EDITORIAL SAMARTH: EDITORIAL 08.09.11

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Editorial

month september 08, edition 000831 , collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul

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

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TERROR STRIKES DELHI
IMPRESSIVE GAINS
REFORMS TO THE RESCUE - ARVIND PANAGARIYA
IT'LL DEEPEN PREJUDICES
FOR EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

HINDUSTAN TIMES

KNOWING MUCH, BUT DOING LITTLE
A WATERED-DOWN TRIP
SLIPPING IN SLIPPERS - AJOY BOSE
IT'S A NO-BRAINER - ASHOK MALIK

THE INDIAN EXPRESS

NO ANSWERS YET
BOARD OF INJURIES
A DELICATE BALANCE
PRATAP BHANU MEHTA
CAUTION AS AN SOS - SHOBHANA SUBRAMANIAN
THE COURT ETERNAL - ATUL NANDA
THE BALLAD OF TIHAR GAOL - SHAILAJA BAJPAI
OBAMA, TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH... - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
SOUTHERN CLEMENCY - MANOJCG

THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

TEASE ME GOOD
SLR BY SUBBARAO
DIASPORA, DEVELOPMENT & DEMOCRACY - NIRVIKAR SINGH
LISTEN TO THE BOND MARKETS - MARTIN WOLF

THE HINDU

SEN AND SENSIBILITY
ARE LIBYA'S FRIENDS FOR REAL?
BOMBING OF LIBYA MOST ACCURATE EVER: NATO
WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS SHOW THAT GOOD HIGHER EDUCATION CAN BE A BARGAIN
ANNA BAWDEN
PAKISTAN: UNDOING A COLONIAL LEGACY - ANITA JOSHUA
INDIA-BANGLADESH TIES A MODEL FOR SOUTH ASIA'

DAILY EXCELSIOR

LADAKH ON TOP
TRAVEL ADVISORY
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN INDIA
INCREASING SUICIDESDIRE NEED FOR COUNSELLING - BY DHURJATI MUKHERJEE
SUSTAIN SOIL FERTILITY FOR PRODUCTIVITY - BY PROF (DR) R D GUPTA

THE TRIBUNE

LAST STOP: TIHAR
CONTAMINATED WATER
INFIGHTING TAKES ITS TOLL
PAKISTAN, XINJIANG AND CHINA - BY D. SUBA CHANDRAN
LONGING FOR LONG HAIR - BY RUCHI SHARMA
SEPTEMBER 12: WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY - DR GOPALAKRISHNAN

MUMBAI MIRROR

WILLIAM GOLDING CENTENARY

BUSINESS STANDARD

RETHINKING RUPEE
ENCASHING DEMOCRACY
TWELFTH PLAN APPROACH - SHANKAR ACHARYA
STEVE JOBS: THE CEO AS AUTEUR - AJIT BALAKRISHNAN
FEAR AND HOPE IN THE PACIFIC - BARUN ROY
CORRUPTION: MYTH AND REALITY - B K CHATURVEDI

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

TERROR DOESN'T PAY
BITTER-SWEET
AGRA DECLARATION
MIXED-SCANNING MODEL FOR SLUMS
LESSONS ON 'CONTROLLING' THE ECONOMY - AVINASH CELESTINE
ANNA AND THE MARUTI STRIKE - T K ARUN

BUSINESS LINE

ON HIGH GROUND
CORRUPTION AND ROCKET SCIENCE - K. KRISHNA KUMAR
REVOLT OF THE INFLUENTIAL
NARENDAR PANI

DECCAN CHRONICAL

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF 26/11?
POLITICS BEHIND BARS
DELHI, DHAKA AND A HOSTAGE-TAKER
RETIRED HURT?
FIBRE OF LIFE

THE STATESMAN

THE RURAL MESS
AS APPREHENDED...
CAMPUS RIGMAROLE
LITERACY & CIVIL SOCIETY - SAUMITRA MOHAN
GOVT AT ITS OLD GAMES - BETWEEN THE LINES ~ KULDIP NAYAR
STORM IN A TEACUP - ISHWAR PATI
THE DAY AMERICA'S DECLINE BEGAN - RUPERT CORNWELL

THE TELEGRAPH

EXPANDING BRIEF
TARGET PRACTICE
CLASH OF INTERESTS
FIX THE LEAKS - K.P. SHASHIDHARAN

DECCAN HERALD

REPLACE HM
NAIL PATRONAGE
A COSTLY DRIFT S L RAO

OHERALDO

WE ARE A SOFT, BRITTLE AND FEARFUL STATE
IT'S ANNA-THER DAY
ERVELL E. MENEZES

HAARETZ

BOB VS. BIBI
END TO OLIGARCHY - BY ARI SHAVIT
PYROMANIA - BY GIDEON LEVY
CALLING A SPADE A SPADE - BY ISRAEL HAREL
FATIGUE AT THE TOP - BY NERI LIVNEH

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

'AMERICANNESS' BELONGS TO ALL OF US
HUGE TEST AWAITS GENERAL ÖZEL
GUIDELINES FOR BEGINNERS TO UNDERSTANDING CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN TURKEY: PART IV
KANDIL STOP ON TEHRAN-DAMASCUS ROAD - CENGİZ ÇANDAR
THE STRATEGY OF 9/11 - GWYNNE DYER
TURKEY-ISRAEL: TOWARD A DECOUPLING OF ECONOMICS FROM POLITICS
BURCU GÜLTEKİN-PUNSMANN
HELLO, CAN YOU HELP ME?

I.THE NEWS

QUETTA ATTACK
POLITICAL CIRCUS
CHINESE, ANYONE?
FROM ECONOMIC CRISIS TO COLLAPSE - DR MUHAMMAD YAQUB
IT WAS A WAR FOR OIL, AFTER ALL - DR IKRAMUL HAQ
REAL HOPE FOR PEACE - IKRAM SEHGAL
THE 'ART' OF DIPLOMACY - HINA MAHMOOD
POLITICAL SOLUTION TO A POLITICAL PROBLEM - KAMILA HYAT
DRONES AND CIA - GARETH PORTER

THE AUSTRALIYAN

PM DARES NOT SPEAK THE NAURU SOLUTION'S NAME
FOR WHOM THE MAGPIE SWOOPS
TURNING COMPETITION INTO A VICE

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

PENNY PINCHING ON PRESCHOOLS
OWN GOALS IN EDUCATION
UPHILL BATTLE FOR AFGHAN HEARTS AND MINDS
ABBOTT MUST ACT AGAINST BERNARDI

THE GUARDIAN

ALEX SALMOND: FREE REIGN
TOP TAX RATE: PELF AND PREJUDICE
IN PRAISE OF … DAPHNI LEEF

THE JAPAN TIMES

CHINA TURNS UP THE HEAT - BY MICHAEL RICHARDSON
HOW TO DRIVE AWAY FRIENDS AND LOSE INFLUENCE - BY FRANK CHING
AMERICA'S POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY GOING BUST - BY HAROLD MEYERSON
ACQUITTAL OF BANK EXECUTIVES

THE JAKARTA POST

MUHAIMIN CORRUPT?
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
HS DILLON
TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HEALTH CARE - SAMLEE PLIANBANGCHANG
BE WARY OF NORTH KOREA'S CHARM OFFENSIVE - BRUCE KLINGNER
BASEL III AND THE NEW ECONOMIES (PART 2 OF 2) - ANWAR NASUTION

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

TERROR STRIKES DELHI

Terror revisited the national capital yesterday as a high-intensity blast rocked the premises of the Delhi high court, killing at least 11 and injuring over 60. Though unverified, Islamic terror outfit HuJI has claimed the bombing. But what is truly shocking is that the blast comes barely four months after a low-intensity bomb went off at the same court. Given the precedent, one would have expected adequate security measures to be put in place to avoid a repeat. But despite the Delhi high court being a high-value target in the heart of the national capital, not even rudimentary measures such as metal detectors or CCTV surveillance were in place. This speaks of an extraordinarily lax security culture.

The government cannot wish away the terror threat. It must be fought with resolve, passion, 24x7 focus and scientific counter-measures. Home minister P Chidambaram offered his condolences to the victims and kin of Wednesday's blast and promised to act against the perpetrators. But it's a speech we have heard many times before. The fact remains that our counterterrorism infrastructure is woefully inadequate. It is astonishing that as many as 700,000 posts remain vacant in the police and defence forces. The lack of quality intelligence gathering and forensic capabilities are exemplified by the fact that not a single major blast case in the last two years has been solved. That includes the Mumbai serial blasts that took place two months back.

Most of the time raw intelligence about possible terror strikes is available. Yet systemic inertia prevents law enforcement agencies from collating and acting on this. India is a trillion dollar economy, and it's high time that security is made an essential element of infrastructure. The challenge is to convert our security apparatus from a reactive to a preventive force. This would require expeditiously filling up vacancies in security agencies and adopting modern investigative techniques. If our techniques and training are backward we shouldn't hesitate to learn from foreign security agencies whose counterterror record is much better. Standing on national honour is beside the point when it's a question of confronting terror.

There is a strong case for aggressive hands-on policing. More boots on the ground combined with effective tools such as CCTVs in public places will go a long way in cracking down on nefarious activities. Just as the aviation industry has stuck with strict security norms post-9/11, there is a need for greater police-to-people interface to ensure constant vigil. The need of the hour is a strong security culture that has law enforcement agencies on their toes 365 days a year.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

IMPRESSIVE GAINS

Despite initial hiccups, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's maiden trip to Bangladesh has yielded impressive diplomatic results topped by a historic land boundary pact. This is the first time since Bangladesh's independence that the entire land boundary between the two countries stands demarcated and the troublesome enclaves issue settled. The high-profile trip got off to a jittery start, with Mamata Banerjee pulling out and complaining that the proposed Teesta water-sharing agreement will hurt her state's interests. For a while it did seem that the botched up river deal could pour cold water on the PM's trip. But then in a show of maturity, both countries took the setback in their stride and moved on to sign fruitful trade and boundary agreements.

The boundary agreement, centrepiece of the bilateral diplomacy, grants basic citizenship rights, pending for over three decades, to thousands of people living in 162 adversely held enclaves. Due to their stateless existence, these people have not been able to access even basic services like education and health. India has also made major concessions in bilateral trade relations. For long, Bangladesh has complained about unbalanced trade with India. Singh has announced quota-free access to the Indian market for 46 Bangladeshi textile product lines and 15 other items-a move welcomed by Bangladesh's political and business circles. Both Singh and Sheikh Hasina needed substantial takeaways from this engagement. And the trip has achieved that objective, reducing the trust deficit between the two countries. To take this policy of cooperation ahead, the UPA government has to move towards implementing the water-sharing and transit deals. India is looking for overland access across Bangladesh to its land-locked north-eastern states-something that still needs to be worked out. On Teesta water-sharing, the Centre must move quickly on working out an agreement. The transit deal and water-sharing remain the main unfinished business from the PM's otherwise successful Bangladesh trip.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

TOP STORY

REFORMS TO THE RESCUE

ARVIND PANAGARIYA

Left critics are fond of blaming the post-1991 reforms for the corruption afflicting India today. Astonishingly, two Supreme Court judges recently joined this chorus. But the young among the critics are blissfully ignorant of history while the old suffer from amnesia.

Corruption existed aplenty prior to 1991. If you wanted a phone, car or scooter, you had to choose between a many-years-long queue or bribe. If you were among the lucky few to have a phone, a bribe was still necessary to receive the dial tone. If you wanted an airline ticket or a reserved railway seat, your choice was to take a chance and stand in a long queue or resort to baksheesh. Ditto for a bag of cement. God forbid, if you should have to travel abroad, many-hours-long queue and unfriendly customs officials would be awaiting you upon return. As an entrepreneur, if you wanted an investment or import licence or to stop your competitor from getting one, bribing a senior official in the relevant ministry would do.

Thanks to the post-1991 reforms, ordinary citizens have been freed from these travails and humiliations. Those of us who lived this history know that reforms bid goodbye to many forms of corruption.

Why have we then witnessed so many mega corruption cases recently? Partially, it reflects the success of reforms but largely it is to be attributed to the government's decision to stop halfway. Reforms and the higher incomes accompanying them pushed up the prices of scarce resources such as minerals and land. These price increases multiplied the scope for government officials to make vast sums of illegal money through arbitrary and opaque allocations of the rights to extract minerals and the acquisition and resale of land.

The 2G scandal offers an even more dramatic example. It had taken India 110 years to reach five million phones in 1990-91. But the spectacular success of telecom reforms brought the number to 300 million at the end of 2007-08 with the rate of expansion reaching 6.25 million per month . This turned spectrum on which cell calls travel into a resource worth tens of billions of dollars. That allegedly allowed telecom minister A Raja to make handsome sums for himself and his friends when allocating spectrum to his wealthy friends for a small 'fee'.

If in 1991 Manmohan Singh had chosen the course that reforms critics recommend, we surely would have escaped the recent large-scale scandals. But the long queues and corruption associated with them would have remained as well. Far more important, the revenues that today finance the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, the right to education and the National Rural Health Mission would not have been available.

A far superior path available to the government to curb corruption was the continuation of reforms. The reform of the antiquated Land Acquisition Act of 1894, issuance of land titles, transparency in government procurement and competitive auctions of mineral rights and telecom spectrum are some such measures. Rahul Gandhi spoke about them in the Lok Sabha on August 26, when Anna Hazare's fast was in its 11 {+t} {+h} day but it was too little too late. He and his party had already lost seven long years!

When the UPA unexpectedly won the 2004 election, it (erro-neously) attributed its victory to the incumbent government's pursuit of growth-centred reforms and neglect of the countryside. So it chose exactly the opposite course: an end to reforms and the total neglect of 30% Indians living in the cities in favour of near-exclusive focus on the countryside. And that sowed the seeds of the Hazare movement.

In November 2007, Jo Johnson of the Financial Times predicted violent protests in Delhi by India's poor in reaction to what he saw as "the growing divide between haves and have-nots". Yet, when Hazare launched his movement, it was the educated, well-clad and well-fed young men and women from urban India who turned up in droves in peaceful demonstrations. Why did Johnson go so wrong?

For one thing, the poor are able to see that growth has done far more for them than the dirigiste policies of the past. More importantly, the young and ambitious middle-class men and women in urban India recognise that it is they whom their elected representatives have wilfully neglected. While mega corruption cases served as the focal point, deep down these Indians poured into the maidan to protest this neglect: crumbling urban infrastructure, limited opportunities for higher education and few formal sector jobs.

Unfortunately, those who think they can legislate the end to corruption through even a super-Lokpal are in for a huge disappointment. Economist Gilbert Etienne reminds us that, in the 2000s, China has imprisoned tens of thousands of officials and even executed some of them for corruption. And yet, Chinese scholars see no decline in corruption. Unless we return to reforms and address corruption at source as we did in the case of bribes generated by the command and control economy of the 1960s and 1970s, success will elude us.

With almost three years to go, the UPA could still make up for its mistakes. The prime minister has done more than his fair share for his party. It is now time for him to do the nation's bidding. If he succeeds in resetting the reforms agenda, history will applaud him for his courage. The alternative scenario is a lot less pretty.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

VIEW

IT'LL DEEPEN PREJUDICES

To call 'lookism' - discriminating against people because of their supposedly unattractive looks - the 'new racism' and demand it be proscribed is excessive. Racism is brutal, in-your-face persecution based on skin colour. Lookism as a concept is vague, a subjective notion of how one appears to others and what their preferences may be. Beauty is a relative - and ephemeral - notion. Being hard to define, it escapes the clear, coherent para-meters a law would require to deal with it.

The debate on looks is completely open-ended. Each society has diverse notions of what's lovely and what's not - and these too change all the time. For example, the Japanese may once have thought petite, delicately-built, dark-haired women attractive. Today, they also find strapping golden-haired girls beautiful. In the contemporary world, traditional notions of aesthetics mix continuously with modern, market-based, cosmopolitan ideas. Trends, styles, fads and fashions change all the time. One moment brawny men get swooned over. The next instant, men with slim, boyish builds, sporting 'geeky' glasses, may win hearts. With such ever-shifting tastes, how can a legal antidote go by any one unchanging, universal definition of 'good looks' - or 'bad'?

Finally, those who complain about bagging lower salaries or fewer promotions ostensibly because of their imperfect looks should note that the argument can cut both ways. Take the case last year of a US banker fired by her employers. Her 'fault'? She looked too gorgeous for the workplace! With such comple-xities and nuances at play, it's more sensible to have awareness campaigns rather than unworkable bans against looks-based bias. These programmes can help people understand that appearance is just skin-deep. Besides, victims of discriminatory treatment can anyway go to court, as they've done in America. Attempts to 'outlaw' lookism could actually have the opposite effect of cementing prejudices.

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

COUNTERVIEW

FOR EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

If the demand for a legal counter to discrimination on grounds of appearance is growing, blame it on societies the world over attaching a high premium on physical beauty. There's hardly an interpersonal or a professional sphere left un-affected by the scourge of 'lookism'. We see biases play out everywhere in our daily lives: on the street and in the workplace. In India and elsewhere, discrimination exists even within the family. And few are lucid enough to see through cultural bromides that equate external beauty with intrinsic superiority. This explains why British broadcaster Nick Ross unabashedly says TV is a "lookism medium". Or why less-successful tennis stars like Anna Kournikova make more money than players ranked higher.

Lookism judges individuals by their physical allure rather than abilities or merit. This naturally works to the advantage of people perceived to rank higher in the looks department. They get preferential treatment at the cost of others. Which fair, democratic system can justify this? If anything, lookism is as insidious as any other form of bias based on caste, creed, gender and race that society buys into. It goes against the principle of equality of opportunity. A system that guarantees professional success on the basis of looks is bad for the labour force. If practised widely, it could affect productivity by favouring the undeserving even while demoralising those with more skills and talent than beauty.

To argue that looks-based discrimination is difficult to identify and punish is to adopt an ostrich-like attitude. Let's not underestimate the potential of strict legal remedies against discrimination. These can deny people with biases the opportunity to indulge in them at least in public. Fear evoked by punitive action will help create greater awareness and influence a change in attitudes over time.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

KNOWING MUCH, BUT DOING LITTLE

The bomb blast on Wednesday morning outside Delhi high court that has, on last count, claimed 11 lives and injured many more, was not a bolt from the blue. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had tabled its final report in July on the attempted blast outside the same Delhi High Court on May 25, 2011 and had reportedly alerted the Delhi Police that the earlier unexploded device was no crude bomb but a more sophisticated weapon. The IB and the home ministry had also reportedly alerted the Delhi Police that the May attempt could be soon followed up by a similar attack. Such an attack has indeed taken place, this time without the excuse of there being no prior warning. Either the Delhi Police decided to take little cognisance of the warning given, or armed with the knowledge, it has been able to do precious little to prevent Wednesday's heinous attack. We are driven to believe the former explanation. So it comes as no surprise that the investigations into Wednesday's Delhi high court bomb blast has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Counter-terrorist operations work on two basic principles: preventive and reactive actions. With Delhi being a victim of a litany of terrorist attacks that stretch back at least to December 13, 2001, the action undertaken after one attack (reactive action) forms the very ingredients of how to ensure that the next attack is prevented (preventive action). In other words, the attacks that have rocked Delhi and, therefore, are under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Police, form one continuing narrative. Scandalously, the city police has failed to read this narrative and thereby do its job.

Providing safety against terror attacks for its citizens should be a priority for our law enforcement agencies. And to take it away from the realm of rhetoric to action, attention must be paid at the ground level where attacks take place. On Wednesday morning, the area around Delhi high court was not only unprepared against any attack but, with cars spilling out of the car parks and no security check worth its name installed, it was a veritable invitation for anyone seeking to perpetrate violence. This can be held true for most public spaces in the national capital. While it is imperative that investigations are conducted professionally and the criminals are brought to book, the need to take appropriate measures at the ground level, will have to be instilled in our law enforcement agencies. The excuse of 'not being able to stop every attack' is wearing perilously thin.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

THE PUNDIT

A WATERED-DOWN TRIP

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Bangladesh visit is likely to be remembered for what it did not deliver than what it did. An agreement to share the Teesta's waters could have signalled a bonhomie in the bilateral relations and served as a marker for subsequent accords on sharing water from the 50-odd rivers that flow across the two countries. Little has been achieved since 1996, when the two worked out a deal to split the Ganga's flow. Bangladesh reckons the Teesta irrigates 14% of its farms, and wants a much bigger lean-season flow. The two nations have managed to hammer out a stop-gap percentage share till joint studies yield actual division. This was to be the trophy deal of Mr Singh's visit, till Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee refused to travel to Dhaka with him.

Ms Banerjee's objection is that more water is being offered to Bangladesh than what West Bengal had initially signed up for. The concern is legitimate considering neither side knows how much of it actually flows through the Teesta. The Union water resources ministry points out that the upper riparian state will be at an advantage because four-fifths of the Teesta flows in West Bengal and Sikkim. This is apart from the bumped-up power supply to West Bengal from dams that will be built in Sikkim to deliver water to Bangladesh. Ms Banerjee isn't convinced, she also wants to withhold the share of water Bangladesh will need to keep the river alive.

This should not, however, take away from the gains made during Mr Singh's visit. Bangladesh's textiles, its principal export, now have free access to a huge Indian market. It will bring some balance into the crazily distorted trade between the two countries: Bangladesh buys R9 worth of stuff from its giant neighbour for every R1 of goods it sends across the border. Mr Singh's gesture in unilaterally freeing up imports from Bangladesh ought to prod the Indian textile industry, one of the largest apparel exporters in the world, to climb the value chain. The lower end of the Indian apparel market stands to gain from a new source of cheap supply.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

SLIPPING IN SLIPPERS

AJOY BOSE,

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has every reason to get mad at the sweeping allegations made about her by recent WikiLeaks revelations quoting secret cables sent out by the US embassy in New Delhi to Washington. Amidst the palpable delight among the chattering classes at this new stick to beat their favourite whipping girl, what is being conveniently overlooked is that the source material used for the salacious 'Portrait of a Lady' penned by a junior US embassy official in October, 2008 appears to be entirely based on casual conversations with unnamed Lucknow journalists.

The colourful accounts of Mayawati sending a jet plane to Mumbai to fetch her favourite sandals, making an errant minister do sit-ups and employing eight cooks and two tasters in her kitchen have virtually no authenticity, particularly since none of the concerned hacks printed the information they shared with the American embassy in their own publications.

The BSP supremo is well known for her personal eccentricities, splurges and imperious ways. But it is also true that Mayawati has, for more than two decades, had an openly hostile relationship with the media, particularly those based in Lucknow. In fact, BSP workers in the city attacked the offices of a prominent Hindi daily in the winter of 1995 after it published a particularly scurrilous story about the unmarried Dalit leader having an illegitimate daughter. Although local journalists have become more discreet after Mayawati's decisive victory in the 2007 assembly polls, they can hardly be regarded as unbiased or objective sources of information.

Interestingly, barely two months before the US embassy cable on her, two Delhi-based correspondents of The New York Times and The Washington Post went to Lucknow to do special profiles of the lady. They were, surprisingly, granted a rare interview with Mayawati and also met a large cross section of people in Lucknow and nearby rural areas, including Dalits. Both the articles were appreciative of the political distance travelled by the Dalit woman leader while simultaneously reflecting allegations of corruption and authoritarian behaviour by her detractors. However, what the two correspondents, professional journalists as they were, did not do was print Lucknow media-inspired gossip that they had no way of cross-checking.

It is possible the absence of the same professional discrimination by the US embassy had something to do with Washington's annoyance at that time with Mayawati for almost scuppering the India-US nuclear deal. Moreover, the fact that such secret cables were never supposed to never see the light of day gave their authors a certain licence that the journalists did not have. Unfortunately, however sensational and uncorroborated, the information wearing the garb of WikiLeaks revelations allows the print and electronic media to go to town against select targets without fear of defamation.

Indeed, this is turning out to be a major drawback of WikiLeaks which spews out classified US embassy material, some providing useful insights but a lot more unreliable stuff based on hearsay. Sometimes, the documents seem downright dubious as in the case of a cable dated May 29, 2007 claiming that Mayawati's close aide Satish Mishra had declared her corrupt and authoritarian. It is quite unbelievable that a few weeks after Mayawati's historic election victory, of which Mishra was a major architect through his Dalit-Brahmin alliance, he would choose to rubbish his leader to an American diplomat.

Ajoy Bose is the author of Behenji: A Political Biography of Mayawati. The views expressed by the author are personal.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

IT'S A NO-BRAINER

ASHOK MALIK,

Shortly after he ended his fast at Delhi's Ramlila Grounds, Anna Hazare announced his future plans. He was going to demand electoral reforms — including the right to recall an elected representative and the right to reject all candidates. He was going to fight for farmers and industrial labour. Finally, he was going to push for changes in the education system. "Many people have commercialised education," Hazare said, "they have opened shops. Children of poor people also should get education. This sector also needs reforms."

The education sector in India indeed needs reforms. Yet its problem is not that it has been commercialised, but that it has not been commercialised enough. Education — whether a primary school in a big city or medical and engineering colleges anywhere — remains the final frontier of India's shortage economy. If any reform is needed, it is in the unshackling of education as an enterprise and its liberation from a predatory, rent-seeking regulatory system.

True, some people have converted education into a profiteering business. Politicians in Karnataka and in Hazare's own state of Maharashtra have exploited loopholes, land scarcity and governmental influence to set up private engineering and medical colleges of questionable quality. These charge fees that are often not commensurate with the services they offer.

Even so, they continue to attract students. The politicians who promote them ensure the supply-side bottleneck remains as it is, and that other and better colleges cannot easily be opened.

It would be a pity if Hazare were to universalise his experience of some politicians-cum-education entrepreneurs in Maharashtra and decide that he must superimpose his hostility to them upon the entire country. National policy cannot be decided in such a manner. Here like elsewhere, Hazare's belief that the methods and mechanisms he used in his village community in Ralegan Siddhi can simply be scaled up to the rest of India is charming but unrealistic. In the final reckoning, this represents a serious shortcoming in his programme.

Many in Hazare's inner circle have painted their anti-corruption crusade as a narrative of 'liberalisation and its discontents'. Whether the urban middle class throngs that have rallied around Hazare — and shared his disgust with a series of high-profile corruption scandals in the UPA years as well been angered by his arrest on August 16 — actually buy into this narrative is questionable. Education is a contentious, dynamite-laden area where the practicability and sustainable appeal of the Hazare phenomenon will be tested.

Why is this so? Hazare has focused on a solution — perhaps a magic-bullet solution — to corruption and has pushed for stern and expeditious punishment for the corrupt. What about preventing corruption? While punishing the wrongdoer is necessary, true reform lies is creating conditions where he finds it difficult to commit that wrong.

Hazare says "children of poor people also should get education." Nobody can disagree with that. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2010 — better known as the Right to Education (RTE) Act — has just the same goal. The point is: how does this work in practice?

Take school education. In India, 93% of school-going children go to government or government-aided institutions. In Hazare's state of Maharashtra 90% of the state's 67,885 primary schools are run by zila parishads and municipal bodies and charge no fees (2005 figures).

How good are these schools? Who regulates teacher performance? Why is it that the moment they can, parents — even socially and economically underprivileged parents — withdraw their children from government schools and seek private schools, never mind if they have to pay?

In 2003, James Tooley, a professor from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, published the findings of a year-long survey of private schools for children of low-income families in Hyderabad. In Hyderabad district, he said, 61% of all pupils were enrolled in private, unaided schools. In a detailed study of 15 arbitrarily selected private schools in slum areas, Tooley found teacher attendance and responsiveness to parents' concerns was better than in government schools.

If every Indian child deserves an education, Hazare and his civil society colleagues should set up local groups to monitor every government school in every neighbourhood in every district of India. Railing against a handful of privately-run schools will serve no purpose. In fact, to resort to criticism of private educational institutions will play into the hands of the bureaucracy. In state after state, education departments have used RTE provisions to frame rules that enhance government control over private schools. Some of these go well beyond existing draconian laws such as the Delhi School Education Act, 1973.

