Aviv events maintain (the same ultra-Orthodox groups would also vehemently oppose sexually flamboyant parades for straight couples ). It redounds to the credit of leaders of the gay community in Jerusalem that they have grasped this fact, and do not insist on staging in Jerusalem an event with a character comparable to the Tel Aviv parades.

 

But the image associated with the gay community as a result of the pride parades represents a much more serious problem, because it undermines what is presented as the community's main objective, the attainment of equality. If the community is primarily concerned with winning straightforward recognition for its members, flamboyant demonstrations described as pride parades are the last thing that will accomplish this goal.

 

These parades just reinforce the negative image of gays as people preoccupied with their sex lives and with finding sexual partners. That is not an image helpful to someone who wants to be considered just like everybody else and who seeks recognition for a family he wants to establish. It remains unclear whether anti-gay phenomena of recent years (lest there be any doubt: such actions are illegitimate and wrong, especially when they are violent ) express opposition to the sheer fact of homosexuality or to the provocative manner in which homosexuality has been displayed.

 

Yes to respect for gay people as human beings and to equal rights for gay people. But a definite no to equal moral status for same-sex couples, and certainly to respect for taking sexuality - whether gay or straight - out of the bedroom and into the street.

 

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HAARETZ

OPINION

A JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC RESTAURANT

BY SALMAN MASALHA

 

Compared to other countries, Israel has been blessed with many scientific inventions. If that were all there were to it, we could stop at this point and simply give thanks.

 

The problem is that in recent decades we have witnessed Israeli ingenuity in the invention of political concepts. It begins and ends with the slogan "Jewish state and democracy." This is an invention that can be compared to Ya'akov Meridor's famous lightbulb of the 1980s, which was supposed to light up all of Ramat Gan. Just as nobody bought this magic lamp, no clear-minded person could possibly buy this unfounded political turn of phrase. Only in Israel, it appears, do the chivalrous proponents of "Jewish and democratic" try to hitch the ox of "Jewishness" to the ass of "democracy."

 

Just recently we witnessed the collision between the ox and the ass in the controversy surrounding the "Jewish and democratic" school at the West Bank settlement of Immanuel. If that's the way things are at a Jewish school, it's not hard to imagine what would happen if we examined the state of affairs between Jews and Arabs.

 

This invented political turn of phrase was not so visible and prevalent in Israeli public discourse before the Six-Day War. It reached monstrous proportions due to the long occupation, which put Israel in a niche where it came to resemble the fox that swallowed a sickle, in the popular Arab tale. Not only did the fox swallow the sickle, it swallowed the screwdriver of the Gaza Strip. The fox could neither digest nor get rid of what had gotten inside it.

 

Since the occupation did not end and demographic facts continued apace, someone decided to get rid of the Palestinian screwdriver that had gotten stuck in Israel's knee. This removal was called the "Gaza withdrawal." But the demographic sickle remains stuck in the soft underbelly of the Israeli fox.

 

What is called in the Israeli dialect "the left" fell consciously into a trap set by the right and adopted the mendacious slogan "Jewish and democratic" to win some middle-of-the-road votes and attain Jewish tribal legitimacy. At a critical juncture, a Jewish tribal transformation swept up the state, cresting in the assassination of a prime minister.

 

There is great significance in the sequence of the words "Jewish and democratic," a phrase that has turned into a mantra uttered in every public discussion. The right relates only to the first part of the slogan, and compels "the left" to discuss the definition of "Jewish." The right would prefer to defer discussion about the essence of the word "democratic" to a later stage of debate about "final-status agreements." Until such time, the right will persist with attempts to cripple steps by the Supreme Court and other branches of government beholden to democracy. It will do its utmost to remove all substance from the term.

 

Interviewed by the daily Maariv on July 2, Nazareth Illit Mayor Shimon Gafsou expressed consternation about the increasing number of Arab residents in his town. "It would be wrong to forget that Nazareth Illit is a microcosm of the State of Israel," Gafsou said. "It's a Jewish and democratic city, but most of all Jewish."

 

It seems the phrase is constantly bandied about because it has no weight. With all the rhetoric about "Jewish and

democratic," it's hard to see anything Jewish or democratic in the country. The day is not far off when we hear about the establishment of a "Jewish and democratic restaurant," as well as "Jewish and democratic fashion."

 

What then should the confused, sickle-ridden Israel fox do? He should internalize what is written in the book of Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together."

 

There is no such thing as a Jewish democratic state, just as there is no Muslim democratic state. Religion and democracy can never dwell under one roof.

 

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******************************************************************************************THE NEW YORK TIMES

sEDITORIAL

AS THE ECONOMY SLOWS

 

The economic news — on growth, consumers, housing and manufacturing — was bad enough before the jobs report for July, released last Friday. The report leaves no doubt that a slowdown is well under way. The odds of renewed recession remain uncomfortably high.

 

And yet, the response from Washington has been inadequate, at best, with Democratic initiatives too timid and Republicans bent on obstruction. When legislation does emerge from the gridlock, it is invariably a disappointment in the face of a dissolving recovery.

 

Case in point: Another 131,000 jobs were lost in July, according to the latest employment report, and job loss in June was revised to 221,000, from 125,000. The unemployment rate held steady, at 9.5 percent, but that is only because 181,000 people quit looking for work last month.

 

Such "missing workers," those who either have dropped out or have never entered the labor force since the recession began, now number 3.9 million. That's on top of 14.6 million officially unemployed and 8.5 million who are working part time but need full-time jobs.

 

There is no positive spin for this. Many of the recent losses resulted from the end of temporary jobs with the Census, but private-sector employment has also slowed sharply. At the same time, huge budget shortfalls have led to escalating job loss among state and local government workers. Against that backdrop, the Senate passed a bill last week — just before its summer break — to provide an additional $26 billion in aid to the states, including paying for 140,000 teachers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the House back from vacation, and it is expected to approve the aid this week.

 

What gets lost in the frenzy is the fact that the measure started out as a $50 billion effort — divided between help for states to pay their share of Medicaid bills and aid for education. At that level, it was a reasonable response to anticipated budget shortfalls estimated at well over $100 billion this year. Now, deep spending cuts and tax increases will still be needed to balance budgets, undermining the recovery.

 

Worse, the bill was scaled down as it was becoming increasingly clear that the economy was deteriorating, a sign of the rift between policy making and reality.

 

The Senate left town last week without passing a modest bill to spur small-business lending. Republicans used delay tactics to block a vote. Now the bill will not move until fall, a setback that could ripple through the Senate calendar, putting other plans to create jobs in energy and infrastructure in legislative limbo.

 

With unemployment persistently high, the economy is losing whatever momentum it had after last year's stimulus. Recovery, such as it is, appears to be a repeat of the lopsided growth of the Bush years, with corporate profits rebounding and jobs and incomes lagging. Back then, policy makers advised patience, saying that with time, economic gains would distribute themselves more evenly. We know how that ended.

 

There is no one way to foster job growth. There are many ways, and they should all be deployed. Maybe after Congress gets back from vacation.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

CHINA AND THE I.M.F.

 

A growing list of countries — from the United States to the European Union to Brazil — have complained that China has been cheapening its currency. So it is positive news — of a sort — that China agreed to submit this year to the International Monetary Fund's annual review of exchange rate and economic policies.

 

But nobody should interpret this as a major shift in policy. Indeed, the fund's economists reported last week that "the renminbi remains substantially below the level that is consistent with medium-term fundamentals."

 

The new openness means China is more comfortable that it can get away with the manipulation. It agreed to the review only after the fund softened its standards for determining whether countries are manipulating their exchange rate to boost exports, in violation of I.M.F. rules, and to give countries like China "the benefit of any reasonable doubt" when evaluating their policies.

 

True, China has relied less on exports to fuel growth since the financial crisis started. This defused some criticism of its currency policy. Its trade surplus fell by half in the last two years as recession forced many countries to slash their imports while China's fast recovery boosted its own imports, aiding growth overseas. And in June it said it would allow the renminbi to gradually inch upward against the dollar.

 

Unfortunately, some of that will be short-lived. Even through the global downturn, China's share of world exports grew to nearly 10 percent. China's exports are now rebounding, and its trade surplus is expected to bottom out this year. Since the announced policy change, its currency has risen little against the dollar and has actually lost value against the euro and the Japanese yen.

 

The I.M.F. seems to view the outlook as a glass half full. Its executive board welcomed the change in China's currency policy, and "a number" of its directors — which in fund-speak means 6 to 9 out of 24 — disagreed with the staff's view that the renminbi is undervalued.

 

This tolerant attitude is probably wise. Retaliating against China with punitive trade barriers, as urged by some in Congress, would spark a tit-for-tat confrontation that would endanger economic recovery. China also is doing other things — increasing pension payments and unemployment checks, and providing subsidies for college education and purchases of homes and durable goods — in order to increase domestic consumption and reduce reliance on exports.

 

Yet China cannot be left off the hook. The I.M.F. must monitor China's trade surplus to assess its drag on global demand. If the fund's economists are proved right, its executive board should reassess its conclusions, call a manipulator a manipulator, and persuade the international community to make China stop.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

THE NEW YORK CONVENTION CON

 

It has become an easy campaign pitch in New York: clean up Albany in one big sweep with a constitutional convention.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the leading candidate for governor at this point, has been touting his version as a "people's convention" chock-full of reforms. As tempting as it sounds, this "con-con," as the constitutional convention is called pointedly in Albany, is a distraction. If Mr. Cuomo or his Republican opponent wants to make government work again in New York, the answer is to push reforms through next year's Legislature. A convention and then a statewide vote on whatever conventioneers propose will take years.

 

What is worse, the Legislature has to start the process of calling this constitutional convention. Then, the political establishment — mainly the Legislature — gets to pick most of the delegates. If it sounds like an inside job, it is. Also, it is a big waste of time and money.

 

Mr. Cuomo has proposed coaxing the Legislature to give up some of its powers to select delegates. He dreams of having fewer legislators, lobbyists and party officials who can be elected delegates. He also wants a constitutional commission to help define the issues, but only as a starting point for the convention. After that, delegates can vote on anything — even the kind of propositions that have so hobbled the government in California. Eventually, the proposed constitution will have to be ratified by voters — many of whom at this point are still in elementary school.

 

Attorney General Cuomo has an entire book full of plans to cure New York's "embarrassing" state government. He wants an independent commission to stop ethics abuses before they end in jail. He wants lawmakers to disclose their "significant" outside income, including lawyers, we would hope. He wants to limit campaign contributions and drastically reform the way lawmakers create their own voting districts to stay in office.

 

Whether it is Mr. Cuomo or his rival who is elected, those reforms deserve to be urgent priorities — not some distant fantasy about a constitutional convention.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

VULNERABLE REFUGEES, LOSING A LIFELINE

 

In less than two months, unless Congress acts quickly, thousands of refugees who fled for their lives from places like Iran, Cuba, Russia, Somalia and Vietnam — and who are now elderly, disabled and poor — are about to learn the cold limits of compassion.

 

As part of its welfare overhaul in 1996, Congress placed a five-year limit on the time that refugees could receive benefits that vulnerable citizens receive, like Supplemental Security Income, cash assistance to the elderly and the severely disabled. This was supposed to be ample time for people to become citizens, to continue their eligibility for aid, but it quickly became clear that that was a mistake. For a host of reasons — old age, infirmity, poverty, the difficulty of learning English, on top of backlogs, crushing paperwork and high administrative fees — thousands of people would be unable to meet the deadline.

 

The deadline was lengthened in 1997 to seven years. In 2008, at the urging of President George W. Bush and with bipartisan support, Congress provided another two-year respite. But nobody in the current Congress has stepped up to fix the problem again, and on Oct. 1, about 3,800 refugees will reach the end of their lifeline. The letters are already going out.

 

As advocates for refugees explain, those affected by the looming deadline are not like other immigrants, and are unusually vulnerable. They did not come here for jobs. They are all by definition survivors of persecution, torture or warfare. Some were targets of Saddam Hussein, others victims of sex trafficking. Many have no relatives here. Some are homebound, and were already past 70 when they arrived, too late to learn English, highly unlikely to complete the years-long path to gaining citizenship. They are all old, ill or disabled, and the country that welcomed them is the only benefactor they have.

 

The amounts that these refugees receive are not large — no more than $674 a month for an individual and $1,011 a month for a couple. If any shreds of bipartisanship still exist in Washington, along with the belief that the United States should remain a true haven for those fleeing persecution, then Congress and President Obama will renew their support for a bill to extend benefits to elderly and disabled refugees. In time, they should adopt the permanent solution: finally delinking naturalization and artificial time limits from the granting of lifesaving assistance to these refugees.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

AMERICA GOES DARK

BY PAUL KRUGMAN

 

The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.

 

Meanwhile, a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel.

 

And a nation that once prized education — that was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its children — is now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead.

 

We're told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable. And it's true that state and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn't be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases.

 

And the federal government, which can sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at an interest rate of only 1.04 percent, isn't cash-strapped at all. It could and should be offering aid to local governments, to protect the future of our infrastructure and our children.

 

But Washington is providing only a trickle of help, and even that grudgingly. We must place priority on reducing the deficit, say Republicans and "centrist" Democrats. And then, virtually in the next breath, they declare that we must preserve tax cuts for the very affluent, at a budget cost of $700 billion over the next decade.

 

In effect, a large part of our political class is showing its priorities: given the choice between asking the richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom, or allowing the nation's foundations to crumble — literally in the case of roads, figuratively in the case of education — they're choosing the latter.

 

It's a disastrous choice in both the short run and the long run.

 

In the short run, those state and local cutbacks are a major drag on the economy, perpetuating devastatingly high unemployment.

 

It's crucial to keep state and local government in mind when you hear people ranting about runaway government spending under President Obama. Yes, the federal government is spending more, although not as much as you might think. But state and local governments are cutting back. And if you add them together, it turns out that the only big spending increases have been in safety-net programs like unemployment insurance, which have soared in cost thanks to the severity of the slump.

 

That is, for all the talk of a failed stimulus, if you look at government spending as a whole you see hardly any stimulus at all. And with federal spending now trailing off, while big state and local cutbacks continue, we're going into reverse.

 

But isn't keeping taxes for the affluent low also a form of stimulus? Not so you'd notice. When we save a schoolteacher's job, that unambiguously aids employment; when we give millionaires more money instead, there's a good chance that most of that money will just sit idle.

 

And what about the economy's future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure are crucial. Emerging nations are making huge efforts to upgrade their roads, their ports and their schools. Yet in America we're going backward.

 

How did we get to this point? It's the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can't do anything right.

 

The antigovernment campaign has always been phrased in terms of opposition to waste and fraud — to checks sent to welfare queens driving Cadillacs, to vast armies of bureaucrats uselessly pushing paper around. But those were myths, of course; there was never remotely as much waste and fraud as the right claimed. And now that the campaign has reached fruition, we're seeing what was actually in the firing line: services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole.

 

So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we've taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

THE MARRIAGE IDEAL

BY ROSS DOUTHAT

 

Here are some commonplace arguments against gay marriage: Marriage is an ancient institution that has always been defined as the union of one man and one woman, and we meddle with that definition at our peril. Lifelong heterosexual monogamy is natural; gay relationships are not. The nuclear family is the universal, time-tested path to forming families and raising children.

 

These have been losing arguments for decades now, as the cause of gay marriage has moved from an eccentric- seeming notion to an idea that roughly half the country supports. And they were losing arguments again last week, when California's Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that laws defining marriage as a heterosexual union are unconstitutional, irrational and unjust.

 

These arguments have lost because they're wrong. What we think of as "traditional marriage" is not universal. The default family arrangement in many cultures, modern as well as ancient, has been polygamy, not monogamy. The default mode of child-rearing is often communal, rather than two parents nurturing their biological children.

 

Nor is lifelong heterosexual monogamy obviously natural in the way that most Americans understand the term. If "natural" is defined to mean "congruent with our biological instincts," it's arguably one of the more unnatural arrangements imaginable. In crudely Darwinian terms, it cuts against both the male impulse toward promiscuity and the female interest in mating with the highest-status male available. Hence the historic prevalence of polygamy. And hence many societies' tolerance for more flexible alternatives, from concubinage and prostitution to temporary arrangements like the "traveler's marriages" sanctioned in some parts of the Islamic world.

 

So what are gay marriage's opponents really defending, if not some universal, biologically inevitable institution? It's a particular vision of marriage, rooted in a particular tradition, that establishes a particular sexual ideal.

 

This ideal holds up the commitment to lifelong fidelity and support by two sexually different human beings — a commitment that involves the mutual surrender, arguably, of their reproductive self-interest — as a uniquely admirable kind of relationship. It holds up the domestic life that can be created only by such unions, in which children grow up in intimate contact with both of their biological parents, as a uniquely admirable approach to child-rearing. And recognizing the difficulty of achieving these goals, it surrounds wedlock with a distinctive set of rituals, sanctions and taboos.

 

The point of this ideal is not that other relationships have no value, or that only nuclear families can rear children successfully. Rather, it's that lifelong heterosexual monogamy at its best can offer something distinctive and remarkable — a microcosm of civilization, and an organic connection between human generations — that makes it worthy of distinctive recognition and support.

 

Again, this is not how many cultures approach marriage. It's a particularly Western understanding, derived from Jewish and Christian beliefs about the order of creation, and supplemented by later ideas about romantic love, the rights of children, and the equality of the sexes.

 

Or at least, it was the Western understanding. Lately, it has come to co-exist with a less idealistic, more accommodating approach, defined by no-fault divorce, frequent out-of-wedlock births, and serial monogamy.

 

In this landscape, gay-marriage critics who fret about a slippery slope to polygamy miss the point. Americans already have a kind of postmodern polygamy available to them. It's just spread over the course of a lifetime, rather than concentrated in a "Big Love"-style menage.

 

If this newer order completely vanquishes the older marital ideal, then gay marriage will become not only acceptable but morally necessary. The lifelong commitment of a gay couple is more impressive than the serial monogamy of straights. And a culture in which weddings are optional celebrations of romantic love, only tangentially connected to procreation, has no business discriminating against the love of homosexuals.

 

But if we just accept this shift, we're giving up on one of the great ideas of Western civilization: the celebration of lifelong heterosexual monogamy as a unique and indispensable estate. That ideal is still worth honoring, and still worth striving to preserve. And preserving it ultimately requires some public acknowledgment that heterosexual unions and gay relationships are different: similar in emotional commitment, but distinct both in their challenges and their potential fruit.

 

But based on Judge Walker's logic — which suggests that any such distinction is bigoted and un-American — I don't think a society that declares gay marriage to be a fundamental right will be capable of even entertaining this idea.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

THE FIRST CHURCH OF ROBOTICS

BY JARON LANIER

 

Berkeley, Calif.

THE news of the day often includes an item about some development in artificial intelligence: a machine that smiles, a program that can predict human tastes in mates or music, a robot that teaches foreign languages to children. This constant stream of stories suggests that machines are becoming smart and autonomous, a new form of life, and that we should think of them as fellow creatures instead of as tools. But such conclusions aren't just changing how we think about computers — they are reshaping the basic assumptions of our lives in misguided and ultimately damaging ways.

 

I myself have worked on projects like machine vision algorithms that can detect human facial expressions in order to animate avatars or recognize individuals. Some would say these too are examples of A.I., but I would say it is research on a specific software problem that shouldn't be confused with the deeper issues of intelligence or the nature of personhood. Equally important, my philosophical position has not prevented me from making progress in my work. (This is not an insignificant distinction: someone who refused to believe in, say, general relativity would not be able to make a GPS navigation system.)

 

In fact, the nuts and bolts of A.I. research can often be more usefully interpreted without the concept of A.I. at all. For example, I.B.M. scientists recently unveiled a "question answering" machine that is designed to play the TV quiz show "Jeopardy." Suppose I.B.M. had dispensed with the theatrics, declared it had done Google one better and come up with a new phrase-based search engine. This framing of exactly the same technology would have gained I.B.M.'s team as much (deserved) recognition as the claim of an artificial intelligence, but would also have educated the public about how such a technology might actually be used most effectively.

 

Another example is the way in which robot teachers are portrayed. For starters, these robots aren't all that sophisticated — miniature robotic devices used in endoscopic surgeries are infinitely more advanced, but they don't get the same attention because they aren't presented with the A.I. spin.

 

Furthermore, these robots are just a form of high-tech puppetry. The children are the ones making the transaction take place — having conversations and interacting with these machines, but essentially teaching themselves. This just shows that humans are social creatures, so if a machine is presented in a social way, people will adapt to it.

 

What bothers me most about this trend, however, is that by allowing artificial intelligence to reshape our concept of personhood, we are leaving ourselves open to the flipside: we think of people more and more as computers, just as we think of computers as people.

 

In one recent example, Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, has suggested that when people engage in seemingly trivial activities like "re-Tweeting," relaying on Twitter a short message from someone else, something non-trivial — real thought and creativity — takes place on a grand scale, within a global brain. That is, people perform machine-like activity, copying and relaying information; the Internet, as a whole, is claimed to perform the creative thinking, the problem solving, the connection making. This is a devaluation of human thought.

 

Consider too the act of scanning a book into digital form. The historian George Dyson has written that a Google engineer once said to him: "We are not scanning all those books to be read by people. We are scanning them to be read by an A.I." While we have yet to see how Google's book scanning will play out, a machine-centric vision of the project might encourage software that treats books as grist for the mill, decontextualized snippets in one big database, rather than separate expressions from individual writers. In this approach, the contents of books would be atomized into bits of information to be aggregated, and the authors themselves, the feeling of their voices, their differing perspectives, would be lost.

 

What all this comes down to is that the very idea of artificial intelligence gives us the cover to avoid accountability by pretending that machines can take on more and more human responsibility. This holds for things that we don't even think of as artificial intelligence, like the recommendations made by Netflix and Pandora. Seeing movies and listening to music suggested to us by algorithms is relatively harmless, I suppose. But I hope that once in a while the users of those services resist the recommendations; our exposure to art shouldn't be hemmed in by an algorithm that we merely want to believe predicts our tastes accurately. These algorithms do not represent emotion or meaning, only statistics and correlations.

 

What makes this doubly confounding is that while Silicon Valley might sell artificial intelligence to consumers, our industry certainly wouldn't apply the same automated techniques to some of its own work. Choosing design features in a new smartphone, say, is considered too consequential a game. Engineers don't seem quite ready to believe in their smart algorithms enough to put them up against Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, or some other person with a real design sensibility.

 

But the rest of us, lulled by the concept of ever-more intelligent A.I.'s, are expected to trust algorithms to assess our aesthetic choices, the progress of a student, the credit risk of a homeowner or an institution. In doing so, we only end up misreading the capability of our machines and distorting our own capabilities as human beings. We must instead take responsibility for every task undertaken by a machine and double check every conclusion offered by an algorithm, just as we always look both ways when crossing an intersection, even though the light has turned green.

 

WHEN we think of computers as inert, passive tools instead of people, we are rewarded with a clearer, less ideological view of what is going on — with the machines and with ourselves. So, why, aside from the theatrical appeal to consumers and reporters, must engineering results so often be presented in Frankensteinian light?

 

The answer is simply that computer scientists are human, and are as terrified by the human condition as anyone else. We, the technical elite, seek some way of thinking that gives us an answer to death, for instance. This helps explain the allure of a place like the Singularity University. The influential Silicon Valley institution preaches a story that goes like this: one day in the not-so-distant future, the Internet will suddenly coalesce into a super-intelligent A.I., infinitely smarter than any of us individually and all of us combined; it will become alive in the blink of an eye, and take over the world before humans even realize what's happening.

 

Some think the newly sentient Internet would then choose to kill us; others think it would be generous and digitize us the way Google is digitizing old books, so that we can live forever as algorithms inside the global brain. Yes, this sounds like many different science fiction movies. Yes, it sounds nutty when stated so bluntly. But these are ideas with tremendous currency in Silicon Valley; these are guiding principles, not just amusements, for many of the most influential technologists.

 

It should go without saying that we can't count on the appearance of a soul-detecting sensor that will verify that a person's consciousness has been virtualized and immortalized. There is certainly no such sensor with us today to confirm metaphysical ideas about people, or even to recognize the contents of the human brain. All thoughts about consciousness, souls and the like are bound up equally in faith, which suggests something remarkable: What we are seeing is a new religion, expressed through an engineering culture.

 

What I would like to point out, though, is that a great deal of the confusion and rancor in the world today concerns tension at the boundary between religion and modernity — whether it's the distrust among Islamic or Christian fundamentalists of the scientific worldview, or even the discomfort that often greets progress in fields like climate change science or stem-cell research.

 

If technologists are creating their own ultramodern religion, and it is one in which people are told to wait politely as their very souls are made obsolete, we might expect further and worsening tensions. But if technology were presented without metaphysical baggage, is it possible that modernity would not make people as uncomfortable?

 

Technology is essentially a form of service. We work to make the world better. Our inventions can ease burdens, reduce poverty and suffering, and sometimes even bring new forms of beauty into the world. We can give people more options to act morally, because people with medicine, housing and agriculture can more easily afford to be kind than those who are sick, cold and starving.

 

But civility, human improvement, these are still choices. That's why scientists and engineers should present technology in ways that don't confound those choices.

 

We serve people best when we keep our religious ideas out of our work.

 

Jaron Lanier, a partner architect at Microsoft Research and an innovator in residence at the Annenberg School of the University of Southern California, is the author, most recently, of "You Are Not Your Gadget."

 

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USA TODAY

EDITORIAL

OUR VIEW ON INTERNET PRIVACY: THESE 'COOKIES' AREN'T TASTY; YOU'RE LEFT HUNGRY FOR PRIVACY.

 

What if the next time you visited your local mall, a gaggle of detectives quietly followed you around taking notes on every store you visited, every item you bought, every movie you saw.

 

Let's say they followed you to a bookstore, where you looked at books on treating cancer and depression. Then they started whispering that you might have cancer or psychological problems. At that point, you'd surely tell them to hand over their notebooks and get lost.

 

Well, companies of many types are routinely doing just that — keeping tabs on your interests, purchases, likes and dislikes and making major assumptions about you — every time you surf the Internet.

 

For the most part such tracking is benign, even helpful. But as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., noted at a recent hearing on the subject, it's also a little bit "creepy." She had, as an experiment, searched online for "foreign SUV" and when she visited an unrelated website 10 minutes later, she was served ads for foreign SUVs.

 

The surveillance is intrusive, pervasive and largely unregulated. Most consumers haven't a clue how much information about them is being gathered and stored for sale, nor do they have a reliable way to stop it. Even computer experts we interviewed were flabbergasted by recent Wall Street Journal reports that the 50 most popular Internet sites installed a total of 3,180 tracking files (commonly known as "cookies") on a test computer the newspaper set up. Dictionary.com, of all places, had the most tools; Wikipedia.org was the only site among the 50 to install none.

 

Other tracking tools can also record the key strokes a visitor types, telling trackers not only where they've been but also what they've said while there. Even those savvy enough to block or erase cookies can be tracked by "flash cookies," which breathe new life into old cookies even after users think they've deleted them.

 

For now, there are a few saving graces. For one, cookies allow people returning to a site to enter without remembering their user name and password. Further, much of the surveillance is done so companies can target ads at consumers they think will want them, as happened with McCaskill.

 

Also, tracking companies so far aren't generally connecting your surfing habits to your name or e-mail address — at least not yet. But they could. Collecting data violates no laws, and tracking companies are largely unregulated. There is no agreement on what should be out of bounds, such as employment, financial or medical data. And the data can be held indefinitely. Perhaps for the day when providing it to prospective employers or insurance companies becomes big business.

 

Federal privacy laws are not designed to protect consumers in this new age. Medical information is protected when it's shared, say, by your doctor. Once you share it online, perhaps visiting a discussion group, trackers are free from those laws.

 

Many companies have joined trade groups and agreed to reasonable guidelines and good practices. But there are always outlaws, and even the guidelines have holes. Practices that are mostly useful now could morph into something far more invasive with only the smallest adjustments.

 

Better to erect some legal guardrails before the road toward decreasing privacy becomes too slippery. Congress is already at work on this, but the outcome is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, consumer dossiers are getting bigger and more valuable to sell.

 

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USA TODAY

EDITORIAL

OPPOSING VIEW ON INTERNET PRIVACY: DON'T FEAR INTERNET TRACKING

BY RANDALL ROTHENBERG

 

A wild debate is on about websites using "tracking tools" to "spy" on American Internet users. Don't fall for it. The controversy is led by activists who want to obstruct essential Internet technologies and return the U.S. to a world of limited consumer choice in news, entertainment, products and services.

 

They have rebranded as "surveillance technology" various devices — cookies, beacons and IP addresses — that fuel the Internet. Without them, Web programming and advertising can't make its way to your laptop, phone or PC. At risk are $300 billion in U.S. economic activity and 3.1 million jobs generated by the advertising-supported Internet, according to Harvard professors John Deighton and John Quelch.

 

Thousands of small retailers and sites devoted to niche hobbies, ethnic minorities, sports teams, politics, "mommy blogs" and myriad other interests — as well as local businesses, such as your neighborhood car dealer and grocer — depend on these tools. Regulating them unwisely puts at risk people such as Tim Carter, a former Cincinnati home contractor who now makes a living with his ad-supported site AsktheBuilder.com, and James and Susan Martin, who work full time and care for their kids from their Montross, Va., home, thanks to their site, Ikeafans.com.

 

The information they use to deliver content is impersonal. Unlike newspaper and cable-TV subscription data, it doesn't contain your name or address. Yet activists and the uninformed are seeking a standard that would force websites to collect real personal information from you, if you want to receive content relevant to your life.

 

Here's an even greater irony: You already have what you need to control your privacy, by eliminating cookies from your browser. Major websites offer highly visible tools that put consumers in charge of their data. Moreover, the nation's largest media and marketing trade associations have issued comprehensive principles for self-regulation with strong consumer privacy protections backed by the Better Business Bureau. The Federal Trade Commission has praised this initiative.

 

Federal regulation of the Internet is one more Big Government idea that's inimical to consumer choice, the First Amendment, communications diversity and economic growth.

 

Randall Rothenberg is the president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents more than 460 leading media and technology companies.

 

 

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USA TODAY

OPINION

WHY DO WE NEED RELIGION?

BY OLIVER THOMAS

 

Why religion? In the face of pogroms and pedophiles, crusades and coverups, why indeed?

 

Religious Americans have answered the question variously. Worship is one answer. Millions gather each week to acknowledge their higher power. The chance to experience community is another. Healthy congregations are more than civic clubs. They are surrogate families. The opportunity to serve others also comes to mind. Americans feed the hungry, clothe the naked and house the homeless largely through religious organizations. Yet as important as community, worship and service are, I am convinced that religion's greatest contribution to society is even greater.

 

Religion makes us want to live.

 

Viktor Frankl's revealing research in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz led him to a startling conclusion. It was not the youngest, strongest or even smartest inmates who tended to survive. It was those who had found meaning in their lives. People, it turns out, need a reason to live.

 

For Frankl, that meaning wasn't necessarily religious — although one could argue that anything that deals with a person's deepest concerns is in a sense "spiritual." What Frankl was talking about could be found in deeds — in the handful of individuals who shared their meager rations with others and went about encouraging their fellow prisoners. But meaning could also be found in attitudes — particularly in the ability to face suffering with dignity and grace. As Frankl expressed it: "Man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

 

A building block

 

Man's search for meaning — whether in a Broadway penthouse or the darkest corner of hell — is the most basic building block of a successful life. Without a sense of purpose, many people will simply shrivel up and die, whether figuratively or, in some cases, literally.

 

I suspect that in postmodern America, the need for meaning is as great as ever. While our ancestors were too busy fighting off starvation to worry about such things as self-actualization, today's Americans live lives of relative ease. Higher education, a shorter work week and regular vacations have enriched our lives but have also provided abundant opportunity to consider whether our lives have meaning and purpose. The result isn't all that encouraging. Millions suffer from depression. Millions more escape their lives through drugs and alcohol. Far too many give up the struggle altogether and commit suicide.

