EDITORIAL SAMARTH: EDITORIAL 30.08.11

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Editorial

month august 30, edition 000823, collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul

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THE PIONEER

SLOGANS NO SOLUTIONS

HOME TO ALL TERRORISTS

CELEBRATING BIG BROTHER - SANDHYA JAIN

SKELETONS IN THE CUPBOARD - SHIKHA MUKERJEE

UNFETTERED CAPITAL FLOW RECONSIDERED - ESWAR PRASAD

IRAN WARNS OF REGIONAL CRISIS IF SYRIAN REGIME FALLS

THE TIMES OF INDIA

CLEANSE THE SYSTEM

LEADING NEPAL

PARLIAMENT IS FOR PEOPLE - ZOYA HASAN

BLAME PLAYER, NOT GAME

HARMFUL ESCAPE FROM REALITY - SRIJANA MITRA DAS

COLOURS OF VIOLENCE - DIGVIJAY SINGH

HINDUSTAN TIMES

AN EARLY SPRING IN THE VALLEY

FLAG IT, WHICHEVER WAY

THE BUZZ

HIS FATHER'S SON - ELIZA GRISWOLD

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS - FARRUKH DHONDY

THE INDIAN EXPRESS

STICKER SHOCK

COPYCAT MAMATA?

FINALLY A PM

DEBATE'S JUST STARTED - PRATAP BHANU MEHTA

SPEAK FOR YOURSELVES - ABDUL KHALIQ

'THE LARGENESS OF STRUCTURE IN THE JAN LOKPAL BY ITSELF BECOMES AN ISSUE OF CORRUPTION' - SHEKHAR GUPTA

THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

WHO WILL FINANCE GROWTH?

PROFIT FROM EDUCATION

A LOST CHANCE TO JOLT AILING AMERICA - CLIVE CROOK

REFORM ELECTORATES FIRST - M R MADHAVAN

THE HINDU

REPUBLICANS AGAINST SCIENCE

NEW ZEALAND NEWS AGENCY CLOSING AFTER 132 YEARS

POSITIVE STEP IN SRI LANKA

KASHMIR'S UNIDENTIFIED DEAD

THE EGYPTIAN SPRING: THE EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR WRITES

LIBYAN NOVELIST HAILS 'ASTONISHING' REVOLUTION - CHARLOTTE HIGGINS

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO BE PART OF NEW FUTURE - HAROON HABIB

LIBYAN CULTURAL HERITAGE IN DANGER OF GOING THE IRAQI WAY - VLADIMIR RADYUHIN

THE ASIAN AGE

US FED, IMF SOUND WARNING BELLS

NOW, PARIBARTAN IN THE NAME TOO - ASHOK MALIK

CORRUPTION, FAST FORWARD - PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA

DAILY EXCELSIOR

BREACH OF TRUST

NO MORE LAXITY

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION - BY DR P K VASUDEVA

WILD FRUITS IN RAINFED AREAS OF JAMMU - BY DR. PARSHANT BAKSHI AND DR. V.K.WALI

ANNA SHAKES UP INDIAN POLITY - BY S. SETHURAMAN

THE TRIBUNE

AMNESTY FOR STONE-THROWERS

NEPAL HAS A PM, AT LAST

HANGING ON TO HOPE

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION - BY S. NIHAL SINGH

VALLEY OF HAPPINESS - BY P.C. SHARMA

TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN A DEATH TRAP - G. N. DEVY

MUMBAI MIRROR

WHEN ATHLETICS JUMPED THE GUN

BUSINESS STANDARD

HOBSON'S CHOICE

A TALE OF TWO GOVERNMENTS

CHINA'S NEW CURRENCY POLICY - MARTIN FELDSTEIN

PIRATES OF THE CELLULOID

VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR - LOOK BEYOND LOK PAL - A K BHATTACHARYA

SOUTH ASIAN CROSSROADS - SANJAYA BARU

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

CONSCIENCE KEEPERS

WEATHER OR NOT

LOOK NOT WESTWARD FOR CHEER

THROUGH THE THIRD EYE

BATTLE AHEAD FOR ANNA & PARTIES - MOHAN SAHAY

BUSINESS LINE

IN SEARCH OF HONESTY - R. SUNDARAM

NOT BY A FEE ALONE

INFLATION BEYOND CONTROL OF MONETARY POLICY - NITYA NANDA

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK - SUMITA KALE

LET'S GET REAL ABOUT CORRUPTION - RASHEEDA BHAGAT

ANATOMY OF INDIA'S FARM 'TURNAROUND' - HARISH DAMODARAN

DECCAN CHRONICAL

HAS BJP RUN OUT OF IDEAS?

US FED, IMF SOUND WARNING BELLS

NOW, PARIBARTAN IN THE NAME TOO

REPUBLICANS ARE WILFULLY IGNORANT OF SCIENCE

CORRUPTION, FAST FORWARD

VICTORY MARCH FINE. NOW BATTLE BEGINS

THE STATESMAN

SENSE EXTRACTED

THE MIDDLEMAN

BLASPHEMY AND AFTER

LAND AND LIFE - BY KP BATTACHARJEE

A LETTER FROM AMERICA -

CROSSING THE BRIDGE - SHYAMAL ROY

MYANMAR ASKED TO IMPROVE RIGHTS SITUATION

THE TELEGRAPH

FAST LESSON

FINISHING LINE

STATELESS SOCIETIES - BÉTEILLE

TIME FOR ACTION - MALVIKA SINGH

TELANGANA AND THE MUSLIM QUESTION - UDDALAK MUKHERJEE

DECCAN HERALD

A GENIUS DEPARTS

IT WASN'T GANDHIAN - B G VERGHESE

WAGES OF NEGLECT

OHERALDO

THE CBI IS UNDER WATCH ON THE ATALA CASE

JUSTICE WITHOUT THE STATE - DARIAN WORDEN

GOA POLICE: ABOVE THE LAW?

HAARTEZ

IT IS TIME FOR A A NEW ORDER IN THE SINAI

THE ISRAELI LEFT NEEDS BOTH PEACE AND WELFARE - BY AKIVA ELDAR

WE'RE NOT REALLY FREE - BY MERAV MICHAELI

THE MOSHES' MISTAKES - BY ELIA LEIBOWITZ

ISRAEL'S SOCIAL PROTESTERS CHOOSE LIFE OVER DEATH - BY URI TUVAL

THE NEW YORK TIMES

NATO'S TEACHABLE MOMENT

TARGETING WOMEN

DOWN AND OUT AT THE POST OFFICE

END THE SLUSH

THE HAIMISH LINE - BY DAVID BROOKS

MANUFACTURING A RECOVERY - BY SUSAN HOCKFIELD

TIMES FREE PRESS

IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE IRENE

A POTENTIAL PROBLEM AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

LOW TENNESSEE, LOCAL TEST SCORES

U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH ALARMINGLY SLOW

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

A TALE OF THREE GENERALS

A TOOL TO IMPROVE TURKEY'S 'ARGUMENTATIONAL IQ'

WHEN PM POSES NEXT TO A MAN WITH BAD RECORD ON WOMEN

SOMETHING ROTTEN IN DENIZ FENERI CASE

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES CHANGED WITH DECREES

TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY - STEFAN FUELE

GADHAFI — FROM ALLY TO DEVIL

THE NEWS

MANIC MANOEUVRES

THE CHITRAL INCURSION

NO ORDINARY ALLEGATIONS - RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI

REVIVING THE ECONOMY - DR ASHFAQUE H KHAN

CELEBRATING A REVOLUTION - AIJAZ ZAKA SYED

VOICES FROM THE PAST - MIR ABDUL AZIZ

HISTORY'S LESSONS

A SOMBRE EID - TANVIR AHMAD KHAN

PAKISTAN OBSERVER

MIRZA'S STARTLING WIKILEAKS

WOES OF MID-CAREER BUREAUCRATS

GRANT OF MFN STATUS TO INDIA

NEED TO LOWER INCIDENCE OF CORRUPTION - MOHAMMAD JAMIL

MAYHEM IN KARACHI - ALI ASHRAF KHAN

NEIGHBOURS & THEIR RIGHTS — 29 - SIRAJUDDIN AZIZ

DR QADEER'S CLARION CALL - BURHANUDDIN HASAN

A BODY BLOW AGAINST AL-QAEDA - DAVID IGNATIUS

THE AUSTRALIYAN

SALUTING THE BRAVE MORCOMBES

NANNY GOES COMPLETELY DOTTY

OUR UNION LEADERS NEED SOME LESSONS FROM BILL

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

BUILDER BARRY'S BONDS FOR ALL

THE BAR STILL NEEDS RAISING

LIBYA MUST AVOID A SHOW TRIAL FOR GADDAFI

FARE DODGERS OWE US ALL, BIG TIME

THE GUARDIAN

DALE FARM EVICTIONS: TRAVELLERS' DESPAIR

IN PRAISE OF … STATION JIM

JAPAN: SIFTING THROUGH THE MUCK

THE JAPAN TIMES

'PROTECTION RACKET' FOR NET DOMAIN NAMES - BY ESTHER DYSON

TEXAS GOVERNOR PUSHES EU-STYLE FEDERALISM - BY EZRA KLEIN

REVOLUTION IS FAR FROM OVER FOR SELF-RESPECTING RUSSIANS - BY LEON ARON

MR. BIDEN GOES TO ASIA

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THE PIONEER

EDITORIAL

SLOGANS NO SOLUTIONS

WE CAN DO WITHOUT SIMPLISTIC IDEAS

A simplistic assessment of what ails India, or the system of governance in this country, is bound to result in simplistic solutions that may find traction with the ill-informed if not uneducated sections of the masses and fetch unrestrained applause for those who propose them but should cause concern among the thinking classes. There is a case for appointing an empowered oversight authority to ensure that politicians and bureaucrats do not abuse their power to feather their nests, as has been done in recent times by members of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet and those entrusted with organising events like the Commonwealth Games of last year. But as the experience of similar oversight committees elsewhere (for instance in Indonesia) shows, anti-graft laws by themselves are not sufficient to contain or eliminate corruption — governance reforms are also needed to remove reasons and incentives for giving and accepting bribes. Anna Hazare and his team of civil society activists are not entirely unaware of this necessity and as much is reflected in their statements calling for reforms, especially in the manner of electing representatives to various bodies of governance, from panchayats to Parliament. India does need electoral reforms, along with radical reforms in many other areas, including the judiciary, but it would be dangerous to allow popular slogans that stir emotions in the streets to become the architecture of those reforms.

The right to reject all candidates in an election and the right to recall elected representatives may find a certain resonance with habitual naysayers and those who exult in agitprop as a means of demonstrating their power to force the Government's hands, but the implications of instituting such changes in our electoral system are clearly of no consequence to them. In any event, reforms are not about pandering to populist demands; on the contrary, the best reforms often lack a popular appeal. Also, reforms cannot be seen in isolation, they must be part of a holistic approach towards giving a new direction to governance which, in turn, is decided in large measure by long-term goals that further our national interest.

If we must look at reforms, we will have to do so with great care and caution. Mere tinkering with existing laws does not amount to reforms; what is called for is framing and adopting an entirely new system. For instance, electoral reforms cannot be just about introducing the right to reject candidates in an election or recall elected representatives. That would be self-defeating and utterly meaningless. What we need to look at is a new model of electing representatives that will help eliminate the infirmities of the current system and, more importantly, remove the scope for political corruption.

That would mean looking at the system of proportionate representation based on votes secured by political parties with candidates from pre-declared lists making it to elected bodies. But it would also mean redefining the role of each elected body — if we were to adopt such a model, MPs cannot be expected to nurse constituencies or serve as drain inspectors; they would be full-time policy-makers, which is what they really should be.

This, of course, is only one example. There are many other models available. Let's look beyond slogans to titillate the lowest common denominator.

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THE PIONEER

EDITORIAL

HOME TO ALL TERRORISTS

AL QAEDA DEPUTY CHIEF KILLED IN PAKISTAN!

The death of Al Qaeda's influential second-in-command in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan has no doubt served a body blow to the terrorist organisation. It has also, once again, highlighted Pakistan as the default safe haven for terrorists that doubles as the global exporter of jihadi violence. It maybe noted that after US Navy SEALS killed Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad in Pakistan on May 2, there was much discussion and debate on whether the country's civilian-military establishment was aware of the terrorist's presence a short distance from their national capital, if its powerful intelligence agency — now discredited as a terror-sponsoring organisation — was colluding with the chief of the world's most dangerous terror network, so on and so forth. Pakistani authorities had cried themselves hoarse that they were unaware of the world's most wanted terrorist living in a mansion in a high security zone right under their noses. That few across the world believed them is an entirely different matter. At the time, only the US — Pakistan's estranged ally in the war on terror — had offered a somewhat half-hearted consolation that it had no proof of the state's involvement which was clearly a last ditch attempt by Washington, DC to salvage whatever remained of the world's most nebulous diplomatic and strategic alliance. In the four months since Osama bin Laden's death, much has changed. For one, the US no longer pretends to have anything more than a reluctant, use-and-throw relationship with Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, has clearly indicated that it is willing to switch loyalties from the American dollar to the Chinese remnibi. And yet a whole lot still remains the same: Pakistan continues to shelter terrorists within its borders. And the US continues to hunt them down with the CIA then sending in drones to carry out targetted killings of terrorists hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hence, the killing of another top Al Qaeda leader in a US drone attack in Pakistan should not come as a surprise to anyone. And make no mistake: Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was by all means a terrorist to be feared. He was also one of the few remaining members of Osama bin Laden's core group. Along with Ayman al-Zawahiri, Rahman had been charged with rebuilding Al Qaeda by improving its relations with affiliate terror groups and reframing its recruitment strategy which had taken a beating after largely peaceful agitations to overthrow autocrats in the Arab world. He was also supposed to be planning spectacular attacks on American targets to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That his August 22 death has come only days before the event has tremendous strategic and symbolic value.

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THE PIONEER

COLUMN

CELEBRATING BIG BROTHER

SANDHYA JAIN

The proposed Lokpal Bill, incorporating the demands of Anna Hazare, will create a frightening supra-Government with sweeping powers.

There is startling synchronicity between Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi's speech on the Lokpal issue in the Lok Sabha on Friday and the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. This lends weight to suspicions that one objective of the Ramlila Maidan blitz is to destabilise Mr Manmohan Singh and elevate Mr Rahul Gandhi to the Prime Minister's Office.

Mr Gandhi advocated that the Lokpal be made a statutory institution like the Election Commission. The Jan Lokpal positions itself as a statutory body with draconian powers over all organs of the state, with zero checks and balances.

Some points deserve mention. Team Anna was curiously willing to allow the septuagenarian to continue his fast. Once the Government said that ending the fast was the responsibility of Anna Hazare's associates, the latter strangely opted to continue the fast, and the 'failing' leader stabilised his health and stamina. One wonders if the refusal to allow Government doctors to examine Mr Hazare, as mandated by the Supreme Court, has anything to do with this.

Corruption is as destructive of nation and society as terrorism. But for an effective response, the nation perhaps needs a policy of no negotiation with blackmailers, as with terrorists. This would give the Government and legislators the freedom to study the anti-corruption issue seriously and enact just laws. Given the shrillness of the media and NGOs on the issue, both must come under the ambit of the proposed law.

As for the draft Jan Lokpal Bill, it decimates all normal courts and police stations in the country as the Lokpal assumes powers to "detect corruption by expeditious investigation and to prosecute offenders". Indeed, the Lokpal elevates itself into a dangerous supra-Government.

Corruption, under this draft, is defined as anything punishable under Chapter IX of the Indian Penal Code or Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, including any offence committed by an elected member of a legislature even in respect of his speech or vote inside the House. This is an assault upon Parliament and democracy; little wonder all political parties have reservations regarding the draft and the motives of those pushing it. In fact, the Supreme Court should suo motu opine whether this perverts a basic feature of the Constitution.

The draft Jan Lokpal Bill also wants the right to inquire into the assets declarations filed by successful candidates after election to any House of Parliament. (This would extend to the States once they pass a similar legislation).

The proposed 11-member Lokpal would have administrative, financial and functional independence from the Government; at least four members would have a legal background. These would be selected (the nepotism of the elite) by a Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister. But the Selection Committee would have to select members from a panel prepared by a Search Committee, the chairperson of which shall be a person with extensive knowledge of law. The Lokpal, it seems, is conceived as a paradise of crusading lawyers who would likely get lucrative assignments from the said body.

The 10-member Search Committee shall be appointed by the Selection Committee (nepotism) from amongst retired Chief Justices of India, retired Chief Election Commissioners and retired Comptrollers & Auditor-Generals with impeccable reputations. They shall by consensus co-opt five members from Civil Society (nepotism) into the Search Committee. The Search Committee shall invite nominations from such eminent individuals or persons it deems fit (a closed circle; selection by nomination only).

The Lokpal members will have a five -year tenure but can hold office till the age of 70 years; this raises suspicions that the draft sponsors have specific individuals in mind for the posts and hence the haste in pushing the issue. The draft mentions removal of the Lokpal, but there is no right to recall a Lokpal who dissatisfies the people.

Mr Hazare's draft bestows upon the chairperson and members of the Lokpal a salary equal to that of the Chief Justice of India and judge of the Supreme Court respectively, along with allowances, pensions and other conditions of service. The Secretary to the Lokpal will have the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. All expenses of the Lokpal are to be fully charged to the Consolidated Fund of India, with no Government say in the matter.

The question arises, why shouldn't the Lokpals be appointed by the Union Public Service Commission and subjected to the same rules and service conditions as regular Government servants? After all, they want pensions after five years of service.

A major danger comes from the Lokpal positioning itself above the Indian economy, a situation which can favour multi-national corporations seeking to keep Ministers, officials and judges in line. None of the moral crusaders at Ramlila Maidan spoke against the gargantuan corruption in the Commonwealth Games' contracts, but their version of the Lokpal wants the right "to recommend cancellation or modification of a lease, license, permission, contract or agreement, it if was obtained by corrupt means and to recommend blacklisting of a firm, company, contractor or any other person involved in an act of corruption".

One article cannot list the glaring defects in the draft. It wants its investigating officers to enjoy all powers vested in a police officer investigating offences under the CrPC and in the director of Enforcement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. It will have the powers of a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which are truly mind-boggling.

Above all, it wants the power to intercept telephones, monitor the Internet and any other forms of communications. The punitive powers are staggering — jail terms up to life imprisonment; fines recoverable as arrears of land revenue (public auction of property); right to deduct fines from salaries of non-conforming Government servants; right to appoint George Orwell-style 'Big Brothers' in every district, and confiscate assets and properties deemed to be acquired by corrupt acts, including parental properties.

This fascist Bill is a recipe for simultaneous paralysis and hyperactivity in all Government departments. No Minister or officer will take a decision that could bring a motivated Lokpal inquiry; officials will gang up against officers who incur the Lokpal's anger to save their own skins and salaries; but deals favoured by one or 10 Little Emperors will have a smooth passage. No wonder there is no right to recall and no clear procedure for removing a corrupt Lokpal. Indeed, the draft does not even envisage the possibility of a corrupt Lokpal.

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THE PIONEER

OPED

SKELETONS IN THE CUPBOARD

SHIKHA MUKERJEE

The CPI(M) finds itself defending the indefensible as skeletons of victims of the party cadre's excesses literally come tumbling out of its cupboard — or, more specifically, are exhumed from the backyards of the homes of its leaders. The Trinamool Congress is leaving no stone unturned to expose the CPI(M), but there is nothing that the Marxists can complain about. If the Left Front had acted in time, such crimes would not have gone unpunished

The blow-by-blow unravelling of the skeleton scandal in West Bengal mimics a village exorcism. Leaders and members of the CPI(M) are evil incarnate and exorcising the body politic of the power that they possessed is necessary to restore West Bengal to normalcy. For a successful exorcism of evil, there has to be the personification of the evil. And, the exorcism has to be performed in the public domain, just as happens in rural West Bengal where the shaman does her bit with a crowd of witnesses to confirm that indeed the evil was driven out.

The daily bulletin on the evil acts of former Minister Sushanta Ghosh of the CPI(M) and his associates (even though some are eager to speedily disassociate themselves from him) is like the unfolding of a marathon exorcism. As more skeletons are disinterred from muddy graves, not the ones already found in Benachapra near Garbeta in West Midnapore, the ritual of exorcism gains in credibility. As also it reaffirms the rightness of the choice made by voters in evicting the CPI(M) from power and vesting their trust in Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The concentration of evil in the districts of East and West Midnapore is intriguing. The two most controversial leaders of the CPI(M), Mr Lakshman Seth and Mr Sushanta Ghosh, were both larger-than-life, greater-than-the-party leaders from adjacent territories. Mr Seth was pulled off this pillar in the 2009 Lok Sabha election when he lost the Haldia seat in East Midnapore. That left Mr Ghosh as the sole defender of the Marxist bastion in both parts of Midnapore, whose evil had to be undone. His arrest and the investigations currently underway are, therefore, necessary for the exorcism to be completed.

Nailing Mr Ghosh for the crime of killing seven persons is the job of the police and the courts. Nailing him for allegedly organising training camps for Marxist gunmen is a different crime altogether. Therefore, combining the two and producing this giant size evil incarnate has more to do with exorcising the power of the CPI(M) than with criminal investigations. By doing so, the Trinamool Congress is, in effect, on the one hand, magnifying the CPI(M)s capabilities and on the other, discrediting the legitimacy of the party by revealing the desperate means it used to hold on to power.

Serialising the uncovering of crime by the CPI(M) is politically necessary. Despite the ignominious defeat, the party nevertheless received 1.96 crore votes, that is 41 per cent of the total votes polled. That makes it a currently weak, but nevertheless a potentially strong political force. That its shadow looms over West Bengal is evident not on account of what it is doing now, but in the almost constant comparisons that the Trinamool Congress makes as it works on putting its imprint on politics and governance in the state. In demonising the CPI(M), the act of exorcising acquires a greater dimension than is probably necessary, given the disenchantment of the larger part of the population with the regime that was rejected. By using the CPI(M) as the yardstick for comparison, the Trinamool Congress may end up patterning its efforts on what is best erased from political and public life in the State.

The warning issued by the Chief Minister against inactive members of her own Cabinet as well as truants within the party is a grim reminder that in West Bengal, the culture of work has been vitiated. In voicing her misgivings about the activities of some of her party men, the Chief Minister has signalled her 'zero tolerance' approach towards corruption. Membership of the ruling political party has been used in the past to abuse power and enrich those who can represent themselves as closely linked to the powerful. The CPI(M) is finding this out now, whereas the Trinamool Congress is conscious of it already.

The report card of the first 90 days of the new regime is an example of this compulsion to compare. With painstaking care, the West Bengal Government has noted the initiatives and achievements of the new regime, detailing the number of villages electrified in the Sundarbans to the length of roads constructed to the Herculean task of managing the State's chaotic finances.

The worry is that habits of abuse seem to be deeply ingrained. Unlearning these habits may be as difficult as restoring efficiency, impartiality and accountability to the administration. The power of networks, social and political, far exceeds the capability of the existing administration structures to meet the expectations, aspirations and entitlements of the people. By announcing that she will take stock every two months of the progress on plans and programmes of the Government, the Chief Minister is signalling that by compelling the administration to be effective and efficient, she will reduce the risk of abuse.

The need to do so is urgent. As the new Government struggles to fill the vacancies created by the exit of the old order on various committees and in different institutions, the accusation of partisan appointments has already begun to circulate, especially in bodies linked to education and higher education. Inevitable as the accusations are, the need to be seen to be doing things differently has raised the bar for assessing the performance of the new Government.

Early as it is to begin scrutinising the work initiated by the Trinamool Congress Government, the push to do so is emanating from the newly elected regime because it is using the past as a reference. This is inescapable since the Chief Minister is also the leader of the Trinamool Congress. The absence of distinction has some advantages. It allows the Chief Minister to directly and speedily intercede as and when the need may arise, unlike in the CPI(M) where the elaborate systems of management designed to deliver an effective administration malfunctioned disastrously. Therefore, the State Government was paralysed in dealing with gruesome incidents of violence such as the Benachapra killings because it was politically determined as out of bound. Whether or not Mr Ghosh was directly responsible for the deaths of the seven persons in 2002, the fact is that the then State Government did not pursue the case to its logical conclusion.

Cleaning up after the CPI M as the Trinamool Congress must, it has its work cut out because it cannot be seen to be following in the footsteps of its defeated rival. It must dig up skeletons, improve administrative efficiency and be inclusive in its politics — all at the same time.

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THE PIONEER

OPED

UNFETTERED CAPITAL FLOW RECONSIDERED

ESWAR PRASAD

Far from fulfilling their promises of boosting growth and helping to diversify risk, capital flows are now seen by some as a destructive force, causing crises that take down countries and scorch innocent bystanders in their wake. Yet, capital flows are resurgent once again

The global financial crisis has sparked a reconsideration of the role of unfettered capital flows in the new international economic order. Far from fulfilling their promises of boosting growth and helping to diversify risk, capital flows are now seen by some as a destructive force, causing crises that take down countries and scorch innocent bystanders in their wake. Yet, despite all the opprobrium directed at them, capital flows are resurgent once again. Many emerging markets in fact face the problem of plenty as their strong growth prospects are fueling surges of inflows and creating pressures on domestic inflation, asset prices and exchange rates.

The financial crisis was only a brief pause in the process of global financial integration. External balance sheets are expanding rapidly for virtually all major economies. Rising gross external asset and liability positions imply greater financial integration but also higher capital flow volatility due to currency fluctuations, portfolio rebalancing, and greater exposure to other external shocks. This may increase emerging markets' demand for insurance against external shocks and balance of payments crises.

