EDITORIAL 21.10.09

editorial@samarth.co.in

 

media watch with peoples input                an organization of rastriya abhyudaya

Editorial

month october 21, edition 000329, collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul

 

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

http://editorialsamarth.blogspot.com

 

 

THE PIONEER

1. ELITISM IS GOOD
2. A COMMUNAL PLOY
3. NEEDED, LOOK AHEAD POLICY ON CHINA - SWAPAN DASGUPTA
4. EXPOSE BOGUS INTELLECTUALS - RN CHAWLA
5. LACKING IN AGGRESSION - RAJIV DOGRA
6. FORGETTING A GENOCIDE - GWYNNE DYER
7. FREED SCRIBE SMASHES US POLICY - BARRY RUBIN
8. DRUG ABUSE PUSHING KASHMIRIS TO THE BRINK - TANVEEN KAWOOSA

MAIL TODAY

1. BALANCE NEEDED ON SIBAL PROPOSAL ON IITS
2. OVERHAUL THEM ALL
3. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR OBAMA COULD  - BY BHARAT WARIAVWALLA
4. QUANTUM LEAP - DINESH C. SHARMA
5. IITS MUST MAINTAIN HIGH STANDARDS

TIMES OF INDIA

1. A STAKE IN REFORM
2. BATTLE FOR CONTROL
3. PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF - DILEEP PADGAONKAR
4. I LEARNT TO LET GO FROM SUFISM
5. FISH IN TROUBLED WATERS - SUMIT S PAUL
6. POVERTY OF IDEAS - JUG SURAIYA 

HINDUSTAN TIMES

1. STRUCK DOWN BY STRIKES
2. NOT A CLOSE SHAVE
3. IT'S A DIM SUM GAME - PREM SHANKAR JHA
4. A LOVE THAT DARES SPEAK ITS NAME - KARAN THAPAR
5. HOW ONE INSTRUMENT COULD KINDLE DESIRES - NANDINI R IYER

INDIAN EXPRESS

1. THE 5% FORMULA
2. JEE, MINISTER
3. THE MAHA CRATER - SHEKHAR GUPTA
4. MAKING SENSE OF CHINA - K. SUBRAHMANYAM
5. THE OCTOBER STAKES - SUMAN K JHA
6. THE GREAT GAME FOLIO - C. RAJA MOHAN
7. VIEW FROM THE LEFT - MANOJ C G
8. ENTER THE DRAGON
9. WELCOME TO PAKISTAN  - DAVID ROHDE

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

1. APPRECIATE THE REAL DATA
2. LET THIS ONE BE, MR SIBAL
3. WHY I-BANKS WERE FATED TO BE ROADKILL - VIRAL V ACHARYA
4. G FOR GROWTH G FOR GLOBAL G FOR GOOGLE - NIKHIL PAHWA
5. SOFTWARE'S TAXING PROBLEM - SURABHI

THE HINDU

1. BRINJAL AND BEYOND
2. END OF A SYSTEM?
3. JUDICIAL INTEGRITY: LESSONS FROM THE PAST - ANIL DIVAN
4. INDIA, CHINA AND WATER SECURITY  - ANANTH KRISHNAN
5. WHAT SEPARATES INSIDER TRADING AND LEGAL RESEARCH  - ALEX BERENSON
6. BOSNIA, A 'WORLD OF PARALLEL TRUTHS'  - ALLAN LITTLE
7. A HARVEST OF GOLF COURSES FROM VIETNAM'S FARMLAND - SETH MYDANS

THE ASIAN AGE

1. MAKE OUR SCHOOLS BETTER, THEN IITS
2. WAZIRISTAN: PAK ARMY FORGETS LESSONS OF THE RAJ - INDRANIL BANERJIE
3. BEHIND CHINA'S SABRE-RATTLING - AMULYA GANGULI
4. AFTER THE POLL RESULTS, EXPECT REALIGNMENTS - ARUN NEHRU

DNA

1. FAULTY SYSTEM
2. RISING TERROR
3. FAILING THE TEST - AROON TIKEKAR
4. MATTER OF CHOICE

THE TRIBUNE

1. TWO BETTER THAN ONE
2. AND NOW IRAN
3. NOT SWEET ENOUGH
4. CHINESE CHEQUERS, DAM(N) NONSENSE - BY B.G. VERGHESE
5. THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE - BY B.K. KARKRA
6. THERE ARE MYTHS ABOUT IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR BOMB - BY JOSEPH CIRINCIONE
7. WHEN INDIA LOOKS EAST - BY RUP NARAYAN DAS
8. GLOBAL WARMING TO HIT FOOD PRODUCTION - BY EZRA KLEIN

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

1. FOSSIL FUELS' HIDDEN COST IS IN BILLIONS
2. CORE ENGLISH
3. COMMONWEALTH GAMES MESS
4. REASSESSING UNIONS
5. REGULATING EMOLUMENTS WITH CLAWS - NEERAJ KAUSHAL
6. SHED YOUR WORRIES TO FLOAT ACROSS - VITHAL C NADKARNI
7. FOR STATUS QUO IN MONETARY POLICY - JAIDEEP MISHRA
8. INDIA INFOLINE'S CALLS FOR TODAY: GE SHIPPING, JP ASSOC, RCF, BANK OF RAJASTHAN
9. GOOD ENTRY POINT FOR BHARTI; SESA GOA & BALAJI NOT LOOKING GOOD: ANGEL BROKING
10. MIXING BUSINESS WITH PASSION IS A WRONG IDEA: GAUTAM SINGHANIA - ABHA BAKAYA
11. GOOGLE INC WAGES WAR AGAINST 'DIRTY ENERGY' - PRAVEEN S THAMPI

DECCAN CHRONICAL

1. MAKE OUR SCHOOLS BETTER, THEN IITS
2. AFTER THE POLL RESULTS, EXPECT REALIGNMENTS - BY ARUN NEHRU
3. AFGHANISTAN'S COMMITMENT TO ENDURANCE  - BY BY ROGER COHEN
4. WAZIRISTAN: PAK ARMY FORGETS LESSONS OF THE RAJ  - BY INDRANIL BANERJIE
5. BEHIND CHINA'S SABRE-RATTLING  - BY AMULYA GANGULI
6. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE  - BY DAVID BROOKS

THE STATESMAN

1. PORTALS OF IITS 
2. FIESTA OR ORDEAL
3. MIXED SIGNALS
4. DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR - BY JAYITA MUKHOPADHYAY
5. SOON, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GROW YOUR OWN

THE TELEGRAPH

1. CENTRAL RULE
2. BAD FORM
3. DEVELOPING CONTENTION  - CHANDRASHEKHAR DASGUPTA
4. FOR A CLEANER STATE OF AFFAIRS - SUMANTA SEN
5. BRING ON THE DONORS
6. LEGAL FAQS

 DECCAN HERALD

1. POISONED PROBE
2. SUPER NSG
3. DON'T SLAM THE BRAKES - BY ALOK RAY
4. PROTECTIONISM WILL WORSEN THE CRISIS - BY PASCAL LAMY,IPS
5. THE LOVELY BOND - BY PRAVEEN MULL

THE JERUSALEM POST

1. NO MORE POLLARDS
2. IN MY OWN WRITE: UGLY CAN BE BEAUTIFUL - JUDY MONTAGU
3. GRAPEVINE: PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE - GREER FAY CASHMAN
4. IN THE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, DON'T FORGET ABOUT SYRIA - BENNETT RAMBERG
5. CAUGHT IN THE PARTISAN CROSSFIRE - JONATHAN TOBIN
6. SHIDDUCH CRISIS? WHAT SHIDDUCH CRISIS? - CHANANYA WEISSMAN
7. WHAT AILS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH? - ANNE HERZBERG

HAARETZ

1. EFFICIENCY IS GOOD FOR SECURITY - BY HAARETZ EDITORIAL
2. ANOTHER CENTURY OF TRAFFIC JAMS  - BY ALUF BENN
3. AGAINST INTEGRATION - BY AVIRAMA GOLAN
4. PUBLIC OPINION, WHERE ART THOU? - BY YITZHAK LAOR
5. AN INVESTIGATION WILL GUARANTEE A VETO - BY IRIT KAHAN