 

Alas, many of us have discovered purpose for our lives through religion. Inside America's churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and ashrams, we wrestle with the great questions of life. And with due respect to my atheist and left-leaning friends, most of those questions are not amenable to the scientific method.

 

Why are we here?

 

What does it all mean?

 

How should we then live?

 

These are the things that matter most. Not whether Pluto is a real planet or the atomic weight of carbon is 12 or

13. Even Nietzsche recognized that if one can answer the why of life, he can cope with most any how.

 

Frankl came away from Auschwitz convinced that there are two basic types of people: decent ones and indecent ones. Some are stronger in their disposition than others, of course, but basically we are decent or indecent. Here's the interesting thing. Decency and indecency do not fall along national or political lines. There were decent Nazi guards just as there were indecent inmates.

 

Living decent lives

 

The same is true of our congregations. While we teach justice, forgiveness and love of neighbor, no doubt, there are indecent souls among us. Even indecent congregations. Not all religion is good, and no person is sicker than a person who is sick on religion. Don't just think of Osama bin Laden here. I'm also talking about the fearful, guilt-racked, shell of a human being that can result from a fundamentalist Christian upbringing. Good religion, as the great humanitarian and Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer put it, is always "life-affirming."

 

Here's the point: I think religion makes it easier to be decent. The positive core values, mutual accountability and constant striving for self-improvement help one to be a better person. And I want to be a better person. Not because I'm afraid of God. Because I'm grateful for another trip around the sun and, like a good house guest, want to leave this place in better shape than I found it.

 

There is a lesson here for America's clergy: Keep your eye on the ball. It's not so much about this doctrine or that, Mass or the Lord's Supper or even Ramadan or Yom Kippur. It's about purpose, meaning and whether I ought to get out of bed in the morning.

 

Oliver Thomas is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors and author of 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job).

 

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USA TODAY

OPINION

WHEN TEACHERS ARE SLASHED, THE CHILDREN PAY

BY RANDI WEINGARTEN

 

Tough times affect everyone, but inevitably children and the neediest are hit the hardest. While state coffers are shrinking, the number of children enrolled for the coming school year is not — and neither is the extent of their educational needs. It is our nation's obligation to ensure that all our children have access to great public schools during good times and bad. This is a long-term investment in our kids' and country's future.

 

We can't "race to the top" if the bottom is falling out for school districts from coast to coast. The stakes are high and the situation is dire. For every layoff, for each day that's cut from a school week, for every course or program that's dropped, children are hurt.

 

•In Philadelphia, many schools have closed their libraries, with the books kept behind iron gates, because librarian positions have been cut.

 

•In Los Angeles, a week was scratched from the school calendar.

 

•In Albuquerque, the local teachers union held a bake sale with "cutback" cookies, "furlough" fudge brownies and "corporate loophole" lollipops to help fill budget gaps that have increased class sizes and forced furlough days.

 

•In Ohio, AP courses, music, art, foreign language programs and bus routes have been slashed, along with school counselor positions. In Broward County, Fla., art, music, physical education and library programs are on the chopping block.

 

•In Chicago, 600 educators have been laid off, 900 more might receive the same fate after Labor Day, and bilingual education and foreign language programs have been cut.

 

And despite what research tells us about the importance of preschool, states are slashing pre-K programs becausefederal stimulus funds are running out.

 

Devastating budget cuts will jeopardize real educational progress that's being made in our public schools. Fortunately, Congress is taking steps to help states. In an extraordinary act demonstrating the seriousness of the problem, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called the U.S. House of Representatives back for a special session on Tuesday to vote on a Senate-passed $26 billion package that would provide $10 billion to prevent educator layoffs and $16 billion for Medicaid assistance to the states. It wouldn't provide a complete fix, but it would go far to avert the inevitable: larger class sizes, slashed courses and programs, shortened school days and weeks, and teacher layoffs.

 

I've crisscrossed the country, talking with teachers who have already been laid off or whose jobs are threatened. With tears in their eyes, they tell me that what upsets them the most is the impact on their students. They dread the thought of their kids walking into a classroom of 40 or more students; of school being closed one day a week; of the loss of AP classes, music and art courses, or programs that struggling kids need the most.

 

I spoke with a pregnant teacher who won't have health insurance when her child is born, but all she could talk about was the effect of layoffs on her school's students. I visited a school that will lose a third of its teachers because of the budget crisis. I met teachers everyone would want for their children but who are not going to be facing the excitement of a new school year. Their kids are their "special interest."

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Pelosi have demonstrated true leadership on this legislation, while others wallow in demagoguery — the last bastion of the just-say-no crowd. The House has passed a jobs bill in two other iterations; when it does so again on Tuesday, and the bill heads straight to the president's desk for his signature, the final tally will clearly show who is prepared to stand up for our kids and who is not.

 

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

 

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

WHEN IS A WAR REALLY 'OVER'?

 

We all love "peace" — if we can have it with safety and security, without being overcome by worse results and our enemies.

 

We all hate war because it means death and destruction, disruption of our lives and our families, and great cost.

 

We Americans engage in war only to avoid worse consequences.

 

We knew World War II in Europe was over when Nazi Germany was defeated and surrendered in April of 1945.

 

We knew World War II in the Pacific was over when two U.S. nuclear bombs brought the surrender of Imperial Japan in August 1945.

 

It was more difficult to know when the Vietnam War was over because there was no decisive victory or defeat. But Americans were glad to withdraw from Vietnam and end U.S. combat casualties.

 

Today we are in two very different kinds of war — in Iraq and Afghanistan. And many ask, "When will the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq be 'over' — and with what consequences?"

 

A few days ago, President Barack Obama declared that the Iraq War is nearing an end "as promised and on schedule." He is talking about removing many Americans from Iraq by the end of this month!

 

Will the Iraq War really be "over" then?

 

We would like it to be over! But will it really be over if in our wake our radical enemies take over? Will Iraq's shaky government survive? Or will the enemies we have fought for so long eventually prevail?

 

"The hard truth," President Obama said, "is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq. But make no mistake, our commitment to Iraq is changing — from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats."

 

What will that really mean? Will our enemies in Iraq desist or, more likely, fight on?

 

What about our war in Afghanistan?

 

Mr. Obama has ordered a surge of 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan — in our nine-year war there. U.S casualties unfortunately are on the rise.

 

We are not asking these days, "What would victory look like?" We are only wondering whether we can

sufficiently pacify Iraq and Afghanistan so there will not be bad consequences when Americans withdraw from combat.

 

Our other recent wars have been larger and more costly. But they finally ended. Today, we cannot answer when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will end — or what the results and consequences will look like.

 

We are not anticipating the equivalent of a V-E (Victory in Europe) Day or a V-J (Victory over Japan) Day, as in World War II. We are not really expecting any kind of clear "victory." We are just hoping to end American involvement with no bad consequences for us and for the Afghans and Iraqis.

 

When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do eventually end, we will have no assurance that our enemies will become friends, as was the case in Germany and Japan after World War II.

 

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

ANOTHER TRIAL ON ETHICS

 

Shortly after the news broke that U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., will be tried in the House of Representatives for questionable financial dealings, another congressional Democrat faces a similar proceeding.

 

An ethics report in the Democrat-controlled House says Rep. Maxine Waters of California was warned by a fellow lawmaker not to have any dealings with a bank in which her husband owned stock and had served as a board member. But it says she contacted then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to set up a meeting, and three months later, the bank, OneUnited, got $12 million in federal bailout funds.

 

Rep. Waters is likely to be accused of violating House rules that forbid a member of Congress to use his or her influence improperly for personal gain, The Associated Press reported.

 

"She knew she should say no, but it bothered her," the report stated.

 

Now, a trial in the House is likely.

 

Rep. Waters, like Rep. Rangel, has said she is innocent. We hope that is so, because this sort of scandal undermines the American people's confidence in government — which is already very low.

 

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

A 'JUST-FOR-SHOW' SPENDING FREEZE

 

President Barack Obama boasted recently that he was going to freeze cash bonuses for political appointees in his administration.

 

"(L)ike households and businesses across the country, we need to make tough choices about how to spend our funds," he wrote in a memo spelling out the bonus freeze.

 

The president said the move would save taxpayers roughly $1.9 million by halting new bonuses to about 2,900 people.

 

But at the very end of the Associated Press story announcing the freeze, there was this reminder: "The move does not apply to federal workers who are not political appointees."

 

That's important because the costly, well-compensated civilian federal workforce is rising to a stunning 1.43 million employees this year.

 

Freezing bonuses for a mere 2,900 of those employees is hardly the "tough choice" on the spending of federal dollars that President Obama claims it is. The real issue is the explosive growth of the federal government at a time when the private sector continues to lose jobs and when unemployment is painfully high.

 

If Mr. Obama wants to be taken seriously when he talks about cutting spending, it will take more than "just-for-show" freezes on a handful of federal employees' bonuses.

 

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

CASE OF THE 16,000 MISSING REBATES

 

Everybody seems to like "alternative energy" such as solar and wind power — until the bill comes due.

 

That's because despite all the hype surrounding those energy sources, they are extremely expensive compared with coal, natural gas and nuclear power.

 

To hide the true cost of alternative energy, states and the federal government have offered an array of subsidies, rebates and such that artificially make the cost of alternative energy production seem lower than it is. Of course, that is a charade because it only conceals — but does not eliminate — costs. Instead of a consumer footing the full bill to buy, for instance, solar panels to provide energy for his house, taxpayers are forced to underwrite part of the cost.

 

Florida is among the states that have used taxpayer-funded incentives to entice homeowners and businesses to buy solar-powered water heaters, electrical systems and such. A solar water heater purchase in Florida is good for a $500 rebate, for instance, while a business can get a $100,000 rebate for a solar power system on its rooftop.

 

The trouble is, Florida is in deep financial difficulties, and it no longer has the money to fund that sort of market-distorting subsidies with tax dollars.

 

The St. Petersburg Times put it in stark terms: "The state owes Floridians $52.7 million in unpaid solar energy rebates and has no immediate plan to honor its financial promise," the newspaper reported. About 16,000 people who paid the high price of solar power systems are now owed rebates that may or may not be honored by the state. Some people have been waiting for years.

 

They no doubt feel cheated, and we sympathize with them. But those problems are the natural result when government substitutes its own judgment for the free-market choices of thousands or millions of individual consumers.

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

 

One of the surest indications that an election is under way is the abundance of brightly colored signs that seemingly fill every heavily traveled intersection, dot area roadways and sprout in front of numerous businesses and residences. There's nothing wrong with that. The signs are a traditional way to put one's name and candidacy before voters. There is something amiss, however, with candidates who allow their signs to remain in public view long after the election has concluded.

 

Some candidates know that and act quickly. Indeed, one person was picking up signs and placing them in a truck Friday morning at the intersection of Tennessee Avenue and 37th Street, a spot virtually forested with signs. A quick glance at the truck's bed indicated it wasn't the individual's first such stop on the morning after election day.

 

Not all candidates or their supporters are as quick to act. They need not be. While such speed is exemplary, Tennessee law provides a bit of leeway. It requires that all election signs on public property or rights of way be removed within three weeks following an election.

 

The law, to be sure, is almost never invoked. When it is, there is no real penalty attached. Still, the regulation is a useful one. It is an official reminder that those given the privilege of placing political signs in public venues before an election have a concomitant responsibility to remove them after campaigning and voting have concluded.

 

Not all candidates in Thursday's elections are required to pick up their signs within the three-week time frame. Those whose candidacies extend to the general election in November are permitted to leave their signs in public view without interruption.

 

That means that signage for Bill Haslam, Mike McWherter and independents seeking to become governor can remain on view. The same is true for Chuck Fleischmann and John Wolfe, candidates for the 3rd Congressional District seat, and for the handful of candidates in contested races for state offices. Still, given the number of candidates involved in just concluded local races, especially for the County Commission and for the school board, the prompt removal of signs should be counted as a community service.

 

Political signs arguably are a positive symbol of democracy in action. They also can clutter up the landscape, particularly in high traffic areas. Consequently, the removal of the signs in a timely manner improves the overall look of the community. Doing so should be the goal of all candidates for elected office, whether their recent campaign proved to be victorious or not.

 

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TIMES FREE PRESS

OPINION

MARRIAGE AS A LEGAL RIGHT

 

T he federal court ruling last week that struck down California's voter-approved Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage seems destined to change the legal landscape, and quite possibly the laws, that now prevent such marriages.

 

Many Americans may find that possibility reprehensible from a moral standpoint. But the court's opinion, founded on the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, is so well-reasoned that it seems certain to make its way through appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, and perhaps become the law of the land, as it must, sooner or later, to meet this nation's long-standing legal logic.

 

Whatever Americans may think of same-sex marriage, the constitutional doctrine of equal protection under the law clearly seems the sort of foundation for it that stands on stone. It defends the legal premise of equal rights that finally rid this nation of laws against miscegenation and interracial marriage; against withholding voting rights from women; against segregation; against poll taxes and other undue restrictions on voting rights and electoral representation for minorities; and against a range of restrictions on groups disfavored by the majority or by forces in favor of a legally unfair status quo.

 

In his lengthy, well-crafted decision, the chief judge of the Federal District Court in San Francisco, Vaughn R. Walker, concisely made that point, and went on to defend it in an opinion of more than 130 pages seemingly designed to propel the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

California's Proposition 8 — and presumably other laws like it — "cannot withstand any level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause," Judge Walker found. "Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a legitimate state interest."

 

He reasoned that in contemporary American society, marriage clearly does not require procreation. Even so, he found, same-sex couples have been widely shown to be able to have and to rear children without any evidence of harm to the children or to society. On the contrary, he said, children of same-sex couples benefit from the stability of the unions of same-sex couples, while denial of marriage simultaneously renders such couples to second-class citizenship.

 

He contended that marriages have become unions of equals that, for gays and lesbians, are betrayed through purely personal moral views by restrictions limiting same-sex couples to civil unions, or domestic partnerships, or disallowing any such legal arrangements altogether. Under present discriminatory laws, he found, the civil rights that apply to married couples are repeatedly distorted or denied for same-sex couples.

 

The judge, whose ruling springs from a weeks-long trial earlier this year over the reason for Proposition 8,

found more broadly that the fundamental reason for Proposition 8 is not that same-sex couples are incapable of having or forming a relationship that conforms to the framework or values of traditional marriage. Rather, he found, it was a moral view "that there is something wrong with same-sex couples."

 

"Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and women," he wrote.

 

Judge Walker's dissection of the reason for and impact of California's ban on same-sex marriage seems impossible to dismiss. Americans who oppose the concept on moral and religious grounds possibly could argue for the sanctity of traditional marriage as ordained by the rules and faith of their church, synagogue, mosque or religious center. It's not clear whether Judge Walker would suggest, or impose, his legal view of marriage narrowly on churches.

 

But as for same-sex marriage performed by civil institutions under the scope of the Constitution, his ruling for legalizing same-sex marriage under the law seems faultless. If the Supreme Court upholds his ruling, it will reflect the benefit of equal protection under the law.

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

 

GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON ASHTIANI IS DEAFENING

 

FROM THE BOSPHORUS: STRAIGHT

A little more than a year ago, Iran held elections considered by most of the world a fraud. Turkey was reticent to voice any criticism. ""Controversy over the election results is Iran's domestic matter," said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, as Turkish leaders congratulated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

We here had our own reticence. We were inclined to give Davutoğlu the benefit of the doubt. After all, Turkey does not have Norway and New Zealand as neighbors. A policy of good neighborliness is a reasonable one, even if few of our neighbors are known for democratic values.

 

Over the last six months, with a modicum of support from Brazil, Turkey has stood out internationally as Iran's lone defender as the country's nuclear standoff with the west has deepened, leading to the new round of sanctions imposed by the United Nations. We've been a bit lonely too, supporting the "give peace a chance" approach we have seen implicit in Turkey's stance.

 

Now Iran is again in the world's headlines as the source of international opprobrium. In this instance, it is the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. A case that defies understanding, Ashtiani apparently had some level of intimate relations with a man after she was widowed. By some mullah's logic in Tehran, this was judged to be adultery. Initially, Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning. International reaction has had some impact. In an act of compassion, the Iranian justice system has converted this sentence to a mere hanging.

 

The outrage of this needs no elucidation. But we think the third round of official reticence to comment in Ankara does. Such mild comment as has emerged from Ankara this time has been limited to reassurances that diplomats are doing what they can behind the scenes. We'd like to believe once again that Turkey's unique posture is sufficient. We do not.

 

The government of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, may indeed be pious and conservative. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has certainly made his own views on adultery clear in the past. In a related matter, he also recently welcomed an open polygamist into his inner administrative circle.

 

But piety, or even religiosity, can be no excuse for silence on this issue. There is simply no defense of Iran's actions possible under any contemporary interpretation of Islam. Even if there were, silence from an administration bent on European Union membership, from a leader constantly wrapping himself in the mantle of democrat, in a country that has banned the death penalty, is unconscionable.

 

If all that has ensued in Turkey's policy of appeasement toward Iran has indeed been done in the name of building political capital for the longer term good, then now it is time to redeem that capital. Silence on Ashtiani is shamefully unacceptable.

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

THE WAR OF THE THINK TANKS

EMRE DELIVELI

 

emre.deliveli@gmail.com

The Ankara-based think tank TEPAV caused quite a stir at the end of July with a policy note provocatively titled, "Export Losses in the EU Market."

 

The short note argues, by comparing pre and post-crisis episodes, that there has been an "axis slide" in the EU and Turkey, with both looking beyond the EU for export markets. The article and Bahçeşehir University think tank BETAM's policy note "Turkey in the EU Market and Its Competition," written in response to the TEPAV piece, both show that EU powerhouses France and Germany have lost some EU export share in the aftermath of the crisis. The TEPAV report's main point is that Turkey has not been able to capitalize on this gap.

 

Digging a bit further yields interesting results: Although Turkey has not lost its share in the EU market, with the exception of apparel, it has been outperformed by Asia in labor-intensive goods like textiles and by new EU members, or EU-12, in capital-intensive products such as autos.

 

There are certainly many factors at play here, such as EU-12's better success at attracting foreign direct investment, or FDI, of late, flight from quality, high price and income sensitivity of Turkey's main export products, or even sectoral specifics, as commercial vehicles, which make a bulk of Turkish motor vehicle exports, were not included in EU support programs.

 

But Ümit Özlale, one of the authors of the TEPAV report, argued in a phone chat that this could also be reflecting Turkish exporters' inability, despite notable improvements in the last decade, to diversify their products as much as the competition. He specifically highlighted the Chinese, who are usually flexible enough to produce the whole quality range of a product.

 

As for Turkey's own axis slide, while Turkish Exporters Association, or TEA, sees the term as an insult, to me, it reflects, more than anything, the deftness of Turkish exporters, who have shifted their exports, with commendable government support, to other markets following the import demand slowdown in the EU. The report makes a similar point, noting that Turkish exporters' part of global supply chains might have responded to multinational firms' change in specialization strategies.

 

But as Özlale noted, the trick is to be able to gain new markets without losing the EU, which provides home to half of Turkish exports. According to his calculations, the 156 percent rise in exports to the Middle East and North Africa, or MENA, when coupled with the 11 percent fall in exports to the EU, resulted in a limited 5 percent overall gain.

 

TEA was quick to come up with its own report, aptly titled "The Analysis of the TEPAV Report," which is just not my cup of tea: They basically make a bunch of footnote-worthy criticisms such as the time frame and choice of currency of the report, which do not change its main results at all. But by trying to divert attention from the real issues and burying their heads in the sand, they are in fact shooting themselves in the foot.

 

Take the EU's axis slide: It would have important implications for Turkey if it were a structural phenomenon rather than a crisis response. What if Germany and France had eyes on the MENA market? Would Turkey be able to compete with them? Or are exports to MENA lower in quality or value added than exports to the EU? Despite accusations of being controlled by unnamed powers, TEPAV is in fact doing TEA a big favor by following up on their study with such issues.

 

While I had high hopes for a war of the think tanks, the disagreement turned out to be just a difference in nomenclature, as TEPAV was working in percentage changes and BETAM in market shares.

 

As for the other responses, it hurts me to say that they seem to have been all buttanked.

 

Emre Deliveli is a freelance consultant and columnist for Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review and Forbes as well as a contributor to Roubini Global Economics. Read his economics blog at http://emredeliveli.blogspot.com.

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

PYROMANIACS JOINING FORCES

JOOST LAGENDIJK

 

You do not need to be an oversensitive person these days to realize that in politics and in society the situation in Turkey is tense. Any country in the world would be shaken if things were happening that are witnessed each day in Turkey. There is a referendum campaign taking place in which the government, according to me correctly, passionately defends voting in favor of the constitutional amendments package on Sept. 12 as the next step toward more democracy. The ruling party is confronted with a peculiar opposition front that accuses the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, of trying to destroy the checks and balances in the present system, making the country less democratic. At the same time, Prime Minister Erdogan has become entangled in a tough power fight with the top echelons of the army about who is in charge, after some of the generals were accused of involvement in plots to destabilize the government. To complicate things even more, people are being killed as a result of provocations and terrorist attacks that seem to be aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear and anger in the run-up to Sept. 12, and at inciting Turks against Kurds.

 

It is against this explosive background that some influential players have decided that the time has come to put some extra fuel on the fire. One month ago, some columnists who are not known for their separatist sympathies, started a debate on the question of whether Turks and Kurds really had to live together. They considered themselves to be very courageous in raising this matter because, as they see it, everything should finally be debated for the sake of being open and honest. So, let's stop being politically correct and discuss the possibility of the Kurds establishing their own independent Kurdistan. No mention at all of the incredible consequences of such a separation in a country and a society where Turks and Kurds are so intimately connected. These columnists are clearly not interested in the realities on the ground. They want to jump in one big leap to a glorious future without any problems between Turks and Kurds, not worried at all by the fact that their reflections, if taken seriously, would lead to another heated debate at a time when so many other hot issues are at stake.

 

They got some unexpected assistance from Diyabakir mayor Osman Baydemir. On July 31, during a speech in Tunceli, he strongly argued in favor of an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey where the Turkish flag would fly next to the Kurdish banner on all official buildings. Interestingly, as did the columnists, he defended his frankness with the need to stop using the old clichés and enter into a real discussion on the core of the Kurdish question. Not surprisingly, a prosecutor opened an investigation against the mayor. But Baydemir also turned out to have some unexpected supporters: the same columnists that started the debate a few weeks before. They loved his speech and praised him for finally telling the truth. The reason is obvious: Baydemir presented them with the perfect excuse to continue their discussions on the pros and cons of the final solution to the Kurdish problem, once and for all.

 

Let there be no misunderstanding. Baydemir and other Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, politicians have raised the issue of what they call democratic autonomy before. Many of their plans make sense and, when implemented, would make Turkey a more democratic country. Based on a decentralized administration that would be able to better cope with the huge differences between the regions, as happens in countries like Germany and Spain. The problem with Baydemir's speech is not with the content but with the timing and the way it was presented. Why rap your message in a separate Kurdish flag, knowing how extremely sensitive the issue is? Why make this speech now, having read the columns of those who want to start a destructive debate that would not bring the Kurds anything? To be honest, it looks like two school boys, Ertuğrul Özkök and Osman Baydemir, who are walking around in an ammunition depot, padding each other on the shoulder while both of them are throwing around matches.

 

The ideas on democratic autonomy deserve more, nuanced and unbiased attention from Turkish politicians and intellectuals. But at the same time, they deserve better advocates with a more developed sense for timing and symbolism.

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

TURKS AND KURDS: THE PERILS OF MURKY MYTHS

C. CEM OĞUZ

 

In response to my article of July 28 titled "Negotiating with the PKK: A solution?" I have received a couple of very thought-provoking and inspiring remarks from my readers. Yet, one of them, a Kurd who preferred to remain anonymous, harshly criticized my piece while referring to the ancient Greek historian Xenophon. Xenophon, he said, mentioned the Kurds in his expeditionary record 'Anabasis' under the name of "Carduqi."

 

I really could not understand the relationship between my arguments and that reference. But I will elaborate on it, since this cliché is widespread and clearly illustrates the way Kurdish nationalism has come to evolve.

 

In the past, the origin of the Kurds was primarily a concern for Western academics, but with the politicization of the Kurdish identity, the matter has been devoted greater attention within the Kurdish nationalist discourse. A variety of works written by Kurdish intellectuals have appeared, such as Mehrdad Izady's "The Kurds," which traces the existence of Kurdish culture back more than 50,000 years, to include Neanderthal evidence in the Shanidar caves.

 

The prime motive behind such exaggerated Kurdish assertions is the attempt to establish an ancient territorial claim for a stateless nation and to identify the history of the Kurds with that of the territory being labeled Kurdistan. It is precisely for this reason that many Kurds, including Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, mainly assert today that they are the descendants of the Medes or the Gutis.

 

However, in a monumental article that appeared in "The Kurds," a book edited by Faleh A. Jabar and Hosham Dawood, Maria O'Shea describes such works as "astonishing attempts to create a complete history by using a combination of remembered, recovered, invented and borrowed history." According to O'Shea, much of this mythology regarding the roots of the Kurds is merely based on etymological supposition and it is precisely for this reason that the references of Greek historians and geographers must be treated carefully. She then concludes, "It is impossible with the information available to achieve a reasonable understanding of either the precise origins of the Kurds, when they coalesced into such an identifiable group, or their history much before the Arab/Islamic invasion."

 

I sincerely hope that my Kurdish readers do not take offense at what I have just said. The reason for my highlighting this problem is neither to question the ancient origins of the Kurds, nor to argue a continuous Turkish inhabitancy of the regions they claim today. History serves as a justification for present-day events and actions, particularly when it comes to highly controversial political issues. Thus, I rather want to point out the perverse political consequences of this kind of historiography, or understanding of history.

 

First and foremost, it has created myths that should be held responsible for the current impasse on the resolution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey. The most notable among these myths is the catch cry that Kurdish history is one of continuous oppression of Kurds by Turks. In the political rhetoric, this idea has developed into the belief that throughout history, Kurds have been politically suppressed as well as economically exploited by the Turks. Presumably, the PKK's has been the 28th Kurdish uprising in Turkish history. 

 

However, I am afraid to say that both arguments are categorically wrong. Even Western researchers who support the Kurdish cause acknowledge that very few of these Kurdish uprisings, which occurred in the early republican era and erupted in response to the Turkification campaigns, were motivated by ethnic consciousness. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to determine who exploited whom. For instance, even in the 1950s and 60s, a period when the pressure of the Turkish government upon the Kurds had reached its zenith, the money allocated in Turkish development programs to eastern and southeastern Anatolia was many times more than that sent to other regions. For those of you sincerely interested in a scientific evaluation of that period, I would suggest a study by Dr. Sait Aşgın, titled "Doğu Anadolu'ya Yapılan Kamu Harcamaları [Public Expenditures Made in Eastern Anatolia]."

 

Today, we are debating whether we can live together. But in the existing climate where these distortions and self-deceptions are rife, I don't believe that the outcome can be healthy or realistic. Unfortunately, the ghost of our common past's legacy still haunts reason and common sense. If our respective nationalisms (as well as historiography) are simply positioned against the "other," how are we going to manage to live together?

 

I strongly suggest both Turks and Kurds consider the words of prominent Anatolian poet Özdemir Asaf: "All the colors were soiling at the same speed. White was given the first prize."

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

SONER ÇAĞAPTAY

 

There has been speculation about where Turkey is heading ever since the Islamist Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power in 2002.

 

The early years suggested to most observers that Turkey was heading West, as the AKP lobbied hard for membership in the European Union and pushed the liberal-democratic and free-market reforms that membership requires. Lately, the consensus view has shifted 180 degrees.

 

As Europe makes clear its resistance to welcoming a Muslim-majority member, Turkey seems to be positioning itself as a regional power broker among its Islamist neighbors, most dramatically by casting a "no" vote against U.N. sanctions on Iran.

 

Our view is a bit different: Turkey is heading toward a European model, but it is neither modern nor liberal. It is the East European model of the 1940s, when communist parties took power in democratic elections, only to subvert democracy and veil their nations behind the Iron Curtain.

 

After the Czechoslovak Communist Party won the 1946 elections, it quickly undermined one of Eastern Europe's most progressive democracies. By 1948, the communists had quieted all opposition by various means, including the infamous defenestration of a top moderate politician in Prague. Within two years, Czechoslovakia had joined the communist bloc.

 

The rise of an illiberal party that would radically change its country's foreign policy foreshadowed the AKP's conduct decades later. This is not to equate communism with Islamism; rather, both movements, rooted in an illiberal ideology, see democracy as a means to an end and espouse a Manichean, "us versus them" mentality.

 

There were early signs in the AKP's visceral anti-American rhetoric and its banishment of women from top posts, as well as the arrests and firings of political rivals. These signs were mostly ignored because, at the time, the AKP also promoted EU accession and pragmatic ties with the United States, even while bashing the West. But during the eight years of AKP rule, the party's rhetoric has significantly shaped majority opinion.

 

More than 90 percent of Turks read and write only Turkish, and rely on Turkish media sources now either intimidated by or controlled outright by the AKP. Under the AKP, wiretaps of political opponents have become so common that restaurants now offer to check cell phones so citizens can deposit their mobiles before sitting down for dinner, to prevent eavesdropping.

 

The AKP's early anti-Western rhetoric signaled hidden foreign-policy goals that are now coming to light. After weakening democratic checks and balances – by imposing tax fines on the media and wiretaps on opponents to stifle dissent – the AKP feels comfortable enough in power to match its foreign policy to its rhetoric. It will continue to face away from the West, even if it ostensibly remains in NATO. The AKP will continue to defend Islamist leaders – from Sudan's Omar al-Bashir to Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – against the demands of the international community. Domestically, the AKP will continue to trample on free media, gender equality and democratic safeguards such as an independent judiciary.

 

But hope remains. By the postwar Czechoslovak political clock, the year in Turkey is 1947. The authoritarian party does not yet have full control. Turkey remains a multiparty democracy and, as of the last elections, only one third of its voters support the AKP. While the secular Republican People's Party, or CHP, previously had no answer to the grassroots organization of the AKP or the anti-Western populism of AKP Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it now has a real leader in Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, a charismatic social democrat. International pressure may yet block some AKP ambitions, especially if the U.S. and others speak up. And thankfully, no Soviet tanks wait in the wings to suppress the Turkish people's will.

 

Yet most liberal Turks still refuse to recognize their own political failure. One still hears them suggest – absurdly – that European and American leaders placed the AKP in power. To gain ground in the 2011 elections, non-Islamists need to return to grassroots politics. In the meantime, the West must stand with democracy by ensuring free and fair elections and maintaining a level political playing field. Either liberals unite now, or the clock moves to 1948.

 

This column originally appeared in Newsweek.

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

EXCEPTIONAL TIMES, EXCEPTIONAL CHOICES

YUSUF KANLI

 

According to the "democracy-compromised" traditions of the Turkish military – which were considered to be well-established and indeed with some exceptions were applied intact ever since the establishment of the republic – if the post of Land Forces commander is to be vacated, the most senior four-star Land Forces general who served as commander of either of the three armies of the country is the "first in line" for the prestigious post. The procedure is that after discussions on the issue at the Supreme Military Council the chief of general staff suggests name of a qualified general to the defense minister, if he has no objections to the name proposed the minister suggests the name to the prime minister and if the prime minister approves the suggestion also a decree carrying signatures of the defense minister and the prime minister is prepared and submitted to the president for endorsement. If the president approves as well, the new commander is appointed.