In the past, foreign-currency external debt dominated the external liabilities of emerging markets. That has now shifted, with FDI and portfolio equity accounting for a majority of liabilities. Even external debt issued by these countries is increasingly denominated in their own currencies. This structure of liabilities is consistent with the objective of sharing risk across countries, with foreign investors bearing capital as well as currency risk on such investment. Emerging markets have thus accumulated enough good karma to cast off their "original sin". By contrast, portfolio debt and bank loans together still constitute the major share of advanced economies' external liabilities.

The asset positions of emerging market external balance sheets (not just for China) are becoming increasingly dominated by foreign exchange reserves, mostly held in government bonds issued by the four major reserve currency areas (the US, Euro Area, Japan, the UK). The recent global financial crisis has, if anything, accentuated the incentives for accumulating reserves for self-insurance purposes that will keep foreign demand for these bonds strong.

Sovereign debts of the major reserve currency areas are on steeply increasing trajectories, with a substantial fraction of the global increase in central Government debt over the next five years likely to be accounted for by advanced economies, especially the US and Japan. As the safety of these assets comes into question, the risk on emerging market balance sheets has now shifted mostly to the asset side. These countries may be forced to rethink the notion of advanced economy sovereign assets as being 'safe' assets, although they are certainly highly liquid.

Self-insurance by countries through accumulation of ostensibly safe assets is becoming increasingly costly. The quasi-fiscal costs of sterilising reserve accumulation and the welfare costs of financial repression are likely to rise as the demand for financial capital increases worldwide. Moreover, the high debt levels of advanced economies imply crowding out of private investment and lower productivity growth in those countries relative to the emerging markets. This implies that emerging market currencies are eventually going to appreciate against those of the advanced economies, which implies a significant wealth transfer (in nominal domestic currency terms) in the future from the former group of countries to the latter.

Emerging market economies need a simple insurance mechanism that is characterized by ex-ante rather than ex-post conditionality in terms of a country's macroeconomic policies, does not involve the stigma associated with the IMF, and involves an unconditional payout at a time of a balance of payments crisis. To minimise moral hazard, the mechanism should offer insurance against liquidity risk rather than solvency risk.

For emerging markets, the major risks from capital inflows are now less about balance of payments crises arising from dependence on foreign capital than about capital inflows accentuating domestic policy conundrums. For instance, foreign capital inflows can boost domestic credit expansions, a factor that made some emerging markets vulnerable to the aftershocks of the recent crisis. New risks from capital account opening are related to existing sources of domestic instability — rising inequality in wealth and in opportunities for diversification and sharing risk. Capital inflows and the resulting pressure for currency appreciations also have distributional implications as they affect inflation and adversely affect industrial employment growth. The right solution to a lot of these problems involves financial market development, especially a richer set of financial markets that would improve the ability to absorb capital inflows and manage volatility, broader domestic access to the formal financial system (financial inclusion), and improvements in the quality of domestic institutions and governance.

--This is excerpted from the introduction to a paper presented by Eswar Prasad at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Prasad discusses global financial integration and the evolving roles of emerging and advanced markets in the global financial crisis in this paper. Courtesy: The Brookings Institution.

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THE PIONEER

OPED

IRAN WARNS OF REGIONAL CRISIS IF SYRIAN REGIME FALLS

PRESIDENT ASSAD IS THE ONLY LEADER CAPABLE OF STAVING OFF CIVIL WAR WHICH IS A SERIOUS POSSIBILITY GIVEN SYRIA'S POTENTIALLY VOLATILE MIX OF RELIGIOUS SECTS, WRITES ELIZABETH A KENNEDY

Syria's closest ally, Iran, has warned that a power vacuum in Damascus could spark an unprecedented regional crisis while urging President Bashar Assad to listen to some of his people's "legitimate demands." Thousands of protesters, meanwhile, insisted they will defy tanks and bullets until Mr Assad goes.

The five-month-old uprising in Syria has left Mr Assad with few international allies — with the vital exception of Iran, which the US and other nations say is helping drive the deadly crackdown on dissent.

Last Saturday's comments by Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi were a subtle shift in tone toward comprise by Tehran, which encouraged the Mr Assad regime to answer to its people while reiterating its support for its key ally. Most previous comments focused on a "foreign conspiracy" driving the unrest.

"Either in Yemen, Syria or any other country, people have some legitimate demands and governments should answer them as soon as possible," Salehi said Saturday, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.

But Iran's support for Mr Assad was clear. "If a vacuum is created in the Syrian ruling system, it will have unprecedented repercussions," he said, adding that Syria has "sensitive neighbors" and that change in the country could lead to regional crisis.

Syria borders five other nations and controls water supplies to Iraq, Jordan and parts of Israel. Iran's ties with Syria go far beyond the countries' long-standing friendship in a region dominated by Arab suspicions of Tehran's aims. Syria also is Iran's conduit for aid to powerful anti-Israel proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Should Mr Assad's regime fall, it could rob Iran of a loyal Arab partner in a region profoundly realigned by uprisings demanding more freedom and democracy.

In an emergency meeting on Syria that ended early Sunday in Cairo, the Arab League decided to send its leader, Nabil Elaraby, to Damascus to seek a solution. In a statement, the league expressed "grave concern" over the bloodshed in Syria.

More than five months into the uprising against Mr Assad, the conflict has descended into a bloody stalemate.

Human rights groups say Mr Assad's forces have killed more than 2,000 people since the uprising erupted in March, touched off by the wave of revolts sweeping the Arab world. The European Union imposed sanctions Wednesday against an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, saying the Quds Force is providing equipment and other support to help crush the revolt.

Iran's Guard forces were also used to put down a protest movement calling for political and social reform after Iran's disputed presidential election in 2009.

Mr Assad has shrugged off international condemnation and calls for him to step down. Economic and other sanctions could slowly chip away at the regime in the long-term, however. Iran has offered unwavering support for Damascus, and there has been speculation that Tehran is providing funds to cushion Assad's government as it burns through the $17 billion in foreign reserves that the government had at the start of the uprising.

But Iran cannot prop up the regime indefinitely.

Thousands of Syrians held protests overnight and early Saturday across the country of 22 million, according to the Local Coordination Committees, which helps organize the demonstrations.

The security presence was heavy by Saturday afternoon, particularly in the Damascus suburbs, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, Homs in central Syrian and the coastal city of Latakia.

Sporadic shooting and arrest sweeps were reported. A day earlier, Syrian security forces killed at least two people during protests on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Friday has become the main day for protests.

The Government crackdown escalated dramatically at the start of Ramadan, a time of introspection, piety and dawn-to-dusk fasting. Muslims typically gather in mosques during the month for special nightly prayers after breaking the fast. The Assad Government used deadly force to prevent such large gatherings from turning into more anti-Government protests.

Mr Assad's promises of reforms have been rejected as insincere by the opposition. Although the crackdown has led to broad condemnation, Mr Assad is in no immediate danger of falling. For one thing, the Syrian opposition movement is disparate and largely disorganized, without a strong leadership.

Mr Assad's main base of support includes Syrians who have benefited financially from the regime, minority groups who feel they will be targeted if the Sunni majority takes over, and others who see no clear and safe alternative to Mr Assad.

Mr Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, has stacked key military posts with members of his minority Alawite sect.

Mr Assad's backers portray him as the only leader capable of staving off civil war. And while most analysts say Mr Assad is exploiting those fears, few deny that such violence is a serious possibility. The country has a potentially volatile mix of religious groups and sects.

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Cairo contributed to this report filed from Beirut.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

CLEANSE THE SYSTEM

Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement has highlighted the need for lawmakers and policy framers to get more proactive than they've been so far on fighting graft. The Lokpal Bill, which is work in progress, is one key weapon in this combat. But other tools need deploying as well to boost systemic openness, which will force greater public accountability. Much of what anti-graft watchdogs do is detect malpractices as they occur and clean up the mess afterwards. Structural reform acts as a preventive: it reduces scope for the mess to be created in the first place.

In this context, let's welcome the government's call for transparency in public procurement. WTO estimates our total government procurement as a percentage of GDP is around 20%, roughly an annual Rs 11 lakh crore. Courtesy red tape and opaque decision-making, award of government contracts offers huge avenues for graft. Be it rules-bending by the defence, power or telecom sector or as witnessed in the Commonwealth Games run-up, bidding and tender selection processes are routinely manipulated to favour palm-greasers. This impacts investor confidence, choking off funds that could help boost infrastructure and industry. It's good a roadmap's being envisaged to trim room for arbitrary decisions by, among other things, requiring digitised records of procurement-related official communications.

As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said, we must also clean up areas like land and mining. Discretionary allotment of land and housing in return for bribes is no secret. Government ownership of land in excess of need, regulatory complexity and outmoded land acquistion rules all favour land mafias. A proportion of state-owned land sold on the market would help treat the problem of artificial scarcity pushing up prices. Land records too must be better kept and digi-tised to check fraud and land grabs. In the mining industry, a similar regulatory jungle facilitates graft-fuelled grant of leases and fronting by state mining firms for private commerce by politicians, bureaucrats and their cronies. Regulatory streamlining besides a crackdown on illegal mining is imperative.

As is tax reform. Introducing the goods and services tax will spur tax compliance while creating a common market that boosts revenue. If politicians were truly serious about curbing black money, they'd shout less about overseas tax havens and more about rolling out GST or reducing stamp duty. It's as important to link delivery of subsidy and welfare benefits to UID and financial inclusion projects, for routing via direct cash transfer or smart cards rather than leaky public distribution channels. Finally, Team Anna has talked about electoral reforms. The political class would do well to take the initiative here, pushing for strict auditing of party finances, mandatory disclosure of poll funding and greater checks on entry of criminal elements into politics.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

LEADING NEPAL

With the election of Baburam Bhattarai as the new prime minister of Nepal, there is hope of a new chapter opening in Nepali politics. However, much will depend on how quickly the second Maoist-led government in three years delivers on the peace process and a new Constitution. Since 2008, Nepal has been plagued by political uncertainty with the Maoists, the Marxist-Leninists and the Nepali Congress playing musical chairs with the leadership of the Constituent Assembly. The new alliance between the Maoists and the five-party Unified Democratic Madhesi Morcha will need to mark itself out from previous dispensations by reaching out to all political formations. The peace process can only be concluded through an end to the political acrimony that has highlighted Nepali politics so far.

For a start, Bhattarai and his new government would do well to generate consensus on the first draft of the Constitution as soon as possible. This would provide impetus to the much-delayed Constitution writing process as well as pave the way for movement on the vexed issue of the institutional integration of former Maoist combatants. A recent Maoist proposal seeks to absorb 8,000 of the 19,000 guerrillas into Nepal's security establishment while rehabilitating the rest. Flexibility on the issue, keeping in mind the interests of the Nepali people, is key to finding a solution. It helps that the new PM is seen as a moderate and an able administrator. These are qualities Nepal desperately needs of its leadership at this juncture. In Bhattarai's election, the Maoists have put their best foot forward. There is reason for New Delhi to be optimistic of a renewed synergy in bilateral relations under his tenure.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE

PARLIAMENT IS FOR PEOPLE

ZOYA HASAN

Parliament's "Sense of the House Resolution", agreeing "in principle" to a citizens' charter, the lower bureaucracy to be under the Lokpal through appropriate mechanism, and establishment of Lokayuktas in the states, paved the way for Anna Hazare to break his 12-day fast. The impasse was broken after both the government and Team Anna shifted from their maximalist positions. Earlier, the government had taken shelter under administrative and legalistic positions, whilst Team Anna demanded nothing less than the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill when the fast began on August 16. Eventually the breakthrough came after Pranab Mukherjee took over as chief negotiator with a new team of interlocutors to reach out directly to Hazare.

No one can deny that the Anna Hazare Andolan (AHA) has raised awareness about the need to combat corruption in the political process. However, the AHA has not defined corruption. Is it about financial wrongdoing and pilfering of public money? Or does corruption involve misuse of power? If misuse of power is an issue then power flows from control of state institutions but also from social and economic inequalities.

Who is benefiting most from corruption? Yes, the politically powerful, but also the economically powerful in industry, trade and business, an aspect AHA has sidestepped. Both these issues are central to the politics of fighting corruption. AHA's solutions to corruption are moral exhortations and legal enactments. Most of the people who thronged the streets against corruption are from the middle classes who support the campaign against corruption but would be averse to upsetting the status quo that benefits the privileged including them.

Laws and institutions are clearly important to the fight against corruption and yet the upsurge of public opinion developed into a strong anti-political and anti-institution sentiment. At the heart of anti-politics is the question of democracy. "Respect the will of the people" was a common refrain. This is majoritarian democracy which is at variance with the established framework of representative democracy, in which the will of the majority is tempered by constitutional, judicial and other constraints. From demanding that Parliament must pass the pre-drafted legislation bypassing the standing committee to statements that it is the people and not Parliament which is supreme, the campaign questioned the sovereignty of Parliament which can result in emasculation of the parliamentary prerogative to legislate.

There is nothing to stop ano-ther fasting leader from mobilising thousands of people to demand instant legislation or reversing of existing laws. The provocative anti-political sentiments of the AHA appealed to thousands of people because Parliament has been ineffective lately. But in the recent past Parliament has enacted the right to information and employment after pre-legislative debate and changes and modification were made in consultation with civil society groups at the standing committee stage. There is no reason why the same cannot be done again with regard to the Lokpal Bill.

For sure, the AHA jolted the political system. With the political mishandling of the situation, starting with the decision to form a joint drafting committee for a Lokpal Bill, the government not only lost credibility but also the trust of the people who came out on the streets to vent their anger. A weakened government had no choice but to offer some concessions to get Hazare to call off his fast even as parliamentary procedures cannot be short-circuited or bypassed. The face-saving formula was the "Sense of the House" resolution which strikes a balance between the need for strong anti-corruption measures and at the same time does not allow Parliament's authority in legislation to be undermined. But the resolution is not binding, the entire proceedings of the House will be sent to the standing committee and there is no timeline for the completion of the process.

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, MPs cutting across party lines sent out a clear message: lawmaking is the preserve of Parliament. After the seven-hour debate the prime minister remarked: "The Parliament has spoken. The will of Parliament is the will of the people." The much-reviled political class rose to the occasion to ask the government to produce a comprehensive Bill containing the best features of all the Bills in circulation, even as Team Anna had insisted that only its Bill should be considered. The Parliament debate did not focus on the nitty-gritty of the Lokpal Bill which will be discussed in the standing committee thus maintaining the sanctity of the parliamentary process.

This sets the stage for the adoption of a strong and effective Lokpal Bill. This would require Parliament to discuss the really important questions regarding the Jan Lokpal draft that have not been adequately discussed, notably, the pitfalls of setting up a super-institution without proper checks and balances.

Finally, like the previous anti-corruption campaigns - the JP movement in the mid-1970s and the anti- corruption "movement" of V P Singh in the late 1980s - the mood was not only against the political class but against the Congress government. The main objective of the earlier campaigns was regime change; both catapulted the BJP to the centre stage of national politics. The RSS claimed that its cadres formed at least 10% of the AHA's mass base. This time also the RSS was presumably hoping to remove an elected government. Corruption ceased to be the prime political agenda after the removal of the Congress from power in the wake of the anti-corruption campaigns. It remains to be seen whether "India will not be the same again" after the third anti-corruption movement, or corruption will be forgotten hereafter.

The writer is professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TIMES VIEW

BLAME PLAYER, NOT GAME

The story of how a regular English professor found his life taken over by a video game, World of Warcraft, has made news. It's said that, at random moments such as when standing in a grocery checkout line, Ryan Van Cleave would feel he was living inside a game. Finally, he became so obsessed with the game that he started ignoring his family and his job. Now, that may be a fine cautionary tale, and sure to give plenty of ammunition to those habituated to shouting from the rooftops about how dangerous video games are. But it's both unfair and illogical to think one man's excess applies to one and all.

Yes, some people have been known to cause themselves physical harm by playing video games for days on end and getting their tempers frayed and fists loosened. But there are a far greater number of cases of people becoming gambling junkies or risking life and limb racing cars. Should we then stop everybody else from playing cards or driving? Scientific research says some humans have 'addictive personalities': they're unable to exert self-control in dealing with particular stimuli. Others are just plain reckless. Why blame a video game - or, for that matter, any other hobby or activity - for this?

As for their impact on the young, all games ship with a rating, like movies. Parents can use these guideposts to regulate which games their children can access. And far from being trivial pursuit or mindless mayhem, many video games present deeply positive, instructive experiences. Entire genres are dedicated to puzzle-solving, devising winning strategies or creative, interactive storytelling that boost intellectual development. Little wonder that studies have found that gaming can, in fact, increase creativity and lateral thinking skills. Games, much like anything else, can be good for us. But it's up to us to make it so.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

COUNTERVIEW

HARMFUL ESCAPE FROM REALITY

SRIJANA MITRA DAS

Ryan Van Cleave's caution against the destructive thrills of video gaming is highly relevant. The world of gaming is strewn with real dangers. To begin with, the absurdity of exposing children to games containing graphic violence and heightened sexual content should be clear. Few sensible parents would encourage children to think that conflicts should be resolved by blasting opponents with guns - so why expose them to games showing precisely this? It's unreal to say parents must regulate children's games. In an increasingly online world, it's impossible for guardians to be everywhere, all the time. Children can easily access games designed for grown-ups - and going by instances of young gamers playing out video thrills by hurting themselves or others, that's worrying.

As Van Cleave's case shows, the effect of video games on grown-ups is as bad. Studies record how addiction to gaming can cause the breakdown of careers, health and social lives. In a shocking instance, a South Korean couple addicted to gaming neglected their three-month-old baby who starved to death. Fantasia-laden video games, often played with multiple opponents heightening the rush, can cause gamers to imagine they're 'living inside' them, neglecting the reality they truly inhabit. It's wrong to argue gamers with 'addictive' personalities are to blame - few studies report ex-gamers taking to alcohol, drugs or gambling with a vengeance. When we don't look upon these sources of addiction too kindly, why such latitude towards video games?

Finally, the notion that playing video games improves 'creativity' is laughable. That can be achieved if people read books, learn music, even take a walk. But these activities involve getting off a couch and making a real - as opposed to virtual - effort.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOI BLOGS

COLOURS OF VIOLENCE

DIGVIJAY SINGH

The internet technology has gathered momentum and now made the virtual world, at times, more powerful and overpowering than the real one. Obviously, politicians in India so far used to the cut and thrust and real-world politics in India also can't ignore the opinion-manipulating possibilities of the tools of virtual media.

An empowered middle class enjoying the fruits of economic liberalisation has become extremely politically conscious which i feel is quite a healthy sign. But this new-found political articulation is sometimes ill tempered and in several cases extremely partisan and crosses the limits of decent public discourse.

I say this from personal experience. As i have lately been on the receiving end of the abusive hate mail whenever i have expressed my forthright views on right-wing terror.

In such situations, the articulate middle class has its right to dissent against the views of politicians, but should be tolerant enough to listen to the views that they may not agree to without being abusive.

I have always felt fanatic religious or ethnic fundamentalism is the root cause of global terror.

Irrespective of the religion they may profess, the perpetrators of this ideology of fanatic fundamentalism breed hatred and appropriate a self-righteous authority to impose their beliefs on others and then unleash violence against the non-believers. History is full of such examples.

India is a country of tolerance. This is because India has the cultural and spiritual depth that has allowed different religions and ideologies to coexist and over the centuries get assimilated to create a blend that is the essence of the Indian ethos.

We can't allow the idea of "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam" so closely identified with our history and our culture to be snatched away by these rabid fanatic fundamentalists whether they are Muslims or Hindus.

I have faced the ire equally of both rabid fanatic Hindus and Muslims when i went to Azamgarh and when i went to Barak Valley in Assam. They are the faces of the same coin. They feed on each other in a mutually sustainable way.

Sometimes i see that within minutes of my statement - even in some remote corner of the country - against right-wing terror, there is a flood of abusive comments against me.

I have doubts on their authenticity. Are they sponsored? Have the perpetrators of hate and terror been able to organise themselves through cells/groups that run these 'virtual campaigns' through assumed identities to browbeat anyone into silence who dares to expose their acts of violence?

The fact that the comments are one-sided, and quite often have no other voice makes me feel confident that this is true. Anyway, i am not one of those who would be cowed down by these faceless proponents of communalism and hatred.

But i would urge upon all those who believe in universal brotherhood, who believe in liberal modern secular India, to react with the same zeal against these communal fascists who through wireless technology have been creating an impression that they represent the majority view in this country.

To me communalism is as dangerous as corruption. We don't have to look too far as we have in our neighborhood the example of almost a failed state of Pakistan which adopted the path of religious fundamentalism under President Zia-ul Haq.

Let us get together and not allow the fascist communal fanatics to capture the mind and thoughts of the people of this great country through the use of the 'virtual world'.

The writer is Congress general secretary.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

AN EARLY SPRING IN THE VALLEY

An Eid gift with several caveats, but this latest move is something that must have taken quite some courage for Kashmir's chief minister Omar Abdullah. A one time amnesty for stone-pelters with the rider that they should not be taken in by the honeyed words of those who egged them on and have now forgotten them may well be one more step towards a safer and more peaceful future in the state. Mr Abdullah has also grasped the nettle that few predecessors have in saying that he will address the issue of unidentified bodies and unmarked graves which the State Human Rights Commission had brought up. He has gone as far as saying that he is in favour of a truth and reconciliation commission on the lines of the one set up in South Africa. Predictably, this has been rubbished by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, but then this is not surprising given his uniformly negative stance to any move that might ease tensions in the state.

For years, we have seen grieving families in Kashmir who have had no closure on the subject of family members who have disappeared. It has been no secret that the special powers that the security agencies have in the state have enabled them to pick up at random people suspected of militancy and other violations.

Mr Abdullah has taken the first step towards healing these festering wounds. A very significant proposal that he has made, and has not perhaps got the attention it should have, is to transfer more power to the panchayats. This will go a long way towards empowering the people who have had to live in the shadow of militancy and oppressive security for decades. Mr Abdullah's idea of a truth and reconciliation commission should be taken up as the first step towards an acceptable peaceful settlement to the many issues that are still up in the air in the state. The final report from the three interlocutors may also be helpful in this process. All three have been unequivocal in their findings that the state needs a more inclusive governance system.

Mr Abdullah has often been accused of being less than proactive on the human rights problem that has plagued the state. He is clearly trying to make amends with his efforts to address the issue of missing persons. The post-Eid period has always been troubled and tense in the state. Mr Abdullah is trying to pre-empt this and all those who have a stake in maintaining normalcy in the state should help him along. The situation on the ground is the best we have had in a long time, and Mr Abdullah can really build on this. We have so often written on the winter of discontent in the Valley, but as of now the thaw holds out hope for a prolonged spring.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

THE PUNDIT

FLAG IT, WHICHEVER WAY

Liberal types allergic of flagwaving and super-patriotic types doing Jai Hind blackflips, relax. You have nothing to lose but your rules. On Sunday evening, crowds at India Gate in New Delhi amplified what was quite evident throughout the last many days at the Ramlila Grounds: people spontaneously waving the national flag in support of the simple but powerful fact of being like-minded people hanging out together glued by the figure of Anna Hazare. For anyone in the crowds that evening at India Gate - or, for that matter, in any other congregation in another city - it would have been immediately apparent that this was not a Films Division-sanctioned 'patriotic' moment where everyone had to stand to show respect towards the nation. This was about the spontaneous joy of being one with others celebrating the feat of Anna. And the vigorous twirling of the national flag was a sight that lent itself to making even the resident cynic break out in happy goose pimples.

But there were the usual suspects, grumbling about the flag being denigrated - as if the only way to celebrate the symbol of the nation is by being serious and sticking strictly to the rulebook. Whether people were flying 'distorted' or 'torn' flags, it didn't matter. The whole point was to be happy being among one's like-minded and a landmark moment in the country's history. There were some who, like a complaining theologian, harrumphed that the Ashok Chakra was black rather than blue. Emotionless people tend to hang on to silly details like that. Some even fussed about people cheering about with the tricolour wrapped around their bodies. The first lot is obviously as silly as unemployed lawyers looking for a break, while the latter simply possess behinds that are anatomically compressed.

If waving frayed, 'unofficial' versions of the national flag with the gusto people were waving them with on Sunday is seen as insulting the nation, then it's time we change the definition of 'insult'. And 'celebration'. Emotions don't care much for rules. Unless you're a class monitor incapable of being spontaneous and unless you're stuck being a stickler for anachronistic rules.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

THE BUZZ

MUCH TO THE ENVOY OF OTHERS

On Sunday, Indian ambassador-designate to the US Nirupama Rao and former home secretary Gopal Pillai were given a farewell by World Tourism Council. Rao told the gathering that she was going to take over in Washington on September 5, 2011.

As a part of a chain of critical diplomatic assignments, the much-awaited move of Jayant Prasad as India's ambassador to Nepal takes place on August 25. But London will remain vacant for now as Nalin Surie, the former Indian high commissioner to Britain, was refused six months' extension before he demitted office on July 31, 2011.

While Rao is going to take on the high-profile job in Washington, the Obama administration is still to appoint a permanent ambassador to India with Peter Burleigh being only a stop-gap envoy. A few IFS and buts here.

A R&AW deal for some

The winds of change are blowing in India's external intelligence agency, the R&AW, with chief Sanjeev Tripathi stressing that the primary job of spies was to collect intelligence and not conduct diplomacy. He has quietly passed on the message that agents going to high voltage parties will be viewed adversely and that Indian spies should remain below the social radar.

As a part of his plans, the R&AW chief has proposed changes in the personnel policy with a plan to set up a core team of young officers who will not only remain under cover but also not be seen at all in the diplomatic cocktail circuit. It's certainly an intelligent decision.