THE NEW YORK TIMES

1. MR. KARZAI RELENTS
2. SENATOR MONSERRATE MUST GO
3. JUSTICE FOR THE MENTALLY DISABLED
4. THE NEW UNTOUCHABLES - BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
5. DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES - BY MAUREEN DOWD
6. A CASE OF CHRONIC DENIAL - BY HILLARY JOHNSON

I.THE NEWS

1. DEATH ON CAMPUS
2. BETWEEN THE LINES
3. POINT OF LIGHT
4. FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF HISTORY - ROEDAD KHAN
5. TIME FOR A DECISION - MASOOD SHARIF KHAN KHATTAK
6. A CLUB IN LAHORE - MASOOD HASAN
7. BAYAZID BASTAMI AND THE 500 HERMITS - DR A Q KHAN
8. THE BOSTON BRAHMIN - ANJUM NIAZ
9. LOYAL OPPOSITION - MIR JAMILUR RAHMAN

PAKISTAN OBSERVER

1. IRANIAN GUARDS CHIEF'S UNGUARDED STATEMENT
2. SBP'S STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
3. FOREIGN MINISTER SHOULD BETTER QUIT
4. S WAZIRISTAN: A TOUGH JOB FOR PAK ARMY - M ASHRAF MIRZA
5. INDIAN NUCLEAR AMBITIONS  - ASIF HAROON RAJA
6. RATIONALE BEHIND WAZIRISTAN OPERATION - SAJJAD SHAUKAT'
7. TURBULENCE IN KASHMIR - SAMAN MALIK
8. TODAY'S UNUSUAL CALM..! - ROBERT CLEMENTS

THE INDEPENDENT

1. FALLOUT OF A FIRE
2. MERIT AND EXPERIENCE
3. FORGET THE HURT, MOVE ON...!
4. DEALING WITH AUTISM - SYLVIA MORTOZA
5. SWINE FLU: SECOND WAVE PREPARATIONS - KAZI MOSTAQUE AHMED 
6. LEARNING ON THE JOB-II - KHORSHED ALAM
7. GOVT EDUCATION POLICY IGNORES CADET COLLEGES - MD MASUM BILLAH

THE AUSTRALIAN

1. CLOSE PARTNERSHIP IN THE REGION VITAL
2. DEALING WITH SUCCESS
3. REVISING AFGHANISTAN

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

1. THE SANDS ARE RUNNING OUT
2. OBAMA IS RIGHT TO WAIT
3. JAKARTA TIES NEED MORE THAN ASYLUM SEEKER DEALS
4. DON'T PANIC ABOUT THE 'S' WORD. JUST UPHOLD THE LAW

THE GURDIAN

1. IN PRAISE OF… THE WALTHAMSTOW TAPESTRY
2. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: SPEAKING OUT
3. MORTGAGES: THE WATCHDOG GETS FIERCE

DAILY EXPRESS

1. DISASTER FOR AN INSTITUTION IF POST STRIKE GOES AHEAD
2. MANAGEMENT AND UNIONS MUST FIND A RESOLUTION
3. A GENERATION HAT IS IGNORED AND SCORNED - BY ANN WIDDECOMBE
4. LIVING WITH TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER - BY DR ROSEMARY LEONARD
5. MR BROWN CRUMBLES IN BISCUIT REVELATION. - BY DAVID ROBSON
6. BULLYING AND BAD TEMPER ARE TYPICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT - BY MACER HALL

THE KOREA HERALD

1. LEE'S ASIA DIPLOMACY
2. PRESIDENTIAL PANEL
3. INDONESIA ANOTHER BRIC IN THE WALL? - NOURIEL ROUBINI
4. IS THERE NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN? - KIM SEONG-KON

THE JAPAN TIMES

1. A QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY
2. ANOTHER TWIST AND SHOUT FROM NORTH KOREA - BY TOM PLATE
3. FADING TRUST IN THE POLITICAL CLASS - BY DAVID HOWELL
4. CONFLICTING STRATEGIES ISLAMICIZING MALAYSIA - BY MAZNAH MOHAMAD

THE JAKARTA POST

1. AN ASSERTIVE INAUGURAL SPEECH
2. MR. PRESIDENT, NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL, PLEASE! - USMAN HAMID
3. PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO'S FIRST TERM SAVED THE ECONOMY FROM ROUGH WATERS (PART 2) - WINARNO ZAIN
4. GREEN SHOOTS OF DEMOCRACY APPEAR ACROSS ASIA - AJAY CHHIBBER
5. PSSST! WANNA BUY A USED PARTY? - JULIA SURYAKUSUMA

CHINA DAILY

1. CHINESE IVY LEAGUE?
2. AUTO SUGGESTION
3. PARTLY EFFECTIVE IS NOT FAILURE IN HIV PREVENTION
4. ISSUES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH MODEL

THE MOSCOW TIMES

1. RUSSIA'S GEORGIA PROBLEM ONE YEAR ON - BY FYODOR LUKYANOV
2. THE DRAGON AND THE AMOEBA - BY YULIA LATYNINA

 

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THE PIONEER

EDIT DESK

ELITISM IS GOOD

HIGHER EDUCATION NOT FOR MEDIOCRE STUDENTS

It's not the least bit surprising that the practitioners of 'backward' politics who thrive on the bogus slogan of anti-elitism have lost no time in shouting down the proposal to raise the cut-off marks for IIT aspirants. It has also been slyly suggested, though not for the first time, that any attempt to link higher education with merit is meant to promote the interests of the rich and the privileged, especially those who speak in English. Tragically, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who on Monday made bold to suggest that the cut-off marks for IIT aspirants should be raised from the present 60 per cent to 75-80 per cent, has taken a hasty step backward by issuing a retraction (really more of a denial) on Tuesday under pressure from the 'anti-elitism' lobby among whose members, we can be sure, are stalwarts of his party. It was during the previous UPA regime that Mr Sibal's predecessor, Mr Arjun Singh, initiated the move to pull down centres of excellence by promoting mediocrity in the guise of 'equal opportunity' and 'social justice'. Among the measures taken by Mr Singh was to reduce the cut-off marks for IIT aspirants. Yes, it did facilitate the entry of low scorers into the portals of India's premier engineering colleges, but not because they were necessarily intelligent enough to pass the Joint Entrance Examination: They were tutored to crack the test by coaching centres. The current system, therefore, is not about equal opportunity but the ability to pay exorbitant fees to coaching centres. The proposal to raise the cut-off marks and give weightage to Class 12 results would obviate the need to enrol at coaching centres; it would also allow a proper assessment of an applicant's learning profile. The abolition of Class 10 examinations levels the field for IIT aspirants insofar as it allows them to focus on Class 12 examinations and excel in them. Hence, it makes little sense to argue that JEE reforms and higher cut-off marks militate against the idea of equal opportunity.

In any event, higher education must not be allowed to become hostage to bogus political correctness. Centres of excellence are by definition elitist because they are not meant for under-achievers or those who are not sufficiently gifted. It is an established fact that not every individual is equally intelligent or else there would be no distinction between the mediocre and the meritorious. Intelligence has nothing to do with either class or caste, nor is merit defined by social strata; both are inherent though they are meaningless without the acquisition of knowledge at school level. Therefore, if our politicians truly wish to provide equal opportunity to every child, then they must insist upon and implement with determination school reforms. Yes, that is an uphill task and requires tremendous effort. But our politicians are loath to take the longer road to empowering India; the shortcut is far more preferable, and hence the celebration of mediocrity. Unlike his predecessor, Mr Sibal has till now resisted the temptation of populism that may fetch votes in the short term but can cause long-term damage to institutions and centres of excellence. His emphasis on school education reforms is particularly praiseworthy. There is no reason why he should be deterred by carping critics. He will render great service to the nation by restoring elitism to higher education by placing merit before mediocrity. For starters, we should begin with JEE reforms and higher cut-off marks.