 

That is, despite the well-established tradition, the role of the chief of general staff is limited with suggesting the name of a qualified general and the entire appointment procedure is at the discretion of the defense minister, prime minister and finally the president. That being so, however, appointments to key military posts cannot be done with a simplistic "I have the power and the sole authority, thus only my preferences should matter, what the rest says I care less" or such products of "democratic" mindset. What's at stake is the top post of one of the four key forces for the defense of the country and for the sake of national security maintenance of the atmosphere of an effective cooperation between the military and the civilian government within the framework of law and some degree of mutual confidence. Similarly, while the law clearly states that should the post of the chief of general staff is to be vacated either of the commanders of the land, air, navy or gendarmerie forces of the country might be appointed to the top military post of the country by the Council of Ministers, never ever in the history of the republic a commander other than the one heading the Land Forces command has been appointed to that post. Though it is at the discretion of the Council of Ministers, thus of the prime minister, to decide who should be the country's next chief of general staff, the preference of the outgoing commander and evaluation of the YAŞ on the issue and the tradition have always been the guiding elements of making such a decision.

 

Traditions are important, but of course cannot supersede the laws of the country. Indeed, the traditions must conform to the laws, rather than offering an alternative. But, do the established traditions of the military indeed dictate an alternative incompatible to laws of the country? No… They are in full conformity.

 

If perhaps the YAŞ meeting did not convene immediately after an absurd "capture order" issued by an Istanbul court against 102 active and retired officers, 27 of them active generals – a decision overturned immediately after the YAŞ meeting on grounds that reasons for issuing such an "capture order" indeed did not exist – and an order from another Istanbul court inviting among others the general first in line for the post of the Land Forces command, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saying in appointment of the chief of general staff and the land forces commander he would be the decision maker not a spectator of decisions being made by the top generals could have been applauded as a step consolidating civilian rule and thus Turkish democracy.

 

However, what's being played is not an "enhancing democracy" game, but rather one of an anti-democratic mindset. "I am the absolute ruler… Whatever I say is for the best interest of this country… What I say or believe can never ever be contested" obsession of a majoritarian self-catering democrat is the prime responsible of the current crisis.

 

These are exceptional times. These exceptional times will pass as well. Yet, some exceptional choices unfortunately will be made during these exceptional times.

 

No one should be surprised if all of a sudden one of the force commanders, other than the Land Forces commander, becomes the chief of general staff. Or, no one should be surprised to see on Aug. 27 – the day the Land Forces commander will complete his two-year tenure and if not appointed as chief of general staff by then – an acting Land Forces commander.

 

Worse, even though it appears to be a remote probability, vacation of all four force commands all of a sudden.

 

A LAST MINUTE NOTE: Moments after this article was penned there appeared to be probability of a resolution of the crisis. Erdoğan has said in Afyon that a "consensus" was reached on the appointments and that he might send the appointment degree to presidential approval last night. Even if the current hurdle might come to a resolution, will it be probable to overcome in the near future the confidence crisis between the military and the ruling AKP produced by the appointments crisis?

 

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HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

OPINION

TODAY RUSSIA, TOMORROW THE WORLD

GWYNNE DYER

 

It cannot be proved that the wildfires now devastating western Russia are evidence of global warming. Once-in-a-century extreme weather events happen, on average, once a century. But the Russian response is precisely what you would expect when global warming really starts to bite: Moscow has just banned all grain exports for the rest of this year.

 

At least 20 percent of Russia's wheat crop has already been destroyed by the drought, the extreme heat – circa 40 degrees Celsius for several weeks now – and the wildfires. The export ban is needed, explained Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, because "we shouldn't allow domestic prices in Russia to rise, we need to preserve our cattle and build up supplies for next year." If anybody starves, it won't be Russians.

 

That's a reasonable position for a Russian leader to take, but it does mean that some people will starve elsewhere. Russia is the world's fourth-largest grain exporter, and anticipated shortages in the international grain market had already driven the price of wheat up by more than 80 percent since early June. When Putin announced the export ban, it immediately jumped by another 8 percent.

 

This means that food prices will also rise, but that is a minor nuisance for most consumers in the developed countries, since they spend only about 10 percent of their income on food. In poor countries, where people spend up to half their income on food, the higher prices will mean that the poorest of the poor cannot afford to feed their children properly.

 

As a result, some will die – probably a hundred or a thousand times as many as the thirty-odd Russians who have been killed by the flames and the smoke. But they will die quietly, one by one, in under-reported parts of the world, so nobody will notice. Not this time. But when food exports are severely reduced or banned by several major producers at once and the international grain market freezes up, everybody will notice.

 

Two problems are going to converge and merge in the next ten or fifteen years, with dramatic results. One is the fact that global grain production, which kept up with population growth from the 1950s to the 1990s, is no longer doing so. It may even have flat-lined in the past decade, although large annual variations make that uncertain. Whereas the world's population is still growing.

 

The world grain reserve, which was 150 days of eating for everybody on the planet ten years ago, has fallen to little more than a third of that. (The "world grain reserve" is not a mountain of grain somewhere, but the sum of all the grain from previous harvests that is still stored in various places just before the next big Northern Hemisphere harvest comes in.)

 

We now have a smaller grain reserve globally than a prudent civilization in Mesopotamia or Egypt would have aimed for 3,000 years ago. Demand is growing not just because there are more people, but because there are more people rich enough to put more meat into their diet. So things are very tight even before climate change hits hard.

 

The second problem is, of course, global warming. The rule of thumb is that with every one-degree Celsius rise in average global temperature, we lose 10 percent of global food production. In some places, the crops will be damaged by drought; in others by much hotter temperatures. Or, as in Russia's case today, by both.

 

So food production will be heading down as demand continues to increase, and something has to give. What will probably happen is that the amount of internationally traded grain will dwindle as countries ban exports and keep their supplies for themselves. That will mean that a country can no longer buy its way out of trouble when it has a local crop failure: there will not be enough exported grain for sale.

 

This is the vision of the future that has the soldiers and security experts worried: a world where access to enough food becomes a big political and strategic issue even for developed countries that do not have big surpluses at home. It would be a very ugly world indeed, teeming with climate refugees and failed states and interstate conflicts over water (which is just food at one remove).

 

What is happening in Russia now, and its impacts elsewhere, give us an early glimpse of what that world will be like. And although nobody can say for certain that the current disaster there is due to climate change, it certainly could be.

 

Late last year, Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Change produced a world map showing how different countries will be affected by the rise in average global temperature over the next fifty years. The European countries that the Hadley map predicts will be among the hardest hit – Greece, Spain and Russia – are precisely the ones that have suffered most from extreme heat, runaway forest fires and wildfires in the past few years.

 

The main impact of global warming on human beings will be on the food supply, and eating is a non-negotiable

activity. Today Russia, tomorrow the world.

 

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

 

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 I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

SHOEICIDE MISSION

 

During the final event of a disastrous visit to France and the UK by our president, the faces in the audience and their reaction to the president told the story. He was clearly not among friends, and their mood was summed up by an elderly man who hurled both his shoes at the president and was hustled away by security staff. The event was not broadcast live and the incident was censored out by the only channel allowed coverage at the venue. British Pakistanis were clearly unimpressed by Mr Zardari or his rambling and at times incoherent speech – he referred at one point to 'triple-digit growth' for our economy, something that no nation on earth has ever achieved. Jaws dropped everywhere when he said he was 'no different to any other Pakistani' – presumably no different to any Pakistani who is not a dollar billionaire, that is. He will now return to a country battered to its knees by the worst catastrophe ever to hit it, and blithely continue with a presidency that has become little better than a farce.

As reports of the shoe-throwing were picked up by news channels and the print media, we saw a savage response from the government. Newspaper hawkers were attacked and copies of this newspaper were burned. Cable TV channels including Geo (which was blocked in parts of the country overnight) were threatened and told to stop transmission. Some cable TV offices in Karachi were also burned. These were not 'the people' making a spontaneous defence of their president. This was the current dispensation seeking to intimidate those who would report honestly on the reception that Zardari had received in the UK. The entire episode – from the banning of cell phones and cameras at the Birmingham venue where the president spoke, to the attempts to erase or limit negative media coverage and the violent thuggery of 'the people' who tried to stop the truth from emerging – stinks of decay. With the president's visit to France and the UK being an appalling example of how not to be the president of a country that is drowning before one's eyes, we may only guess at what the rest of the world makes of us. And if they judge us by Mr Zardari, then small wonder that few respect us. The 'shoeicide' mission of our president is not yet over and he will return to smile on us once again. What lucky people we are.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

ROLL OF INFAMY

 

So now we have it, the first but probably not the last official list of fake-degree holders. Perhaps inevitably the PPP tops the roll with 12 fake or dubious degrees, closely followed by the PML-N and the PML-Q with 11 each. There are five from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami, two from the Awami National Party, one each from the Balochistan National Party and the PML (Functional) and four false claims from independent members. If nothing else, what this tells us is that the predisposition towards fakery is not limited to a single political party or faction and that dishonesty spreads across the political spectrum. We always knew our politicians tended towards the corrupt, but here and in uncompromising and incontrovertible fashion we have hard evidence of the dishonesty of some of them. Within the media furore this matter has generated it is perhaps easy to lose sight of the fact that not all politicians sit in parliament and the assemblies courtesy of phony academic documents, and the majority of them, at least in this respect, is stain-free.

And where do we go from here? Some legislators have already resigned or been unseated by the courts for holding fake degrees. The Election Commission of Pakistan has now issued notices to the faking 47 to call them to a hearing in the next week. Some will doubtless sit tight hoping the storm will blow over, others will bow to their fate. There has been talk of legislation to 'protect' the fakers, and who among us can forget the attempt by the Punjab Assembly to muzzle the media that had pursued the fakers in a motion that was passed unanimously – with less-tainted honest men and women voting in support of the fakers and their protection. It was that moment that will perhaps be seen as the one that defines this whole sorry mess, because it is the indicator that tells us that the honest will seek to protect the corrupt, that power will go to any length to preserve itself and will sacrifice whatever shreds of decency cling to it in pursuit of 'protection.' We have not heard the last of the fake degree scandal. The glimmer of hope in all this is that possibly, just possibly, the seeds of a culture of accountability have been sown.

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I,THE NEWS

OPINION

MIANWALI

 

And lo, it came to pass that a prime minister of this land did go on his travels, visiting the poor and the needy sorely beset by flood and travail. There was much wailing and grief, for the people were without their homes, the waters had taken their cows and mourning shrouded the land. 'Verily must I go among the people' said the prime minister. 'And verily must the electronic media assemble those afflicted by this disaster in order that I may speak with them and offer them each a cheque for Rs5000 in order that they may put bread in the mouths of themselves and their children. I shall travel by boat as the roads are washed away and see for myself all that has befallen us.'

Thus it was that the prime minister and his followers did come unto a place where there were cameras and that place was called Mianwali. He went among the medical cases gathered in a government school there and expressed his grief at their suffering and verily did the cameras record his every word which was broadcast unto the nation that very evening. Such was the power of his words that the poor sufferers, richer by Rs5000, were able to raise themselves from their beds of pain in the medical camp he had visited and yea verily did they walk away! Cured! The government servants who had set up the camp dismantled it as the miraculous prime minister floated towards the horizon, likewise the makeshift treatment centre. Discharged patients disappeared in the other direction and peace descended upon the land again. Are we not fortunate to have a Prime Minister blessed with healing powers? Perhaps he could pay a visit to an ailing power station, or Pakistan Steel Mills. Take a train journey, perhaps. We await developments.

 

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

THE QUEST FOR AN AFGHAN SETTLEMENT

S IFTIKHAR MURSHED

There was wisdom in the first official pronouncement by the US on the Taliban after the latter had captured Kabul on Sept 27, 1996, and had established control over 75 per cent of Afghan territory. The American delegate to the Conference of Countries with Interest in Afghanistan organised by the UN on Nov 18, 1996, declared that the Taliban were purely an indigenous movement, their success had nothing to do with military prowess and though some of their policies were extreme these could be moderated by engaging with them.

The supreme folly was that instead of engaging with the Taliban, the international community isolated them. The 647,500 square kilometres of rugged Afghan terrain thus became available to Al Qaeda and other extremist outfits as a sanctuary where acts of terror were planned and recruits were trained to kill and destroy in the name of religion. 

Had a policy of engagement, instead of isolation, of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan been pursued, the 9/11 tragedy might not have happened and other acts of terrorism could have been sharply reduced. The opportunity was squandered. 

Nine years into the war in Afghanistan have demonstrated that a decisive victory of the US-led coalition forces against the Taliban is unlikely. In an interview to the Financial Times on June 25, 2010, Dr Henry Kissinger was asked whether the insurgents could be defeated and he replied with characteristic precision: "In the traditional sense of fighting against an adversary with whom it is possible to make an enforceable agreement, no. In the sense of gradually defeating the insurgency and reducing it to impotence, theoretically yes, but it would take more time than the American political system would permit."

Kissinger also doubted the wisdom of specifying a timeline for commencing the withdrawal of US troops, "to announce a terminal date when the attrition of the opponent is one of the elements of the strategy" is unwise. It has emboldened the insurgents who boast that "the occupation forces may have the clocks, but we have the time."

President Barack Obama's announcement of a timeline to begin the thinning out of the American military presence in Afghanistan was understandable in the face of the sharp erosion of public support for the war which has been the longest in US history. 

If the purpose of the post-9/11 US-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was to eliminate Al Qaeda's presence in the country, then this objective has been largely achieved. Reliable estimates indicate that only a handful of Al Qaeda operatives remain in Afghanistan. The danger is that they can re-emerge should the country descend into perpetual chaos. This can only be averted if there is durable peace and stability under a credible leadership which, unfortunately, did not emerge from the fraud-tainted Aug 20, 2009, Afghan presidential election. 

Those who do not learn from history commit the errors of the past. The process of Soviet withdrawals from Afghanistan began under the Geneva Accords in the summer of 1988 and was completed by Feb 15, 1989. The Accords signified the end of the Brezhnev and the Reagan doctrines which had dominated the final years of the Cold War.

The former sought to protect neighbouring communist regimes while the latter was built around support to insurgencies against such governments. In Geneva the Soviets undertook to end their presence in Afghanistan in support of the Najibullah regime while the US agreed to terminate its assistance to the mujahideen.

The flaw in this arrangement was that the Afghans were left out of the proximity talks which had dragged on for years and, as a consequence, no agreement was reached on a successor government in Kabul. The resultant internal conflict thus took a dreadful toll.

The urge for national unity has often been absent from Afghan society because the dominant ethnic group, the Pashtuns, imposed itself on the others. Thus uni-ethnic rule in a multi-ethnic society unleashed turmoil among the people.

The converse is equally true. The Bonn Accord of Dec 5, 2001, yielded a dispensation, though led nominally by Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, was narrow-based and dominated by the ethnic Tajiks and, among the Tajiks, the Panjsheri elements. The latter, even at the best of times, controlled no more than 10 per cent of Afghan territory now called the shots. This generated resentment and warlord zones reappeared thereby further fuelling the Taliban-led insurgency.

Almost fourteen years after the initial US statement on the Taliban, the first ever international conference on Afghanistan to be held in Kabul recognised the need to engage with the insurgents. The communiqué of July 20, 2010, "welcomed" President Hamid Karzai's reintegration programme which envisages reaching out to "all Afghan members of the armed opposition and their communities who renounce violence, have no links to international terrorist organisations, respect the Constitution and are willing to join in building a peaceful Afghanistan".

Since the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan there have been several peace initiatives but none of these have resulted in the restoration of lasting peace and stability. The Afghan government's reintegration programme can succeed if it targets the leadership of the main insurgent groups. It is pointless winning over non-entities. 

The Taliban-Al Qaeda nexus can be diluted significantly by bringing into the open what the former have been saying about Osama bin Laden. For instance after the US missile attack on Khost on Aug 20, 1998, in response to the Al Qaeda bombing of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the supreme Taliban leader, Mulla Omar, told me on several occasions in my capacity as the leader of the shuttle mission for promoting an intra-Afghan dialogue that he wanted to get rid of Bin Laden but did not know how. Under the Pashtun code of honour the extradition of asylum seekers could not even be contemplated. 

In one of these meetings Omar exclaimed: "Osama is like a chicken bone stuck in my throat, I can neither spit him out nor swallow him." On another occasion he claimed that Bin Laden had been rendered ineffective as his means of communication had been confiscated and then added with ill-disguised glee that the Al Qaeda leader was not expected to live long as he was terminally ill.

Subsequently, Omar proposed that a small group of ulema from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and a third Islamic country should decide Bin Laden's fate but this was rejected by Washington and Riyadh. Eventually the Taliban established a judicial commission under their chief justice to hear evidence against Bin Laden so that he could be punished. 

The evidence was provided to Mulla Jalil, the Taliban deputy foreign minister, by US Under-Secretary of State Thomas Pickering during a secret meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad on the night of May 27, 2000. Jalil promised that Bin Laden would be brought to justice after the evidence was examined. These facts, which demonstrate Taliban duplicity, need to be exploited by the Karzai government in its reintegration programme for driving a wedge between the armed Afghan opposition and their Al Qaeda backers. 

The history of Afghanistan since it was established as a kingdom by Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1747 has been dominated by internal conflict and external aggression interspersed with brief interludes of peace. The country's ethnic heterogeneity has been largely responsible for its violence-ridden past. 

It is the quest for national cohesion in a heterogeneous population that continues to define the Afghan problem. Till this is resolved through an internal consensus free from external interference durable peace and stability will continue to elude Afghanistan and the country will remain a breeding ground for terrorist outfits.

The writer is the publisher of Criterion quarterly. Email: iftimurshed @gmail.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

PREM CHAND PAKISTANI

TARIQ AQIL

On July 28, when Air Blue Flight 202 from Karachi slammed into Margalla Hills, extinguishing the lives of all the passengers and crew on that ill-fated aircraft about to land in Islamabad. The 152 passengers included two Americans. The dead bodies of the victims of this tragedy were collected after a hectic search in the difficult hilly terrain. The bodies were placed in coffins, and the painful task of handing them over to the families began. All bodies were placed in identical coffins, with each victim's names written on the top. 

There was one coffin that received special treatment by the powers that be in Pakistan. It contained the mortal remains of Prem Chand, a 25-year-old social worker from Sanghar in Sindh. Written boldly across the length of the coffin was the word "Kafir."

Navid Ehsan, who helped in the identification of Prem Chand's body, said the word was written in black and then outlined in red for it to be made more prominent. Ehsan is a member of the Youth Parliament, to which Prem Chand also belonged and was travelling to Islamabad to attend a meeting of the forum.

"It was shocking," said another member of the Youth Parliament, which condemned this coarse display of zealotry and registered its protest in the media. "The use of the word 'Kafir' is the worst example of bigotry and intolerance." Someone else from the forum wrote with a marker on the coffin: "We love you: From the Youth Parliament."

The extent of religious fanaticism and bigotry has reached such a level in Pakistan that even the dead are not respected. We now believe that in death a non-Muslim does not deserve the same respect we accord to a dead Muslim.

The death of this bright young man, like the death of everyone on that flight, was a national tragedy. Therefore, that word on his coffin was a matter of national disgrace. One can only pity those who do not have the decency to respect even a dead body, just because the victim happened to belong to a different faith. 

Unfortunately, much of our print and electronic media remained mute on the subject, as if unaware of this gross act of bigotry. Not a single voice was raised to highlight the insult to the remains of this young Pakistani. The anchors and analysts who cry themselves hoarse in talk shows failed to utter a single word of protest or condemnation.

Prem Chand was a Pakistani. He was someone's son, the husband of a young woman and father of their two small children. Enrolled in a master's programme in Sindh University, he was an active member of the Youth Parliament. Prem Chand loved his country and defended it at every forum.

Let us remember our Quaid-e-Azam's declaration in February 1948: "Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims—Hindus, Christians and Parsis–but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan." 

And these immortal words of the founder of Pakistan, in his presidential address to the First Legislative Assembly on Aug 11, 1947: "You may belong to any religion, caste or creed. That has nothing to do with the business of state." Contrary to all the advice of the Quaid, we are being told that Pakistan is a theocracy. Pakistani society is victim to the madressah elite, such as Sufi Mohammed, who has numerous supporters and sympathisers in the country. We are in the vicious grip of religious bigotry, and the country has been held hostage by the forces of obscurantism, fanaticism and religious intolerance.

Pakistani society of today is in desperate need of complete social justice and elimination of corruption. A modern, progressive and vibrant society is one which allows seeks people's welfare, develops the country's human resources, lays emphasis on morality and ethics, stresses the importance of education and removes impediments to individual progress and prosperity. 

This was the dream and objective of the Quaid-e-Azam. He wanted Pakistan to be developed as a modern, progressive, secular democracy adhering to the principles of fair play and social justice. Unfortunately, immediately after the death of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan fell victim to fundamentalist religious forces who disowned the principles of secular democracy. 

Our fanatics denounce secularism as a principle that is opposed to religion. They conveniently forgot that secularism only seeks the separation of state and religion, while fully respecting people's freedom to practice their respective faiths. Our national leaders and all those in authority need to wake up and realise the gravity of the situation and save this country from descending into chaos as another failed state. 

If Pakistan is to survive, it cannot do without upholding the lofty principles and guidelines of our founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah, that great visionary. The need of the hour is for every Pakistani to say: "I want Jinnah's Pakistan."

Long live Prem Chand Pakistani!

The writer is a teacher and freelance contributor

 

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

STRIVE OR PERISH

DR A Q KHAN

About 80 years ago, two Urdu journals were launched, Humayun and Nigar. Both became famous because of their high standards. Nigar was launched by Niaz Fatehpuri (real name Niaz Mohammad Khan) from my beautiful city of Bhopal, where he was the royal librarian. Humayun was published from Lahore by Mian Bashir, who was the son of Mr Justice Shah Din Humayun, hence the name. Justice Humayun was a good poet who was eulogised by Allama Iqbal in Bang-e-Dara.

Unfortunately, Mian Bashir became overconfident and boasted that Humayun would never go off the market, all the while forgetting that wealth cannot buy everything. After a few years it went off the market. Niaz Fatehpuri was very committed and vowed to keep Nigar going even if he had to write and produce it himself. It is still being published, even today. 

Humayun used to carry the following verse on its title page:

Uttho, wagarna hashr nahin hoga phir kabhi

Dauro, zamana chaal qayamat ki chal-gaya

The verse is still applicable to this poor nation. The world has moved forward, while, in the age of technology, we are still living in the Middle Ages in many areas of life. Worse, we are totally oblivious to this miserable and dangerous situation. Had the educated section of our society been sensitive to, and conscious of, the problem, and had the ruling class been really patriotic, then there would have been a possibility of some progress. The general public would then have extended their support. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of sincerity in all three sections of society–i.e., the general public, the well-educated and those in power. Their every action is based on personal interests. If by chance some positive steps are taken with all sincerity, lack of long-term commitment, efficiency and expertise ensures its failure. Opposition parties create a hue and cry for personal interests, not for public interest. It is really not so difficult to determine the causes of our present-day problems and to find solutions thereto. Dishonesty and maladministration are the main causes and eradication of both of these would go a long way in getting rid of the prevailing situation. Using public money for personal or political purposes or for bribing others is common. Negligence in the performance of one's duty efficiently and properly amounts to maladministration. If society could be rid of these two menaces, we would be rid of many social curses. 

In order to rid ourselves of these curses, a very strong, neutral system of accountability is needed. It should not be put in place as eyewash, to cheat the public, but as an effective system with honest and impeccable officers answerable to the public and to the judiciary and, most of all, their own conscience and to Almighty Allah. As far as government performance is concerned, these are solely the responsibility of the president, the prime minister, ministers, administrators, etc. Let us not forget the saying of Hazrat Umar (RA): "If a dog dies of hunger or thirst on the banks of the Euphrates in Baghdad, I will be held accountable by Almighty Allah." 

Our rulers are not the only ones to enjoy life at the cost of public money and to be least bothered about doing so. Unfortunately, there is a tendency in our country that when a government servant or officer does something wrong, his seniors immediately spring to his defence, and all his wrongdoing, both past and present, are immediately wiped away. No inquiry is made, no case filed in court, and if any action is taken for public consumption, it is dragged on for so long that people lose interest and forget all about it. Unfortunately, the courts do not dispose of such cases quickly and the cases drag on for years for one reason or another. We have recently seen scores of such cases against members of the ruling class, who now claim to be as innocent as newborn babes. Ultimately we see only small offenders being punished while larger wrongdoings go scot-free in this Land of the Pure.

We have recently seen many cases of forged educational degrees. The attitude taken by many of our leaders is disgraceful. One chief minister does not see any difference between a forged and a genuine degree while another of our rulers ridicules the Quaid-e-Azam as a non-graduate, thereby totally ignoring his credentials as a barrister-at-law and the subcontinent's most able and famous lawyer. Woe betide the ignorant! 

We have before us many examples of countries that have made spectacular progress and how they have managed to achieve it. It is simply due to honesty, sincerity and hard work by both their rulers and their public. Useless, unnecessary expenditures were curtailed, the import of luxury items was banned, new industries were set up and agricultural yields enhanced. We can definitely do the same. Restricting the import of luxury items alone would save the exchequer billions of dollars. Examples that immediately spring to mind are cosmetics, food and mobile phones. Unfortunately, the importers and the rulers are hand-in-glove in this matter, all the while minting money. Slowly but surely, the country is going down the drain or, as the saying goes, it is going to the dogs. Meanwhile, there is no worry to be seen on the faces of our rulers. 

In all developed countries the law is the same for everyone, but here, in this Land of the Pure, it is not so. If you are influential and have money, you can get away with anything. Only the poor rot in jail and often die without getting justice. The rich can borrow billions from banks and then have it written off, while the poor, with a loan of a few hundred thousand rupees, are forced to see their lands or homes auctioned for less than the properties are worth. All this goes on openly, before our very eyes. 

Here I would like to tell a story attributed to Shaikh Saadi (RA) that has direct relevance to this column. Once, on his way to Mecca, he fell asleep while passing through a dangerous desert region. A camel rider passed by and hit him on the head with his stick. The camel driver reprimanded him for wanting to die as even the sound of the departing bugle had not woken him up. Furthermore, he said, he himself also longed to go to sleep, but the dangerous desert did not permit that luxury, because if a traveller slept on after the sound of the bugle, the caravan left without him and he would be lost forever and die of hunger and thirst.

When lazy people realise the situation we are in, it is already too late and the world at large has moved on. Only those who wake up in time are able to move on. When the caravan has left, those remaining behind will always stay behind and may not reach their destination at all. This applies to our country and our nation. We have managed to stray so far behind the main caravan that it now seems impossible to catch up since, with whatever little progress we make, they will have moved even further away. Nothing short of a redeemer–a miracle–will help us now. 

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

OF OTHER EVILS

AFIYA SHEHRBANO

The outrage expressed by several members of civil society (and the media) against parliamentarians and senators faking educational degrees, raises some interesting points for debate. Apart from the fact that it doesn't take much to offend "civil" people, the repetitive knee-jerk response of "condemning" the perpetrator in crimes of corruption, violence and lies has become a catchphrase that reveals little or nothing about the deeper, interlinked issues. Most ironically in this case, the highest condemnation of false qualifications comes from academicians. This, after emergence of scandal and proof of academic corruption, fake degrees and plagiarism practiced by academics themselves in recent years.

Yes, the point is not that two wrongs make a right, etc., but the inherent hypocrisy. Also one concedes that electoral candidates themselves did not challenge the degree requirement as non-democratic and were, hence, complicit and agreeable to the degree prerequisite. So it's a fair point that it's not the lack of the degree itself but the intent to fraud that is contentious. There is no argument there. However, it's the prioritising of protest that is of concern. Hence, academics who by their very job description require at least authentic proof of their ability, if not talent, to practice their profession, are somehow forgotten in this protest. 

There are other concerns. Why has the particular requirement of educational qualification become a point of reference for lending accountability? Because forever, the panacea for all ills, according to the liberal, educated class itself, has been the vaguely defined tool of education. It has become a cliché that deflects all deeper methods and practices required to challenge and bring about structural change and/or social relations. As if educated men will stop beating their wives; will pay full taxes; will not cheat family members of their due inheritance; will not teach religious bigotry and ethnic hate to their children/students; and that an educated working class will undoubtedly benefit from upward social mobility. This, while we know that our class of privileged Pakistanis benefit not from our expensive educational acquisitions, not even from our acquired knowledge, but, in fact, from our social class position. What about other requirements of full disclosure, including tax information of electoral candidates –why just degrees?

If we really do object to the fraudulent degrees amongst parliamentarians, by the same token we need to demand full disclosure from other sectors too. By some inexplicable logic, our civil society has always held the public sector accountable for so much while accepting the immunity held by the private sector. This is due to the false capitalist rationale that the private sector runs an internal accountability and it does not affect the public. We pay taxes (?), so we raise our moral expectations from the public sector, while private interests exploit, cheat, lie, kill, misinform and escape all accountability. Most private-sector professionals will definitely be holding degrees, often higher ones. This qualification earns them the right to practice "credible fraud" under the guise of marketing, branding, advertising and generally profiting off people's trust.

Our outrage should be equally consistently directed at those politicians who carry credible qualifications and the kind of politics they practice; or, indeed, their inertia and lack of activity. Members of the Senate, the house of learned technocrats, professionals and notables, acquire their seats on the basis of qualifications and political affiliations. Like academics, they have a kind of tenure not based on performance–just their degrees or positions in the socio-political hierarchy. Members such as Mir Israrullah Zahri should not be disqualified because of a fake degree but, really, because he is not a worthy representative and because he acquires power through nepotism and in order to provide unfair political leverage. It wouldn't matter if he held a PhD. There has been no legal attempt to disqualify him under those more relevant conditions. 

So the degree requirement has become an excuse to discredit politicians who cheat. But what about all the other unethical politicians and academics with tenure who are learned but who get to slip through the moral net because they hold a piece of paper? It is vital to expose fraud, certainly, just not selectively. 

Meaningful protest should aim to stretch the net of accountability and demand that basic relevant credentials of all professionals, including authentic tax information and public documents should be available under the freedom to information ethos. The HEC needs to rethink the defunct and unworkable system of tenures. This fossilises rather than revolutionising education, methodology, research or thinking. 

This and other reforms could make a degree, regardless of who holds it, a possibly genuine criterion to assess the quality of its holder, not just political aspirants'. Until then, collectively, our authenticity remains dependent on our performance, nothing more.

The writer is a sociologist based in Karachi. She has a background in women's studies and has authored and edited several books on women's issues Email: afiyazia@yahoo. Com

 

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

RIPE FOR REFORM

ZAFAR HILALY

THE WRITER IS A FORMER AMBASSADOR.

Among the newly independent states created after the Second World War, Pakistan was considered one of those which had potential and a promising economic outlook. Endowed with natural resources, an extensive canal-irrigation system, some of the best arable land in Asia and a rail transportation network that was the envy of others, Pakistan appeared a success story in the making. And, indeed, in the first decade and more of independence the portents seemed good. The currency was relatively strong, the balance of payments, if not actually favourable, then almost so, and industrial development was underway. And although governance was a mite shaky, considering that we were new to the task, this was entirely understandable.

Hence, countries that were equally new, like South Korea, looked to Pakistan for help in drawing up their five-year economic plans. China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and others sought our expertise in various fields. PIA, for example was regarded as a model airline. It became "China's window to the world." Teams of officials arrived from China and later Singapore and other countries to learn about the airline trade from PIA. Indeed, such was the regard and admiration for Pakistan that the semi-divine King of Thailand and his Queen were present at the airport to welcome Lt Gen Azam Khan when he arrived on the inaugural PIA flight to Bangkok in the early 60s. 

Similarly, Iran and Saudi Arabia were eager to cultivate Pakistan. The Quaid was listened to with attention bordering on awe.

In several steps, after the rot began, we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Having started at the top, we worked our way down. Defending the bad against the worse for a while, we soon gave up. While the rhetoric remained deafening, there was no action to furnish belief. Nor has the decline stopped, although some believe it can't get worse.

About the only thing that the South Koreans could learn from our performance today is how remarkably a succession of our leaders remained "unspoiled by failure" and continued their gradual substitution of narcissism for interest in the welfare of the community. Ayub Khan's claim to have ushered in a "Decade of Reforms," conjured up by that master courtier Altaf Gauhar, even as the madding crowd was baying for Ayub's blood, was a particularly ill-timed effort at self-praise.