From President to PM

The PM's media adviser Harish Khare had a chance encounter with BJP president Nitin Gadkari in a Parliament corridor last week. Khare complimented Gadkari for his style and "free and frank views". Gadkari smiled and thanked him.

Without stopping there, Khare told Gadkari that he would make the best prime ministerial candidate. This could raise some girth, sorry mirth, in the ranks.

All a matter of principal

The hallowed Delhi Gymkhana Club has been a haunt of babus and babu-watchers in the past. Last week it saw Pulok Chatterjee, principal secretary-designate to the prime minister, having a quiet tête-à-tête with his senior and successor-designate in the World Bank Mukesh Prasad just before the crowds gathered for lunch.

Prasad, who has been secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), was sharing notes with Pulok, who takes over the PMO on October 3, 2011 with incumbent TKA Kutty Nair being kicked upstairs as adviser to the prime minister. Now Chatterjee was on a familiarisation trip even though he has worked as additional secretary in the PMO before he was appointed executive director, World Bank.

Watching the two powerful babus talk, many wished Chatterjee best of luck. He replied that he needed all the luck he can get. And all the advice he can get.

Designed to arouse interest

Pakistan's youngest and first woman foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, who got people talking about her impeccable style during her Delhi visit, met senior BJP leader LK Advani at her insistence. That's the disclosure from Advani in his latest book of blogs, As I See It.

She was scheduled to meet only Sushma Swaraj because she's the leader of the Opposition. But the Pakistan high commission wrote to Advani, saying Khar wished to meet him and he, of course, readily agreed.

For a change, Advani said he "didn't protest against either cross-border terrorism, or against her meeting with the Kashmiri separatists (that was left to Swaraj)." However, he gave her an account of why the Agra summit failed and how Pakistan's "obsession" with Kashmir is because of its army.

What did she say? Advani is silent on that score. Perhaps, she just smiled and left? The 'heeling' touch, quite clearly.

A very friendly gesture

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh left many in the Congress red-faced during his recent three-day visit to Orissa by calling chief minister Naveen Patnaik his 'good friend'.

Ramesh went on to say that "he [CM] snubs me and at the same time praises me". Senior state leaders raised the issue at a meeting with Ramesh at Congress Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Among them, Suresh Kumar Routray forcefully objected to such public expression of friendship, saying this would affect the party in the state.

On his part, Ramesh explained that personal friendship and political rivalry are altogether different things and assured them he would soon visit Orissa again and strongly raise the issue of corruption in the state. He was not to be nipped in the buddy.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

HIS FATHER'S SON

ELIZA GRISWOLD

The fate of Muammar Gaddafi's son wasn't inevitable. There was a choice and a decidedly better one. In February, as the Arab Spring unfolded, he dispatched an op-ed to several American newspapers, expressing a willingness to move toward a more open Libya. Every paper rejected it. But if that lost piece had been published, perhaps the dictator's son, Saif al-Islam, would have found a place among the rebels. After all, other Gaddafi loyalists switched sides to pursue what Saif said he wanted: a Libyan constitution.

"Saif was the best hope the Libyan government had," says Sarah Leah Whitson, a Libya researcher for Human Rights Watch. "But when push came to shove, he abandoned even his pretend principles and chose to stand by his father to retain power, no matter how brutal and ruthless the cost."

Perhaps the decision wasn't surprising, given Saif's upbringing and temperament. Like his other six siblings, Saif, 39, was a puppet of his father, who ruled his family like he ruled Libya's tribes: playing one against the other. The Gaddafi children, for their part, carved up the country's wealth.

Muhammad, the oldest son, controlled telecommunications. Hardliner Mutassim served as the national security adviser until he lost his father's favour. Saadi, perhaps the best-known brother, captained the national soccer team. His sister, Aisha, served as a lawyer not only for him but also for Saddam Hussein, a family friend. The two youngest brothers, Khamis and Saif al-Arab, got lost in the shadows of their older siblings. Of them all, it was Saif al-Islam, the self-styled artist, who enjoyed life outside Libya the most. His father used him as a slick ambassador to the West. And Saif loved this role, which allowed him to travel abroad and hang out with his Israeli girlfriend.

When Jessica Stern, a Harvard University professor, travelled to Libya last year as a guest of the Gaddafi Foundation to observe Saif's pet project of deradicalising jihadis, she noticed a Hip Hotels guidebook on a coffee table at Saif's villa. "I felt strongly that we were being manipulated to see him as the last hope for Libya," Stern recalls, "even as I also wondered if he might be just that."

A cosseted son of a billionaire father intent on ensuring the empire's future, Saif might seem the Libyan version of James Murdoch, Rupert's 38-year-old son. But whereas Murdoch the Younger still has a shot at redemption, Saif is in more dire straits. On February 21, he told horrified Libyans that "rivers of blood" - their blood - would soon run in the streets. In spring, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant "for his alleged criminal responsibility for the commission of murder and persecution of civilians as crimes against humanity." Gone are the days when he partied with Nathaniel Rothschild, dabbled in falconry with Arab princelings, and frolicked on the lawn with his tiger cub that he kept in his villa. And to the parade of policy wonks, businessmen, and journalists who'd lately trooped through Tripoli to see the 'new Libya', Saif's enthusiastic embrace of his father's destructive mission is mystifying.

How, in a matter of months, did Saif devolve from ardent democracy promoter to religious conservative? When I met him last year in Tripoli, Saif wore George Clooney stubble and a debonair air that vanished when he found himself off a practiced point. He seemed more confused than crazy when pushed on reform specifics or on why, despite talk about human rights, no one had been tried for a massacre at the Abu Salim prison. On TV last week, Saif looked less like a hedge funder and more like a fist-pumping militant in fatigues, as he brandished an AK-47 and taunted his fellow citizens as "rats". Various explanations have been offered for why Saif would give up the high-flying life to become a warrior for his father's lost cause. It's well known that he's a notoriously bad decision-maker, who makes rash choices or stalls at critical moments. But there's also the theory that perhaps Saif is as mentally unsound as his father.

To any Libyan, the tyrant's overthrow was unthinkable. The brutal regime was simply a fact of life. And just as this seeming fact of nature disheartened many Libyans, it bred a sense of untouchability in the dictator and his children. And ultimately for this son, being a Gaddafi trumped all. "Saif tried to prolong the life of his father's regime by giving limited freedoms to the media, releasing political prisoners, and calling for 'reform,'?"says Omar Ashour, a University of Exeter lecturer who knows him. "But once a real chance emerged, Saif chose mass murder and repression." Now, with the conflict headed for its bloody conclusion, Saif clearly doesn't grasp the gravity of what's befallen him. Telling the International Criminal Court to "screw" itself, he still believes he's in control of a world that has decisively turned against him.

Eliza Griswold is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and author of The Tenth Parallel

The views expressed by the author are personal

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS

FARRUKH DHONDY

Theo Van Gogh was murdered in 2004 by a vengeful Islamist who determined that death was the punishment for making a film critical of the Muslim treatment of women. The year before he had made a film called The Interview which examined the cult of celebrity.

The film features the encounter betw-een a serious political reporter and a celebrity actress whose ego is inflated by fame and whose breasts are inflated by silicon. Laurens Postma, a Dutch-British director friend who has worked in India thought he saw the celebrity cult being replicated in India and wanted to produce an Indian take on The Interview. He asked me to write the screenplay.

Cover Story, our Hindi film, is not an adaptation of The Interview but is a cultural transliteration which follows its basic plotlines. The difference stems from the fact that though celebrity is accompanied by much the same obsession and even hysteria in India as in the US or Europe, there are differences in its function.

The cult of celebrity is the universal villain and its protagonist is intelligence, taste, culture, seriousness and the attention to real achievement. The cult commits the sin, above all, of frivolity.

To enquire into what precisely Hugh Grant hired a prostitute to do to him is to waste the potential possibilities of your existence in masturbatory fantasy. You should instead, it is implied, be reading articles about how the Arab Spring anticipates an Arab winter or how to determine exactly what a Grecian should earn.

The American attack on the cult has a twist. In the culture in which you do unto others as they would do unto you, only try and do it first, celebrity is seen as an illusion on the road to damnation. Elvis gets fat and dopey with drugs, Moham-med Ali's brain is battered into infantilism, Michael Jackson dies of drugs and dementia, accused of paedophilia, JFK's celebrity marriage is exposed as a cruel fraud, Tiger Woods? We all knew what they were like! All epitomise the vanity of American wishes and a modern Juvenal could have predicted their ends.

The British addiction to reading about celebrity is somewhat different. Gossip begins with royalty and the doings and foibles of Princess Diana, the Duchess Fergie and now Wills and Kate Middl-eton and even the size and substance of Kate Middleton's sister's bum.

It is understandable that those who sing or act or play well have some accompanying fame. So do the unabashed wealthy and the powerful. It was ever thus. But TV and the realityshow have brought us those who are famous 'for being famous'.

In India Page 3 means something quite different. Newspapers publish photographs and comments about the famous, the wealthy, the well-connected and anyone in that narrow band of the Indian population who may be considered, in a borrowed argot, a 'celebrity'.

Indian Page 3s combine movie stars and cricketers with the bald and paunchy capitalist and his hard-faced wife or with second rank politicians.

It isn't at all evident that anyone apart from those who appear on Page 3 bothers to turn to it. The aam junta are not in the least interested in whose party was atte-nded by whom. Their interest in capitalists and politicians extends to wanting them exposed for corruption.

Our real celebrities are film and TV stars and our sportsmen and women. Film was India's first modern lingua franca and TV has very neatly assumed part of that function. Sport very early became the field representative of nationalism. As such, both worlds, of the screen and the pitch, are temples and these celebrities have taken the place, not of Amy Winehouse or Lady Gaga, but of the ancient deity. We look up to them and not down in a perusal for feet of clay. If there are scandals about our stars, they fuel disillusion with the public dream. In the US they justify the national moral of the skull beneath the skin. In England gossip about their couplings is a substitute for the veneer of national sterility.

What if one of our cricketers was exposed, as Tiger Woods has been, for serial infidelity? The Indian media wouldn't dare. It hasn't yet made the distinction between admiration, reverence, idolatry and 'celebrity' and so it wouldn't indulge and revel in the exposure-and-fall in the way the US media did for Woods.

Farrukh Dhondy is an author, screenplay writer and columnist based in London.

The views expressed by the author are personal

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

STICKER SHOCK

The Unique Identification project is a mission of surpassing ambition — it aims to provide every Indian citizen a unique 12-digit number that can be used to call up basic demographic and identity information through biometric scans. The government sees it as giving every Indian an acknowledged existence, ensuring that no one is locked out of social entitlements for the lack of a scrap of official paper. It hopes to ensure sharper targeting of welfare programmes, minimise leakages and collapse the many cumbersome IDs currently in use, into a single number. Critics of the project have focused on the privacy hazards and surveillance possibilities of the scheme. The UIDAI's rationale has been that the clear benefits outweigh potential dangers to privacy, which can, in any case, be averted by strong safeguards.

However, the philosophical battle apart, the UID has a more concrete cost-benefit analysis to contend with. The project's cost has escalated many times since it was first conceived in February 2009. A single UID, earlier estimated to cost around Rs 31 per person, may now end up in the Rs 400-500 territory. First, the finance ministry balked at the new levels of spending — partly data compilation costs, from designated registrars — and suggested the UID mesh its efforts with the national census wherever possible. It also wants to trim the biometric technology costs — the iris scan has nearly tripled the UID's price tag. While the UID defends its choices, and says the high volume of iris devices and software demanded by India will bring the price down, others in the Planning Commission claim the iris scan was intended as an extra measure to prevent duplication, not thrown in with every ID. These are not arguments to be settled on notions, and it would be timely for the UID to make a persuasive case for its choice. The Planning Commission has also expressed its concern about the UID's registrar system (which includes public and private companies), asking for clear lines of responsibility and supervision. The UIDAI had even suggested a cash incentive for some of these registrars, a plan that met with serious objection.

Those are valid questions, and the UID authorities must be prepared to defend their decisions. Even though, as they claim, the UID's long-term benefits in efficiency might justify the money spent, it should not let its own phenomenal scale blind it to the opportunity for frugality, and for dispensing information to the public, at every point.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

COPYCAT MAMATA?

Mamata Banerjee has a plan. Conscious of the promise of economic revival she had made for a post-Left Front West Bengal, she has announced a "student brigade". Anybody who enrols for a two-year stint of rural work will be guaranteed a job, through an employment bank. And as with all of Banerjee's big ideas, come January this one too will be capped by a rally.

Indeed, caught up in her own rhetoric, she said — at a gathering organised to mark the foundation day of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad — that Bengal's young people need to venture out to other parts of India in search of employment.

More than three months after she took over as chief minister, Banerjee continues to betray an alarming tendency to slip into oppositional slogans, high on rhetoric and very low on detail. Indeed, for the long years that she rallied the streets and countryside against the Left Front government, such tactics had the effect of showing up the hollowness of the state under communist rule, with the party having annexed much of the state's role and cadres used to carry out tasks of the state bureaucracy. Yet, instead of rebuilding the state, Banerjee seems far too amiable to doing as the Left did, and insinuating her cadres as an interface between government and the people.

Put simply, Bengal's problem is not that the right people cannot be found for jobs, as her rural work scheme suggests, but to create jobs in the first place. It's a tough ask: the Left's late effort to attract industrialisation exposed its internal flaws, in a way preparing for Banerjee's last assault, but the factors that made such outreach imperative for Bengal's economy remain. Fuzzying the line between party and state will not help her or, more crucially, Bengal.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

FINALLY A PM

Nepal has a new prime minister, and a renewed cycle of worries. The relatively speedy election of Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai is indeed welcome, given that it took seven months and 16 attempts for Bhattarai's predecessor, Jhalanath Khanal, to become prime minister — seven months of a governance vacuum. But the mechanics of Nepal's politics that brought about Khanal's resignation earlier this month, which had also helped him become prime minister in the first place, remain apparently just as acutely unworkable. Bhattarai's election is the result of a compromise, externally, between the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) and the United Madheshi Democratic Front (UMDF), and, internally, between the new prime minister's faction and Maoist chief Prachanda. Bhattarai's tenure will depend on the give-and-take between the UCPN-M, the UMDF and the smaller left parties which voted for him. Moreover, he will have to constantly watch his back, keeping Prachanda in good humour even as he tries to work with the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Nepali Congress.

Factions within the major parties — Khanal, very close to Prachanda, was forced out by his own CPN-UML — have, of late, overwhelmed the long undermined political momentum that had emerged from the historic transformation five years ago. Of Nepal's two imperatives — the promulgation of the new constitution and the completion of the peace process — neither is close to being home and dry. Bhattarai has promised giving them "top priority", but those are the very tasks every prime minister (Bhattarai is the fourth in three years) has ignominiously failed in. The four-point agreement between the UCPN-M and the UMDF may have pre-empted a rational, considered conclusion of the peace by proclaiming the withdrawal of all human rights cases against Madheshi activists and Maoists, eclipsing major provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006.

Nevertheless, difficult as things and discredited as political parties in Nepal are, the road ahead is not impossible. Nepal can only move forward, from whatever has been achieved so far, and that's an optimistic thought. It has a new prime minister, and now Kathmandu must regain its focus.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

DEBATE'S JUST STARTED

PRATAP BHANU MEHTA

Indian democracy's strength is its protean capacity for reinvention. It can turn crisis into renewal. Moments of extremism generate a counter-movement to produce a new equipoise. New alliances are constantly being formed. Arrogant power can be humbled. Powerlessness can give way to a new consciousness of power. Hope and disappointment chase each other like shadows. The consequences of the Anna Hazare movement will only emerge in the fullness of time. But what is a democracy if it cannot quickly turn a mood of self-flagellation into quiet self-congratulation? A democracy, by its nature, only gives partial victories. Anna Hazare's movement can claim that it brought unprecedented pressure to bear upon Parliament. Parliament can claim that it responded to the pressure. But it artfully kept the door open to resisting it.

Ever since the 2G scam broke, the government's conduct has been marked by an odd combination of evasion and arrogance. Anna Hazare's arrest deepened revulsion against government, even amongst those who disagreed with the movement. This context allowed the movement to tap deeper into a widespread sentiment against corruption. Grant the movement its due. It catalysed a new self-consciousness about corruption. Anna Hazare managed to project an unvarnished idealism, unsullied by any attribution of vested interest.

Trust and credibility often matter more than ideas. So the question is this. Parliament has salvaged some of its institutional authority. But will politicians be able to fill the credibility gap this movement revealed? Rahul Gandhi's intervention, whatever its content, was oddly ill-timed, with no real follow-up. The judgment of key members of the cabinet stands discredited. Both the BJP and the Congress were led by the scruff of their necks, though in the end the BJP followed a tad more gracefully than the Congress. Both parties displayed a singular lack of intellectual and political self-confidence. They may still dodge the full force of Anna Hazare's conditions in the select committee; but that dodge has more the imprimatur of scheming than forthright intellectual conviction. The authority of politics still remains at a crossroads.

Parliamentary proceedings were riveting. Sushma Swaraj's deconstruction of government was spot on. It raised the point, why are so many state institutions used to target opponents of the government? Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad were giving inimitable lessons in India's political economy. They provided the strangest of juxtapositions: the most ringing defence of parliamentary procedure and constitutionalism with the opportunistic appeal to caste. Sandeep Dikshit, in a powerful performance, suggested that the government had been for a strong Lokpal all along, conveniently eliding the history of government's broken promises. The Left parties were strong on federalism, but typically called for an even greater expansion of state power.

Did Parliament cave in? It can claim a formal victory; it can still consider various proposals. But this debate was more about ending a fast. And debate under the threat of a fast-unto-death produces an anodyne consensus. Whatever the end result, a fast-unto-death remains an imposition on the liberty of those who disagree. Serious disagreement on the fundamentals of the Lokpal no longer remained an option. Someone could have enriched the debate by questioning the inclusion of the prime minister under the Lokpal. Someone could have raised questions about the institutional dynamics of large bureaucracies superintending other large bureaucracies. Speakers referred to how the Supreme Court, in the Jain Hawala case, had unwittingly short-circuited the careers of innocent politicians. Yet the implications of that kind of charge for institutional design were not followed.

The movement, in turn, was an organisational triumph. It tapped into new idioms and aesthetics. There was occasional rhetorical disfigurement. But the fact that there was a platform where thousands could peacefully coalesce around the symbolism of Anna Hazare is not a mean achievement. These signal new forms of mobilisation in future: the combination of the media, urban India, middle-class support is a potent force. All social mobilisations tap into a sense, however temporarily, of empowering citizens. This sense only grows with success.

The catalyst for mobilisation was an apocalyptic vision of corruption. But this is an unfashionable thing to say. Mobilisations happen when things are getting better, not worse. Hitherto, governance had two premises: secrecy and hierarchy. Government could presume that most of its files would remain hidden from public gaze. It could presume that government was so hierarchically ordered that everyone in the system would do its bidding. The Right to Information Act, the play of incentives in the media have now made it very difficult for government to hide things. That a lot of dirt is coming out is a sign of how the premises of governance are shifting, not a sign of things getting worse.

The second big shift is that power is now genuinely divided. A lot of independent institutions — from the SC to the Comptroller and Auditor General — enhance their power by holding other institutions to account. The states have been experimenting from everything from citizens' charter to social audits. The focus on the pressure in the streets must not take anything away from the fact that a system of checks and balances has kicked in, albeit with some delays. There are now too many actors in the system for governments to presume that they can control them.

This narrative is important to remember. We must not create institutional designs that short-circuit a lot of mechanisms already in play. We also need to understand the place of reform in all this. Economic reform is increasingly being blamed for our ills. Certainly, the scale of rents the state has been able to extract from certain sectors which it still has not reformed — real estate, natural resources, mining — is staggering. That extraction only deepens the humiliation felt by citizens in ordinary transactions with the state. The government was right to say that the proper response is fixing the state sector by sector. But its lack of action has left it with no locus standi on the issue. Finally, in the name of democratic power, we need to be careful not to reinstate statism. The political mood is ominously shifting in that direction. A presumptive distrust in politicians is, ironically, paving the way for greater presumptive trust in an elite cadre of bureaucrats and judges.

Our democracy has pulled back from a precipice. Even rival interpretations of what happened allow the game to go on. But the politics of symbolism is not a substitute for the nitty-gritty of what it will take to balance liberty and innovation with accountability. The argument has just begun.

The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, express@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

SPEAK FOR YOURSELVES

ABDUL KHALIQ

Ironic as it may seem, there is an uncanny similarity between Team Anna and the Congress under Indira Gandhi. In 1967, Indira Gandhi rode to power on the magic slogan of "Garibi Hatao". Today, Anna's call of "Jan Lokpal bill lao aur bhrashtachar mitao" is an equally powerful, beguiling mirage. "Indira is India and India is Indira" has been replaced by "Anna is India and India is Anna". The mindsets are frighteningly similar, and contemptuous of parliamentary democracy.

Anna's team has attacked the credibility of all existing institutions of governance. Now that the team has virtually brought the government to its knees, and is poised to foist its version of the Lokpal bill on Parliament, it is only appropriate that they state their position on some issues that are central to the debate. Here are some questions that Team Anna needs to answer:

Is not the method of using drummed-up public support to intimidate government and Parliament into passing legislation a dangerous precedent for democracy? Will majoritarianism or mob rule henceforth determine public policy?

Team Anna has contemptuously dismissed the proposition that members of Parliament represent the will of the people. As lakhs of people have supported the Jan Lokpal bill, Anna Hazare and his team have decided that the people of India want this legislation, and therefore Parliament must pass it. Extending this logic further, many Indians in Kashmir and the Northeast want secession from the country. Should Parliament accede to their demands also?

It may be recalled that in the 1990s lakhs of people from the same middle-class section of society had swarmed the streets against the Mandal Commission recommendations. Should the then-government have heard the voice of the people and jettisoned the Mandal report?

Anna has said, "It was Gandhiji's vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumahar, and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way a village will be self-dependent. This is what we are practising in Ralegan Siddhi." Does Team Anna uphold the sanctity of the caste system?

Team Anna has contempt for every existing governance structure: the judiciary, the political executive, the bureaucracy. How will the Jan Lokpal, with a bureaucracy of 20,000 vigilance officials along with scores of clerical and administration assistants, ensure that it will function differently? Will the recruits come from outer space?

Team Anna envisages a tyrannical Lokpal that will be investigator, prosecutor and judge. They are against an official being given a showcause notice and evidence against him before he is prosecuted. Does Team Anna feel that the ordinary requirements of justice should be denied to a person against whom there is a complaint?

Will the judicial officers under the Lokpal have such autocratic powers that their recommendations regarding the quantum of punishment should be accepted even by the president, who is the appointing authority of group "A" officers? Is Team Anna aware that if the disciplinary authority is perforce to accept the Lokpal's recommendation he would be guilty of "non-application of mind"? Such a system would lead to unending litigation.

How does Anna's team explain the fact that the Delhi Metro, with a staff of over 7,000, has delivered a world-class metro with only five vigilance officials on its rolls? Does Team Anna accept that the top management in every organisation is essentially the key to ensuring a clean administration and not an overpowering anti-corruption agency?

Given the federal nature of our polity and the opposition of some chief ministers to the Lokayukta, is it reasonable to expect the Central government to force the states to accept the institution of the Lokayukta, as demanded by Anna's team? Also, Team Anna wants the Lokpal to be armed with powers to tap telephones, the Internet, etc. Does the team not realise that such a draconian clause would be a breach of all privacy?

Finally, is it not ironic that once the Lokpal is set up as conceived by Team Anna, and then things get worse as is likely, there is no accountability attached to the authors? Will they then agitate for a law to dismantle the Lokpal?

I wish to share what a wise old man once said: "In our country we make outstanding laws and statutes and think we have solved the problem. In the event, our statute books will go to heaven but we will have to look for accommodation elsewhere."

The writer, a former civil servant, is secretary-general of the Lok Janshakti Party, express@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

'THE LARGENESS OF STRUCTURE IN THE JAN LOKPAL BY ITSELF BECOMES AN ISSUE OF CORRUPTION'

SHEKHAR GUPTA

In this Walk the Talk on NDTV 24x7 with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, member of the National Advisory Council and RTI activist Aruna Roy talks about corruption, civil society and the need to widen the Lokpal debate.

My guest this week is someone who has been the leading light of the civil society for decades now and who has given us the most potent gift or weapon we have had so far in the fight against corruption, the Right to Information. Are you feeling a little bit bemused by what is going on?

It is a very interesting period in the history of India, because it is a challenge to our ideas, it is a challenge to what we thought, it is a challenge to the future of democracy, it is a challenge to people's voices, it is a challenge to legislative processes. And I think it is a very learning period for all of us on what to do and also what not to do.

You say 'interesting times' almost as communistly as the Chinese do. Can you elaborate a bit more on this?/

Well, actually, the fight against corruption has never left the social-political scene in this country. We have been fighting corruption in this country—small and big—forever as far as I can remember. When I was in the IAS, when I left the IAS, when I went to an NGO, then when I went to a movement, it has always been an issue. It is extremely interesting and relevant to this country.

You were in the IAS in a very illustrious batch. Many of you have become famous since—you, Wajahat Habibullah, who became the first RTI commissioner, Gopal Gandhi...

Yes. He is also a batchmate. The issue that interests me now is, we have come together and it is a great coming together. The angst has found a kind of expression, but while we say that we don't want corruption—we are all united because it is something none of us wants—the whole issue is the remedy. For Anna saab Hazare to become a point at which we all congregate to express our angst against corruption is a wonderful thing. But how do we see the process of ending corruption is where the debate begins.

Is a debate possible in this environment?