 

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THE PIONEER

A COMMUNAL PLOY

IAF MUST STICK TO ITS RULEBOOK

The case before the Supreme Court of a Muslim Indian Air Force corporal who has sought to challenge an order directing him to shave his beard for the tenure of his service has to be seen in the right perspective. Cpl Mohammad Zubair has argued that keeping a beard is an essential part of his religious belief and not allowing to him to do so would be tantamount to violating his fundamental right of freedom of religious expression as protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. But there are two main grounds on which Cpl Zubair is wrong. There is absolutely nothing in Islam that suggests that keeping a beard is a mandatory obligation for Muslims. If one wishes one can scan through the holy books of Islam but will not find any reference whatsoever to a person's beard being central to his faith. It may be true that some practitioners of Islam believe that keeping a beard is a symbol of piousness. But this cannot be taken to be universal or binding. For, if that is so, are Muslims who don't have a beard any less pious? Therefore, Cpl Zubair's plea of being allowed to sport a beard on religious grounds has no merit.

Second, the petitioner must bear in mind that he is a member of the Indian Air Force. In any modern military around the world a great deal of emphasis is laid on the code of conduct. This includes everything from the way a soldier dresses to the way he eats his meals, walks, talks and sleeps. All of this is part of the rigorous routine that a soldier must subject himself to in order to inculcate the sense of discipline and cohesion that is expected of a military man. One must realise that what is being asked of Cpl Zubair is nothing more than adherence to that common code of conduct that is demanded of all his peers. Can Cpl Zubair never keep a beard? Sure he can. But not while he is in the IAF. Every vocation has its own specific obligations. When a person chooses to take up a particular line of work he voluntarily decides to accept these. Nobody would have cared whether Cpl Zubair kept a beard or not had he been, for example, an IT executive. But being in the IAF it is demanded of him that he be clean-shaven. It is a different debate altogether as to whether the IAF should allow greater personal freedom to its men. But for the moment the rulebook is against Cpl Zubair and as such should be followed to the last letter. Neither can Cpl Zubair's case be treated as an exception. The consequences of this would be disastrous. He must submit to the same standards just as every other proud member of the IAF. It would be wise of Cpl Zubair to withdraw his petition and comply with the IAF order. For, he must choose between serving the nation or indulging in his warped notion of what constitutes piety in Islam. He can't have both.

 

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            THE PIONEER

COLUMN

NEEDED, LOOK AHEAD POLICY ON CHINA

SWAPAN DASGUPTA

Barely three weeks after top officials, including the National Security Adviser, berated the media for Sinophobia and war hysteria, New Delhi has been stung by what it regards as an astonishing lack of reciprocity from Beijing. It is one thing for China to routinely issue proforma denunciations of the "splittist Dalai clique" and object to every journey undertaken by the exiled Tibetan leader. Yet, even by the exalted standards of Chinese insensitivity, the protest against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh for an election rally took the proverbial biscuit.

Those who make a living by deciphering the legendary inscrutability of India's eastern neighbour may well suggest that the statement by China's Foreign Ministry spokesman need not be taken literally. It can hardly be the case that Beijing seriously believed that Mr Singh travelled to Itanagar to "stir up trouble at the disputed area". Yet, even a 'nuanced' view of the statement cannot distract from its symbolic significance. By targeting the Indian Prime Minister, China appears to have decided that only a frontal assault on Indian sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh will serve as a deterrent to New Delhi going ahead with its ambitious infrastructural improvements in the State.

The sudden resurrection of the unresolved border problem over the past year — more or less since the Indo-US nuclear agreement passed all the cumbersome international and domestic tests — has upset some of the calculations of Indian strategists. Those who believed that Sino-Indian relations must be premised on economic convergence and healthy competition have been frazzled by some of Beijing's wilfully provocative measures. Apart from the People's Liberation Army's 'forward policy' in Ladakh and Aksai Chin, China started issuing stapled visas for Indians resident in Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The clear message to New Delhi was that Beijing didn't recognise these two States as integral parts of the Indian Union.

The feeling that India's reaction to China's bellicosity has been needlessly measured may well be warranted. However, to therefore suggest that the Manmohan Singh Government is too weak-kneed to stand up to Beijing's bluster is an exaggeration. There is evidence to suggest that India's uncharacteristically sharp responses have also been accompanied by some quiet and overdue capacity building to counter any possible military challenge. So overwhelming is the national consensus on the need to preserve and protect India's territorial integrity that no Government will countenance any 'sell-out'. China may flex its muscles to try and settle the boundary dispute on terms most favourable to it but nothing has happened in India to review the doctrine of procrastination —leaving it to another generation to fix the cartographic problems.

At the same time, there exists a great deal of muddle-headedness in India over how best to deal with China. The issue acquires considerable relevance in view of the recognition that in another 25 years or so China may well overtake the US as the world's largest economy, in terms of Gross Domestic Product. No doubt India too would have progressed considerably by then — PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that India will be the fourth largest economy by 2025, after the US, China and Japan — but the distance between China and India would remain as yawning.

Of course, there is nothing inevitable about the rise of China at the cost of the West. Economic forecasts don't factor in unforeseen developments such as political disasters and spectacular scientific advances that have the potential to upset calculations. The West, and particularly the US, may yet witness an unexpected surge and India has often demonstrated an uncanny knack of being its own worst enemy. Yet, New Delhi's long-term assessment of China must be based on the assumption that the balance of world power is likely to tilt eastwards, in favour of China.

For the moment, even as the world marvels at the Chinese miracle, Beijing has been careful to convey the impression that it will be a benign force that will follow the rules of multilateralism and not upset the existing rules of international relations. So far Chinese diplomacy has yielded spectacular results. The political eclipse of the neo-conservatives in the US has been accompanied by a discernible softening of attitudes to China by the Barack Obama Administration. There is a greater inclination to celebrate the rise of China rather than resist it. The cancellation of the Dalai Lama's meeting with President Obama may be as trivial as the decision to decorate the Empire State Building with China's national colours to mark the 60th anniversary of the Communist takeover but appear to be symbolic of a new accommodation.

Some questions arise from the retreat (I still hesitate to call it decline) of the West. Will China's global role remain as benign after it has succeeded in overtaking the US's GDP? The rules of international relations were determined by the West after 1945 and reflect the cultural bias of Europe and North America. Will China persist with the status quo once its economic hegemony is established? How will a new global architecture impact India?

The issue is important because China's global vision incorporates a political hegemonism that is fraught with ominous consequences for India. With the Han Chinese constituting some 90 per cent of China's population, Beijing's view of race and ethnicity is, predictably, linked to China's inviolable unity. However, as Martin Jacques has noted in his insightful book When China Rules the World, "the notion of China and Chinese civilisation is bolstered by a widespread belief that the difference between the Chinese and other peoples is not simply cultural or historical but also biological". There was a racial underpinning to 19th and early-20th century European imperialism and China's rise may be accompanied by similar assumptions.

Such a mindset has a bearing on China's quest for the recovery of its "lost territories", not merely across the Taiwan Straits and Outer Mongolia but along the MacMahon Line.

Stemming from this sense of superiority is China's inclination to perceive relations with its neighbours, in East Asia at least, in terms of the tributary system that prevailed before the entry of the Europeans after the Opium Wars. The system was based on an institutionalised inequality in relations between the Middle Kingdom and the tributaries, and a corresponding consensus over the superiority of Chinese civilisation. With China dominating the economies of East Asian countries, scholars like Jacques are inclined to believe that "China's economic strength, together with its enormous population, could return the region to a not dissimilar state of affairs to that which existed in the past". There is a possibility that the scope of the new tributary system could extend into Central Asia and Australia. This is not to say that China's hegemonism will be uncontested.