Since then, things have gone from bad to worse, and such is our predicament today that, to say nothing of the king of Thailand, a clerk of Thai Airways would consider it a chore to drive to the airport to welcome the MD of a bankrupt airline. The deputy governor of a Chinese province suffices to receive Mr Zardari on what, even for the patient Chinese, must be his all-too-frequent trips to their country. The King of Saudi Arabia is in the habit of summoning our leaders to Riyadh and expects his requests and advice to be treated as directives. Our leaders, predictably, respond to his summons with alacrity and approach him much as a supplicant would. The failure has not only been of governance but also of integrity and character.

To lay the blame for this failure on only one group or segment of society is wrong. All are culprits, the leadership as much as the electorate, and the booted as much as the suited lot. As for the future, that appears more threatening than inviting. In the hands of the current decrepit coterie, or those waiting in the wings, it stands no chance. All they can offer is more of the same. To survive, it seems, we will need to reinvent ourselves, the society as a whole. And in this endeavour the past is of little use, as it only illuminates lost ideals in this land of lost content. 

Reinventing ourselves is a tall ask, but ensuring that state organs function as they should is not. Not a single additional law is needed. Merely to implement those that exist, in letter and spirit, would suffice. Similarly, no great constitutional changes would be required. A national government and a council of ministers headed by a prime minister or president empowered to take decisions by the majority of the council would do. Referendums and elections would continue to ensure that the system is representative; and an unassailable judiciary that saw to it that the law would in fact be allowed to take its course.

But what such a "new order" would undoubtedly require is a change in those who aspire to public leadership. And this too is not impossible. The registered cases and solid evidence of wrongdoing existing against most current prominent public functionaries are sufficient to ensure that they be debarred from public office. And, if nothing else, those who are acquitted or escape censure, for one reason or another, would undoubtedly have been chastened by the experience and the punishment meted out to the guilty to mend their ways.

I put this proposition to a number of Pakistanis residing abroad, none of whom were of the well housed, well fed, well warmed variety, while slumming my way across central Europe recently. Many of them were living on the margins of existence, often five or six to a room. Some were casual labourers, preoccupied with dodging the local police lest they be deported as illegals. 

They did not agree that tinkering with the system would suffice. They were almost overwhelmingly of the view, to quote one of them, that "Pakistan must start anew." Another felt that "without our first experiencing the elemental changes that are required in society, nothing will work." In other words, a revolution, not merely reform.

Conditions for reform, which is the correction of abuses in the system, rather than a revolution, which amounts to a transfer of power and is a wholly more disruptive and bloody process, are almost perfect today. Moreover, the demand for reform is from within the populace, not without, which is as it should be. As no reform, moral or intellectual, ever came from the upper classes of society, the common man will be the driving force which will also lend the movement the strength and legitimacy it needs. 

Moreover, failure is inconceivable because when the public is as agitated as it is increasingly becoming today, the agitation cannot end in nothing. Besides, the desire for good governance, progress and prosperity is shared by all. The suffering that a badly governed state inflicts is felt by all. Hence, the essential solidarity that is vital to bring about change already exists. Such differences that may crop up should not pose insurmountable hurdles.

The reason that nothing is happening is the Pakistani establishment. Even though they concede that the character and the policies of the government are wrong, they remain loyal to it. Their opposition is the biggest obstacle to reform. But they are unlikely to prevail. The awakening of thought and the progress of ideas has taken place. Reform is around the corner, even if the reformers to lead the movement are as yet missing.

Email: charles123it@hotmail.com

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I. THE NEWS

OPINION

UP AND RUNNING

CHRIS CORK

Arriving in Karachi at midday on August 4 from a slightly-flooded Bahawalpur I found that the taxi services from the airport were not running. Well they were, but just not advertising the fact that they were hunkered down behind McDonalds and awaiting business. 'Security problems' were cited to me as the reason for the lack of taxis – problems about which the drivers seemed determinedly unaware and as persistent as ever in parting me from my cash. Anybody who I had spoken to of my impending visit to Karachi in the previous twenty-four hours threw up their hands in horror at the thought of me coming at all, and several tried very hard to dissuade me. But my visit was long overdue, there was family business to attend to and Karachi it had to be.

The lack of traffic on the roads and the shuttered shops and malls spoke to me of the tension and violence that had raged across the city in the previous few days. The bloodshed and the deaths, the fear that was in the hearts and minds of many. I got to my destination. A few shops were discreetly open and vegetable sellers plied their wares from shady corners. And the shop at the bottom of the block where I stay was busy loading the baskets that were lowered from the flats above then hauled up again. The shopkeeper gave me what was, considering the circumstances, a cheery wave and there I was - back in Karachi.

A couple of hours later, showered and changed I was in the office of this newspaper and I stopped for a while to catch my breath. Despite everything, despite the horror, Karachi was still up and running. Not as swift on its feet as it usually was but definitely not down and out. As the day wore on and I tapped away at my laptop I became aware of the increasing noise of traffic four floors below me. The veins and arteries of the city were filling up again, the hooting, banging, shouting, reckless, chaotic, vibrant, confusing and often downright dangerous city was recovering from its latest shock and getting on with business.

By the time I put my nose out of the door to check on the rickshaw situation at about seven in the evening I could smell that things were closer to normal. By the time I got home, greeted family and friends, looked out of the window and caught the smell of mangoes from the stall below, I knew I was going to be fine.

It would be wrong of me to minimise in any way the dreadful events of last week, but my transition from the sleepy Bahawalpur to the roistering hurly-burly of the City of Lights as it got back up off its knees – again – was an object lesson in just how resilient this country and its people are. We are enduring the greatest natural disaster in our entire history but, somehow, we survive – me included.

To get to the airport at Bahawalpur I had to help the rickshaw driver to push the vehicle through the floodwater. He never thought of turning back, of leaving me and my elderly father-in-law stranded and missing our plane (which was three hours late but got there eventually) and he smiled broadly as he dropped us at the airport gate. He got a decent tip. I cannot pretend that it has been fun all the way in the last few days but it was a lot funnier in parts than I could have reasonably expected. Pakistan…I think I'll stick around.

The writer is a British social worker settled in Pakistan. Email: manticore73@gmail .com

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

GILANI DEFUSES TENSION IN KARACHI

 

ENJOYING goodwill and respect among the political parties, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has succeeded in brokering a code of conduct to restore peace in Karachi which suffered immensely due to incidents of target killings in the past week. Fully cognizant of the alarming situation, the Prime Minister had rushed to the city to persuade all the stake holders to help bring back peace to the commercial hub of the country.

We are confident that the agreement would, at least for the time being give a sigh of relief to the Karachiites who were passing these days in an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. The code of conduct signed by PPP, MQM and ANP and announced by the Prime Minister at a press conference would facilitate the authorities to take extraordinary measures for creating an environment conducive to political harmony. However, we may say that the issues and differences are deep rooted and the vested interests and the foreign hand, which is quite visible would endeavour to disrupt the peace as we have witnessed in the past. In fact Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani himself admitted the involvement of "third force" in the violence though he did not elaborate. Therefore we would urge the Government to closely monitor the situation and the parleys between the stake holders should not be the first and last. Regular interaction would help in removing misgivings and each side must expose those involved in acts of terrorism. The decision to set-up coordination committees comprising members of the three parties and other stakeholders would help promote peace and harmony as they would be meeting regularly. It is necessary that these committees should also identify the militants and other criminals of the mafias so that the law enforcement agencies are able to nab them. We think the Prime Minister should personally monitor the situation and ensure that a durable and dependable mechanism is put in to practice to address the grievances of all the parties. It is equally important for the stake holders that, for the sake of their children future, they should strictly follow the rules of the game, code of conduct and in no way give a chance to the outside world to laugh at us.

 

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

SARDAR QAYYUM'S APPEAL TO UNSG

 

HIGHLY perturbed over the deteriorating situation in Indian held Kash mir, Veteran Kashmiri leader Mujahid-e-Awwal ,Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan has made a fervent appeal to the UN Secretary General to send a peace mission to the occupied Kashmir to take stock of the happenings there and help calm down the situation. Sardar Qayyum is highly respected on both sides of the LOC and it is incumbent upon the UN Secretary General to take notice of his appeal on urgent basis.

There are daily abuses of human rights, gang rapes and slaughter of youths in IHK and if the UN fails to show concern for such shameful incidents then what it is meant for? Daily eruption of deadly violence in the picturesque countryside and towns of Indian held Kashmir is a reminder that Kashmiris still do not consider themselves part of India, and profess that they never would. Every day brings reports of stone-throwing Kashmiri mobs and Indian troops firing at demonstrators with live ammunition. International media and even India's independent but authoritative South Asia Intelligence Review said on August 2 that in the previous few days fourteen protesters, mostly armed with stones or incendiary material, had been killed in several towns in the Kashmir Valley. India maintains a force of several hundred thousand troops and paramilitaries in IHK, turning the summer capital Srinagar and other major towns into an armed camp frequently under curfew and always under the gun. The media is laboring under severe restrictions. Torture and other human rights violations have been well documented, and while there may be occasional investigations, Indian soldiers enjoy exemption from the jurisdiction of India's Human Rights Commission. Little attention is paid in the West, now seized by a preoccupation with terrorism, to the Kashmiri people, once among the most moderate and mystic of Muslims, skilled crafts people, horticulturalists and caretakers of the finest orchards in the Himalayan foothills. We would therefore urge the UN Secretary General that the appeal by the Veteran Kashmiri leader be given serious consideration and a peace mission be sent to look into the causes of unrest and why India is indulging in acts of human rights violations and massive killings of innocent Kashmiris. For more than sixty years, Kashmir remains an unresolved problem and Kashmiris face death and destruction in their own homeland

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

WORST CALAMITY AND THE WAY OUT

 

COLOSSAL losses by the floods, the worst in 80 years, have affected almost every Pakistani and it would probably take decades for rehabilitation of the infrastructure and the damaged houses of more than twelve million people. Although rivers have started receding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, Sindh is facing the brunt where floodwaters of the Indus are roaring past Guddu and Sukkur barrages and breaches in the protective bunds upstream the two barrages have inundated large areas.

The rains and subsequent floods have thus traumatized the entire nation and if there are more rains, as per forecast of the Meteorological department, they would certainly bring more miseries. No doubt that the floods were unprecedented in the living memory yet we need to look into the circumstances as to why the country is in the midst of this crisis. Despite repeated calls from the experts for the construction of water reservoirs, successive governments failed to build a single major dam in the last four decades. Had there been dams over Indus up or down stream Tarbela, and a couple of small dams in upper Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, the country would have been spared of this unmanageable crisis. The Provincial Authorities must also be blamed for the negligence that they showed over the last few years in the annual maintenance of dykes and protective bunds. Either no allocations were made or not released for strengthening the bunds that were meant to check the overflow of the rivers. Leaving these failures aside, we may say that a Marshal Plan would be needed for the rehabilitation of the people and infrastructure. The financial implications for this plan would be beyond the capacity of Pakistan. Therefore we would suggest that the Prime Minister may convene a meeting of the political leadership of Pakistan to discuss the national disaster threadbare and devise a consensus strategy on how to compensate the people, rehabilitate the devastated infrastructure and tackle such calamities in the future.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

ARTICLE

THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY

AMBASSADOR'S DIARY

DR SAMIULLAH KORESHI

 

Is a mere repeated claim to be a "Democratic" country entitles it to be acknowledged as democratic? Only holding elections is not the only standard to count a regime as democratic. This reminds me that all the Soviet style regimes claimed themselves to be democratic and repeated it three times with the name of their country to instill in the mind of the hearer that it is indeed democratic. The Soviet style countries named themselves as "People's Democratic Republic "so and so. Thus they used the idea of existence of democratic structure of the country three times. They were "People's" and also "Democratic" which means the same thing as people's rule and another facet of the same, "Republic". Clarifying that it was not under a dynastic rule. Of course dynastic rule is anti-thesis of democratic rule. Democratic would just by itself exclude "dictatorship of the proletariat. which is the central idea in Marxist idea. In other styles of democracy, there is no limitation of the people in the country which it is to serve, whether they are preliterate or otherwise. It covers all types of people, whether they are rich or poor, party adherents or not. The Soviet- or Party dominated regime went even some step further than normal democracies. It said truth is what serves the interests of the Party or there is no objective truth, or truth against the regime. There is no "objective truth" nor in an individual versus the Party, the truth can be against the Party's stand. Truth was therefore to be subjective truth. Favours to the citizens were to be granted on their loyalty to the Party. So any one not falling in this circle was persona non grata. Merit, ability, itself meant nothing. 

This kind of "democracy" (a) excluded all people from being given posts according to their qualification or on merit. The Party member was the one to be rewarded. (b) personal merit meant nothing , for loyalty and usefulness to the Party was the most important qualification (c) in any case involving the Party the Courts were not the Court of law or do justice, but were to be subservient to the Party interests.

Here one may just the local scene in view, the rewarding of Party affiliates irrespective of merit, the attempt to make judiciary subservient to the Power, rewarding all kind of rewards to Party loyalist, be it literary reward or high grade job to a loyalist etc.

Just the opposite is the situation in countries which are/were outside this communist People's Democratic Republics which were considered normal democracies- like in the West etc. There is no doubt about their being democratic where the state is for all citizens, all are equal before the Law, from worker to the persons of upper echelon. Law is above the Regime, and can give judgment against the Government. Courts are courts jobs are given according to the qualifications and merit and not party affiliations. Courts are Courts not with a myopic vision but with wide view. .

Who is responsible for the different social system in a country ? Anyway, level of political consciousness of the people is most important. In Pakistan it is divided into rural and urban populations Rural is wadera controlled and in reality ruled. Urban population has a middle class and workers both are. politically conscious people. 

The majority is rural population wadera captive constituency . So true democracy does not exist in Pakistan and will not unless wadera is eliminated as a class as was done in India right after independence. "Votes" do not reflect the will of the people. The claim that "we" have been voted into power is half the truth. It is a formalistic claim devoid of factual reality. The present elections remind one of the similarity with the British constituencies in the UK that prevailed there in the mid nineteenth century where there were bought safe constituencies which if my memory does not fail was rectified by Robert Peel' .s reforms. 

In the advanced countries, and even in India they have a base of technology, scientists, financiers, industry to help the ruling elite even if they are modestly experienced, or mediocre. Pakistan could not develop such national muscles. Nor there is any conscious policy to develop this base. At present the rulers concentrates on what is called "politics" or power game which means keeping power through nepotism, favouritism, cronism, and is hostile to merit Political leaders believe in promotion of their own interests, More and more political leaders treat politics as a means of personal enrichment which means making corruption an instrument of getting things done. Those who were low class business men or petty landlords of desert lands have become extraordinarily rich 

Perhaps there is close relationship between culture and democracy. Why Latin America had become banana republics, but not North America; Britons have a sober and mature democracy, French and Italian have "vibrant" democracy, and Germanic people, Norwegian, Swede, stable democratic system, Middle East quite unpredictable, Hindus, Chinese Japanese have a somber approach to politics, Democracy does not mean the same thing to European and Africans although the African chief is much down to earth than power drunk wadera.. 

Second installment of my last article "When Pakistan was Pakistan" was drastically cut in editing being too long. Some very important mile stones of Pakistan's assertive foreign policy were left out in this editing . I may just mention them here to complete the record: In 1949, Pakistan raised in the UN the question of grant of right of Self determination to French and Italian colonies and territories in Africa which were Libya, the Maghreb or Tunisia, Morocco. Algeria to begin with and later Somaliland and Eritrea. In '1949 , the question of disposal of these territories came up before the Third Session of the General Assembly. At that time Fezan of Libya was under French occupation and two other parts of Libya were under British military occupation. Plans were to give these territories for a decade under Trusteeship to Britain, France and Italy- the last a defeated power in WW II. Pakistan opposed these plans, on the grounds that Trusteeship status would perpetuate their colonial rule to begin with for a decade.

Pakistan opposed the plan and proposed that all three parts of Libya, Cyrenica under the British, Fezan under the French and Tripolitania under Italy were fit to be independent should be joined into one country, Libya, and given independence. After much opposition, Pakistan's suggestion was accepted Pakistan was included in the UN Commission to set up Libyan National Assembly and finally Libya and in 1951, Libya as an independent unified country came into existence. 

It was Libya's independence that intensified the demand of the Maghreb countries to be independent. In 1949 also came up the question of future of Somaliland and Eritrea. At the First Committee of the UN General Assembly it was proposed that Somalia be given under Italian Trusteeship and Eritrea be divided into two, one part merged into Sudan and the other in Ethiopia . Pakistan's opposition to Italian Trusteeship for Somaliland was not accepted fully but a compromised was made and Egypt. Columbia and Philippines were appointed to supervise the Italian Trusteeship. Here too Pakistan had proposed that those portions of Somaliland which were under British, French and Ethiopian possession be merged into Somalia .Somalia's Trusteeship came to an end in 1960.

Pakistan saved Eritrea being annihilated by the merger and thanks to Pakistan it kept its territorial integrity, this is a short account of Pakistan's struggle to get the right of self determination to the former French and Italian colonies. The concluding sentence in my article was "And this is where this account of Pakistan's independent foreign policy ends. "

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

ARTICLES

KASHMIR IN LIMELIGHT!

AIR CDRE KHALID IQBAL (R)

 

As a matter of routine, thousands of people defy round the clock curfews in the IHK urban areas, burning police vehicles in the streets, shouting 'Azadi,' or freedom, and chanting anti-India slogans. Scores of innocent Kashmiris have died during the recent months in IHK, which continues to be illegally occupied by India since 1947. In this context, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's recent statement on Kashmir was refreshing. His spokesperson said, "In relation to recent developments in Indian-administered Kashmir, the secretary-general is concerned over the prevailing security situation there...The secretary-general welcomes the recent resumption of foreign minister-level talks between India and Pakistan. He encourages both sides to rekindle the spirit of the composite dialogue... and to make renewed efforts to address outstanding issues, including on Jammu and Kashmir..." 

This comment is perfectly in order. UNSG is expected to monitor and react to situations developing in the disputed areas, especially those on UN agenda like Kashmir and Palestine. Pakistan had welcomed the UNSG calling on India for "restraint" in the occupied part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir as well as voicing concern over the whole situation and asking for revival of the composite dialogue between Pakistan and India. 

The statement was issued by the UN chief's spokesperson Farhan Haq, who the Indian media wasted no time in pointing out as being of Pakistani origin. An annoyed Indian foreign ministry sought a clarification from Mr Ban's office. Surprisingly, UNSG disowned these remarks under Indian pressure. These comments had been officially issued by his spokesman, not just casually or informally uttered. Now the UNSG's spokesman has declared that the remarks were not those of the UNSG but a "guidance" prepared by the UN Secretariat. Even if the UN Secretariat was issuing "guidance", it could not be done without the approval of the UNSG. Any way, the remarks were just to express concern over violence and killing of innocent civilians in an occupied territory and to reemphasise the resumption of a dialogue between the two member states of the UN. Hence, there was no need to disown these remarks. 

This retraction came as a disappointment not only for the Kashmiris but also for all proponents of Human Rights. It is distressing that the UN and the office of the Secretary General is increasingly becoming an ineffective tool in the context of peace keeping. Pakistan had not anticipated the extent to which the UN would emerge as a weakling of a new class, given that the Kashmir issue is part of the UNSC agenda and there are unambiguous resolutions of the Security Council calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir. Kashmir is back under focus as a home grown uprising in IHK is fast getting out of India's control, and as a corollary, there is a phenomenal rise in the killings of innocent Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian apparatus of state terrorism. Bulk of the martyrs is teenagers. Kashmiris have shown to the world that generation after generation they continue to resist Indian occupation. It is time for the international community to implement its commitment for a plebiscite as reflected in the UNSC resolutions. Rising to the occasion, an increasing number of US Congressmen are now becoming convinced about the gravity of Kashmir issue. 'The Kashmiri-American Council and Association of Humanitarian Lawyers' recently held its '11th Annual International Kashmir Peace Conference' in Washington. Theme of the conference was "India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir".

Over 300 participants from diverse backgrounds from India, Pakistan, Jammu & Kashmir, England, Europe and the United States, with different viewpoints, participated in the deliberations. These delegates unanimously adopted the Washington Declaration, its main points are: 'there must be an early, just and durable resolution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute taking into account the aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir; the said resolution must be with the participation of all the three parties to the dispute i.e. India, Pakistan and people of Jammu & Kashmir; the participants acknowledged the right of Kashmiri Pandits and all other migrants and displaced persons who left the State since 1947 to return to Kashmir with dignity and honour; that the normalization of relations between India and Pakistan will go a long way in finding such an amicable solution to Kashmir; the participants expressed grave concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir and urged the Indian government to withdraw its armed forces from civilian populated areas and establish an impartial commission with immediate effect to investigate the recent killings in a transparent manner; the participants condemned the efforts to muzzle the press and further expressed need to restore the right to assemble and freedom of expression; the participants also condemned the draconian laws like the Indian Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Disturbed Areas Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, and demanded withdrawal of these laws'.

The political situation in Jammu and Kashmir has worsened over the last few months, which has in turn strengthened the existing culture of impunity in the region. There is an evolution of an 'Intifada' of the Palestinian model in IHK for the first time. It is a manifestation of spontaneous outburst of anger by the youth; women participation in this stone pelting activity is snowballing pretty fast. The unprompted anger is transforming into an organised political movement. Over the past few weeks, the response by the security forces has been such that even ambulances have not been spared. Media reports indicate that at least at three places, the CRPF fired on ambulances. Moreover, journalists with valid curfew passes have also been attacked. 

Many local and international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights have documented the systematic violations of human rights by Indian security forces. The ongoing situation is in contravention of International law, humanitarian law as well as fundamental guarantees provided by the Indian Constitution, including the right to life. Hopefully, UNSG would soon convene the meeting of UNSC to review the situation in Kashmir before the situation in IHK escalates into a full blown genocide.

The writer is international security, current affairs analyst and a former PAF Assistant Chief of Air Staff.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

ARTICLE

AN ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN

DR RAJA MUHAMMAD KHAN

 

On the eve of the 11th International Kashmir Peace Conference, held in Capital Hill, Washington, on July 29-30, 2010, the participants emphasized India and Pakistan to find out a political solution of the Kashmir dispute. The conference was attended by large number of delegates from India, Pakistan, both the sides of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Diaspora from all over the world, United State's think tanks, Congressmen, diplomats from various countries stationed in Washington DC, prominent US columnists and opinion makers. The participants felt that to end the "perennial suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir expeditious resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute on permanent basis has become urgent and essential." The conference was jointly organised by the American Kashmir Council and Association of Humanitarian Lawyer's Forum. Dr. Ghlum Nabi Fai, the Executive Director of the American Kashmir Council said in his opening remarks that, "United Nations to lead the effort to achieve a fair and lasting settlement of the Kashmir dispute." The participating US Congressmen expressed their deep anguish over the continued human rights violations in the IHK. They called upon India for ending the "persecution of people in the state and respecting human rights in the state." 

The US think tanks and MPs were of the opinion that, "for bringing peace in South Asia, the resolution of Kashmir dispute has become imperative." Participants of the conference were pinning a lot hopes on President Obama and UN to play a part towards the resolution of the issues politically. While the proceedings of the conference were underway in Washington, the Indian security forces were busy in killing the innocent Kashmiri masses. The participants condemned the Indian acts and prayed for all those martyred in Kashmir at the hands of the Indian forces. 

The question arises as to what is the underlying cause for all this happening. A realistic assessment would reveal that, the successive Kashmiri leadership has preferred their personnel gains to the collective national interests of the people of state. Following the Kashmir Accord-1974, the demand for the freedom from the Indian yoke by the overwhelming Kashmiris has been lacking the assent of the rulers of the state. This holds good from Sheikh Abdullah to Omar Abdullah. Indeed, the freedom is the people's voice in defiance to their ruler's wishes. The rulers have their own priorities. Their objectives are being fulfilled by being the loyal to the governments at New Delhi, rather their people. 

The next question in the sequential order is; why Kashmiri masses vote for these self-seeking leaders and don't they have choice of alternative leadership? The history of the state reveals that Indian Government has chosen a few families of the Kashmiris to be its faithful, and they have been the decision makers of the future of the people of this state as per the directives issued from New Delhi from time to time. 

In this regards, the Indian intelligence agencies and its bureaucracy has followed the golden principle of 'divide and rule' for the Kashmiris. This is exactly as the British Government did during its prolonged rule over the Subcontinent. The rule was practically implemented in a way that, once a political party promised acceptance of demands of the Indian Government, was brought into power through manipulation and allowed to rule indefinitely. Nevertheless, once it demanded the Kashmiris right, it was not only deprived of the rule, but its leaders were put behind the bar. Sheikh Abdullah remained imprisoned for years whenever he asked for the right of Kashmiris. Later he learnt that, rather fighting for the collective rights of the Kashmiris, look after his own interest. His son; Farooq Abdullah and grandson Omar Abdullah have been following the same policy. 

The famous writer and former Indian ambassador to UK, Mr. Kuldip Nayar, has suggested a strategy for the masses and the ruler of Kashmiri. He suggested that the ruler class of Kashmir, otherwise traditionally loyal to New Delhi should keep bulldozing the Indian governments for the public consumption, but practically be loyal to the Tahat-e-Delhi. He envisioned that this would keep everyone at a state of satisfaction. 

Mr Kuldip Nayar has quoted the example from the Sheikh Abdullah, who in his opinion had understood the ploy and successfully used it for his rule and later same strategy was adopted by his son and now grandson. As per the Ambassabor, Sheikh Abdullah "did not question Kashmir's accession to India, but placated the Kashmiris by criticising New Delhi for eroding the state's autonomy. For example, he would say that the Kashmiris would prefer to stay hungry if the atta from India was meant to trample upon their right to stay independent. It may have been a fiction but it worked." Mr. Kuldip Nayer is right as this deceptive measure has worked well prior to 1990, but it is no more viable. The people of the state have awakened and cannot be befooled anymore. There have been three elections in the State even after 1990. In these elections the Indian Army and its paramilitary forces not at will forced people to vote. The renewed uprisings started in 2008, has taken a new momentum. The people of Kashmir are agreeing on nothing less than the freedom from India. Starting from Governor Rule to the Governments of various political parties of the state, the Indian Government have used all methods to control the masses, following the 1990 Kashmiri freedom movement. Even its heart and mind winning technique through Operation Sadbahwana (good will) could not meet a success. 

Now India must understand that, Kashmiris would be agreeing on not less than the freedom from its illegitimate rule. India should be clear of this aspect, as she has used all methods to control the Kashmiri masses ever since 1947. India has indeed used the military option as the pre-dominant one. There have been over 150 reported deaths of innocent Kashmiris, mostly consisting of young school and college going boys in last two months by Indian Army and paramilitary forces. This is an act of genocide by India. It is being used after she realized that all strategies used by India to control the masses in Kashmir have failed. Indian Army has already killed over 93,000 Kashmiris since the start of uprising in 1990. It's responsibility of UN, major power especially U S , and the international community to put diplomatic pressure on India for ending the genocide of Kashmiri masses. 

—The writer is an IR analyst.

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

ARTICLE

PRELUDE TO DESTRUCTION…

HAJRA SAEED

 

For decades now, a colossal propaganda against Islam has been in our midst. One major outcome of this is 'Islamophobia', which is discrimination against Muslims and Islam. It also includes the opinion that Islam has no values in common with other cultures, is actually inferior to the West and is not a religion; rather one could consider it as an antagonistic political ideology. Though it originated in perhaps the 80s, it gained momentum after the 9/11 event. In 1997, the British Runnymede Trust defined Islamophobia as the "dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims." 

We have seen the display of this on the television and in films, in books and on the internet. In recent years we witnessed publication of demeaning caricatures of the holy Prophet (SAW) by a Danish newspaper, which were reprinted by 130 newspapers in 49 different countries during 2005-06 terming it as their support of 'freedom of speech'. In 2008, a documentary entitled "Fitna" was made, by a Dutch director where Islam was accused of being the 'Fitna', a religion that encourages its followers to hate all those who violate Islamic teachings. In the same year an American sniper desecrated the Holy Quran (neaozibillah), using it for target practice. Then in May this year, an American-Jewish woman Pamela Geller paid thousands of dollars to launch an Advertisment campaign "Abandon Islam" using New York buses which urged Muslims to abandon Islam if they were feeling threatened or unhappy. 

 

Last but not least there was a "Draw Muhammad" cartoon competition held by Facebook, in that very same month. This raised quite a hue and cry in Pakistan. The result was that it was blocked along with some other sites (though after 11 days they were all reopened). This step was appreciated by many, yet there were a lot of mixed reactions as well. Among them the one's that caught my attention were; for instance, that the pages should have been blocked, and that there was no need of blocking Facebook altogether. Another one was that if the sites should be banned then might as well ban the internet completely! Now these reactions were rather unreasonable because just by blocking anti-Islamic material is not going to make the problem that we are confronting, go away. And why should the Internet be banned? Yes it's true that it should be monitored and restriction should be imposed on those sites which are anti-Islamic or on content that can damage the moral and social fiber of our society. Yet we need to keep up with the pace of new changes within the precincts of our religion, as Islam has never asked us to lag behind. The internet is beneficial for us in many ways such as knowledge, education, business, keeping in touch etc. We are using it for our own advantages, and should carry on doing so. Furthermore we Muslims should have a standing of our own, as we are perfectly capable of achieving that. What we don't realize is that all this is being done purposefully to provoke and instigate us so that we respond aggressively. Thereby giving others reason to believe that we are uncivilized and destructive. And not only to prove to the world that Muslims are extremists but also that Islam is a religion which has been spread through force rather than gentle persuasion and was never readily accepted. 

Thus it just doesn't stop; rather it keeps getting worse…..for as I was writing this article I found out that a Church in Florida is planning to organize a "International Burn a Quran Day" (neaozibillah) to mark the 9th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The justification behind it is that they see Islam as a 'violent and oppressive religion'. The church's senior pastor Dr. Terry Jones says that "We only did it because we felt there needed to be an outcry against Islam". He further added "We see the effects of Islam on Europe. As it has done nothing, Islam is beginning to take over there". 

Once again 'Facebook' has been used as the platform through which other religious groups are being invited to join this event. Yet why is this happening? Why are they so successful in launching such activities against us, time and time again? The answer is simple: We don't take a stand that is strong and convincing enough to make a difference, one that could influence their thinking positively and minimize the prejudice they have against us. We have the spirit, but we lack conviction. And without conviction nothing has been ever achieved. So I believe that the least we could do is to completely stop using Facebook and other such sites. This would be in the best of our interests because the harmful aspects are far greater than the productive ones. Not only that, we are also allowing them to earn hundreds and thousands of dollars on our behalf, and yet they don't have an ounce of respect for us. Why can't we understand that our dependence on such things shows our absolute vulnerability? (Currently there are an estimated 2.5 million Pakistani users of Facebook alone!). While 'they' on the contrary are well aware of this and have been reaping the benefits all this time.

However I would like to mention that for the very first time an attempt was made, to do something positive and rational for a change. An initiative was taken by a group of young IT professionals based in Lahore, who launched millatfacebook (a competitor for Facebook). It is a social networking site basically for Muslims, though people from other religions can also sign up. So it is high time that we not only took effective steps to eradicate this menace known as "Islamophobia" which is causing so much harm, but to also deal with the other problems that we are facing in order to safeguard our religion and our people.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

ARTICLE

THE REAL PROBLEM IN AFGHAN WAR

MOHSIN HAMID

 

The United States is struggling to implement a strategy for Afghanistan that will improve the lives of the Afghan people and allow US troops to go home. Part of what makes it so difficult is the way Washington views the conflict: through the lens of what officials have dubbed "AfPak," a war in the southern part of Afghanistan and the adjoining border areas of Pakistan. Though the acronym is falling out of official favour, the AfPak mind-set remains. 