I think the debate should be possible in any environment, and I really go back to Mahatma Gandhi and to a much more tumultuous period which they all lived through, in which there was a foreign government. And even at that time, there was a debate and documents were published which we read now in the archives. Debate, I think, is essential, in political issues.

One of the most fascinating debates I have read is on the Constituent Assembly. You read that and it makes you wonder what a smart group of people we had and how libertarian and how prescient they were and how much they disagreed with each other.

Actually, they disagreed a lot. But, everything was recorded and done within the ambit of a very mature recognition of dissent. Because if I have the right to dissent, I have the obligation to listen. Unfortunately, in some of our public debates on the Lokpal Bill and also on corruption, we say we have the right to dissent but we don't have the obligation to listen. Whether it is the government which doesn't want to listen or a campaign which doesn't want to listen or any of us who don't want to listen. I think an important part of growth is the listening. I always think of Mahatma Gandhi. He travelled the length and breadth of India just to listen to people, to fashion a political discourse.

Has Anna Hazare done that, since there is a comparison with Gandhi made all the time?

Most of the discourse has been not only set by Anna, the discourse has also limited itself largely to the Lokpal Bill, which is an instrumentality and perhaps, can repair to some degree some kinds of corruption.

Or plug some holes.

Yes. But corruption for me is also arbitrary use of power. It's inequality that persists in the country—economic, social, political lack of access. They are all part of a larger system of corruption.

But one area where we might agree with the Anna group is that so far law-making in this country had not been participatory. Elected people and bureaucrats made most of the laws in the past.

Actually for me, the participatory process began in 1992-93 with the Right to Information Act because then we just fashioned a very small discourse in a panchayat, amongst our jan sunvaaiyi. Thereafter the discourse grew and the basic draft of the Act was made by Justice P B Sawant when he was the chair of the Press Council of India. In a way, he did fashion the law and his law went around and was received by legislators, sent to Parliament, to all the Chief Ministers, to the Prime Minister. But there was a huge gestation period because it went through the H D Shourie Committee and it went through various committees. It was debated on by journalists, by the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) in Chennai. In Bombay, Anna himself was party to a big debate on the Maharashtra law. So there were various laws made and through that process, the best practice evolved where I think everybody was involved.

What was your experience with parliamentary processes—Standing Committee, Parliament or MPs?

We were a part of the pre-legislative process when we made the law. Once it (RTI) went to the government, we were out. The Right to Information Act, 2005 came out of a political process. The National Common Minimum Programme brought out by UPA-I made a promise of a better RTI Act. That's how the older law passed by the NDA government was set aside and this law went and got made in a different way by the government. They revised various things that we had said and a weak law was placed in Parliament. But in the Standing Committee, we got 153 amendments made to the law.

Were these 153 amendments made by the MPs to weaken the law or were these mostly amendments made by you and others to strengthen the law? In the end, did we have a stronger law or a weaker law?

A stronger law than what was sent to Parliament and which kind of approximated the law that we had made. Though compared to our draft, there were many things that were not there. We had wanted NGOs included, political parties included, we had wanted everybody included. The government only kept itself and took us all out. That was the first weakness of the government law.

So did you get 90 per cent of your draft, 80 per cent of your draft?

I would say around 90 per cent of our draft. That's not at all bad because it went through due process.

So from where does this complete distrust and impatience of the parliamentary process come now—that the Standing Committee is nothing, Parliament is nothing, just pass this Bill?

The dissatisfaction with all processes of governance is paramount in this country. All of us are disgusted at periods of time. The question is, can we keep democracy intact without a parliamentary process? A democratic institution should be called to book to be accountable. But certain processes, I think, should remain. We should battle with those processes, make them transparent and accountable and make them people-friendly.

But do you have some sympathy for this impatience with the parliamentary process and the government? The impatience that says: 'They only intend to cheat us. Now, we have a bhramastraa in Anna Hazare. Be reasonable, do it his way'.

I completely understand the impatience. All of us sympathise with it. All of us get possessed by impatience but there are certain things we have to be cautious about. One is, how many of us have read the law that has been set up as the Jan Lokpal Bill? What is it in the Jan Lokpal Bill which will perpetuate the system we are fighting and how much of it will combat the system we are fighting are things which must be seriously considered. And there, if differences occur, they must be patiently heard. We can't become offensive and completely dismissive of other opinions.

So if you are not with me, you are with the corrupt or with the corporates...

Or with somebody else but actually it has been very funny. The government tells the campaign that if they oppose the law it's because they are with the Americans or for foreign money or whatever. The campaign tells us if we do not agree with the formulation they make, then we are with the government or with corruption or we are traitors or whatever else it may be.

In the very beginning you said these were 'interesting times'. So a lot of what we take for granted is currently on test or under pressure?

Some of the things we take for granted is on test. One is that I always believed that civil society formations would be very liberal formations. That it would allow for differences, negotiating spaces, a genuine desire to listen and change. Because if you don't change, then that listening becomes a formal exercise just as the government does very often. Calls us to various hearings, just listens to us, does precisely what it wants.

Do you find this under some stress now—this whole openness about the debate, flexibility about moving back and forth or front and back?

Two red herrings have come out of this debate. One is that if you are part of civil society, then you have no right to a different opinion because you break ranks. But we feel that civil society is a very large area. So from Mr Ambani to the peasant, we are all civil society.

Civil society is not one ideological army?

It cannot be.

Because civil society ranges from pro-Naxalite groups to pro-RSS groups.

True. That's where this Lokpal is seen by many of us as also a big debate on centralisation versus de-centralisation. The Jan Lokpal Bill is a very centralised bill.

Also explain the concept of five Lokpals—the baskets.

What we did think was, first of all, if it is a very large formation, we are fighting against bureaucratic diseases of corruption, delay, of various other things. Just those seven years in the IAS have led me to believe that if in fact we do have a large bureaucratic structure, the largeness of it by itself becomes an issue of corruption and accountability becomes a problem. It will carry the same diseases of the large government structure.

Since I studied biology, I can say because it will be cloned from the same tissue.

Yes, because where are we getting it from otherwise? We don't have any other tissue in India. The same kind of people, same kind of system will come. So, we are saying divide it into four plus one. We are saying separate corruption—high-level corruption, including the PM, the Cabinet is one.

But not judiciary in your case?

Yes, including judiciary. We bring them also under scrutiny. But we are saying keep them separate because, many of the senior judges like Justice Venkatachaliah, Justice Verma and many other honest judges have argued and we are somewhat convinced by their arguments.

And these judges are the ones who made the Supreme Court what it is, made the Election Commission what it is?

That is right. They say that independence is of absolute importance to the health of Indian democracy. So the independence of judiciary is absolutely crucial. If the makers of the Constitution felt that there should be separation, I believe that they really toiled hard to look at systems all over the world. Some of these systems don't change with modernisation or whatever else. So just as audits and accounts are always separated, you have to have separate systems for all this. You have to have oversight. The circularity of oversight—like the Jan Lokpal Bill will look at the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court will look at the Jan Lokpal Bill—might lead to a collusion. So we suggested that there must be a special judicial accountability.

So it's like you scratch my back, I scratch yours or you guard my back, I guard yours.

So with that in mind, we suggested that the Judicial Accountability and Standards Bill, which is already there in Parliament, should be strengthened. All of us are unhappy with it. We are unhappy with the Judicial Accountability and Standards Bill, so the government will have to revisit the Bill, which is already in Parliament, revisit also the CVC Bill which will look at bureaucratic corruption. Remove certain things but these are existing institutions and the Lokpal will be a high-level Lokpal. You know, none of us can comprehend virtual corruption, treaties across the world, pay-off systems, external banks. Everything is in a different world. For that you need a very sharp, focused, special set of people who will catch that. Grievances must be separate. (There are) million grievances in our country. Even today if I go and sit in a meeting anywhere, the first thing is "hamari arzii le lijiye", Toh arzii toh bahut hoti hain. Grievances must be separate.

If I understand you correctly, you see the danger that the fight against corruption will get overwhelmed by grievances?

Grievances will just bring it down...and it is also a bottom-up process because grievances have to be settled where people are.

Before I let you go, tell me a couple of things that you will say to your friends from civil society. And what will you tell the government which has taken many mis-steps?

I would say to the government that think before you act. I haven't seen a set of more thoughtless acts than what the government has done—absolutely thoughtless, mindless acts. Having said that, I would say to my civil society friends that we always quote the Buddha, we quote Gandhiji that compassion and tolerance have been the ideals of India. We really need to understand that difference has to be tolerated. If I want dissent, I must listen to dissent.

You have been called many things, starting with jholawallah but one thing you were called was traitor.

It is a new apparatus. It's interesting again to recall the traitor. I'll have to go see the dictionary to see what is a traitor. Traitor to an ideology, traitor to the country? I have never been a traitor to my own principles.

If I may so, our paper is one of the strongest critics of the NAC in so many things. At the same time, we have communicated with you all the time and so have you.

But, the interesting thing is that I believe I have multiple roles and multiple labels. The NAC is two days in a month. Rest of the time, I am a citizen of India, an activist. I am so many things and even in the NAC, I agree with some of the issues that you have raised. The NAC needs to be put into theoretical framework. Today, it is a part of the pre-legislative process but it has never claimed to be a part of it.

Even if we disagree with you on many things, we know that you are amongst people who guarantee our freedom, safeguard our freedoms along with so many millions of others. It has been such privilege that you found time for us. Thank you very much.

Transcribed by Chaitanya Gudipaty

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

WHO WILL FINANCE GROWTH?

Government officials who've once again begun talking of a 9% growth, for the next Plan period, would do well to take a look at RBI's latest Annual Report where it details the dramatic fall in the financial savings rates of Indian households. These fell from a high of 12.1% in 2009-10 to 9.7% in 2010-11, a level just a bit higher than the 9.6% seen way back in 1997-98—by and large, India's growth trend can be correlated with the rise and fall in savings, though foreign flows like FDI can made a difference if they are sufficiently large. That financial savings would dip in 2010-11 was pretty obvious, given the high level of inflation. Whether things will turn around this year depends on how inflation fares. If it continues to rise, financial savings may once again bear the brunt.

The shift in composition of savings also has interesting consequences. The share of commercial deposits in household financial savings was about 61% in 2008-09 and fell to 47% by 2010-11; investments in shares and debentures, which rose to 4.6% in 2009-10, went to negative territory in 2010-11, meaning that people sold more shares and debentures than they bought or that the fall in the sensex was a factor. The share of life insurance in total savings has gone up from 16.1% in 2004-05 to almost a quarter (24.2%) in 2010-11, an obvious aberration in a middle-income developing country like India. But perhaps it has more to do with the extraordinary boom of Ulips during the period and the non availability of appropriate saving instruments to the vast majority of the population.

While the fall in the share of financial savings that are being channelised towards stock markets, and the overall decline in financial savings doesn't bode well for higher economic growth—theoretically, productivity hikes can negate the impact of financial savings, but such hikes don't happen so quickly—there is still some hope since India can still attract foreign savings. Easier ECB norms and quick decision-taking with respect to FDI in critical sectors such as insurance and retail could just be the panacea in these times when domestic savings are under pressure. Getting in more foreign funds may now become a necessity instead of just a preferred option.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

PROFIT FROM EDUCATION

India needs to add another 25,000-30,000 colleges, roughly the number it has right now, if it wants to increase the proportion of college-going kids from around 13% right now to the Chinese level of around 25%. The fact that China has managed a scorching GDP growth rate for so many decades and India is spluttering after less than a decade of high growth is testimony to just how badly India needs to increase its college-going population. Does the government have the funds, and managerial capability, to do in the next decade what has been achieved in the last 65? Clearly not. Theoretically, the private sector can step in, but can it under the current set of laws?

This is where the Planning Commission's approach paper for education in the 12th Five Year Plan comes in. According to a newspaper report, the approach paper suggests the government re-examine allowing of for-profit educational institutions. This has been talked of in the past, and shot down by educationists who argue that for-profit education is nowhere as good as not-for-profit education. They're probably right, even though the fact that the only IIT which was on the list of the world's top 500 universities has just slipped off it is hardly a great testimonial for what government funding can achieve. A good example to cite in this context is that of the for-profit University of Phoenix in the US and the not-for-profit Harvard. No one even thinks of the University of Phoenix when it comes to top-quality education, but it has 200 campuses and nearly 5 lakh students versus just one Harvard after 375 years that has a total of 21,000 students. And yes, universities like Harvard and MIT have operating budgets of around $2bn a year.

It is true private education in India, even though it is not-for-profit, has been expanding dramatically. But the not-for-profit status has to be taken with a pinch of salt—many institutions have devised under-the-carpet ways for taking back the profits. To be sure, there will be, and there should be, genuine philanthropists who will set up colleges, but finding them in sufficiently large numbers is not easy—in any case, having for-profit colleges doesn't mean India cannot have not-for-profit colleges. Since India's biggest challenge right now is to get scale, this requires the large sums of money that stock markets will find it easy to give—even PE investors who are getting in to fund private colleges and universities right now, are doing so keeping in mind an eventual exit route through listing. Once for-profit education is allowed, this will drive down borrowing costs and make raising money easier—along with the attendant benefits of greater transparency that listing always brings.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

A LOST CHANCE TO JOLT AILING AMERICA
CLIVE CROOK

Perhaps Ben Bernanke has been reading the Financial Times. Last week Professor Michael Woodford of Columbia University and Mohamed El-Erian of Pimco wrote columns for the paper urging the US Federal Reserve chairman, in his keenly awaited speech at the Jackson Hole conference, not to propose a third phase of asset purchases—so-called quantitative easing. Mr Bernanke did as they advised (in that respect). On Friday, at the annual central bankers' gathering in Wyoming, he said the Fed would keep its options open but he made no case for QE3.

This is a pity. I suspect Mr Bernanke agrees. Revised figures show the sluggish US recovery has been even slower than previously believed, and this calls for fresh monetary stimulus. The trouble is, Mr Bernanke would have to convince dissenting members of the Fed's policymaking committee. In the face of gathering political resistance, he would also have to explain the policy to the country—difficult under the Fed's present terms of engagement.

Why did the FT's esteemed sceptics oppose further QE? Prof Woodford put two main objections. He believes that, first, done on a modest scale, QE3 would do little to stimulate demand; and, second, it could do more harm than good by letting the Fed "sidestep calls for greater clarity on its future policy targets".

The answer to the first point is easy: undertake further QE on an immodest scale. The answer to the second is easy, too: last week we got neither QE3 nor further clarification of Fed policy. Prof Woodford is right to emphasise the stabilising power of a clear policy framework. But IS it really better to have nothing at all than QE3 by itself—bearing in mind that, on Prof Woodford's own analysis, episodes of QE convey information about the Fed's aims?

It would be best if the Fed could be explicit about its reasoning. Unfortunately the unannounced inflation target that is said to guide the Fed's actions does not easily justify the required new stimulus. The central bank needs a different rationale for its actions. Prof Woodford advocates a price-level target. I prefer a nominal gross domestic product target, for reasons I explained a fortnight ago. At the moment, these point the same way.

But Prof Woodford has the politics of this upside down. Far from letting the Fed sidestep, QE3 would exert pressure on it to change its goals and say so. This, of course, is what makes QE3 so awkward.

Asset purchases are embarrassing to the central bank in their own right, but not as embarrassing as explaining that a temporary rise in inflation is now Fed policy. (A price-level target and a nominal-GDP target each has this implication.) Ideally, the Fed would grit its teeth and do both: adopt the right target, and use the best available instrument to hit it. But until a new framework dares to speak its name—which may be never—QE3 without the story to back it up is better than no stimulus at all.

Mr El-Erian, chief executive of one of the world's largest bond investors, objects on different grounds. Compared with a year ago, the Fed has less freedom of manoeuvre, he says—inflation is higher, structural impediments to job creation are greater, the external environment is worse, the Fed itself is coming under attack, and financial markets are "less sensitive to Fed shock therapy". Any given dose of QE, in other words, will have less effect.

When a treatment becomes less effective, you might switch to an alternative; if there is no alternative, you increase the dose. Certainly if inflation—in particular, medium-term inflation expectations—had risen significantly, that would weigh against further QE. The Fed sees no sign of it. "We expect inflation to settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below the rate of 2 per cent, or a bit less, that most [members of the Fed's policymaking committee] view as being consistent with our dual mandate"—promoting stable inflation and maximum employment—said the chairman in Jackson Hole.

If, in referring to "structural impediments", Mr El-Erian meant long-term growth prospects were dimmed, he would again have a point, since that too would suggest caution in the use of QE. (A permanently impaired economy would imply a lower target for aggregate demand.) But since spring 2009, the Fed's estimate of long-term growth in US output has not fallen: it was 2.5-2.7 per cent two years ago, and 2.5-2.8 per cent this summer.

Mr El-Erian is right that there are temporary impediments to the recovery, in the housing market for instance, and these should be separately addressed. However, Mr Bernanke is equally right to say that, if high unemployment persists, longer-lasting damage and lower long-term growth will follow. This argues, contrary to Mr El-Erian, for greater zeal in supporting a cyclical recovery, not less.

Mr El-Erian called on Mr Bernanke to "reframe the national policy debate" and serve as "the warm-up act for President [Barack] Obama's critical speech on the economy next month". The chairman did his best. He emphasised the need for better fiscal policy—short-term caution in curbing deficits, long-term tax and spending reform, better incentives for work, saving, capital accumulation and so on—just as on countless previous occasions.

Quantitative easing is a policy with "questionable net benefits", says Mr El-Erian. The net benefits of having Mr Bernanke instead lecture Congress and warm up the crowd for Mr Obama, I agree, are not questionable. One can say with full confidence that they are zero.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

REFORM ELECTORATES FIRST
M R MADHAVAN

The right to recall elected representatives and the right to reject election candidates figured among the various issues mentioned by Anna Hazare and his group at Ramlila Maidan. Some of the important pros and cons of both suggestions are discussed below.

Right to Recall

The right to recall means that the electorate can ask for their representative to be removed and fresh elections held. Some states such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have processes to recall corporators. However, these states have restrictive conditions. In Chhattisgarh, the process can be initiated only after three-fourths of fellow councillors ask for a recall election. In Bihar, two-thirds of the registered voters of a constituency have to sign a petition.

The argument for a recall system is as follows. During elections, a candidate is elected to represent the people in his constituency. There is no system for the people to hold the representative accountable during the term of office. The recall system provides an opportunity to do so.

There can be several arguments against the recall system. First, the recall system may deter policy decisions that provide positive results over a medium- to long-term horizon. Having the leeway of a longer term permits representatives to take a long-term view without the fear of being recalled. Indeed, many governments take tough decisions in their first couple of years. An analogy in the corporate sector would be the focus on quarterly results impeding long-term shareholder value.

Second, the recall can work for a person with a very specific role. For example, a corporator is a directly elected executive position, and has a defined role in ensuring delivery of services. The role of an MP or an MLA is much broader. They are part of a larger body with the primary role of making laws and holding the central and state governments accountable. It is difficult to set clear performance targets and hold them accountable.

That said, there can be some ways for the electorate to judge whether their MP or MLA represented their interests. That leads us to the third set of problems due to our current systems. Most votes in our Parliament and state assemblies are voice votes. There is no record of how an individual MP or MLA voted, or even whether he was present in the House at the time of voting. A mechanism that requires votes to be recorded can provide information to the electorate on the voting pattern of their representative. Even in that case, the MP (or MLA) may justify his vote as a response to the party whip and the anti-defection law. It is necessary to revoke the anti-defection law (except for the confidence vote) and for parties to use the whip sparingly before any MP or MLA can be held accountable for their votes in the house.

In sum, the right to recall may be workable for the directly elected executive posts, but is difficult to implement for a legislative role. Even in the former case, there has to be a sufficiently high threshold to provide stability to the representative. For example, in the Bihar case, two-thirds of the electorate has to sign a petition; this is as large as the typical turnout in an election.

Right to Reject

The right to reject proposal stems from the fact that the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system allows a candidate with a minority of votes to win the election. This happens frequently in areas where there are three or four significant political parties. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, only 120 of the 543 winning candidates got more than 50% of the votes in their constituency. The FPTP system also gives a disproportionate share of seats to the larger parties. For example, in the 2009 elections, the Congress won 38% of seats with 29% share of votes, while the BJP got 21% of seats with 19% of votes and the BSP 4% of seats with 6% of votes.

It is not easy to design a 'fairer' system. The proportional representation system allots seats to parties based on their overall vote share. However, in the absence of geographical constituencies, this system breaks the link between the MP and the electorate. It also strengthens the power of the party leaderships with respect to their members. The legislatures of some countries such as Germany and Scotland have a combination of members elected by the FPTP system, and those by a proportional representation system. The British Parliament had recently proposed another system called the 'alternative vote', which ensures that the elected candidate is among the higher preferences of the majority of voters. Individual candidates contest geographically defined constituencies. Voters fill up a list of candidates in their order of preference. If no candidate gets 50% of the first preference votes, the second preference votes are counted, and so on, until a candidate has a majority. This system has the disadvantage of being complicated. Incidentally, in a referendum in May, the British voters rejected this proposal.

The simplest 'right to reject' system would ask for a fresh round of election if no candidate gets a majority of votes. In the absence of a limit for repeating this process, some constituencies may never get a representative.

A more practical, though expensive, method would be a run-off between the top two candidates. Other systems such as the alternative voting method and the proportional representation method are also worth public debate.

The author works with PRS Legislative Research, New Delhi

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

REPUBLICANS AGAINST SCIENCE

Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China, isn't a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that's too bad, because Mr. Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the G.O.P. — namely, that it is becoming the "anti-science party." This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.

To see what Mr. Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the G.O.P. nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

Mr. Perry, the Governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as "just a theory," one that has "got some gaps in it" — an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists. But what really got peoples' attention was what he said about climate change: "I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change."

That's a remarkable statement — or maybe the right adjective is "vile."

The second part of Mr. Perry's statement is, as it happens, just false: the scientific consensus about man-made global warming — which includes 97 per cent to 98 per cent of researchers in the field, according to the National Academy of Sciences — is getting stronger, not weaker, as the evidence for climate change just keeps mounting.

In fact, if you follow climate science at all, you know that the main development over the past few years has been growing concern that projections of future climate are underestimating the likely amount of warming. Warnings that we may face civilization-threatening temperature change by the end of the century, once considered outlandish, are now coming out of mainstream research groups.

But never mind that, Mr. Perry suggests; those scientists are just in it for the money, "manipulating data" to create a fake threat. In his book " Fed Up ," he dismissed climate science as a "contrived phony mess that is falling apart."

I could point out that Mr. Perry is buying into a truly crazy conspiracy theory, which asserts that thousands of scientists all around the world are on the take, with not one willing to break the code of silence. I could also point out that multiple investigations into charges of intellectual malpractice on the part of climate scientists have ended up exonerating the accused researchers of all accusations. But never mind: Mr. Perry and those who think like him know what they want to believe, and their response to anyone who contradicts them is to start a witch hunt.

So how has Mr. Romney, the other leading contender for the G.O.P. nomination, responded to Mr. Perry's challenge? In trademark fashion: By running away. In the past, Mr. Romney, a former Governor of Massachusetts, has strongly endorsed the notion that man-made climate change is a real concern. But, last week, he softened that to a statement that he thinks the world is getting hotter, but "I don't know that" and "I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans." Moral courage!

Of course, we know what's motivating Mr. Romney's sudden lack of conviction. According to Public Policy Polling, only 21 per cent of Republican voters in Iowa believe in global warming (and only 35 per cent believe in evolution). Within the G.O.P., wilful ignorance has become a litmus test for candidates, one that Mr. Romney is determined to pass at all costs.

So it's now highly likely that the presidential candidate of one of our two major political parties will either be a man who believes what he wants to believe, even in the teeth of scientific evidence, or a man who pretends to believe whatever he thinks the party's base wants him to believe.

And the deepening anti-intellectualism of the political right, both within and beyond the G.O.P., extends far beyond the issue of climate change.

Lately, for example, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page has gone beyond its long-term preference for the economic ideas of "charlatans and cranks" — as one of former President George W. Bush's chief economic advisers famously put it — to a general denigration of hard thinking about matters economic. Pay no attention to "fancy theories" that conflict with "common sense," the Journal tells us. Because why should anyone imagine that you need more than gut feelings to analyse things like financial crises and recessions?

Now, we don't know who will win next year's presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world's greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges — environmental, economic, and more — that's a terrifying prospect. — © New York Times News Service

The deepening anti-intellectualism of the political right extends far beyond the issue of climate change.

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

NEW ZEALAND NEWS AGENCY CLOSING AFTER 132 YEARS

When New Zealand's homegrown news agency transmits its last story on Wednesday, August 31, it will mark the end of a 132-year-old institution that has helped shape the identity of this remote nation.

The New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) is a victim of changing technology and media consolidation.

Two Australian media empires have bought up most of New Zealand's newspapers, and the papers in each chain share stories with each other, reducing their need for an outside news service.

News agencies such as NZPA typically sell their news services to newspapers, broadcasters and online providers rather directly to readers. Like other such agencies, NZPA has tried to adapt in recent years by seeking new broadcast and online customers outside of its traditional base of the newspaper chains, which are also the agency's main owners under a cooperative model.

But in the end, the agency was simply squeezed out. "It's a tough thing when any news agency disappears," said Bill Mitchell, the leader of entrepreneurial and international programmes at the Poynter Institute for journalism in St. Petersburg, Florida. "It means there's one less voice in providing a range of coverage."

In its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, NZPA employed dozens of journalists, including correspondents in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Washington D.C. New Zealand newspapers also filed stories of national interest to the agency, which would then distribute them to other papers. Author and historian Ron Palenski, who worked for the agency until 1984, said its stories helped establish New Zealand's identity by bringing common concerns to people across the sparsely populated country of four million people.