It is no better in higher education. A plethora of regulatory bodies and corrupt bureaucrats have made it impossible to set up modern and viable institutions of higher learning in India. It is telling that some of the better privately-run engineering and management schools have preferred to build new campuses abroad, in places such as Dubai, rather than explore the limitless market in India.

Far from shutting down what it has, India needs thousands more of such so-called education 'shops', of course with transparent regulation. Can Hazare and his friends run away from that reality?

Ashok Malik is a Delhi-based political commentator. The views expressed by the author are personal.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

NO ANSWERS YET

The assault on the Delhi high court was intended to shake and hurt us, and it did. As the city struggles to cope with the news, and mourn those who were killed, the blame and recrimination has already begun. How could they let it happen here, in the impregnable heart of the capital?

Assigning blame is often the first reflex, given the blurriness of the perpetrators and the terrible cost of their actions. The 26/11 attacks prompted a thorough review of the intelligence, security and enforcement agencies. Strikes like Wednesday's demand a careful, detailed and responsive assessment of the intelligence and law enforcement landscape. In 2009, the home minister announced a bold new security architecture to replace the maze of competing bureaucracies, including NATGRID, a networked intelligence database, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), a nodal agency for all counter-terror efforts, and a special National Investigation Agency (NIA). While the NIA is now taking charge of the high court blasts, the other two plans have met a different fate. NATGRID is just starting off, having been stuck with the Cabinet Committee on Security, and NCTC, which should have been operational by late 2010, is still being lobbed between various discussion forums in the government. The NCTC was planned as a central monitoring agency, one that would be ultimately responsible in trolling for clues, professionally piecing together information and acting on it, foiling potential plots.

But discovering and repelling terrorist attacks is not a simple matter of will. Of course, a determined terrorist can sometimes slip through the cordons, and the answers to whether the attack could have been averted do not necessarily lie at the venue of the tragedy. Acts of terror try to blow up our complacencies, destroy what we take for granted. We must separate the grief from the rage, as we take in the news of the bombing. The victims had nothing to do with the agendas of the terrorists, they were simply lawyers, litigants, journalists, bystanders, people making a living, or trying to patiently negotiate their own solutions. A courtroom is a place of implicit trust, of believing that the answers must be sought within the system. That sense of shock, the reeling, is understandable, as we try to comprehend what happened at Delhi high court — but the only real response right now is sadness and a reminder that securing ourselves is a tough, long haul.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

BOARD OF INJURIES

When India's one-day cricketers went into the match against England at Chester-le-Street on Saturday, it was without seven members of the team that won the World Cup just months ago. Injuries had consistently whittled away at India's strength, starting from the first day of the first Test, when the team's most threatening bowler, Zaheer Khan, pulled a hamstring. Meanwhile, Virender Sehwag hadn't fully recovered from a shoulder injury; Gautam Gambhir, who missed the second Test after hurting his elbow, is missing the one-day series after picking up a concussion on the final day of the final Test. To top things off going into the series, Sachin Tendulkar's toe sent him home early.

Matters got even worse: Rohit Sharma's first ball in the Saturday game was a short one from Stuart Broad that broke his right index finger. It seems, whatever the real bench strength of the Indian cricketing system, the actual number of touring reserves seems set in stone. So, although Ravindra Jadeja has been named to "replace" Gambhir — although Jadeja is an all-rounder, not an opener — he couldn't turn up in time for the second one-dayer, because he didn't have a UK visa.

The BCCI is the richest cricket body in the world. Yet, in some ways, it seems unable to accept that fact. Its amateurishness is being shown up rather shockingly on this particular tour. Why is it impossible to take 30 probables along with you on a long tour, which this one is? Why expect domestic cricketers called in to replace legends to acclimatise instantly? Why not, at the very least, ensure your probables always have valid visas for the major Test-playing nations, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni has advised? The cricket board may not be responsible for the injuries. But it is responsible for the team's susceptibility to them.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

A DELICATE BALANCE

PRATAP BHANU MEHTA

The spectacle of high and mighty politicians in jail provokes a paradoxical response. On the one hand, it provides reassurance that the Indian system of checks and balances still has enough bite in it. Even if belated, high-profile chargesheets send a signal that it would be foolish to assume escaping the legal system is a preordained fact. There is some relief that the wheels of justice are moving. And the courts are getting the credit.

On the other hand, these chargesheets and arrests pose a delicate challenge for the legitimacy of the Indian justice system. The courts are using their legitimacy to jump-start stalled investigations, hold the CBI's feet to the fire. But this modus operandi poses a whole range of new institutional challenges that will need to be addressed.

Each high-profile case — cash for votes, mining, 2G, Gujarat riots — has to be examined on its merits. But the credibility of the justice system is delicately poised between four outcomes. Which one will prevail? The first outcome is the best: all major investigations and prosecutions are pursued meticulously and fairly. Some will be successful, others not. But not only is the outcome fair, it is seen to be fair. The second outcome is that the initial flurry of chargesheets flounders in the way so many prosecutions in the past have; for a variety of technical reasons nothing eventually happens. The crisis of the justice system deepens. The third scenario is a mixed bag: some prosecutions are successful, others are not. But unlike in the first scenario, each result is not convincing; so that confidence in the justice system remains mired in partisan politics.

The fourth scenario is in some ways the most disturbing: a lot of the current lot of politicians being chargesheeted do get fairly prosecuted. This satiates the public's desire that someone must be held accountable. But the prosecutions are not taken to their logical conclusion; the real beneficiaries and masterminds go scot-free, while relatively more dispensable (or more disturbingly, politically convenient) characters are fed to the judiciary. In short, the seeming success of prosecution provides the cover for the real perpetrators to be let off. They sacrifice a few lambs and call it justice.

We should presume this. All the accused are innocent until proven guilty. This is the requirement of a fair justice system. And second, that the courts have no vested interest. But here is the challenge. Will well-intentioned courts be sufficient to ensure that we end up with outcome one? Are there institutional reasons to think the courts are now running the risk of ending up with outcome four?

The crucial questions for scenarios two to four still depend on the CBI. What does court monitoring of the CBI mean? It can mean, constructively, that the CBI is shielded from political pressure. It can mean that the court can ask tough questions of the CBI. And political responsibility needs to be fixed for the criticism courts have handed out to the CBI. Politicians cannot claim to be representatives of the people and shirk all political responsibility for investigative agencies. If Delhi Police were deliberately going slow, someone needs to be held responsible. But beyond that it is an illusion to think that the court can actually monitor the details of evidence-gathering. The very nature of the asymmetry between the CBI and the courts puts the courts at a disadvantage. Merely because you can ask truant agencies questions does not mean truant agencies cannot play tricks on you.

But here is the institutional danger. In a context where, by its own accounts, the CBI cannot be trusted, does court monitoring help or exacerbate the problem? It helps in so far as it compels the CBI to produce something to satiate the court. The court can also monitor meticulously whether there are any double standards in chargesheeting — an area of considerable public concern. But how can the court possibly "monitor" the full range of evidence? This is purely institutional challenge, not a question of motives. The risk is this: precisely because of court monitoring, the imprimatur of legitimacy can be given to an investigation that is not full, complete or fair. The risk of scenario four persists.

The court's past record of monitoring the CBI has not yielded dividends. We have another institutional innovation that is instructive. The court has been using an SIT in cases related to Gujarat. While the SIT has raised enough questions about Narendra Modi's political responsibility, it seems to have fallen short of making a legally prosecutable case. So the court then appoints a distinguished amicus curiae to assess its own SIT. The issue here is not guilt or innocence. But the process is instructive: we create an institution to bypass an untrustworthy process, and then that institution itself requires yet another layer of assessment. The dilemma is this: due process and formalism have become a fig leaf for avoiding justice. But tailoring process so that the outcome corresponds to our intuitions in a matter also runs risks. Since the court is "crafting" processes, it will have to avoid both dangers.

You have to sympathise with the court. What can it do when state failure is so abject? When politicians say, "let the law take its own course", what they mean is, "we tried obstructing it, but something managed to elude our control." But when the court seems to take "control" of investigations it must be under no illusion that it has the wherewithal to ensure that the facts presented reveal the truth.

Lawyer jokes are a good barometer of legitimacy challenges. One joke doing the rounds is this. "What is bail?" Answer: "It is that which is denied when the courts want to show they can act tough." In short, the courts' dealing with bail may have tried to send a signal that they are serious about justice. But, because it is not consistent with what is perceived as standard practice, it unwittingly has the opposite effect of leading people to wonder whether this is about demonstrating toughness or justice.

The courts run the risk of perpetuating the myth that because the executive has failed the judiciary can do better. Alas, there are no extra-political quick-fixes for executive failure. The courts are our most trusted institution. They will have to be artful in demonstrating that what we get in high-profile cases is justice, not populist retribution or, worse still, the mere appearance of justice.

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

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

CAUTION AS AN SOS

SHOBHANA SUBRAMANIAN

The GDP numbers for the three months to June 2011 threw up a pleasant surprise; fixed capital formation rose a smart 7.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) from a low of 0.4 per cent y-o-y in the March quarter. However, since the fixed capital formation numbers for the June 2010 quarter were revised sharply downwards from 17.4 per cent to 11.1 per cent, the growth has happened on a much lower base. Nonetheless, data from CMIE corroborates the trend, showing a slight recovery in new project announcements during the quarter.

However, it's too early to start cheering. Given the fragile state of the global economy with both the US and the eurozone on the brink of a recession, China slowing down and the home economy losing pace, corporate India's confidence levels are fairly low. A recent survey by Morgan Stanley revealed that for a second successive year, corporate India is unlikely to up capital spending by more than a tepid 10 per cent. Moreover, while 15 per cent of those polled are unlikely to spend at all, about a third of those who do invest would do so more with a view to improving productivity rather than adding greenfield capacity. So we're unlikely to see companies rushing to set up too many new plants or build more roads. Despite the better-than-expected numbers on investments, no economist has tweaked GDP growth estimate for the year which is forecast to grow at just around 7.5-7.6 per cent levels.

The cautiousness of corporates is borne out by both empirical and anecdotal evidence; loans to the infrastructure sector which were growing at 50 per cent levels in August last year are now climbing at a rate of closer to 25 per cent, of course on a higher base. Bankers will tell you that most of the current disbursements relate to loans sanctioned earlier and that applications for new projects are few and far between. The deceleration has been sharper in sectors such as power, where the lack of fuel linkages, lower-than-anticipated merchant tariffs and the precarious state of finances of the state electricity boards (SEB) — combined losses estimated at some Rs 60,000 crore — are cause for concern. Loans to this space are now growing at just about 35 per cent compared with 50 per cent late last year. Again, order flows at engineering firms were rather muted in the June quarter.

Heavyweight BHEL could not bag a single meaningful order from the power sector because of which inflows crashed 77 per cent y-o-y while orders at Thermax dropped 19 per cent y-o-y. New orders at Siemens too increased at a subdued pace, showing an increase of 10 per cent at the end of June. So it's not exactly raining orders and while the Larsen & Toubro management says it is confident it will see new orders grow 15-20 per cent this year, analysts are not buying it; the shortage of key fuels together with a general disinterest on the part of managements to add to capacity just yet, they say will continue to hurt orderbooks. Crompton Greaves' profits crashed 58 per cent y-o-y driven by the poor show at its international subsidiaries. Since January this year, the Sensex has come off by 18 per cent while the BSE Capital Goods Index has lost 22 per cent; since its Diwali highs, the Sensex has given up 20 per cent while the CG Index has yielded 28 per cent.

That's not surprising because, while the rather hazy outlook for the global economy has left companies cautious, the lack of clarity and delays on the policy front back home have also stymied investments. For instance, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill is an important piece of legislation that needs to be enforced; a uniform goods and services tax (GST), while not directly related to capital expenditure, will make life much easier for industry. The good news is that the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill has been introduced in Parliament; getting land to set up a project has been among the biggest hurdles for industry. So reforms need to be fast-tracked, but more than anything else, the government needs to make sure that the environment is conducive to investing. In this context, high interest rates in the home market are also keeping corporates from planning new ventures but that trend is unlikely to change in the immediate future since inflation is nudging double digits and it's almost certain that the central bank will hike policy rates by 25 basis points when it meets next week. The capital markets too are virtually inaccessible just now and with risk-aversion rising globally, it's unlikely foreign flows into the Indian equity markets are going to be meaningful in the near term. More than anything else though the government needs to convince Indian industry that it will push through legislation and be less bureaucratic. That itself would go a long way in boosting industry's morale.

The writer is resident editor, Mumbai, 'The Financial Express'
shobhana.subramanian@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE COURT ETERNAL

ATUL NANDA

The Delhi high court is a different court building. Unlike some other high courts in this country, it is not an ornate structure replete with reminders of the majestic structures that the British Raj bequeathed to us. It is a simple, functional building. A place where people with troubles come with their cases, where lawyers with varied levels of skill argue those cases, and where justices with years of learning behind them dispense with, and dispose of, those cases. Yesterday, this structure was dealt a blow.

Yesterday was a Wednesday. A day when some benches of this court hear cases of senior citizens. A day when court number one, the court of the hon'ble chief justice, hears public interest litigants. It was, therefore, a day well chosen — well chosen for diabolical action.

The location was even more sinister. The bomb went off near gate number five; that is the gate where every layman who wishes to enter the court has to present himself at a reception area, and where their entry passes are prepared.

And the court was picked well, too. The judges of the Delhi high court, under the leadership of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, have now recorded the highest number of case disposals. The number of pending cases are steadily decreasing — and that means, as well, more hearings, which means more people — and thus more possible casualties.

On a normal day, at around 10.30 am, it would be a very different picture at the high court. The court compound would resound with the horns of lawyers' cars trying to park, their argumentative skills put to fine use even before they walk into a courtroom. It would be filled with clerks trying to move bags of briefs to the courts, making every effort to get there in time for the ensuing battle of words. There would be scores of litigants thronging the two elevators on the three floors. Some new, some seasoned — but all of them hoping that they were inching towards a fair and favourable end to their legal woes.

On a normal day, the atmosphere would be charged with banter, argument, frayed tempers. The air would resound with invitations to cups of tea at the canteen, stories of cases won and lost.

But today was not a normal day. It was a Wednesday.

The bomb went off; some were killed; others were injured. The court was closed. Some of those who were in court when the explosion occurred said it felt like someone was moving the earth below them. Some heard it all the way to the parking lot in the Supreme Court.

What then followed, as it always does, is the wave of calls and text messages. Are you OK? Where are you? Are you in the high court? The relief in their voices was palpable just at the sound of me answering "Hello" to my ringing phone. I heard, today, from family, from friends, from clients, from people whom I thought were long gone and forgotten. Thank God it wasn't you, said one of them. Strangely, the bomb went off where my car is normally parked. But I am not in Delhi, and my car is in my driveway at home. Thank God indeed. But what of those who were not so lucky?

We have suffered a great human loss. People who came looking for justice were taken away by an act of injustice. Cowardly injustice. But, as with all things Indian, the human spirit will not flag.

Within hours of the blast, the high court resumed work. The post-lunch session went as planned; all courts were working.

And today, the court will open as ever. The cars will honk, the clerks will rush, the litigants will throng. The structure will function. The lady of justice will blaze ever more.

Even though yesterday a palace of justice was assaulted, ours is a country which guarantees a fair trial even for the perpetrators of such actions. In the words of a young girl who visited these precincts a few months ago, "it is where we expect justice, deliverance, fairness and integrity. It is a place filled with complex chaos that is attempting to restore some order." That, I say, will never change.

The writer is a Supreme Court lawyer. He also appears at the Delhi high court

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

THE BALLAD OF TIHAR GAOL

SHAILAJA BAJPAI

This is an idea whose time has come: the next big reality show, bigger than anything you have seen so far, and far more real. The next season of Bigg Boss should be at Tihar Jail. With actor Salman Khan as host and er, as Bodyguard. It will have the most fabulous cast of characters: high profile politicians Kanimozhi, A. Raja, Suresh Kalmadi, businessmen Shahid Balwa and Sanjay Chandra, and a host of bureaucrats accused of misdemeanours in India's scamfest. As of Tuesday, Amar Singh has joined them, along with two BJP MPs. Future special guest appearances may see Anna Hazare and his band of corruption-fighters, including perhaps Kiran Bedi who, once upon a time in her career, as IG Prisons, apparently called it Tihar Ashram and introduced vipassana meditation to its inmates. Should be riveting stuff and may beat even "Anna mirabilis" at Ramlila.

It will afford these people, accused of wrongdoing in corruption cases, an opportunity to be seen and heard. We'll see how they live behind bars and hear what they have to say for themselves. Remember, you read it first here.

Alas, it is not likely to happen, but it would have given the news channels a run for their viewership.

Baba Ramdev, who narrowly escaped going to Tihar Jail, is now in his element. For a while back there he had exchanged his saffron dhoti first for a ladies' salwar kameez, and then for the mantle of a black money crusader.

Often you saw him on Sanskar and Aastha channels, seated on a chair, at a table (how unusual and uncomfortable for him) conducting coaching classes on the origins and evils of "kala dhan" or how to select candidates for the next elections. Now he has resumed his cross-legged position on the floor and the role he is justly famous for: yoga guru.

Fortunately, homosexuality is no longer considered a crime, otherwise Gaurav and Karan may have found themselves inside Tihar Jail too. Last seen, the two were locked in a Fevicol embrace until a loud ring of the doorbell forced them apart. This was a scene, last week, from the daring Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak (Star Plus). The serial focuses on the travails of four women, one of whom is married to Gaurav, who is gay.

Since that tender embrace, there's been a dramatic "soap opera" confrontation between Gaurav and his father Brahma, with the father demanding to know if his son is gay, and the son's wife telling him that of course his son is not gay and who should know that better that she? Being a good Indian "nari", she then came between father and son, and was accidentally shot by the father. All is not lost, least of all her life, because this is a serial and good will, hopefully, triumph over evil.

A Hindi serial openly embracing gay characters is bold. That the gay couple shows affection for one another, on screen, is extraordinary, TV's Brokeback Mountain moment (the Hollywood film about two cowboys who fall in love). Let's not quibble over portrayals or treatment of the subject. Just seeing two men hug each other meant everything — or at least an acknowledgment of their right to do so. Let's hear it for Star Plus and the producers, Tony and Deeya Singh.

Meanwhile, Anna's August is over and come September, we have Amar's autumn and Assange's audacity: the Wikileaks' impresario has offered to send UP CM Mayawati many pairs of footwear. So that she can stamp him out like an ant (ouch!) after Wikileaks alleged she had sent airplanes to Mumbai for sandals. He's mad, get him to an asylum, she replied — with a stamp of her foot, no doubt.

By the way, what's up with this constant TV tag inviting us to complain about entertainment programmes to the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council of the Indian Broadcasting Federation? Are entertainment channels actually interested in viewer feedback, or is there more to this than meets the eye?

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

OBAMA, TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH...

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Kishore Mahbubani, a retired Singaporean diplomat, published a provocative essay in The Financial Times on Monday that began like this: "Dictators are falling. Democracies are failing. A curious coincidence? Or is it, perhaps, a sign that something fundamental has changed in the grain of human history. I believe so. How do dictators survive? They tell lies. Muammar Gaddafi was one of the biggest liars of all time. He claimed that his people loved him. He also controlled the flow of information to his people to prevent any alternative narrative taking hold. Then the simple cellphone enabled people to connect. The truth spread widely to drown out all the lies that the colonel broadcast over the airwaves.

"So why are democracies failing at the same time? The simple answer: democracies have also been telling lies."

Mahbubani noted that "the eurozone project was created on a big lie" that countries could have monetary union and fiscal independence — without pain. Meanwhile, in America, added Mahbubani, now the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, "No US leaders dare to tell the truth to the people. All their pronouncements rest on a mythical assumption that 'recovery' is around the corner. Implicitly, they say this is a normal recession. But this is no normal recession. There will be no painless solution. 'Sacrifice' will be needed, and the American people know this. But no American politician dares utter the word 'sacrifice.' Painful truths cannot be told."

Of course, there is a big difference between America and Libya. We can vote out our liars, unlike certain Arab — and Asian — countries. Still, Mahbubani's comparison warrants some reflection this week, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the president's jobs speech. It is a great week for truth-telling.

Can you remember the last time you felt a national leader looked us in the eye and told us there is no easy solution to our major problems, that we've gotten into this mess by being self-indulgent or ideologically fixated over two decades, and that now we need to spend the next five years rolling up our sleeves, possibly accepting a lower living standard and making up for our excesses?

For me, this is the most important thing to say both on the anniversary of 9/11 and on the eve of President Obama's jobs speech. After all, they are intertwined. Why has this been a lost decade? An answer can be found in one simple comparison: How Dwight Eisenhower and his successors used the cold war and how George W. Bush used 9/11. America had to face down the Russians in the cold war. America had to respond to 9/11 and the threat of al-Qaeda. But the critical difference between the two was this: Beginning with Eisenhower and continuing to some degree with every cold war president, we used the cold war and the Russian threat as a reason and motivator to do big, hard things together at home — to do nation-building in America. We used it to build the interstate highway system, put a man on the moon, push out the boundaries of science, teach new languages, maintain fiscal discipline and, when needed, raise taxes. We won the cold war with collective action.

George W. Bush did the opposite. He used 9/11 as an excuse to lower taxes, to start two wars that — for the first time in our history — were not paid for by tax increases, and to create a costly new entitlement in Medicare prescription drugs. Imagine where we'd be today if on the morning of 9/12 Bush had announced (as some of us advocated) a "Patriot Tax" of $1 per gallon of petrol to pay for education, infrastructure and government research, to help finance our wars and to slash our dependence on Middle East oil. Petrol in the US on September 11, 2001, averaged $1.66 a gallon.

But rather than use 9/11 to summon us to nation-building at home, Bush used it as an excuse to party — to double down on a radical tax-cutting agenda for the rich that not only did not spur rising living standards for most Americans but has now left us with a huge ball-and-chain around our ankle. And later, rather than asking each of us to contribute something to the war, he outsourced it to one-half of one-percent of the American people. Everyone else — y'all have fun.

We used the cold war to reach the moon and spawn new industries. We used 9/11 to create better body scanners and more Transportation Security Agency agents. It will be remembered as one of the greatest lost opportunities of any presidency — ever.

My fervent hope is that on Thursday Obama will set an example and tell the cold, hard truth — to parents and kids. I know. Honesty, we are told, is suicidal in politics. But as long as every solution that is hard is off the table, then our slow national decline will remain on the table. The public is ready for more than Michele Bachmann's fairy-dust promise that she can restore $2 a gallon petrol.

For once, Mr President, let's start a debate with the truth. Tell us what you really think will be required to get us out of this stagnation, what kind of collective action and shared sacrifice will be needed and why that can lead not just to muddling through, not just to being OK, but to restoring American greatness.

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

SOUTHERN CLEMENCY

MANOJCG

Southern clemency

According to the RSS, the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution that pleads clemency for three individuals convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has sent out a dangerous message. The RSS believes that the Madras high court, by staying the death sentence, has taken a step to challenge not only the Supreme Court's wisdom, but also that of the government of India and the president.

The editorial in the RSS's Organiser deplores the fact that even national parties joined hands with regional forces to pass the resolution: "If the state assembly of J&K were to pass such a resolution, what should be the reaction?

Already the J&K chief minister has let the cat among the pigeons by raising this very question. Should regional sentiments, religious affiliations, sectarian politics and vote bank considerations override our national resolve to uphold the rule of law?" Saying that dozens of innocent men and women were killed in the suicide bomb attack that claimed Gandhi's life, it asks: "What about their families? They too deserve justice."

It claims the mercy pleaders were emboldened for two reasons: one, the Kerala assembly had previously passed an unanimous resolution seeking the release of Abdul Nasser Madani, who was then in jail in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case; and two, Sonia Gandhi's "pardon" to Nalini, which did take into account the agony of other victims' families.

Governing Gujarat

Panchjanya criticises the Gujarat governor's move to appoint a Lokayukta without consulting the state government. It says the appointment has to be seen in the light of the Congress party's "never-ending" attempts to "conspire" against the Narendra Modi government. "The governor's action reveals not just the dirty mindset of the Congress but also the party's complete disregard for the Constitution and constitutional institutions," it says.

Frequently abroad

In another story, Panchjanya takes on the Planning Commission's deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, for his "frequent" foreign trips. Based on information obtained through RTI petitions, it says that Ahluwalia had travelled abroad 36 times in the last five years, 16 of those to the United States. "So many trips to the US raise many questions. The main question is: do Indian policies get decided in the US?" it asks.

It says a total of more than Rs 2.4 crore of taxpayers' money had been spent on Ahluwalia's foreign trips. "On the one hand, the government complains of budgetary deficits, and puts newer and newer taxes on people to bridge that, and on the other its ministers and other functionaries are wasting the public money. Can't such wasteful expenditure be stopped?" The piece is accompanied with a table detailing each of the foreign trips and the money spent on it.

The minority trap

A front-page article in Organiser claims West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has landed in a "minority trap", saying the Muslim community had played a role in voting the Left Front out of power and is now putting pressure on the Trinamool government to act on its demands. "After coming to power in May, Mamata announced that her government would recognise Urdu as the second language in districts with sizeable Urdu-speaking populations. The notification is awaited still. Muslim organisations further complained that new job distribution under the Mamata government has not been judicious towards Muslim youths," it says.

It claims the situation is such that Mamata was invited to the biggest ever Eid congregation and the imam said that while the new government showed remarkable urgency in solving the Singur, Gorkhaland and Jungle Mahal issues, the Muslim community's problems did not receive the same attention. "They (the new government) must learn a lesson from what happened to the previous government," he said. The article claims that though " Mamata was trying to show a brave face, but in her heart of hearts she knows how weak is she in the face of Muslim pressure," the article says.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

TEASE ME GOOD

In quick succession, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have come out with a new version of combined fixed and floating home loan products, rekindling the issue of teaser home loans yet again. The second coming of these loans shows that the home loan market has expanded enough for competition to peak. Other banks that have also announced their intention to tap the retail sector aggressively will soon offer their version of the scheme. These could include State Bank of India, the pioneer in 2009. RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty has also said that the regulator is not inclined to put a halt to the schemes as long as banks make the extra provisioning of 2% instead of 0.4%. The higher provisioning will dent the profit margins but the revival of the teaser loan shows that the banks still see money in it.

Teaser loans undoubtedly pushed up the credit offtake for housing loans last year and gave the middle class much-needed relief from the increasing interest rates. The size of the home loan market at the end of July this year—at R3.61 lakh crore—makes it difficult for RBI to push banks beyond a point. For banks, the strategy of teaser loans works profitably when the income stream of the borrowers is carefully assessed. At a moment when the interest rate is peaking, the timing of the teaser loans can be questioned as they block new customers at higher rates. But, given that credit growth is sluggish at 2.5% in the current financial year till August as compared with 3.8% in the same period last year, banks need the home loan sector to move.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

SLR BY SUBBARAO

Dr Subbarao has now made it a habit to say openly what he feels strongly about, which is good. Sometime ago, he spoke of the independence of RBI, which was well taken. Now, he has touched on the issue of SLR, which should make us think hard. Today, at 24%, SLR may be interpreted as being a drag on the banks, which are per force compelled to hold government securities instead of using them for lending. Is this really bad for them? One is not sure of the answer, considering that today, for the system as a whole, the investments' deposits ratio is 30.7%.

There are really two things here. The first is that, ideologically speaking, banks should have greater flexibility with their funds and hence should have the option of using the investment or credit windows. Fixing a high number puts pressure on the use of funds by banks. Considering that they have the CRR requirement (6%) as well as priority sector lending compulsion of 40%, it makes sense to have a lower SLR number. They can still invest more in government paper in case they find them attractive from the point of view of the capital gains to be made or for satisfying the prudential regulatory norms. The RBI Governor's thoughts, if implemented, will actually help banks a lot. The second is how low should SLR drop? One way to tackle this issue is to gauge the level and extent of repo borrowings, which is, in a way, indicative of surplus SLR securities, which are being given to RBI for cash and is thus a measure of the liquidity deficit. Hence, a sustained borrowing of, say, R50,000 crore from the repo window means that SLR can be reduced by this proportion.