India never fell into the orbit of a Greater China. Traditionally, the Himalayas were a barrier to the spread of Hindu civilisation eastwards and Chinese civilisation westwards. India and China have, consequently, evolved over the centuries with only nominal contact and little understanding of each other. Tibet was the only point of perfunctory contact. This mutual incomprehension and memories of the 1962 border war may be factors in the recent climate of distrust. But China's attitudes towards neighbours also follow a template in which the tributary system is firmly etched. China cannot countenance India as part of the West but it has yet to evolve an alternative to viewing a neighbour as anything different from either a subordinate or a potential vassal.

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THE PIONEER

COLUMN

EXPOSE BOGUS INTELLECTUALS

RN CHAWLA

This refers to the article, "Enemies of the People" by Chandan Mitra (the Cutting Ed, October 11) wherein he has very aptly flayed the so-called intellectuals and a section of opinion-makers in media. One needs to dig a little deeper to find out how these Left-liberal intellectuals, covertly and overtly sympathising with the Maoists, have come to assume disproportionate clout within our polity.

Though Chandan Mitra referred to the Jawaharlal Nehru University, he was circumspect about its role in nurturing Left-liberal intellectualism. It is undeniable that the university has been the nursery, if not the breeding ground, of Left-liberal intellectualism since long.

Even the ruling Congress had a symbiotic relationship with the Leftists. During the last UPA Government, the Leftists of all hues who were extending outside support, till it was withdrawn on the issue of the nuclear deal, enjoyed enormous clout without accountability. When Maoist supremo Prachanda, whose party fought a 10-year battle to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy, along with his Maoist guerrillas indulged in murder and mayhem in Nepal, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, obviously with the tacit consent of the then Government, assumed the role of unofficial ambassador for Track II diplomacy to intercede in Nepal imbroglio while Mr Jaswant Singh (then in the BJP) was dissuaded from visiting Nepal.

It is heartening to note that the new Government has come out of its Rip Van Winkle-slumber. Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have openly admitted, though belatedly, that the Maoist menace poses the greatest threat to country's internal security and have initiated move to counter it.

It is indeed commendable that Chandan Mitra has come out openly to mobilise public opinion through Civil Society Forum against the growing Maoist menace which has assumed gigantic proportions by now and to expose the hypocrisy of the Left-liberal intellectuals, human rights activists, etc. This jholawallah brigade shamelessly kept mum when Swami Laxmanananda was brutally killed by Maoists in Orissa but went hammer and tongs against Hindu reprisal. It is time to expose publicity-seeking human rights activists and a section of media.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

LACKING IN AGGRESSION

OUR DIPLOMATS ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT STRIKING AN AGGRESSIVE POSTURE AT INTERNATIONAL FORA, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO JAMMU & KASHMIR. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE PAKISTANIS ARE BELLIGERENT AND MAKE THEIR POINT EFFECTIVELY. AS MUCH WAS WITNESSED AT THE RECENT UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION

RAJIV DOGRA

It is no one's assertion that Indian diplomats are the best in the world. That would be naïve; a gross attempt to beat a uniform drum. As is the case with most diplomatic services, ours too is a mixed bag.

It has its laggards; those who get on to the train somehow and thereafter slumber on lazily. There are others, however, who have served under formidable odds in the past and do so now as well. Indeed, many of our diplomats would compare favourably with the best in the world in terms of their dedication sincerity and sheer ability.

That is also broadly the case with the Pakistani Foreign Service. It has its mélange of the excellent, good and indifferent.

But there is one major difference between them and us.

Quite simply, it is this that all Pakistani diplomats seem to have a carte blanche on one issue. The essence of that has remained the same over the years though different Pakistani leaders have termed it variously. Some like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called it a 'Thousand year war,' his daughter shrieked hysterically about a jihad, and more recently Gen Pervez Musharraf was simply disparaging about India.

The Pakistani people, by and large, consider the Indian state as one populated by Hindu Bania; wily but in terms of physical courage largely incapable. If there is still a doubt about how they regard us, then take a look at the meaning of the word Hindu in any Urdu dictionary available in Pakistan. The contempt-filled explanation should provide the proof of this mindset.

It is this stereotype about India, reinforced periodically by the jingoistic leadership, which determines the national attitude of Pakistanis towards India. That in turn translates into a mandate for their diplomats; it pardons their sins as long as they denigrate India in interactions with other countries and at the international fora.

In contrast, our diplomats have to respond with caution. They are constantly fearful of overstepping the line; the Government draws so many red lines that there is very little room for maneuver available with them. After all how can an Indian diplomat go full blast to counter a blistering Pakistani speech after what was conceded in Sharm el-Sheikh?

A statement such as that has a demoralising effect down the line; the entire system begins to buckle under. And a careerist would hardly have the courage to overstep the boundary even if his conscience tells him that he is not doing the right thing by coming up with some limp statement of our national position. Look at, for example, what happened recently at the current session of the UN General Assembly.

Addressing a Special Committee of the UN the Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan said, "The decolonisation agenda of the United Nations would be incomplete without resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir 'issue'. Negation of the right to self-determination breeds discontent, ignites conflicts and threatens peace and security. Unfortunately, South Asia and West Asia have witnessed it directly." He went on to add, "The International community should support the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination."

The Pakistani statement was clear, crisp and it contained several messages.

It equated as alike the Palestine and Kashmir 'issue', thereby ensuring the Islamic bloc's empathy and support. It made a plea for self-determination appealing thus to the Western liberal sentiment and seeking its sympathy. And in the context of decolonisation, it was trying to shame India's claims as a champion of decolonisation when according to the Pakistani statement Kashmir was itself being held as a colony.

In response to all this a junior Indian diplomat said tamely, "Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and participates in the democratic process of India." He must have gone on to talk ritually of Jammu & Kashmir being a bilateral issue etc by which time most of the delegates would have lost interest. But the damage to India's position was done in that one sentence itself.

It was a weak and ill-advised formulation.

He may have mentioned it unwittingly but by saying that Jammu & Kashmir participates in the democratic process of India, he is doing immense damage to India's case.

In taking that position he goes against the resolution adopted by Indian Parliament. According to that, the entire Jammu & Kashmir (inclusive of PoK and the part ceded to China by Pakistan) is an integral part of India. Since that resolution has not been superceded by a subsequent resolution of Parliament, it follows that our national osition has not changed.

Yet this junior diplomat contradicted the position spelled out in the resolution. By referring to Jammu & Kashmir in the context of its participation in electoral process, he has unfortunately limited our claim only to that part which participated in the elections. He has by implication left out of India's territorial claim to the PoK, the Northern Areas and the part ceded by Pakistan to China. Isn't that amazing? And where does that leave us when we protest to China that it should not build either the hydroelectric dam in PoK or the Karakoram highway through PoK? Would the Government's protest from New Delhi be taken seriously when its delegate has already conceded that entire territory in a UN General Assembly debate?

Yet, it would be wrong to apportion the blame only on him.

He was merely mouthing the dictated line. In doing so he was also reflecting the confusion that defines our position on the issue. If our representatives are hesitant and unclear about what really constitutes our stand on the Kashmir 'issue', it is no wonder that the world at large shakes its head in bewilderment and wonders what really is our stand?

In sharp contrast, however, the aggressive Pakistani diplomat has it all couched in easy to understand terms.

His message is largely this: "Kashmir, under illegal occupation of India, is ours." Such clarity leaves no one in any doubt. And if the occasion so demands, they spice their vitriol further with terms like human rights abuses, colonialism and right to self-determination.

On the other hand we plod on with our obfuscation, adopting a largely pedantic position and an extremely involved tone. All these combine to convey the impression that we are not convinced of our case ourselves. Moreover, our tone verges on the apologetic; we are sorry that this unpleasantness should be taking place.

The fact is that we feel squeamish in these debates because our leadership keeps changing the national goal posts, the Sharm el-Sheikh episode being the most recent case in point. Other countries, however, regard their sovereign interests as permanent by nature. So they defend every inch of their territory in the debating grounds of the world.

In such battles clarity carries conviction. For instance, our new inspiration Barack Hussein Obama makes his points lucidly and forcefully. It is time we too marshalled our arguments well.