Some see the move as yet another example of the increasing control that Australian companies are exerting over New Zealand business. — AP

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THE HINDU

POSITIVE STEP IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka's decision to lift the Emergency regulations, as announced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Parliament last week, is a step towards creating a positive environment for national reconciliation. The regulations rode on powers granted to government under the 1947 Public Security Ordinance. They have remained almost continuously in force since the 1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna insurgency in southern Sri Lanka, through the years of the armed Tamil militancy in the North and the East. But there was never any real justification for retaining them after the LTTE's military defeat in 2009. The broad sweep and vague language of the regulations struck fear among the Tamil minority, and curtailed the freedoms of all Sri Lankans. Over the years, and especially after the LTTE's assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005 until the end of the war, the government introduced a welter of overlapping regulations arming security personnel with wide and arbitrary powers to search, detain, and arrest people for "terrorism," which itself was not clearly defined. Draconian in their scope, the regulations undermined the freedom of speech, expression, and movement. The monthly approval needed from Parliament for their extension was an insufficient cover. With the immunity they provided to officials, the instances of misuse were many, especially in the Tamil-dominated areas of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government must clarify how it proposes to deal with the people — their numbers are unclear — still detained under the Emergency laws. It also remains to be seen how Sri Lanka will now use the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a law so severe that it more than mirrors the Emergency regulations in its scope and powers; the two were implemented simultaneously or interchangeably. Without losing any momentum, the Sri Lankan polity must now quickly move towards setting up the political framework to address the Tamil question — the just solution to which is wide-ranging devolution of powers within a united Sri Lanka. The 13th Amendment provides a decent start but, as the whole world knows, Tamil aspirations go beyond this. It is certainly time to concretise the 'plus' in the 13th Amendment-plus to which President Rajapaksa committed his government before the LTTE was eliminated as a military entity. In shaping an enduring political solution, the role of the Tamil National Alliance, which decisively won the recent local bodies elections in the North, is crucial. Thus far it has fallen woefully short of articulating a clear vision of a constitutional solution. It is time it steps up to the task.

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THE HINDU

KASHMIR'S UNIDENTIFIED DEAD

More than two decades after the first shots of the jihad in Jammu and Kashmir were fired, the bodies of the men whom the fighting claimed could help build the foundations for the restoration of the rule of law. Earlier this month, investigators working for the State's Human Rights Commission reported that 2,730 unidentified people lie in unmarked graves strung along the Line of Control — people the Indian Army and State police claim were terrorists infiltrating across the LoC. That unidentified people alleged to be terrorists lie buried in makeshift graveyards across the State isn't a revelation: indeed, this newspaper has reported the existence of sites that have not so far been documented by investigators. The Army says it has no means of knowing who a terrorist crossing the LoC might be; Pakistan-based jihadist groups, in their own literature, admit to having sent hundreds of Kashmiri jihadists to their deaths. Nor is there evidence that the bodies were buried in a clandestine manner. The J&K Police have already established the identities of 574 of those buried, and another 17 bodies have been exhumed and laid to rest by next-of-kin. Each killing appears to have been recorded in a First Information Report, as required by law. Damningly, however, the post-mortems carried out on those killed were slapdash in the extreme, which means a number of the dead might have been victims of extrajudicial execution.

The debate over the unidentified victims now threatens to turn into an unproductive polemical exchange between human rights groups and the government. But name-calling will do little service to those at the centre of the debate: the hundreds of families whose loved ones have been missing for years. There are concrete things that should be done to give these families a sense of closure and justice. DNA samples could be taken from the bodies of the dead and matched against results from the families of missing persons. Forensic pathologists could re-examine the bodies where there is reason to suspect extrajudicial execution. Such a project would demand considerable resources and also take time: for homicide investigation, police forces face routine waits of over six months for DNA results from the country's overburdened laboratories. But going about this task honestly and thoroughly is important. Models exist for such a project. The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation, for example, maintains a database that can match DNA from unidentified bodies with the profiles of the relatives of missing persons. In New Delhi and Srinagar, governments and rights activists need to stop scoring debating points, and focus instead on concrete solutions based on humanity and justice.

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THE HINDU

THE EGYPTIAN SPRING: THE EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR WRITES

On January 25, 2011 the Egyptian people demonstrating in "Tahrir Square" managed peacefully, after 18 days, to bring to an end the Mubarak regime that had remained in power for 30 years.

It is almost six months since that day as breathtaking changes have been taking place since then. These changes are being closely watched by the whole world, including India, where, most recently, a number of articles have been published in prestigious newspapers on the increasing influence of Salafis in Egyptian society.

It is worth mentioning that when Egyptians took to the streets to bring an end to the Mubarak regime, they wanted to establish their "Second Republic" with an inclusive democracy, where no political parties or movements be left out or work from behind the scenes. They also aspired to ensure social equality and to fight corruption.

To achieve those aspirations, the Supreme Military Council, that runs the country together with a transitional civil government, worked out a plan to prepare Egyptians for free and fair elections on November 18, three months hence, which will be the first phase of handing over part of the authority, currently being held by the Military Council, to a civilian elected government.

A road map has been agreed on for electing a constitutional society to draft a new constitution for the country. It is to be adopted by a referendum, immediately after the Parliamentary elections, which is going to be the basis for the presidential elections, aiming at the election of a new president to assume his responsibilities, thus allowing the military to go back to its barracks.

Among recent developments, the Egyptian courts have ruled on a number of cases, most important of which is dissolving the National Democratic Party and the State Security Police. Trials are being conducted of the ex-President, his family members and a number of former ministers and officials of the regime on charges of corrupting political life. Draft laws on the full independence of the judiciary and the media are in the making. A new election law, while already enacted, is still under national debate.

Reinvigorating the economy, bringing back tourism levels to previous figures of 16 million in 2010, creating job opportunities and promoting foreign direct investment are top priorities in the coming phase.

The Supreme Military Council and the Egyptian government have reiterated Egypt's position in honouring its regional and international agreements and treaties. While condemning violations of human rights and attacks on civilians, Egypt reiterated its refusal of foreign intervention and respect of the sovereignty of states. Egypt equally expects from the international community to respect its national laws governing the finance of registered NGOs and non-interference in its affairs when it relates to a consensus decision by Egyptians for the establishment of an inclusive democratic system. Unscrupulous comments on the reasons behind selecting a cabinet minister or a governor should be avoided. The coming elections and the ballot box will judge the levels of popularity of political parties and movements in the country. Though political life was weak in Egypt over the last few decades, Egyptians have been following global movements, and contributing in their own way to human development. Just to mention that over the last 40 years, four Egyptians have won the Nobel Prize, one for Physics, another for Literature and two for Peace.

We, Egyptians, are cognisant that the road ahead is not easy and full of challenges, but we also know that our great history and a promising future will keep going on the path we have chosen for ourselves — a Gandhian peaceful way — to achieve our goals and usher in a new era of prosperity, hopefully setting an example for others to follow.

Khaled El Bakly,

Ambassador of Egypt

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THE HINDU

LIBYAN NOVELIST HAILS 'ASTONISHING' REVOLUTION

CHARLOTTE HIGGINS

"The moment that the Libyan rebels entered the Qadhafi compound was astonishing: and it was also slightly eerie. You could see bullets, but no faces. And to me this was symbolic of the Qadhafi regime, of how it has surrounded itself with appearances, and stories.

"This week has been like that moment when you surface from a nightmare and realise that though the nightmare-image is terrifying, it is also incredibly fragile." Such was the description of recent events in Libya by one of the country's leading novelists, Hisham Matar, whose cousin Izz al Arab Matar, a member of the rebel front, was shot dead in Qadhafi's compound on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Edinburgh international book festival, Matar said: "For the first time in our history the idea of democracy is a real, tangible idea, not a fairy tale. Revolutions aren't about negative objectives, about simply getting rid of people. They are about discovering who we are; and what it means to be Libyans."

Matar's family was exiled from Libya after his father, Jaballa Matar, was branded a dissident in the 1970s. Jaballa Matar was abducted by Egyptian agents in 1990, and later brought back to Libya's Abu Salim jail, an event Matar fictionalised in his novel " Anatomy of a Disappearance ." Matar declined to talk to the Edinburgh audience about whether he believed his father was dead or alive.

Any sense of Libyan identity and narrative, he said, had been hijacked by the "nightmare" of the Qadhafi regime; in fact it had been the programme of the dictatorship to capture and corrupt even the minutest details of individuals' stories.

"One of the objects of dictatorship is to create a narrative that defines what it means to be in the present and what the future might look like; in fact it even tries to rewrite history. Dictators are involved in the same thing as novelists: they are involved in narrative," he said.

"The difference is that novelists are interested in narratives that mirror life, narratives that express conflicting empathies, that express the contradictions of what it means to be human, that express emotions, psychology.

"Dictators, on the other hand, write bad novels that are intolerant of change, that are simple-minded. And they do that by entering the most private aspects of our lives, by trying to affect even how people love one another, how people read, think about the future, about their children's education." Where the events in Libya and countries such as Tunisia and Egypt might lead is uncertain, the writer acknowledged. "Islamism," Matar said, "is a very important element of daily life, and part of our heritage ... resistance has to find a language, and the Muslim language is a very compelling, powerful and effective language for many people. I would be very surprised if the Muslim element doesn't form part of the eventual Libyan government." Every aspect of the revolution, he said, has been astonishing. "It seems almost miraculous what has taken place. That you have a deceitful, limitless violence inflicted on a civilian population, and that civilian population has continued to make extra sacrifices and remain articulate and hopeful is astonishing. It is a holy moment. There is something sacred in it." — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011

He tells the Edinburgh international book festival that for the first time in Libya's history, 'the idea of democracy is a real, tangible idea, not a fairy tale.'

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THE HINDU

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO BE PART OF NEW FUTURE

HAROON HABIB

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will be in Dhaka on September 6, as part of a two-day official visit to Bangladesh, to cement the historic ties that were initiated by his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, during her visit to New Delhi in January 2010.

It would perhaps be no exaggeration to say that the two countries, with a few hundred kilometres of common border, have embarked on a new journey to rejuvenate their ties — as was seen when India, under Indira Gandhi, extended unequivocal support to Bangladesh's independence.

The official mood in Dhaka over Dr. Singh's visit is positive. Senior Cabinet colleagues of Sheikh Hasina, including her top advisers, hope the visit will yield tangible results, resolving most of the outstanding issues that have remained unresolved for decades.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, main Opposition, traditionally opposed to India-related issues and, now, the recently signed deals with India, including the agreement on transit, has welcomed Dr. Singh's visit too. However, the party and its fundamentalist allies have kept the door open for cynicism. The BNP's position was made known by the former Prime Minister and party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, who demanded that all deals, including those on transit and water-sharing, be made public first.

It is true that many would not like to accept that India and Bangladesh share a relationship based on their common culture, heritage and history. But the general thinking across Bangladesh is that the relationship should see a realistic transformation, to breathe hope into millions in the impoverished country.

Following Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi some 18 months ago, the two countries have witnessed a paradigm shift in their relations. The essence of the new awakening, as all right-thinking people know, is to promote peaceful coexistence and achieve a shared progress. A section of politicians may not agree with this, but the reality that the two countries share a geographical proximity of 4,156 km, cultural and historic bonding and must, therefore, go for greater economic and social interaction for mutual benefit cannot be wished away. Therefore, it is time to go for a peace offensive — both in terms of people's interaction and economic transaction to help integrate the economies and provide larger markets to each other. A strong political will to translate these moves into action is also imperative.

A negative attitude towards neighbours has always proved counterproductive. However, the general perception in Bangladesh is that, as a big economy and the world's largest democracy, India should be more generous towards its neighbour which is a weak economy and a fragile democracy. The overwhelming majority see Dr. Singh's visit as a historic opportunity to rebuild a relationship that could be a model for other South Asian countries.

The two countries have some long-pending issues that need to be resolved. There is a strong indication that the crucial issues of water-sharing from rivers Teesta and Feni, lands in adverse possession and the problem of enclaves, including the demarcation of 6.5 km of land boundary, will be settled. The two countries, for the first time after 1947, recently signed the boundary strip maps to settle disputes along the border. The cross-border trade has got a boost with the opening of new land ports and building of a new immigration building and truck terminal at India's Petrapole port bordering West Bengal.

Effective steps have also been taken to reduce the huge gaps in bilateral trade. Trade and investment have increased substantially. India has decided to invest more in Bangladesh while the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, too, are keen on investing in India.

For the first time after 1947, the two countries, during Dr. Singh's visit, may decide the fate of 111 Indian and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, where people have been living virtually as non-state citizens for decades. The opening of 'Border Haats' is another pragmatic step that will benefit the poor along the borders. There is a strong indication that Dr. Singh will announce a 24-hour access to inhabitants of Bangladesh's Dahagram and Angorpota enclaves, fulfilling the Indira-Mujib land boundary agreement of 1974.

Transit, not corridor, for India is essentially an economic issue. However, thanks to a section of politicians and their backers, the issue has assumed a political dimension. But the country's business communities, independent think tanks and civil society are strongly of the view that initiating a regional connectivity through transit would be a landmark step which will not only demonstrate good neighbourliness but also improve the livelihood of millions.

An eminent South Asian expert, Gowher Rizvi, also the International Affairs Adviser to Sheikh Hasina, explains that a transit between the two countries will require no new agreement as the facility has existed since 1947. Interrupted by the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the transit resumed through the Indira-Mujib treaty, he asserts. The two countries now need to sign a protocol for its operation. While rail and waterways are the first priority for transit, Bangladesh will have to develop its roads to open up the land transit, and also determine a fee for the facility. On the other hand, the transit is not bilateral — it is a regional arrangement involving India, Nepal and Bhutan.

India and Bangladesh have witnessed a flurry of high-profile visits in recent months. Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon visited Dhaka, while New Delhi received Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Mr. Rizvi and Economic Affairs Adviser Masihur Rahman. They talked mainly about the implementation of the 51-point joint communiqué, regarded as Magna Carta by both sides, issued during Sheikh Hasina's visit in 2010.

During Dr. Singh's visit, the two countries are set to sign a framework agreement on a number of issues, including water-sharing, trade, investment, culture and education. The implementation of projects under the $1 billion LOC from India, to be spent mainly on roads and the railway sector, are of high priority. The cooperation in the power sector, including grid connectivity, supply of up to 500 MW of power from India, including 250 MW at a preferential rate, and Bangladesh's request to set up a high technology joint venture thermal power plant of 1320 MW capacity, is also progressing well.

Besides allowing India's Over Dimensional Cargos (ODCs) to move through the country to Tripura to set up a power plant there, Bangladesh has taken a very strong position against India's northeast insurgents. As a lower riparian country, Bangladesh has asked for a water-sharing deal that covers all 54 common rivers. Therefore, to make Dr. Singh's visit a watershed in bilateral relations, many observers hope, the Indian Prime Minister will make substantial announcements.

The history of the divided subcontinent has been a history of distrust and suspicion. 1971 was an exception, and it lasted only a few years — till 1975 — when Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated. Therefore, a bold but realistic approach from both sides is expected for the durability of the measures.

One of the major issues that have caused immense ill-will is the killing of Bangladesh citizens by the BSF. New Delhi recently gave strict orders against any further civilian deaths along the border. If this position is maintained strictly, it will have a positive impact. Barring exceptions, the reality is that a majority of cross-border intruders are the abject poor who deserve a humanitarian approach.

Dr. Singh's will be a bilateral visit to Bangladesh in 12 years since Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Dhaka to inaugurate the Dhaka-Kolkata bus service in 1999. West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu accompanied Mr. Vajpayee. Dr. Singh will be accompanied by Chief Ministers of five States bordering Bangladesh, including Mamata Banerjee. The Manmohan-Hasina summit, close observers say, has all the potential to infuse a fresh dynamism into the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional relationship.

South Asia has been a tense region since the Partition of India. The prolonged Kashmir dispute has had an adverse impact. The war in Afghanistan and the growing instability in Pakistan make the region more volatile. Therefore, moves to bring people closer need to be welcomed. India and Bangladesh cannot afford to miss the historic opportunity to be part of a new future.

(The writer is a Bangladeshi author and journalist. His email: hh1971@gmail.com)

Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka has the potential to infuse fresh dynamism into the multi-faceted relationship between India and Bangladesh.

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THE HINDU

LIBYAN CULTURAL HERITAGE IN DANGER OF GOING THE IRAQI WAY

VLADIMIR RADYUHIN

Libya's priceless historical heritage is in danger of being destroyed in the same way Iraq's cultural riches perished during the United States invasion, a Russian expert on West Asia has warned.

Nikolai Sologubovsky, Orientalist, writer and film-maker, said massive looting and destruction of ancient artefacts was underway in Libya.

Being shipped to Europe

"The al-Jamahiriya National Museum in Tripoli has been looted and antiquities are being shipped out by sea to Europe," the scholar told Russian television.

The National Museum houses some of Libya's most treasured archaeological and historical heritage. The collection includes invaluable samples of Neolithic, prehistoric, Berber, Garamantian, Phoenician, Punic, Greek, Roman and Byzantine culture.

Mr. Sologubovsky, who studied Libya's archeological sites and spent several months in Libya this year as a correspondent for a Moscow tabloid, said cave paintings in the Acacus Mountains that go back 14,000 years were being destroyed by looters.

"They press silk cloth soaked in special chemical solution against rock frescoes and the paint sticks to the cloth and comes off the cave wall," he said.

NATO bombing

The scholar accused NATO forces of destroying some of Libya's most spectacular architectural sites.

"NATO aircraft have bombed Leptis Magna and Sabratha under the pretext that Qadhafi forces were hiding weapons there," said Mr. Sologobovsky, who is deputy head of a Russian committee of solidarity with the people of Libya and Syria set up earlier this year.

Leptis Magna was one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire and Sabratha was a Phoenician trading post. Both are more than 2,500 years old, and are on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Following their bombing by NATO aircraft on August 16 and 17, Mr. Sologubovsky wrote:

"NATO is acting with complete impunity and is methodically turning defiant Libya into desert."

Earlier this summer, the government in Tripoli asked Egypt and other neighbouring countries to block the smuggling of artefacts from Libya, but the looting continued unabated. Egypt's own cultural treasures were plundered when looters ransacked archaeological sites, carrying away over 1,000 artefacts, and stole a statue of King Tutankhamun and dozens of other precious objects from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo during the "Arab Spring" revolution.

Last week, the United Nation's cultural body called for protection of Libya's "invaluable cultural heritage" and warned international art dealers and museums to look out for artefacts that may have been looted from Libya.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement that dealers should be "particularly wary of objects from Libya in the present circumstances."

"Experience shows that there is a serious danger of destruction during times of social upheaval," the UNESCO chief said, "It has taught us to look out for looting by unscrupulous individuals, that often damages the integrity of artefacts and of archaeological sites."

Mr. Sologubovsky said the UNESCO appeal came too late, too little.

"Plunder of Libya's cultural heritage has been going on since February. I'm afraid it faces the same tragic fate as Iraq's antiquities, which were plundered by the victorious U.S. military," said the Russian scholar.

Looters and NATO forces are to blame, says Russian expert on West Asia.

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THE ASIAN AGE

EDITORIAL

US FED, IMF SOUND WARNING BELLS

US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and IMF head Christine Lagarde both sounded alarm bells to the US government and the European Union authorities to wake up to the looming economic growth crisis that is bordering on a recession and afflicting both economies. Ms Lagarde was more forthright in warning that they were in a "dangerous new phase" where the recovery of the fragile economies (of the US and Europe) are in danger of being derailed as the economies "sputter" and government debt burdens "surge". What is interesting about their speeches at the meet at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is the new phenomenon of monetary authorities having to give wakeup calls to their governments to do their job of implementing policies that will spur economic growth. The US and European governments are caught up in their own political exigencies with the result that national interests go for a toss. Mr Bernanke, in a reference to the haggling between elected representatives over increasing the American government's debt limit, warned that such events shake the confidence of global investors to hold US financial assets or to make direct investments in employment-generating businesses. The US saw its triple-A rating downgraded a notch and drew a reprimand from China, the largest single holder of US debt, to set its house in order. Mr Bernanke said the Fed (the equivalent of the Reserve Bank of India), as a financial regulator, ensures that inflation remains low so that there is macroeconomic and financial stability, and is a liquidity provider of last resort. The most glaring ills of the US economy, he pointed out, are nine per cent unemployment, healthcare costs, an inadequate education system, an ageing workforce, etc, and said these need fiscal policies that will promote growth. He even outlined what these policies should be, such as tax polices and spending programmes that spur economic growth, and these are outside the purview of the central bank. It was almost as though he was echoing the RBI governor, Dr D. Subbarao, telling the Indian government about its fiscal responsibilities of managing supply-side constraints to complement the monetary policies and control inflation. But while the fallout of India's problems are restricted to India, the problems in the US and Europe, if not resolved with seriousness, also jeopardise other trade and financial markets. The US and Europe are the largest consumers of global goods and services that usually come from developing countries. Ms Lagarde, chiding the indecision of the Europeans and of American policymakers, has prodded the G-20 countries, which are to meet in November, to address the world's economic woes in a "serious" and "convincing" manner.

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THE ASIAN AGE

EDITORIAL

NOW, PARIBARTAN IN THE NAME TOO

ASHOK MALIK

So will it be Paschim Banga, Paschimbanga or PaschimBanga? If the third, will the state currently known as West Bengal get a unique place name with a capital letter in the middle of a word? All three spellings have been used in recent weeks to describe the new name of West Bengal, as Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress takes its "paribartan" (change) drive to nomenclature as well.
The story of how Calcutta became Kolkata a decade ago, and of how West Bengal threatens to become Paschim Banga (the literal translation) in 2011, is not just one of a once-colonised community effacing an imperial legacy. It is fundamentally ahistorical and reflects the provincialisation of the Bengalis as a people.
Why is the name Kolkata ahistorical? Simply because there was no great city or metropolis of that name till the British founded Calcutta. This is unlike, say, Patna, which is descended from Pataliputra, a flourishing city in the Maurya era. Patna itself was an important urban location in pre-British India.
This is not to suggest Patna should be renamed Pataliputra. It is only to stress there could be a case, however slim, for making that demand. Yet the evidence and the weight of history that can be cited by Pataliputra's advocates simply cannot be put forward by Kolkata's. To remove the name "Calcutta" amounts to wishing away the British period and pretending it never existed. It is as if Kolkata suddenly appeared on the landscape, without any warning at all. Its link to British-created Calcutta is denied; its link to any pre-colonial city is non-existent.
As an apocryphal story goes, the demand for Kolkata was made in the late 1990s by a Bengali writer who found himself superseded at the literary magazine he worked for. His new boss was a foreign-returned Bengali. This perceived professional slight led the writer to turn against a variety of foreign impulses and influences, including names, and invoked some long-suppressed nativist gene. He began a crusade for the "restoration" of Bengali pride by deleting Calcutta and replacing it with Kolkata. The Left Front government, which had pretty much nothing better to do, quickly gave in.
Admittedly, the term "Paschim Banga" is more problematic. For one, it has provenance. It derives from Vanga or Banga, which have been previous names for part of the territory of West Bengal. Even so, the reasons for renaming that the Mamata Banerjee government has given are just not convincing. It has argued that with a name beginning with W the state is among the last to be considered in any roll-call of states.
This is specious reasoning. Will moving up a few letters to P (for Paschim Banga) remedy matters? Why not drop the "West", which is an obsolete expression since there is nothing called East Bengal anymore, and resort to plain Bengal? This will put the state well up the alphabetical order.
As disputes over geographical indicators bear out, place names can be big and in some cases lucrative brands. "Darjeeling tea" would simply not be the same if it were called "Gorkhaland tea". Australia and California can make top quality sparkling wine, but they can never call it Champagne.
In "Bengal" and "Calcutta", the state currently known as West Bengal has two of the biggest geographical brands in India. These have name recall, legacy and worldwide recognition. Despite West Bengal's abysmal failures in recent decades, the names are still well-known. Many other states, and even countries, would pay a king's ransom for such brand names. Yet it says something about Bengali politicians and the Bengali intelligentsia that both these valuable commodities have been chucked away by the state, without a thought at all.
Calcutta and Bengal once represented the best of India. One was a cosmopolitan city, a business centre home to Baghdadi Jews as much as Bengalis, Awadh's aristocrats as much as Anglo-Indians, Parsis as much as Punjabis. The other was a rich province, among the early Indian industrial zones, with a jute industry that affected fortunes as far away as Dundee.
Gradually both these identities were allowed to be whittled away. The Left Front government accelerated the process in its 34 years of government and made the state and its capital city extremely inward looking. If Ms Banerjee wants to change things in West Bengal, she has to begin by altering this mindset, and this nativist defeatism. Succumbing on the Paschim Banga issue and giving the world its most unpronounceable place name since Ouagadougou isn't the way to do this.
It is nobody's argument that Bengali society should remain obsessed with the Raj. However, there is a difference between moving on from the British legacy and becoming an ostrich society. West Bengal has a future as a modern Indian state that uses economic opportunities of the present, whether in the context of India or of global trade and socio-cultural exchange. Will these imperatives be better served by Paschim Banga or by Bengal?
Perhaps a halfway house can be found. Many places have local as well as world (or "English-language" names). Firenze is also Florence, Misr is also Egypt. As such, Paschim Banga may well be sanctified as the Bengali-language translation, but Ms Banerjee should let West Bengal stay as the official name. For that matter, she should also bring back Calcutta.