Is there a downside to this reduction? The party that benefits a lot from this high stipulation is the government that gets the banks to park their funds in its debt. A lower level will theoretically impact its ability to get subscribers for its debt. But then, given that banks are one component of this basket that holds around 40% of all government paper (insurance companies, PDs and provident funds are other important holders), this should not be an issue. Also the fact that banks are holding excess SLR means that, overall, the impact will be muted, as those with surplus SLR securities will continue to subscribe to them. But the positive thing is that all banks which are today facing a shortfall can have access to greater use of their own funds rather than look for borrowings in the call market. One can sense that RBI is becoming more progressive in its monetary view as well as in its policy formulation. While the approach has been so far bordering on being cautious, it has taken a pragmatic view on the operational issues for banks such as the base rate concept, opening up of savings rate (in progress), introducing the marginal standing facility and now lowering of SLR, and probably also CRR, when the time is right. This is really good news.

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

DIASPORA, DEVELOPMENT & DEMOCRACY
NIRVIKAR SINGH

The title of this column is the title of a new book by Devesh Kapur, head of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. The book is about how Indians who have emigrated have influenced the country they left behind. It is a fascinating study, broad in scope and full of new insights. Kapur argues that the economic, political, social and cultural consequences of international migration imply a richer framework for thinking about globalisation and related ideas such as 'openness', than just focusing on movements of goods and capital. He asks, "Is a country with substantial trade, but with few citizens who move around the world, really more 'open' in a broader … sense than a country where trade is more limited but whose citizens live and travel internationally, thus remitting foreign exchange and ideas to a much greater extent?"

Kapur identifies four channels through which international migration affects 'sending' countries: he calls them prospect, absence, diaspora and return. The prospect channel addresses the ways in which prospects of emigration affect decisions such as human capital investment and the exercise of political voice. The absence channel looks at the economic, political and social consequences for those who are left behind when others emigrate. The diaspora channel examines how migrants influence their home country, through impacts on flows of goods, capital and ideas, and the resulting consequences of those flows. The return channel considers what happens when emigrants return to their home countries, with new resources, preferences and networks.

The study uses several rich new sets of data to document four main economic impacts of emigration from India on India. First, it argues that the diaspora has played a significant catalytic role in the development of India's information technology and diamond cutting sectors. This conclusion identifies reputational and network effects as channels of influence. Second, the Indian diaspora has been an important source of foreign exchange for India for several decades now, and Kapur documents this trend, as well as bringing out his third conclusion, that remittances have been concentrated in faster growing southern and western states of India, possibly amplifying interstate inequalities. Fourth, he argues that emigration's diaspora channel has reinforced the skill- and capital-intensive nature of Indian growth. He also discusses the brain-drain, as well as effects on human capital investment through the prospect channel: people may choose what to study or train for based on the prospect of emigrating.

Intriguingly, the book uses a database on Indian elites to argue that international migration has been an important mechanism for "the diffusion of ideas that have shaped India's institutions and policies." Even more provocatively, Kapur argues that elite 'exit' from Indian politics and society through emigration has allowed numerically larger, but previously marginalised groups in Indian society to gain political and economic power without provoking levels of conflict that would have led to breakdown of the political system. In this analysis, emigration has helped preserve Indian democracy. Another positive conclusion of the study is that there is no simple chain of causality from diasporic activities abroad to religious violence at home—the negative role of sections of the Indian diaspora may be overstated in this view. This conclusion comes from looking at attitudes as well as philanthropic and other money flows from emigrants into India.

Kapur also considers the changing policies of the Indian government with respect to its diaspora, and relates this more broadly to changing conceptions of citizenship. In India's case, the resurgence of an idea of citizenship based on ethnicity rather than territorial residence is, in a sense, a recovery of an older form of group identity, one that much pre-dates the modern nation state. The current challenges faced by Europe and the US in reconfiguring the norms of citizenship in the face of much greater ethnic, cultural and religious diversity than in the past, mirror the issues raised by Kapur.

My own thoughts on diversity and openness are that India will thrive, not only by welcoming interaction with its diaspora, but also by being more open to foreign students and workers, whatever their ethnic identity. Such openness does increase security challenges. On the other hand, it can have a large payoff through increased knowledge flows and resulting spurs to innovation. A good place to start is obviously in higher education, where allowing foreign entry can make India a regional if not global hub for advanced study. Since higher education in India is tremendously supply constrained, impacts on existing domestic providers are likely to be politically manageable—certainly more so than in the retail sector, with its vast number of small shopkeepers. Of course, opening up higher education has its own ideological barriers. Here, the success of the diaspora in changing the face of Indian telecoms in the 90s may be an example of what it can and should do now for higher education.

The author is professor of economics, University of California, Santa Cruz

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THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

LISTEN TO THE BOND MARKETS
MARTIN WOLF

What is to be done? To find an answer, listen to the markets. They are saying: borrow and spend, please. Yet those who profess faith in the magic of the markets are most determined to ignore the cry. The fiscal skies are falling, they insist.

HSBC forecasts that the economies of high-income countries will now grow by 1.3% this year and 1.6% in 2012. Bond markets are at least as pessimistic: US 10-year Treasuries yielded 1.98% on Monday, their lowest for 60 years; German Bunds yielded 1.85%; even the UK could borrow at 2.5%. These yields are falling fast towards Japanese levels. Incredibly yields on index-linked bonds were close to zero in the US, 0.12% in Germany and 0.27% in the UK.

Are the markets mad? Yes, insist the wise folk: the biggest risk is not slump, as markets fear, but default. Yet if markets get the prices of such governments' bonds so wrong, why should one ever take them seriously?

The massive fiscal deficits of today, particularly in countries where huge financial crises occurred, are not the result of deliberate Keynesian stimulus: even in the US, the ill-targeted and inadequate stimulus amounted to less than 6% of gross domestic product or, at most, a fifth of the actual deficits over three years. The latter were largely the result of the crisis: governments let fiscal deficits rise, as the private sector savagely retrenched.

To have prevented this would have caused a catastrophe. As Richard Koo of Nomura Research has argued, fiscal deficits help the private sector deleverage. That is precisely what is happening in the US and UK. In the US, the household sector moved into financial surplus after house prices started to fall, while the business sector moved into surplus in the crisis. Foreigners are persistent suppliers of capital. This has left the government as borrower of last resort. The UK picture is not so different, except that the business sector has been in persistent surplus.

So long as the private and foreign sectors run huge surpluses (despite the ultra-low interest rates), some governments must find it easy to borrow. The only question is: which governments? Investors seem to choose one safe haven per currency area: the US federal government in the dollar area; the UK government in the sterling area; and the German government in the eurozone. Meanwhile, among the currency areas, adjustment occurs far more via the exchange rates than through interest rates on safe-haven debts.

The larger the surpluses of the private sectors (and so the bigger the offsetting fiscal deficits), the faster the former can pay down their debts. Fiscal deficits are helpful, therefore, in a balance-sheet contraction, not because they return the economy swiftly to health, but because they promote the painfully slow healing.

One objection—laid out by Harvard's Kenneth Rogoff in the Financial Times in August—is that people will fear higher future taxes and save still more. I am unpersuaded: household savings have fallen in Japan. But there is a good answer: use cheap funds to raise future wealth and so improve the fiscal position in the long run. It is inconceivable that creditworthy governments would be unable to earn a return well above their negligible costs of borrowing, by investing in physical and human assets, on their own or together with the private sector. Equally, it is inconceivable that government borrowings designed to accelerate a reduction in the overhang of private debt, recapitalise banks and forestall an immediate collapse in spending cannot earn a return far above costs.

Another noteworthy objection—grounded in the seminal work of Prof Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington—is that growth slows sharply once public debt exceeds 90% of GDP. Yet this is a statistical relationship, not an iron law. In 1815, UK public debt was 260% of GDP. What followed? The industrial revolution.

What matters is how borrowing is used. In this case, moreover, we need to consider the alternatives. If the fiscal deficit is to be sharply reduced, the surpluses in the rest of the economy must also fall. The question is how that is to be compatible with rapid deleveraging and expanded spending. In my view, it cannot be. A more likely outcome, in present circumstances, is mass default, shrinking profits, damaged banks and a renewed slump. That is what would happen if today's contained depression ceased to be contained.

The danger is particularly imminent in the eurozone. Much can be argued in response to the FT column by Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister. But two points stand out. First, it is impossible for both governments and private sectors of deficit countries to pay down—as opposed to default on—their debt, without running external surpluses. What is Germany doing to accommodate such an external shift? Next to nothing. Second, inside a currency union, a big country with a structural current account surplus is nigh on compelled to finance counterpart deficits. If its private sector refuses to do so, the public sector must. Otherwise, its partners will default and their economies collapse, so damaging the exporting economy. At present the European Central Bank is offering much of the needed finance. Does Mr Schäuble actually want it to stop?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, fiscal policy is not exhausted. This is what Christine Lagarde, new managing director of the International Monetary Fund, argued at the Jackson Hole monetary conference last month. The need is to combine borrowing of cheap funds now with credible curbs on spending in the longer term. The need is no less for surplus countries with the ability to expand demand to do so.

It is becoming ever clearer that the developed world is making Japan's mistake of premature retrenchment during a balance-sheet depression, but on a more dangerous—far more global—scale. Conventional wisdom is that fiscal retrenchment will lead to resurgent investment and growth. An alternative wisdom is that suffering is good. The former is foolish. The latter is immoral.

Reconsidering fiscal policy is not all that is needed. Monetary policy still has an important role. So, too, do supply-side reforms, particularly changes in taxation that promote investment. So, not least, does global rebalancing. Yet now, in a world of excess saving, the last thing we need is for creditworthy governments to slash their borrowings. Markets are loudly saying exactly this. So listen.

martin.wolf@ft.com

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

SEN AND SENSIBILITY

Impeachment is not merely a cumbersome business. It could also have divisive and other unintended consequences. This explains the sense of relief that Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court resigned on the eve of his certain impeachment by the Lok Sabha. It is welcome that there was a political consensus that the proceedings had become infructuous after his resignation had been accepted by the President. To have pressed on with impeachment, as Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati reportedly advised, may be justified on an interpretation of the law relating to Parliament and its functioning. But in a situation without clear precedents, it was far better that robust common sense prevailed, leading to the conclusion that it was unnecessary to impeach a person who has already demitted high office. Why Justice Sen did not see the light earlier and submit his resignation well before the Rajya Sabha voted overwhelmingly in favour of his impeachment, only he can explain.

This is the second time Parliament has grappled with the challenge of impeaching a judge. But the circumstances relating to Justice Sen are strikingly different from those that saw Justice V. Ramaswami let off the hook in 1993, when the Congress abstained from voting on the motion. Although the power to impeach vests with Parliament, the move was kick-started — unusually and extraordinarily — by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan. He had recommended to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that impeachment proceedings be initiated under Article 124(4) of the Constitution against Justice Sen on the basis of an in-house inquiry, which declared him guilty of financial misconduct. Another unusual aspect is that the charges relate to a period when Justice Sen was a lawyer (he became a judge in 2003) and a case in which he was made a court-appointed receiver in 1984. Even though he was absolved of "misappropriation" by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, there is no doubt that he had acted with gross impropriety. He had mixed the funds entrusted in his capacity as a receiver with his own, failed to prepare and file accounts as required, and repaid the money with interest in 2006 only after he was directed to do so by a judge of the Calcutta High Court. Disgraced he might be, but anti-corruption campaigners will contend that he has got away lightly. There are two key lessons to be learnt from l'affaire Sen. The first and obvious lesson is that only those with impeccable integrity must be appointed to the higher judiciary. The second is that legislation for a Judicial Conduct Commission with a strong mandate has become an urgent imperative.

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

ARE LIBYA'S FRIENDS FOR REAL?

Suspicions grow about the motives of the United Kingdom and France, the primary international patrons of Libya's interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), in enabling the almost-completed overthrow of Muammar al-Qadhafi. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was not short of fine words in his March 19 statement that his country was protecting the civilian population of Libya against the "murderous madness" of a regime which, by assassinating its own people, had "lost all legitimacy." But substantial evidence is already emerging of extensive links between major oil corporations and the British and French governments in supplying the rebels and in the reconstruction of Libya's only large-scale industry, which is oil production. An analysis in TheGuardian mentions meetings between Britain's junior Minister for International Development, Alan Duncan, and the crude-oil trader Vitol, with whom Mr. Duncan had previous business connections. Meanwhile French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé has tried strenuously to rebut allegations in a letter obtained by the daily Libération to the effect that the NTC had promised French companies 35 per cent of future Libyan oil production. Prospective western attitudes towards the government-in-waiting are thrown further into question by The Independent' s revelation, based on documents formerly possessed by the Libyan defector and former security boss Moussa Koussa, that Britain and the United States offered prisoners to Libya under the rendition programme in the so-called war on terror, and that the British intelligence service, MI6, provided Mr. Qadhafi with information on exiled Libyan opponents and dissidents.

Once in office, the NTC will desperately want to revive oil production as a prerequisite for further economic development, but the conditions under which it can do so will not be in its hands. It may find that the terms of new contracts are imposed by foreign companies, and that if it attempts to favour western firms over oil industries in Russia, China, and India — all of which abstained from the United Nations Security Council vote authorising military support for the uprising — then it might incur lasting opprobrium from those potentially important partners. Further complications for the new government in Tripoli could arise from the fact that its patrons, the U.K., France, and the U.S., were not nearly as hostile to Mr. Qadhafi as they would have the rest of the world believe. In addition, if the NTC goes about nationalising the country's oil industry as part of a programme of economic reconstruction, it could end up at the receiving end of western-induced regime change.

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THE HINDU

BOMBING OF LIBYA MOST ACCURATE EVER: NATO

NATO's top official says the bombing campaign against Libya is unique due to the unprecedented precision of the alliance's airstrikes.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that no air operation in history had been so accurate and so careful in avoiding civilians casualties. NATO has conducted 22,000 sorties, including over 8,000 strike missions, since the first attacks were launched in March.

Mr. Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance had degraded a war machine built up over more than 40 years, and that the airstrikes would continue until "the threat is over for good."

NATO has been criticised for overstepping its limited U.N. mandate to enforce a no-fly zone and protect threatened civilians. — AP

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THE HINDU

WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS SHOW THAT GOOD HIGHER EDUCATION CAN BE A BARGAIN

ANNA BAWDEN

British students looking for any way to avoid £9,000 tuition fees payable at most U.K. universities and still attend a top-flight institution could do worse than look at Trinity College, Dublin. The 400-year-old institution, ideally located to enjoy the "craic" of the fair city's nightlife, is ranked 65th in the world — just behind the London School of Economics — in the latest league table of the world's top universities, published on Sunday. But it does not charge tuition fees to students from the U.K.

QS, the international career and education network that compiled the latest world rankings, has for the first time compared tuition costs for all 600 universities. And in the top 200, many have fees below England's top whack of £9,000 a year.

So what are the realistic options for students willing to pack their trunk to save on the debts? Dutch institutions are worth a look. Amsterdam university (ranked 63rd), offers numerous undergraduate degrees taught in English, and charges EU students just €1,713 a year in tuition fees. Also among the top 100 universities in the world are Utrecht (80th) and Leiden (88th).

For those happy to go further afield, Hong Kong has three universities in the top 50, all offering a good range of degrees taught in English. The University of Hong Kong is impressively ranked at number 22, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong at 37 and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology at number 40. Fees at the University of Hong Kong are £5,480 a year and £7,829 at the other two, and all three offer a variety of scholarships.

Outdoor types may find Nordic institutions attractive. But the universities of Copenhagen (52nd), Helsinki (89th), Uppsala (83rd) and Lund (86th) do not offer degrees taught in English. Though any would-be undergraduate who happens to be bilingual in Danish, Finnish or Swedish could be laughing in both their languages. ETH Zurich (18th) and Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne (35th), overlooking Lake Geneva, are among the cheapest fee-charging institutions in the league table and are a good option for those interested in studying for an English degree (other subjects are taught in German and French respectively). Fees are just 580 Swiss Francs (£435) a semester for both bachelor and masters degrees — foreign students pay the same as domestic undergraduates.

In contrast, U.S. universities, which dominate the top 20, are likely to be beyond the reach of most students, unless they're lucky enough to get a scholarship. Most of the U.S. universities listed charge $38,000-$40,000 (£23,400-£24,600) a year, which does put the £9,000 fees of many U.K. institutions in a different light. "At undergraduate level, all of the U.K. institutions listed are comparatively good value," says Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.

U.K. universities fare well in this year's QS rankings, with 54 in the top 600. Of these, over half are ranked in the top 200 and there are nine in the top 50. The rankings are based on research quality, graduate employability, teaching and how international the faculties and students are.

Cambridge this year pips Harvard to the top spot for the second year in a row, while Oxford, Imperial and University College London come fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. U.S. institutions continue to dominate, with six universities in the top 10 and 20 in the top 50. But whereas U.K. institutions, including Cambridge, tend to do well in terms of how international their students and faculties are, Harvard, like most U.S. universities, "struggles to compete" in this respect, Mr. Sowter says.

However, the tables show that if the listings were ranked according to employers' preferences, Harvard would come top, Oxford second and Cambridge third. In fourth place, come Manchester (29th in the overall table), Warwick (50th) and the LSE (64th), in equal place with Melbourne and the American Ivy League institutions MIT, Yale, Stanford and Berkeley. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011

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THE HINDU

PAKISTAN: UNDOING A COLONIAL LEGACY

ANITA JOSHUA

At best they are baby steps towards changing a colonial hand-me-down, but by virtue of being the first change ever to be made in the 1901 vintage Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), the recent amendments are being billed as a "New Deal" for the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA) which, as a collective, are seen as the epicentre of global terrorism.

Even these tentative steps towards mainstreaming FATA — where most of the laws of the land do not apply — took a while after the Pakistan People's Party-led dispensation at the federal level announced them on the eve of the 2009 Independence Day. They were finally signed into effect by President Asif Ali Zardari on August 12 this year; signalling a softening in the military's opposition to these reforms.

But this shift in the military's position came only after the federal government issued two identical notifications — Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011 — for FATA and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) that give unprecedented powers to the armed forces combating terrorism in these areas with retrospective effect from February 1, 2008, and also allowing them to detain terror suspects for 120 days.

Human rights activists and aid agencies working in the area fear this would again lead to misuse of power and nullify the dilution of some of the draconian provisions in the FCR. "If these fears turn out to be real, the FCR amendments will be like giving rights with one hand and taking them away with the other," wrote veteran journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai in The News .

Given that FATA is a much-talked about but little known area, first a bit on the FCR. When the British annexed these areas in 1848, they sought to use the fiercely independent tribes to act as a bulwark against "Russian expansionism in Central Asia" by allowing them their writ over internal affairs, according to tribal codes, while retaining control on matters of security of British India.

With this quid pro quo arrangement under constant challenge — as per one account there were 62 military expeditions in the area between 1849 and 1889 — the British imposed the first incarnate of the FCR prescribing special procedures for the tribal areas distinct from the criminal and civil laws in force elsewhere in the subcontinent.

When these regulations — based on the idea of collective territorial responsibility and dispute resolution through a jirga (council of elders) — failed to subdue the region, the British expanded the scope of the FCR in 1901 to give powers, including judicial authority, to administrative officials.

The institution of the "political agent" was created and each of the four agencies — Mohmand, Bajaur and Orakzai were added to FATA after 1947 — was administered by such a government appointee with wide powers and funds to secure the loyalty of influential elements in the area. The "maliki" system was developed to allow the colonial administration exercise control over the tribes, with "maliks" acting as intermediaries between members of individual tribes and the British authorities.

Still, the British control over the area remained tenuous and the regime persisted after the various tribes in the region entered into an agreement with the Government of Pakistan following Independence through as many as 30 instruments of accession. And, this troika of political agent, malik and FCR — which arguably is based on the Pathan tribal code "Pakhtunwali" — had no room for "appeal, wakeel or daleel " (engaging a lawyer or reliance on reasoning).

The penal provisions were harsh and included rounding up an entire tribe for a crime committed by one member, demolition of hamlets, villages or towns on the frontier, removal of persons from their places of residence and confiscation of property without compensation. Though these provisions violate basic human rights and the Constitution, that very corpus of law mandates in Article 247 (3) that no Act of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) will apply to FATA and PATA without a special directive from the President.

Ironically enough, the FCR regime — recognised and denounced as a bad law from the early days of Pakistan but retained for political/strategic expediencies — survived the various political upheavals the country faced through its 64 years. Out of sight, out of mind, the ban on political activity kept the tribal areas cut off from national discourse, though FATA served as the backyard of the security establishment's policy of attaining strategic depth. Together with red tape endemic to the bureaucracy, the delays in justice delivery and the ban on political activity created a vacuum that the Taliban found easy to fill with speedy and cheap delivery of justice through shariah courts when they took refuge in these parts following the U.S.-led international onslaught on Afghanistan, post-9/11.

The Global War on Terror brought the spotlight on an area that was used by the British in the first Great Game against Russia, and the U.S.-Pakistan nexus during the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan as a staging post for the mujahideen. According to Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Regional Institute of Policy Research in Peshawar and someone who was involved in the policy formulation that introduced adult franchise in FATA in 1996, the Americans, British, Germans, Norwegians and Dutch spent considerable time and resources in researching the area and acting as a catalyst for these reforms.

What has been introduced is generally described as "good but insufficient," "too little too late," "the minimum that could be done," and "better late than never." Cynicism apart, just the fact that even the bare minimum took so long makes this "no mean achievement." Though limited in scope, the reforms in FCR seek to grant some basic rights to the tribal people who, according to various analyses, want a repeal of FCR or a comprehensive overhaul while factoring in some traditions.

Indefinite detention will no longer be possible and people can now appeal before the FCR tribunal. Cases have to be decided within a time frame and arrested persons can be released on bail. The collective punishment provision cannot be applied to women, children below 16 and men above 65, and property cannot be confiscated without compensation. Also, a degree of fiscal accountability has been introduced as the use of government funds by the political agent will now be scrutinised by the Auditor-General of Pakistan.

With the extension of the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 to FATA, people can participate in political activity, and political parties can function in the region without being penalised. Though FATA has a dozen members in the National Assembly and eight in the Senate, laws they make are not applicable to the area they represent as the writ of Parliament does not extend there. Neither does the writ of the Supreme Court or the High Court in Peshawar.

The extension of PPO to FATA has been hailed as a measure that would introduce bona fide political activity in the area and provide a counter-narrative to the one established by the Taliban but the Oslo-based academic from the area, Farhat Taj, argues otherwise in an article in Daily Times .

"Anti-terror political parties, like the Awami National Party (ANP), the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and PPP, will not be able to freely operate in the area. The political will of the tribal people will remain under siege of terror and the people may have to withdraw from the political process or align themselves with the religious parties as a means to escape the deadly anger of the Taliban and the state security apparatus behind them.

Thus, while theoretically the extension of the PPO is a giant step forward, practically it would take no less than the total shift in the military-controlled security policy regarding Afghanistan to make terror-free political participation for the tribal people an attainable civil rights entitlement," is her contention.

While these reforms have across-the-board political support, the ANP hopes that it will pave the way for wiping away at least one artificial division created by the British among the Pukhtoons; the Durand Line being the other major fault line. Though it remains a contentious issue — with some leading lights from the tribal areas like the former Ambassador, Ayaz Wazir — advocating provincial status to FATA on the lines of Gilgit-Baltistan, the ANP's ultimate aim is to merge it with Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa (formerly the North West Frontier Province).

As a first step, the party has proposed representation for FATA in the provincial assembly so that the tribal people can have a say in decision-making on infrastructural development in their area as the Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa government is responsible for some of the developmental work in these agencies.

But, like Mr. Zardari said, after signing the reforms package, the ANP is also treading carefully, maintaining that the door has been unlocked and it is for the people of the region to decide their future course. How that will be possible without weeding out terrorists and fanatic elements from the area is a question that begs an answer and beyond the realm of the political class.

Recent amendments to the Frontier Crimes Regulations are being billed as a 'new deal' for the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies, seen as the epicentre of terrorism.

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THE HINDU

INDIA-BANGLADESH TIES A MODEL FOR SOUTH ASIA'

Political scientist Dr. Gowher Rizvi , who is the International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has been widely engaged in managing conflicts and strengthening democratic institutions and processes in Asia. A former director of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and former director of contemporary affairs at the Asia Society in New York , he has taught for nearly two decades at several British universities, including Oxford, and served as the Asia-Pacific head for the Oxford Analytical Daily Brief, a think-tank. His publications span the disciplines of history, politics, international relations and development economics. Dr. Rizvi shared his thoughts on India-Bangladesh relations with Haroon Habib in an interview in the context of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh starting on September 6. Excerpts:

How do you see the visit of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh?

The visit, by all accounts, is truly historic. It will build on, and take forward, the vision and the transformative agenda charted by the two Prime Ministers during their New Delhi summit in January 2010. The joint communiqué spelled out as many as 46 areas of cooperation that are aimed to wipe out the hostilities and misgivings that previously characterised relations between the two countries. The visit will not only enable the two Prime Ministers to address some of the key outstanding issues — water, power, border disputes, trade and investment — but also spell out the direction and focus of the relations in the years ahead. The two Prime Ministers will seek to expand bilateral cooperation to incorporate sub-regional collaborations that would involve India's northeastern States, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal in the future, and especially to address the problems of water, power and connectivity.

What are the two countries going to achieve out of the summit meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Manmohan Singh, who have jointly initiated a new phase of bilateral relations following the Bangladesh Premier's landmark visit to New Delhi in 2010?

The two Prime Ministers have a large agenda to cover. The entire gamut of the relationship between the countries will be discussed. The Prime Ministers will take stock of the progress of implementation of the agreements outlined in the Delhi summit of January 2010, including the questions of boundary disputes, Teesta river water-sharing, power purchase agreement, trade liberalisation and the modalities for making connectivity more effective, environmental and cultural issues…. They will also look ahead and explore new areas of cooperation to address the many challenges facing the two countries, including poverty, terrorism, and the adverse effects of global warming.

What are the main issues that need to be addressed for a durable relationship?

There are some longstanding issues that date as far back as 1947 and have not been resolved till today. The most important issue concerns the land boundary between the two countries. This includes about 6.5 km of border that has never been demarcated; a large number of enclaves that belong to India and are located in Bangladesh and vice versa; the vexed issue of adverse possession of land where Indians and Bangladeshis are occupying land in each other's country; and the pressing demand for Bangladesh to have access, through Tin Bigha, to its enclaves in Angarapota and Dhahagram.

Second, it is expected that the two Prime Ministers will sign a framework agreement for development cooperation and an interim agreement to share Teesta river water; finalise the operational modalities for the use of transit facilities through Bangladesh; revisit the question of allowing Bangladesh manufacturers access to the Indian market tariff-free; the connection of the Indian power grid to that of Bangladesh; the power purchase agreement between the two countries; joint exploration of energy resources in the Bay of Bengal; joint conservation of the Sunderbans and the tiger reserve; coordinated and cooperative management of the rivers that are shared by the two countries; and a number of other issues. All in all, the meeting between the Prime Ministers is expected to raise the level of cooperation between the two countries to new heights.

Can the present phase of Dhaka-New Delhi relations influence a greater South Asian understanding on ways to achieve peace, stability and development in the tension-torn region?

I think it would not be a great exaggeration to claim that the forging of relations between India and Bangladesh is an exemplar for the region. The experience of the last half a century has shown that the challenges and problems facing the South Asian countries are transnational and transcend the boundaries of the state — poverty, environmental degradation, terrorism, food security, water scarcity, trafficking in women and children, public health epidemics and so forth — and are incapable of being resolved within the jurisdiction of a single state.

Confrontation and force will not resolve these crises. These issues can only be addressed through cooperation and collaboration.