A different shorthand for the war might help. "AfPInd" may be less catchy, but it is far more useful. Peace in AfPInd requires not US troops on the ground, but a concerted effort to bring India and Pakistan to the negotiating table, where under the watchful eyes of the international community they can end their hydra-headed confrontation over Kashmir. But that's not how the United States sees this conflict. Mutual mistrust has bedevilled the U.S.-Pakistani alliance since the Afghan war began in 2001. Certain suspicions surfaced again recently in military documents revealed by WikiLeaks alleging that members of the Pakistani intelligence agency collaborated with militant groups fighting the United States in Afghanistan. Both Pakistani and US officials have said that the information is old, unreliable and not true to the situation on the ground. Yet the recriminations and controversy have a "here we go again" feel. After all, we've seen this pattern before. 

In 1947, when Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan were partitioned into two countries, the status of the region of Kashmir, with a Muslim-majority population and a Hindu prince, was unresolved. The United Nations said Kashmiris should hold a referendum, but both India and Pakistan seized parts of the territory, and since then the two countries have been at each other's throats. Enter the United States — not once, but three times. 

In the 1950s and 1960s, Pakistan and the United States were allies. The United States gave Pakistan weapons and $2 billion in economic aid; it thought that the Pakistani military would be a bulwark against communism. The Pakistani military thought the United States would help it against a much larger and hostile India. Then India and Pakistan went to war in 1965. American leaders castigated Pakistan for using US-supplied weapons and terminated the alliance. 

Fast forward to the 1980s, and Pakistan and the US once again were allies. The US gave Pakistan weapons and $3 billion in economic aid; it thought that the Pakistani military would be a bulwark against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military thought the US would help it against a much larger and hostile India. Then the Soviets were defeated. The US castigated Pakistan for developing nuclear weapons (to counter India) and terminated the alliance. 

Today, Pakistan and the US are allies for a third time. Over the past decade, the US has given Pakistan weapons and $4 billion (and counting) in economic aid; it hopes that the Pakistani military will be a bulwark against terrorist groups in the region. The Pakistani military hopes the US will help it against a much larger and hostile India. Then . . . By now, the recurring failure in the Pakistan-US alliance should be obvious: The Pakistani military views it primarily as a means of reducing the threat from India, and the US does not. But perhaps the US should. 

The reason Pakistani military remains obsessed with shaping events in Afghanistan is because that country is the site of a power struggle between Pakistan and India — what commentators in Pakistan go so far as to call a "proxy war." It is what Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistan army chief, means when he speaks of Pakistan's desire for "strategic depth" in Afghanistan. Fighting terrorists or fighting the Taliban — or indeed, fighting in Afghanistan at all — addresses symptoms rather than the disease in South Asia: the horrific, wasteful, tragic and dangerous six-decade confrontation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. This confrontation ravages Afghanistan, where the Northern Alliance, which was organized to fight the Taliban, is backed by money and weapons from India, and militant groups among the southern Pashtuns are backed by Pakistan. It is a big part of why peace eludes the country, even though the Soviets left a generation ago. Ignore Kashmir, as the US does, and the conflict seems incomprehensible. Include Kashmir in the picture, and it all makes sense. At the moment, the Pakistani military uses militant groups to put pressure on India to negotiate, and India uses terrorism as an excuse not to negotiate. By so doing, both sides harm themselves greatly. The vast majority of people in South Asia, who like myself desire peace built on compromise, find our hopes held hostage by security hawks. Meanwhile, the US has placed 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, where they can do little to eliminate the single biggest problem that nation faces: being made into a battleground by its neighbours. 

The U S still sets much of the global agenda. If it hopes to salvage any remotely positive outcome from its massive, nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, then it should move a resolution over Kashmir up on its list of priorities. Peace in AfPak is failing because the term itself is a wilful illusion. Peace in AfPInd will not be easy, but the term rings true, and that at least offers a start. — The Washington Post

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

 

INTRA-BCL CLASHES

 

Normally universities should make news for their performance indicators which justify their existence as institutions of higher learning. But of late they are hitting the headlines mostly for all the wrong reasons. One such reason, of course, is campus violence between rival groups of students. But what have really stolen the limelight are the frequent feuds between rival factions of the same student body - the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). The venue of the latest clashes is once again the Rajshahi University (RU). This time 25 of the combatant students were left injured in armed clashes between two factions of the RU unit of the BCL - one reportedly led by its president and the other by its secretary general. Not long ago, this university witnessed similar bloody clashes. Other universities are also not free from such campus unrests. In Jahangirnagar University in Savar, in one such recent confrontation, a number of opponents were hurled from the rooftop of a dormitory.

The list is long and more such deadly confrontations could not be ruled out. Whether the government led by the Awami League (AL) disowns or disbands the BCL or not, hardly makes any difference. People want to see that those responsible for anti-academic activity and violence on the campuses are made to face the law of the land. Whatever may be their links to ruling party and government, they cannot enjoy impunity simply because they are students of the highest seats of learning. Their criminalities and disgraceful account of themselves have disqualified them to get any preferential treatment. They should be charged for murder or attempted murder and in some cases for keeping in possession firearms or wielding lethal weapons. The administration has no option for making any difference in legal matters whether the violation of laws takes place on the streets or on university campuses. Why the government allows tarnishing its image as well as negating its good work by the BCL is incomprehensible. 

It is painful to see the gradual transformation of university students into thugs and gangsters. The violent incidents of recent times at the frontline public universities and other government educational institutions have brought their ruthless brutality into sharp focus. This is so negative an image of our universities and student community that it does not do justice to the dedication and sincerity of the general students and teachers. It is exactly at this point prompt action by the administration is warranted.

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

HOTTEST DECADE

 

The report of the state of climate has revealed that the decade 2000 to 2009 was the hottest. The US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has scientifically surveyed the world from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the sea. Data and findings have been collected from such sources as satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. More than 300 scientists of 48 countries belonging to 160 research organisations were involved with the task. The general condition of South Asia is that the last three decades have been generally warmer, the decade ending in 2009 being the hottest. All these point to natural calamities in the form of severe drought, torrential rain and violent storm. It is not a probability but downright reality that stares us in the face, as experts say. Already the ominous process has started scourging our planet. Tsunami, drought, forest fire and floods have been ravaging parts of the globe, something the world has never seen before. Nature is proving more hostile than ever before. The climate report has aptly observed that now a new cycle of climatic conditions is taking shape. Man has destroyed the order of Nature and in its Nature too is hitting back with all its fury. In its own interest mankind must start drastically reducing carbon emission and, if possible, reversing the warming process through developing greener technologies.

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

A COURTYARD AND OTHER PROVERBS..!

 

In most of the residential buildings in the city I've noticed that the terrace is one area that's badly maintained, which made me think of a Chinese proverb, 'a courtyard common to all, is swept by none!'

No, no I'm not going to talk about terraces today but focus more on universal truths s often found in proverbs by wise men and others handed down to us. Here are some: A dog is wiser than a woman; it does not bark at its master: Russian Proverb. Must have been written by a Russian coming home late after his vodka, right?

A drowning man is not troubled by rain: Persian Proverb

A friend's eye is a good mirror: Irish Proverb

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. William Blake

A hard beginning maketh a good ending. John Heywood

A healthy man is a successful man. French Proverb 

A hedge between keeps friendship green. French Proverb: Yes I've seen this so often when friends decide to

 

stay too closely together, I'm sure you have too.

A hen is heavy when carried far. Irish Proverb.

A little too late, is much too late. German Proverb. I wish our country with its unpunctuality would learn this.

A hungry man is an angry man. English Proverb

A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on. French Proverb.

A loan though old is not a gift. Hungarian Proverb

A monkey never thinks her baby's ugly. Haitian Proverb

A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners. Irish Proverb. Aha! You men with new

wives, you'll soon find this out, soon enough, and we're not talking only about sweeping are we?

A rumor goes in one ear and out many mouths. Chinese proverb

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know 

they shall never sit in. Greek Proverb

A silent mouth is melodious. Irish Proverb

A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger. Bible - Proverbs 151.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet. French Proverb

A trade not properly learned is an enemy. Irish Proverb

And finally a Japanese proverb you can take with a large dose of salt: A good husband is healthy and absent..!

— bobsbanter@gmail.com

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

POST EDITORIAL

 

JAPAN'S UNFINISHED REFORMATION

 

Revolutions, it is often claimed, do not happen when people are desperate. They occur in times of rising expectations. Perhaps this is why they so often end in disappointment. Expectations, usually set too high to begin with, fail to be met, resulting in anger, disillusion, and often in acts of terrifying violence. Japan's change of government in 2009 - when the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) broke the almost uninterrupted monopoly on power held by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1955 - was not a revolution. But, rather like the election of the first black president of the United States, it was fizzing with popular expectations, promising a fundamental shift from the past.

This was even truer of Japan than the US. The DPJ not only put many new faces into power, it was going to change the nature of Japanese politics. At last, Japan would become a fully functioning democracy, and not a de facto one-party state run by bureaucrats.

To judge from the Japanese press, as well as the DPJ's plunging poll ratings, disillusion has already set in. The permanent bureaucracy proved resistant, and DPJ politicians, unused to power, made mistakes. One of the worst was Prime Minister Naoto Kan's announcement in June of a consumption-tax hike just before the Upper House elections, which the DPJ went on to lose badly.

The other disappointment has been the government's failure to get the US to move its Marine airbase out of Okinawa. This promise by the DPJ was meant to be part of Japan's new assertiveness, a first step away from being a mere "aircraft carrier" for the US, as a former LDP prime minister once described his country.
If Japan's status quo is to change, the country's oddly skewed relationship with the US is one key factor. Too much dependence on American power has warped the development of Japanese democracy in ways that are not always sufficiently recognized by the US.

Japan's one-party state, under the conservative LDP, was a product of World War II and the Cold War. Like Italy, the old Axis partner during the war, Japan became a front-line state in the battle against Communist powers. And, as in Italy, a right-wing party, backed by the US, dominated politics for decades in order to crush any chance for the left to take power. Even former Japanese war criminals, one of whom became prime minister in the late 1950's, became subservient allies of the US in the wars (hot and cold) against Communism.
In fact, Japanese dependence on the US was even greater than that of Italy and other European powers. West European armies were embedded in NATO. Japan, whose armed forces were entirely blamed for driving the country into the catastrophic Pacific War, was not even supposed to have an army or navy after the war. During their occupation of Japan in the 1940's, Americans wrote a new pacifist constitution, which made the use of Japanese military force abroad unconstitutional. In matters of war and peace, Japan abdicated its sovereignty.

Most Japanese were happy to be pacifists and concentrate on making money. Japanese governments could devote their energy to building up the country's industrial wealth, while the US took care of security, and by extension much of Japan's foreign policy. It was an arrangement that suited everyone: the Japanese became rich, the Americans had a compliant anti-communist vassal state, and other Asians, even Communist China, preferred Pax Americana to a revival of Japanese military clout.

But there was a steep political price to pay. A democracy that is over-dependent on an outside power, and monopolized by one party whose main role is to broker deals between big business and the bureaucracy, will become stunted and corrupt.

Italy, under the Christian Democrats, had the same problem. But the end of the Cold War in Europe changed the political status quo - with mixed results, to be sure. Old parties lost power, which was a good thing. The vacuum was filled in Italy by the rise of Silvio Berlusconi, which may have been less of a good thing. In East Asia, by contrast, the Cold War is not yet entirely over. North Korea still causes trouble, and China is nominally a Communist state.

But it is a very different world from the one left in ruins in 1945. For one thing, China has become a great power, and Japan, like other Asian countries, must adapt to new circumstances. But, while it is the only Asian democracy able to balance the power of China, the system established after WWII is not best suited to this task.
This was recognized by the DPJ, which would like Japan to play a more independent role, as a more equal ally, rather than a mere protectorate, of the US, and thus be a more assertive political player in Asia. Hence, the first symbolic step was to get the US to move its marines from Okinawa, an island that has carried the burden of a US military presence for much too long.

The US did not see things that way. The DPJ threatened to change comfortable old arrangements, whereby the US could more or less tell the Japanese what to do. As a result, the US showed little patience with Japan on the question of Okinawa, and has barely concealed its contempt for the DPJ government, feeding popular disappointment with its performance so far.

The US seems to prefer an obedient one-party state to a difficult, faltering, but more democratic partner in Asia. The Obama administration, struggling to fulfill its own promises of change, should be more understanding of its Japanese counterpart. If the US is as serious about promoting freedom abroad as it claims, it should not be hindering one of its closest ally's efforts to strengthen its democracy. Q

(Ian Buruma is Professor of Democracy and Human Rights at Bard College). 

—Project Syndicate, 2010.

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THE INDEPENDENT

POST EDITORIAL

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE IN NEW YORK

 

The New York City authorities have endorsed the Cordoba House, a community centre and mosque planned for construction near Ground Zero despite strong oppositions emerged against the project. As reports from various media say protests and repercussions against the decision of the city authorities are still on the air. This article will reveal the backdrop of why a section of people in America are opposing the idea of the proposed Islamic shrine in New York. Since September 11, 2001 because of the terrorists attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, a group of people have been branding Islam as the basis of terrorism and the Muslims as the terrorists without considering the religiosity of the people who were involved in the attack. However, it is evident from the political circumstances around the world that these undue and hateful bashing and branding of Islam are solely due to narrow, unethical politics, not religion. Despite this awkward situation, devoted Muslim thinkers have been on their efforts about how to get rid of this unwanted adversity and animosity from the anti-Islamic groups or their misunderstandings. 

In a bid to improve the relations between the Muslims and the non-Islamic societies especially of the West, one of the Islamic Idealists, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf has been working relentlessly. He is an Arab-American who has been the Imam of Masjid al-Farah, a New York City mosque for 25 years. With a view to minimising gaps between American society, the American Muslim community and the wider Muslim World, Abdul Rauf has already founded some non-profit voluntary ogranisations. In 1997, he established the American Society for Muslim Advancement, a civil society organisation aimed at promoting positive engagement between American society and American Muslims. Later in 2003, he founded the Cordova Initiative, which is a registered nonprofit association with offices in New York as well as in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Cordova Initiative, he coordinates projects around the world that aim at mitigating disputes arising out of misunderstanding, and connecting the Muslim world and the people of the west with brotherly bonds. 

Imam Abdur Rauf announced in December 2009 the plan of building Cordoba House which is a 13 storey building complex including a mosque that could accommodate 1000 - 2000 Muslims in prayer, two blocks from Ground Zero. The term 'ground zero' means the site of the World Trade Centre, which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Imam got unconditional support for construction of the Islamic site from the local community board, as well as some elected officials. However, some politicians, organizations, academics, clerics, etc., have lodged their protest also against the construction of the Islamic complex near the Ground Zero on the plea that September 11 attack was perpetrated by the Muslim fundamentalists targeting the non-Muslims and hence they termed it a religious attack. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Governor, even says addressing the Muslims, "Peace seeking Muslims, please understand, Ground Zero mosque is an unnecessary provocation; it stabs hearts. Please reject it in the interest of healing".

Actually, the 9/11 attack was an attack by terrorists that had no religion. They were mindless, heartless fanatics who did not have religious enlightenment or instructions. This incidence was due to intolerance, bigotry and ignorance; it does not have any religious basis. This attack was not aimed only at non-Muslims, rather it was an attack against all Americans, including the Muslims residing there. A good number of Muslim firefighters, restaurant employees, lawyers, and other Muslim workers at WTC were the victims of that inhuman attack. 
Though the terrorists clamoured that they perpetrated the heinous acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, in fact there is no religious validation for acts of brutality in Islam. Any one of any faith who has studied the Quran, the hadith (the instructions and sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all the writings and texts of Islamic thinkers will testify to the fact that all acts of terrorism, including the 9/11 attacks, that cause violence on innocent human beings are nothing but flouting of Islamic ideals and law. 
America is a country of freedom of religion which allows an individual or community to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. It is considered a fundamental human right there. Thomas Jefferson (1807) said, "Among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that …of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will…".  Besides, America is called 'a nation of the nations' that originate from different ethnic groups and religions. That is why despite sporadic oppositions from various corners, the plan to build the Islamic cultural centre 'Cordova House' near the WTC has been moved forward by the New York City's Preservation Commission, through a vote of 9-0, and the city mayor Michael Bloomberg. 
In favour of the mosque, the mayor said ardently on August 3, 2010, "Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans,…We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else." He added, "Should government attempt to deny citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here," said Bloomberg, in his rational speech…We recognise that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbours in mutual respect and tolerance. It was that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11, 2001… We would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in Manhattan."

In the end, we hope sanity will prevail over insanity, reasons will overpower emotions, and freedom of religion will be established in spite of the opposition by the bigots, and the proposed mosque will emerge as a centre of Islamic culture and traditions devoid of any narrowness and fanaticism.  With the establishment of the mosque, the freedom of religion and the freedom of human rights will be manifested. Q

(The author is an assistant professor of English at Bangladesh University, Dhaka)

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

POST EDITORIAL

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE IN NEW YORK

 

The New York City authorities have endorsed the Cordoba House, a community centre and mosque planned for construction near Ground Zero despite strong oppositions emerged against the project. As reports from various media say protests and repercussions against the decision of the city authorities are still on the air. This article will reveal the backdrop of why a section of people in America are opposing the idea of the proposed Islamic shrine in New York. Since September 11, 2001 because of the terrorists attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, a group of people have been branding Islam as the basis of terrorism and the Muslims as the terrorists without considering the religiosity of the people who were involved in the attack. However, it is evident from the political circumstances around the world that these undue and hateful bashing and branding of Islam are solely due to narrow, unethical politics, not religion. Despite this awkward situation, devoted Muslim thinkers have been on their efforts about how to get rid of this unwanted adversity and animosity from the anti-Islamic groups or their misunderstandings. 

In a bid to improve the relations between the Muslims and the non-Islamic societies especially of the West, one of the Islamic Idealists, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf has been working relentlessly. He is an Arab-American who has been the Imam of Masjid al-Farah, a New York City mosque for 25 years. With a view to minimising gaps between American society, the American Muslim community and the wider Muslim World, Abdul Rauf has already founded some non-profit voluntary ogranisations. In 1997, he established the American Society for Muslim Advancement, a civil society organisation aimed at promoting positive engagement between American society and American Muslims. Later in 2003, he founded the Cordova Initiative, which is a registered nonprofit association with offices in New York as well as in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Cordova Initiative, he coordinates projects around the world that aim at mitigating disputes arising out of misunderstanding, and connecting the Muslim world and the people of the west with brotherly bonds. 

Imam Abdur Rauf announced in December 2009 the plan of building Cordoba House which is a 13 storey building complex including a mosque that could accommodate 1000 - 2000 Muslims in prayer, two blocks from Ground Zero. The term 'ground zero' means the site of the World Trade Centre, which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Imam got unconditional support for construction of the Islamic site from the local community board, as well as some elected officials. However, some politicians, organizations, academics, clerics, etc., have lodged their protest also against the construction of the Islamic complex near the Ground Zero on the plea that September 11 attack was perpetrated by the Muslim fundamentalists targeting the non-Muslims and hence they termed it a religious attack. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Governor, even says addressing the Muslims, "Peace seeking Muslims, please understand, Ground Zero mosque is an unnecessary provocation; it stabs hearts. Please reject it in the interest of healing".

Actually, the 9/11 attack was an attack by terrorists that had no religion. They were mindless, heartless fanatics who did not have religious enlightenment or instructions. This incidence was due to intolerance, bigotry and ignorance; it does not have any religious basis. This attack was not aimed only at non-Muslims, rather it was an attack against all Americans, including the Muslims residing there. A good number of Muslim firefighters, restaurant employees, lawyers, and other Muslim workers at WTC were the victims of that inhuman attack. 
Though the terrorists clamoured that they perpetrated the heinous acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, in fact there is no religious validation for acts of brutality in Islam. Any one of any faith who has studied the Quran, the hadith (the instructions and sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all the writings and texts of Islamic thinkers will testify to the fact that all acts of terrorism, including the 9/11 attacks, that cause violence on innocent human beings are nothing but flouting of Islamic ideals and law. 

America is a country of freedom of religion which allows an individual or community to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. It is considered a fundamental human right there. Thomas Jefferson (1807) said, "Among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that …of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will…".  Besides, America is called 'a nation of the nations' that originate from different ethnic groups and religions. That is why despite sporadic oppositions from various corners, the plan to build the Islamic cultural centre 'Cordova House' near the WTC has been moved forward by the New York City's Preservation Commission, through a vote of 9-0, and the city mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

In favour of the mosque, the mayor said ardently on August 3, 2010, "Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans,…We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else." He added, "Should government attempt to deny citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here," said Bloomberg, in his rational speech…We recognise that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbours in mutual respect and tolerance. It was that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11, 2001… We would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in Manhattan."

In the end, we hope sanity will prevail over insanity, reasons will overpower emotions, and freedom of religion will be established in spite of the opposition by the bigots, and the proposed mosque will emerge as a centre of Islamic culture and traditions devoid of any narrowness and fanaticism.  With the establishment of the mosque, the freedom of religion and the freedom of human rights will be manifested. Q

(The author is an assistant professor of English at Bangladesh University, Dhaka)

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

JAPAN'S UNFINISHED REFORMATION

 

Revolutions, it is often claimed, do not happen when people are desperate. They occur in times of rising expectations. Perhaps this is why they so often end in disappointment. Expectations, usually set too high to begin with, fail to be met, resulting in anger, disillusion, and often in acts of terrifying violence.

 

Japan's change of government in 2009 - when the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) broke the almost uninterrupted monopoly on power held by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1955 - was not a revolution. But, rather like the election of the first black president of the United States, it was fizzing with popular expectations, promising a fundamental shift from the past.

 

change the nature of Japanese politics. At last, Japan would become a fully functioning democracy, and not a de facto one-party state run by bureaucrats.

To judge from the Japanese press, as well as the DPJ's plunging poll ratings, disillusion has already set in. The permanent bureaucracy proved resistant, and DPJ politicians, unused to power, made mistakes. One of the worst was Prime Minister Naoto Kan's announcement in June of a consumption-tax hike just before the Upper House elections, which the DPJ went on to lose badly.

The other disappointment has been the government's failure to get the US to move its Marine airbase out of Okinawa. This promise by the DPJ was meant to be part of Japan's new assertiveness, a first step away from being a mere "aircraft carrier" for the US, as a former LDP prime minister once described his country.
If Japan's status quo is to change, the country's oddly skewed relationship with the US is one key factor. Too much dependence on American power has warped the development of Japanese democracy in ways that are not always sufficiently recognized by the US.

Japan's one-party state, under the conservative LDP, was a product of World War II and the Cold War. Like Italy, the old Axis partner during the war, Japan became a front-line state in the battle against Communist powers. And, as in Italy, a right-wing party, backed by the US, dominated politics for decades in order to crush any chance for the left to take power. Even former Japanese war criminals, one of whom became prime minister in the late 1950's, became subservient allies of the US in the wars (hot and cold) against Communism.
In fact, Japanese dependence on the US was even greater than that of Italy and other European powers. West European armies were embedded in NATO. Japan, whose armed forces were entirely blamed for driving the country into the catastrophic Pacific War, was not even supposed to have an army or navy after the war. During their occupation of Japan in the 1940's, Americans wrote a new pacifist constitution, which made the use of Japanese military force abroad unconstitutional. In matters of war and peace, Japan abdicated its sovereignty.
Most Japanese were happy to be pacifists and concentrate on making money. Japanese governments could devote their energy to building up the country's industrial wealth, while the US took care of security, and by extension much of Japan's foreign policy. It was an arrangement that suited everyone: the Japanese became rich, the Americans had a compliant anti-communist vassal state, and other Asians, even Communist China, preferred Pax Americana to a revival of Japanese military clout.

But there was a steep political price to pay. A democracy that is over-dependent on an outside power, and monopolized by one party whose main role is to broker deals between big business and the bureaucracy, will become stunted and corrupt.

Italy, under the Christian Democrats, had the same problem. But the end of the Cold War in Europe changed the political status quo - with mixed results, to be sure. Old parties lost power, which was a good thing. The vacuum was filled in Italy by the rise of Silvio Berlusconi, which may have been less of a good thing. In East Asia, by contrast, the Cold War is not yet entirely over. North Korea still causes trouble, and China is nominally a Communist state.

But it is a very different world from the one left in ruins in 1945. For one thing, China has become a great power, and Japan, like other Asian countries, must adapt to new circumstances. But, while it is the only Asian democracy able to balance the power of China, the system established after WWII is not best suited to this task.
This was recognized by the DPJ, which would like Japan to play a more independent role, as a more equal ally, rather than a mere protectorate, of the US, and thus be a more assertive political player in Asia. Hence, the first symbolic step was to get the US to move its marines from Okinawa, an island that has carried the burden of a US military presence for much too long.

The US did not see things that way. The DPJ threatened to change comfortable old arrangements, whereby the US could more or less tell the Japanese what to do. As a result, the US showed little patience with Japan on the question of Okinawa, and has barely concealed its contempt for the DPJ government, feeding popular disappointment with its performance so far.

The US seems to prefer an obedient one-party state to a difficult, faltering, but more democratic partner in Asia. The Obama administration, struggling to fulfill its own promises of change, should be more understanding of its Japanese counterpart. If the US is as serious about promoting freedom abroad as it claims, it should not be hindering one of its closest ally's efforts to strengthen its democracy. Q

(Ian Buruma is Professor of Democracy and Human Rights at Bard College). 

—Project Syndicate, 2010.

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

 

EVERYBODY NEEDS THE PSYCHIATRIST'S COUCH

 

Each edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has a massive impact on psychiatric practice and medical education around the world. The book lists mental disorders and explains how to diagnose them. Seen as a gold standard, it dictates diagnostic practice in mainstream medicine. Every media mention of DSM calls it the "bible" of mental health, and, like the latter, it generates passionate controversy. Proposals for the next edition, due in 2013, have sparked international protest, as DSM-5 looks as if it will lower the threshold of what counts as mental disorder. Critics have argued that new categories like "psychosis risk syndrome", "temper dysregulation disorder", and "binge eating" threaten to pathologise the human condition, turning clinically insignificant behaviour into illness. 

People with no signs of distress may be encouraged or coerced to have therapy or take medication, with diagnoses such as "psychosis risk syndrome" being made even if a psychosis has not appeared. With the ramification of diagnoses, stigmatisation and discrimination would snowball. After DSM-5, no one will be normal again. 

These critiques are both enlightening and obfuscating. The new DSM follows the logic of its predecessors: disorder is defined in terms of behaviour, so that visible aspects of our lives are used to define clinical categories. If you're nervous and shy, rather than seeing this as the symptom of an underlying clinical category to be discovered, it becomes a clinical category in itself: social phobia. 

Gone is the idea of complex psychical causality or even of an interior life. For DSM, only two kinds of causes exist: biological and stress-related. The new diagnoses are made on surface symptoms that can be swiftly classified rather than invisible structures that can only be diagnosed after considerable time.  

As one American psychiatrist put it, using the ever-expanding diagnostic system of DSM was like trying to carve the Thanksgiving turkey according to its feathers rather than its bone structure. 

This expansion cannot be denied. The first edition of DSM in 1952 was a mere 129 pages, with a few basic diagnostic categories. By the 1980s it had grown to over 900 pages, and the 180 categories of mental disorder present in 1984 would more than double over the next decade. What could explain this exponential increase in the number of mental disorders we supposedly suffer from? 

DSM followed a market-led vision of the psyche in which symptoms were isolated entities that could be locally targeted. A symptom was not seen as a general problem in a person's existence which, if unravelled, might lead to the unravelling of the self, but as a local disturbance that could be managed and put right. It reflected not only today's atomisation of the self but also the belief that we can change parts of ourselves without affecting other parts. 

Changes in drug legislation also played a part. Each new product had to define its active ingredients, the outcomes sought and the delivery period for attaining them. This meant a new kind of surface precision. Drugs would have to prove through expensive trials that they were more effective than placebo and did better than other drugs. It was the drug industry that created the new diagnostic categories. With each new category came a new medication. 

Exacerbating this problem is the fact that in many parts of the US, a clinician will only receive reimbursement if they make a prescription, which means making a diagnosis. Like drugs themselves, clinical categories become objects in the marketplace, wielding economic power. The result is that the patient's underlying problems may well be neglected in favour of surface diagnoses that are both unscientific and misleading. 
Curiously, the uproar over the DSM-5 proposals does bring a key clinical issue into focus. Critics complain that no one will be normal, as the threshold for disorder will be so low. But shouldn't this make us question the usefulness of talk of normality or, indeed, of "mental health"? Have these terms ever really helped anyone, beyond reinforcing the prejudices of "us" and "them"? 

It is true that many people diagnosed with a so-called "mental illness" find the label helpful, allowing them to see their difficulties on a par with a physical illness, to be recognised and treated. But who are the "normal" people we would set them up against? Clinically, normality and psychosis are often the same thing. Someone may complain that everything is the neighbour's fault, not theirs, or that a plot has been hatched against them. Old psychiatry recognised this innocence of some psychotic subjects. Clinicians also know that it is in the most serious cases that a childhood is described as happy or uneventful. 

Realising that no one is healthy and normal does not have to mean pathologising or medicating them. On the contrary, it can introduce a more humane approach to so-called "mental illness". 

Even Eugen Bleuler, who popularised the term "schizophrenia", argued that the most common form of this condition was latent. Once we accept that we can have disorders that don't activate - or to put it another way, that there is a difference between being mad and going mad - we might study what allows one person to function and another not to.

This is what old psychiatry once explored with detail and passion: the lifestyle choices, activities, roles or other solutions that people found to avoid breakdown. Studying these restitution mechanisms can help us to work with those who have not been so fortunate, and who find their lives shattered by the outbreak of psychosis. 
The imperative to make people normal - rather than recognise the fault lines in all of us and strive to make them more bearable - is a constant pressure for a mental health force already overburdened by a focus on categorisation rather than on humane interactions and the uniqueness of an individual's story. Multiplying labels will not reduce the distress of those suffering most in our society: it can only serve to mask the lack in what we provide. P

—Guardian News & Media 2010

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

CHINA AND PREMIER LEAGUE A GREAT MATCH

 

Is there some kind of tear in the very fabric of the news universe? It has been a week in which areas one would hope to be discrete have collapsed troublingly into one other. Not only has Naomi Campbell been to the Hague, but the People's Republic of China is frontrunner to buy Liverpool football club. Well, I say the People's Republic itself, though obviously that would put pressure on space in the directors' box at Anfield. Rather, the bid is being fronted by the entrepreneur Kenny Huang, but is widely believed to be financially backed by the China Investment Corporation, the investment arm of the Chinese government. Though it's not even the first time representatives of a foreign government have tried to buy Liverpool - Thaksin Shinawatra had a crack while he was still Thai prime minister - this latest development would seem to mark the moment at which the already storied history of the Premier League finally tipped into overblown satire. We're now officially living in the age of the football-industrial complex. 

Clearly, any China-backed purchase of Liverpool would offer excellent potential for cultural exchange - I should like Mao's embalmed body to be brought for a ceremonial lying in state in front of the Kop at Anfield, or at the very least to see the old devil paraded for photocall in the manner of a new star signing, ideally wearing a strip reading CHAIRMAN on the back. As yet, the benefits of Liverpool gaining representation on the UN security council are unquantified, but can be surely estimated as being worth at least three points a season.  Such synergies all depend, of course, on the Chinese government being able to pass the Premier League's "fit and proper person" test for new owners - although famously, no one has ever failed it. In fact, I couldn't be more sure of an outcome were Usain Bolt to offer to race me to the corner shop. 

In the interests of accuracy, the aforementioned test has been renamed the "owners and directors test", presumably because post-Thaksin et al it became impossible to say "fit and proper person" without doing immensely sarcastic air quotes. What the amendment to this flimsiest of forms shakes down to is a requirement for would-be owners to prove they have the funds to sustain a club, which, Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore has declared, will prevent "a repeat of the Portsmouth situation". How long before the league finally accepts its geopolitical importance, and Scudamore upgrades his silly little test "to prevent a repeat of the Korean peninsula situation"? 