Ashok Malik can be contacted at malikashok@gmail.com

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THE ASIAN AGE

EDITORIAL

CORRUPTION, FAST FORWARD

PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA

The lasting legacy of the agitation led by Anna Hazare will not be the yet-to-be-enacted legislation to set up a Lokpal and Lokayuktas in all states, but the attention that has been drawn to the brazen corruption that pervades life in India. Long after the hype and hoopla have died down, what will be remembered is how the government was literally forced to listen to the voices of ordinary citizens despite the arrogance and incompetence of some of its important functionaries. What will, unfortunately, also be remembered in the process is the megalomania of a few representatives of civil society.
If Mr Hazare has emerged as a superstar of sorts, as a person who, willy-nilly, was elevated to the status of a Jayaprakash Narayan who, in the 1970s, united the political Right and the Left against Indira Gandhi's Emergency, much of the credit should go to the utter stupidity and overblown egos of a small coterie of ministers. One obvious example was the silly manner in which Mr Hazare's "preventive arrest" was sought to be "blamed" on the Delhi police. To argue that the police chief of the national capital acted as an agent independent of his superiors in North Block, where the ministry of home affairs is headquartered, is to insult the intelligence of the people of the country. Arrogance, when coupled with stupidity, is a deadly combination, which is why the government had to backtrack in the face of overwhelming public pressure.
Corruption is neither new nor unique to India. Why then has corruption become such an important issue? One important contributory factor is the sheer scale and the brazen manner in which a slew of scandals have taken place in recent years. Let's have a peek at what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the Lok Sabha on August 25: "…corruption sources are numerous. Until the early 1990s, the biggest single source of corruption was the… industrial licensing system, the import controls and the foreign exchange controls. The liberalisation that we brought about has ended that part of this corruption story. Another major part of corruption was the rates of taxation which were so exorbitant that people were tempted to enter into corrupt practices to reduce their tax liabilities. We, I venture to suggest, ourselves and successive governments, have worked hard to simplify to streamline the taxation system and on balance there is less scope for corruption as far as taxation matters are concerned."
Dr Singh added that ways and means will have to be found to plug leakages in the administration system, "devise new methodologies to ensure that public distribution system will be free of malpractices" in collaboration with state governments, streamline contracting systems by enacting a Public Procurement Act and improve the functioning of "regulatory mechanisms, especially with regard to the management of the infrastructure".
During his August 22 speech on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata, Dr Singh was categorical: "There are some who argue that corruption is the consequence of economic liberalisation and reforms. This is of course completely mistaken… The abolition of licensing has eliminated corruption in these areas. But corruption has not disappeared from the system. It surfaces in many forms. The aam admi faces corruption when he has to pay a bribe to facilitate ordinary transactions with the government."
"Beneficiaries of government programmes face corruption when those in charge of implementing the programmes misappropriate funds… Wherever there is government discretion in the allocation of scarce resources, whether it be land, or mineral rights, or spectrum, if the method of allocation is not transparent, there is a possibility of corruption... Corruption not only weakens the moral fibre of our country, it also promotes inefficiency and cronyism which undermine the social legitimacy of market economics..."
These statements seek to highlight Dr Singh's concern that corruption has undermined the very basis of his economic liberalisation programme. The Harshad Mehta scandal was a consequence of, among other things, the government dragging its feet on adequately empowering the Securities and Exchange Board of India. We have an apology of a Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. The Indian Bureau of Mines lacks teeth to act against offenders.
The government has taken years to strengthen the Competition Commission, long after the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission was done away with. A more proactive and independent Telecom Regulatory Authority of India could have checked the spectrum scam and perhaps even prevented the undignified situation we are in today wherein lawyers on behalf of former communications minister A. Raja and member of Parliament K. Kanimozhi are asking Dr Singh to personally depose in court as part of their legal defence.
The short point: even as the government has opened up large segments of the Indian economy to the private sector, it has failed miserably to strengthen regulatory mechanisms, often deliberately weakened their authority and also packed them with pliable former or serving bureaucrats. What Dr Singh has omitted to mention in his recent statements is that the fountainhead of corruption is the illegal pattern of election funding we have at present and the corrupt nexus between politics, business and crime.
There are other important reasons why corruption is the big issue that it is. Corruption cuts across most sections of society and does not respect caste, language, religion or region. More significantly, corruption has come at a time when the bulk of the country's population is reeling from the debilitating impact of high food inflation, which has widened the gap between the rich and the poor and which the government has been unable to check.

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an educator and commentator

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

BREACH OF TRUST

Three years ago when the Prime Minister flagged off a vehicle in Srinagar for resumption of traffic across the LoC between Uri and Muzaffarabad, there were jubilations among some people on both sides of the line. The Prime Minister called it a step by his Government to improve relations with Pakistan. Nobody doubted his sincerity as it was a statesmanlike step. But there were observers who had a different view. Many thinkers and Kashmir observers expressed their apprehensions that the facility provided with all the sincerity behind it by the Indian Prime Minster could be misused and increase our problems. But little heed was paid to these reservations. Not only that, the government recently moved a step further to increase the days of trans-border trade at one or two points on the LoC in Kashmir like Chakan da Bagh in Poonch and Uri-Chakothi point in Kashmir. The governments in New Delhi and Islamabad called it reinforcing the confidence building motions, and taken on the face value, there could be no doubt that this should have further improved the situation.
But recently State police have made some revelations which tell us a different story about the shady side of transactions across the cease-fire line at Uri. It is revealed that 6 to 7 crore rupees have been passed on by the hawala agents to the militants and separatists in Kashmir to fuel insurgency and disorder in the valley. In this connection, a man arrested and interrogated has made stunning revelations of how money is being passed o n clandestinely. A leading hardliner separatist has also been named by the arrested person to whose close associate thirty lakh rupees in three ten lakh rupee installments have been paid... Firdous Ahmed Dar son of Abdul Rashid Dar R/o Sangam, Bijbehara, Anantnag, was not the only conduit but nearly half a dozen persons had received hawala money and weapons through the cross-LoC route, which had been supplied by Pakistani agencies and some militant commanders for distribution among militant cadres and separatists in the Kashmir Valley and other parts of the State.

One is disposed to believe that Kashmir-related terrorism sponsored by Pakistani intelligence agencies in collaboration with various armed groups in Pakistan and PoK has slipped out of the hands of the regime in Islamabad. This is not surprising because taking into account the chaotic internal situation of Pakistan where large scale killings, arson and related crimes have become the pattern of life the Government has lost control over terrorist gangs and their activities. Therefore to lodge protest with Pakistan on the question of hawala money affair seems to be an exercise in futility. New Delhi should do some re-thinking on this serious threat that provides oxygen to the lungs of insurgency in Kashmir. If the evil is not nipped in the bud, it could lead to escalation of corrupt practice among the security forces and police that are supposed to keep a strict vigil on who crosses the line and what commodities are actually transshipped. Authorities cannot escape the responsibility of ensuring clean and safe trading across the border in consonance with the expectations of home authorities. We would not recommend stopping trans- border trade now that it has been set rolling. But it should be possible for the authorities to ensure that the facility is not misused by trouble mongers. After all such elements in Pakistan as are definitely opposed to any reconstruction of relationship with India are on the prowl to derail the bilateral dialogue process. Such elements have not to be given any quarter. Those who the police can prove are involved in hawala transactions shall have to be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the law. Kid-gloves treatment of these anti-social elements will bring more harm. It will neutralize all efforts of confidence building measures. The Government at Islamabad needs to be told about the details of the hawala racket and urged to take legal action against them. But if the authorities take the development as something non-serious then the people cannot be blamed if they begin to think that authorities are an accomplice in sabotaging peace process in the State.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

NO MORE LAXITY

It has become regular practice with mischief mongers in the valley in general and in Srinagar city in particular to end up Friday congregational prayers into mob violence in which youngsters take to stone throwing on police personnel or police posts. The latest style of pelting tones is of riding motorcyclists. Police explained that they pelt stones at security forces and flee away quickly on bikes. "The typical practice is that such bikes carry three people, one rides the bike, the man in the middle has stones in his lap and the one at the back hurls them at the security forces. And they move at a menacing speed," police said.

Amusingly, it was the Shab-e-Qadr, a blessed night, on which hundreds of youth riding motor bikes set out on a large stone pelting spree in Nowhatta, in downtown and targeted the police station. Shab-e-Qadr is the night for prayers to seek God's blessings and peace. Is it Islamic to desecrate the holy night by attacking policemen who are detailed to protect the praying crowds? Many Muslim ulema have issued decrees that stone pelting is against the teachings of Islam. Maulana Abbas Ansari made it clear in his statement once that he would rejoin the Hurriyat fold only if the leaders accepted that throwing of stones was un-Islamic and should not be encouraged. Even Ali Shah Geelani, too, dissuaded the youth from the practice of throwing stones. Despite all this, if the youth persist with the malpractice, it is obvious they are politically motivated and instigated by hidden elements. As such the government is justified to take preventive measures. It is the duty of the government to ensure law and order in the State. Therefore arrest of about seventy youth and confiscation of about ten motorbikes is fully justified. Not only that, the authorities should definitely take punitive action against violators of peace, law and order. A strict handling of the situation will ensure that the menace of turning Friday congregations into a rowdy crowd is stopped once for all. Authorities cannot afford any more laxity in handling the situation.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION

BY DR P K VASUDEVA

India has just celebrated the 64th anniversary of its independence and is struggling to achieve double-digit economic growth through good governance and also reduce corruption, which is metastasising like 'cancer'. The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who addressed from the ramparts of Red Fort talked about reforms but no time frame of their implementation. It is worth reminding him, however, that it was in his first speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 2004, that he had promised administrative reforms but nothing more has been heard about their implementation. This has resulted in high level of corruption due to poor governance in the country.
Interestingly, economic growth, corruption, and governance have moved in opposite directions. It is a fact that when governance was good, growth and corruption was low; now that growth and corruption are high, governance has sunk to an all-time low. The first 50 years after independence showed that while good governance was necessary, the growth and corruption was low. The question that the Prime Minister needs to ask is whether a further decline in governance will eventually result in lower growth and lower corruption. Should that happen India would have the worst of both worlds.
The Reserve bank of India has cautioned that the Indian economy needs to brace up for a difficult year ahead. Inflation now nearing two digit continues to be a macroeconomic challenge due to weak supply response, the central bank said in its Annual Report for 2010-11 released on August 25, 2011. If global financial problems caused due to high corruption and poor governance amplify and slows down global growth markedly, the RBI may have to lower its 8 per cent growth projection.

According to World Bank corruption has a direct impact on the size of the informal economy. It increases the cost of creating new businesses and staying in business within the formal economy - unofficial payments and unpredictability of their size and frequency drive the costs and risks so high that the entrepreneurs prefer to move their businesses underground to avoid bribes that they have to pay for services such as registration, licensing, permits and so on. Corruption in social services makes them less affordable and leads to creation of alternative services in the informal sector.

Weaknesses in governance - governance being defined as the way in which public institutions perform their functions in a country - are strongly correlated with deficiencies in growth. Bad governance is associated with corruption, distortion of government budgets, inequitable growth, social exclusion, and lack of trust in authorities. Inefficiency of formal governance institutions leads to creation of informal institutions that substitute for the functions that the formal ones are unable to perform.

The World Bank has described two broad types of institutional measures available for large samples of countries: evaluative measures and descriptive measures. Performance measures provide assessments of the quality of governance. For example, governments are rated with respect to corruption levels, or predictability of policymaking. Process measures describe the institutional "inputs" that produce governance outcomes. Unlike performance measures, process measures have no normative content. One example of a process measure is the average pay of civil servants (relative to the private sector or to per capita income); whether or not the election of national legislators is governed by proportional representation (PR) is a second example.
There is a real correlation between governance, growth and corruption. Three institutions can be reformed to promote good governance: the state, the private sector and civil society. However, amongst various cultures, the need and demand for reform can vary depending on the priorities of that country's society. A variety of country level initiatives and international movements put emphasis on various types of governance reforms. Each movement for reform establishes criteria for what they consider good governance based on their own needs and agendas.
In India what is good governance for one class can be very bad for another. The cases of land acquisition and job reservation are two conspicuous examples to illustrate this dogma.

Successive Governments have forgotten the key operating principle of good governance, which requires two simple things: speed and fairness. India's institutions of governance have become so inward looking that they have not only lost sight of the citizens but also the objectives. This is the central problem of governance systems in India. They put process before outcome. This makes reform of any sort impossible because procedures have become an end to the means. In that case the growth has gone high and so is the corruption.
The two most essential ingredients of good governance speed and fairness have thus become victims of mere rituals. In such a situation short cuts involving bribes, lead to corruption with a few exceptions. The exception is also a part of the procedure.

There is plenty that is frightening in the Indian scenario: The unending series of scams; the high percentage of elected politicians facing criminal charges; the intolerably rowdy behaviour of MPs and MLAs inside and outside the legislative; the rising tide of riots and loot, often morphing into insurgency and Maoism; the utter lack of accountability, transparency and probity in every field of activity; and the explosive mix of corruption and callousness crushing the aam aadmi.

Every Indian citizen can take legitimate pride in the firm measures to counter political defections, the Constitutional amendment which has brought about a silent revolution by strengthening panchayati raj, the bold move to unshackle the economy from the crippling clutches of Statism, and the immense benefits that will increasingly accrue from the rights to education, employment and information.

Even in the matter of corruption and black money, the tremendous forces unleashed by the people are at work, pushing the Government towards the desired goal. The recent crusade against corruption by Anna Hazare is the step in the right direction to curb corruption in the country.

Anna's hunger strike against corruption through a Jan Lokpal Bill will certainly help the country towards good governance but will definitely reduce corruption and also growth for which the government will have to bring in second-generation reforms. Anna brand of peaceful agitation through nonviolence will be an historical guidance for the future generation in achieving its goals. This is possible through good governance that will reduce corruption.
(The author is Adviser, Institute of Development Studies and Training, Chandigarh.)

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

WILD FRUITS IN RAINFED AREAS OF JAMMU

BY DR. PARSHANT BAKSHI AND DR. V.K.WALI

The success of horticulture largely depends upon availability of rain or supplemental irrigation, particularly during critical periods of tree growth and development. Feasibility of a rainfed orchard, therefore, exists only in areas having normal and well distributed rainfall to meet the tree requirement. At present, nearly 50 % of the fruit production in India is contributed by such areas despite their low productivity coupled with poor quality fruits. The cultivation of horticultural and medicinal plants are the best source of income for rainfed areas as they require less water than growing of agricultural crops.

In J&K, Jammu province receives nearly 1200 mm rainfall, which after properly conservation can be utilized for orchard management. The wild fruit tree varieties that can be easily grafted to produce edible fruits for consumption either by the population of the area or can be sold within or outside the state. Wild olive (Olea cuspidate), is widely grown in the districts of Udhampur, Ramban, Doda, Reasi, Poonch, in Jammu region and those of Baramula and Kupwara in Kashmir, having an altitude between 1,000 to 1,300 m. These wild species, when grafted with the best varieties of olive (Olea europeae) provides good quality olives for producing oil. Olive oil possesses an ideal fat composition, and as such is preferred edible oil by the Europeans. The oil is not only tasty and nutritious but is also rich in poly-unsaturated fatty acids. It is free from cholesterol and has proved beneficial to the patients suffering from heart disease. It also contains antioxidants like polyphenols which play a key role in warding off some of the various age related disorders. Its fruit is pickled and also used as salad. The district Doda had the maximum area (about 60 per cent) of its total, followed by Udhampur (15 per cent). The area has slightly increased, which was worked out to be nearly 363 ha during 2009-2010, that produced 18.50 tonnes of olives with productivity of 0.05 tonnes per hectare. The concerted efforts of SKUAST-Jammu Scientists and the Horticulture Department resulted an increase in area under this crop in Jammu. The Indo-Italian project at Ramban has also proved to be a mile stone in popularization of olive cultivation in J&K which is evident from the production of 250 kg olive oil produced from olive trees grown in Udhampur, Ramban and Doda Districts. Wild pomegranate, Punica granatum is also of great economic importance in the vast tract of the hill slopes of Jammu and Kashmir.

In J&K, the main areas where anardana is collected are Udhampur, Rajouri, Ramban, Kishtwar and Bhaderwah. It grows in wild state as a large evergreen shrub, 4 to 6 m high and, flowers during the months of May and June. The fruits ripen towards the middle of October and are hand picked, when they are ripe and brownish-red in colour. This fruit is filled with angular hard seeds covered with a juicy, pink or yellowish white sweet astringent acid pulp. Its seeds are sun-dried to give good quality anardana. The wild pear variety (also known as Kainth) in the local language can easily be grafted with the best pear varieties such as Bagugosha, Patharnakh or juicy Nakh which can be used for canning or production of juice.

As Jammu region is fortunate to have several wild varieties of fruit trees which can be easily grafted to produce edible fruits so they must be fully developed to expose their potential. Wild ber germplasm of J&K can also be grafted with the elite varieties. The bud wood of ber cultivars viz., Umran, Gola, Sanaur and Ranjhri are already being used for grafting/budding by Raya Station of Fruit Science. The local people must be trained for grafting techniques in various fruit crops, so that they themselves are able to graft the wild varieties for obtaining the quality fruits. A large number of farmers should be encouraged to take up horticulture as a profession, especially on wild fruit trees. In this connection, the Division of Fruit Science, SKUAST-Jammu and Horticulture Department are providing the trainings to the orchardists under Horticulture Technology Mini Mission project for formulating the package of practices for the wild fruits. It is thus concluded that in future, the research on wild fruits in rainfed areas has open a new vista for rainfed horticulture.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

ANNA SHAKES UP INDIAN POLITY

BY S. SETHURAMAN

India has gone through a new "August Kranti" (revolution), remarkably non-violent, and on a much larger scale than civil movements of the past, aimed at bringing about a corruption-free society, inspired by the renowned social activist Anna Hazare with his epic fast on Delhi's Ram Lila grounds. A Parliamentary commitment to come up with a toughest law possible to root out the evil at all levels enabled him end his 12-day ordeal (August 16-27) on the morning of August 28, and the nation rapturously celebrated victory.

For the new generations in the post-independence era, Anna Hazare became a new symbol for Mahatma Gandhi, whom he claims to follow. It also signals that civil society may begin to assert itself much more in future than let itself be governed by the whims and fancies of the ruling class. Governments, of whatever political hue, would also be compelled to become more attentive to public opinion.

The triumph for Anna Hazare came after days of hard negotiations between his team of advisers and UPA Government Ministers led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, designated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose own earnest appeals earlier to Mr Hazare to give up his fast on the basis of his assurances that his version of the bill was open for consideration by the Standing Committee were in vain.

The team of Advisers, who negotiated on behalf of Anna Hazare, went on insisting Parliament discuss and adopt with some changes as required, their version of the bill and also get it through in an extended monsoon session. Finally, in direct approaches to the fasting leader himself, the Government through another nominee, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, Minister of Science and Technology, could persuade him to narrow down the differences to his three conditions such as applicability of legislation to lower levels of bureaucracy, a citizens charter for grievance redressal and appointment of state Lokayuktas.

Mr Hazare was willing to give up the fast - but continue with his protest - once these conditions were incorporated in a resolution of Parliament. The area of disagreement having been reduced significantly, Mr Mukherjee, as Leader of the House, piloted, on August 27, a motion in the nature of "sense of the House" conveying agreement " in principle" on (1) Citizen's Charter, (2) Lower bureaucracy under Lok Pal through appropriate mechanism, and (3) establishment of Lok Ayuktas in States. Both Houses adopted this by acclamation but without a voice vote, deemed as good as a wholehearted approval.

For the much-harassed UPA Government, it was a great sigh of relief, though for his part, the social activist declared it was only "half a victory" and that his struggle would continue for the duration of the passage of Lok Pal legislation and even beyond. His Team of Advisers will continue to monitor progress in the days to come and expect to pressure the Standing Committee as it looks at all the versions as well as the "sense of the House" of August 27.

Mr Hazare has a wider agenda of reforming Indian society with his eye next on electoral reform with the right to recall MLAs/MPs who are involved in corruption or criminal cases. And, at every step, he might command welcome attention from most of civil society. Equally, it would pose new challenges for Government, already in a state of near paralysis in decision-making on major issues of economy -not simply reforms of wider opening of the economy, the mantra of the pink press-but of land, minerals and other resources, protection of owner rights and infrastructure-building.

The economy has slowed perceptibly - though India still remains a relatively faster-growing market - while ensuring macro-economic stability calls for greater focus on bringing down India's high inflation through both demand management (monetary) and supply side responses. Altogether 2011 is proving to be a difficult year for Government, apart from its blunders on the political front, with prices, industrial slowdown, fiscal over-runs and emerging pressures on the external side to be tackled, amid risks of a global downturn as US and EU wrestle with their deficits and debt and weakening of the financial systems.

The monsoon session is already at its fag end with little accomplished on Parliament's heavy legislative agenda. The Hazare episode could not have occurred at a worse time for the UPA Government. But in confronting the challenge of Mr Hazare, Government had to move warily as the leading opposition party, BJP, seemed to be extending support to the Jan Lok Pal bill and urged the withdrawal of the earlier official bill. It was more of political grandstanding on the part of BJP which seeks to put the UPA Government on the mat for everything. It would now begin to embrace even more of Anna ideas in its power bid, all the more as he has now a mass base.
The Prime Minister's all-party meeting on August 24 was designed to reassert constitutional and parliamentary supremacy and take all parties on board with the proposition that these should not be compromised with in the approaches to the Lok Pal legislation. Its resolution said "due consideration" should be given to the Jan Lok Pal Bill, so that the final draft of legislation provided for a "strong and effective Lok Pal bill that is supported by a broad national consensus". With this, Mr Mukherjee could get to work out the consensus formulation presented to both Houses.

The Government could have minimised its difficulties but for its clumsy attempt on August 16 to arrest Mr Hazare and then, in the face of public wrath, allow him to proceed to Ram Lila grounds to begin his announced fast. The tabling of what BJP called a "sarkari Lok Pal" bill in Parliament, in the first instance, had infuriated the Anna camp. Nor Government was willing to dovetail the Hazare version of Lok Pal bill in its essentials. Now it is left to the Standing Committee go through all the versions including those of civil society leader Mrs. Aruna Roy and others, and propose changes as may be needed.

For twelve days of the fast, the country appeared to stand still, echoing Anna Hazare's call as tens of thousands of people, young and old, kept waving flags and staging peaceful demonstrations all over the country while millions keenly watched the 24-hour coverage on various TV channels.

Was there over-stretch of the Anna Phenomenon? On the one hand, the advisers seemed more insistent than perhaps their leader himself on pushing through the Jan Lok Pal bill to the utmost to the exclusion of other ideas. On the other, there was also a peremptory tone in some of Mr Hazare's own observations so that the jurist Mr Santosh Hegde, associated with the Anna Team, felt that Parliament could not be "commanded" to do things in a particular direction.

"The fight will go on", is the ringing message that the Gandhian leader, being nursed back to health, has left with the people of India, whom he profusely thanked for support and for their peaceful conduct of the movement. For Hazare, the real battle has just begun. (IPA)

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EDITORIAL

AMNESTY FOR STONE-THROWERS

A BOLD STEP BY OMAR ABDULLAH

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has shown farsightedness by announcing that 1200 young men arrested on a charge of throwing stones at security forces last summer will be released from different jails on the occasion of Eid. These youngsters, mostly belonging to poverty-stricken families, had no hope of getting free soon. They indulged in this peculiar kind of violence after being misled by separatist leaders. Their instigators have been leading a comfortable life, bothering little about these unfortunate souls. Instead of making efforts for their release, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Gilani had threatened to launch a fresh agitation after the conclusion of the fasting month of Ramzan and the celebration of Eid. Though, apparently, there is no provocation for taking to such a path, extremists like Mr Gilani know how to invent a "cause".

With the help of this bold step, the Chief Minister has taken the wind out of the sails of the separatists. Even otherwise, very few people are nowadays interested in negative programmes because of the fatigue factor. Mr Omar Abdullah has, however, warned the beneficiary young men that they will not be spared if they repeat what they did last summer. They should use the opportunity to rebuild their lives. These misguided youngsters and their families must have realised by now that they cannot gain by indulging in acts of violence. Separatists have their own ulterior motives and they do not hesitate to use the gullible public for this purpose.

Reports had it that the stone-thowers were paid by separatists and this attracted a large number of young men to take the law into their own hands. This, however, showed that people could be prevented from taking to the destructive path by providing them gainful employment opportunities. The Chief Minister himself has admitted that there are nearly five lakh unemployed persons in Jammu and Kashmir. Different measures are being taken to ensure that the number of jobless comes down considerably. The best way to create sufficient employment avenues is to facilitate rapid industrialisation in the border state. This is as essential as are the schemes aimed at making youngsters employable in accordance with the Rangarajan Committee report.

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

NEPAL HAS A PM, AT LAST

ACID TEST BEGINS FOR BHATTARAI RIGHT AWAY

Nepal got its fourth Prime Minister in three years on Sunday when its Parliament elected Baburam Bhattarai over Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress by 105 votes. This marks the return to power of Maoists 27 months after Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) resigned in 2009. Bhattarai is known as the moderate face of the party, and his elevation has been welcomed by the common people because of his academic excellence, clean image and efficiency (he is a former Finance Minister). Ironically, he might find the going tough with Prachanda for those very reasons, considering that the latter does not see eye to eye with him on many issues, although he backed Bhattarai's candidature.

There will be hardly any honeymoon period for Bhattarai. In fact, the acid test begins right away. Parliament needs to enforce a new constitution by August 31 or face dissolution. Even if a three-month extension comes through, he will have to win the support of all political parties and prepare the first draft of the constitution by November-end. Not only that, he has also to come good on the promise to disband their 20,000-strong guerrilla army within 45 days of forming a new government. Prachanda had failed to return to power because he backtracked on this promise to demobilise the People's Liberation Army (PLA), return the properties captured by the rebels during the civil war, and bring about peace. These issues have become very sensitive and Bhattarai cannot afford to slip up. Then he has also to deliver on the four-point deal on the basis of which the United Democratic Medeshi Forum voted for him.