The writer is a former Ambassador of India.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

FORGETTING A GENOCIDE

ARMENIA STRIKES DEAL WITH TURKEY, IGNORES HISTORY

GWYNNE DYER

The first great massacre of the 20th century happened in eastern Anatolia 94 years ago. Armenians all over the world insist that their ancestors who died in those events were the victims of a deliberate genocide, and that there can be no reconciliation with the Turks until they admit their guilt. But now the Armenians back home have made a deal.

On October 10, the Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers signed an accord in Zurich that reopens the border between the two countries, closed since 1993, and creates a joint historical commission to determine what actually happened in 1915. It is a triumph for reason and moderation, so the nationalists in both countries attacked it at once.

The most anguished protests came from the Armenian diaspora: Eight million people living mainly in the United States, France, Russia, Iran and Lebanon. There are only three million people living in Armenia itself, and remittances from the diaspora are twice as large as the country's entire budget, so the views of overseas Armenians matter.

Unfortunately, their views are quite different from those of the people who actually live in Armenia. For Armenians abroad, making the Turks admit that they planned and carried out a genocide is supremely important. Indeed, it has become a core part of their identity.

For most of those who are still in Armenia, getting the Turkish border re-opened is a higher priority. Their poverty and isolation are so great that a quarter of the population has emigrated since the border was closed 16 years ago, and trade with their relatively rich neighbour to the west would help to staunch the flow.

Moreover, the agreement does not require Armenia to give back the Armenian-populated parts of Azerbaijan, its neighbour to the east. Armenia's conquest of those lands in 1992-94 was why Turkey closed the border in the first place (many Turks see the Turkic-speaking Azeris as their "little brothers"), so in practical terms Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has got a very good deal.

The communities of the diaspora, however, believe the Armenian Government has sold them out on the genocide issue. Their remittances are crucial to Armenia, so President Serge Sarkisian has spent the past weeks travelling the world, trying to calm their fury. In the end, he will probably succeed, if only because they have nowhere else to go.

But can any practical consideration justify abandoning the traditional Armenian demand that Turkey admit to a policy of genocide? Yes it can, because it is probably the wrong demand to be making.

Long ago, when I was a budding historian, I got sidetracked for a while by the controversy over the massacres of 1915. I read the archival reports on British and Russian negotiations with Armenian revolutionaries after the Ottoman empire entered the World War I on the other side in early 1915. I even read the documents in the Turkish General Staff archives ordering the deportation of the Armenian population from eastern Anatolia later that year. What happened is quite clear.

The British and the Russians planned to knock the Ottoman empire out of the war quickly by simultaneous invasions of eastern Anatolia, Russia from the north and Britain by landings on Turkey's south coast. So they welcomed the approaches of Armenian nationalist groups and asked them to launch uprisings behind the Turkish lines to synchronise with the invasions. The usual half-promises about independence were made, and the Armenian groups fell for it.

The British later switched their attack to the Dardanelles in an attempt to grab Istanbul, but they never warned their Armenian allies that the south-coast invasion was off. The Russians did invade, but the Turks managed to stop them. The Armenian revolutionaries launched their uprisings as promised, and the Turks took a terrible vengeance on the whole community.

Istanbul ordered the Armenian minority to be removed from eastern Anatolia on the grounds that their presence behind the lines posed a danger to Turkish defences. Wealthy Armenians were allowed to travel south to Syria by train or ship, but for the impoverished masses it was columns marching over the mountains in the dead of winter. They faced rape and murder at the hands of their guards, there was little or no food, and many hundreds of thousands died.

If genocide just means killing a lot of people, then this certainly was one. If genocide means a policy that aims to exterminate a particular ethnic or religious group, then it wasn't. Armenians who made it alive to Syria, then also part of the Ottoman empire, were not sent to death camps. Indeed, they became the ancestors of today's huge Armenian diaspora. Armenians living elsewhere in the empire, notably in Istanbul, faced abuse but no mass killings.

It was a dreadful crime, and only recently has the public debate in Turkey even begun to acknowledge it. It was not a genocide if your standard of comparison is what happened to the European Jews, but diaspora Armenians will find it very hard to give up their claim that it was. Nevertheless, the grown-ups are now in charge both in Armenia and in Turkey, and amazing progress is being made.

The writer is a London-based independent journalist.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

FREED SCRIBE SMASHES US POLICY

JOURNALIST DAVID ROHDE IS NO LONGER A PRISONER OF THE TALIBAN, BUT WASHINGTON IS STILL A CAPTIVE OF ITS FOREIGN POLICY WHICH IGNORES PAKISTAN'S SPONSORSHIP OF TERRORISM

BARRY RUBIN

When reality breaks into the mainstream media it can be of earthquake intensity. Such is The New York Times article by David Rohde, a journalist held prisoner by the Taliban for over seven months and finally released.

Rohde's conclusions aren't of much comfort for the Obama Administration, or for those who are naïve about radical Islamists, or indeed for his fellow journalists. But his honest thinking out loud should affect their writings and policies.

During his captivity, Rohde writes: "I came to a simple realisation. After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme many of the Taliban had become. Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organisation as a form of 'Al Qaeda lite,' a religiously motivated movement primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan."

But he came to understand from close observation as a prisoner: "I learned that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious... They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world.

With some important differences — and minus al-Qaida (my preferred spelling) link, the same points apply to Hamas, Hizbullah, the Iraqi insurgents, and Iran's regime. These are not moderate forces and won't be persuaded to change. And with another step downward in intensity — they use tactics other than violence, for example — he is also describing the anti-Iran Muslim brotherhood groups, the Turkish regime (Islamism in one country), and a lot of the Islamists operating in Europe and America under "moderate" cover.

Then there's Rohde's second point: "I had written about the ties between Pakistan's intelligence services and the Taliban while covering the region for The New York Times. I knew Pakistan turned a blind eye to many of their activities. But I was astonished by what I encountered firsthand: A Taliban mini-state that flourished openly and with impunity."

Or, in other words (and as Indian analysts keep trying to explain to the West), large elements of the Pakistani regime, military, and intelligence are the Taliban's best allies, as well as the sponsors of a variety of Islamist terrorist groups targeting India.

Yet it is that very country, Pakistan, that US policy wants to depend on to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Washington ignores Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism, deep involvement in the dreadful Mumbai attack and other operations into India, and laziness in battling the Taliban and Al Qaeda. I am not saying that Pakistan never fights the Taliban but that it does so only when its own interests are at stake, which means preventing the group from taking too much territory within Pakistan itself.

This doesn't mean that the Obama Administration should escalate or keep fighting directly in Afghanistan — I think that's a bad idea — but has to wake up and deal with the realities of that area.

After all, when Rohde speaks of his illusions about the Taliban, he is describing the policy line being pursued by high-ranking US officials who have spoken of a moderate Taliban (like Hizbullah's or Hamas's fabled and mythical "political wings") or even how the Taliban as a whole can be courted in order to fight better against Al Qaeda.

Rohde is no longer a prisoner of the Taliban, but Washington is still the prisoner of terrible ideas about foreign policy.

The writer is director of the GLORIA Centre, Tel Aviv, and editor of the MERIA Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader and The Truth About Syria.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

DRUG ABUSE PUSHING KASHMIRIS TO THE BRINK

AN INCREASING NUMBER OF YOUTH ARE GIVING IN TO FRUSTRATION DUE TO LACK OF OPPORTUNITIES, WRITES TANVEEN KAWOOSA

There seems to be a disconcerting link between the growing suicide rate and the number of drug addicts and 'substance' users in the Kashmir Valley. Taken in isolation, each of these problems in itself is staggering.

 

According to Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Srinagar, every week about 25 cases of suicides and attempted suicide are reported. Even more disturbing is the fact that all cases of suicide or attempted suicide are said to have a history of drug abuse. It is clear that the frequency of suicide attempts among substance abusers is greater than the people who do not abuse substances.

According to a noted psychiatrist in the Valley, Dr Arshid Hussein, suicide victims are known to consume drugs like benzodiazepines, tricycle antidepressants and phosphorous compounds. "Kashmir is witnessing an increasing trend in the number of suicide and para suicidal behaviour. People addicted to alcohol, cannabis and tobacco are prone to commit suicide," he said.