For now, though I'm no expert, one imagines Beijing will be good for the cash. China is apparently doing quite well at the moment, and while there'll doubtless be the usual gripes about not wanting to pay over the odds for a right back, it probably helps if the person holding the purse strings is the second largest economy in the world as opposed to Dave Whelan [owner of Premier League club Wigan Athletic]. 

As for further background checks, I think the powers that be will recognise a clubbable sort in the Chinese government. When itinerant chiseller Sven-Goran Eriksson was weighing up whether to take the job managing Manchester City, then owned by Thaksin, he deployed the most rigorous of vetting procedures to assess the former Thai PM's record. "It was enough for me to make a phone call to [Premier League chairman] Sir Dave Richards," Eriksson explained. "He [replied], 'Absolutely clean'." 

That's how it works, you see. Though not a noted expert in south-east Asian politics - Thaksin's human rights record had been widely condemned and he was under threat of corruption and fraud charges - Sir Dave is what is known in the game as a "football man". But "football men" have made the Premier League what it is, bless them, and it would take more than whinges about state-sponsored human rights abuse to take the wind out of their radioactive self-belief.

Just as modern China is a grimly chastening rebuke to those who claimed you can't have capitalism without democracy, so the Premier League of recent years has been a similarly rude slap in the face to those who declare you can't just waltz in and buy a club and imagine you own it. One of the running jokes beloved of my colleagues about this period is to parrot the [former Liverpool manager] Bill Shankly-inspired line that "118 years of history and tradition isn't for sale" - before adding "except when it is". 

In the end, what is the history of the Premier League, if not capitalism without democracy? Whether disgusted fans of any team think that this year's passing oligarch or asset-stripper truly "owns" their club is presumably a matter of as much concern to said oligarchs or asset-strippers as the views of peasants are to the Chinese government. Which is to say, bugger all concern. The only surprise about China's bid is that the so-called People's Republic didn't alight on the Premier League sooner. They really are made for each other. P

Guardian News & Media 2010

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

 

CHALLENGES BEFORE MEDIA IN BANGLADESH

PART -||

BANGLADESH CODE OF CONDUCT

1.    It is the responsibility of a journalist to keep people informed of issues, which influence them or attract them. News and commentaries have to be prepared and published showing full respect to the sensitivity and individual rights of the newspaper readers as, well as the people.

2. Truth and accuracy in respect of information available shall be ensured.

 

3. Information received from reliable sources may be published in public interest induced by honest intention and if facts presented therein are considered trustworthy by logical consideration, then the journalist has to be absolved of any adverse consequence for publication of such news.

4. Reports based on rumours and not supported by facts shall be verified before publication and if these are considered not suitable for publication, one should refrain from publication of such news.
5. News items whose contents are dishonest and baseless or whose publication hinges on breach of trust shall not be published.

6. Newspapers and journalists have the right to express their views strongly on controversial issues but in doing so: a. All true events and views shall be expressed clearly. b. No event shall be distorted in order to influence the readers. c. No news shall he distorted or slanted dishonestly either in the main commentary or in the headline. d. Views on main news shall be presented clearly and honestly.

7.  The editor has the right to publish any advertisement in newspapers signed by proper authorities, even if it is apparently against individual interest but not slanderous or against public interest. If protest is made with regard to such advertisement, the editor shall print and publish it without any cost.

8. Newspapers shall refrain from publishing any news which is contemptuous of or disrespectful to caste, creed, nationality and religion of any individual, community or the country.

9. If a newspaper published any news against the interest and good name of any individual, agency institution or group of people or any special category of people, then the newspaper or journalist concerned should provide opportunity to the aggrieved persons or institutions to publish their protest or answer quickly and correctly within a reasonable period of time.

10. If the published news is damaging or is improper, then it should immediately be withdrawn and corrigendum or explanation (and in special cases apology) should be issued so that the impression (bad or erroneous) created by publication of such news is removed.

11. Sensational and pulpy news shall not be published to augment the circulation of a paper if such news is deemed vulgar, improper and against public interest.

12. Newspapers may adopt reasonable measures with a view to resisting crime and corruption even if they may not in some cases be deemed acceptable to someone.

13. The extent and durability of the influence of newspapers is greater than other media. For this reason a journalist writing for newspapers shall be particularly cautious about the credibility and veracity of sources and shall also preserve his source material in order to avoid risks.

14. It is the responsibility of the newspapers to publish the news of' under-trial cases at all stages and to publish the final judgment of the Court in order to reveal the actual picture of issues relating to the case. But a journalist shall refrain from publishing such comment or opinion as is likely to influence an under-trial case until the final verdict is announced.

15. Rejoinder of the aggrieved party or parties directly involved with a news item published in a newspaper shall be quickly published in the same newspaper on such a page as would easily attract the attention of the readers; the editor, while editing the rejoinder, shall not change its basic character.

16. If an aggrieved party sends a rejoinder for the damage done to him by an editorial, it shall be the moral obligation of the editor to publish the corrigendum in the same page and also express his/her regrets.
17. The publication of malicious news is far more immoral than that of wrong news without malicious intent.
18. It is the moral duty of an editor to accept full and sole responsibility for all publications in his/her newspaper.

19. A reporter while reporting on a case of financial or other irregularity shall, to the best of his ability, ascertain the facts in his news item and must collect sufficient material to justify the truth of the matter reported. He should adopt the necessary precautions while investigating the case.

20.  A responsible publication which has not been contradicted may be the source of a news but it shall be a moral duty on the part of a journalist not to avoid responsibility regarding the news on the pretext that it has been reprinted.

21. It is the responsibility of a journalist to highlight any news which projects degeneration of moral values in our society but it is also the moral responsibility of a journalist to maintain extra precaution in publishing any news involving man-woman relationships or any report relating to women.

22. Respect for the law shall be highlighted.

23. All government employees and the people in general shall be made aware of the need to preserve national resources.

24. No programmes shall be shown containing scenes of torture to human beings or animals.

25. The programmes shall eulogise the role of the genuine freedom fighters during the wars of liberation.

26.  All scenes of indecent kissing must be avoided while showing local and foreign films or programmes. No programmes of terrorism, violence or other contents contrary to Bangladeshi cultural values shall be put out.

27. In the case of advertisements, no commodity shall be undermined while promoting another. Commercials shall not contain any obscene words or scenes.

But, in reality these are rarely being followed in letter and spirit. Also, there is no mechanism to monitor the follow ups of the above Code of Conduct. A strong and united network of media professionals is also absent in the country.

Journalists and Media Professionals in Bangladesh are exposed to high level of risks because of overall rise in crimes and criminalization of politics. Journalists and Media professionals were divided into two factions on political lines. Political vengeance exposed journalists to risks. Journalists at times play such roles in line with the political divide that go beyond professional ethics. Lack of unity of journalists and breach of professional ethics by some newspersons add to the problem. Unity of journalists was needed to stop violence on them. Unity of journalists and newspaper owners could be an important step to reduce pressure on the press.
Developing skills among journalists could promote their professionalism. Journalists and Media Professionals have to be more respectful to their professional ethics for maintaining professional credibility. Journalists and Media Professionals must not be attacked if they fairly write against the government and the opposition adhering relevant ethics and conduct in a democratic country, but not creating sensationalism. 

Journalists and Media Professionals must not be biased towards any political party and newspaper owners should take joint safety measures when a journalist is threatened. It is true that on occasion journalists are being repressed, but sometime they come under attack on personal grounds which have nothing to do with journalism profession. 

Media is not only a medium to express one's feelings, opinions and views, but it is also responsible and instrumental for building opinions and views on various topics of national, regional and international agenda. The pivotal role of the media is its ability to mobilize the thinking process of millions. Democracy is the rule of the people, a system which has three strong pillars, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. 
But as our society on occasion become somewhat unstable on its 3 legs- the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, a provision has given rise to a fourth pillar- media. It plays the role of a conscious keeper, a watchdog of the functionaries of society and attempts to attend to the wrongs in our system, by bringing them to the knowledge of all, hoping for correction. It is indisputable that in many dimensions the unprecedented media revolution has resulted in great gains for the general public.

Even the judicial wing of the state sometime has benefited from the ethical and fearless journalism and taken suo motu cognizance of the matters in various cases after relying on their reports and news highlighting grave violations of human rights. Sometime, the criminal justice system has many lacunae which are used by the rich and powerful to go scot-free. Figures speak for themselves in this case as does the conviction rate in our country which is abysmally low. In such circumstances the media plays a crucial role in not only mobilizing public opinion but bringing to light injustices which most likely would have gone unnoticed otherwise.
But, there are always two sides to a coin. With this increased role and importance attached to the media, the need for its accountability and professionalism in reportage can not be emphasized enough. In a civil society no right to freedom, howsoever invaluable it might be, can be considered absolute, unlimited, or unqualified in all circumstances.

The freedom of the media, like any other freedom recognized under the constitution has to be exercised with great cautious and within reasonable boundaries. With great power comes great responsibility. Similarly, the Freedom of Press must be correlative with the duty not to violate any law and responsibility towards a healthy society.

Every institution is liable to be abused, and every liberty, if left unbridled, has the tendency to become a license which would lead to disorder and anarchy. 

This is the threshold on which we are standing today. The Media of Bangladesh need to be saved from unhealthy environment and political vengeance. P

(Concluded)

(The writer, a Bangladesh national, is Professor, Department of Media Studies, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan)

 

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THE AUSTRALIYAN

EDITORIAL

ONCE AGAIN, IT'S A LATHAM LOSS

 

MARK Latham was back to his boorish worst over the weekend -- and that is a pity for Labor, for the former opposition leader and, indeed, for the nation. The Nine Network apologised for Mr Latham's behaviour, suggesting that it understands that bailing up the Prime Minister so rudely does not play well with the public, irrespective of voting intentions. Australians do not stand on ceremony and adopt a relaxed rather than     reverent stance to their leaders. But Mr Latham, who is working as a journalist for Nine, overstepped the line with his belligerent approach to Julia Gillard. Throughout his career, this intelligent man has been tripped up by his aggression, his potential contribution to Australian political life undermined by a lack of judgment.

 

Mr Latham's re-entry into the debate in recent weeks has reminded many of why he was, for a time, the leader of the opposition. He is a good thinker and as a member of parliament wrote extensively on policy, questioning some of the shibboleths of the Left. His 1998 book, Civilising Global Capital: new thinking for Australian Labor, was a genuine attempt to develop radical ideas for a modern social-democratic party. His conviction that the best form of welfare was a job helped shift the debate within his party away from passive welfare and towards mutual responsibility. Mr Latham's capacity for original thought was not, however, matched by political nous and his time as leader was brief -- from December 2003 to January 2005. His scorching revelations in The Latham Diaries scarcely endeared him to his side of politics. More recently, he has delivered devastating critiques of Labor's "hollow men". Last month in The Australian Financial Review he wrote that the ALP had become the "communications arm of Australia's apparatchik class", so tightly focused on opinion polls that "serious policy reform is beyond its reach".

 

The former leader has a right to pursue a media career and Labor has little option but to try to deflect his attacks and move on. But, like former prime minister Malcolm Fraser's intervention last week when he told ABC Radio that the Coalition was not ready to govern, Mr Latham's interventions against his former colleagues are high-risk.

 

Mr Latham has much to contribute to policy debate but his credibility with Australians is damaged by poor behaviour and lack of judgment.

 

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THE AUSTRALIYAN

EDITORIAL

ROOM FOR MORE AMBITION FROM CONFIDENT COALITION

 

TONY Abbott looked more like a prime minster yesterday than he has in the campaign so far, delivering a solid performance at the Coalition's highly professional launch in Brisbane. This was a grown-up Opposition Leader with a manageable and sensible "action plan" for the nation. He justly drew attention to his united party, no small accomplishment given the turmoil surrounding his ascent to power last year. While there was not much new in his speech, his specific pledges to put tax reform back on the table, seriously address debt, tackle indigenous welfare and commit to smaller government are welcome. But his is a moderate program reflecting a Coalition still in reactive mode and a leader who may have set his benchmark as prime minister below what the nation needs.

 

Mr Abbott's speech pushed the right buttons, but stopped short of spelling out a vision for the nation. He said his team was "ready to govern" and would not have to "learn on the job". The Opposition Leader told us that as a liberal he supports lower taxes, smaller government and greater freedom but it is not yet clear how far he is prepared to go to ensure this. He said that as a conservative he supported a fair go for families and "respect for values which have stood the test of time", but described his own political creed as "genial and pragmatic". We welcome this clear-minded stance but Mr Abbott demonstrated more caution than vision in setting out his response to the great economic challenge of our time: how to build on Australia's resources boom to secure prosperity for future generations.

 

The Coalition's ridicule of Labor yesterday was obvious politics, with some clever lines about a Gillard government "loitering without intent". The problems the Prime Minister encountered over the weekend with two former Labor leaders, Kevin Rudd and Mark Latham, make Labor an increasingly easy target. The Coalition exploited this weakness effectively, by and large avoiding cheap shots and focusing on Labor's behaviour as "no way to run a government and no way to treat our country". In an election where policy has taken a back seat to embarrassing leaks and stage-managed campaigning, the opposition yesterday looked mature and professional.

 

However, Mr Abbott cannot expect to win by default. He is up against a first-term, incumbent government presiding over a sound economy. It is not enough to promise to clean up the mess. Today's Newspoll suggests this election will be a fight right down to the line. Australians will have to be convinced that the Coalition is prepared to go beyond crisis control and embark on the hard grind of structural reforms to secure the nation's future prosperity. In this context, Mr Abbott's pledge to revisit the recommendations of the Henry tax review, with a Coalition plan for reform to be delivered within the first 12 months, is welcome. We now have a clear commitment that "lower, simpler, fairer personal income taxes and an end to the money-go-round that traps people in poverty" would shape the next round of reform. An end to the dysfunctional welfare-tax churn, for which Mr Abbott's mentor, John Howard, is partly responsible, must be a priority for Australia. Mr Abbott's promise on tax reform is doubly important, given the controversy over his parental leave scheme. He pitched this yesterday as good for women and families and in line with conservative values. But it is funded through a 1.5 per cent tax on big business, undercutting his party's traditional belief in reducing the tax burden.

 

The Australian applauds Mr Abbott's belief in smaller government. But we want a big Australia to match it rather than the small Australia that could result from his decision to cut the immigration intake by 100,000 over the 2009 figure, a promise that seems to separate the level of immigration from the strength of the job market. He links the issue with border security, a recognition that Australians' support for high intakes of migrants is fundamentally dependent on the government's ability to manage the asylum-seeker issue. The Coalition's promise to move on day one to reopen the Nauru offshore processing centre and a tough line on people-smugglers address that issue, giving some hope that the low-population mindset now dominating Australia's political debate can be reversed over time. Linked to our population needs is the need to increase productivity and participation. Mr Abbott has some ideas about getting people into work but has nothing to offer in terms of labour market reform, reflecting the political problems he now faces in talking about industrial relations reform.

 

The Opposition Leader fleshed out his promises on debt with a move to set up a debt-reduction taskforce in the first week of a Coalition term. His fiscal responsibility is appropriate for the times, but he could afford to go further in setting out his approach. He promises that under the Coalition spending would always be less than under Labor. But he should not be content to measure himself against Labor. He must set his own, more ambitious, benchmarks for smaller but more effective government.

 

Welcome is the promise to move ahead with the Murray-Darling Basin water management plan. But his environmental vision does not really address the community and business pressure for change that could require a price to be put on carbon. The Coalition had some fun yesterday with Labor's plan for a citizens' assembly to discuss an emissions trading scheme. Mr Abbott may find he cannot rely on his "Green Army" to address community concerns about climate change.

 

By setting a timetable for action, Mr Abbott has sought to shore up his credentials as a good manager. He has offered both in timing and content a manifesto for competence and steadiness. But he must go further to show that, like his great predecessor Robert Menzies, he understands the limits of government and the importance of policy that encourages enterprise and individual effort.

 

It has become clear in recent months as Mr Abbott has grown into the role of leader that he believes he can be a better prime minister than Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard. But if he is to become a great Liberal leader for the times, focused on the challenges of the second decade of the 21st century, he must believe he can be a better prime minister than Mr Howard. The Opposition Leader has a little less than two weeks to convince himself, and voters, that he can.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

BEYOND BOAT PEOPLE, A GENIAL POLICY BLUR

 

LABOR gave Tony Abbott plenty of easy jokes for his campaign launch yesterday. There was the glum reconciliation meeting between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd the day before, the pair looking like a divorcing couple going through the motions of marriage guidance, the Chaser-like appearance of Mark Latham at a Gillard event, the Gillard edition of Woman's Day, the ''NSW Labor mafia'', and so on. Indeed a soap-opera, though hardly the ''worst government in [Australia's] history'' that he claims.

 

With such an easy ride, Abbott has been able to maintain the small-target approach. His policy speech is quite policy-free, beyond a few short-term fixes. We are promised he will hit the ground running, getting down to action in his first week. Nay, the first day, with a call to the Nauru president to re-open the camp for boat people. But a lot of the action looks quite routine. Isn't appointing a cabinet what all new prime ministers do? Do the troops in Afghanistan really need to be reassured Australia is behind them? Where are the broken foreign relationships that need to be restored by a visit from Julie Bishop?

 

For a politician who once quipped that Kevin Rudd ''hit the ground commissioning'', Abbott is promising a lot of studies after winning government to decide what to do. Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb will form a ''debt reduction taskforce'' to find the ''real state'' of government finances and decide how to pay down debt. They don't have an idea now? A plan for the Murray-Darling, allegedly buried by Labor, will be ''released for consultation''. Within a year, the Coalition would draw on the Henry Review and come up with a plan for tax reform - but not the Treasury Secretary's ''impractical'' and ''wrongheaded'' ideas (read the resource super-tax), but ones for ''lower, simpler, fairer'' taxes and closing poverty traps.

 

The manifesto is notable for its overall negativity. His government would clear up the lingering home insulation problems, drop the modified super tax on iron ore and coal miners, forget about emissions trading or a carbon tax, and divert school building funds into the hands of parents and citizens associations, which he assumes will end waste and rorts. Abbott didn't mention scrapping the national broadband network, perhaps because his campaign managers tell him it's one of the more popular Labor projects.

 

Where there were initiatives from Abbott, there is fuzziness. The 15,000-strong ''green army'' will be formed to attack land degradation, but at what cost and directed at what priorities? An Abbott government would hand the running of public hospitals to local communities and be willing to take over 100 per cent of the funding. Does that mean the end of the states' role, and what federal-state fiscal change would be needed? Young people will have a ''guaranteed job'' if they renounce their welfare entitlement. Does he mean all our unemployed youth? Who are the winners and losers of his multi-billion dollar upper-middle class welfare scheme of parental leave?

 

Less than two weeks out from the election, voters are left puzzled by Abbott's attempts to identify himself. He's both a liberal and a conservative, he says, believing in both freedom and traditional values. More than that, he pursues a ''genial pragmatic political creed''. What is genial about packing asylum-seekers off to Nauru, and cutting many others off from their families through the temporary protection visa system he wants to restore, no doubt overseen by his friend Kevin Andrews back as immigration minister?

 

Australians who come away from watching or reading Abbott's speech, as they probably will from Gillard's

belated ''launch'' next week, with a sense that something is missing could find out what it is from a speech given last week by the economist Ross Garnaut at Melbourne University.

 

Garnaut laments the end of a period of reform, running from 1983 to 2002, that lifted Australia out of its pattern of lacklustre improvement in productivity - output per worker - of previous decades. Since then, a complacent reliance on housing and consumption spending has been masked by the China-stoked resources boom, but this year marks probably the end of rising terms of trade (where prices for our exports rise faster than those of our imports). From now on, without lifting skills, and with investment diverting to resources, the current level of so-called full employment (5 per cent officially jobless, many more potential workers discouraged from seeking work) will only be maintained by repression of wages.

 

Moreover, Garnaut noted, the last big reform burst - the goods and services tax in 2001 - got through by a fudge that handed the proceeds to the states, with a weighting to the smaller one, thus worsening a blurred responsibility in all the areas crucial to further productivity-raising reform - transport infrastructure, resources taxation, education and health. No one is unambiguously in charge.

 

Although he did an economics degree, Abbott is not big on the subject, or so we were assured by Peter Costello. Yet his tilting at some of the big issues of Australia's non-performance - like entrenched youth unemployment, weak productivity growth, skewed responsibility in health and education, and climate change - suggests an intellect searching for remedies. The pity is that like Labor's leaders, he has been scared away from some effective economic tools by big vested interests, including the mining industry, trade unions, and carbon emitters. Abbott has hemmed himself in by the spin-doctors as much as the Labor Party he derides.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

ABBOTT ASKS VOTERS TO TEAR DOWN A FRACTURING GOVERNMENT

 

IF ELECTION campaigns are defined for posterity by their most memorable line, then Tony Abbott may have uttered it for the federal election of 2010. The quip with which he began yesterday's coalition campaign launch became the motif of his speech. ''Well, isn't it great to lead a united political party,'' Mr Abbott said, ''with a deputy I can trust, a predecessor who's a friend and a former prime minister who's a hero.''

 

It is, of course, possible to quibble with this. Former prime minister John Howard is certainly a hero to Mr Abbott, but his legacy remains contested by many Australians. And Mr Abbott's predecessor as Liberal leader, Malcolm Turnbull, may well have mixed feelings about the party's ascendancy in opinion polls, which has raised the prospect of an Abbott government in which his own future might not be assured. Nonetheless, the Opposition Leader's substantial point was correct. If there are lingering tensions among Liberals about the circumstances in which Mr Abbott replaced Mr Turnbull as leader, or about the subsequent repudiation of Mr Turnbull's pledge to support the government's emissions-trading legislation, the party has successfully kept them from public view.

 

This Liberal unity is a complete contrast with Labor, which has yet to stem the blood flowing from its deposing of Kevin Rudd and elevation of Julia Gillard in his place. The vaunted meeting between the two on Saturday was, if body language is any guide, anything but the reconciliation it had been heralded to be. At least while cameras were present they did not make eye contact, and the meeting produced nothing more than Ms Gillard's terse announcement that she and Mr Rudd would not campaign alongside each other.

 

Until now, the opposition has mostly been content to let Labor's discontents speak for themselves. Mr Abbott's launch speech, however, suggests that in the remaining two weeks of the campaign the Coalition will seize every opportunity to remind voters that Labor is in disarray and the Liberals and Nationals are not. The Opposition Leader repeatedly described Mr Rudd's downfall as an execution, and played on this theme of regicide by stressing the unprecedented nature of Labor's rejection of the man who led it to victory less than three years ago. No leader of a first-term federal government had ever been so poorly treated, Mr Abbott declared. But his outrage was not motivated chiefly by sympathy for Mr Rudd; it was the choice of the Australian people, he said, that had ultimately been treated with contempt.

 

Mr Abbott's speech owed enough to the conventional practice of campaign launches to address what the Coalition would do as well as inveighing against what he believes Labor has failed to do. He defended policy initiatives that had already been declared (full-pay maternity leave funded by a levy on big business, 2800 new hospital beds and hospitals run by local boards, after-hours GP services); and announced others that had been flagged (mandatory jail sentences for people smugglers; incentives for employers to retain older workers; a work-in-lieu-of-dole scheme for younger unemployed; a ''green army'' to tackle environmental degradation).

 

Mr Abbott was even more emphatic, however, in setting out a blistering schedule for a Coalition government's first term. Within the first week, a debt-reduction taskforce chaired by treasurer-presumptive Joe Hockey and finance minister-presumptive Andrew Robb would get to work. Within the first month, an economic statement and a plan for the Murray-Darling basin would be issued, temporary protection visas for asylum seekers would be reintroduced, modelling for the Henry tax review would be published, and Mr Abbott and deputy leader Julie Bishop would visit Australia's regional neighbours. Within three months, there would be a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments to secure the states' agreement for the hospital-boards plan. And from day one, negotiations would begin with Nauru for the reopening of its asylum-seeker processing centre, the ''school halls'' building funds would be redirected to school councils, the ''threat'' of a mining tax would be lifted, and so would the ''threat'' of a carbon tax - even though the government has not proposed one.

 

This picture of frenetic activity reprised the speech's underlying theme: that Labor is not fit to govern but the Coalition is. And Mr Abbott, never one to shun hyperbole, rammed home the theme by pronouncing the Rudd-Gillard government the worst in Australian history. Even he conceded this was a big call, given the government's apparently successful stewardship of the economy during the global financial crisis. But the stimulus measures, Mr Abbott insisted, had nothing to do with it: Australia had weathered the storm solely because of the regulatory system devised by the Howard government. No serious economist would agree with this assessment. Mr Abbott, however, was evidently unwilling to let facts get in the way of a good speech.

 

Source: The Age

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THE GUARDIAN

EDITORIAL

FAMILY COURTS: TIME TRIALS

BARNARDO'S REPORT TODAY ILLUSTRATES HOW FAR SHORT THE COURTS NOW FALL OF THE IDEAL SET OUT TWENTY YEARS AGO IN THE CHILDREN ACT

 

Family law in England and Wales is in a state of crisis. Today the Guardian reports new research from the children's charity Barnardo'sthat shows some courts now take 14 months to resolve care proceedings. Last week the head of family justice, Sir Nicholas Wall, wrote to the government's Legal Services Commission to warn that the new contracts for family legal aid would leave some parts of the country with almost no expert support and the whole system on the brink of implosion. A week before that, the National Audit Office criticised Cafcass, the court advisory service for families and children, for failing to respond effectively to increased demand after the Baby P case led to anxious social workers seeking to take more children out of their families. And these are only the most recent examples: just before the previous head of family justice, Sir Mark Potter, retired, he told the Guardian that court delays left children "exposed to violence and high emotion ... bound to give rise to problems in later life". Individually, the criticisms might sound technical, a matter for squabbling professionals. In fact, every criticism reflects the failure by the state to protect the safety and happiness of thousands children who go through the system each year.

 

Every case that ends up in court is a tragedy for the individuals involved, but most of all for the child. Twenty years ago, the Children Act set out a system that was intended to promote the fairest possible outcomes while putting the child's interests at the forefront of considerations, and most of all in care proceedings that are at the sharpest end of family law. It proposed a mere 12 weeks as the optimum case length. In recognition of the importance of the decision the court was taking in removing a child from its family, one decision was to allow non-means-tested legal aid. It is important that everyone feels fairly treated. It is even more important that the first concern is to protect the real victim of the dysfunctional family: the child. That means making a hard call in deeply contentious and emotional circumstances – and maybe favouring a swift outcome over the proven fairness that a legally aided adversarial system can engender.

 

Barnardo's report today illustrates how far short the courts now fall of the ideal set out in the 1989 act. Some proceedings take as long as 65 weeks, while the number of uncompleted cases at the end of last year was up by 50% on the year before. The longer a case goes on, Barnardo's reports, the more damaged the child is likely to be, as it is moved from one foster carer to another, or parental contact is changed or interrupted. The charity wants 30 weeks at most to elapse from start to finish of proceedings, particularly where very young children are involved. According to the research, the biggest single problem is the courts' unwillingness to trust social workers, a judicial culture of super-caution. The desire to have the best evidence is understandable. The unintended consequence of prolonged delay is unacceptable.

 

Politicians know the system isn't working. That is why Labour set up an inquiry under the Low Pay Commission chair David Norgrove in January, and included in its terms of reference the possibility of radical overhaul. In Scotland and other European countries, care proceedings are less adversarial, more inquisitorial and administrative. An expert panel hears the evidence and takes the decisions. In English law, such an administrative solution to complex family proceedings would be a major departure. The experience of the Child Support Agency is not a happy precedent. Many people will argue that the moment the state formally declares parents to have failed is no time to skimp on legal processes. But as it is now, it takes too long and it costs too much – not, or not only, in cash terms. The cost of the damage it does to many of the children who experience it is incalculable.

 

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THE GUARDIAN

EDITORIAL

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH: NATURE'S CHOREOGRAPHY

RESEARCHERS HAVE SHOWN HOW THE AMAZON RAINFOREST DEPENDS ON THE SAHARA DESERT FOR HALF OF ITS FRESH MINERAL NUTRIENTS

 

Deserts cover a third of the world's land surface, they have a powerful role in the planetary climate machine, and they are home to 500 million people. And – as the International Union for the Conservation of Naturehas been saying at the world heritage committee meeting in Brasilia, which finished last week – deserts are unique and fragile environments that are home to a remarkable array of plants and animals. The dust whipped up by storms in the Sahara or the arid highlands of Asia absorbs sunlight and darkens the skies, but at the right altitude the same dust also provides surfaces on which water vapour can nucleate as ice to fall as rain. The same dust storms have been linked to outbreaks of respiratory disease in the US and Europe, and to sudden eruptions of plant and animal disease across the distant oceans: one gram of Saharan dust carries a burden of a billion microbes, and some of these are certainly plant and animal pathogens.

 

But the world heritage meeting also hailed one of the most remarkable discoveries of the last decade: the role of deserts as deliverers of nutrients to the rainier parts of the planet. Around 40m tons of dust is carried by prevailing winds from the Sahara to fertilise the Amazon basineach year. This is a very satisfying finding, since the extraordinary fertility of the Amazon rainforest – one of the richest and most biodiverse places on earth – has been a puzzle. Tropical rains leach nutrients from jungle soils, and the soils of the Amazon forest are notoriously poor, which is why clearance for cattle farming is such a bad idea. Biologists had calculated that the forest needed at least 50m tons of fresh mineral nutrient each year to keep its trees tall and in leaf. In 2006 an international team of researchers established that at least half of this annual mineral supply is quarried from one tiny location in the Sahara,the Bodélé depression in Chad. A combination of fortuitously placed mountain ranges that flank a basin of diatomite sands so focus the winter winds as to scour the depression and lift from it an average of 700,000 tons of dust each day, and air-freight it across the Atlantic.

 

So for thousands of years, and without any fuss, a tiny part of one of Africa's poorest countries has annually subsidised the growth economy of one of the world's most richly endowed. This discovery is yet another insight into the intricate dance performed by earth, air, fire and water in the service of life; and another reminder of the enduring intercontinental interdependence that sustains human civilisation. We should respect the IUCN's concern for the deserts. Without green things, we could not breathe. Without deserts, there might be no forests.

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THE GUARDIAN

EDITORIAL

IN PRAISE OF … THOMAS COOK TIMETABLES

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AN OBSESSIVE TO FIND A SORT OF ROMANCE IN THEIR PAGES - AND HAPPILY THEY NOW RECORD A GROWING RAIL SERVICE

 

By rights, Thomas Cook's European rail timetable, and its worldwide counterpart, should have vanished long ago, a relic in the age of online information and Ryanair. But happily it survives. The company published its first continental timetable in 1873, well before the Orient Express began puffing east from Paris, and it is still publishing them in 2010, though Thomas Cook itself has gone through nationalisation and privatisation, and is now in German ownership. Six times a year, on thin brown-grey paper, it issues the times of trains around the world. Once a month it publishes a comprehensive schedule for Europe. You do not have to be an obsessive to find a sort of romance in its pages: imagining journeys on the overnight Stendhal from Paris to Venice, or the weekly through-carriage from Warsaw to Astana, out on the desert steppes of Kazakhstan. The Thomas Cook timetable reveals a train from Berlin to Sochi, if you want to take it; or the times of the new direct service from Sarajevo to Belgrade. There is a steam train in the Hartz mountains in east Germany that will puff you up to the site of a former Soviet watchtower; and the Lusitania hotel express which leaves Madrid for Lisbon each night, just after 10. No low-cost airline can match that for interest, or for environmental sustainability, for the best thing about these timetables is that they now record a growing rail service, not a declining one. Britain still comes first in its pages, but the best trains now run elsewhere.

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THE GAZETTE

EDITORIAL

MAKE GRAFFITI 'ARTISTS' PAY FOR THEIR HOBBY

 

Once romantically viewed as anarchist art, graffiti are now generally thought about mainly in terms of how much money per square metre is needed to efface them. Rarely art, rarely witty, Montreal's graffiti have long been nothing more than an irritating, ugly presence.