Fiftyseven-year-old Bhattarai has been educated in India (Delhi and Chandigarh), but it will be over-optimistic to expect him to improve ties with India. Maoists have traditionally taken an anti-India stand even when there was no need to do so. Positions may be further hardened following the shrill accusation by the Communist Nepal Workers' and Peasants Party — which boycotted the voting — that "Indian expansionism" influenced Nepal's prime ministerial elections.

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

HANGING ON TO HOPE

EUROPE POSES A THREAT TO RECOVERY

It is unbelievable that US Federal Reserve chief Ben Barnanke's word carries so much weight with so many people. Last week what he said at the Jackson Hole conference of central bankers and private economists lifted the economic mood, which immediately got reflected at Wall Street and European markets. On Monday, Asia responded resoundingly. India's BSE Sensex shot up 567 points. Belying expectations, Mr Bernanke did not announce quantitative easing (printing of more dollars). All that he said was the US economy would eventually return to full health. He asked the US government to come out with a long-term economic package and a short-tern fiscal stimulus — the Republicans notwithstanding.

Almost the same message – a fiscal stimulus by the political leadership — was delivered by others, including the heads of the IMF and the OECD, to other governments in the troubled European countries. Over-spending governments and over-stretched welfare programmes funded by debt have caused a euro zone crisis. Banks which have advanced loans to these governments would get a serious hit in case of a default. The PIIGS – Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain – need a rescue from their better-off European partners, mainly Germany and France, which are fighting who should fund bailouts while prescribing austerity measures to the indebted nations. But the health of the rescuers as also the future of the European Union is in danger.

While Ben Barnanke held out hope, others at Jackson Hole were less optimistic. "We are in a dangerous new phase", said Christine Lagarde of the IMF, pointing to the political impasse in the US. The US economy suffers from three other ailments: high oil prices, raging unemployment and a depressed housing market. There is the wider fear that the European debt crisis could worsen, sparking 2008-type financial turmoil. China's export-led growth is faltering. Japan is in an economic and political churning. India is busy fighting corruption as economic reforms are put on hold. In this dark world Ben Barnanke has pointed to light at the end of the tunnel. And many believe him.

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THE TRIBUNE

ARTICLE

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

WHY ANNA'S APPROACH IS QUESTIONABLE

BY S. NIHAL SINGH

Anna Hazare has called it half a victory, but the manner in which he prevailed upon the government and Parliament to bend to his essential demands in principle after he had trimmed his initial impossible proposals is, in itself, a stupendous feat. In the political power play between the government and the Anna Team, the latter won hands down by a combination of a simple idea — fighting corruption — marketed with the aid of modern technology and intimidation — the hoary Indian tradition of a political fast — and a tactic verging on breaking the law such as gheraoing Cabinet ministers and members of Parliament with the central aim of forcing the authorities to listen to it.

Clearly, Anna Hazare struck a chord among large sections of the people, in particular the young, because everyone has been stung by the bane of corruption, in particular those who can least afford it. The Anna movement has shown that it is not good enough to say that the government is trying to cope with the problem and there is no magic wand to make the evil vanish. It is, in any case, an indictment of the political class cutting across the Congress and the main opposition BJP that it has been toying with installing a Lokpal (ombudsman) for 42 years without producing results.

But the happy dénouement of the end of Anna's fast on the 13h day should not obscure the hard lessons the two sides must learn. For much of the time, the Manmohan Singh government seemed rudderless and adrift compounding its initial blunder of arresting Anna and taking him to jail with ministers speaking in different voices unsure of a central directive. The lowest point was perhaps the Congress spokesman, Mr Manish Tiwari, charging Anna with being corrupt, a charge he later withdrew with a public apology. It seemed that the long absence abroad of the main power centre in the United Progressive Alliance, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and undergoing unspecified medical treatment left the Congress with no one to steady the ship.

It was only towards the end of an increasingly tense drama, with doctors monitoring Anna's condition, that the Prime Minister picked up the threads to reach out to Anna and set in motion a process with the assistance of the man for all seasons, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, in cooperation with the BJP that resulted in Parliament passing a sense of the House pronouncement while allowing the government sufficient room for manoeuvre in accepting in principle the three Anna tenets of including the junior bureaucracy, a citizens' charter and appointment of Lok Ayukats in states. In the process, the government respected the dignity and legitimacy of Parliament by refusing to bypass the established procedure of referring the problem to the Standing Committee.

The role of Mr Rahul Gandhi in the 12 crisis days after he left his mother's bedside in the US to return home for the Independence Day ceremonies was curious. The only intervention he made in Parliament was through a 15-minute speech suggesting the institution of the Lokpal as an independent constitutional authority like the Election Commission — an idea worth studying — and pronouncing the truism that a Lokpal alone would not end corruption. He subsequently absented himself for much of the parliamentary debate on Anna's proposals.

Despite Team Anna's success in outwitting the government in every twist and turn the crisis took, it was skating dangerously close to anarchy and total disregard for the law of the land in instigating the public, suitably charged as it was in fighting the anti-corruption crusade, in order to pile pressure on the government to do its bidding. The most reprehensible was perhaps the conduct of the ex-policewoman, Ms Kiran Bedi, in declaring that "Anna is India and India is Anna", a particularly hurtful throwback to the Emergency chant of "India is Indira and Indira is India". She merely compounded this blunder by later mocking Parliament and parliamentarians as people who wore masks and spoke with a forked tongue.

So insistent was Team Anna in denigrating the government — Mr Arvind Kejriwal seemed to take on the role of the chief instigator — that it got Bollywood actor Om Puri to heap a string of abuses on parliamentarians, an exercise in vulgarity seldom matched in public discourse. But Anna himself became susceptible to the excitement of his success in wrong- footing the government by declaring from the stage to an audience of thousands that the Prime Minister was "a liar". This is not the language one expects to hear from a Gandhian about the country's highest executive authority. He did later apologise for the harsh words he had uttered.

In general, Team Anna's approach to Parliament and parliamentarians was dismissive when it was not abusive. By virtue of the widespread countrywide support Anna evoked on the corruption theme, the Team's effort seemed to be to abuse the very institutions of parliamentary democracy placing the mythical "people" above Parliament and the Constitution. This is a dangerous trend the Team must guard against because it will meet widespread opposition not merely from the political class but from a wide spectrum of thinking men and women.

Anna's movement has also alienated sections of the population, particularly Muslims, Christians and other minorities and the Dalits on two counts: the role the BJP and its mentor, the RSS, has played in supporting and buttressing the protests with a suspected political agenda of its own and the Hindu imagery used by Team Anna in promoting its agitation. In order to retain the support of a pluralist nation, Anna cannot afford to give the impression that his movement is not inclusive. In his post-breaking fast address, he did invoke Dr B.R. Ambedkar's name, but he has much work to do in convincing the people about his inclusive agenda.

Although there is no time limit for Parliament to come up with legislation on the Lokpal, it would be prudent for parliamentarians to debate and come up with a workable Bill with seriousness and dispatch. Anna has already given notice that he will continue to pile pressure on the government by undertaking a countrywide tour, with his new enhanced status as the pre-eminent Gandhian and dissenter.

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

VALLEY OF HAPPINESS

BY P.C. SHARMA

A journey by road from Gangtok to Yumthang that snakes through high mountains, spawning gurgling rivers giving recurring glimpses of snow capped mountains, took me first to Chungthang, Lachung and finally to Yumthang — all the beauty spots of North Sikkim.

I drove to these places for the alluring prospect of seeing rhododendron flowers, Dopka nomads grazing their yaks, the sulphur spring and the fascinating range of Yumthang glaciers.

Yumthang valley bordering on Tibet opens a vista before you. Its expanse of undulating green fields, rimmed on either side by an unending range of glaciers, red rhododendron flowers, herds of black hirsute yaks — contrasting with the whiteness of the glaciers is a perfect mosaic of nature's beauty that draws you to this heavenly spot. Nature has planted a sulphur spring at a serene and solitary spot — Yumeysamdong. The spring grips you in the warmth of its sulphurous water and leaves a tan which fades slowly.

The humans that inhabit this valley are not much accustomed to mixing with the outsiders from far away towns and cities. Steeped in Buddhism, holding prayer wheels in their hands, robed in the most colourful dresses adorned with jewellery of Tibetan beads, high on their famed beverage "Swe chhang', sipped from 'toonghas', the bamboo containers, growing rice, corn and millets, breeding goats and yaks, they live in this valley which is a world of their own.

The men have striking features, long flowing manes, tall, robust physiques cutting figures like those of Tibetan warriors of yore. The women wearing exotic hats and elegant Bakhus, all figures of exquisite grace and form, ruddy cheeks of the children, toothless smile of tiny tots all are there to make Yumthang a valley of human splendour and abode of beauty.

I met them in a field which was cleared for the occasion. Pipons, the local chiefs from Lama community, welcomed me with traditional courtesy, presented me 'khadas' (scarf), loaded me with vegetables, eggs, fruits and the inevitable 'Chhang' which, as a mark of respect to my hosts, I sipped. I made some humble offerings to greet them. The bonhomie that was generated was more elevating than the spirit that was consumed.

In this setting, the sight of a few policemen, myself included, looked odd and made me think whether the peaceable people of Yumthang need police at all. Perhaps they do not. Nor, perhaps, any other form of governance either. They are governed by their own centuries old custom 'Dzumsa' which regulates their lives, teaches them how to settle their disputes and bond with each other and live a life of harmony and religion which is Buddhism.

I could communicate with them with the help of my PSO who could speak in their Tibetan dialect. Communication was deficient but understanding was near perfect. They asked for nothing. Nature and their custom have given them all that they need.

Religion guides their path, Buddha enlightens their souls, the rivers, snows and yaks bring happiness to these folks of Yumthang.

How happy is this valley.

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN A DEATH TRAP

A FIFTH PART OF INDIA'S LINGUISTIC HERITAGE HAS REACHED THE STAGE OF EXTINCTION OVER THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. THE CONTEXTS OF MODERNITY AND DEVELOPMENT HAVE SPELT DOOM FOR HUNDREDS OF LANGUAGE SYSTEMS.
G. N. DEVY

The existential suffering of the peoples whether identified from outside, or through self- identification as "marginalised, minority, indigenous," bears common features in all continents.

The indigenous have been facing deprivation and dispossession of their natural resource base- denial of access to quality education, healthcare and other citizenship rights apart, they have come to be seen as ' a problem for the development project of modernity.' Going by any parameters of development, these communities always figure at the tail end. The situation of the communities that have been pastoral or nomadic has been even worse.

Considering the immense odds against which these communities have had to survive, it is not short of a miracle that they have preserved their languages and continue to contribute to the astonishing linguistic diversity of the world. However, if the situation persists, the languages of the marginalized stand the risk of extinction. Aphasia, a loss of speech, seems to be their fate.

It is a daunting task to determine as to which languages have come closest to the condition of aphasia, which ones are decidedly moving in that direction and which ones are merely going through the natural linguistic process of transmigration. It may not be inappropriate to say that the linguistic data available with us is not fully adequate for the purpose.

The missing tongues

In India, Sir George Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India (1903-1923) - material for which was collected in the last decade of the 19th century-- had identified 179 languages and 544 dialects. The 1921 census reports showed 188 languages and 49 dialects. The 1961 census reports mentioned a total of 1,652 'mother tongues,' out of which 184 'mother tongues' had more than 10,000 speakers, and of which 400 'mother tongues' had not been mentioned in Grierson's Survey, while 527 were listed as 'unclassified'. In addition, 103 'mother tongues' were listed as 'foreign'.

In 1971, the linguistic data offered in the census was distributed in two categories, the officially listed languages of the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, and the other languages with a minimum of 10,000 speakers each. All other languages spoken by less than 10,000 speakers were lumped together in a single entry 'Others'. That practice continued to be followed in subsequent enumerations.

Considering how complicated the census operations are in countries that have large migratory populations, and particularly how much the accuracy in census operations is dependent on literacy levels, it is not surprising that the data collected remains insufficiently definitive. What is surprising, however, is that as many as 310 languages, including all those 263 claimed by less than 5 speakers, and 47 others claimed by less than a 1000 speakers, should have arrived at that stage. These 310 'endangered' languages were counted among the 1652 'mother tongues' listed in the census of 1961, however debatable the methodology followed in that particular census may have been. In other words, a fifth part of India's linguistic heritage has reached the stage of extinction over the last half-century.

Moreover, the method of survey adopted over the last three census enumerations allows scope for overlooking any further depletion in the numbers. One fears that this may not be the situation in just one country alone, that this may be so practically all over the world, since the contextual factors responsible for language decline in one country also form the context of modernity in other nation states in the world.

Global aphasia

Language loss is experienced in India not just by the 'minor' languages and 'unclassified dialects', but also by 'major' languages that have long literary traditions and a rich heritage of imaginative and philosophical writings. In speech communities that claim major literary languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Oriya as their 'mother tongues', the younger generations have little or no contact with the written heritage of those languages, while they are able to 'speak' the languages as 'native speakers'.

It may not be inappropriate to assume that people all over the world are paying a heavy cost for a globalised development in terms of their language heritage. This linguistic condition may be described as the condition of 'partial language acquisition' in which a fully literate person, with a relatively high degree of education, is able to read, write and speak a language other than her/his mother tongue, but is able to only speak but not write the language she/he claims as the mother tongue.

The reorganization of Indian states after Independence was carried out along linguistic lines and the languages that had scripts were counted. The ones that had not acquired scripts, and therefore did not have printed literature, did not get their own states. Schools and colleges were established only for the official languages. The ones without scripts, even if they had a great stock of wisdom carried forward orally, were not fortunate enough to get educational institutions for them. However, a guarantee for providing patronage was enshrined in the Constitution, Article 347.

Thus, language loss, linguistic shifts and decline in the linguistic heritage cannot be blamed on the structural factors alone. There appears to be another and more overwhelming factor at work, and that is the development discourse in a rapidly globalising world. One notices now in India, and in other Asian and African countries, an overpowering desire among parents to educate their children through the medium of English or French or Spanish in the hope that these languages will provide a certain visibility to the children when they grow up in the international market of productive labour.

This desire has affected the schooling pattern in favour of an education through an international language not witnessed in any previous era. The argument in favour of providing children education, at least at the primary school level, for a healthy development of their intellect is indeed an incontrovertible argument. However, the contrary argument which holds that children not educated in their mother tongues do not achieve a full intellectual development deserves to be reconsidered. If literature is considered to contain the most complex usage of language, one would assume that children who do not get education in their own language will not be capable of fully appreciating, let alone producing, literature in the given language. Historical evidence however shows that such an assumption is not well-founded.

Looming phono-cide

During the early years of the nineteenth century, an interesting debate occupied the centre- stage in the social reform movement in India, in which the Bengali intellectuals kept asking for education through the English language medium, while an English officer like Elphinstone held that the schools in Indian languages would be desirable. The argument came to an end when in 1835, Lord Maucaulay's Minutes on Education recommended that English would be the medium of all serious education in India. Quite remarkably, it was since then that literatures in modern Indian languages showed a significant creativity.

These arguments are not intended to take away any substance from the view that mother tongue education is the most suitable for young learners. I am only pointing to the fact that a lack of access to the mother tongue education is not enough of a cultural condition to destroy human creativity. The more significant condition is of having no hope for survival of a community.

When a speech community comes to believe that education in some other language alone is the way ahead for it for its very survival, the given community decides to adapt to the new language situation. It would be pertinent therefore to consider if there is something inherent in the dominant development discourse in the contemporary world that requires diminishing of world's language heritage, that demands a kind of a phono-cide. And, if that is the case, which is a task for the analysts of political imagination and economies, the future for the human languages is frightening. The communities that are already marginalised within their local or national context, the ones that are already in minority within their cultural contexts, the ones that have already been dispossessed of their ability to voice their concerns, are obviously placed at the frontline of the phono-cide.

Conservation or preservation of languages needs to be seen as being significantly different from the preservation of monuments. Languages are, as every student of linguistics knows, social systems. They get impacted by all other contextual social developments. Language- as a social system has an objective existence in the sense that dictionaries and grammars of languages can be prepared, and languages can be transcribed, orthographed, mimeographed, recorded on a tape by way of documents and objects; but, essentially language does not have an existence entirely free of the human consciousness. Therefore, a given language cannot be as completely dissociated from the community that uses it. Quite logically, therefore, preservation of a language entails the preservation of the community that puts that language in circulation.

Ecology of language

Between the collective consciousness of a given community, and the language it uses to articulate the consciousness, is situated what is described as the "world view" of that community. Preservation of a language involves, therefore, respecting the world-view of the given speech-community. If such a community believes that the human destiny is to belong to the earth and not to offend the earth by claiming that it belongs to us, the language of that community cannot be preserved if we invite the community to share a political imagination that believes in vandalizing the earth's resources in the name of development. In such a situation, the community will have only two options: it can either reject the utopia that asserts the human right to exploit the natural resources and turn them into exclusively commercial commodities, or it can reject its own world view and step out of the language system that binds it with the world view.

It takes centuries for a community to create a language. All languages created by human communities are our collective cultural heritage. Therefore, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that they do not face the global phono-cide let loose upon the world.

Director, Tribal Training Academy, Tejgadh, Gujarat, and founder-trustee, Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Baroda, Dr Devy has authored many books.

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MUMBAI MIRROR

EDITORIAL

WHEN ATHLETICS JUMPED THE GUN

USAIN BOLT BORE THE BRUNT OF A RIDICULOUS NEW RULE THAT MUST BE REPEALED IN 3..2..1

On Sunday afternoon, as Daegu 2011 was waiting for its most high-profile race, the camera panned across the entire 100m final field, dwelling for a few moments on each athlete as they were introduced.

While some of them waved, or smiled, or waved and smiled, Usain Bolt decided to indulge in histrionics. Looking straight into the lens, he pointed left, shook his head, pointed right, shook his head, and then pointed at himself with a generous Rap-music nod to indicate there would be only one winner.

About a minute later, Bolt was jogging down the track, his t-shirt covering his face. You won't get any tears from me, Bolt told eager TV crews as they followed him on the sidelines, but the fastest man in history must've been disgusted. He had been disqualified because of a falsestart, and the dash, won by his countryman Yohan Blake, had been overshadowed by a new rule that must be repealed in 3..2..1.

Ten years ago, the rules were far too lenient, with each athlete allowed one mistake at the starting blocks. Given a field of eight, it meant there could be eight false-starts before anybody was disqualified. The rule made life miserable for the sprinters, who had to go through their preparation ritual several times.

But it wasn't their frustration that made the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) change its mind; predictably, it was the television networks that impressed upon the governing body that pre-race delays made for bad TV.

In time, a suitable replacement was developed: the entire field would be allowed one false-start, and the next athlete to jump the gun would be disqualified. The TV stations were delighted, and the athletes thought it was fair balance between genuine human error and unreasonable delays.

Over the next few years, however, issues of gamesmanship started to emerge. It was alleged that some of the slower athletes deliberately made the first false start to put the rest of the field under pressure. While it was a small malaise, and an example of how people will try to outsmart any system, the athletics federation thought that this was a serious hazard for the sport.

To crack down on this "menace", in its great wisdom, the IAAF decided that there would be a "zero-tolerance" policy, and one false-start would mean that the offending athlete was done for the event.

This rule, which came into effect in 2010, was tested properly for the first time at the ongoing World Championships. Though the results were damning right from the start (when a number of notables, including Britons Dwain Chambers and Christine Ohuruogu had to bear the brunt) how daft the rule really was became clear when the blue-riband 100m final lost its sheen in a fraction of a second.

While heartbreaking for him, in some ways, Bolt's disqualification was good for the future of athletics.
First, there is a great irony, since television networks were the first to raise the red-flag on delays, that such a big TV event turned out to be a dud.

Second, the IAAF needs to understand which issues require a strict "zero-tolerance" policy, and which cannot be dealt with as if all athletes are inherently corrupt until proven otherwise. Jumping the gun is not the same as doping, where the world body understandably makes no exceptions. There is no way to tell if a runner, or jumper, or thrower, took a banned steroid by mistake or whether they were willfully trying to cheat. In the case of false-starts, however, there is enough technology available to ensure no one benefits from them.

And finally, if the IAAF is so concerned about gamesmanship, there are several different ways to deal with the problem. One solution would be having a footballlike system where a count is kept of all yellow cards. Two yellows in the World Cup mean you miss the next match; five yellows in the English Premier League and you have to sit out one game. It would be a good way to keep track of repeat offenders, and to tackle the problem at hand, rather than creating a situation where the potential harm is far greater than the perceptible good.

Over in a church in Kingston, where Bolt is The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt (Order of Jamaica), a pastor told the congregation what happened in Daegu was a lesson for all. "As human beings prone to error, we need second chances," he preached. "Any rule that only gives you one chance is from the pit of hell."
The IAAF may not fear eternal damnation, but it must be worried about a similar disaster in London 2012.

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COLUMN

HOBSON'S CHOICE

LIMITED POLICY OPTIONS IN THE US WEAKEN EFFORTS TO PUSH GROWTH

The jury is still out on whether the global economy is headed for a "double-dip" recession or a prolonged period of sustained economic underperformance, wherein gross domestic product in developed economies grows at no more than one or two per cent per year. While available indicators point to the latter scenario, it is unlikely to offer more cheer than dire forecasts about a "double dip". Ominously, the developed world seems to have blown its ammunition in terms of policy tools to confront the persisting crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech virtually ruling out a third round of stimulus for now was obviously guided by fears of stoking inflation, which would only make a bad situation worse. Either Mr Bernanke was keeping his policy cards close to his chest, or he has no more aces up his sleeve. The effectiveness of monetary policy in the United States is virtually at an end. A US economic turnaround will primarily be driven by improvement in the fiscal scenario, though a road map is far from clear. It would be interesting to see for how much longer the Federal Reserve can resist pressure to print money. The US housing market is still in the doldrums (housing prices are at 2001 levels!) and the official employment rate is just a tad short of 10 per cent — just the kind of situation in which political considerations trump economic reasoning.

The situation in the Eurozone, on the other hand, is made worse by deeper limitations in policy options compared to the US and the burden of a monetary union without the accompanying fiscal consolidation. Japan's economy is not expected to head north anytime soon — the devastation wrought by the tsunami earlier this year has only exacerbated existing problems. A persistent slowdown in the developed economies, characterised by anaemic economic growth, is likely to dampen commodity prices, which should do its bit to rein in global inflation. This is increasingly likely to be countered by rising "resource nationalism" in countries seeking to cash in on the commodities boom. Low interest rates in developed economies (The US Fed has assured that the prevailing near-zero interest rates will remain till 2013) are likely to accelerate capital flows to emerging markets by investors seeking to arbitrage differentials that higher interest rates in emerging economies provide. In response, it is likely that many emerging market economies would come up with a slew of capital controls to discourage unbridled capital flows, following South Korea and Brazil, a few years ago.

India would have to weigh its options carefully. In the near future, the rupee is likely to continue its downward trend, which ceteris paribus will boost Indian exports, currently enjoying a golden run. A persistent slowdown in the West could, however, make this boom unsustainable. If foreign institutional investors flock to India as they did prior to 2008, the rupee will head north posing a new set of challenges. The Reserve Bank of India will then have to calibrate a policy that ensures that the cost of "sterilising" foreign reserves is not prohibitive, while not creating a hostile regime for investors. Clearly, India cannot assume it will not be impacted by global trends. It needs a strategy to strengthen the domestic sources of growth and minimise the impact of external factors.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

EDITORIAL

A TALE OF TWO GOVERNMENTS

TAMIL NADU AND WEST BENGAL TAKE DIFFERENT PATHS

There is a remarkable difference in both style and substance of the first 100 days in office between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. To be sure, the two situations are not comparable apart from the fact that both chief ministers happen to be women. Ms Banerjee swept to power on a tidal wave of high expectations of change and progress after three decades of Left Front rule which had become moribund. Ms Jayalalithaa is dealing with a less dramatic situation. Though both are mercurial in their own ways, Ms Jayalalithaa has proved to be more combative in office than Ms Banerjee, who has so far gone about doing her work in a quiet manner. The Tamil Nadu chief minister has declared war on land grabbing by influential people. This has resulted in scores of arrests, including those of several former ministers of the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) regime. Several schemes and projects of the DMK period have been either reversed or replaced. The scheme of distributing free TV sets has been dropped, a new state secretariat-cum-assembly complex is to be converted into a hospital and a grass-roots heath scheme has been redone.

As opposed to this, the new West Bengal chief minister has sought and obtained the co-operation of the Opposition Left Front to rename the state "Paschimbanga", so that it can travel up the alphabetical order and secure better central mind space. Also, Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party has not sought revenge, as was widely feared, and there has been little violence after the change of power. Instead of taking revenge or badla, Ms Banerjee asked her party cadre to play Rabindra Sangeet at public places! The West Bengal government has gone ahead with alacrity in burying the Tata's Singur project to manufacture the Nano by undertaking to return the land to the cultivators as promised during the election campaign. Similarly, a question mark hangs over the development at Rajarhat in East Kolkata and the proposed chemical complex in Nayachar seems as good as dead.