Here, Bangladesh and India have charted a new course and their cooperative approach offers a model for other countries to resolve their problems with their neighbours. India is rapidly emerging as an economic super power and its neighbours can confidently look forward to partaking in its prosperity, trade and technological innovations.

Will the transit facility to India harm Bangladesh's interests in any way, or is it going to open up a new horizon in the region? How do you assess the development in the backdrop of a strong political opposition to providing transit facilities, including the use of Bangladesh's seaports by India, Nepal and Bhutan?

There appears to be a deliberate attempt to spread disinformation to confuse the issues and create an environment of fear and suspicion by those who are opposed to good relations between the countries. Connectivity is considered as one of the yardsticks or indicators for measuring the development of a society. To the extent that Bangladesh is seeking to improve its connectivity with its neighbours — India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar — it will be wholly beneficial. It should also be pointed out that connectivity is nothing new. In the pre-1947 period, the entire region of Bengal, Assam and the northeast were connected by integrated rail and river services. Much of the transport network survived Partition (of 1947) and was only interrupted during the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

Thereafter, the Pakistan government deliberately uprooted the railroad connections, closed many of the border-crossings and imposed restrictions on transport and movement between India and [the] then East Pakistan. However, connectivity was immediately restored after our War of Liberation, and in 1972 Bangladesh and India signed the Inland Water Transport Agreement that provided for multi-modal transportation — rail, river and road — between the two countries. A further effort was made to strengthen connectivity in the 1974 Indira-Mujib accord under the clause for strengthening the bilateral trade.

Sadly, the 1974 Accord was never implemented fully as Bangabandhu [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman] was assassinated in 1975, and the agreement was stalled but not repealed or rescinded. Our effort today is to make this agreement operational through improved and expanded rail, river and road infrastructure.

The ability of India now to transport goods and passengers to its northeast through the much shorter route, via Bangladesh, is clearly a great boon — it will cut down distances, time and costs and speed up the development of the region. For Bangladesh also, this is a complete win-win situation. The country will not only earn a significant fee for the use of its transit facilities and infrastructure, but also improve its domestic transportation, stimulate domestic trade by between 3 to 5 per cent annually, and make Bangladesh an attractive destination for Indian and foreign investment. It will create a large number of job opportunities as new industries are set up to take advantage of the large Indian market. I believe connectivity and transit will have a transformative impact for all the countries of the sub-region — Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.

The political opponents of the Sheikh Hasina government, including those who preach extremism and support militancy, are strongly opposing the deals with India signed in recent times or are likely to be signed soon. Do you subscribe to their views?

It would be fair to say that the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), and its Jamaat allies, have considerably toned down their anti-Indian rhetoric and have voiced support for improving relations with India. In large part, there is a growing realisation throughout the country that the path of confrontation is barren and counter-productive. There is also a realisation that India is our closest and biggest neighbour, and the earlier policy of hostility is futile in a rapidly globalising society. But more importantly, all parties understand that the people of Bangladesh overwhelmingly support an improvement in the relationship with India. Interestingly, the anti-Indian bogey failed to garner votes for the BNP.

However, the opposition will not spare any opportunity to embarrass the government and will look for areas of vulnerability. It is, therefore, important to manage the relationship and move away from a 'zero-sum game' mentality, to recognise that peace and cooperation create a positive-sum, win-win situation for all.

What are your perceptions of advancing democracy, development and cooperation in South Asia, the challenges of extremism and militancy, and the removal of distrust and colonial shadows?

Democracy lies at the core of peace and prosperity in the region. For the first time in the history of the region, all the eight South Asian states have democratic governance, albeit in varying levels. And so long as governments are accountable to the people, they will be obliged to move away from wasteful confrontation and focus their resources on development.

All South Asian states, in varying degrees, have been the victims of political and religious extremism and terrorism. Bangladesh has been subjected to terrorism since 1975, when the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu, was assassinated by a bunch of terrorists. Since then, different extremists have resorted to political terrorism to undermine our democratic, secular and plural society. Most recently, in August 2004, the present Prime Minister was the target of an assassination attempt by her political opponents, who have not reconciled themselves to an independent and secular Bangladesh. We also have a history of cross-border terrorism of which every country has been a victim. It is, therefore, in the interest of Bangladesh and India to cooperate in the fight against terrorism. As a result of this cooperation, both countries have been saved from the scourge of terrorism.

Interview with Dr. Gowher Rizvi , Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

LADAKH ON TOP

Located at a height of 11000 feet above sea level and encircled by the Himalayan Peaks, the plateau of Ladakh is fast becoming a much favoured and popular place for mountaineers all over the world. It is called the second roof of the world after Tibet. An unexpected boost in mountaineering expeditions of foreign adventurers has opened a new window on the economy of the region if the industry is properly handled. According to the in-charge of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Leh, Sonam Wangyal, as many as 430 expeditions have visited the open zone areas of Ladakh till August. The number of expeditions has also increased from 297 last year to 430 this year. Due to easy accessibility and a few regulations, Stok Kangri in the Zanskar Range and Mentok Kangri in the Korzok valley, among other peaks, have been popular with mountaineers. Stok Kangri is famous among the mountaineers for viewing Nanga Parbat, Mount Kailash and the Nun Kun peak. The chairman of the Adventure Tour Operators Association, Tsewang Mutup, said a total of 23 expeditions had been conducted till now in the restricted areas of Ladakh. However, three expeditions had visited the Karakorum Range in the Nubra valley. A boost to foreign mountaineering expeditions has happened because firstly the Indian Mountaineering Foundation has, on the nod of the Defence and External Affairs Ministries, thrown open some more peaks to the mountaineers. Secondly the commutation is better facilitated today than what was available previously. However, the MEA and Tourism Ministry both have to accelerate their activity in giving wider publicity to expanded scope of mountaineering and tourism in Ladakh region. Tourism can become a component of mountaineering expeditions. A comprehensive plan for giving impetus to Ladakh Mountaineering has to be formulated with the participation of local mountaineers. The base camps for scaling the newly opened peaks will need to be provided with adequate infrastructure, camp accommodation, board and lodging facilities, equipment, medical facilities, guidance and scouting services etc. The number of direct daily air flights between New Delhi/Chandigarh/Srinagar/Mumbai and Ladakh shall have to be increased and streamlined. Security arrangements have to be made foolproof and there should be no laxities in making tourists observe the rules and regulations of mountaineering. The project of boring a tunnel in Zoji La should be speeded up because the foreign tourists and mountaineers would love to enjoy the breath taking view of the entire region as one moves along the picturesque landscape. Ladakh's overland link with other parts of the country through Himachal has also to be speeded up. It has to be remembered that still much of Ladakh remains undiscovered and mountaineering is one sector which could have the potential of changing the economy of the region provided necessary infrastructure is in place. There is also the need of further easing travel regulations for foreigners. Despite the opening of additional peaks with the grant of security clearance for mountaineering last year, Ladakh still remains the second unexplored place in the world. A suggestion from local mountaineering official is that there should be an equal number of Indians in the foreign expeditions and a liaison officer as the representative of the Indian Government. The expenses of Indian members should be borne by the foreign expedition. Dr C Rangarajan, who headed an expert group on Jammu and Kashmir, has mentioned in his report about the scope of mountaineering in Ladakh. He has recommended the formulation of tourist-friendly policies to encourage tourism by reviewing various security restrictions. The time has come when Ladakh has to be on top.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

TRAVEL ADVISORY

Accompanied by a team of senior officers of the Mission, the British Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi is on a tour of the State. The State Minister of Tourism has desired that the British Government withdraw the adverse travel advisory for British tourists to J&K because of improved security situation. It is reminded that owing to the terrorist activities in Kashmir, the British High Commission did not want to put the lives of British nationals and tourists to Kashmir to risk. As such, they had issued advisory with the view to guide and warn the touring teams. Germany has already lifted the adverse travel advisory and with that the number of German tourists to Jammu and Kashmir has increased manifold. UK could follow suit and once she withdraws the adverse advisory, it will open Jammu and Kashmir to the tourists from Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Tourism Minister apprised the British Deputy High Commissioner about various tourism promotion measures undertaken by the Government. He told him that the main focus was on bringing the virgin tourism places on the world tourism map. The creation of a world-class tourism infrastructure was also the government's priority. Jora said the Government had established 20 tourism development authorities to exploit the vast tourism potential of the state. "Our motto is to diversify the tourism itinerary to newer and virgin tourist places like Bangus, Gurez, Doodpathri, Verinag, Kokernag, Aharhbal, Wullar and Manasbal, besides the main tourist destinations of Gulmarg and Pahalgam," he said.
Britain is no novice to visualizing tourist potential of the State. Many seniors at the British High Commission in New Delhi have been visiting Kashmir in their individual capacity. Tourist spots like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Dachhigam are the creation of the British residents during early days of Dogra rule. Moreover UK keeps close watch of situation in the State. This has emboldened the State Minister for Tourism to press for lifting of adverse travel advisory. As the tourist industry in the State is widening its scope and bringing more and more tourist spots on its tourist map, it should be an attraction for globe trotters to experience pleasure trips to these new tourist destinations. However it needs to be said that the State Government shall have to take special care of two components of the industry: one is of proper publicity in foreign countries about the potential of J&K tourism, and the second is providing adequate tourist infrastructure and specialized services.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

BY SURAJ SARAF

''Central public sector enterprises should accord high priority to developing humanskills,'' emphasised recently President Pratibha Patil.
Consequently a big boost to vocational education has been planned by the Center under National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework.
For that purpose Central Government has planned to pump in over Rs 7500 crore to set up 1500 new ITIs and 5000 skill development centres in the country.
Government would set up each of the 1500 ITIs at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore while it will spend Rs 75 lakh on each skill develop centre.
All that had been planned by the Government of India in consultation with states education ministers for strengthening vocational education at all levels.
Expressing concern over lack of respect for vocational education, Central HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had called for a need to change the mindset. ''As the vocational education was the key towards improving the country's economy.'' He had pointed out that often the stigma attached by society vocational education dissuades parents from allowing their wards to pursue the stream.
''To build a particular expertise the industry should come forward and ask the ministry to set up higher education institutes where such expertise is required. For increasing investment in this sector significantly, we are setting up an Educational Finance Corporation to help investment in education for refinancing facilities on long term very low rates on priority. Education implies expansion, inclusion and excellence,'' said the minister.
Comparing the enrolment rate in India vis-a-vis developed countries, the minister said that to reach the standard India requires additional 1000 universities and 45000 colleges. ''It is a gargantuan task. What we need is not help in building a few universities but a large scale investment in the next 10 to 20 years,'' he underlined.
Sibal want to emphasise, ''It is important that state ministers support us in our endeavour. If we want to prepare fifty crore children for employment by 2022, which is a national priority, then states and centre have to work together and industry should also cooperate.
''The vocational framework should set common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system, covering schools, vocational education institutes and institutes of higher education with qualifications ranging from higher secondary to doctoral level, leading to the international recognition of national standards.
''The framework would be competency based modular approach with provision for credit accumulation and transfer. Students would have the scope for vertical and horizontal mobility entry and exits.''
Educational institutions should also allow their premises to be used after working hours for skill development.
In order to have the widest possible consensus on the important subject, a meeting had been convened attended by 17 states education ministers and secretaries, heads of UC, AICTE, IGNOU, NCERT, NUEPA, CBSC and NICS and representatives of the Skill Development Corporation and from ASSOCHEM, CII and FICCI.
The HRD Ministry had also consulted several sectors on vocational education curriculum. Meanwhile Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee while addressing National Skill Development Corporation had said,'' India was faced with a major challenge of creating a skilled workforce of 150 million by 2022.''
Stressing on the need for private sector participation in creating required skilled manpower with technical knowhow Mukherjee underscored ''The Government alone can not meet this challenge participation of private sector had been mandated through National Skill Development Council (NSDC).
Emphasising the need for streamlining content and curriculum development setting up of competency standards, assessment and certification of trainees and accreditation of certifying entities, Finance Minister advised NSDC to develop these benchmarks in line with the international best practices to ensure that the demographic dividend of India is leveraged to meet the skill needs in other countries and jurisdictions.
The Finance Minister also emphasised on NSDC to play more pro-active role in this regard in the coming times in terms of formation of sector skills and tie-ups with Industry associations. Alongside he also stressed on the need to generate, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
Mr Mukherjee also pointed out that the incremental skilled workforce requirement in 20 high growth segments and the unorganised sector would by 240 to 250 million till 2022, ''It is going to be a challenging task to bridge this skill gap. Obviously Government alone can not achieve target.''
It was in realisation of the need to bridge this huge skill gap that the NSCD was set up as a joint venture between the Government and industrial associations that was expected to play nodal role in the project. Industry bodies such as CII, FICCI and CITI which are stakeholders have also put forward proposals to open new skill development centres.
Since its inception NSDC had approved nine raining projects. Several more are also on the anvil, said the Finance Minister who had also inked on agreement for forming a joint venture between NSDC and Centum Learning, an association company of Bharti Enterprises. The Venture Centum Work Skill India Ltd has plans to open 383 centres to train 1.5 crore youth in the technical skills by 2022, emphasised the Finance Minister.

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

INCREASING SUICIDESDIRE NEED FOR COUNSELLING

BY DHURJATI MUKHERJEE

Suicides have increased in most parts of the world and India is no exception. According to estimates, a many as 1.2 lakh people commit suicides every year in India and over four lakh attempt it. A majority of then have been found to be suffering from some sort of mental disorder. Such shocking figures have forced the Union Health Ministry to consider a special suicide prevention programme that would counsel and protect depressed patients. Sadly, nothing tangible has yet come out so far.
According to latest reports released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), suicides rose by 1.7 per cent compared to 2008. Bengal topped the list with 14,648 cases followed by Andhra Pradesh (14,500), Tamil Nadu (14,424), Maharashtra (14,300) and Karnataka (12,195). These five States accounted for over 55 per cent of total suicides. Among the metro cities, Bangalore topped the recorded the highest suicide rate with 2167 people killing themselves in 2009 followed by Chennai (1417), Delhi (1215) and Mumbai (1051).
Further the report found that on a day-to-day basis, 73 Indians commit suicides daily because of health problems and related economic issues. Eight Indians commit suicide due to poverty, nine related to bankruptcy and seven because of unemployment. The number of suicides unemployment and career problems showed a relatively higher increase of 18.1 and 15.1 respectively. However family problems and illness accounted for 44.7 per cent of all suicides in the country.
As society is progressing and becoming modern, such incidences have been on the rise, specially among the young generation. The reasons for such increase have been the subject of many surveys and investigations of sociologists and psychologists, who attribute it these to the induction of materialist culture in society. To the common man, it would logically appear that with spread of education and knowledge as also prosperity and better living standards, suicides should at least not increase, if not come down over a period of time.
The changing society and with it the value system has clearly had an adverse effect on the young generation. The indirect effects of the change are the yearning to do or get something which may not be achievable and in the process become frustrated. Added to this are family problems, employment and/or career problems, the low levels of tolerance and patience in the human individual, which was earlier quite high in religious-oriented societies. The NCRB report pointed out: "It is observed that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicides whereas emotional and personal problems have mainly driven women to end their lives". Whatever may be the reasons, which are of course quite varied and difficult to comprehend, it is a fact that such a trend is quite unhealthy for our society.
Surveys in the western countries have revealed that depression amongst the youth is the main cause for suicidal tendencies. In India too, we have witnessed an increasing suicidal tendency among students because of either failure in examinations or an uncertain future. Besides, there is a high increase in suicide rates over love affairs and/or pre-marital sex which are mostly manifest in the metropolises. A modern society has complicated life and brought with it related problems, which result in a craving to get what one wants without realizing its social consequences.
A fall-out of these trends is depression, an off shoot of hypertension, which has been identified as the fourth largest health problem by the WHO. In India, depression is widespread as 15 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women suffer from the disorder. By 2020 or even earlier, it is likely to rank second after heart diseases. This has been the finding of a study, published in Lancet which has further revealed that depression has more impact on the physical health of those who suffer from it than chronic diseases like diabetes, arthritis, and epilepsy.
The complexity of the disease, which manifests itself in feelings of intense sadness, worthlessness, pessimism and reduced emotional well-being, stems from the fact that a number of brain areas are affected by it. In cases of prolonged depression, it has resulted in increasing suicides (and, of course, divorces and separation) which can easily be attributed to psychological problems influenced by tension in office, family and social and even community life.
The failures to achieve targets in office and not being considered for quick promotion (by superseding other colleagues), to get to the top by hook or by crook, to win contracts (even after bribing), in love affairs and win over the opposite sex as bed partners have all resulted in terrible stress and tension. In turn, this has had an adverse effect on children, who do not find their parents in the house after office hours (obviously attending late night parties), and behaving abnormally and frequently quarrelling or fighting. Even the ideal home environment has been lost as all actions of individuals are linked to material gain or loss.
While the decline of social and moral values has become a major factor in the erosion of happiness in human life and society and increase in suicides, this has been accentuated by an increasing and unachievable target and the quest to earn much more. Jealousy and hatred has increased due to severe competition in all fields and the thirst for more and more. These developments, not compatible with social standards have truly messed up healthy relationships and taken away happiness.---INFA

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DAILY EXCELSIOR

EDITORIAL

SUSTAIN SOIL FERTILITY FOR PRODUCTIVITY

BY PROF (DR) R D GUPTA

''The continued prosperity and well being of the peasants of any Nation relies on several factors, one of the most important being the sustenance of the level of soil fertility of their farms''.
''Soil fertility is defined as the ability of the soil to supply with plants all the essential plant nutrients in available form in right amount and suitable balance''. Although plants contain small amount of 90 or more elements yet only 16 of them are known to be essential for the growth and reproduction of higher plants.
An essential element must satisfy the following three criteria:-
* A deficiency of such an element makes impossible for the plant to complete its life cycle.
* Such deficiency is specific to the element and can be corrected only by supplying this element.
* The element is directly involved in the nutrition of the plant quite apart from its possible effects in correcting some unfavourable microbal or chemical condition of the soil.
Out of the essential nutrients, if any one of them is deficient in soil, it must be provided since its deficiency in soil will limit the crop growth and eventually the soil productivity. Soil productivity, indicating inherent ability or capacity of the soil to produce crops, includes the soil fertility, good management practices availability of water supply and suitable climate. Thus, the soil fertility denotes the status of available nutrients present in soil, while soil productivity connotes the resultant of various factors influencing crop production.
Higher and higher crop productivity crop yield is essential for the feeding of an increasing population, which is presently about 7 billion of the world. In India alone, the population has become 1.21 billions as per the census of March 2011. Hence, the soil fertility of the farms of the peasants should not only be maintained but also be constantly ameliorated to reap rich harvests. Imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers during green revolution has declined the soil fertility, which has resulted into poor harvest in crops especially rice and wheat cropping system. It was discernible to the occurrence of deficiency both of macro (Ca, Mg,S) and micro nutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mo and B) in many Indian soils. Continuous use of nitrogenous fertilizer alone has made many soils acidic. In the years to come deficiency of Zn would further magnify and that of other micronutrients like Fe, Mn and Cu would crop up if inherently poor soils are continuously exploited even at this level of production.
Methods to enhance soil fertility
To get rich harvests, the farmers are required to apply manures and fertilizers. Many of the farmers especially those, who were growing rice and wheat during green revolution, relied heavily on chemical fertilizers to increase the soil fertility. A rice-wheat rotation yielding nearly 889 ha-1 year-1 removes 663 kg N, P2O5 and K2O and several kg of micronutrients causing a serious drain on the plant nutrients reserve in soil. It, therefore, becomes imperative for the farmers to apply N, P2O5 and K2O back into the soil to obtain higher yield of various crops, vegetables and fruit trees.
Most of the farmers, however, apply only nitrogenous fertilizer i.e urea as other fertilizers, being costly are beyond their means. Thus, it is not surprising that P and K and micronutrient, deficiencies have become severe in the intensive Indian cropped areas. The deficiency of P and K has further been substantiated by the National average of N:P: K ratio of 8:3.3:1 against 4:2:1. Application of urea alone has not only created micronutrients deficiency and acidity in some soils of India but also contaminated the drinking water with NO3. NO3 - contaminated water has produced blue baby disease in many parts of India among the children. Nitric Oxides (NO, N2O, NO2 etc) are being increased in the atmosphere, which are amenable for depleting Ozone layer. Not only this, imbalanced use of fertilizers has created nitrosoamine in a number of food grain crops, which is found carcinogenic agent.
In the light of the above said harmful effects caused by the chemical fertilizers if not handled carefully the farmers, therefore, must add organic manures. Such manures consist of farm yard manure (FYM) compost, vermicompost, processed night soil and sewage, sea weeds as well as practising green manure and using organic fertilizers such as molasses, dried blood and oil cakes. Another alternative that greatly reduces dependency of chemical fertilizers and organic manures is the growing of the cover crops.
What are cover crops ? Those crops, which after fully growing cover the soil of the field, are called the cover crops. Cover crops may be legumes, which are grown to cover and protect the soil. Besides the leguminous crops add N for improving soil's fertility. Leguminous crops, infact, fix atmopsheric nitrogen in their modules by the bacteria known as Rhizobia. This nitrogen finally reaches the soil via osmosis process from nodule and death/decay of Rhizobia and nodules.
Characteristics of cover crops : What characteristics should be looked for in cover crops to produce manure and forage with no more cash cost and minimum of labour. It should produce large amount of green matter (about 25 tonnes ha-1). It should grow vigorously in poor soils without any aid of fertilizers. Selected cover crop must be sown.
Cover crops without wastage of land
Cover crops can be grown among traditional crops like corn, millet, sorghum without reducing the productivity of the main crop. Cover crops can be intercropped with basic grains towards the middle or end of the growing season's time, so that their major growth occur during the dry season. Wherever shifting agriculture is used, cover crops can be planted on the land, the first year it is to be followed or abandoned. In this way, the fallow period can be cut to one year.
In areas where fruit or coffee trees are common, cover crops can be grown around or under the trees both in increasing the growth and health of the trees.

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EDITORIAL

LAST STOP: TIHAR

AMAR SINGH IS IN; SO SHOULD BE HIS MASTERS

NOT too long ago, Amar Singh preened on the entertainment, business and political stage like a peacock. Given the clout that he enjoyed, some cultivated him, many suffered him in silence. How things change! He has finally landed in Tihar jail. Mind you, the action in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam has not come in natural course, but only after the Supreme Court upbraided the Delhi Police for shoddy investigation. The cops had come up with a fantastic assertion that no politician was involved in the scam. Even when he was at the peak of his political career, the Rajya Sabha MP was (in)famous as a wheeler-dealer. The deals he fixed made this man-about-town notorious and stinking rich at the same time. Those who live by the sword die by the sword, and that has happened to him.

Such is the revulsion of the country for political scams that even his renal condition did not move the court enough to grant him bail, and he has had to grace the Tihar jail which already houses some well-known names like Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja and Kanimozhi. But his going behind bars is only part punishment. It remains to be seen how thorough a job the investigation agencies will do in serving him his just desserts.

The country wants to know whether he was acting on his own to just discredit BJP leaders – as some have made out — or he was the front man for the Congress fishing desperately for supporters to win the crucial trust vote. Then there is also his own claim that he is just being made a fall guy. Those who benefited by his bribing or trying to bribe some BJP MPs for either siding with the Congress or for abstaining should also not go scot-free. He is the public face of the sordid drama. Those who were behind the scenes also must be exposed. Only then would the ends of justice be met. The apex court has also reminded the police of bringing to book those who funded the scam.

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

CONTAMINATED WATER

PUNJAB MUST TAKE REMEDIAL STEPS

THE seriousness of the threat of contamination of drinking water in two districts of Punjab is for all to see, even before the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre gives its findings, as demanded by Parliament's Standing Committee on Rural Development. High levels of chemical, biological and radioactive toxicity, including uranium contamination, have been known to be the bane of Bathinda and Amritsar districts for decades now. The apathy of the state government becomes evident when it fails to take urgent remedial actions, when it fails to take effective steps to reduce the pollution or to provide good drinking water to the people of the area. The sharp increase in the number of people afflicted with cancer, as well as neurological diseases and kidney ailments, is a matter of record, and their correlation has been increasingly documented by scientists.

Many experts blame the fly ash of thermal power plants, while others point to the highly contaminated water that flows down the Buddha Nullah. In either case, it is the government's job to ensure that the environment is not polluted, and to protect the people who have to drink contaminated water, which enters the food chain cycle and thus threatens the public far beyond the confines of these two districts.

That uranium can cause incalculable damage to the health of human beings, livestock, environment and bio-safety is well known. We have seen the rise in number of serious ailments in the residents of these areas. The survey of the state by BARC would be valuable in providing an accurate assessment of the threat. However, instead of waiting for it, the state and the Central governments should work together to counter the effects of this contamination by providing filtered water for human consumption, and by reducing the pollution caused by the thermal plants. Every day is costly in terms of the harm to people's health that it causes.

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

INFIGHTING TAKES ITS TOLL

INDIA ROBBED OF HOSTING CHAMPIONS TROPHY

THE International Hockey Federation's (FIH) decision to take the Champions Trophy hockey tournament out of India was something that was perhaps inevitable, considering that the Indian authorities in the sport, namely Hockey India, which has the approval of the FIH, and the Indian Hockey Federation, which had the court's ruling in its favour, have created a situation no international body can stomach. So while the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association kept making all sorts of noises, the FIH did what was perfectly within its rights and powers and moved the tournament out, much to the chagrin of all concerned. The IOA bosses on their part tried to browbeat the FIH and also took the opportunity to take pot shots at the government, which has threatened to impinge on their fiefdoms. They were loathe to any attempt to question their attitude of indifference towards inefficiency and their complete lack of a culture of accountability.

The onus of fixing things lay with the people in control of things, both in Hockey India and the IHF. But neither seemed keen on a compromise. Sports Minister Ajay Maken managed to bring the officials of both bodies to the negotiating table, and some sort of a deal was thrashed out but no sooner than the office-bearers had left the table, things began to fall apart. HI warned players not to participate in the World Series Hockey tournament being planned by the IHF, which on its part continued to make all sorts of comments and claims in the dictatorial fashion made notorious by its chief.

Players pulled out of national camps giving family commitments as reason while others headed for lucrative club deals in Europe. The national hockey team has not been a cohesive unit for a long time and the evident differences between captain Rajpal Singh and some senior players did nothing to improve the unholy mess. India's win over South Korea in the Asian Champions Trophy in China comes as a little bit of a relief for the beleaguered team and office-bearers, but the larger picture remains bleak as before.

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THE TRIBUNE

ARTICLE

PAKISTAN, XINJIANG AND CHINA

LOOKING BEYOND EXTREMISM

BY D. SUBA CHANDRAN

During the last one month there were two high-profile visits from Pakistan to China; the first one in the middle of August by new Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar and the second by President Asif Zardari. Are these visits part of the regular rhetoric — "all-weather friendship" — or linked to the violence in Xinjiang in July after which the local government in China accused Pakistan?

Clearly, there is a strong component of fire-fighting from Pakistan's side, especially after the government in Xinjiang accused Pakistan of not preventing Uighur radicals from using Pakistan's soil, if not aiding them. The fact that Zardari visited Xinjiang on the occasion of Eid along with a high-profile team, and met various officials of the government of Xinjiang speaks for itself.

First, a geo-strategic look at Xinjiang will reveal the importance of China's western-most province; the province shares legal borders with Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Xinjiang's border with Pakistan is actually shared by Gilgit-Baltistan, and also a small border with the Aksai Chin. Xinjiang is China's gateway to the rest of Central Asia and Europe. All the gas pipelines and the proposed trans-Asian railways have to cut across Xinjiang. Historically, Xinjiang was the centre of multiple Silk Routes, which crisscrossed the vast deserts and oasis cities of this historical province.