 

Some of the city's most elegant venues and most beautiful buildings have been defaced by vandals determined to leave their quasi-illiterate marks in the public sphere. And in this cheerless reality Montreal is hardly alone. From Rome to Oxford to small-town Ontario, authorities are spending millions of dollars to cover up a tide of inane spray-paint slogans and symbols.

 

In 2006, Montreal city hall decided the time had come to crack down on this scourge, allocating upward of $6 million a year for cleanup costs. To date, 700,000 square metres of graffiti -the equivalent of 30 football fields of them -have been cleaned up.

 

The city is pleased with the results: The recidivism rate has dropped, officials say proudly, from 50 per cent previously down to about 15 per cent now. There's also other evidence of the increased effort: Police made 223 arrests in all of 2006 but have made 380 to date in 2010. However, the number of complaints is also on the increase, from 1,671 in 2006 to 1,941 so far this year, perhaps an indication that people have started to think it's worthwhile calling police.

 

So, is this going to be the deal from now on? Taxpayers get to spend millions of dollars every year cleaning spray paint off buildings, roads and buses -while graffiti "artists" amuse themselves playing cat and mouse with authorities?

 

Maybe not. This year, two boroughs -Verdun and Cote des Neiges/Notre Dame de Grace -are charging those found guilty of graffiti-style vandalism the costs of cleaning it up. With that estimated cost running between $200 and $300 an hour, the bill can be steep.

 

Four individuals have found themselves facing heavy costs so far this year in C.D.N./ N.D.G. In the case of a minor, the bill is passed along to his parents, said Michael Applebaum, borough mayor.

 

Applebaum said the new system, in place since June, is similar to the 2008 regulation requiring businesses to properly maintain their properties under threat of fines. That regulation was denounced at the outset, but has been embraced by a majority of boroughs today.

 

In battling graffiti, the city is throwing a carrot in along with the stick of prosecution and costs: Ten walls have been put at the disposal of graffiti-writers in Lachine, Plateau Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie, and Villeray-Saint Michel-Parc Extension.

 

That's nice, but our money is on the stick, provided police put enough effort into catching the "taggers." Once graffiti-writers -and their parents -realize that they face large costs for their hobby, they will decide that defacing public property is just too expensive a pastime.

 

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

SQUEEZED FROM BOTH SIDES

 

Palm oil is one of the world's most traded and versatile agricultural commodities, as it can be used for vegetable oil, coffee creamer, industrial lubricant, a material in cosmetics and skincare products and as feedstock for biofuel.

 

It is not surprising that palm oil and its derivatives have become one of the largest non-oil (mineral oil) export commodities from Indonesia annually earning more than US$10 billion in foreign exchange.

 

Unfortunately, however, while Indonesia last year became the world's largest producer of palm oil with an annual output of almost 20 million metric tons, its palm oil-based companies have come under escalated attacks from industrial buyers in Europe.

 

Rubbing salt into the wound is a moratorium President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed banning deforestation and peatlands conversion in Indonesia for two years starting next year, in return for $1 billion in compensation from the Norwegian government.

 

The moratorium, the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) says, has caused great concerns and uncertainty among forestry-based companies, notably palm oil firms, because plantation expansions that are already licensed are being reviewed in light of preparations for the enforcement of the ban.

 

Several large importers from Europe have stopped buying from Indonesian companies alleged to be engaged in deforestation and have insisted they will buy only from producers that have certification from the Kuala Lumpur-based Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This organization groups industrial users, producers, financiers and environmental organizations together to focus on the development of a certification scheme for palm oil produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.

 

The problem, however, is that the RSPO has been in limbo recently because of what Gapki claims to be an internal dispute over the structure of voting power within the organization — which seems to be biased in favor of industrial users. Consequently, 20 Indonesian palm oil companies that have been audited by RSPO teams for certification have not gained their certificates yet.

 

What an unfortunate development, because "the right mix" of RSPO members was hoped to vent negative perceptions that the organization was controlled by developed countries who wanted to protect their own edible oil industries.

 

Oil palm plantation expansion, often blamed for deforestation and peatlands conversion, has been widely cited as a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the ministries of forestry and the environment, and forestry-based businesses seem to have never been consulted about the agreement before it was signed in Copenhagen last May.

 

While our palm oil exports to Europe account for only a small portion of our total output, since most of our exports go to India, China, Pakistan and African countries, we can no longer ignore the green consumer movement that has been mounting around the globe.

 

The government should therefore act quickly and firmly to address the concerns of palm oil companies and remove the uncertainty triggered by the moratorium. The government and oil palm plantation firms also should work together to gain international recognition of our strong commitment to manage our plantation development sustainably.

 

If the RSPO is in limbo, as Gapki claims, we could take our own initiative to implement the principles promoted and assessed by the RSPO in its certification process.

 

The principles of sustainability the RSPO has promoted can fully meet our development needs as they enhance such elements as transparency, legal and regulatory compliance, best production practices, environmental responsibility and commitments to local community empowerment.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

ABSENTEEISM BREAKS UP TRUST FROM INSIDE

DONNY SYOFYAN

 

The current members of the House of Representatives deserve and enjoy a stellar reputation no more. Being notorious for their bad behavior and political imprudence, they further have no shame about having poor attendance at various plenary sessions. Marzuki Alie, the House speaker, even responded perplexedly to this and dubbed it shameful, noting lawmakers' extremely poor performance in passing bills.

 

Their tendency to skip meetings at the House is a disgrace. Low attendance is usually a final-year or campaign period phenomenon, but now it is taking place in the first year of the House's sitting.

 

Seen from data on legislators' attendance at plenary sessions released by the House Secretariat, National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmakers' attendance list took the lead with 96 percent from October to December 2009. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and The National Awakening Party (PKB) came in last with 88.6 and 86.6 percent.

 

Between January and March 2010, the Democratic Party had the best attendance rate, at 91.1 percent, while the PKB and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) propped up the other end of the list at 78.3 percent and 79.9 percent, correspondingly.

 

The data obviously suggests the number of absentee lawmakers has increased within just two years. Such a chronic absenteeism has not simply triggered public criticism, but also a wake-up call from the House speaker and his deputy, Pramono Anung, pointing out how lawmakers terribly break up a trust from the inside.

 

Poor lawmaker attendance is only another nail in the coffin for nasty lawmakers, owing to three recurrent problems.

 

First, internal control mechanisms have long been absent in the House of Representatives. In point of fact, there has been a regulation in the House stipulating that legislators missing three straight plenary meetings are to be publicly denounced, and those missing six straight plenary sessions must be dismissed. The House's Ethics Council is then authorized to execute the regulation. However, the Council has stalled at the moment because of internal strife.

 

The paralysis of the council has allowed lawmakers skipping parliamentary sessions to become more appalling, noting that the leadership of the House has not been in force. For example, it was common to see lawmakers rush into the chamber to sign the attendance sheet and rush out to catch planes to God knows where. Some sit in their offices doing nothing while plenary sessions are on.

 

It is true that showing up to plenary sessions does not directly translate to productivity. However, it is a measure of a legislator's intent to serve his or her community. In this regard, the current House members could signal their good intentions toward their constituents by taking steps to make sure their attendance during deliberations remains high.

 

The House's Ethics Council must be reauthorized to curb the absenteeism. Regulations are required to cover such things as setting a ceiling for the number of absences allowed, using electronic fingerprinting checks to make sure that only attending lawmakers can vote, salary cuts (as penalties), and the announcement of those regarded as truants to the public.

 

The House Secretariat and the House Ethics Council need to work together to publish the names of 
legislators who frequently skip meetings.

 

Second, lawmakers often fail to manage conflicts of interest. Everybody knows lawmakers are always busy. Lawmakers have tons of work to do, not necessarily enacting laws. The lawmakers could be endeavoring to manage any moonlighting jobs; being commissioners of state-owned enterprises, advisors of social and sport organizations; and many others.

 

To the worst degree, businesspeople happening to be lawmakers also strive to build connections to improve their business.

 

Under such circumstances, it is no wonder their primary duty as legislators has been put on the back burner, failing to turn up to plenary sessions to enact laws that ensure that the basic rights of the people, as laid out in the 1945 Constitution, are protected. Despite the fact some lawmakers might have double duties in the House, serving on oversight commissions or panels, it should not be an excuse for absences.

 

This conflict of interest should be addressed with the intention of restoring the best priorities of lawmakers. Their work should be moved to the front burner in order to meet constituents' demands and do away with personal benefits. Their firm commitment to prioritizing the best interests of their constituents can only be proven when they stop "moonlighting" and start "lawmaking" to the full.

 

Third, human resources remain poor in the House. It is disappointing that ambitious political adventurers and opportunists outnumber enlightening intellectuals in parliament. This situation has given birth to rotten lawmakers in charge of soaring public distrust.

 

A high attendance rate among lawmakers should be paralleled with significant contributions to particular bills. What is the point of them showing up to plenary sessions if they do not say a thing?

 

In addition, poor human resource will likely support a mix of political bickering and poor appreciation of intellectuals, with many lawmakers contriving to get their names on attendance lists even when they are not physically present at meetings. Trading solely upon their attendance level without taking into account their achievements (such as fulfilling their targets and holding the government accountable) is equal to toying with superficial professionalism.

The writer is a lecturer at Andalas University, Padang, and a graduate of the University of Canberra, Australia.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

DANGER ON THE HIGH SEAS OF EAST ASIA

TOM PLATE

 

The Obama administration is raising the US profile in the South China Sea and in the newly troubled seas around the Korean Peninsula. Its decisions are sound enough, and they have been put forth carefully and with proportionality. But they do entail risks and may test the China-US relationship. This column is meant as a warning signal.

 

Let's take a look at the two main aspects of this development.

 

The first involves South and North Korean waters. These are now bobbing with US and South Korean warships in a military display. This is for the benefit of North Korea, whose navy apparently was the culprit that sank a South Korean vessel in March, killing 46 seamen. The aim is to deter the Communist regime in the north from further foolishness.

 

The other audience for the military show is the South Korean public. The March sinking of the Cheonan vessel shocked the South Korean public, which expected more retaliatory spunk from its Navy. But now the secret is out: the South Korean military, whatever its virtues, probably is not ready for prime time. It is not ready to run its own show. It still needs the US there helping call the shots.

 

So there will be a delay for at least a few years in the planned handover of command of forces in the South from the US to the national government of the Republic of Korea (ROK). That development dismays Beijing, greatly preferring a lowering of the American regional profile. But since the Chinese apparently can't keep their North Korean allies out of trouble, there's not much they can do about it except complain.

 

At the same time, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has quietly promised that Beijing will not protect the guilty party, though it claims not to be convinced that the North is the perpetrator (who else could it be? Space invaders!). But so far that is exactly what they have done, watering down a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution that would otherwise have condemned North Korea for aggression.

 

In return, though, Beijing has arranged for the immediate resumption of the on-again, off-again Six Party Talks.

 

China is probably more upset about the US naval ships rolling around in the South China Sea, however.  This is the second theater where the Obama Administration has staged a show.  Earlier in the year Beijing issued a decree, which could be read to suggest that it viewed those seas as virtually its personal pond. The idea sent shudders throughout Asia, especially in Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, with their tinier "fleets." (It irritated Japan, too, but it has a serious fleet, and so that's a whole different kettle of piranhas). These Asian nations have quarrels with China over island territories in these waters and regard the South China Sea as an international commercial highway.

 

So does the United States, which has made that point of view plain. Nobody in the region wants a fight with China, so none of those worried Asian nations are waving American flags to thank President Obama for ordering more ships into that area. But in fact they are pleased by the move — and by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's firm resolve at a big regional meeting last month in Hanoi.

 

The American expression of solidarity strengthens their hand so that the resolution of these island-ownership disputes can be settled through negotiation, not fear — at least as long as the US keeps its ships bobbing over the horizon.  

 

Because the South China Sea represents of course waters territorially adjacent to the mainland, China might well go ballistic if it sees US interference.  But that would tarnish its image and raise questions about whether its economic rise will be so peaceful, as Beijing has often claimed.

 

At least now the US is being viewed as helpfully standing up to the Chinese giant that has of late occasionally seemed bullying in manner.

 

East Asia clearly is at a tipping point. But the proper role of the United States is not to provoke China or violate its true sovereignty but to balance its rising military power. In recent years China's naval buildup has been extraordinary and muscles are being flexed. The American balancing on both fronts is an effort to remind the Chinese that they are not the only muscle man on the block.

 

Handled carefully, the US effort could actually serve everyone's interest, including Beijing's. For China is not ready to rule the Pacific unilaterally. That day may come, but it is off onto the far horizon — or at least as long as the US Navy is bobbing around in a friendly and polite manner. Speak softly, someone once famously advised, but carry a big stick.

Syndicated US columnist Tom Plate's new book Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew is on bestseller lists in Asia. He is working on the next book in the series  Giants of Asia — about former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, due out from Marshall Cavendish Ltd. early next year.

 

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

FPI AND LOW-INCOME YOUTHS

SUDIRMAN NASIR, MELBOURNE

 

The Islam Defenders Front or FPI once again made a nasty story and appeared in most  Indonesian media. It was widely reported that a group of people allegedly related to the FPI recently attacked members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) from Pondok Timur Indah who were praying in a field in Ciketing Asem, Bekasi, last week.

 

We also still remember when a mob of young men also allegedly related to the FPI raided Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmakers and their audience in a public discussion about the health bill in Banyuwangi, East Java.

 

Ironically, so far no significant action has been taken by the police of the perpetrators even though the FPI has been previously involved in many other aggressive and violent actions.

 

The FPI's assault on a transgender workshop in Depok, West Java, in May is still fresh in our memory. Many of us also still vividly remember an event in 2005, when the FPI bullied the organizers of an internationally important visual art exhibition in Jakarta by forcing it to take down Agus Suwage's "Pinkswing Park" installation.

 

Furthermore, they have demanded that Nyoman Nuarta's "Three Girls" sculpture in Bekasi be taken down. Not to mention the FPI's brutal attack on a peaceful rally of an alliance of civil organizations who promoted pluralism and minority rights in 2008 in Jakarta.

 

It is noteworthy that several enlightened community and religious leaders as well as politicians have condemned the violent attitudes of the FPI and advocated the need to ban this organization. While these are necessary, it is also important to ask questions.

 

How does the FPI attract and recruit numbers of young people, particularly young men, to join? Why are these young men willing to be involved in aggressive and violent attacks in the name of the FPI?

 

It is not easy, and rigorous studies are urgently needed to answer these questions. However, we can reflect and analyze some anecdotal evidence related to the FPI. The media and several commentators have reported that the vast majority of FPI members are young men with limited education. They also come from urban poor neighborhoods in a number of Indonesian cities.

 

It is therefore safe to say that most of these young men who join the FPI are either unemployed or underemployed. It is also worth mentioning that a plethora of studies in developed and developing countries have maintained that unemployment among young men should be viewed not merely as a deprivation of income but also a deprivation of dignity and identity.

 

These studies further highlighted that unemployed young men are generally more susceptible to be engaged in risky activities including joining a violent gang or a violent organization. Their participation in a gang or in a violent organization may fill the void in their daily lives and provide them with an alternative identity as well as alternative source of power, however misguided.

 

We can assume that by joining violent organizations these unemployed and economically marginalized young men can enjoy several material and non-material advantages including earning small pocket money, obtaining free food and clothing, and no less importantly, generating a reputation and creating for themselves prestige as tough men.

 

In other words, these young men accomplish their masculine identity through their participation in this violent group in the context of their strained access to conventional means to achieve masculine status , for example, jobs and education.

 

The presence of demagogues in this violent organization who are ready to manipulate religious issues and take advantage of poor young men's desperation for identity and recognition, make this organization even more attractive.

 

While it is important to condemn the aggressive attitudes of the FPI as well as advocate law enforcement agencies to take firm action and punish those involved in violent attitudes, it is not less important to provide more productive alternatives for these young disadvantaged men. Providing more access to education and employment for poor young people in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods in the long term, potentially reducing the attractiveness of violent organizations such as the FPI.

 

Abundant studies have indicated that young people's participation in gangs and violent groups and in offenses tend to significantly decrease when more constructive alternatives are widely available.

 

These studies further highlight that employment does not merely manifest benefits for young people, for example regular income, but also generates latent benefits such as providing structured time, meaningful activities, a desirable and positive identity, as well as wider social contacts with mainstream society.

 

These, in turn, may reduce young people's participation in offenses and crime, as well as minimize the attractiveness to join gangs and violent organizations such as the FPI.


The writer is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

EXAMINING THE IDEA OF 'HOUSE OF ASPIRATION'

DJOKO SUSILO

 

The current members of the House of Representatives (DPR)  seem to have many ''great ideas''. After being publicly criticized for their laziness for skipping plenary meetings, and also after the failure to ask for the "aspiration fund", they have now proposed a new idea called "the House of Aspiration".

 

It will cost the tax payer another Rp 209 billion (US$23.4 million), because each member will be given about Rp 374 million annually.

 

Naturally, the public are shocked. People are wondering, what actually is in the minds of the legislators? Why do they have no sensitivity to public criticism? Instead of improving their performance, they demand more money, perks and facilities from the state.

 

All shall be shouldered by the people as taxpayers. The public should know what facilities and financial rewards are enjoyed by the legislators. The supporters of the proposal said that the additional fund will help enhance relations between legislators and their constituents.

 

However, my 10 year-experience as a House member tell me different stories. There is no direct relation between improvement of legislators' performance with the state, and the money and other facilities provided by the state. I entered parliament in October 1999 with a basic salary of Rp 2 million, far below my salary as a journalist.

 

Of course I was given additional income from various parliamentary activities. At the end of the month, my take home pay was about Rp 12 million. I know that each legislator now enjoys a monthly salary of more than Rp 70 million. The state also gives an  additional fund of Rp 280 million annually for communication with the constituents. So, why do they ask more for "the House of Aspiration"?

 

The fund for ''the House of Aspiration'' will only fatten the pockets of legislators. But before asking for more money, the leaders of the House should put it in order first. For example, the facilities of hiring a personal secretary and expert staff. In the past, some members have abused this facility by "hiring'' their own son, daughter, husband or wife, and no disciplinary action was taken by the leaders of the House and their respective political party leaders.  

 

The constituent fund of Rp 280 million was given without proper monitoring. So, there is no obligation for the legislator to report all expenses given to them.

 

The House members should now begin full public disclosure of their income as legislators. This is normal practice in a democracy. Though a normal monthly salary for House members is now "only" about Rp 70 million, but I estimate their real income from the state is almost double at about Rp 130 million.

 

So, their annual income would be about Rp 1,560 billion annually or about $160.000. This amount of salary is in a country where income per capita is about $2,200. Definitely our honourable members of parliament live above the average of the Indonesian people.

 

To be fair, I would like to compare with Switzerland. Members of parliament in Switzerland receive no salary because they may keep their daily occupation. But for their service to the nation, they are entitled compensation of about CHF (Swiss Franc) 75,000 annually and an additional allowance of CHF 30,000 for secretarial service and other constituent related activities. So, in a year, the state paid about CHF 105.000 or about $100.000. This is in a country where annual income per capita is about $67,385.

 

Swiss members of parliament do not receive a housing allowance, car or office facilities. Beside the compensation allowance, each member receives a laptop from the state. So, when they travel to their job in Bern from their house, for example from Zurich or Geneva, they can work on their laptop while on the train. They are very efficient and very productive. Even on the trains and trams, they work for their constituents.

 

I rarely read or hear major complaints about the behavior of members of parliament in Switzerland. Productivity, as others in Swiss, is very important. Most members will participate in the debates. They behave like other normal people in Switzerland. If most the people take train, bus or tram to work, they do like their people. Only the president or vice president have drivers in Switzerland. Even ministers and other high-ranking officials take public transport.

 

So, it is about time the House act and behave like normal people. They should not go above the people they say they represent.


The writer is former MP, now serving as the Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

IN LOVE WITH VIOLENCE

BY ALEXEI BAYER

 

Film director Nikita Mikhalkov used to make Russian movies for Russian audiences. But starting with his film "The Barber of Siberia," released in 1998, Mikhalkov decided to churn out Hollywood blockbusters. His reasoning was simple: Americans, who shell out billions to watch this junk, will love his films if he copied the Hollywood blockbuster model, but with the added feature of the deep Russian soul.

 

Accordingly, he began making Russian movies for Americans. His latest, "Burnt by the Sun 2. Exodus," was meant as an answer to Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" — except more authentic. But it has no chance of succeeding, except in the vein of "Springtime for Hitler" — a horrible musical staged as a deliberate failure in Mel Brooks' "The Producers."

 

Post-Soviet Russia has been often compared to Weimar Germany. Each emerged from a lost war, but a defeat was never brought home, giving rise to myths about a sellout and a stab in the back. Both were democratic, but democracy was never embraced by their people, creating fertile ground for radical and nationalistic movements. Both felt that the rest of the world was ganging up on them unfairly. And now, even the economic backdrop is starting to look alarmingly similar.

 

Many historians have observed that the World War I generation was obsessed with violence. Trench warfare had been hell, but it held strange fascination for the boys who reached adulthood in those trenches. Writers in the interwar period — most of them veterans — wrote muscular prose that waxed nostalgic for wartime camaraderie, simple truths and male virtues, contrasting all that with the complex, cynical civilian life of the 1920s.

 

But World War II was different. It had been such an orgy of destruction and misery that Western Europe got lastingly fed up with notions of military heroism, martial valor and patriotism.

 

Today, three generations later, Europe remains remarkably pacifistic. Americans are less so, but even the Pentagon, when recruiting kids for its all-volunteer army, stresses professionalism and character building. The realities of war remain absent from the American mainstream. When you see U.S. soldiers, you are struck by their unwarlike appearance. In their baggy camouflage, enlisted personnel resemble construction workers, while their bespectacled officers look like gray bureaucrats.

 

Living behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union was in many ways stuck in the 1930s. Today's Russia retains at least some admiration for the blood and gore of war. War literature and war films were produced in a steady stream throughout the Soviet era, even as they dried up everywhere else in the world. Many young Russians still admire those Soviet works, such as the sweeping five-film epic "Liberation," released from 1967 to 1971.

 

Hollywood has revived this tradition of war movies as the United States gets bogged down in endless warfare and as enlistment becomes the only secure employment option for high school graduates. But it is no revival of the 1930s-style portrayal of war. Mikhalkov's film, on the other hand, for all its special effects and computer graphics, comes straight out of the interwar period. With its focus on disemboweled bodies and violent jokes, it could have been written by German writer Erich Remarque.

 

Since "Exodus" flopped in Russia, you might even start to hope that Russia and Weimar Germany are finally diverging — until, that is, you see the annual Paratroopers Day orgy in the center of Moscow.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

MEDVEDEV'S BIG FLUB ON 3RD PRESIDENTIAL RUNNER

BY VLADIMIR FROLOV

 

In an incredible act of political self-immolation, President Dmitry Medvedev said last week that he did not know who would run for president in 2012 and suggested that there might even be a third candidate in the race.

 

With this statement, he has all but tossed away the promising agenda of his presidency and turned himself into a political lame duck — more than a year ahead of schedule.

 

At best, Medvedev's words are a vivid display of the inept media advice that he is getting from his aides.

 

Since he has been hit with this question about his re-election plans so often, you would have thought that his advisers would have recommended a few standard answers that would not be politically damaging or embarrassing to the president.

 

The best-case scenario is that this was poor improvisation on Medvedev's part. He surely wants to run but does not want to reveal his plans too early in the game.

 

The worst-case scenario is that he really does not know who will run for president in 2012 because he has no say whatsoever on the issue.

 

In any event, Medvedev's statement sends a damaging message: The president does not care enough about the biggest item on his agenda — Russia's economic and social modernization — to fight for it in a general election. Who is going to believe in Russia's modernization — much less invest money in it — if the political father of the plan might step down at any moment?

 

This was a completely unnecessary blow to Medvedev's credibility. He could have easily dodged the question. Those who gave him this ridiculous line about a third candidate should be fired on the spot.

 

This sad episode demonstrates that the open question of whether Medvedev will run for a second term or yield to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin needs to be settled as soon as possible. The uncertainty is impeding Russia's development. The longer they keep the suspense, the more destabilizing the situation becomes.

 

There are only three good options available:

 

1. The tandem is preserved under Medvedev's second term.

 

2. Medvedev runs for president as the United Russia candidate, while Putin concludes that the country is in safe hands and retires to a less stressful life as United Russia chairman and National Leader.

 

3. Medvedev and Putin compete in a free election.

 

All other options, including the third candidate, could be disastrous.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

OPINION

HOW TO MAKE PEACE WITH GEORGIA

BY DMITRY TRENIN

 

The "little war" of August 2008 shook the world, but it did not change it. No new Cold War followed the Russian-Georgian hostilities, but the five-day war demonstrated how brittle security in Europe is nearly two decades after the end of the real Cold War.

 

This chilling sense of insecurity pushed both sides to change their foreign policies. U.S. President Barack Obama hit the "reset," and Moscow came up with the notion of "modernization alliances" with the United States and Europe.  

 

In this seemingly happier world, Georgia has not been forgotten, but it was securely "bracketed," to use diplomatic jargon. Although the White House and the Kremlin have agreed to disagree on Georgia and the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the new relationship has still allowed them to work together on more pressing items on the agenda — namely, Iran, Afghanistan, nonproliferation, arms control and attracting technology transfers.   

 

For the past two years, things have been rather quiet on the Caucasus front, despite the periodic media scares. Indeed, the second anniversary of the war has been allowed to advance without a threat of a new military conflict arising. Russia has taken over Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's borders with Georgia, thus reducing the risk of unauthorized provocations. At the same time, European Union monitors have been observing the situation closely. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili received a clear signal from Washington that any new attempt to reintegrate Georgia by military force would not be tolerated.

 

All is quiet in Geneva, too, where representatives from Georgia, Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia — along with European and U.S. mediators  — are holding their stiff, but sterile, exchanges. But the talks always break down on the disputed issue of independence for Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

 

In Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev has stated that he will not deal with Saakashvili in any form. This may last until 2013, when Saakashvili's presidential term ends  — or longer if Saakashvili changes the constitution and follows Vladimir Putin's example, formally stepping down as president but remaining in control as an all-powerful prime minister.

 

This may be too long a wait, though. Saakashvili has clearly prevented Russian-Georgian relations — and, ironically, Georgian-Western relations — from improving. Of course, he has a constitutional mandate, but when his presidential term expires, he must leave office without "pulling a Putin" — for the sake of his country and all Georgians.     

 

Meanwhile, the Russian government should reverse its policies in favor of the Georgian people with whom Russians have traditionally had good relations. But Medvedev and Putin's policy so far has been to let ordinary Georgians feel the pinch of bad relations and indirectly apply pressure on Saakashvili. This policy has failed. Instead of clumsy and ineffective attempts to undercut Saakashvili — which, in reality, actually strengthen his position — Russia could use its soft power to win back sympathy from Georgians and prepare for the post-Saakashvili future. Even small steps can go a long way.

 

Such steps could include restoring normal air travel, easing visa procedures for Georgian citizens, allowing quality Georgian wines back to the Russian market and encouraging contacts with members of the Georgian public beyond the narrow circle of Kremlin guests.

 

Some of these contacts could lead to an informal discussion of the options for future settlement on the final territorial status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It will eventually dawn on everyone that there can be no return to the status quo ante. It is also obvious that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are two very different cases.

 

Abkhazia has the geography, resources and a determined elite that could be used for nation-building. It will not return to Georgia, but it could trade land for peace — and recognition. The Gali district, with its ethnic Georgian population, would revert to Georgia in return for Tbilisi's recognition of the rest of Abkhazia as an independent state. As part of the settlement, Russia's military presence in Abkhazia would become less relevant and might be reduced.

 

South Ossetia, by contrast, has virtually no prospect of becoming a viable state. Its reunification with North Ossetia would be a disaster, whether it happens within or beyond the borders of Russia. But South Ossetia would not simply fold back into Georgia, either.

 

A creative solution to the South Ossetian issue can be found along the lines of the Andorran model. That is, South Ossetia would retain the formal trappings of independence — it could  mint coins, print stamps and raise its flag — but Georgia would be legally present in South Ossetia as a guarantor of its remaining or returning Georgian population. Such presence would also protect Georgia itself from the threat of a surprise attack against its capital. Although Russia would have to pull back its forces north of the Roki tunnel, it would retain the right to protect South Ossetians. A joint police force would keep the peace as necessary.

 

Admittedly, the bulk of concessions would fall on Georgia, but they will represent an improvement in comparison with the present situation and the indefinite period of the freeze. Cyprus underscores the negative consequences of a conflict that is left frozen for decades.

 

On the other hand, Georgia would gain enormously as a newly consolidated nation with its conflicts resolved and relations with its northern neighbor improved. It could then focus its resources and considerable talent on the economic and social development of the country. The conflicts, which put the Georgian state on the brink of collapse two years ago, will finally be history.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

MONITORING JUDICIARY

 

Recent news reports that exposed the collusion between some judges of a local court and a coalmine owner in Henan province have highlighted the need for effective self-regulation, or even independent oversight, of the nation's judiciary.

 

The coalmine owner reportedly bribed the judges in Yichuan county in exchange for a lenient sentence - one year in prison with a one-year reprieve - in a case where an accident at his mine killed two people.

 

The graft incident would not have come to light had it not been for a recent and far more serious accident at the same mine which claimed the lives of 44 miners, with four missing and injuries to another four.

 

The mine owner had remained beyond law enforcement oversight. The probe into the fatal gas explosion led investigators on to the earlier deal.

 

As per law, the courts should have notified the local police about people convicted by it, so as to place them under effective supervision once they are out of jail.

 

The judges in question, however, failed to comply with that rule. This enabled the coalmine owner to run his mining business in violation of a government ban, which prohibits convicted owners from operating the mine for a period of five years.

 

Four judges of the county court have been arrested, while two others are on the run.

 

Self-discipline may be vital in the legal profession, but this case highlights just how important it is to not just rely on self-regulation.

 

Third-party oversight is therefore a must if the country's lower-level judicial organs have to function strictly by the book.

 

Western-style checks may not be needed in the nation, but a mechanism that effectively monitors graft in the judiciary must be implemented to make them truly independent.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

FITNESS ROADMAP

 

The Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 left China's capital with a whole range of sporting centers, but what will become of these facilities has been the topic of debate for the last couple of years.

Cheng Lianyuan, the head of Beijing's Chaoyang District, recently announced that all these sporting venues would be turned into recreational zones as well as being used for exhibitions and sightseeing. A managing committee would be formed at the end of this year to take care of the Olympic Green, he said.

In fact, a sports and cultural festival began Saturday and will run till August 22 at the Olympic Green. A large number of free tickets are available for Beijingers to witness the shows and be a part of the fitness program that include roller-skating, ping-pong and basketball. This event should hopefully raise those issues that have a profound impact on the way we think about, and plan for, physical exercise.

Beijing will encourage its residents to pick up the calisthenics to promote their physical wellbeing. The city authorities have published a 10-year keep-fit outline, which recommends that every employed person work out for at least 20 minutes each day.

All these events on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Beijing Olympic Games drive home a clear message: China should move as its people are packing on the pounds. The journal Health Affairs has reported that more than a fifth of China's adult population is overweight, related to changing dietary and physical activity patterns.

This is something China should not be proud of at a time of rapid economic progress.

Beijing and other cities need more zones like the Olympic Green where residents are free to jog or walk to shed some extra pounds.

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

UNJUSTIFIED RENOVATION

 

The indiscriminate demolition of buildings and city neighborhoods with historical value, often in the name of urban renovation endeavors, is destroying the city's cultural roots as well as being terribly wasteful, a top official of the cultural heritage protection office said recently.

 

Rampant construction aimed at expediting the process of urbanization has made the protection of China's cultural heritage very difficult and challenging, Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, has warned.

 

Shan's concerns are certainly justified howsoever extreme his strong opposition to the renovation of ancient neighborhoods and dangerous old buildings may sound.