Both chief ministers have asked for financial assistance from the Centre. Though Ms Jayalalithaa would not be as dependent on central revenues as Ms Banerjee, neither can fulfill all their populist promises to the electorate without New Delhi's help. Tamil Nadu is of course better placed to forge ahead on the industrial front than West Bengal. The Trinamool government took its own time to present a Budget and, unfortunately, seems non-serious about raising resources. Ms Banerjee has already sent the wrong signals on water and power charges and has been promising to create thousands of new jobs for teachers and policemen. The latter can be financially ruinous. Thus, while Tamil Nadu can hope to survive the unpredictability of Ms Jayalalithaa, West Bengal is in danger of going down further if Ms Banerjee's populism is not reined in.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

CHINA'S NEW CURRENCY POLICY

THE COUNTRY MIGHT FAVOUR A STRONGER RENMINBI AGAINST THE US DOLLAR FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS

MARTIN FELDSTEIN

China's government may be about to let the renminbi-dollar exchange rate rise more rapidly in the coming months than it did during the past year. The exchange rate was actually frozen during the financial crisis, but has been allowed to increase since the summer of 2010. In the past 12 months, the renminbi strengthened by 6 per cent against the dollar, its reference currency.

A more rapid increase of the renminbi-dollar exchange rate would shrink China's exports and increase its imports. It would also allow other Asian countries to let their currencies rise or expand their exports at the expense of Chinese producers. That might please China's neighbours, but it would not appeal to Chinese producers. Why, then, might the Chinese authorities deliberately allow the renminbi to rise more rapidly?

There are two fundamental reasons the Chinese government might choose such a policy: reducing its portfolio risk and containing domestic inflation.

Consider, first, the authorities' concern about the risks implied by its portfolio of foreign securities. China's existing portfolio of some $1.6 trillion worth of dollar bonds and other foreign securities exposes it to two distinct risks: inflation in the United States and Europe, and a rapid devaluation of the dollar relative to the euro and other currencies.

Inflation in the US or Europe would reduce the purchasing value of the dollar bonds or euro bonds. The Chinese would still have as many dollars or euros, but those dollars and euros would buy fewer goods on the world market.

Even if there were no increase in inflation rates, a sharp fall in the dollar's value relative to the euro and other foreign currencies would reduce its purchasing value in buying European and other products. The Chinese can reasonably worry about that after seeing the dollar fall 10 per cent relative to the euro in the past year — and substantially more against other currencies.

The only way for China to reduce those risks is to reduce the amount of foreign-currency securities that it owns. But China cannot reduce the volume of such bonds while it is running a large current-account surplus. During the past 12 months, China had a current-account surplus of nearly $300 billion, which must be added to China's existing holdings of securities denominated in dollars, euros and other foreign currencies.

The second reason China's political leaders might favour a stronger renminbi is to reduce China's own domestic inflation rate. A stronger renminbi lowers the cost to Chinese consumers and Chinese firms of imported products as expressed in renminbi. A barrel of oil might still cost $90, but a 10 per cent increase in the renminbi-dollar exchange rate reduces the renminbi price by 10 per cent.

Reducing the cost of imports is significant because China imports a wide range of consumer goods, equipment and raw materials. Indeed, China's total annual imports amount to roughly $1.4 trillion, or nearly 40 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

A stronger renminbi would also reduce demand pressure more broadly and more effectively than the current policy of raising interest rates. This will be even more important in the future as China carries out its plan to increase domestic spending, especially spending by Chinese households. A principal goal of the recently presented 12th Five-Year Plan is to increase household incomes and consumer spending at a faster rate than that of GDP growth.

The combination of faster household-spending growth and the existing level of exports would cause production bottlenecks and strain capacity, leading to faster increases in the prices of domestically produced goods. Making room for increased consumer spending requires reducing the level of exports by allowing the currency to appreciate.

Looking back on the past year, the 6 per cent rise in the renminbi-dollar exchange rate might understate the increase in the relative cost of Chinese goods to American buyers because of differences in domestic inflation rates. Chinese consumer prices rose about 6.5 per cent over the past year, while US consumer prices rose only about 3.5 per cent. The three-percentage-point difference implies that the "real" inflation-adjusted renminbi-dollar exchange rate rose 9 per cent over the past year (that is, 6 per cent nominal appreciation plus the 3 per cent inflation difference.)

Although this is how governments calculate real exchange-rate changes, it no doubt overstates the relative change in the prices of the goods that Americans buy from China, because much of China's inflation was caused by rising prices for housing, local vegetables and other non-tradables. The renminbi prices of the Chinese manufactured products that are exported to the US may not have increased at all.

The renminbi-dollar exchange rate is, of course, only part of the story of what drives China's trade competitiveness. While the renminbi has risen relative to the dollar, the dollar has declined against other major currencies. The dollar's 10 per cent decline relative to the euro over the past 12 months implies that the renminbi is actually down by about 4 per cent relative to the euro. The Swiss franc has increased more than 40 per cent against the dollar — and therefore more than 30 per cent against the renminbi. Looking at the full range of countries with which China trades implies that the overall value of the renminbi probably declined in the past 12 months.

The dollar is likely to continue falling relative to the euro and other currencies over the next several years. As a result, the Chinese will be able to allow the renminbi to rise substantially against the dollar if they want to raise its overall global value in order to decrease China's portfolio risk and rein in inflationary pressure.

The author is professor of Economics at Harvard, was chairman of President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers and is former president of the National Bureau for Economic Research

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

PIRATES OF THE CELLULOID

VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR

Indians hardly watch films. According to Hansa Research, which conducts the Indian Readership Survey or IRS, only 80 million Indians watched a film in a cinema hall in the last six months. More than 345 million Indians read a newspaper and 523 million watched television in the same period. The Internet and radio too logged higher numbers. This then makes cinema the least popular and worst penetrated medium.

There is nothing wrong with IRS; it's just that most of us know films are very popular in India. The sheer popularity of films and film music is manifested in the Rs 9,900 crore that mobile companies made by selling ringtones, caller tunes and so on in 2010. It is also emphasised in the cinema-themed programming on news channels, general entertainment channels (GECs) and on online forums.

One reason cinema seems small is in the way we look at the business. The fact is that the 523 million Indians who watch TV are an audience too. Films account for more than 16 per cent of their total TV time. This, according to TAM Media Research data, is second only to GECs, which take away more than half of total television viewership. Then there is the home video market and the legal download one, although somewhat small. All of these contribute to the Rs 14,000-odd crore that Indian films made from various revenue streams last year.

Even if we resist the temptation to compare it with Hollywood's $30 billion, it seems small. For 1,100 films, 2.9 billion tickets and a film-crazy 1.2 billion people, it is indeed a small number. Why?

The film business remains small because of our attitude towards it. In theatres in the interiors it is standard practice to put a stamp on the hand instead of giving a printed ticket. This ticket is sans entertainment taxes and, therefore, cheaper. Many people watch a film on a pirated DVD or on an illegal file-sharing network. Scores of cable networks show pirated copies of a film with local adverts.

If we account for all that is lost to leakages (theatres not declaring revenues) and piracy (consumers stealing films), then the industry should be at least double its size, if not more — or about $6 billion.

For evidence consider that in 1998, when there were no multiplexes or organised theatre chains, official box office collections were Rs 1,680 crore. In 2008, just ten years after computerised multiplex chains spread, the figure was Rs 9,750 crore. Almost all of this growth has come from transparency, full declaration of revenues and rising ticket prices. It has come because revenues that were accruing to the industry have finally started to come into its fold. This tenfold jump has come from just 2,000 new screens. Imagine the impact if all 11,000 screens were accounted for. Since theatres bring 60 to 70 per cent of the revenues in this business, plugging this leakage is crucial. That process is now in motion.

However, capturing the revenues lost to other media – cable, DVD, online and so on – is proving difficult. That is because even among educated people intellectual property remains a soft target for theft. When I bring this subject up, my students, friends and some senior people throw back standard arguments: "we can't afford it", "it is too expensive", "the legal version is not available", "there are no compilations" and so on. Funnily enough, if someone is caught stealing a diamond necklace, it is never justified with the same arguments, though it is the same thing. Internationally, the law equates intellectual property rights with private property ones.

I have written a paper on this issue, attended various seminars, read many research reports, argued, debated and it all comes down to the same thing: consumers do not think there is anything wrong in stealing a film or a piece of music. And no amount of education will make them think otherwise.

For instance, last year the New York-based Rand Corporation came out with a report saying that film piracy was becoming a way to finance terrorism. It draws examples from North America, China, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong and India, among other countries. Organised crime syndicates use the same network that smuggles arms et al to smuggle stolen films and entertainment products. It is safer than drugs and offers better margins.

When you point to evidence like this, most people accuse the research of being biased. The music industry in the West tried very hard to tackle piracy by putting consumers in jail. It still hasn't worked.

This brings me back to the question: why do we steal films? Unless one answers that, it is impossible to get at the revenues lost to piracy.

vanitakohli@hotmail.co

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BUSINESS STANDARD

LOOK BEYOND LOK PAL

THE INSTITUTION MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY MEASURES PREVENTING MISUSE OF POWER BY THE LOWER BUREAUCRACY

A K BHATTACHARYA

It is perhaps too early to gauge the full impact of the proposed inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under the Lok Pal. Civil servants have not yet fully internalised what the expanded scope of the Lok Pal could mean for them.

Most importantly, there are legal questions. What would now be the scope of the current law on prevention of corruption by officers of the government and public bodies including public sector undertakings? Will it overlap with the proposed law on the Lok Pal? Finally, if the Lok Pal law covers the lower bureaucracy as well, would it mean the end of the Prevention of Corruption Act or would it reduce its efficacy to a level that makes it irrelevant?

Civil servants would like the government to resolve these issues even as the Parliamentary Standing Committee begins its examination of the Lok Pal Bill after taking on board Parliament's resolution on corruption. Civil servants are likely to have another area of concern. This may arise from Anna Hazare's statement on Saturday. "We have won only half the battle," he said soon after Parliament adopted the resolution that incorporated all the three suggestions made by his team — inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under the Lok Pal, a central law for creating Lokayuktas in states and a citizen's charter for government departments providing public service.

What did Hazare mean when he said only half the battle was won? What is the half that remains to be won? Presumably, the reference was to Parliament's passing the legislation for a Lok Pal that contained all the features proposed by the Hazare team. However, believing that passing the Lok Pal legislation alone will ensure victory in the battle against corruption is naive and tantamount to waiting for Godot.

In other words, this is not the time for the government and civil servants to wait for the magic wand of the Lok Pal to arrive to weed out corruption. Institutions are important, but they alone cannot tackle as pervasive and widespread a disease like corruption. You need accompanying measures with an institution like the Lok Pal to check malpractices and misuse of power. As many civil servants correctly would like to believe, the proposed institution of the Lok Pal is comparable to a physician who usually heals the body after disease has struck. However, prevention is always better than cure.

The Lok Pal may provide the cure, but there is no reason the government should not take advance steps to prevent the disease. Good governance requires that healthcare through hygiene and provision of nutritious food is as important, if not more, to prevent the disease. The approach of the civil society in India is rooted in the belief that the government, its various arms, the political parties and civil servants are incapable of creating enabling conditions that do not allow corruption in the first place — hence the need for a powerful regulatory body like the Lok Pal.

This may be true but the challenge for civil servants in particular now is to come up with a series of changes in procedures of key economic regulations that eliminate the scope for corruption in the delivery of government services. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in their separate addresses in Parliament last week, touched upon some of these issues. They underlined the need for simplifying rules and procedures to make the common man's life easier and hassle-free.

Mukherjee hit the nail on the head when he talked about the use of an electronic payment system for releasing refunds to taxpayers. The finance minister has understood the crux of the problem. Indeed, the government can eliminate most cases of petty corruption by removing human contact at the time of service delivery. Tax refunds could be a source of petty and illegal gratification for some dishonest officers as long as they had to deliver or send a physical cheque to the taxpayer. Now, with an electronic system of payment of such refunds into the bank accounts of the taxpayer, the finance ministry has eliminated such scope for corruption.

Similarly, as Mukherjee pointed out in his address, the advent of the unique identity numbers for people, disbursement of funds or financial entitlements under various schemes would eliminate or substantially reduce the leakage seen in the past several years. The point is technology can work wonders in eliminating corruption. Imagine getting your building plans approved through an electronic window or paying your house tax online or getting the driving licence renewed on the basis of declarations and self-certification posted on the relevant government department's website. Citizens will benefit and corruption will be on the wane.

Civil society will, however, still clamour for the Lok Pal and there should be no dispute over the need for such a body. However, civil servants now have the opportunity to use technology and transparent procedures in a wide range of public services and reduce the scope for corruption. That will be a win-win situation for the government, civil servants and citizens. Additionally, it should reduce the burden of huge expectations from the Lok Pal.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

SOUTH ASIAN CROSSROADS

THE SUBCONTINENT IS ON WAY TO BECOMING THE CROSSROADS OF ASIA ONCE AGAIN

SANJAYA BARU

If the new strategic partnership between Bangladesh and India takes the expected step forward next week, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Dhaka, it could herald a new beginning for the eastern sub-region of South Asia including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India (BBNI).

Major confidence building initiatives taken by the two Bay of Bengal neighbours, with new agreements and initiatives on the border before the weekend, have already created a favourable environment for a successful visit to Dhaka by Prime Minister Singh. Indeed, the Dhaka visit could become this year's most important foreign policy initiative by Dr Singh.

Bangladesh is keen on a BBNI sub-regional co-operation in the hydro power sector and seeks what it calls a more "equitable share" of Teesta River water. This should be possible in theory and could become the game-changer for the region. Dr Singh's visit to Bangladesh could help begin a new era in closer and better connectivity between India and Bangladesh opening up the possibility of new land-based infrastructure projects that will enable road and rail links between South Asia and South-east Asia.

Going beyond sub-regional co-operation, a strong Indian initiative to revive the moribund Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation would help speed up the process of bridge building with South-east Asia through Myanmar and Thailand. The Asian Development Bank is ready to fund projects that would improve connectivity as well as the region's social and economic infrastructure.

Interestingly, many member countries of the Association of South-east Asian Nations are once again focused on their region's links with South Asia. This is an opportune time for both India and Bangladesh, and indeed Myanmar, to adopt a collective approach in taking major infrastructure and energy projects forward, with support from the Asian Development Bank.

Indians have traditionally been brought up on the idea that the flow of people in this part of Asia has been from the west of India, from Central Asia. There has been a similar, if less intrusive, flow of people from India to the east as well, both by land and sea. India was not merely the recipient of invaders and settlers from its west, but it was also the home of migrants, traders, teachers and travellers who have gone east.

The partition of the subcontinent cut off India's land links with both Central and West Asia, on the one hand, and its land links with South-east Asia, on the other. It is these links that the creation of a South Asian free trade area and the new infrastructure projects will revive.

Though action on the western land border will take time, till Pakistan is able to get its internal act together, improve relations with India and the latter is able to reconnect with Afghanistan and beyond by land, the region stands at the cusp of meaningful action both on the eastern land border and also across the maritime frontier.

Even with Pakistan there has been some progress. Reports of a meeting of minds on trade and connectivity between India and Pakistan offer hope of further progress on this front. Pakistan is reported to be on the verge of agreeing to normal trade relations with India, which would imply implementing the World Trade Organisation's "most favoured nation" obligations and offering transit trade rights that would facilitate trade among India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

But land was not the only link in history between India and its neighbours. Waves of seafarers all the way from Gujarat to the Bengal coast sailed across both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

The modernisation of ports and improved air connectivity have brought both regions closer. Air connectivity between India and its wider southern Asian neighbourhood, ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Straits and beyond, is already very good. Sea connectivity too is set to increase, restoring ancient links between the ports of the Gulf region and western India and the Bay of Bengal littoral.

What this means is that South Asia has the potential to once again become the crossroads of Asia — linking the land-based and the maritime economies of West Asia, Central Asia and the whole of East and South-east Asia.

It is obvious that India has a stake in this given the geo-economics of the region. However, what is not often appreciated in the region is the enormous benefit the new infrastructural connectivity and economic links will confer on countries to India's east and west, including the large and small land-locked economies of Central Asia and the Himalayan region.

Stop thinking of India as an isolated subcontinent cut off by the high Himalayas, the deserts and the oceans, an "island" so to speak, and think of the region as the "crossroads" between Asia's resource-rich west and north-western regions and its booming industrial economies of the East and South-east Asia. Seen this way, the benefits of regional integration would be continent-wide and not restricted to the region's largest economy.

The important thing about the India-Bangladesh relationship at this point in time is that there is strong political commitment to a movement forward at the highest levels in both countries. By resolving residual bilateral differences the leadership of both countries would be building a new partnership with South-east and East Asia for the 21st century.

A similar movement forward on the western border is also possible, if more difficult. But pure self-interest should guide the political leadership of all the countries in the region to re-establish the region's role as Asia's crossroads.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

CONSCIENCE KEEPERS

TO MAKE AUDITS EFFECTIVE, AUDITORS SHOULD BE PAID FROM A POOL OF FUNDS

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's (ICAI) move to write a new code of ethics is welcome, but it can be effective only if it compels auditors to raise their standard of ethics and values. No large corporate fraud has been exposed by eagle-eyed accountants, but by insiders or through a confession — like Ramalinga Raju's mea culpa in the Satyam scam. The new code should raise the level of accountability of auditors. Ideally, auditors of companies should be 'whistleblowers', even as they discharge their fiduciary role. Such a system is in place in the banking sector where the RBI clears the appointment of auditors who, in turn, alert the central bank about frauds. There's no reason why all companies cannot replicate this practice. Statutory auditors are supposed to point out irregularities in audit reports attached to the firm's annual report. Unfortunately, that seldom happens. There is a conflict of interest as statutory auditors are appointed and paid by the company they audit. A better way could be for companies to pay audit fees into a fund maintained by stock exchanges, for listed companies, or with the registrar of companies, for nonlisted ones. Auditors should be paid from this fund, not by any company directly. Rotation of auditors must become mandatory. Whistleblowers need to be encouraged and protected against pressure. A clear-cut policy for every organisation that guarantees protection for whistleblowers makes sense. Prompt action should also be taken against an errant company, based on the auditor's report. Competent statutory auditors, rigorous internal audit, transparency and disclosures combined with strong independent directors and active shareholders will ensure better corporate governance. The government should implement its plan on early warning systems to detect fraud and work for speedy passage of the Companies Bill to make both statutory auditors and independent directors more accountable. It should also reform political funding to usher in transparency in the relationship between companies and political parties. The reform of campaign finance will boost corporate governance as well as political ethics.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

WEATHER OR NOT

NOT LIVING UP TO POTENTIAL CAN BE AS DISASTROUS AS EXCEEDING IT

Weather reporting on TV used to prompt a bit of a smirk: pretty girls breathlessly tripping over difficult place names even as their fingers fluttered around pointing out rain and shine worldwide or balding men offering nuggets of faint humour as they earnestly outlined isotherms. Ever since confusion and bungling combined to turn Hurricane Katrina into a national calamity, though, this genre of reporting has obviously been invested with a cachet hitherto reserved for gritty or sepulchral commentary from warzones and epidemics. Of all the weather-related retributions that the Earth exacts on us, storms are possibly the safest to cover, as they have a fair degree of inevitability: wind, water, lull, wind, water. Yet, weather warriors, like their colleagues in bulletproof jackets and helmets in battlefronts, now fan out to weatherfronts appropriately attired in 'disaster casuals', in a similar quest for catastrophe.

The air of heroism and stoic public service permeating the reportage of Hurricane Irene that hit the east coast of the US last weekend, however, exposed the danger of depending on something as capricious as a storm for a daily fix of hope amid devastation. The destructive quotients of weather-induced debacles such as tornado trails, landslides, floods and avalanches are easily visible, particularly in the aftermath. But if a rain-bearing cloud system does not live up to its doom ratings (dwindling from a hurricane to a tropical storm before landfall), it can leave TRP-seeking networks and brownie-point-seeking disaster management troubleshooters high and dry — as the Obama administration has learnt to its chagrin. Political storms, though equally unpredictable, offer a more sound option as they can be 'managed' to suit everyone. Even the weather.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

WEATHER OR NOT

NOT LIVING UP TO POTENTIAL CAN BE AS DISASTROUS AS EXCEEDING IT

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

LOOK NOT WESTWARD FOR CHEER

THE DEVELOPING WORLD HAS TO LIVE UP TO THE RESPONSIBILITY OF STABILISING THE CORE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Habits die hard. For too long the world has looked West for cues. It is after all not that long since the sun never set on a particular western empire and even shorter since the US led the world in almost every sphere — technology, economic, finance and military. In 1988, the developed world made up 83% of world GDP and even as recently as 2000 this share was 80%. Today the share has fallen to 65% and in another five years will fall below 60%. Thereafter? Modest extrapolations suggest that in another 15 years, it will drop further to 50%. The developing world will have the other half. Is this inevitable? Of course not — nothing ever is.
The late economic historian Angus Maddison estimated that in 1700 both India and China accounted for a quarter each of world GDP. What happened thereafter was not just the success of colonial conquest, but also the abysmal failure of the colonised to protect their interest. The opportunities that present themselves today to India, China and the rest of developing Asia and Africa are as much a consequence of the heroic struggles of their peoples for freedom, the painstaking and slow construction of a modern economy and an educated society, as it is of the relatively easier access to technology and markets today, a product of a globalised world and the enterprise of developing economy businesses.

It is three years since the global crisis broke on the failure of Lehman Brothers over the weekend of September 12-14, 2008. This columnist was, if memory does not fail, the only one who dated the crisis to this turning point. Over the years, it has slowly become the consensus. US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, in his Jackson Hole speech last weekend, noted that "we meet here today almost exactly three years since …." He called it "since the most intense phase of the financial crisis", but in truth what it was "since" the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury failed to anticipate what letting Lehman go would bring in its aftermath. Some $3.5 trillion of federal debt later, three years of lost growth later, three years of unemployment at 9% plus later and with a difficult near-term future ahead — it looks like a measly and ill-considered decision — an avoidable discontinuity.

There is a clear and present danger of triumphalism in those economies that did not dive alongside the West. In Asia there were plenty of smirks, a sense of self-congratulatory satisfaction. One saw that here and I saw it in China — more abundantly there and here. But that may just have been the manner of articulation. China, with national output of $6.5 trillion, is ahead of us ($2 trillion), but both of us (more we than them) are far away from where we need to be so that the majority of our population can even begin to think of themselves as citizens of a moderately developed economy.

In the past decade, all emerging countries benefited from the stability that was lent to world trade, investment and finance by the comfort of a prosperous West. However, today that comfort does not exist and therefore neither does the calming hand in global waters. The seemingly obvious thing that should happen when the engine of growth begins to switch from the West to the developing world is that investment and finance increasingly flows to the latter. However, gradual shifts and disruptive ones are hugely and meaningfully different. Gradual shifts would have meant that incremental flows on investment and finance would have moved direction in line with increments to global output that was located in the developing world. But with disruptive change, it is not only the increments that are affected, but also the stock.

The not unexpected (in my view, but a nasty surprise to most it seems) slowing down of the US economy (1% in the quarter to June) and similar troubling numbers from Europe are bad news. But that is only half the story. There is the familiar quagmire of the sovereign debt and solvency issue in the eurozone. A script largely written by euro-grandees of French origin decades ago, the bill to be footed mostly by Germany: It seems like the last scene in a great tragedy. Either from it will rise a political union of Europe or a virtual dissolution of the monetary union. Considering that 600 years of war and millions of dead did not succeed in making a united nation of Europe it would be poetic if a financial crisis can. To my mind, the other possibility is more likely. In the US, it is extremely unclear how the fiscal deficit will abate and the federal debt stabilise. It can happen under certain assumptions, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a brief released last week showed. Whether such assumptions can materialise is another matter.

Finally, there is the unpleasant and abundantly clear fact. Namely, the conventional tools of fiscal and monetary measures have not worked as expected. Worse, there is no ammunition left — the powder is blown. The combination of weak economic growth and fiscal stress is causing tremors. In this bleak world of uncertainty people are not looking for profit, but ways not to make a loss. The driver of investment and growth is risk taking — the search for profit. Its beleaguered state in what is still the core of the global economy colours the outlook for the rest. Hoping that things will calm down in the West and the atmosphere of 2004-07 will return is futile. Developing nations should understand this well. They do not yet have the capacity to stabilise the core of the global economy, but they can influence matters at the edge. If they seem to be turning into their own variant of basket cases, it will not happen. It will be a hard slog, but we have to live up to this challenge.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

THROUGH THE THIRD EYE

Plot Thickens

Kiran Bedi says she told L K Advani that she felt let-down by his party too when Parliament failed to discuss the Lokpal issue on August 26. True, political players were all dressed up for a Friday debate when procedural wrangling, with the BJP insisting on a discussion with voting and the Congress not wanting a vote, consumed the day. This, incidentally, hit the Congress plan to field Rahul Gandhi, facing charges of keeping mum on the issue, during the anticipated debate. A desperate Congress then got the Zero Hour rule stretched a bit to get Mr Gandhi to speak, triggering opposition protests over the method as well as the content of his speech. When the Lok Sabha finally held the Lokpal debate on Saturday, Mr Gandhi was conspicuously absent, prompting sections of the opposition to chide his 'lack of seriousness'. Now the Congress camp says Mr Gandhi was not in the House on Saturday because he had flown out of India on Friday night to bring back his ailing mother. Incidentally, the BJP allowed the discussion to finally start on Saturday under a non-voting rule. Now the Congress camp has started whispering if 'the Friday confrontation' was "also aimed at ensuring that Gandhi did not get a chance to break his silence" during the debate. Talk about plots and sub-plots!

Curious Queries

You can't blame Gopinath Munde and Ananth Kumar for visiting Ramlila Maidan on Friday to try and play peacemaker with Team Anna. After all, how could have these BJP leaders remain unmoved when Congress' Vilasrao Deshmukh started his tango with Anna at the Maidan. It is reflective of the Ramlila audience's lack of understanding of politi

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

EDITORIAL 30.08.11