Second, a short note on what actually happened in Xinjiang before analysing the role of "Islamic terrorists". For the last many years, there has been unrest within Xinjiang, but this issue is not monolithic. There are serious divides and multiple fault-lines within Xinjiang on social, economic and radical lines. The primary problem in Xinjiang is ethnic; the Uighurs who form the majority in Xinjiang claim that historically they were never a part of the Chinese kingdom. The fact that Xinjiang means "new frontier" and the Chinese dynasties have many "Xinjiangs" underline the Uighurs' efforts to delink from the rest of China on a historical basis.

However, more than the historical question — whether Xinjiang belongs to China or not — the primary issue today is ethnic. According to the latest census, the Uighurs are 45 per cent, followed by the Hans who form 40 per cent of the population. The Mongols, Kazaks, Kirghiz and the Huis are the other substantial ethnic groups having more than 1 per cent strength each. More importantly for the Uighurs, from a political perspective, their ethnic origin plays an important role — they are of Turkic origin. What really hurts the Uighurs is their treatment by the rest of China in matters of culture, religion and language. The Uighurs complain against the state of China for mistreating them, affecting their future. They also complain against the rest of Chinese society for treating them as second class citizens. In any given ethnic situation, some perceptions are genuine and the rest perceived. Whether genuine or perceived, there are serious grievances among the Uighurs against the Chinese state, primarily relating to the ethnic question.

Third, and more importantly, in recent years, China has been attempting to develop Xinjiang as a gateway to the Western world; as a part of this objective, there have been efforts to create special economic zones and build cities of international standards. This strategy has resulted in two serious economic imbalances: first, as is happening in the rest of China, there is a rural-urban migration factor. For example, Kashgar today attracts a substantial number of migrants from rural Xinjiang. Second, economic investments in Xinjiang have also attracted substantial Han migration from the rest of China into this region. The Uighurs, like the Tibetans, complain that this Han migration into their region is a deliberate strategy of the Chinese government to change the ethnic composition of their homeland.

The influence of Uighur Muslim radical groups and the Pakistan connection should be seen against the above backdrop. While there are serious grievances being nursed by the Uighurs, these have remained primarily ethnic and political. During the last two decades, a section within the Uighurs has been trying to superimpose its religious agenda on them. Today, Uighur society is divided on ethnic and religious lines — whether to project their ethnic identity as a Uighur or their religious identity as a Muslim. Within this religious-ethnic divide, a section is further trying to hijack the religious agenda through a radical onslaught, using violence for the purpose. Thus, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), believed to be having its bases inside Pakistan, is a small organisation trying to impose itself on a larger Uighur cause.

According to media reports, the ETIM was founded in the mid-1990s; its leadership moved from Xinjiang into Afghanistan, when the Taliban and Al-Qaeda attracted all radical groups of the region from Uzbekistan to Pakistan. It was during this time (in the mid-1990s) that Afghanistan became a violent black hole, absorbing all radical groups into it — the ETIM (from Xinjiang), the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and multiple radical groups from Pakistan. Whether these groups formed a larger network can only be a conjecture; but what could be ascertained was that these groups got displaced from Afghanistan when the US troops entered the region following 9/11. While the IMU got into FATA, the ETIM moved into Pakistan's heartland. In terms of strategy, the ETIM's technique is not new; there are numerous Taliban and Al-Qaeda franchisees within Pakistan attempting the same.

The crucial question today is: how far will Pakistan and China go? For Islamabad, a positive relationship with Beijing is the most important aspect of its foreign policy. With the 2014 deadline of US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan fast approaching, the US-Pakistan relations are likely to undergo transformation. The economic aid and political support from Washington to Pakistan will see transformation; at least that is what Islamabad and GHQ are afraid of. Worse, there is also the fear within Pakistan that the Indo-US strategic partnership, especially the nuclear deal, will enhance India's nuclear capabilities. At the economic level, from Gwadar to the Sust dry port across the Khunjerab pass, China has made huge investments in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

At the border level, what is not fully analysed is the relationship between Xinjiang and PoK especially with the Gilgit-Baltistan entity. Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) share strong economic linkages with Xinjiang. Most of Pakistan's trade with Xinjiang actually is done through GB. There was a bus service between Gilgit and Kashgar during recent years; local businessmen from GB visit Xinjiang often; given their economic interests and religious background (the majority of the people in GB are Shias), they are unlikely to support any radical hold in Xinjiang.

Clearly, Pakistan needs China more than vice-versa. And unlike the Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Taliban, the ETIM does not fit in with any of Pakistan's strategic objectives. Therefore, Islamabad is likely to work with China in addressing the ETIM threat emanating from Pakistan. Despite calling the recent violence in Hotan and Xinjiang as "terrorism", Beijing should know that the threat comes not only from the ETIM but also from its larger ethnic problem, growing rural-urban migration and uneven economic development. Besides, Beijing also needs Pakistan to play a proxy role in South Asia for obvious reasons. Finally, there seems to be a difference in how Beijing and the local officials in Xinjiang see the role of Pakistan; it was the local officials from Xinjiang who complained that the militants were trained in Pakistan.

The unrest in Xinjiang is unlikely to alter Sino-Pak relations; there are larger strategic interests for both China and Pakistan to protect.n

The writer is Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Visiting Professor, Pakistan Studies Programme, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

LONGING FOR LONG HAIR

BY RUCHI SHARMA

THE fixation with long hair has been there since time immemorial. As children, we read and heard about fairies, queens, princesses and mermaids with beautiful long tresses which would be taken care of by their maids of honour who would oil, wash, curl and style them. In one such fairytale, Rapunzel, a sweet and charming girl, is imprisoned in a tower by a witch. Her melodious voice attracts a prince. He uses her long, golden and braided hair to climb up the tower. They are thus united.

In George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss" Maggie Tulliver cuts her hair with her brother Tom's help, who can't stop laughing when the deed is done. Seeing her unevenly cut hair in the mirror, Maggie is filled with remorse. She had cut her hair to avoid criticism of her ill-kempt hair but the plan had backfired.

In the short story 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry, Della and James are totally smitten with each other. Each wants to give a surprise gift on Christmas. Della buys a chain for James' watch by selling her lovely hair while James sells his watch and buys tortoise shell combs for her glossy and shiny hair. Though disappointed, on seeing the gifts for each other, the bond between the two is strengthened.

In contemporary times, shampoos are making quick money. Taking a cue from Indian woman's yearning for long hair there are many products in the market. I have a South Indian friend whose height is surprisingly,5 ft and 10 inches, and her long hair are knee-length. The plait she makes gives the impression of a snake slithering on her back when she walks. I, out of curiosity, asked her how she manages her hair. She said that her mother helped her in washing her hair as she could not manage it single-handedly. After all, hair needs care. Tongue-in-cheek, I asked her whether she too would be able to pull a loaded truck out of a ditch with her long lustrous locks by the sheer strength of her hair.

Recently, while on a walk through the district park, I saw to my surprise, a threesome of two daughters and a mother all with long hair of equal length. The younger daughter skipped while she walked and her pony tail swung from side to side like a pendulum. As a child, I used to love long hair. My mother would forcibly take me to the hairdresser to get my hair cut. I would weep on seeing my curls being chopped. Believe me, it used to be no less than a national catastrophe.

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

SEPTEMBER 12: WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY

THE MOUTH IS THE WINDOW TO THE BODY AND IS IMPORTANT FOR SEVERAL REASONS, RANGING FROM COSMETIC TO FUNCTIONAL. MORE IMPORTANTLY, EXTENSIVE STUDIES HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ESTABLISHED THE CLOSE LINK BETWEEN OVERALL AND ORAL HEALTH. IT IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO TAKE GOOD CARE OF ONE'S MOUTH AND PRACTICE A PROPER ORAL CARE ROUTINE FOR COMPLETE WELL-BEING

THE BODY-MOUTH CONNECT

DR GOPALAKRISHNAN

THE FDI World Dental Federation has dedicated September 12 as World Oral Health Day in order to create global awareness on oral health and educate people on the impact of oral diseases on overall health and well-being. This day while implying that a healthy lifestyle is incomplete without healthy teeth and gums also seeks to dispel common oral care myths and educate people on a complete oral care routine.

In India, this day is especially significant because of the low standards of oral hygiene practiced within the country. Studies show that a majority of people, 56 per cent, brush only once a day and an appalling 32 per cent have never gone to the dentist. The topmost oral health complaints in the country are tooth decay, gum problems and bad breath. According to the oral health experts, however, a lot of people suffer from oral health complaints without being aware of it and at times it can impact a person's quality of life.

Many medical researches continue to challenge our general perception about the oral hygiene. Contrary to the popular belief that brushing the teeth is the only way to good oral care, the fact is that teeth are just 25 per cent of our mouth. So leaving the remaining 75 per cent part of the mouth unclean creates a good breeding ground for the bacteria to grow and spread. It is therefore important to use advanced oral care products like mouthwash and floss to ensure the entire mouth is protected.

The common link between periodontal or gum disease and infections in the body goes beyond bacteria. Recent research studies provide proof of how inflammation is the connecting link between poor oral hygiene and chronic inflammatory conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and pregnancy-related issues amongst many others. Many users are not aware that they are suffering from osteoporosis or diabetes, until the dentists spots the first signs during a routine oral examination and recommends further investigations. Often such a chance intervention or diagnosis can go a long way in controlling and even stabilising serious health conditions.

Researchers have found that people with periodontal (gum) disease are almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery disease as those without periodontal disease.

In people suffering from Periodontitis (inflammatory disease affecting the tissues that surround and support the teeth), the bacteria may enter into the bloodstream while chewing and brushing. These bacteria can then attach to fatty plaques in the coronary arteries (heart blood vessels), contributing to clot formation. This plaque can lead to heart attack.

Oral bacteria could also cause blood clots by releasing toxins that resemble proteins found in artery walls or the bloodstream. The immune system's response to these toxins could harm vessel walls or make blood clot more easily.

People with diabetes are more likely to have periodontal disease than people without diabetes, probably because diabetics are more susceptible to contracting infections. In fact, periodontal disease is often considered the sixth complication of diabetes. Those who don't have their diabetic condition under control are especially at risk.

Research suggests that the relationship between periodontal disease and diabetes work both ways — periodontal

disease may make it more difficult for people who have diabetes to control their blood sugar as the 6th complication of diabetes mellitus is periodontal disease.

Good blood glucose control is a key to controlling and preventing mouth problems. People with poor blood glucose control get gum disease more often and more severely than people whose diabetes is well controlled. Thus, diabetics who have periodontal disease should be treated to eliminate the periodontal infection.

Bacterial respiratory infections are considered to be acquired through inhaling fine droplets from the mouth and throat into the lungs. These droplets contain germs that can breed and multiply within the lungs to cause damage. Recent research suggests that bacteria found in the throat and mouth, can be drawn into the lower respiratory tract. This can cause infections or worsen existing lung conditions.

Scientists have found that bacteria that reside in the oral cavity can be inhaled into the lungs and cause respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, especially in people with periodontal disease. This discovery leads researchers to believe that these respiratory bacteria can travel from the oral cavity into the lungs to cause infection. Studies are now in progress to learn to what extent oral hygiene and periodontal disease may be associated with more frequents bouts of respiratory disease in COPD patients.

For a long time we've known that risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and drug use contribute to mothers having babies that are born prematurely at a low birth weight. Now evidence is mounting that suggests a new risk factor – periodontal disease. Research reveals that pregnant women who have periodontal disease may be seven times more likely to have a baby that is born too early and too small.

It appears that periodontal disease triggers increased levels of biological fluids that induce labour. Furthermore, data suggests that women whose periodontal condition worsens during pregnancy have an even higher risk of having a premature baby.

Osteoporosis is one of the most common human bone diseases affecting millions of people, including over one-third of females above the age of 65. Osteoporosis is characterised by decreased bone density and weakened bones. Symptoms of osteoporosis often go unnoticed until a major fracture occurs, but your dentist may be able to detect the early signs of osteoporosis during your regular dental exam.

Loose teeth, severe gum disease, ill-fitting dentures and difficulty in eating or speech can all be a sign of decreasing bone density, an advanced stage of osteoporosis.

The writer is Secretary General of the International Clinical Dental Research Organisation and Professor of Periodontology at Santosh University, Delh

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MUMBAI MIRROR

EDITORIAL

WILLIAM GOLDING CENTENARY

GOLDING SAID THAT HE SAW HIMSELF "SPIRALING UP TOWARDS BEING A UNIVERSALLY ADMIRED, BUT UNREAD"NOVELIST

In his Nobel Prize for Literature speech in 1983, William Golding (19th Sept 1911–19th June 1993) mentions that on the very day he learned about the prize, he drove to a small country town and parked his car where he should not. "I only left the car for a few minutes," he says, "but when I came back there was a ticket taped to the window. A traffic warden, a lady of a minatory aspect, stood by the car. She pointed to a notice on the wall. 'Can't you read?' she said." He drove off sheepishly, only to run into two more policemen. They showed him how to fill out the ticket, and how to pay the fine, and then congratulated him on winning the prize.

In a much later interview, Golding remarks that he finds it annoying that, despite his later output, he is forever associated with Lord of the Flies. He also finds it tiresome that he has been stuck with the label "pessimistic." He was 42 when it was finally published, after being rejected by several publishers, till a sharp young man at Faber's, Charles Monteith saw its potential, suggested a few cuts, and published it in 1954. It's odd to think of the novel being published in the middle of all the social realism and kitchen sink novels and plays by working-class writers, John Osborne, Alan Sillitoe, Harold Pinter, John Braine and others. He found his literary forbears in very different material.

One doesn't have to go very far back in human history, or even our own history to know that the fall from civilization to savagery can be very rapid. We see it in the work of Conrad, Orwell, and many other major moderns. Scholars have traced connections between the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis, Greek tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy. "Mired in original sin," Lawrence Friedman writes, "fallen man can rise only by the apparently impossible means of transcending his very nature. In man's inability to recreate himself lies the tragedy of Lord of the Flies." He sees both the novel and Euripides' play The Bacchae as "anthropological passion plays in which individuals-children in Golding, adults in Euripides, revert to savagery and murder during a frenzied ritual."

Golding is concerned with humanity in what one may call a cosmic sense. He is certainly aware that individuals can and do recreate themselves, even after they have created havoc in their own lives and those of others. In Chapter 12 of the book, the survivors watch "the burning wreckage of the island, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."

So was Golding a pessimist? His answers to this question were not exactly clear, so I shall avoid quoting them. But it's unlikely that anyone can be an absolute optimist or an absolute pessimist. He'd be a fool in the first case, and spend his life wanting to jump off a cliff in the latter. Most of us spend our lives trying to juggle the two, to keep a balance of sorts, however shifting it may be.

About his future readership, Golding was perhaps pessimistic, mainly because of his association with his best-known novel. He said, in an interview with William Boyd of the New York Times that he saw himself "spiraling up towards being a universally admired, but unread" novelist. Boyd feels the statement was prophetic. With the exception of Lord of t he Flies, he says, "Golding's strange, haunting novels have few readers these days."

Golding didn't like that, despite later work, he was forever associated with Lord of the Flies

EUNICE de SOUZA

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COLUMN

RETHINKING RUPEE

RBI HAS LET THE MARKET BE, BUT SHOULD IT?

The rupee has been under pressure since early August as risk aversion fuelled by the European sovereign crisis and downgrade of US sovereign debt by Standard and Poor's drove away equity investments from Indian markets. In August alone, foreign institutional investors dumped $2.3 billion worth of Indian stocks and sought safer havens like US treasury bonds. Despite this rise in risk aversion, the correction in oil prices (and indeed other commodities) was shallow and helped lower India's current account deficit only to a limited extent. The payment of dues to Iran (of roughly $5 billion) in this period abetted depreciation. All this should please the often vociferous group of economists who believe that an undervalued, or at least a fairly valued, rupee is critical for growth. The real effective exchange rate (REER) terms (measured against a basket of 36 currencies) showed a value of about 103 in June (the latest data available). This means that adjusted for inflation, the rupee has appreciated a meagre three per cent over its base level of 2004-05. This is partly owing to the fact that over the last couple of years, the Indian currency has underperformed most of its Asian peers. In August the index level should have slipped further on the back of the nominal depreciation.

But there might not be room for complacency. Based on the six-country REER measured against our key trading partners – the US, UK, Japan, China, Eurozone and Hong Kong – the currency looks considerably overvalued. In July, it printed at over 118 (taking 2004-05 as the base), reflecting the large inflation differentials between India and the major buyers of its exports. This lack of competitiveness vis-à-vis trading partners might hurt India's exports as the imperatives of fighting recession get local firms to manufacture products that they usually import. Besides, currency movements are notoriously fickle and the fact that the rupee is depreciating now does not necessarily mean this trend will sustain. There has been a strong flow of external commercial borrowings (a hefty $12 billion in the April-July period itself) on the back of a large difference in local interest rates and those in developed markets. This is likely to continue. Once the equity markets shed their aversion to risk and wake up to the fact that India, despite a slowdown, will grow much faster than both the US and Europe, flows could return to India. The US Federal Reserve seems committed to liquidity easing, and policies like operation twist (where the central bank sells short-term bonds and buys long-term bonds) and ultimately another round of quantitative easing are very much on its menu. These would turn on the spigot of cheap dollars that could chase Indian assets. If there is a gush of dollars in the future, the current account deficit (most forecasters peg it between 2.7 and three per cent of GDP) is unlikely to absorb it entirely. The result could be another round of sharp rupee appreciation. Over the past couple of years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to intervene in the foreign exchange market. It may have continued with this stance in the face of a rising currency to help manage inflation at home and minimise the impact of rising commodity prices. But this could also compromise export growth and exacerbate the slowdown. Perhaps a rethink of RBI's currency policy and some explanation of it would help.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

EDITORIAL

ENCASHING DEMOCRACY

CASH FOR VOTES AND VOTES FOR CASH

The arrest of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh for his alleged involvement in the "cash-for-votes" scam of 2008 has once again drawn attention to the role of money in Indian politics. Paying cash for votes is an old and widespread malaise. There are several levels at which money enters the political process. The lowest, rather simplest, form of such corruption is when candidates contesting elections offer cash incentives to voters. The next level is when candidates offer money to political parties, or influential individuals involved in ticket distribution, to secure nomination. The third level is when an elected legislator offers cash to party bigwigs to buy a berth in the council of ministers. Then there is the cash that legislators earn by asking questions on behalf of various interested parties or by writing letters of recommendation or complaint to government functionaries or others willing to be influenced by such requests. Some of these payments are small change, others hefty sums. Securing a berth in the Rajya Sabha is one of the more expensive things. Political gossip suggests that it used to cost much less before Rajya Sabha MPs started getting important portfolios! In this bazaar of political give and take rarely does anyone get caught. Which is why no member of Parliament has actually been arrested till now on such a charge. Technology has made it possible to organise sting operations and secret recordings which now make it easier to nail someone culpable. Amar Singh's incarceration has set a precedent. It must be added, however, that Mr Singh's culpability has yet to be established in a court of law. Many politicians have been vocal in their condemnation of Mr Singh, but few of them can honestly say that they have not been guilty of using money in one of the forms mentioned above.

While the law will take its course in this case, it is necessary to examine to what extent the charges against Mr Singh taint the vote of confidence of 2008. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Front have said that this "cash for votes" scam makes the July 2008 Lok Sabha vote suspect. This is not necessarily true. The fact remains that less than a handful of MPs have been shown to be involved in this scam, and even here the evidence is not yet clinching. On the other hand, the ruling coalition won with a margin of 17 votes, with 275 votes in favour of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and 256 votes against it. Also, no political party was ready to face the polls at that time and most opposition parties were complicit in the government's victory. So though the "cash-for-votes" sting was staged to embarrass the government, it is still not clear how tainted UPA's victory was.

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BUSINESS STANDARD

TWELFTH PLAN APPROACH

GROWTH PROJECTIONS OUTLINED IN THE APPROACH PAPER MAY BE OVERLY OPTIMISTIC

SHANKAR ACHARYA

The operational relevance of the Planning Commission has declined over several decades. Certainly, in my 15 years in the finance ministry up to 2001, we did not pay much attention to the Planning Commission, except for the squabble over the scale of "gross budget support to the plan" in each year's Budget. Nevertheless, it is the only organisation within the government charged with crafting a medium- and long-term vision of India's economic and social development and securing some degree of semi-formal co-ordination, or at least acceptance, of that view. If the Planning Commission didn't exist, we would have to invent it, though probably not in its present form.

Last week the Planning Commission put its draft Approach to the 12th Plan (henceforth A12P) on its website for comment. So here goes. To begin with compliments, it's a fairly well-written document (especially the Overview chapter), which recognises most of the major challenges that India has to grapple with to sustain high growth over the next five years: uncertain global economic conditions, high energy prices, "limited energy supplies, increase in water scarcity, shortages in infrastructure, problems of land acquisition for industrial development and infrastructure, … the complex problem of managing the urban transition … greater efforts in agriculture, health and education", governance weaknesses in public service delivery and so on. The A12P is forthright in proposing serious policy efforts and reforms in most of these areas.

Nevertheless, there are some clear weaknesses. Here I will focus on just four of them: the context and realism of the overall nine per cent economic growth target, the downplaying of the enormous employment challenge ahead, an inadequate appreciation of the policy impediments to manufacturing and a disappointingly old-fashioned approach towards the social sectors.

Broadly, A12P's approach to setting the nine per cent growth target is to say that the country has achieved 8.2 per cent growth in the 11th Plan (assuming, optimistically, eight per cent in 2011-12) and, therefore, nine per cent seems a reasonable target if we make serious efforts to deal with the various identified challenges. This approach hides more than it reveals. The truth is that the Indian economy already grew at nine (8.9 to be precise) per cent for the five consecutive years, 2003-04 to 2007-08. Since then (and the global crisis) average growth has dropped below eight per cent. What were the ingredients of the 2003-08 growth acceleration and can they be recreated? I suggest they included: a buoyant world economy expanding at four per cent (at market exchange rates), with advanced economies growing at nearly three per cent; moderately benign energy and food prices; the cumulative impact of fairly strong economic reforms undertaken (in spurts) between 1991 and 2003; a surge in gross savings and investment by around 10 percentage points of GDP between 2002-03 and 2007-08, led by a boom in corporate investment, profits and savings and a major improvement in government savings; a serious reduction in the combined fiscal deficit (from over eight per cent of GDP to four per cent), which ushered in low nominal and real interest rates; and a reasonably competitive exchange rate policy.

Recreating these growth-supporting ingredients looks difficult. The advanced economies of America, Europe and Japan (accounting for over half of world GDP) are teetering on the edge of a "second dip" recession. Even if they don't tip over (and that unfortunate outcome appears increasingly likely), most respected analysts expect a prolonged period of slow and halting expansion. Energy and food prices are much higher now and not expected to decline appreciably. In India, the last seven years have seen very little reform to spur competition and productivity. Instead, impediments to land acquisition, environmental clearances and mining access have increased, as have corruption and crony capitalism. Aggregate savings and investment are still fairly high but they have dropped significantly from their 2007-08 peak. The combined fiscal deficit is still around seven to eight per cent of GDP, helping to buttress high interest rates. Exchange rate policy has become conspicuously inactive. Adding these unfavourable "initial conditions" to the challenges outlined by the A12P makes the nine per cent growth target look a lot tougher and perhaps unrealistic.

In fairness, the overview chapter does devote a page to employment/livelihood issues. It recognises that despite the very low increase in total employment (only 18 million in five years on the current daily status basis) between the NSSO large sample surveys of 2004-05 and 2009-10, the unemployment rate dropped a bit because of an unusually low increase in labour force due to a substantial rise in working-age youth enrolled in education. It also appreciates that labour force growth will revert to much larger increases in the 12th Plan and beyond, posing huge challenges for job creation. However, this early attention does not resonate in the chapters on the "Macroeconomic Framework" and "Education and Skill Development". Surprisingly, there is no separate chapter on this crucially important subject, which could have profound effects on the nation's society and polity.

The chapter on "Manufacturing" mentions the enormous importance of this sector for generating job opportunities: "Unless manufacturing becomes an engine of growth providing 100 million additional decent jobs (in the next 15 years), it will be difficult for India's growth to be inclusive". If by "decent" jobs the reference is to those in the organised sector, the chapter sheds little light on how the present total of organised manufacturing jobs of a paltry 6 million (out of a labour force of about 500 million) is to be increased 17-fold in the next 15 years! There is only a brief and muted discussion of the critical constraint of our current job-destroying labour laws. The chapter advances "a new policy paradigm" for manufacturing growth, which seems to boil down to an unconvincing plea for "improving processes for consultation and coordination". A sort of "industrial policy lite"? Regrettably, there is no discussion on important issues such as an appropriate exchange rate policy and fiscal/monetary policies which nurture low interest rates, without which rapid industrial growth will remain a chimera.

Finally, the chapters on the social sectors seem to be rather along traditional lines. They do not outline compelling remedies to the well-known failings of pervasive inefficiency, poor quality, rampant "leakages", lack of accountability and voice (to and of the beneficiaries). In particular, I missed a serious discussion of possible synergies between the roll out of the unique identification programme (Aadhar) and reform of social programmes.

I trust these comments on the approach will not arouse grave reproach from friends in the Planning Commission.

The author is honorary professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and former chief economic adviser to the Government of India

The views expressed are personal

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

STEVE JOBS: THE CEO AS AUTEUR

AJIT BALAKRISHNAN

Steve Jobs, co-founder, visionary and CEO of Apple, whose creations much of the word craves, left centre stage in August this year. He is only 56. His 142-word resignation letter was as minimalist as the design of Apple products. It read: "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

News items about retiring CEOs feature almost daily nowadays and I, for one, barely look at them. But I must confess to shedding a silent tear when I read about this one.

A kaleidoscope of images flashed through my mind: the TV commercial that introduced the first Macintosh; the unveiling of the iPod in 2001 that inaugurated the era of gadgets connected to the Internet; the 2007 launch of the iPhone instantly rendering all other mobile phones obsolete; and, most of all, Mr Jobs' moving speech at Stanford in 2005.

"My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption," he had said describing the painful situation following his birth. His biological parents were Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian, and Joanne Simpson Schieble, an American — they had met as graduate students.

The declaration of the arrival of the Information Age for many of us was the Macintosh computer and the TV commercial that introduced it. The commercial was subtly based on George Orwell's novel 1984. It opened in a dark blue and grey industrial setting with a line of workers marching in lockstep through a long tunnel. A woman appeared carrying a large hammer, chased by security guards in black uniforms. She raced towards a large screen with an image of a Big Brother-like figure, hurled the hammer at it and the screen was destroyed in a flurry of light and smoke. This was followed by a caption that suggested Macintosh would liberate the world from the tyrannical and centralised world that George Orwell had prophesied.

Mr Jobs' resignation has prompted various eulogies, with many aptly calling him America's greatest industrialist ranked right up there with the likes of Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie. But many also made references to his "micro-managing". Such reports make me sad.

I believe Mr Jobs will be remembered the most for his alleged micro-managing. It showed that he was the first "auteur" CEO of a major company. The term auteur, French for author, is used in film theory and holds that a film reflects its director's personal creative vision. In the early days, film-making was seen as an industrial process. Then, directors like Alfred Hitchcock with Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window and Ingmar Bergman with Wild Strawberries, showcasing their distinctive, recognisable style, lifted film-making from its base industrial level.

In the world of management, the CEO is seen by many as the manager of administrative processes. This misunderstanding can be traced back to Alfred Sloan and his famous memoir, My Years with General Motors. Mr Sloan idealised the CEO as a rational, shrewd plutocrat managing a firm with detachment. Much of management theory, keeping industrial era firms in focus, has been based on this. The CEO, in this vision, is seen to be the man on top of the pile, the unemotional head of a command-and-control hierarchy. Even the one emotion that was allowed to him, a messianic belief in the gospel of shareholder value maximisation, has been denied since Jack Welch, the legendary former CEO of GE, has dismissed that as "the dumbest idea in the world".

Mr Jobs' place in management history is assured for being the role model CEO who spent most of his waking hours obsessing about making their products "insanely great".

His auteur touch was evident when the iPhone debuted in 2007. The mobile phone industry was dumbfounded. The keyboard, once seen integral to a mobile phone, had disappeared, replaced by a software keyboard animated by touch. The rest of the industry spent the next four years trying to catch up with this.