A research study by Dr Hussain and a team of other doctors points out that while males who make successful attempts on their lives fall in the age group of 25-34 years, females in higher age group show a greater tendency of committing suicide. The study blames the present turmoil for "catalysing" these tendencies in the Valley and clearly attributes the rise in suicides to it. It, however, concedes there are other factors responsible as well. A large number of drug abusers who attempted suicide have reported symptoms of depression and other psychiatric problems.

While surge in suicides is directly correlated with growing drug abuse, the frequent road accidents, according to experts, also find root in addiction. The Valley has witnessed a surge in road accidents during the past two decades. The data recorded by traffic police shows that 16,297 accidents have occurred during the 1998-2007. While consumption of alcohol and driving is recognised as a lethal mix, the abuse of prescription and illicit drugs has only compounded the problem, making it inextricably linked with growing number of deaths.

Anayat Mir, associated with Umeed, a Delhi-based NGO working towards the eradication of social problems in Kashmir, gives credence to the now increasingly accepted fact that addiction plays a key role in suicide attempts. Surprisingly, there are many first time users who belong to the younger generation, the most productive age group in any society.

The problem of drug abuse adversely affects family structures, social fabric and the economy of the region. In a sense, it feeds on itself. Youngsters on the path to drug addiction often find themselves alienated from their families, sometimes there are threats of violence or separation. This leads invariably to prolonged loneliness and lack of emotional support and security from the family, pushing the addicted even deeper and more inextricably towards drug addiction.

According to Mir, there is sheer lack of guidance and counsel those who are on the brink of suicide. The way forward, he says, should be multi-pronged. Public awareness through the mass media on the dangers involved in self-treatment and non-medical use of any drug is of utmost importance. Health centres should be provided and extended to eliminate the need for self-treatment by the addicts. There is a need for rehabilitation processes, including cognitive behavioural therapies and support groups to help young people resist drugs.

There is, however, a greater and more urgent need to view drug addiction and see the co-relation to suicides against the backdrop of the conflict of two decades and the consequent impact on socio-economic life in Kashmir. There is growing frustration amongst the youth stemming from lack of adequate opportunities and employment, and due to non-availability of which people are opting for a life of hallucination or else opting out of life altogether.

The youth in the Valley are inextricably caught between a world of the purple haze and a world of social upliftment and economic independence which as of now remains a far-fetched possibility.

Mir maintains that a socio-economic development project should be planned with the joint co-operation of the State Government and international organisations concerned with drug abuse control. However, it will not be easy. They will have to first understand the milieu of Kashmir and then evolve and run programmes which would be centred on this understanding and place it in the existing social and cultural context. This will require a high degree of maturity, dedication and patience. Only then can we hope to help the youth overcome their vulnerability to drug abuse and lead them to productive lives.

 

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MAIL TODAY

 COMMENT

BALANCE NEEDED ON SIBAL PROPOSAL ON IITS

 

CLEARLY Kapil Sibal has come as a breath of fresh air in the Human Resource Development Ministry. But, as we have pointed out before, he seems to be in a bit of a hurry. His suggestion on Monday that the eligibility criterion for IIT Joint Entrance Examinations ( IITJEE) could be upped from a score of 60 per cent in Class XII examinations to 80- 85 per cent may sound good, but it has not been sufficiently thought through.

 

It is being said that this step will help rid the system of the IIT entrance exam coaching shops that have mushroomed all over the country. It will also make science students focus more on the Class XII exams than they have been doing till now.

 

These are undeniably laudable motives.

 

That students appearing in IIT- JEE flock to coaching institutes is, no doubt, a comment on our educational system.

 

But, as coaching institutes are pointing out, this has largely to do with the fact that what students are taught in Class XI- XII is not enough for them to crack IITJEE. And this is because of the enormous gap between the number of bright students who take the exam and the actual number of seats on offer in the IITs.

 

If this proposal is accepted, we will have a scenario where students focus on Class XII exams, even as they will still have to take coaching for IITJEE. This runs counter to the HRD minister's plan to reduce stress levels among school- going children. There is also the practical problem of there being several boards in the country, with different parameters of assessing performance.

 

The committee with representatives from all IITs that will take a final call on the matter could instead opt for a system where selection for the IITs provides for some weightage for Class XII scores along with the IITJEE marks. This will meet the avowed objective without making it too demanding for students.

 

Also, Mr Sibal must appreciate that the coaching system he wants to crack down on is a product of our IITs raising the bar a bit too high when it comes to evaluating students. This can change only when substantially more engineering institutions are brought up to the level of IITs, thereby increasing the number of top- class engineering seats available in the country.

 

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MAIL TODAY

COMMENT

OVERHAUL THEM ALL

 

THE much- delayed revamp of India's mostwatched inflation indicator, the Wholsesale Price Index or WPI is finally set to see the light of day next month. This is welcome news. The new WPI will have a new base year, track a much larger basket of goods and services and is, overall, expected to give a more reliable indication of price movements than the current index. It will also be released on a monthly basis, in keeping with international norms.

 

That, however, does not mean that India will have international- quality price information.

 

Without an accurate, timely and representative consumer price index, any index which only tracks prices at the wholesale level will only tell half the inflation story.

 

The extent to which this can distort the actual picture was amply demonstrated over the past few months, when consumer price inflation galloped into double digits, while the WPI was charting negative territory.

 

For an economy of global scale and reach like India's, reliable indicators of price changes are absolutely vital. Without them, it will be impossible for anyone — from the housewife to CEOs to the finance minister — to plan a budget with any degree of assurance. The financial system, too, is dependent on accurate inflation data, since it is an important factor to be taken into consideration while setting base interest rates.

 

Given its importance, it is puzzling why the government has not paid more attention to it. The WPI, too, needs to be replaced by a producer's price index, which will capture price changes in goods and services both entering and exiting the production process. The consumer price index is not only hopelessly out of date, but is hardly reflective of current consumption patterns, leave alone price changes.

 

Instead of attempting piecemeal changes, the government should have utilised the opportunity to thoroughly overhaul both its price indices and its data capture mechanisms.

 

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MAIL TODAY

COLUMN

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR OBAMA COULD

HELP PROMOTE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

BY BHARAT WARIAVWALLA

 

THE NOBEL Peace Prize must be awarded to people who shape human destiny by peaceful means. The Nobel Committee should have no quarrel with this criterion. Mahatma Gandhi, Lech Walesa, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Su Kyi clearly merited this honour, though Gandhi and Lech Walesa did not get it. It is said that the Nobel Committee was considering giving thePeace Prize to Gandhi but by the time it took the decision he had been assassinated.

 

Lech Walesa who founded the Solidarity struggled peacefully against the Communist dictatorship in Poland and eventually succeeded in defeating it in June 1979. He ended Stalinism in East Europe and ultimately in the Soviet Union. He didn't get the honour. Why?

 

Then, there could be a more flexible criterion for the prize: Only those people who value peace and who use power very largely peacefully should be eligible for the peace prize. By this criterion Woodrow Wilson and Jawaharlal Nehru deserved the peace prize. Wilson got it, but not Nehru who was genuinely committed to peace and peaceful means to resolve disputes between states. Till the last (up to 1960) he believed that differences with China could be settled diplomatically; and he would have succeeded in settling them, but for the hardliners in the Congress Party who insisted that not an inch of our territory be bargained away with China.

 

Nehru was not a pacifist but he believed that non-violent ways of resolving international disputes were morally just. This certainly can't be said of many who have received the Nobel Peace Prize in recent years. Henry Kissinger, Menachem Begin, Shiman Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasir Arafat and others. How could Kissinger who sees peace as nothing more than the absence of war and believes that such a peace is only possible by the outright dominance of one power or a balance of power among great powers, possibly qualify for the peace award? The Nobel Committee seems to think that Israeli leaders are peaceful. In the past thirty years three Israeli politicians Begin, Shimon Peres and Rabin, have got the prize. What kind of peace have they achieved in the Middle East and by what means? Peace for them was just a temporary lull in fighting and this was to be achieved by coercing its Arab neighbours into submission. Once a peace accord is put in place, as it was in 1973 between Egypt and Israel, or the ones between Israel and the PLO, Israeli leaders brandished their peace credentials. The Nobel Committee readily obliged them.