 

Of course, there is little harm if such renovation projects are limited to providing everyday conveniences to the residents of these historical districts, or reinforcing old buildings that are on the verge of collapse.

 

Yet, these are more often than not used as pretexts for wanton destruction to justify newer construction projects.

 

Shan is brave in speaking out, even though he may not have enough influence on those calling the shots.

 

Instilling a genuine sense of respect for cultural heritage into the culturally illiterate administrative hierarchy, although easier said than done, may be more effective.

 

By airing his concerns online, Shan was mainly communicating with ordinary Internet users. But, the more pressing task is to educate public officials and property developers who often display a notoriously insensitive disregard for the protection of our rich cultural heritage.

 

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CHINA DAILY

OPED

DEBATE: DISASTERS

A SERIES OF POLLUTION-RELATED INCIDENTS HAS SET ALARM BELLS RINGING, SINCE ENTERPRISES ARE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM. TWO SCHOLARS TELL US HOW SUCH INCIDENTS CAN BE PREVENTED.

ELIZABETH ECONOMY

 

Real effort needed to save environment

A series of environmental disasters have hit Chinese recently. The Zijin mining company is under fire for toxic leaks into the Tingjiang River from its copper plant in Shanghang, Fujian province. Off the Dalian coast in Liaoning province, China National Petroleum Corporation (PetroChina is its listed arm) is scrambling to clean up an oil spill, caused by an explosion in its pipeline. In both cases, marine life is at risk, and the full economic costs have yet to be ascertained. While the cause of, and culpability for, the PetroChina pipeline explosion is unclear, there is no such doubt in the Zijin case.

 

Government officials have found Zijin was illegally discharging wastewater into the river, and detained some company officials. Earlier reports suggested Zijin might have to pay penalties and compensation of at least 5 million yuan ($738,000).

 

The real tragedy of the Zijin case is that it is far from unique. Dumping of wastewater illegally by factories is a common practice in China. The health of local communities and the livelihood of farmers and fishermen are under constant threat from companies that take environmental shortcuts.

 

According to Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian, about 25 percent of China's drinking water sources pose a threat to people's health. Last year, a report by China Geological Survey, affiliated to the Ministry of Land and Resources, said 90 percent of the country's groundwater was polluted. China can ill afford to pollute its water, because two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages, and the groundwater levels in the country's coastal region are dropping by the year, causing land to sink, roads to crack and villages to relocate.

 

The country's environmental officials are well aware of the challenge. Vice-Minister of Environmental Protection Wu Xiaoqing said late last year: "Water pollution has become a bottleneck for economic development in China, and a key environmental issue that threatens people's health." With this in mind, officials are seeking ways to rein in the problem.

 

In 2008, the government revised the Water Pollution Control Law, raising the level of fines that could be imposed on negligent companies and individuals, as well as asserting the responsibility of provincial officials to meet anti-pollution targets such as reducing chemical oxygen demand. Some Chinese cities are raising water prices, too, to encourage conservation and recycling. These are important first steps, but they are not enough.

 

Effective environmental protection rests on a partnership among local environmental protection officials, NGOs, the media, the public in general and - under the best circumstances - companies that are motivated to avoid harming the environment. China has all the actors in place, but none of them is fully empowered to do the right thing. A few small reforms would make all the difference.

 

First, local environmental protection bureaus are often understaffed and their employees underpaid. Indeed, according to Zhou Shengxian, only about 25 percent of the country's more than 660 cities are even capable of monitoring water quality once a month to check for pollutants.

 

One way of enabling them to do so would be to place local environmental protection bureaus under the auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) rather than local governments. This would allow for more capacity building and the establishment of uniform training and standards throughout the country. This may help reduce corruption, too, which causes roughly half of environmental funds to be spent on other things. Of course, this would mean substantially increasing the government's environment budget, which at 1.3 percent of GDP is woefully small for the task at hand.

 

Second, a critical element of any environmental protection effort is a watchdog - independent actors committed to keeping business and government honest. Many countries rely on NGOs, the media and individual citizens to perform this function. China, too, has an increasingly vibrant environmental NGO sector and the media interested in environmental issues. But government regulations often make it difficult for them to find funding, expand their activities and operate freely. These watchdogs need independence of action, as well as legal protection to do their job well.

 

Finally, the legal system underpinning environmental protection remains a weak link in the country's environmental work. More environmental lawyers and trained judges, the ability of NGOs to bring class action lawsuits on behalf of multiple victims, and a greater degree of independence for the judiciary - freeing it of other parts of the government, for instance - would help build a more robust environmental protection system.

 

There is no silver bullet. Environmental disasters happen everywhere in the world, all the time. One need only look at the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of the United States, to see one of the worst environmental disasters of the decade.

 

Yet in China, Zijin is the norm, not the exception. The Chinese people want and deserve much better from those responsible.

 

The author is a senior fellow and director of Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, an independent,

nonpartisan membership organization, think tank and publisher in the US.

 

SU YANG

INVOLVE PUBLIC TO REIN IN ENTERPRISES

A series of environmental disasters have been reported in recent months, from Zijin mining group's water contamination in Fujian province and Jidong Cement's pollution case in Hebei province to the Dalian oil spill in Liaoning province and the Nanjing propylene pipe explosion in Jiangsu province. Moreover, the worst floods in a decade swept about 1,000 barrels of toxic chemical compound into the Songhua River in Jilin province recently, forcing local authorities to stop the supply of drinking water temporarily, which, in turn, caused a severe crisis in several cities.

All these environmental disasters, according to media reports, were caused either deliberately or because of neglect by large enterprises. Almost all the enterprises that are, unwittingly or otherwise, responsible for the recent disasters use toxic chemicals, and are guarded by local governments against the environmental protection department.

 

The 2009 State of China's Environment report says 171 "abrupt environmental accidents", including production safety and traffic accidents, and accidents caused by polluted discharge by enterprises were recorded in one year.

 

Production safety accidents usually lead to large-scale environmental pollution, such as the Dalian oil spill and the 2005 Jilin chemical plant blasts that severely polluted the Dalian Bay and the Songhua River.

 

We should be particularly alert against two sources of potential danger. The first are the large factories in residential areas or close to water sources. Because of chemical or highly polluting enterprises' proximity to residential areas or water sources, neither the authorities nor the people get enough time or space to deal with unexpected environmental accidents. This means even a relatively minor case of contamination or leak of hazardous chemicals will deal a disproportionately heavy blow to society, just like the Nanjing explosion and Jilin chemical leak did.

 

The second source of potential danger is continuous pollution by enterprises for lack of proper supervision, as was the case with Jidong in Hebei and Zijin in Fujian. The lack of effective supervision, which enables some enterprises to continue to pollute could cause more serious damage to the environment, including water sources. For example, the Zijin mining group had been discharging pollutants into the Tingjiang River illegally for 10 years because the local authorities had turned a blind eye to its deeds.

 

To stop enterprises from causing further environmental damage, the government has to readjust the industrial structure and conduct a rational distribution of industry.

 

Some local governments pay less attention to potential hazards of heavy chemical industries in order to boost economic growth by attracting investments. This results in chemical companies setting up base near residential areas or environmentally sensitive sites.

 

The plan to restructure and revitalize the petrochemical industries, issued by the State Council, the country's Cabinet, emphasizes "optimization of industrial layout". But large enterprises, as local governments' major source of revenue, act recklessly when it comes to environmental protection.

 

The Zijin mining group had been discharging untreated water into the Tingjiang River for a long time. Every time someone detected contamination in the river water, the company and the local government acted in tandem to either cover up the case or declare it a minor incident.

 

This kind of practice is not confined to Zijin. Such enterprises can always furnish excuses, such as maintaining social stability and economic development, to cover up their drawbacks.

 

In order to boost economic growth, some local governments would rather sacrifice the environment. And it is not possible for local departments and environmental protection agencies to take up cudgels against the higher authorities.

 

Vertical supervision by environmental protection agencies is not enough to ensure the health of the environment. The environment cannot be protected without public involvement, especially because the country's medium-sized organizations are far from been fully developed and the performance of local governments and officials is still measured in terms of economic growth. That the controversial Xiamen PX (paraxylene) Plant was finally removed showed how necessary (and hence, powerful) public involvement could be in such cases. It was the local people's unflinching stand against the plant that ultimately resulted in its shifting from the site.

 

The rampant pollution caused by some enterprises, in connivance with the local authorities, recently drew some NGOs that finally ended their illegal activities.

 

A report tracking the connection between heavy metal poisoning and the information technology industry in China shows that there has been little let-up in poisoning cases in the Pearl River Delta region and some Chinese manufacturers, as supply chains of international brands, are still pumping untreated toxic water into water bodies. The report is helpful for the public to monitor the enterprises' waste-discharging activities.

 

The promotion of public participation, rational industrial layout and proper planning could help stop the "time bombs" ticking in residential areas and help the country strengthen environmental supervision. And the importance of large enterprises' social responsibility cannot be overemphasized in such cases.

 

The author is a senior research fellow with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

 

(China Daily 08/09/2010 page9

 

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CHINA DAILY

OPED

PREPARING FUTURE YOUNG ATHLETES

BY JACQUES ROGGE (CHINA DAILY)

 

When the first Olympic Games of the modern era opened in Athens in 1896 with just 241 competitors and few spectators, its future was not as assured as hindsight would now suggest.

 

Indeed, the Athens Games attracted athletes from just 14 nations, with the largest delegations coming from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. The 1896 Games were a very different offering from the global phenomenon we see today, which has become a regular fixture on our sports and social calendars.

 

It took another 28 years for the Winter Games to join its older brother as a regular event. We get to see the Games alternately every two years today, but that wasn't always the case. The Olympic Games was not always guaranteed as a global spectacle; it has evolved just like the sporting programs.

 

In just a few days time, we will see the first ever Youth Olympic Games, a worthy addition to the Olympic stable. Since the Olympic program has never been set in stone and has continued to change and reflect changing attitudes to sport and society, we will see some interesting innovations and events that have not been part of an Olympic program before.

 

There will be new formats like street basketball, relay races in the pool and triathlon with mixed gender teams. There will even be competitions among mixed teams from different nationalities. All these are designed to appeal to a younger audience and inspire young athletes. But irrespective of the changes and experiments, the most important aspect of the Youth Olympic Games is its focus on young athletes. So, why this deliberate concentration on youth?

 

As organizers of the largest sporting event in the world, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) understands that it has the responsibility of preparing young athletes for the future. Indeed, this was one of the pillars upon which IOC founder Pierre de Coubertin built the modern Olympic Games at the turn of the 20th century.

 

Sport itself is a great educational tool for the youth. It strengthens their bodies as well as their minds, teaches them discipline, and encourages them to set goals and achieve them. But it would be irresponsible for the sports world to adopt a laissez-faire approach toward its young athletes by simply hoping that the act of taking part in sporting events will give them the abilities required to face and overcome obstacles both on and off the field.

 

The Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Singapore from Aug 14 to 26, will be about staging high-level competition in 26 sports disciplines and providing guidance and encouragement to some 3,600 of the world's best athletes between the ages of 14 and 18.

 

In addition to two weeks of first-class competition, the athletes will take part in a wide range of cultural and educational activities aimed at equipping them with the skills to make reasoned, intelligent decisions in life. The program will last the duration of the Youth Olympic Games and cover a host of topics, including the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle, the dangers of doping and the value of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

 

We want to provide the athletes with the tools they need to chart out their future. If they choose to continue with sport as a career - some may even go on to become Olympic champions - they must be fully aware that it is not a lifetime occupation. Even the greatest athletes typically end their sporting careers in the 30s.

 

Communicating with teenaged athletes who are potentially more receptive than their elder peers is crucial. The key is to present the information in a manner that the athletes find both enjoyable and relevant to their lives. At the end of the day, success rests on how much the athletes are willing to accept and embrace the information they receive.

 

As such, we are reaching out in the most modern and interactive ways possible. The Youth Olympic Games enjoys a strong and growing presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. We have created contests that challenge the online community to move away from their computer screens and get active. And we have enlisted some of the world's top athletes, including Usain Bolt, Yelena Isinbayeva and Michael Phelps, to support the athletes by acting as role models and sharing their experiences and insights.

 

Above all, the Youth Olympic Games and the cultural and educational activities should be fun. We want to encourage youngsters not only to strive to be the best, but also to enjoy sport for sport's sake and to continue enjoying it long after their dreams of winning medals have faded.

 

The Youth Olympic Games will give the athletes a chance to compete, to learn and to share their experiences with other young people. It is our hope that the athletes will act as ambassadors and be active in their communities by sharing what they learn when they return home from Singapore.

 

If the Youth Olympic Games can help provide the world's youth, one at a time, with a path to a better, brighter and healthier future, we will have succeeded. And very soon the Youth Olympic Games will become as much an indispensable fixture on the Olympic calendar as its "grown-up" brothers.

 

The author is president of the International Olympic Committee.

 

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CHINA DAILY

OPED

COMING CLOSER TO CANCUN

BY FU JING (CHINA DAILY)

 

Climate change negotiators in Bonn prepare to unify positions at Tianjin before heading to a likely yearend deal in Mexico

 

Does it take more time to make a clay pot or cook a meal with the pot? Some may say the latter needs less time.

 

It depends. For instance, it should be difficult to cook a meal for 192 people with varying food habits, compared to feeding just one family.

 

The United Nations faces a similar task when it comes to climate change. The world body is saddled with the ultimate task of achieving consensus on ways to fight climate change. For that, it has to expedite human intervention in reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the world.

 

Last Friday, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres used the pot metaphor to measure the progress of the third round of negotiations at Bonn saying, "governments (from across the world) are much closer now to actually making the pot."

 

Actually, the pot making started in 2007 when the governments agreed on the Bali Roadmap to define the world's long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

 

Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the Bonn parleys were part of the process of making a pot. She said it had given governments worldwide a final opportunity to be clear on their individual stances regarding climate change issues.

 

During the previous week, both developing countries and industrialized nations had reinserted established positions into the negotiation texts and tried to increase the number of options for action.

 

Because divergent stances and optional targets were listed on the 50-page negotiation text last Friday, the media said the talks were retrogressing compared with the three-page political accord announced in Copenhagen last December.

 

To decide what exactly they were going to cook in the pot, Figueres said governments "must radically narrow down" the choices on the table.

 

In the closed-door negotiations, developing countries noted the urgent need for industrialized nations to turn their pledges of funding into reality, even while criticizing the rich countries for reduced commitments on emission reduction.

 

Last year in Copenhagen, rich countries promised $30 billion in fast-track finance for developing country adaptation and mitigation efforts through 2012. And, they further pledged to find ways and means to raise $100 billion a year, by 2020.

 

However, the fund is nowhere and the funding mechanism is still high up in the air.

 

Still, developing countries said a lack of transparency regarding the disbursement of emergency funds by rich countries, as agreed in Copenhagen, made it hard for them to compromise on any future deals.

 

Meanwhile, the US, one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters has stalled its climate change legislation in the Senate, resulting in uncertainties in the minds of other states as to what extent they can expect the US to cooperate on any new pledges.

 

At the same time, some rich countries have requested that the accuracy of emission reporting by the developing countries be checked, but the latter have said such checks are a threat of sovereignty.

 

Some had forecast that individual agreements reached in Cancun could include issues such as forest protection, financial aid to help developing nations adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change as well as the delivery of low-carbon technologies to such countries.

 

Despite those divergences and challenges, the process of cooking is expected to begin soon enough.

 

And, the first kitchen is located in China's coastal city of Tianjin, where a final round of negotiations is scheduled for early October.

 

This is a chance, as the UN climate chief says, for the countries to make clear what their collective stances are going to be before the negotiation delegations head for Cancun, Mexico at the end of this year.

 

It seems she doesn't know how long the cooking will take although she needs a miracle before the Cancun conference is held.

 

China said it is taking actions to help shoulder its global responsibility in fighting climate change. The Chinese delegation head Su Wei said that China's hosting of the talks in Tianjin has indicated the country's strong political determination to push the challenging discussions forward.

 

But Su played down the expectations for the Cancun conference, urging every party to try hard to achieve progress as much as possible and lay a solid foundation for the South African climate change talks scheduled for next year in Cape Town.

 

Perhaps, the final three letters of the UNFCCC indicates how long it would take to cook a climate deal: from Copenhagen, to Cancun to Cape Town.

 

The author is China Daily's chief correspondent in Brussels.

 

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DAILY MIRROR

     EDITORIAL

 

 

 

TWO GIRLS FROM TRINCO

 

Studies have revealed Asian parents including those in India, Japan, China and of course Sri Lanka put too much of pressure on their children with almost 60% of the parents falling into the category of too demanding. It's about 30% in Europe and 15% in the US.

 

Parents in our part of the world strongly believe that a good education is a passport for a secure life and since they want the best for their children the parents expect the youngsters to work extremely hard and get good grades.

 

However coping with parental pressure and high expectations is not something that school children always enjoy. More often than not even the bright students find the stiff competition and the constant nagging and pushing by parents quite annoying. The stress created in the young minds could be quite devastating.

 

What the story of the two Trinco based eleven year-olds who ended up in Jaffna on learning of their dismal performance at the term test, tells is that there's much to be desired from the parents on coaching and guiding their children in studies.Although it may sound quite clichetic one cannot help but remind that nowadays youngsters hardly enjoy their childhood. Life is often a stressful grind – schooling in the morning and tuition classes in afternoon sometimes running into evenings and also in the weekends.

 

For the two young girls to find it such an ordeal to return home with their report cards and to go to the extent of fleeing the hometown and heading towards an unknown destination, one can imagine the intensity of the fear psychosis created by their parents. One often hears about suicide attempts by students who get poor grades at the ordinary level examination.

 

The two girls were fortunate that no mishap took place during their journey. The post-war peaceful environs definitely would have made it easier for the distraught parents to trace their daughters. While one hopes that no other child would venture on such a reckless journey fearing reprimands and punishment from parents, the incident no doubt would have served as an eye opener for all parents who make exams and even term tests quite a nightmare for their children.

 

While motivation is mandatory it is also important to know where to draw the line when it comes to guiding and coaching the child.

 

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DAILY MIRROR

EDITORIAL

TWO THIRDS FOR THE THIRD TERM SOON

 

Barely two days after the controversial Deputy Minister of Highways Mervyn Silva tied up a Samurdhi official to a tree for allegedly not attending a dengue prevention programme in Kelaniya, two parliamentarians from the United National Party (UNP) joined the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The member of the Democratic People's Front (DPF), formerly known as the Democratic Workers Congress (DWC) and Western People's Front (WPF), Prabha Ganesan and the leader of the National Union of Workers (NUW) P. Digambaram expressed their solidarity to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the President's current official residence, Temple Trees in the morning on last Thursday and crossed the floor of the Parliament in the evening, officially confirming their change of allegiance.

 

Interestingly, this cross over from the UNP occurred barely two weeks after a staunch supporter of the UNP, Rienzie Algama self immolated in front of the UNP Headquarters in Kotte in order to show his frustration over his party's poor performance for years. Also the two MPs have turned coat at a time when the UNP leaders are desperately finding a way out from the current leadership as well as strategic mess the party is in, with a drastic party reform process.

 

In totality, these incidents were indications of the predicament of the Opposition, or for that matter the UNP is currently facing.

 

Another valid point that would undoubtedly rouse the interest of the readers is that both these Tamil MPs crossed over to the Government at a time when the Government is being accused of letting the Tamils down by going back on its words that a political solution to the ethnic problem would be found, despite more than one year having passed since the end of the war.

 

Most importantly they teamed up with the ruling coalition as the leaders of it maneuvering to amend the Constitution most probably to enable the main party in the coalition, SLFP and the incumbent President to cling on to power for a long time, at least another six years after the Presidential election in 2016.

 

As in many cross over cases the reasons (or the excuses) given by the two Parliamentarians for their somersault to the government ranks from the Opposition were not new and were not a far cry from the arguments by the UNP MPs who crossed over to the Government since 2006. Most of them attributed their marriage with the Government to their purported desire to strengthen the hands of the President who was then at war with the LTTE. But, on the other hand, President Rajapaksa himself had said on several occasions that he had to have a mega Cabinet since he was compelled to take MPs from the Opposition to avert a collapse of his minority Government.

 

Politicians normally do dare to insult the intelligence of the people who they claim on various platforms are intelligent and cannot be fooled.

 

For instance, Deputy Minister Silva, after tying up the Samurdhi officer said in the Parliament on Wednesday that he has not tied up anybody. He held a paper sheet in his hand, purportedly a letter given by the Samurdhi officer concerned, and said that he (the officer) had tied himself up, to be an example of discipline to others.

 

He was saying this to the people who on the previous night watched him on television ordering his officials to tie the man up.

 

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena who is also the General Secretary of the main party of the ruling coalition, the SLFP had said that no one had complained to any institution that someone had been tied up to a tree, as if the party acts only on official representation and party leaders are robots, sans the five senses. The Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella on Thursday said that the Samurdhi official can lodge a complaint with the police if anything of the sort had happened. The Minister was suggesting lodging a complaint, when the purported letter read out in the Parliament speaks a lot for itself.

 

The latest insult on the intelligence of the people was the reason cited by the two Tamil MPs of Indian Origin, Ganesan and Digambaram that they joined the Government since it is only while being with the Government that they would be able to serve their people, the people of Indian Origin, though it is somewhat true and poses questions of governance.

 

They were not the first Parliamentarians to team up with the Government with the same claim. Thondamans did it. Ashraffs did it. Chandrasekarans who were very close to the LTTE and had been accused of giving sanctuary to Varadhan who blasted the Joint Operational Command (JOC) in Colombo in early nineties also said this before. Douglas Devanandas have been saying this all along since early nineties and very recently Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna said it.

 

The irony of this pattern of incidents has been that people ridicule and even call it treacherous to join the Government with the claim that they want to serve their people and they themselves later do it. The DPF and the NUW had questioned the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) so many times in the past as to what it had done to the down trodden people in the tea and rubber estates in the hill country by clinging on to the Government. Now, the brother of Prabha Ganesan and the leader of the DPF, Mano Ganesan calls his brother's crossing over to the Government a treacherous act, in a statement.

 

It had been the public knowledge as to what would have been the fate of those Tamils in the east who collaborated with the Government some seven years ago at the hands of Karuna, the then feared Eastern leader of the LTTE. But now as a minister he regurgitates a theory of collaboration with the establishment.

 

However, one has to look at these latest crossings over. placing them in the larger picture, the national politics. The duo drove up to the Temple Trees, the place where President Rajapaksa held talks with the leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe on the Constitutional reforms on July 12, making it difficult for the Opposition Leader to continue those deliberations furthermore with the President.

 

This happens to be a repetition of the history. 16 UNP parliamentarians crossed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's then minority Government on January 28, 2007, in a context where a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between the ruling SLFP and the UNP for cooperation in and out of the parliament.

 

Interestingly, that mass cross over occurred while demands were pressing Wickremesinghe, as happens now, to install an internal party democracy that would elect its offices rather than them being appointed by the leader.

 

All indications now are that President is determined to have that precious two thirds in the Parliament to alter the Constitution and he seems to prefer to have it on his own rather than with the support of the Opposition, in which case he would have to give in to conditions. There would be nothing to be surprised at, if the pendulum swings back to the claim of third term of Executive Presidency from that of Executive Premiership that was made lately.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN

EDITORIAL

DO ACT

The government formation process has been extremely painful since Madhav Kumar Nepal stepped down as Prime Minister on June 30. The Legislature Parliament has already gone through as many as four rounds of elections between July 21 and August 6 to elect a new prime minister, but to no avail. The fifth election is slated for August 18. On Saturday, Speaker and Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang urged the political parties to give the country a new prime minister on that day. But will the world's youngest republic be able to get a new executive head that day – that's the question sitting on the topmost layer of the public psyche. As things stand today, it looks rather improbable and it is likely that the parliamentary election is again going to prove a futile exercise because the Communist Party of Nepal-UML and constituents of the United Madhesi Democratic Font have effectively been abstaining from the voting. UML and UMDF know their participation is critical to government formation, but neither has been acting responsibly and accountably. Whatever may be the reasons, these parties' decision to 'stay neutral' has held the country hostage, without a duly elected government in place for more than six weeks. If Nepal does not have a government, to put it bluntly, it's because of the UML decision to stay neutral. The Madhes-based parties, even as they are just beginning to take shape in Nepal's political landscape, are no less to blame for the deadlock. The UML and UDMF must internalize the fact that electing a new prime minister is not just about making somebody the prime minister or not, it is linked with the ongoing peace process and the constitution-writing, both to be done by April 13. Taking into account the gravity of the situation at hand, neither UML nor UDMF can or should 'stay neutral' any longer. Now, these two must take the decision to either to support Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel who remain stayed put in the fray. They must understand that harping on consensus makes no sense, because the we have already been heavily into process of electing a prime minister backed by the parliamentary majority. 

Consensus is a great idea, but, let's face it, it has not happened in UML itself or in UDMF or in the Maoist party itself. Any delay or protracted indecision on the part of UML and UDMF either to back this or that candidate will backfire on them only. If they do not give an outlet to the impasse, these parties will definitely lose their moral ground to appeal to the general public to vote for them during the general or any other election. Apart from taking part in the vote due on August 18, the political parties, CPN-Maoist in particular, should make sure that they do no longer engage and indulge in dirty power games. Poaching lawmakers from another party and encouraging them through unfair means to cross the floor just to garner the majority votes is absolutely an unparliamentary, undemocratic exercise and such practices must stop. It only undermines democracy and the parliamentary system that we have embraced.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN

EDITORIAL

TRAGIC TOLL

According to data from the police there are a worrying number of suicide cases in the country, and it is estimated that as many as three persons on an average take their lives every 24 hours. The police reported 136 suicide cases between June 15 and July 31. Those committing suicide came from different walks of life showing that many are vulnerable. The reasons for committing suicide are manifold such as frustration, depression, relationship breakups, unemployment and domestic violence, among others. A holistic approach should be implemented to reduce to incidence of suicide. A good way to start with would be by identifying the high risk groups. For example, there are many suicides attributed to domestic violence. A way to curb it would be to avail of the services of counselors to help the victims learn to cope with such form of abuse and to prevent them from taking their life.

This recent statistics about the number of suicide cases was indeed startling and something that should be delved into. Since the loss of human lives is indeed tragic by any account it is high time experts worked in helping reduce the number of such cases.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN

EDITORIAL

BOOSTING FDI INFLOWS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT MUST

BHUBANESH PANT

The global recession has largely affected foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. According to World Investment Report 2010 released recently the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), following a 16 per cent decline in 2008, global FDI inflows plummeted by 37 per cent to US$ 1,114 billion in 2009, while outflows declined by about 43 per cent to US$ 1,101 billion. Likewise, FDI inflows to developing and transition economies went down by 27 per cent to US$ 548 billion in 2009 after six years of continuous growth while FDI outflows from developing and transition economies contracted by 21 per cent. 
UNCTAD estimates that global FDI flows will slowly recover to touch over US$ 1.2 trillion in 2010, before moving up further to US$ 1.3–1.5 trillion in 2011. Only in 2012 is FDI anticipated to recover to its pre-crisis level, with a range estimated at US$ 1.6–2 trillion. However, risks and uncertainties exist, including the fragility of the global economic recovery. 

Nepal, as a conflict-ridden, vulnerable and resource poor least developed country (LDC) has been able to attract little FDI due to the presence of various obstacles such as inadequate development of macroeconomic environment, infrastructure deficits, bureaucratic inefficiency, complex and unsynchronized set of regulations, disadvantageous geographical situation and lack of entrepreneurship and managerial capacity. Again, the country's low export propensity in manufacturing reflects, inter alia, the risk inherent in the instability of the legal and economic framework for doing business. One of the major deterrents to investment is the threat of resumed violence, a fear that is spurred by the fragile political coalition, weak government, and a pervasive lack of trust. 

The Nepalese policymakers are confronted with the task of creating an integrated and comprehensive approach to post-conflict reconstruction with a view to sustainable economic development, political stability and peace consolidation. In trying to attain these objectives, FDI can complement internally generated revenue and foreign aid and bring added advantages, both tangible and intangible. FDI helps to create employment opportunities, can transfer new skills and technologies, and provides private capital to increase the productive capacity of the country, helping it to shift from aid-dependent to investment-driven reconstruction. Overall, the long-term prospects for growth and poverty reduction, to a large degree, rely on the country's ability to attract and retain foreign investment. 

Nepal's foreign investment and rules and regulation are based on the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 1992, which was amended in 1996. As per this Act, foreign investment refers to the undergoing investment made by a foreign investor in any industry: a) investment in share (equity); b) reinvestment of the earnings derived from the investment in share (equity); and c) investment made in the form of loan or loan facilities. The minimum investment needs to be equivalent to about US$ 20,000.

Development priorities of Nepal include achieving sustained economic and human development to reduce poverty by strengthening technological capacities and skills, improving access to world markets, and creating more and better employment opportunities. To pursue these strategies, the country requires significantly increased flow of investment capital, especially FDI. However, globalization has led to an increase in competition for FDI among developing countries thereby making it even more difficult for Nepal to attract new investment flows. 

A gamut of meas ures needs to be initiated for boosting FDI flows to Nepal. In the first place, the country needs to attract FDI and direct them to productive sectors as well as other priority areas. Emphasis should be accorded on attracting high quality and technology diffusing FDI flows. In encouraging FDI, Nepal needs to introduce targeted and sector specific investment incentives to facilitate FDI into priority sectors. 

Secondly, there is a need of a complete revision of the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act of 1992 in the light of Nepal's entry into the WTO, SAFTA and BIMSTEC. Thirdly, in the absence of accurate and reliable FDI data, policy makers in Nepal face difficulties in the formulation of appropriate investment policies. In this context, the country's participation in the Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS) that is currently being conducted by the IMF will, to a large extent, facilitate in the compilation of accurate FDI data. 
Finally, and most importantly, the issue of peace and stability must be addressed with increased urgency. Stable political and economic environment provides foreign investors confidence that the "rules of the game," or laws and regulations relating to their investment and the markets in which they operate, will remain basically the same over the long term. For this, there is a need of a strong political will that enhances and creates an enabling environment for FDI inflows.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN

EDITORIAL

WRONG SIDE OF DIVIDE

ARUN KUMAR SRIVASTAV

Recently, I read a piece on poverty and how difficult it is to come out of its vicious circle. A poor becomes truly poor in most other walks of life as well. Financial status becomes a curse if one is on the wrong side of the divide. The worst, poverty has a crippling effect on one's psyche. One is not able to think beyond one's immediate concerns like food, medical care for children and self. One tragedy or a hope shattered, and the poor man is on his knees. He is virtually ready for anything. For women, it's time to shed vanity. For men, it's time to shed fear for law. The hunger of self and the glint in the eyes of children are enough provocation. It's a turning point.

No rich ever bothers to visit the poor in their lowly dwellings. No bureaucrat will go there unless required by the job. Modern day editors don't have that kind of time. So, what is our real connect with the poor? 
Those of us who have lived in comfortable settings, studied English among other things, and work 9 to 5 for a decent, reliable income are in sharp contrast with those living in shanties. Few true love stories emanate from the dirty neighbourhoods of the poor in which the protagonist is from a rich and sophisticated set up. Is the divide between the poor and the rich complete? Most of these poor people do not read English and the womenfolk in our society hardly ever read a newspaper, let alone those living in slums. These papers often have reports about the poor. And many a time, people gifted with writing skills use their skills to portray a vivid picture of poor man's life, and also of women. These details are read only by those who can read English, a rich man's language in our country. Based on these descriptions, policies for the poor and poverty eradication are made. 

So, when people's divide on economic lines is near complete and government policies, made by those on the right side of the divide, are more to cheat than benefit them, how do we recall our distant, poor relatives? Or better still, how do our poor and therefore distant relatives remember us? With invisible tears and a resounding silence, says a woman who runs a pub in a downmarket locality some distances away from Pashupatinath temple. Though a revolutionary love story is far from the sight, the emotions are flaring. And, it's feeling nice.

 

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