A new reality had appeared. Even for physical products, the software platform on which they were built and their aesthetic usability became the source of competitive advantage. Manufacturing the physical part of the product contributes so little to the competitive advantage that it is outsourced to low-cost producers.

And like Hitchcock and Bergman, the "micro-managers" of film-making, auteur CEO Steve Jobs lifted the modern firm out of the Industrial Age and brought it into the Information Age.

ajitb@rediffmail.com

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

FEAR AND HOPE IN THE PACIFIC

THE THREAT OF CLIMATIC DOOM DRIVES THE ISLAND NATIONS TO TURN TO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

BARUN ROY

The tiny island nations of the Pacific, strewn like pearls across the vast body of the ocean and hardly visible on the map, have begun to write an alternative energy story of which the world may soon take notice. Their efforts are still small, and successes modest, but there's a growing realisation that fossil fuels make little sense when their supply of sunshine and wind is abundant enough to take care of all their current and future energy needs.

Take Cook Islands. Like most other Pacific countries, it currently depends almost entirely on imported fuels. This archipelago of 15 volcanic islands, with a total land area of only 240 sq km and a population of 19,000, has just announced a target of producing 50 per cent of its electricity from alternative sources by 2015 and 100 per cent by 2020. "It's an ambitious target but not an impossible one," says Cook Prime Minister Henry Puna.

For a speck of a country like Cook, even a 2-Mw solar plant is ambitious, but that's what it's going to set up on the outer island of Aitutaki (population: 2,000). Rarotonga, where the bulk of Cook's population lives, will have a 2-Mw wind power station, to be built with assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

Since demand is small, success will be easy to achieve. Examples of small successes already abound all over the Pacific. Last April, in Solomon Islands, 50 solar home systems were installed on the island of Santa Ana to provide electricity for over 300 people, while a solar/bio-fuel hybrid system perfectly meets the requirements of Guadalcanal's only health centre in Aola. Household solar lighting was introduced in Nauru last year and almost the entire complement of street lights in its capital, Yaren, is hooked to solar power. New Caledonia has an extensive programme of wind power. In Kiribati, solar cookers and LED lighting are getting increasingly popular.

Fiji is even more ambitious, and perhaps more serious. The government there intends to meet 90 per cent of the country's electricity needs from renewable sources as early as 2012. A wind farm, with 37 turbines, has been set up on the main island of Viti Levu, supplying 10 Mw of electricity through a power grid. To encourage more such initiatives, Fiji Development Bank has announced a lending programme for individuals and groups, while Fiji National University's College of Engineering, Science and Technology is offering a bachelor's degree in renewable energy technologies.

The island nations' interest in alternative energy derives from an almost mortal fear of a likely climatic Armageddon. If global warming lets sea levels continue to rise, they feel they might simply disappear from the face of the earth in another 50 years. Tuvalu's Deputy Prime Minister Tavau Teii voiced this concern when he told an environmental conference in Seoul last year: "All countries must make an effort to reduce harmful emissions and check global warming before it's too late for countries like ours."

That's what Cook Prime Minister Puna also said when he announced his government's alternative energy targets. "It's important we practice what we preach, to mitigate the harmful effects on our environment," he observed. "It's important we get on and do something about it," he added.

To help the Pacific nations overcome energy barriers, a Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project, or PIGGAREP, was launched in 2007 with a $5.23 million initial funding from the Global Environment Facility. The five-year project is now in its fourth year, with the United Nations Development Programme as the implementing agency. Even as some progress has been made, a lot still remains to be done. Some of the 11 nations covered by the project still don't have enough people with basic project skills, and a workshop was recently organised to educate them in simple things like writing project proposals.

In a similar initiative, the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) runs a $66 million fund committed by Japan for renewable energy development, with an emphasis on solar power and desalination plants. A management unit for the fund was established last December in Suva, Fiji, and Samoa recently became the first Pacific country to obtain a $4 million grant from the fund that will help it implement a 400 kwp (kilowatt-peak) solar photovoltaic project.

We haven't yet seen a rush of projects on the ground, but PIGGAREP and PEC have certainly helped test the waters and spread alternative energy awareness throughout the Pacific community. When PIGGAREP comes in for an assessment and evaluation this October, the experience of the last four years will certainly influence its course for the future. The Pacific countries know they've quite a long way to go. But they've the motivation to make the journey and it's growing all the time, driven by that lurking fear of an impending climatic doom.

rbarun@gmail.com

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BUSINESS STANDARD

COLUMN

CORRUPTION: MYTH AND REALITY

WE CANNOT BLAME ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION FOR ITS PROLIFERATION NEITHER CAN WE EXPECT ANY SINGLE MEASURE TO RID OUR SOCIETY OF IT

B K CHATURVEDI

The idea of corruption is one that every citizen understands, unlike some of the other complex concepts that require a lot of background and training. People understand that corruption occurs when public services are available not on the payment of legitimate fees but when a lot of additional money that has not been mandated by government rules has to be paid. There are other facets of corruption, such as illegitimate money being made in the implementation of government schemes or award of contracts or public procurement, and allocation of natural resources like mining leases.

Recently, several people have argued that the economic liberalisation has given rise to increased corruption. With greater public awareness, a strong Press and electronic media portraying the gaps in governance, a strong impression has emerged that corruption has become worse. The rising expectations of people for good governance and a cleaner system of administration have strengthened this view.

Let us contrast this perception with the assessment of organisations that are measuring corruption globally. One of the organisations that does this is Transparency International (TI). It publishes Indices of corruption for various countries on a scale of 1 to 10. Admittedly there are inadequate measures as these involve perception-based measurement. As a secular trend of rising expectations of good governance, however, it may be useful. The data shows that the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for India has improved from 2.8 in 2000 to 3.3 in 2010. As against this, the global average has worsened by 15.6 per cent during this period. The Indices showed that perception in China has marginally improved. For the other major emerging economies like Brazil, this Index has gone down from 3.9 to 3.7.

The World Bank Index that is measured on a scale of (-)2.5 to (+)2.5 showed a marginal improvement from (-)0.41 to (-)0.33 for India. For China, it showed a sharp worsening from (-)0.23 to (-)0.53. The data also shows that India, which was in the last quartile of most corrupt countries, is now somewhere in the middle according to the TI Index. This data does not support the view of worsening corruption. If anything these show a marginal improvement in Indian economic structure in respect of corruption. We are perhaps measuring ourselves against a rising benchmark of people's expectations.

Economic reforms dismantled the licence-permit raj. The philosophy behind this policy was to abolish opportunities for corruption. Prevention of corruption through systemic change was critical to these changes. Huge transaction costs involved in the process disappeared at one go. The reduction of rates of both income tax and customs demolished another wall of corruption. Economic reforms enabled faster growth and brought economic prosperity. I recall the seventies and eighties when getting a telephone connection was considered a huge privilege. One was always in the queue which was almost never-ending. I recall the massive shortage of cotton yarn for weavers in the seventies. I also recall how edible oil was so scarce that even well-off people had to wait for months before using the limited stocks. For better-off middle class families getting a Vespa scooter was a privilege. All this has changed because of the faster growth of the economy and expansion of production. The growth process has, however, thrown up new challenges. We need to apply the "prevention of opportunity for corruption" philosophy and need further reforms.

Economic growth has led to bigger revenues and new or expanded areas of economic activity. Mobile telephony, PPP in infrastructure sector, coal and iron ore mining are some such areas. It has led to the rapid expansion of government budgets. These changes have provided new areas for corruption. Transparency in decision-taking in all these areas is an important and critical requirement for reducing corruption. The procedures have to be such that effective competition is promoted. Reducing competition on grounds of some procedural infirmity will not serve people's interest. Putting the list of qualified bidders on the websites in public procurements would go a long way in doing so. Similarly, in the case of natural resources, transparent procedures including e-auctions have to be devised. There are other areas of public policy that may give rise to corruption. The watchword in all these has to be transparency, equity and social audit.

Recent experience has shown that good governance can improve public service delivery and reduce corruption. Common citizens are harassed much more by poor governance than any other factor. For this, laws and procedures have to be simplified so that citizens get services without having to run from one official to the other. Systemic changes are extremely crucial for reducing corruption. Public services delivery that involves discretion with officials or too many complicated forms often leads to intermediary agents requiring illegal money. Technology can change this. Use of Information Technology (IT) by Railways has led to very sharp reduction in corruption in Railway reservations. Recent improvements in tax refunds to income tax payers are another example. The use of IT and UID can bring in major changes for delivery of public services. The effective implementation of simplified IT procedures, abolishing unnecessary certifications and trusting citizens can reduce corruption enormously. It is much more important to prevent corruption rather than to punish people after it has occurred. Citizens do not benefit very much if they know that an individual who had used illegal methods has been punished. Rather, they would be interested in the faster and easy delivery of services made available efficiently.

An important part of systemic change is setting up new courts and appointing an adequate number of judges to try the guilty. If people who are accused of corruption are punished quickly, it acts as a deterrent. If, however, these linger on then the effectiveness of punishment gets drastically reduced. Special courts, a larger number of courts and special independent investigative wings that ensure this are important components of punishing the guilty. Measures for confiscation of property of public servants who are accused of corruption is another important measure. This needs to be pursued relentlessly so that the culprits cannot get away with ill-gotten wealth. An effective Lok Pal Act will address many of these concerns.

No single measure can reduce or finish corruption. That any single measure will bring a corruption-free society is clearly a myth. The experience, especially in Hong Kong and Singapore, has shown that there are no parallels to it. The reality is that a strong independent Lok Pal is a cardinal and key component of reforms on corruption. However, this has to be supported by a whole host of measures on systemic reforms for preventing corruption. The myth that corruption has increased because of economic reforms is unfounded. The demolition of the licence-permit raj and expansion of the economy led to rapid growth, increased individual incomes and improved service delivery of a range of public goods including telephones and gas connections. What is, however, required now is a move forward and a new set of reforms to ensure that economic reforms attain their objective fully.

The author is Member, Planning Commission. These views are personal

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

TERROR DOESN'T PAY

THE DELHI ATTACK IS ANOTHER COWARDLY, FUTILE ATTEMPT TO PUSH UNTENABLE GOALS

If an email sent to media houses proves to be authentic, then the bomb attack outside Delhi High Court that took more than 10 lives and left scores injured, was organised by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). HuJI wants the death sentence of Afzal Guru, one of the organisers of 2001's attack on Parliament, to be commuted. Otherwise, it promises more attacks outside Indian courts, including the Supreme Court in the heart of Delhi. HuJI, or any other terror outfit, should have known that bomb blasts, or violence targeting innocents, will never get the Indian state to accept any demand. If anything, the popular revulsion that is triggered by such acts, turns sympathies sharply away from anything that extremists demand. The Pakistani sponsors of the deadly 26/11 assault on Mumbai wanted to strike fear into the heart of people in every Indian city. It did not succeed, not for a moment. The pro-liberation Assamese organisation Ulfa lost every shred of popular sympathy after it resorted to the cowardly tactic of bombing people indiscriminately in crowded places like schools and markets.
We condemn this act of terror and urge the government to spare no resources to track down the culprits. If the right people are apprehended quickly and convicted successfully, it will prove the efficiency and effectiveness of India's counter-terrorism forces. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is in charge of the investigation. This is appropriate: after all the NIA was created by statute in December 2008, less than a month after the attack on Mumbai. The NIA's remit runs across the country and is not limited by police or state jurisdictions; so we hope that it will not be hobbled by inter-departmental confusions and squabbles that slow down probes. Under the provisions of the NIA Act, special courts, working round the clock, will hear terror-related cases like this blast, making sure that the judicial delays that choke our systems are no hindrance in these probes. Terror doesn't pay. The NIA should prove that. However, to foil terror, wider popular vigilance is of the essence. Intelligence and information must filter through to the police, for which public trust and solidarity are key.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

BITTER-SWEET

THE SPIRIT OF THE BORDER DEMARCATION WITH BANGLADESH IS A TEMPLATE FOR THE REGION

The failure to achieve a water-sharing agreement, touted as a centerpiece of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh, should not detract from the momentousness of the two nations agreeing on a demarcation of borders. However, even as the withdrawal from the PM's delegation by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was unseemly, it is clear that border states must have considerable say on agreements such as on water-sharing. It is a fact that sharing of water resources is a vexed problem, both within states and the wider region. Doomsayers even conjure scenarios where the issue can spark conflict, given that India has watersharing issues with Pakistan and Nepal, apart from Bangladesh. The point, however, would be to turn scarcity of water resources into an opportunity for mutual, regional cooperation. It is true that extant bilateral agreements on this front have been working well in South Asia, notwithstanding some disputes that flare up now and then. South Asia remains one of the more volatile regions in the world, where the water issue has deep resonances given that the countries locked in disputes have large agrarian populations. In a larger context, therefore, what is needed is a comprehensive regional policy on sharing this precious, scarce resource, which would enjoin the parties concerned to eschew political posturing.

That Bangladesh, with an India-friendly regime led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is miffed at the expected deal on sharing the Teesta river waters falling through is evident in statements emanating from Dhaka. The latter has also indicated that India's desire for transit rights through Bangladesh to the Northeast is linked to the water agreement. What needs to be done is to take the spirit of the historic border demarcation — with its unprecedented, and eminently sensible, exchange of lands in each other's possession, giving thousands of people a chance at a life without unsettled-status — and apply it to the water-sharing problem. The PM's visit displayed that bitter regional disputes can be settled amicably. That can be a template for the whole region.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

AGRA DECLARATION

ASYLUM FOR ASSANGE MAY NOT BE THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH EXPOSES

Mayawati was clearly under the illusion that Julian Assange was an inventor of scurrilous gossip rather than merely a purveyor of it, and therefore erroneously deemed him fit to be an inmate of the asylum in Agra. She will undoubtedly be brought up to speed soon on how WikiLeaks operates and may then realise that the flurry of gossipy cables has actually revealed the US diplomats' alarming lack of a sense of balance instead. Indeed, the inmates of Roosevelt House in New Delhi's Shantipath do betray a propensity to soak up all sorts of tittle-tattle and relay everything gleefully to Washington DC without much verification. There could be enormous logistical problems, however, if Mayawati then decides that all writers of leaked US cables over the years have lost their marbles and therefore deserve sabbaticals in the same city where Shahjehan and Mumtaz Mahal lie entombed in pristine Makrana.

Those smarting from the WikiLeaks revelations would probably welcome the idea of Assange being put away permanently, but his offer to act as a personal shopper for Mayawati in return for asylum (albeit of a different kind) should also set off alarmbells in our corridors of power. If a planeload of shoes can get him a toehold in India, there is no telling what Assange could do in this market rich in scams and secrets. With sting operations stung by court restrictions and whistleblowers intimidated by official inaction on their individual revelations, the presence of Assange could instil a new enthusiasm among the disaffected to dig out what the government deems secret. After all, WikiLeaks has put a chaotic spin on the whole issue of Right to Information, flaunting a healthy catholicism when it comes to exposes — everyone is fair game, and wholesale is better than retail.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

MIXED-SCANNING MODEL FOR SLUMS

EXPERIENCE SHOWS THAT IT GIVES THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK AND A RELIABLE INSTRUMENT FOR RAJIV AWAS YOJANA

The recent launch of the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) by the government of India to create slum-free cities has occurred against the backdrop of an interesting exploration by the government — to allow cities to learn from practice to inform practice in which, first, pilot cities were allowed to craft contextualised strategies from the learning acquired from earlier slum renewal programmes and the present needs and priorities of slumdwellers and, second, to use the city-specific strategies so developed as inputs to design the RAY policy document. The opportunity was used by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to use Amitai Etzioni's notion of "mixedscanning" to design a comprehensive slum-free city strategy. The purpose was to make Hyderabad slum-free by providing houses to all disadvantaged homeless, the underlying idea being that pucca houses are effective anti-poverty tools because they prevent spread of disease (provide ventilation and sanitation), provide opportunities to get out of poverty (children have lights to study) and provide a general sense of security (strong and not flimsy and flammable) through securing property rights, connecting housing to property rights and generally upgrading physical infrastructure.

Broadly, two approaches are followed in slum improvement programmes. In the technicalrational approach, household surveys are used to prepare project reports supported by "disempowering techniques of participation". In this approach, we try to do too much too early and often are compelled to adjust plans after initiation, the scaling down makes the revised plans bear little resemblance to the original and the a posteriori consensus building delays the programme. Alternatively, the completely bottom-up approach with exclusive focus on processes, as opposed to outcomes, does less than necessary and later than necessary; moreover, policy design remains a challenge because the pilot experiences are difficult to replicate or upscale. Etzioni's mixed-scanning strategy used by the GHMC to create the slum-free plan integrated the two approaches and the practice framework consisted of three parts: a procedure for information collection, a strategy to allocate resources and guidelines that relate the two, followed by validation of the strategy components through citizen involvement.

The information collection procedure consisted of a livelihood survey done in a prescribed matrix by community development societies, not by external agents. Slum information showed diverse types of land ownership (e.g., rented, government and private land), home location (e.g., low and high value, slums on hazardous land), disparate housing mix (e.g., pucca, semi-pucca, katcha), different levels of available infrastructure and distinct socioeconomic characteristics. Based on the slum information, comprehensive guidelines were prepared. One set of guidelines consisted of classifying the hard infrastructure based on type of location (hazardous or non-hazardous), land tenure (unstable — more than 90% houses on encroached land; all other stable), type of houses (0% katcha— housing not required; < 75% katcha — housing moderately required; > 75% katcha— housing strongly required) and land values (high value slum if land value > . 10,000/sq yard; low value if < . 10,000/sq yard).

The other guidelines applied land value, need for relocation and nature of land tenure to decide on implementation models. For 779 slums with stable tenure located on high value lands, private-public partnership was proposed; for 585 slums with stable land tenure located on low value lands including households having special socioeconomic needs (e.g., high indebtedness levels, single mom households) that called for greater support from the government, public-public partnership was planned; and the balance106 slums classified as unstable or requiring only infrastructure upgradation were to be directly implemented by the GHMC.
The guidelines applied to the slum information led to five broad contextualised strategies. One, for slums having all pucca houses, only deficiencies in infrastructure were addressed; two, in slums having katcha and pucca houses, the gap-filling strategy consisted of conversion of katcha houses to pucca and making up the deficient infrastructure; three, remodelling was planned for slums having great number of katcha houses and the purpose was to develop anew layout; and five, combination of remodelling and gap-filling for slums having joint characteristics of slums in strategies two and three. Recall that stakeholders participation had started with the entrustment of household survey to community development societies; additionally, strategy components were validated in the area sabha meetings and the slum strategy was included as part of a larger slum development plan being prepared by the ward committees.
In short, the policy implication arising from the framework based on Etzioni's approach is that the central government may prescribe the analytical framework and a reliable and valid instrument to collect information that articulates the needs and priorities of slum households, leaving other components of the mixed-scanning process consisting of guidelines creation and strategy design to the cities. Additionally, the slum strategy is expected to connect to earlier slum development initiatives, bring about the convergence of all human and financial resources to meet the RAY goals and provide stable land titles to slum households. Finally, the empowerment of slum people occurs through the mediation of area sabhas that give them the autonomy to act on their behalf and slum upgradation is not an offline, stand-alone activity, but part of a comprehensive ward development plan.
(Views are personal)

SAMEER SHARMA CIVIL SERVANT

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

NEURAL NET

LESSONS ON 'CONTROLLING' THE ECONOMY

AVINASH CELESTINE

It was 50 years ago, in 1961, or maybe a year or two before, that C Rajagopalachari derisively termed the economic policy of the time as "permitlicence-quota raj". Over the next few decades, it was a term that would come to signify everything that was wrong about the Indian economy and its vast system of quotas and controls.
But governments need to 'learn' how to administer and control — it doesn't come naturally (and mere rhetoric of socialism is of little practical help). It was during the second World War, under the British Raj, that the Indian state first learnt its critical lessons in how to control and administer a licence raj. The lessons were only halflearnt, and many may wish such lessons had never been learnt at all.

The similarities between a government mobilising itself for war, and a government trying to run a socialist command economy are obvious. In the case of a war economy, it is clear what needs to produced and what doesn't (more guns, less butter). Resources have to be diverted from the private sector and towards the war effort, through taxation, quota and rationing of consumption goods (in a socialist economy you want to divert resources towards heavy industry and infrastructure). And since rationing often leads to a black market, you have to be able to crack down on hoarders. So you need a vast network of government officials and police to keep tabs on which trader has how much of what product. In Britain's case (from where the idea was imported), such a system of controls, quotas and rationing worked relatively efficiently. In India's case, given that the government had little experience of running such a system, it was a recipe for chaos, confusion and above all, corruption.

It was not just a lack of experience, of course. This was after all a colonial economy run by a government faced with huge hostility from a burgeoning national movement, with strong links to the very trader and industrialist class that had to be brought to heel. "The first essential [sic] is to realise that 'control' in India is a mere shadow of the control exercised by the governments of the USA and Britain," wrote a correspondent of The Times of India in 1943. "Because of political dissension in this country, the Indian government must, of necessity, temper control with tact." To get around this, the government chose the path of co-option: for instance, the textiles control board, set up by the government to help the textiles commissioner administer the controls on cloth and yarn, was dominated by mill owners and merchants. It was the same in many other industries.
Thus began the 'control order' raj. In 1939 came the Rent Control Order in Delhi, which was the precursor to the Delhi Rent Act still in force till today. In 1943 came the infamous controller of capital issues, to whom companies had to make a beeline whenever they wanted to raise capital. The controller of capital issues would eventually only be done away with in the 1991 reforms. There were controls on movements of foodgrains across states, on the supply of machine tools, on newsprint, on automobile batteries, on essential drugs and dozens of other products. With the control order raj grew a vast bureaucracy of babus to enforce the controls.
But why were controls not dismantled when the guns fell silent and why were they allowed to persist for years or even decades? The ideology of the new Indian government was, of course, markedly socialist, but there were more practical problems. Both India and the global economy were still in a state of crisis when the war ended and global shortages of consumption goods were expected to continue for many years.
There are various ways to deal with shortages, but the Indian government knew only one from experience. 'Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't', is an important (if unacknowledged) rule of administration. Controls would continue for many years, but the rationale for them would shift gradually, from running a war to running a command economy.

A final irony. In a speech in September 1945, a senior Congress leader strongly advocated the continuance of control despite the war having ended. Controls, the leader said, were the beginning of the nationalisation of trade and commerce. Any attempt to remove the controls would lead to inequality and social unrest. That leader was C Rajagopalachari.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

CURSOR

ANNA AND THE MARUTI STRIKE

T K ARUN

You have the right to: Organize a union to negotiate with your employer concerning your wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Form, join or assist a union. Bargain collectively through representatives of employees' own choosing for a contract with your employer setting your wages, benefits, hours, and other working conditions. Discuss your terms and conditions of employment or union organizing with your co-workers or a union.
Take action with one or more co-workers to improve your working conditions by, among other means, raising work-related complaints directly with your employer or with a government agency, and seeking help from a union.

Strike and picket, depending on the purpose or means of the strike or the picketing.
Choose not to do any of these, including joining or remaining a member of a union."

Does this strike you as something straight out of the Soviet Union, or at least from pre-Mamata West Bengal? After all, middle class India's conventional wisdom holds unions to be troublemakers who kill productivity and economic growth. So, it would be natural to think that the notice cited above belongs to a contrived workers' paradise. In reality, this is a notice the US government wants employers to prominently display at the workplace, except in some industries.

How come the most capitalist of capitalist countries shows such tolerance, if not actual encouragement, of unions? This is because unions straddle, besides the economic sphere, the political one as agents of democracy. They articulate, at the workplace, the freedom of association, enshrined in the First Amendment and the bill of rights.

This is a link that eludes the great Indian middle class, incandescent, these days, with rightful rage against rotten politics and corrupt politicians. The Indian middle class is happy to take to the streets with the national flag, scented candles and Anna's praise. But what do they have to say, on the labour unrest at Maruti or the Gurgaon-Manesar belt in general? Precious little, when it is not abuse.

Such schizophrenia on democracy is not entirely unnatural, given the manner in which India got this form of governance.

Western societies that established the paradigm of democracy as the post-colonial ideal for countries like India did so after hard internal struggles. The revolutions of 19th century Europe had universal adult franchise as their foremost demand. Democracy was a hard-won right, inspired by thinkers, backed by the rising class of capitalists, who wanted freedom from feudal constraints, and fought for, on the ground, by the working people, organised into unions and otherwise. In India, the freedom struggle schooled a large number of people, steeped in a tradition of the worst kind of social hierarchy and inequality, in democracy. These were yet a tiny fraction of the Indian population. The Constitution of independent India adopted democracy as the country's form of government, thrusting it on a premodern society, which is still in the process of evolving to realise constitutional norms. Unions are a vital instrumentality of modernity and democracy. General Douglas MacArthur, who led the US occupation of Japan after the end of World War II, actively encouraged unionisation of the workforce, so as to guard against Japan's return to militarism. By 1947, 48% of the non-agricultural workforce had been unionised, thanks to his strenuous efforts. Coupled with extensive land reforms, this piece of social engineering helped relaunch Japan as a miracle economy. A military leader's enlightenment eludes the Indian elite, unfortunately.

For an enterprise, its workers are a cost that must be held down. However, for the rest of the economy, those workers are its market. If all enterprises succeed in keeping their own wages as low as possible, the result would be to repress the domestic market for industry's produce. Only if workers have sufficient purchasing power, and sufficient leisure to read, listen to music, watch movies and eat out, can a diversified economy thrive.
What is rational for individual enterprises is irrational at the level of the larger economy. Unions are the only agency that can pierce the insularity of individual enterprises to let in the light of macro-level sense.
Unions, on their part, must appreciate their constructive role in society. Industrial action that sabotages an enterprise's viability or damages its credibility with customers is just not acceptable.
It is a matter of shame that workers have to go on prolonged strike to gain essential recognition as workers or unions. Maruti and other employers need to see themselves and their workers as integral players in India's ongoing modernisation. If industry wants less corruption and more accountable governance, they must accept unions as agents of the needed democratic deepening.

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BUSINESS LINE

OPINION

ON HIGH GROUND

The Cabinet's approval of the draft Land Acquisition Bill, with some modifications, comes at a time when the issue is hotting up across the country. Mr Rahul Gandhi is banking on troubles around land acquisition in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Anna Hazare has listed it in his future agenda. The Left Front had to pay a heavy price in West Bengal because of mishandling the land issue. Innumerable projects are in limbo as the States grapple with agitations. So the Bill has been on the centre-stage. Mr Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Rural Development, has made it clear in the introduction to the draft Bill that the Government's effort would be to balance industrialisation with livelihood concerns of those whose land is being acquired. He is also looking as pleased as punch that 90 per cent of what he had proposed has been retained.

But the remaining 10 per cent could pose major difficulties for the passage of the Bill. Reason: The modifications approved by the Cabinet have left both the private sector and farmers unhappy. For example, the proposal to ban acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land has been diluted. The new Bill now proposes to permit acquisition of such land for linear projects of the Government and up to five per cent of irrigated land in a particular district. The compensation proposals, too, have been watered down. The earlier draft had favoured six times the market price for rural areas against four times in the cleared Bill. But urban areas will be compensated at double the market price, as proposed earlier. The catch, however, is that unlike the earlier draft, the relief and rehabilitation package will now apply only when private firms buy 100 acres or more in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas. There was a clause in the earlier draft that if the stated purpose for which land is acquired is not fulfilled in five years, the land should be returned to its original owner. This has now been changed to 10 years, after which the land will be transferred to state land banks. Meanwhile, the private sector is unhappy that the cost at which it can now acquire land has increased. But this will surely make it economise on land use. The practice of firms acquiring thousands of acres for future expansion will stand moderated. However, there is a great deal of merit in its grievance that the definition of 'affected' persons has been expanded to the levels that will not only create financial problems but also administrative ones relating to identification. This could open up a lucrative area of corruption.