 

Politics

 

There's politics in this Nobel Peace Prize business.

 

Let's see the motives behind giving Obama the peace prize, just after nine months in the White House. He has not done much, but talked persistently and persuasively about a world free of nuclear weapons, peace between the Arabs and Israelis, cleaner climate and comprehensive health care at home. All fine words, beautifully delivered and producing good vibes all over the world.

 

But does this merit the Nobel? Perhaps by certifying Barack Hussain Obama a super peacenik, the Nobel Committee has put tremendous onus on him to act peacefully.

 

Uneasy lies a head that wears the Nobel crown.

 

He can no longer use force as recklessly as his predecessor George W. Bush did, during his eight years in power. But there are people in America who say that this prize for the American President is a Nobel Committee endorsement of American armed interventions in the world.

 

In his New York Times article, Thomas Friedman says that this is a prize for the American soldiers who died on the Normandy Beach to liberate France from the Nazis in 1945 and the ones dying today in Swat Valley to keep Afghanistan free of Islamic fundamentalists.

 

In a letter he has drafted as an acceptance speech by Obama for the grand occasion in Oslo, Friedman says that the award is for the American soldiers who have died to bring democracy to the world.

 

Friedman's liberalism is quite representative of many American liberals.

 

They think it is America's Manifest Destiny to bring democracy to the world — even with arms. The Nobel Peace Prize for Obama is decidedly not for this kind of messianism.

 

In fact in giving him this award the Nobel Committee said it was to further his design for a nuclear free world.

 

Here he has begun well.

 

In July he reached an agreement with his foremost nuclear adversary, Russia, to reduce the number of nuclear warheads.

 

He has also removed a part of the missile defence shield for Europe and thus greatly allayed its fears.

 

Substantial reduction in the number of nuclear warheads by both antagonists, abandoning any idea of missile defence and eventual conclusion of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would go a long way towards nuclear disarmament. Obama would like to reduce the number of warheads to 500 for the US and Russia, down from 2200 and 2800 that the two have at present, no missile shield and an eventual global agreement on CTBT. Whether he can is debatable.

 

There's still a strong military- industrial complex, as President Eisenhower mentioned in awe in 1958, and this complex has huge interests in keeping arms acquisitions at a high level. If he can overcome the well- entrenched interest groups and move towards a world without nuclear weapons, it would be his and America's crowning achievements.

 

DISGRACE

Obama must begin to take policy course to building a world he promised to build during his election campaign. He cannot afford to give into arms lobbies, the hawks in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. If he does his four years in the White House will end in disgrace.

In concrete terms this means giving up for good any idea of nuclear testing.

Groups in Pentagon, laboratories like Lawrence Livermore, some strategic analysts and defence industries, want testing.

 

Specious reasoning that our weapons are obsolete and those of our enemies devastating are used to justify testing. Our defence analysts too talk the same language.

 

SECURITY

Obama cannot authorise testing without desecrating the Nobel Prize. He is concerned with Iran's clandestine facilities to enrich uranium, though El Baradei of the IAEA thinks that Iran is far from weapon capabilities.

There is a distinct possibility that Obama would attempt a rapprochement with Iran. Sanctions alone may not work. President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia has talked of positive incentives for Iran, and Russia is vitally important in Obama's plans for deep arms cuts and the conclusion of CTBT. One thing is now for certain: Obama cannot possibly authorise an Israeli attack on Iran. Even George W Bush firmly said no to Israel.

 

There are many who fear that Obama's peace design hurts our security interests. They think that the nuclear balance favours China and that we need to acquire thermonuclear weapons, more delivery systems and greater conventional weapons. But it can also be convincingly argued that a CTBT which blocks China and Pakistan from further testing will greatly make us more secure.

 

The writer is an independent defence analyst

 

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MAIL TODAY

QUANTUM LEAP

DINESH C. SHARMA

 

FUSION THE MASTER KEY FOR ENERGY PROBLEM

 

AT THE centre of the current brouhaha on climate change is energy. The bulk of environmental changes being seen and projected for the future are supposed to be a direct result of greenhouse gas emissions from production and consumption of coalbased power. That is what is making sources of energy like solar and wind — and even economically and ecologically costly options like nuclear — hot favourites.

 

You would be shocked if someone told you, in the midst of this discourse, that a bathtub- ful of water and a used lithium battery are enough to generate power for your family for the next 50 years.

 

This is what scientists are promising to deliver by the middle of this century. Away from the glare of arc lights focused on climate change negotiations, a dedicated band of scientists is working to make this unlimited source of energy — nuclear fusion — a reality.

 

A visit to one of Europe's largest nuclear fusion plants in the making at Garching near Munich, left no doubt in my mind that scientists are indeed serious about this future energy source.

 

Simply put, through nuclear fusion scientists want to mimic on earth the same reactions by which the sun and stars produce unlimited energy every second.

 

Fusion is the process in which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier one and release energy while doing so. This can be achieved in a reactor by fusing two isotopes of hydrogen — deuterium and tritium. When this fusion takes place, the result is helium, neutrons and a large amount of energy. While this is a simple reaction, it is very complex to execute. A low- density, ionised gas or plasma is used as a source of hydrogen isotopes and ignition takes place when this plasma is heated to a temperature of 100 million degrees or so.

 

This means fusion cannot take place in a confined vessel. The plasma has to be kept away from vessel walls and this is achieved through large magnetic fields A commercial plant is planned by 2045 applied around the vessel. Currently two types of fusion devices are being built — tokamaks and stellarators. India is building its own tokamak at the Institute of Plasma Research in Gandhinagar and is also a key member of an international effort to build a large fusion test device at Cadarche in France.

 

Building a fusion device and making it operational is a socalled big science project. It needs large, sustainable funding, highly qualified manpower and a lot of patience. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics hope to get a fusion demonstration power plant ready between 2035 and 2040, and a commercial fusion plant ready by 2045. " This is really an option, and we are not too late", remarked Prof Ursel Fantz, a senior scientist at the institute.

 

Funding is very crucial. Perhaps we need an Apollo programme for fusion energy research.

 

ARTIFICIAL BONES A REAL POSSIBILITY

 

IT MAY take days to several months for a fractured bone to heal because bone healing is a complex process in which different types of tissues are formed and remodeled. After a fracture, various cellular activities lead to the formation of different tissue types which form the basis for healing.

Understanding the properties of the various materials involved in the process of bone healing at micrometer level could help scientists develop artificial materials to substitute damaged bones or bone parts.

This is what a group of scientists led by Dr Inderchand Manjubala is doing at the Institute of Colloids and Interfaces at Potsdam. Manjubala, who obtained her PhD in biomaterials from the University of Madras, is using this knowledge about bone tissue formation to try out a series of polymers which can be used as biomaterials in the future. Her group is also studying bone regeneration and remodeling around stainless steel and titanium implants.

 

THOUGHT YOU HAD NO TRACE OF TB GERM? THINK AGAIN

 

TUBERCULOSIS is a major killer — an estimated 8 million people get infected and over 2 million die due to this disease every year. Scientific surveys — based on tuberculin skin test — have shown that nearly one third of the global population is latently infected with the tuberculosis germ — Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb). But only one in ten persons will develop the disease in his or her lifetime. Yet studying this latent pool of TB- infected persons can provide scientists useful insights.

 

The tuberculosis epidemic may be thriving because of this pool of carriers, despite the fact that we all get shots of BCG or Bacille Calmette- Guérin vaccine as young infants. This is what scientists at the Institute of Infection Biology in Berlin are attempting to do — trying to understand what constitutes protective immunity during natural infection with Mtb.