In the final analysis, however, the Government has done well. It would now be well advised to quickly iron out the wrinkles and get the Bill passed in the winter session of Parliament, not only because this will help industrial investment but also because Mr Rahul Gandhi will have something to take to the voters in the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere.

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BUSINESS LINE

OPINION

CORRUPTION AND ROCKET SCIENCE

K. KRISHNA KUMAR

Non-linear dynamics is rocket science, in every sense of the word. An interesting book Optimal Control of Non-linear Process, with applications in drugs, corruption and terror by Grass et.al, published by Springer, explores the link between two seemingly unrelated disciplines — non-linear dynamics and corruption. The result is interesting, to say the least. This article summarises the findings of the study reported in the book.

A dynamic model is a mathematical abstraction of a real life situation. It is extensively used in engineering, sciences, economics and business. The model uses a quantity, many times physical, called a variable and studies its status with time. The book uses two models — a simple model to understand the corrupt population and a more complicated one to bring out the dynamics of political corruption.

Punishment and graft

The first model of interest to us is a one-dimensional model, involving one variable, the proportion of corrupt population. The model is built on the premise that people flit between being corrupt and honest depending on the difference between the utility of being corrupt, in terms of wealth, power etc., and the punishment or the deterrent. Further, honest people become corrupt by their contact with the corrupt.

The important question is whether there can be an equilibrium. Equilibrium is a state when disturbed, will not be pulled away but return to its original state, like a marble sitting in a trough. In simple words, will the ratio of honest to corrupt population reach a constant? The model shows that this will never happen! In the language of mathematics, it is an unstable equilibrium. With time, a country can only be totally honest or corrupt, a zero or one situation. Ironically, that is what we are witnessing now, an exponential progress towards total corruption. Assume, for a moment that there exists a nation which is totally honest and no laws for anti-corruption.

In this country, the model predicts that even one black sheep can pull the nation towards disaster at an exponential rate. Applying this to our country, where the corruption percentage is high, if the deterrent is lukewarm, the nation would race to total corruption.

The model gives a ray of hope. If the punishment is severe, and the population has a small percentage of honest people, the nation will become corruption free with time. The time depends on the two factors, benefit due to corruption and the severity of law against it.

Three factors at play

In order to analyse the corruption in politics, the authors graduate to a higher dimension. We now have three factors which are intertwined. The popularity of the politician, public awareness of corruption brought out by popular movements, press and judiciary and the extent of corruption. The resulting mathematical model is formidable. The politicians optimise the popularity and corruption. Though the results can be expressed quantitatively, let us understand it qualitatively.

The model assumes that the politicians are not corrupt, simply because it hurts their popularity. That popularity is affected by campaigns. When popularity increases, corruption increases, a scene we have seen time and again in Indian politics! There is a time lag between the corruption and the campaigns. It takes time to realise the extent of corruption.

This is again a scenario we have seen in many scams in recent times. The politicians sense the growing criticism and loss of popularity and the rate of corruption takes a southward march. Because of the time lag, corruption reaches its nadir even when the popular uprising is high. Since the driving force for the anti-corruption lobby is corruption itself, the campaign loses steam and comes down. The popularity of politicians is at a low and the campaign is low.

Interestingly, corruption starts to rise again at this point and the people do not realise it. The time lag works in the favour of politicians. The model shows that there can never be an equilibrium. Corruption is a cycle. It keeps oscillating around a mean. The peak and the trough above and below the mean need to be worked out. Nevertheless, the only way to keep it in check is a powerful campaign.

So what do we learn from this model? This country requires severe anti-corruption laws. A mild protracted action may do more harm. And Anna Hazare and his group cannot rest. Fighting corruption is a never-ending exercise.

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BUSINESS LINE

REVOLT OF THE INFLUENTIAL

NARENDAR PANI

Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption has been widely perceived as a conflict between parliamentarians and civil society. But when we see the contours of this campaign, particularly its focus on getting Parliament to accept a specific version of a Lokpal Bill, it is perhaps more accurately described as a conflict between Parliament and those outside the electoral system who would like to influence policy.

Such conflicts are not new, with the relationship between elected representatives and policy-influencing elite having a long history since Independence. Seen in this context, the recent battle on the Lokpal Bill may well be an indication of the strength of parliamentarians rather than a weakness.

Soon after Independence, India faced the challenge of handing over power to parliamentarians elected by a largely illiterate population. While their ability to reflect conditions on the ground was quite well developed, their intellectual abilities were not always so. Nehru met this challenge by setting up a Planning Commission filled with those who he believed had the intellectual ability to take the country forward.

This Nehruvian version of the policy-making elite took policy away from some of the intellectual trends of the national movement. It effectively converted the ideas of the man who led the largest mass movement of the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi, into the impractical ranting of an idealist. In the process, it defined the goal-posts of all policy-making as the existing ideological categories of Right and Left, allowing Nehru to speak of a 'Mixed Economy'.

This Planning Commission-led policy-making elite had its successes, notably the Second Plan. But by the time of the famine in the mid-1960s and the Plan holiday that followed, it had lost some of its sheen.

Policy-influencing

As Indira Gandhi moved from large Plan models to the specific doles of Garibi Hatao, the policy-influencing elite took a form closer to that of a kitchen Cabinet. The prime minister's office grew in importance, gaining precedence over ministries populated by elected representatives. The policy influencing elite found a role away from that of elected representatives, based upon the political strength that Indira Gandhi wielded.

Rajiv Gandhi's great insight was that, despite a huge electoral victory, he was extremely wary of relying on his charisma to retain the support of parliamentarians. His anti-defection law virtually guaranteed the support of the elected representatives of his party.

The nature of the law also helped it gain the support of the high commands of other parties keen to keep their flock in control. The policy-influencing elite also provided the discourse that was needed to ensure the complete rejection of the process of changing parties.

With elected representatives no longer in a position to vote against a policy for which the High Command had issued a whip, there was no question of the parliamentarians questioning the policy-influencing elite. A parliamentarian representing, say, a garment exporting area such as Tirupur could not vote against the WTO policy decided by the government, even if it went against the interests of her constituency. The voting records of members of the Congress in the US can be used by the electorate to judge what their elected representative stands for. But in India the forced voting brought about by the anti-defection law makes that impossible.

Reforms by stealth

Narasimha Rao took the process of separating the parliamentarian from policy-making a step further. By creating a separate constituency-specific MPs Local Area Development Fund, he virtually told parliamentarians that their role was to take care of constituency-specific projects, and not to intervene in policy.

He was able to carry out what has been termed 'reforms by stealth' without having to convince individual parliamentarians about specific policies. The unique situation of a Sonia Gandhi-led Congress and a Manmohan Singh-led government allowed for an attempt to institutionalise the role of the policy-making elite, by creating the National Advisory Council.

Members of this Council had, in the past, been able to effectively influence policy, particularly in the case of the Right to Information Bill.

For whatever reason, the NAC was not able to absorb Anna Hazare and his supporters. They moved on to the streets to feed on the contempt the middle-class has for their elected representatives. By doing so, they have fundamentally altered the means through which the policy-influencing elite operates.

It is no longer possible, at least in the case of the Lokpal Bill, to change policy by stealth. Policy-making has been taken from the backrooms and placed in the public domain.

The use of pressure built on the streets to influence policy, as was done by Anna Hazare, is also a domain that few know better than our politicians. A Jayalalithaa or a Mayawati can mobilise crowds far in excess of what Mr Hazare managed. The political class has also demonstrated that it too can play the game of policy by stealth.

The idea of a 'strong' Lokpal Bill that now has universal acceptance could well be used to include provisions that non-government organisations may not like.

The mobilisation of Anna Hazare has broken the quiet bonhomie that existed between the policy-influencing elite and the powers that be. As policy-making enters the public domain, it is quite possible that it will throw up new demands such as reservations in the appointment of Lokpals.

And if that happens, it is possible that those with Anna Hazare will regret letting the genie out of the bottle.

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF 26/11?

It is not unlikely that the evil minds who set off a high-intensity briefcase bomb — which has killed nearly a dozen people and injured many more — at the reception gate of the Delhi high court on Wednesday morning were probably seeking to make a celebratory point on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America which went some way in shaping international relations. And there lies the irony. A "ceremonial" strike can be conceived in the Indian capital, but not in places which might offer international terrorism greater propaganda mileage. (An unverified claim by a terrorist group of acting to get Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's death sentence overturned could be a diversionary tactic.) Given their record of a string of failures, it is hard to imagine that terrorists can even venture to think of hitting the United States at this point: they have come to appreciate that it is extremely difficult to do so. The same is broadly true of Western Europe, where several terror strikes have been clinically thwarted in recent years. But India, sadly, is a different story. Half a dozen terror attacks have occurred in different Indian cities since November 26-28, 2008, when Mumbai was assaulted by Pakistani terrorists in an extraordinary manner. None of these cases has really been solved, although strong suspicions have been voiced from time to time. Our readiness to meet the onslaught of terrorism remains doubtful even after the wake-up call of 26/11. Among key issues to emerge from the attack at the Delhi high court (and the recent one in Mumbai, when several crowded commercial locations were struck simultaneously) is that even elementary fixtures such as CCTV cameras have not been installed in sensitive places. The forensic work is inadequate. Political noises begin to be heard when investigators get on to a particular track. The legal system takes for ever, as the Ajmal Kasab saga underlines. In short, India remains the world's only major democracy which can be attacked by terrorists at virtually no cost, any day of the week, any time of the day. Three years ago, P. Chidambaram was paradropped to replace Shivraj Patil as Union home minister in the wake of 26/11 to instil a sense of confidence, and set in place modern and reliable systems of intelligence gathering and collation, providing real-time data across state borders, equipping local police forces — who are the first line of defence in counter-terrorism, and getting right the system for successful prosecution of criminals inclined towards terrorism. How much of this has materialised, and if not, why? If the political class cares, it should ask these questions in a non-partisan manner.

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

POLITICS BEHIND BARS

IIndian politicians have been shy of getting on to the Twitter wagon, save a few exceptions. Everyone saw the perils of indiscriminate tweeting of views and witticisms after Shashi Tharoor was pulled up for his "cattle class" comment. But Omar Abdullah is made of sterner stuff — he is a regular tweeter, and not a day goes by without some remark or the other from him. Jammu and Kashmir's chief minister has now speculated about the rising number of politicians in Tihar Jail, and wondered what symbol would they choose if they were to form a party! As witticisms go, this is not bad, particularly for a politician, a tribe not usually known for a sense of humour. But quips like this won't really endear him to his colleagues. He must know — strictly as colleagues, of course — many of those now cooling their heels inside jail. As they see their circle of friends dwindle, they will surely be keeping a tab on who made jokes at their expense while they were in trouble. Moreover, politics in Kashmir is also no stranger to corruption, so perhaps Omar would do well to exercise some caution. All the same, it's an intriguing thought. The politicos behind bars are from different parties, from the Congress to the DMK, and now an Independent. What would work for all of them? Our suggestion — a bundle of notes.

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

DELHI, DHAKA AND A HOSTAGE-TAKER

The significance of the Prime Minister's visit to Bangladesh has been obscured by the hubbub over the West Bengal chief minister's refusal to accompany him to Dhaka. Mamata Banerjee was not pleased with the agreement on sharing the water of Teesta river negotiated by New Delhi and Dhaka. The removal of an important treaty from the summit's menu was disappointing indeed. Nevertheless, the importance of the raft of agreements to be concluded by the two Prime Ministers should not be underestimated. The protocol on demarcating the boundary and the resolution of the problem of enclaves and adverse possessions remove two of the thorniest issues between the two countries. These problems have been around since 1947. Solutions remained elusive even after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Of the 4,096-km boundary, a mere 2.4 km remains undemarcated. This may seem trivial. But, despite an agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Mujibur Rahman in 1974, both countries found it politically and psychologically difficult to take a rational view of the problem. The present agreement not only disposes of a lingering problem but also sets the stage for more effective border management. Enclaves and adverse possessions were more tricky problems. Enclaves are small pockets of one country's territory surrounded completely by the territory of the other. Adverse possessions refer to land used by Indians and Bangladeshis which are actually located in the other country. The solution is straightforward: enclaves will be merged with the territory within which they are located. India will give up around 70 sq. km. of enclaves inside Bangladesh and will, in turn, acquire about 30 sq. km. of Bangladesh's enclaves. Adverse possessions, amounting to a total of about 28 sq. km., have also been rationalised. Under the agreement, India will get nearly 16 sq. km. of territory. The other major agreement pertains to trade. India has agreed to remove several items — many of which relate to the garment sector — from the negative list of imports from Bangladesh. The Indian textile industry had bemoaned these moves and demanded more "protection". But New Delhi had to take a wider view of its interests. The overall balance of bilateral trade is heavily tilted in India's favour. India's exports to Bangladesh in the fiscal year 2010-11 stood at $4,570 million while its imports from Bangladesh amounted to $512 million. If anything India could go even further in giving Bangladeshi goods freer access to its markets. Equally important is the recognition of the need to strengthen connectivity — by road, river and rail — between the two countries. Prior to 1947, Bengal, Assam and other parts of the Northeast were linked by an integrated transportation network. This atrophied in the years after 1947, though it did not become completely dysfunctional until the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. Following the liberation of Bangladesh, efforts were made to restore connectivity. But, as on so many other issues, the two countries were not able to seize the moment. The resurrection and upgradation of transportation links will work to the benefit of both sides. India can access its own northeastern states through shorter routes, while Bangladesh can traffic with Nepal and Bhutan besides India. A formal treaty may take a while. In the meantime, both countries can take several steps in this direction. All of this reflects a convergence of strategic views in New Delhi and Dhaka. India realises that its emergence as a global player hinges on its ability to manage its relations with neighbours. This can best be done by pushing for closer economic ties, even if it requires unilateral concessions, coupled with sustained political engagement. Bangladesh recognises both the unprecedented opportunity presented by India's economic growth for its own developmental aspirations and the futility of a confrontational course. The recent agreements, if fully implemented, will not only transform India-Bangladesh relations but also serve as a model for wider efforts at advancing regional cooperation and integration. But there is more to do. For one thing, both countries need to ensure a complete follow-through on the agreements. In the past India-Bangladesh relations have reached turning points but failed to turn. Too often, good intentions have foundered on the rock of bureaucratic sloth and political short-sightedness. The fate of progressive accords signed by Indira and Mujib should be read as a cautionary tale by both sides. For another, India needs to get back to the Teesta negotiations without delay. The question of river waters has always cast a long shadow on our ties with Bangladesh. India's unwillingness to go the extra mile in speedily resolving the dispute over waters released from the Farakka barrage contributed in no small measure to the souring of the relationship from the mid-1970s. New Delhi's latest attempt to tackle the Teesta waters dispute came a cropper mainly because of Ms Banerjee's grandstanding. It cuts a sad contrast with the manner in which the Ganga waters treaty was concluded in 1996. The then chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, played a crucial role in helping negotiate that treaty. Basu's week-long trip to Dhaka in December 1996 broke the gridlock and paved the way for a historic accord. To be sure, New Delhi could do more to involve the states in foreign policy issues that directly impinge upon them. But it is equally incumbent upon the concerned states to shed their provincialism and take a wider view of the national interest. Getting this balance right will be crucial to India's efforts in recasting its ties in the neighbourhood. Srinath Raghavan is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

RETIRED HURT?

Our future lies with white ball By R. Mohan There is a clear case for the BCCI declaring a moratorium on Test cricket for at least a year. Team India may have been No. 1 in the rankings for 20 months right up to about a month ago when they lost the third Test in England. What the 4-0 verdict reflects is that our national team is no great shakes in the Test match arena. To make up for such humiliation, India will prepare turning pitches to suit slow bowling and beat visiting teams here on dust bowls and paddy fields. That will only add to the chimera that the top rank in Test cricket is India's. But Indian cricket's future lies with the white ball, which does not swing so much as the red one. Our batsmen are more at ease in the limited-overs arena as they have been trained to be naturally aggressive since 1983 when India first won the World Cup. Our expertise at the short game was again demonstrated in the first T20 world championship in 2007 as well as in the 2011 World Cup. But not in Test cricket. The purists will be shocked by a proposal to stop playing cricket for a year. But we must. This moratorium on international cricket should be there until things improve in a season or two of intensive first class cricket in which all the stars will then participate and pass on their knowledge and wisdom. That would also be the time to get rid of all the dead wood while assessing new players and preparing them technically and mentally for tough international cricket. There are television rights obligations like a guaranteed 27 days of international cricket in a year for the BCCI to sustain finances for its vast operations. This can be made up by playing more ODIs and also T20s from which boards seem to shy away because they are afraid of its growing popularity and so keep it to one per series as we saw in the England tour and in the Australia-Sri Lanka series. Our best Test players — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman — are well beyond their prime and the next generation of batsmen has little expertise against short-pitched bowling on true and sporting pitches. In the last four seasons India has hardly won Test series abroad against top-rated teams. There is also a declining audience for Test match cricket that is played nowadays to embarrassingly empty stands save in major Test centers like Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. It can be argued the Test grounds in England were full. Before we stand exposed in front of such hopeful people again, Team India must improve its cricket. Regardless of what the cricket world says, the IPL must go on. It is the league that provides our cricketers with financial stability. The IPL is our national league that offers a window of opportunity to the best international cricketers too. This form of the game will be a rage soon enough around the world, including in non-traditional cricket countries and despite its obvious crudities T20 still makes sense as it promises to keep cricket alive. R. Mohan is the Resident Editor of Deccan Chronicle, Chennai * * * Test can't be blamed for all ills By Ajit Wadekar A ban on Test cricket even for a short while is a very bad idea. Test matches will still produce our best players who can adapt to any shorter format. I don't believe we should take defeat in one series so much to heart as to wish to abandon the great training ground that Test cricket is. The Indian team that landed in England was by far the best we've ever sent. Mahendra Singh Dhoni had the finest batting line-up in the world at his disposal, an effective pace-attack leader in Zaheer Khan and the knowledge his side had performed consistently for the last two-three years. England had also been underestimated. Their Ashes victories were no flukes and in their home conditions they are a formidable side with a three-pronged pace attack which is very good at moving the ball. Their batting is far more solid now even if they are not filled with classy stalwarts like India. The problem with a place like England is that until you are fully adjusted and prepared to face the conditions, you'll be very lucky to survive, regardless of how great you are. With the gruelling schedule Team India have had coupled with the lack of rest and extremely short breaks between tours this year, only a super optimist or a fool would have expected Dhoni's men to make any sort of impact there. What India needed to do was to skip the IPL and play in the West Indies Tests and then go straight to England. They did the opposite. That is why we had such poor results. How do you fix this? Taking a cue from England of having separate teams for every format would be a start for India. If every format has a different set of players and the XIs are rotated, we could get back to the top in all formats. Injuries will diminish and the players will be hungrier. Totally stopping Test cricket doesn't make sense. We can't afford to go back to the eras when cricketers were paid peanuts. Instead, let's sift players in terms of their fitness, temperament and form and draft them in three Indian teams. We can keep the captain common but rotate the rest. The likes of Sachin and Dravid should only play Tests, the Suresh Rainas and the Virat Kohlis should appear only in ODIs and the Yusuf Pathans should play the T20s. The times have changed, and we have to change with it. Don't blame Test cricket for all the ills. All of India's greats came from the Test arena. Only today are we talking of specialists and separate squads. I do not recommend that we stop playing Test cricket merely because we got wiped out in England. Test cricket must go on. India still draws a sufficient number of people to the stadiums and millions more watch on television. To say Test cricket is dying is too pessimistic. To put a stop to this format would be to abandon the oldest form of the game that has done so much to bring cricket to its present-day status. Ajit Wadekar is a former India captain whose team won Test series in the West Indies and England in 1970-71

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

FIBRE OF LIFE

The clothes we wear are the closest to our physical at all time. By virtue of this, we are constantly affected by the nature of our clothes and their colour. That's why it is advisable to wear clothes made of natural fibre. Wearing synthetic clothes will transfer on to you the artificial nature of the fabric, making you artificial and taking you away from the real world of nature. The same goes for ladies who wear bindis. Since it affects the Ajna Chakra directly, it is strongly recommended that the bindi be made of natural substances. Unfortunately, nowadays designer bindis are more prevalent than the natural ones. What these ladies are imbibing through their Ajna is only plasticity and artificiality. Within the physical, the natural colour of substances indicates its nature and effect. When you go to a party, you wear bright flashy clothes, but when you go for a prayer meeting, the preference is for subdued pastel shades. Is this an effect of social conditioning or has social conditioning happened because the role of colour in our lives has been understood? The science of colour is an amazing science, and its effect on the physical body is even more amazing. I will discuss about colour in a different article. Today I want to tell you about energy, prana. In temples, priests apply tilak to hundreds of foreheads in a day, with the same thumb or stick. You can imagine the amount of different energies that are getting transferred to your forehead through this simple, seemingly harmless act. On a daily basis, we interact with many people, coming from different walks of life, having different energy patterns. This interaction affects us in one form or the other. Otherwise why would we feel good in the company of some people and irritated and agitated after meeting some? Have we thought why an eight-hour outing in a hill station is refreshing while eight hours in an office completely drain you of your energies? The reason is interchange of the energies. Prana is the force that pervades the universe; it is actually "the force" in the universe. Pranic energy, vibrating at zillions of frequencies, manifests itself as each and every object of creation, giving it a different shape, size and mental and physical state of being. This prana also manifests as the "life-force" that keeps the body alive. The other sources of prana are the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the environment we are in, the sounds we hear, the land we stand on, the people we interact with, etc. Since our environment constantly affects us, it translates onto our physical, resulting in changing our pranic composition on a regular basis. This is why rishis choose to live in isolation, in a clean environment. Yogi Ashwini is an authority on yoga, tantra and Vedic sciences. He is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation.

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

THE RURAL MESS

MISS BANERJEE SOUNDS THE ALERT

WITH little or nothing beyond the tentative in the report-card for the first 90 days, the West Bengal Chief Minister is now distinctly targeting the 200-day span. If Tuesday's Cabinet meeting is any indication, there also appears to be a change in focus with the stress on rural Bengal. Hence the emphasis on such departments as micro and small-scale industries, fisheries, forests, irrigation and food processing. Critically enough, she sounded less than confident about what can possibly be achieved, if at all. Hence perhaps the warning to ministers over non-performance. The areas under the scanner are integral to the stability of the rural economy; yet there doesn't appear to have been the slightest progress since the present dispensation took over. Rural governance can't be monitored from the confines of Writers' Buildings or from any of the bhavans in Salt Lake. And the Chief Minister didn't put too fine a point on it when she told her Cabinet colleagues to "go to the districts and monitor the progress of work" instead of accepting "reports from officials". Clearly, the official feedback has been discounted; it can as often as not be misleading as the CPI-M had belatedly realised in the context of Nandigram. In a word, ministers in charge of departments germane to rural Bengal have been put on notice, indeed told to pull up their socks. Unmistakable is the mood-swing, compared to the exuberance in the aftermath of victory.

Miss Banerjee's caveat makes it pretty obvious that the performance of several departments has been below par. To the extent that she used the occasion to make the candid admission that her micro-irrigation project ~ Jal Dharo, Jal Bharo ~ is yet a non-starter. Nor for that matter has the construction of embankments in the Sundarbans ~ two years after Cyclone Aila struck ~ materialised. The government's performance in rural Bengal has been as sluggish as that of the previous regime. Hence her decision to go on district tours ~ as did her predecessor ~ and then surf the updated website instead of depending on ministerial reports.

AS APPREHENDED...

HOCKEY PAYS FOR ITS SINS

"SHOCK" is the one term that cannot be used in reaction to India being stripped of the privilege to host the Champions Trophy. Caught up in their factional feuds, the rival bodies that make pretence to managing Indian hockey, abetted by a meddlesome sports minister, ignored the warning signals flashed by the international controlling body, the FIH. Could a major international event be subjected to risks like court injunctions, severance of government support (the funding specially), and a host of potential other controversies? What if there is some truth in the contention that the FIH has resorted to arm-twisting to obtain the monies it claims are due to it? As also the charge that it interferes in India's internal affairs: the reality remains that there would be no scope for such intrusion had the conduct of the Indian game been of requisite propriety. Thus far no threat has been held out to other programmed events, but that cannot be ruled out. It requires little imagination to appreciate the additional stress to which the players and their relatively new coach are being subjected to as they fight for a place in the London Olympics. A place that was taken as a birthright until Beijing three years ago. Surely, that alone ought to have sufficed for the house to be put in order?

Without in any way exonerating the Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India for their protracted squabbling, in the immediate context the silly bid of the sports ministry to muscle through a merger exacerbated the situation. For reasons good or bad, the FIH "recognised" the Indian Olympic Association backed (created?) Hockey India, and prudence demanded the government (and the courts it might be added) remained aloof until the scheduled events were completed.

Alas, the overzealous and egoistic minister thought it was as simple as getting rival political parties to agree to share the spoils. Since neither side sincerely played ball the FIH was not incorrect in concluding that there was a contravention of the principle of one controlling body in a country. There is no scope in sport for ideologically disparate alliances like the UPA, NDA, Third Front etc. So rather than the IOA, HI, IHF (and the minister) cry "foul", they should better utilise their energies to re-rail the management of Indian hockey. And pray for a miracle when the minister meets the FIH chief some days hence. That would be in keeping with the legacy of Dhyan Chand, Les Claudius, Ajitpal...

CAMPUS RIGMAROLE

AND THE FAILURE OF THE COMMITTEE

THE higher education minister's decision ~ taken after consulting the Governor ~ to lift the embargo on recruitment in West Bengal's colleges and universities is an indirect admission of his own failure. There is no indication that the gubernatorial directive will be met even three months after it was issued. Mr MK Narayanan had asked the 14 state universities to keep faculty recruitment on hold, pending the recommendations of the committee on higher education. That committee had suffered a jolt when an exceptionally distinguished academic resigned in June... for whatever reason. More recently, its chairman has also put in his papers with no reason proffered. It was scheduled to submit its report this month; as of now, there is no indication as to when it will be ready, if at all. Acutely aware that the committee could well turn out to be a non-starter, minister Bratya Basu has approached the Governor in an effort to resume the process of recruitment which will cover both faculties and the non-teaching segment. The holding of classes and administrative work generally has been impeded in colleges and universities across the state. There is nothing inherently wrong in the Governor's directive; the fact of the matter is that the higher education department has failed to make the committee comply. Indeed, the functioning of the committee on higher education is symptomatic of the fiasco that has hobbled education since the present dispensation took office. It showcases the ineffectiveness of the committee raj.

For the government, the move to seek the Governor's approval to start recruitment was perhaps a way out of the embarrassment. Of immediate relevance must be the imperative to hold classes regularly with adequate manpower, both in terms of faculties and general staff. No less weightier issues such as freeing educational institutions from political interference and impeachment of non-performing Vice-Chancellors can be taken up later. Meanwhile, the committee on higher education needs to be given a deadline to complete its assigned task.

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THE STATESMAN

ARTICLE

LITERACY & CIVIL SOCIETY

BLUEPRINT FOR THE INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS

SAUMITRA MOHAN

IT was John Stuart Mill who had once remarked that you cannot hope to build a great society if the members of your society continue to be dwarfs with no qualities and character. And education, both formal and informal, definitely does that remarkable value addition for the multi-dimensional development of society. Every welfare state, infused with the ethos of a liberal democracy, tries to put in place elaborate arrangements for developing human resources. The objective is to make such societies as egalitarian as possible, without stratified inequalities.
Human resource development is theoretically targeted to promote literacy among all members of society with an emphasis on the three 'R's ~ reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. In 1971, the percentage of literacy was 22 among women. It was around 46 per cent among men. The figures rose to 39 and 64 per cent respectively by 1991. And if the latest Census data, as published in April 2011, is any indication, the number of people who can read and write in India today is around 74 per cent ~ male literacy is 82 per cent and female literacy is 65 per cent.
The Government of India, in keeping with the Directive Principles of State Policy, as enshrined in Part IV of the Constitution, has been formulating customised programmes for various sections of society to increase the level of literacy. In cooperation with the states, the Centre is engaged in executing ambitious literacy programmes. These plans have been implemented in synergy with the programmes of the state governments and with varying degrees of success.
Despite such efforts involving substantial public expenditure, a large segment of our populace continues to be illiterate. The Government of India has always tried to promote the level of literacy with suitable changes from time to time ~ be it the National Policy on Education through its various avatars in 1968, 1979, 1986, 1991 or 2001, the Farmers' Functional Literacy Projects during the heyday of the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the Non-Formal Education for Youth in 1975, the National Adult Education Programme in 1978, the Rural Functional Literacy Project in 1978, the National Literacy Mission as started in 1988, the Continuing Education Programme through the first decade of the new millennium, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or the extant Sakhshar Bharat Programme. There have also been popular movements in this sphere, duly supported by the government and NGOs. This has led to 100 per cent literacy in many districts of the country. Ernakulum in Kerala and Burdwan in West Bengal were the first and second such districts to achieve this feat. However, the positive streak and motivation are no longer manifest.
The latest avatar in the form of 'Sakhshar Bharat' has also been making steady progress. Having been associated with various literacy programmes, one feels that a government programme will not, after a point, make much progress as long as society is not associated with it. Ergo, the 'Sakhshar Bharat' focus on the involvement of civil society through voluntary teachers (VT) is well taken. However, this focus needs to be reoriented to be more effective and successful. It is difficult to find committed people who will serve gratis as voluntary teachers. This new literacy programme is running in fits and starts. The impact has not been in proportion to the financial input.
The empirical insights, gained through the implementation of literacy programme implementation, can yield newer concepts and methods of execution. If rightly implemented and followed through, it will save a fair amount of public money and also make our society better in terms of quality and character. The previous and present avatars of literacy programmes envisage a huge army of specialised manpower yoked to the task of literacy promotion. This involved huge government spending. I would offer a new proposal that makes use of the existing infrastructure that is geared to promote literacy and develop human resource.
The proposal envisages the implementation of literacy programmes through our school and college students in keeping with our literacy slogan of yesteryear ~ 'each one teach one (sic)'. While the modality and finer details of actual implementation are subject to further debate and discussion, one does feel that the involvement of students can completely transform the literacy scenario in the country. To start with, the school and higher education departments of the states should make it compulsory for high school and college students to participate in literacy programmes. Their responsibilities under the guidance of teachers can range from organising literacy camps/classes to teaching the learners themselves.
A school or a college could act as the programme implementation unit (PMU) in their respective bailiwicks. Funds to the educational institutions, including those meant for the literacy programmes, could be allotted to such schools/colleges in proportion to their overall performance, to be measured by the parameters set for the purpose. The literacy component could be one of the key factors in such evaluation. The tasks for the students shall be specially earmarked and the scores to be awarded in keeping with their performance by the teacher/faculty assigned for the evaluation. Such scores shall be added to the overall academic performance of the students. The system of awarding special marks for participation in literacy programmes shall not only motivate the youth to participate in a socially productive programme, but shall also make them responsible citizens. Such an exercise will also sensitize them to the sundry problems afflicting our society.
The system will preclude the need to create or hire additional space for running these literacy camps/classes. These will be run within the premises of the respective schools or colleges. The involvement of youth in a community exercise can be an enlightening experience. It can help the cause of 'nation building' and promote a sense of national feeling in a society under attack from fissiparous and reactionary forces. It will be a competitive exercise towards achieving excellence.
With appropriate mentoring, the efforts of the students can be channelled properly in strengthening the pillars of our body politic. If implemented in right earnest, the scheme will almost certainly be a success and at minimal cost.
However, the proposal does not mean that all other methods to involve civil society in such an exercise should not be tried out. My suggestion is only one of the very effective options. If executed properly with suitable monitoring and supervision, such a programme shall definitely be more effective with little or no leakage or wastage of resources. It will also help reap our famed demographic dividend.
The writer is District Magistrate, Birbhum in West Bengal. The views are personal and not those of the government ++***************************************

THE STATESMAN

GOVT AT ITS OLD GAMES

BETWEEN THE LINES ~ KULDIP NAYAR

The government has begun to think if the media and the judiciary should have the freedom they enjoy. It is like finding fault with the sea after the ship has been wrecked because the captain failed to act

PAKISTAN may not have democracy in the sense the world knows. Nor will it pass muster in the economic field. But it has, to its credit, an independent judiciary and a free media which lawyers and journalists have won after long battles in their respective fields. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka cannot emulate Pakistan because both countries have authoritarian rulers, Sheikh Hasina at Dhaka and Mr Mahinda Rajapakse at Colombo. The judiciary and the media exercise independence to the extent the two allow, although Bangladesh is a shade better than Sri Lanka. India is a different cup of tea. The country's Constitution and the
democratic system guarantee free functioning of both the judiciary and the media. Yet, the baffling point is that the Manmohan Singh government, battered by scams running to a loss of billions of dollars to the exchequer and the Anna Hazare movement to have an anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman), did not interfere in the functioning of either the judiciary or the media. However, while licking its wounds, the government has begun a new way of thinking: should the media and the judiciary have the freedom they enjoy? It is like finding fault with the sea after the ship has been wrecked because the captain failed to act. Home minister Mr P Chidambaram, human resources development minister Mr Kapil Sibal and the experienced finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, are reported to have urged the Prime Minister to "do something" to correct the two.
For action against the media, the suppressed report by the Press Council of India has come in handy. "Paid news" is not to the liking of journalists or the people. And it would help cleanse the field if the guilty could be spotted and punished. But the government's proposed remedy is to give teeth to the Council. Such a measure has been discussed many a time and rejected because the Press Council is not another law court, but a forum where peers judge peers. The sanction is moral and ethical, not legal. The government's proposal may defeat the very purpose of the council. Talking to bodies like the editors' guild and union of journalists may be more beneficial.

I dare the government to bring a Bill to curtail the Press freedom. Rajiv Gandhi, hurt by the criticism on the Bofors gun scandal, tried to have an anti-defamation Act. There was such a widespread protest that he had to beat a hasty retreat. In democracy, the media have a duty to perform. They cannot be silenced by a group of ministers or even the entire Cabinet. Left to the government, nothing would appear in the Press except official handouts.

The government's mind is clear from the manner in which its television network, Doordarshan, treated the Hazare movement. It just did not cover it, the biggest story since Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan's movement in 1974. India's taxpayers finance Doordarshan. It does not have to depend on advertisements. Readers or viewers would always revert to private avenues to get the news. This is exactly what happened when the Congress government imposed censorship in 1975.

The fact is that no government wants strong media or judiciary. It has a way to indirectly influence the judiciary because the budgetary allocations are made by the government. Media can be "disciplined" through corporate sectors which have large advertisement budgets. Mr Justice Sri Krishna suggested this in a report on Telangana. He did a tremendous job in naming the leaders who killed Muslims in the 1993 riots. But I did not know that he too could be on the government side. His suggestion to the home ministry is that media should be managed to build opinion against separate statehood for Telengana. He has even gone to the extent of recommending the use of government advertisements as an inducement to turn the opinion in favour of a United Andhra Pradesh. How naïve he is. Rattled by the Hazare movement, the government is playing its old game by digging out cases against Hazare team members Mr Prashant Bhushan, Mr Arvind Khejerwal and Ms Kiran Bedi. And I do not know why Mr Manish Tewari, who rescued himself from the standing committee, should return to it? Is the government serious about working of the standing committee? I did not like Ms Bedi asking Agnivesh, earlier a Hazare team member, to prove his credibility. His public service goes back to the time when Ms Bedi was a cadet in the police academy. And what secrets could he have divulged when every move of Mr Hazare was transparent? It is in the government's interest to create cleavage among people working for Mr Hazare. Ms Bedi or, for that matter, anyone else should not play into its hands.

As for the judiciary, the members of different parties are peeved over the obiter dicta of judges while hearing a case. Such remarks never form part of their judgment. For example, a Supreme Court judge said a few days ago that people would teach a lesson to the government. This was a realistic assessment against the background of the countrywide anti-corruption movement. It is apparent that the government and the Opposition have not liked the remark. But should Parliament go overboard to counter it?

Giving vent to their annoyance, members of a House panel have recommended to the government to set up a mechanism to scrutinise the declaration of assets by the Supreme Court and High Court judges (what about the Cabinet ministers who too have declared their assets?). But the bizarre proposal is that the media should be prohibited from publishing names of judges under probe. This reminds me of the days of the Emergency (1975-77) when no judgment could be published without clearance from the authorities. Whether names are published or not, they soon become talk of the town.

All this should not in any way affect the independence of the judiciary. Mr Hazare did well to keep it separate from the ambit of Lokpal. After all, the Lokpal pronouncements are subject to a judicial review. How could, therefore, the judiciary come under the Lokpal? Yet, the judges should shed their sensitivity over what forms contempt. There is a lesson in how the Lord Chancellor in the UK treated a remark after a judgment. The remark was that he was an old fool. His reply was that he was indeed old. As for being a fool, it was a matter of opinion. He let the matter rest at that.

High Courts and Supreme Court judges in the subcontinent should take a lesson from the Lord Chancellor's attitude. They use the rule of contempt of court at the drop of a hat. The authority should rarely use it but never against the media. The two are on the same side.

The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator

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THE STATESMAN

PERSPECTIVE

STORM IN A TEACUP

ISHWAR PATI

"Morning shows the day." I should have realised the import of this adage in my marriage as soon as the first crack in our honeymoon came at the crack of dawn. Unlike other couples, our tussle was not over the hour at which we should rise and shine. Both of us get cracking before the sun rises and we take our morning constitutional in tandem, like a couple of soldiers marching past for the benefit of the orb overhead. What a glorious start to the day for a couple in love!

No, the crack came from the difference in our preference for the cup that's supposed to cheer us first thing in the morning. It's her black tea up against my "white". How can the twain ever meet? While she loves the aroma of only Darjeeling leaf, I can't do without my liquor swimming in milk. Her Darjeeling tea skims her tongue lightly; but myself, on the other hand, can't do without the thick brew I am addicted to. Differing tastes in tea, unlike heterogeneity elsewhere, is not something one can live with so easily!
How to deal with a flaw of this magnitude in our relationship? The "live and let live" approach, i.e, cultivating a healthy respect for each other's choice in tea, is no guarantee against a stalemate since one's "cup of tea" tends to reflect one's basic character. For example, my wife likes to flit about like a butterfly ~ as light as the Darjeeling tea she covets. And what I like is heavyweight discussions that bring out hidden reserves of energy to invigorate my mind and body. No wonder we are torn apart when it comes to attending dos. She can't understand why I won't mingle with other men (women omitted) and "have a good time". On my part, I find these gatherings with no "intellectual stimulation" a sheer waste of time.

"Why do you have to be such an insufferable snob?" she asked me pointedly one morning as she poured tea. I dismissed her with a snort. "I prefer to be an intellectual snob, if you will, than an empty shell like your partying friends." That did it. Her anger boiled over and she poured the milky tea not in my cup, but on my spotless robe. "There, enjoy the company of your empty teacup!" she declared before stomping off. I am now forced to concoct my own brew. It's not all that difficult, except that in my hands, the tea turns out to be irritatingly bland. I try to look at the brighter side. Why not strike while the iron is hot and serve her with divorce papers on grounds of incompa"tea"bility?

But I know it's a futile thought. The truth is that, while she herself may be averse to taking tea laced with milk, she does make a damn good cup of strong tea with plenty of milk ~ just the way I like it! So if I relish my morning cuppa ~ something I really do ~ I had better crawl back to her wearing my heart on my sleeve. It doesn't matter that our tastes are so diverse. My prolonged dependence on her has erected, cup by teacup, a bridge over the divergence that no disturbance save death can destroy

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THE STATESMAN

PERSPECTIVE

THE DAY AMERICA'S DECLINE BEGAN

RUPERT CORNWELL

Ten years. An eyeblink in the eternal march of history ~ yet sufficient distance to gauge the impact of America's most dreadful day, one that no one old enough to remember will ever forget. After 10 years, winners and losers can be declared. And in the case of 9/11, it becomes more evident by the day, both sides are losers.
The most obvious one of course is Osama bin Laden. The organisation that he founded has been not only decapitated, but decimated. Hardly a week passes now without the death or capture of top Al Qaida commanders, their security presumably compromised by the documents seized during the raid in Pakistan in which Bin Laden was killed. Touch wood, there seems scant chance of the spectacular 10th anniversary attack for which, those documents show, he was desperately trying to organise. As for his notion that violent Islamic jihad might create a new caliphate stretching from Indonesia to Spain ~ that seems even more far-fetched than it did 10 years ago. Even the "Arab Spring" of uprisings against the secular West Asian dictators that Bin Laden hated is no vindication of his warped ideology.
The protest reflects far more a popular yearning to enjoy the simple rights of political freedom and economic opportunity that we take for granted, than any answer of 9/11's call to strike down a decadent yet overbearing West. And yet my guess is that Bin Laden would be fairly pleased right now, even though by any standard measure, he's lost the fight he started.

But what about the ledger on the other side. Yes, America's leaders can claim that, contrary to every prediction at the time, there has been no terrorist attack on the US mainland since. And yes, the particular group that carried out the attacks on New York and Washington DC has been largely destroyed. But it took the mightiest military on earth almost 10 years to track down and eliminate its most wanted single target, while the terrorist movement for which he was the inspiration has become a Hydra. Chop off one head in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Yemen and others start to grow elsewhere. And in almost every other sense, these past 10 years have been a tale of mistakes made, opportunities missed and lessons not learned.

Consider first the opportunities missed. In the aftermath of 9/11, the USA enjoyed an outpouring of global support and sympathy unmatched since the Second World War: "We Are All Americans Now," proclaimed that headline in Le Monde, speaking on behalf of the European country that has more hang-ups about America than most. Within a couple of years, however, that sympathy had been utterly squandered. Mr George W Bush and Mr Dick Cheney were Ugly Americans reborn, loathed across the Arab world and beyond. Mr Barack Obama has repaired much of the damage among traditional US allies. But in Islamic countries, America's reputation remains in tatters, despite its deliberately low profile in the campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. ("Leading from behind," one White House aide injudiciously described the approach, provoking scorn and anger from the President's Republican foes, insulted that the USA was not visibly heading this latest Western military foray against an Arab land.) But at least Mr Obama had tried to take the mistakes to heart.
And even setting aside Libya, America remains bogged down in two wars in Islamic countries, as a result of 9/11. The October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban government that not only sheltered Al Qaida but was literally of a piece with it, was absolutely justifiable ~ though Bin Laden and his cohorts should have been eliminated within months at Tora Bora. But why did everything take so much longer than it should have? The answer of course lies in that other mistake of the Bush administration, arguably the biggest single foreign policy blunder in all US history: the war of choice against Iraq that has succeeded only in strengthening the position of America's arch enemy Iran across the entire region.

According to one estimate, Iraq and Afghanistan may end up costing $4 trillion between them, an outlay covered thus far not by raising taxes as most wars are covered, but by borrowing. To that extent, 9/11 has contributed to the current economic crisis, helping create the mountain of debt that now ties Obama's hands. And that borrowing continues. America is still in Iraq and may retain a presence there for decades. The same goes for Afghanistan, even though the killing of Bin Laden and the dispersal of Al Qaida to other countries mean there is no sane reason why tens of thousands of US troops should remain there, on a nation-building mission impossible. Afghanistan has already provided its own grim 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks: August 2011 was the deadliest month ever for US forces deployed there.

Contributing to the two longest wars in the country's history were two more pervasive errors. The first was the "Global War on Terror" itself. At the time, the Bush administration's decision to treat 9/11 as an act of war seemed to make sense; the country after all had suffered something that neither Hitler nor the Soviet Union could manage, a devastating foreign attack on its own soil.

But declaration of the war on terror was the slippery slope that led to so much that proved disastrous to America's reputation: torture, Abu Ghraib, rendition, Guantanamo Bay, the denial of basic defendants' rights to captured "enemy combatants" (many of whom, it belatedly transpired, were innocent.) How much better to have treated the attacks as a criminal matter, monstrous to be sure, but which could have been handled by civilian courts. But the US strategy post-9/11 contained an even greater mistake: a refusal to face up to the basic dilemma at the core of its policy ~ that some of its main allies in the "War on Terror" were in fact accomplices or even instigators of that terrorism. One of them, Pakistan, sheltered Bin Laden. Another, Saudi Arabia, provided 15 of the 19 hijackers.

September 11, 2001 was a chance for Mr Bush to take a real hack at the Gordian knot of oil and security that distorts US policy in West Asia, by increasing the gasoline tax, reducing its addiction to imported oil, and boosting alternative sources of energy. But next to nothing was done. The world was told, you are either with us or against. For the 99 per cent of the population not involved with the armed forces, Bush's rallying cry was: "Keep on driving, keep on spending."

The real world, however, moved on. Amid Washington's obsession with terror, China has stepped up its economic challenge. The present moment has odd echoes of the past ~ a whiff of the frivolity of those carefree days before the real 11 September, when the fuss was about shark attacks in Florida, and whether a California Congressman was having an affair with a missing Washington intern.

And here we are 10 years on, amid a gathering economic crisis far more obvious than the clues back then to an impending terrorist attack, wondering if the magnificently absurd Sarah Palin will run for the White House, watching in disbelief as the two parties squabble over the timing of a presidential speech. 9/11 is not the cause of American decline. But it's as good a marker as any of when that decline began.

the independent

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THE TELEGRAPH

EXPANDING BRIEF

Various kinds of activism thrive in India. Some of these, like civil society activism or judicial activism, are open and bolstered by debatable rationalizations. There are others that are covert and, therefore, never discussed in any public forum. One of these is the enthusiasm with which the ministry of external affairs pursues certain types of activity that are far beyond its remit. Take the example of the recent kerfuffle concerning the sharing of the waters of the Teesta river with Bangladesh. Prima facie, it seems clear that this is an issue that falls within the jurisdiction of the foreign ministry since it involves another country. But a slightly deeper probing reveals that all that appears is not necessarily correct. Facts and logic demand that another Central ministry should play a critical role in any discussion on the given matter. This is the ministry of water resources since what is at stake here, most crucially, are the water resources of India. It is not unreasonable to expect that the secretary ministry of water resources in India should have discussed the matter with his Bangladeshi counterpart. Yet as events have unfolded, it has become obvious that the senior bureaucrats in charge of water resources in India were not even bit players in the negotiations about the sharing of the Teesta waters. The entire matter, from soup to nuts as the saying goes, was handled by the mandarins in the MEA. This is tantamount to nothing short of an act of appropriation by the foreign ministry.

The act of appropriation was so complete that the national security adviser, who is a kind of éminence grise in foreign policy matters and is a former member of the Indian Foreign Service, came to brief the chief minister of West Bengal. The secretary ministry of water resources had been taken by the tide. Unobtrusively but surely, the MEA had expanded its brief, perhaps with the blessings of the prime minister. There are other instances of the foreign ministry grasping matters not in its original ambit of functioning. Witness what has happened at The Nehru Centre in London. Initially, its directors had been men of letters like Girish Karnad and Gopalkrishna Gandhi. One of its directors was Pavan Varma, a writer of some renown who, coincidentally, is an IFS officer. Since Mr Varma's appointment, the MEA has claimed the directorship to be part of its authority. That a centre devoted to culture should be claimed by the MEA only reveals the latter's larger than life self-image.

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

TARGET PRACTICE

The Reddy brothers are not invincible. That is the first message that has been conveyed by the arrest of the mining baron and former tourism minister of Karnataka, G. Janardhana Reddy, together with his brother-in-law, B.V. Srinivas Reddy, both directors of Obulapuram Mining Company. The message is heartening because a contrary image of the Reddy brothers had built up — dot by dot — over the years by the consistent failure of the law to catch up with the men who openly operated beyond its pale. Two successive reports by the Karnataka Lokayukta and inquiries by the forest department of Karnataka have pointed to the enormity of the crime. The Reddys are alleged to have not only mined and exported iron ore illegally, but also denuded the forests, re-demarcated state borders and promoted corruption while holding public office. If the Reddys yet managed to evade the law, it was owing to the patronage of the political party whose interests they furthered with their money power. The Bharatiya Janata Party has gone to enormous lengths to accommodate the interests of the brothers. Even now, despite having acquiesced to a change of chief minister in Karnataka in observance of the needs of its anti-corruption drive on a national scale, the party seems beholden to the Reddys. It has chosen to meet the challenge of the Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry in Andhra Pradesh that has led to the arrest by raising the cry of a Congress vendetta.

But the Reddys's sudden vulnerability neither translates into an all-out gain for the Congress nor a loss for the BJP. No doubt the investigations into the Reddys's mining operations, that also involve one into the disproportionate assets of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, are peculiarly poised to the Congress's advantage. But the inquiry, if allowed to be carried to its logical conclusion, is bound to prove that the Congress has been as indulgent as the BJP in tolerating corruption. The history of the rise of the Reddys after all is also inextricably linked to the rise of the Congress's own fortunes in Andhra Pradesh. If the Congress is sincere about its anti-corruption drive in the state and the BJP on the national scale, they should press for a CBI probe into illegal mining to be jointly conducted in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

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THE TELEGRAPH

OPINION

CLASH OF INTERESTS

MOVEMENTS SUCH AS HAZARE'S MAY PROMOTE THE CORPORATE AGENDA PRABHAT PATNAIK

Anna Hazare's fast is over, but the conjuncture of which that fast was an episode is not: Hazare's own movement, or other similar movements, are bound to recur in the coming months. The question naturally arises: what are these movements all about? And to start with: what was Hazare's own movement all about? It was certainly not about "corruption" in any definable sense. That word meant different things to the different people who thronged the Ramlila grounds. For some, it was what caused prices to rise; for others, it was what underlay the dynastic politics of the Congress; for still others, it was synonymous with "job reservation policy". Ironically, though the jan lok pal bill, on which "Team Anna" was so insistent, might have received symbolic support from all who had gathered there, it meant little to them. The crowds that converged on Ramlila Maidan were animated not by the prospects of some specific piece of legislation but by a general sense of disenchantment for which "corruption" became a portmanteau expression.

But the life and character of a movement are often as independent of the intentions of its leaders as of the motives of its participants. The movement has to be looked at "from the outside" to determine its character and outcome. The point to consider therefore is: what has the pervasive disenchantment that found expression in the Hazare movement ultimately yielded?

In an obvious sense, it has resulted in, or heralded, at least five major shifts. First, it has led to a shift towards the urban middle class and away from other classes in terms of socio-political influence. True, the gathering at Ramlila Maidan drew people from all classes, but the predominant presence was of the urban middle class, whose assertiveness and weight have, consequently, increased. Second, it has led to a shift towards non-political actors belonging to the so-called "civil society", and away from political actors, in terms of influence in decision-making. (In this sense it represents the continuation of a trend that started with the formation of the national advisory council). Third, within "civil society" it has led to a shift of influence away from those who are willing to work within the political framework (not the same as being pro-government) towards those who are willing to challenge it. Fourth, it has led to a shift from the secular domain to the domain of the quasi-religious in the language and symbolism of protest. (Even "Bharat Mata", one must not forget, represents a quasi-religious symbol). And fifth, within the political sphere, it has led to a shift towards the communal Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party, and away from secular formations, a fact underscored by the Star News-Nielsen opinion survey (The Telegraph, September 4).

These shifts are not just happenstance; they are integrally interlinked. In the old system, where vying for power was confined to political parties, the influence of any class, including the urban middle class, had to be exercised through its relative weight inside the political parties. And even though the leadership of political parties usually came from the urban middle class, the compulsions of electoral politics meant that its influence had to be balanced against that of other, numerically stronger, classes, even inside political parties. Its political influence therefore fell far short of its economic weight, a contradiction that got accentuated as its economic weight increased greatly under neo-liberalism. Greater assertiveness on its part, therefore, necessarily requires by-passing the electoral process, and hence the traditional political system. Statements made at Ramlila Maidan about parliamentarians being anpadh and ganwar, though subsequently regretted for not being de rigueur, were authentic expressions of this middle class angst. And if middle class activism is to by-pass traditional parties and the parliament that stands at the pinnacle of the political system, then it must be expressed through some other agencies; the obvious candidates here are the "civil society organizations", especially those that are willing to challenge the legitimacy of the political system.

The situation, however, is ironical. The political system, based on the Constitution that emerged out of an implicit social contract forged during the anti-colonial struggle, represents, despite all its distortions, the highest water-mark of our social awareness, compared to which the contemporary social consciousness of the average member of the urban middle class constitutes a marked retrogression. Hence, any recession in the primacy of the political, any special privileging of the influence of the urban middle class over that of other segments of society, any ceding of ground by Parliament to those elements of "civil society" which challenge the political system, necessarily means social retrogression.

"Civil society" activism that is not centred on concrete demands addressed to the political system, cannot do without quasi-religious symbolism; it necessarily carries within itself the germs of socio- political inegalitarianism. Consider, for instance, even an apparently unexceptionable "moral" crusade against "corruption". In a society where religion forms the basis of morality, any such "moral" crusade necessarily tends to become quasi-religious. Since the majority religion in India is intrinsically inegalitarian and upholds the caste system (eminent historian Suvira Jaiswal has even argued that the caste system is the core of Hinduism), any relapse into religious symbolism is socially retrograde. The dalit scepticism about the Hazare movement represents an intuitive appreciation of this fact. The point, in short, is that the different shifts essayed by the Hazare movement are inter-linked and occur independently of its leaders' intentions.

The implications of these shifts for democracy have been much discussed, and need not be pursued here. What is of concern here is a different point, namely that these shifts are significant not just in themselves, but for an even stronger reason: they in turn are transitions to a further, and altogether different, shift. The urban middle class has no clear agenda to pursue. It can neither perceive nor suggest any way out of the disenchantment it shares with others. It does not even relate that disenchantment to any underlying structures, let alone to any immanent tendencies of capitalism (one, incidentally, does not have to be a socialist to do this): its perceptions are limited to dichotomies like "honesty-dishonesty", "moral-immoral", "greed-sacrifice". Not that one should pooh-pooh these terms, but they are never located in its discourse within any structures. No wonder then that it is in need of "messiahs", and can only think of curbs on "corruption" through the institution of the ombudsman as the panacea for disenchantment.

Too pusillanimous to visualize putting any obstacles to the immanent tendencies of neo-liberal capitalism, it takes the path of least resistance by targeting the State alone, which happens to be in conformity with the proclivities of corporate capital. Far from confronting the immanent tendencies of capitalism, it conforms to those tendencies and becomes implicitly an agency for carrying them forward. Consider, for instance, the emphasis on "corruption" and the suggestion that it essentially resides among State personnel, that is the bureaucracy and the "political class". The immediate inference that will be drawn from such a campaign is that any payment of taxes to the State is money "down the drain", and hence the demand will be for a reduction in the "tax burden". This, in turn, will necessitate a reduction in State expenditure; and since State expenditure on "security", interest payments and basic salaries cannot be cut, the reduction will have to be in sectors like health, education, other social services and transfer payments to the poor. This, in turn, will necessitate the further privatization of a whole range of activities and services like education and health.

In short, the consequence of the hullabaloo over "corruption", seen primarily as an integral part of the functioning of the State, is to delegitimize the State and usher in further privatization, and hence commercialization, of a range of activities still undertaken by the State. This can only hurt the poor, and it amounts to a carrying forward of the agenda of financial and corporate interests, which want precisely a combination of tax reduction and privatization of what have hitherto been considered as State responsibilities.

The irony here is striking. Much of the big ticket corruption that has attracted attention recently, such as 2G spectrum, has been associated with privatization of State property; but the effect of fuzzy, moralistic movements such as Hazare's that are bred in opposition to such "corruption" and draw sustenance from the middle class is likely to be further privatization. Such movements, notwithstanding laudable intentions, tend to end up furthering the agenda of corporate and financial interests.

The author is a former professor, Centre for Economic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

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Thursday, September 8, 2011

EDITORIAL 08.09.11