 

Understanding the mechanisms of protection and progression of the disease will enable development of new diagnostic as well as treatment tools, says Dr Shreemanata K Parida, who is working on a large project currently being run in Africa in collaboration with local scientists. Thousands of infants and adolescents vaccinated with BCG are being followed up for monitoring the induction of immune responses against mycobacterial antigens and other changes taking place.

 

SOUTH ASIANS IN UK DRINK LESS BUT SUFFER MORE

 

OVER the last two decades, scientists have reported that South Asians living abroad have higher rates of heart disease than local populations in their countries of residence. Now a similar trend has been found in relation to alcohol- related diseases.

 

In Britain, alcohol consumption among Irish and Scottish people is high, so it is not surprising that the related mortality is also high.

 

In contrast, men born in India reportedly drink less than the general population, implying that mortality and alcohol related harm should be low.

 

However, Indian men have higher rates of alcohol related admission to hospitals in England than do British white men, points out an editorial in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal . One possible explanation for greater alcohol related illness in South Asians relates to the biological factors that increase end organ damage.

 

For example, South Asians with alcohol dependency had much higher rates of alcoholrelated liver damage than British white people, despite having a shorter history of drinking heavily.

 

The mortality due to alcoholic liver disease in South Asian men is much higher than in British men, with Sikh men accounting for 80 percent of the statistics. Clearly, some subgroups of South Asians in the UK, the editorial says, have a major problem with alcohol and seem to be more susceptible to its effects. Evidence suggests that the problem will worsen with acculturation.

 

WHAT'S the connection between taxation and your waistline? It seems higher taxes on aerated drinks can make you lose weight, albeit, in very small quantities. Like trying out higher taxes on tobacco products to bring down consumption, policy makers in some countries believe higher taxes on aerated drinks can dampen sales and make consumers healthy. However, the health gains of costlier soft drinks appear to be very miniscule.

 

A recent study by the Yale School of Public Health has found that an individual's weight only mildly responds to changes in taxation — a one percent tax increase resulted in a BMI decrease of 0.003 points, which is less than a tenth of a pound for a man of average height. Large taxes that are passed on to consumers may be worthwhile to consider, but small tax changes will not work, researchers have concluded.

 

Soft drinks have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as a source of obesity and as a contributor to chronic diseases like diabetes and heart ailments.

 

dineshc. sharma@ mailtoday. in

 

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MAIL TODAY

INTERACTIVE

IITS MUST MAINTAIN HIGH STANDARDS

THIS is with reference to the announcement made by Kapil Sibal, the minister for human resources development, regarding raising the entry barrier for admission into IITs.

The new proposal states that students must acquire 80- 85 per cent marks in their Class XII exams to be eligible for admission is a wise one as it will pave the way for higher standards of entry for those wishing to study in India's most prestigious technical institutes.

 

Even if the minister was cagey on Tuesday saying that his office along with the IIT directors will not decide any number arbitrarily, it is important that we still stick to a higher percentage.

 

This is because an institute is known by the quality of students it has and the results they show in the exams as well as in their original research or lab work.

 

It is also true that the India taxpayer spends hundreds of crores of rupees in supporting the few thousand students that make it to the IIT each year. If the student a) decides to fly the coop and join some American company; b) is a complete failure at IIT because he was taught by coaching classes to cram; or c) is a believer in the theory that in India you have to pass exams only by learning by rote, then we as a nation would have failed.

 

One of the most important things to consider is that IITs are not merely teaching institutes; they are the building blocks of the future of this country's technological prowess. If this very mission is compromised by those who study only for the entrance exam or by those who are groomed by expensive coaching classes thus eliminating the chances of a poor yet intelligent child getting admission, then we would know that something is definitely wrong in our admission system.

Mohan Nigam via email

 

HISTORY SHOULD BE OUR BEST TEACHER

THIS is with reference to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's statement that Pakistan is " just another piece of land" and that " India is needlessly obsessed with Pakistan" and a subsequent letter written by Ranganathan Ramadass.

 

I disagree with the letter writer because, unfortunately, post- Partition, our leaders have always been obsessed with Pakistan.

 

The two who were not were former home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

Both taught a fitting lesson to Pakistan for their misadventures along the border. After the creation of Bangladesh out of Pakistan, there is hardly anything left to feel obsessed with Pakistan. I am at a loss to find even one leader from the whole polity of India who has spoken a word against Pakistan.

 

You need to be a Sardar Patel and an Indira Gandhi to say something against Pakistan.

Over the years we have had leaders who will only placate Pakistan. Now when we have amongst us a leader who is brave enough to stand up to Pakistan and show that country its place, we begin making comments on his statements. It is a good time to remember that in the 1965 war with Pakistan, had Russia not put pressure on us, we would have taken Lahore.

P. R. Wadhwa via email

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

A STAKE IN REFORM

 

The government has approved stake sale of 5 per cent in NTPC, India's largest thermal power generator, and 10 per cent in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, a profit-making joint venture. At the current price of NTPC's shares, offloading government stake in this Navratna company alone could fetch around Rs 8,800 crore. These decisions are significant in that they're the first public equity sales to be okayed by UPA-2. The resources they'll bring would add to funds already raised through recent initial public offers in NHPC and Oil India, the result of divestment decisions taken during the UPA's first stint.

Clearly, UPA-2 appears keen on unshackling the disinvestment process. If this is welcome, it's also about time. The Budget hadn't set a very encouraging target for revenue generation via stake sale. The Rs 1,123 crore aimed at was chicken feed compared to the Economic Survey's recommended Rs 25,000 crore annually. Given the appalling state of public finances, it was conjectured at the time that divestment measures would have to be announced off-Budget. It's good the government has finally acted, more so since the market has been upbeat of late and is likely to respond well to any reform-friendly signal.

One such signal came in the prime minister's recent recommendation that PSUs in greater numbers should get listed on the bourses. He highlighted that listed PSUs constituted over 24 per cent of the BSE's total market capitalisation and, of the top 10 BSE-listed firms, five were state-run enterprises. This was doubtless a pat on the public sector's back. But it was also a message from the top that PSUs could be made both more efficient and profitable as well as transparent and accountable with higher private shareholding. The case for bigger private participation can be made for listed PSUs as well. Divesting stake in NTPC, for instance, from 89.5 per cent to only 84.5 per cent shouldn't set a politically correct limit. While incremental disinvestment is better than nothing, the government needs to be less stingy in future.

The point is, big ticket resource mobilisation through divestment recommends itself. The fiscal deficit is set to be at a 16-year high of 6.8 per cent. Plus the Centre has weighty social sector obligations. It isn't clear whether receipts can be used for deficit-plugging or be accessed only for social sector schemes. Surely it needn't be a case of either/or. Disinvestment proceeds can serve the ends of both debt servicing and social sector and infrastructure spending. Also, with disinvestment relaunched, the government must revive fiscal responsibility and budget management goals. That will serve its stated need for fiscal prudence and consolidation. And it will send the right signal to investors looking to bet on the India growth story.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

BATTLE FOR CONTROL

 

The latest terror bombing, at the Islamic University in Islamabad, comes close on the heels of a suicide attack by the shadowy Baloch Sunni outfit Jundallah in Iran which killed six members of that country's elite Revolutionary Guard. Jundallah is believed to have its base in Pakistan's Balochistan province. The attack has led Iran, for the first time, to publicly pressure Pakistan to apprehend its perpetrators. And President Asif Zardari, in response, has agreed to set up a timetable to confront Jundallah.

New Delhi, of course, has been crying itself hoarse about the need to confront the Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for a long string of similar outrages in India, and wind up the terror infrastructure in Pakistan. But while Islamabad has, in the past, handed over anti-Iran militants to Tehran, such cooperation with New Delhi appears unthinkable for its establishment. The consequence is that Islamabad's battle against terror is not being fought on the plane of ideas. Rather there's just an administrative response when terror's selection of targets appear less palatable to the establishment. Such a half-hearted response will not do, and is now recoiling against itself.

The Pakistani army is finally engaged in long awaited military operations in South Waziristan, the stronghold of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). But having allowed the TTP to entrench itself deeply in South Waziristan, it is questionable how intensive this offensive will actually be and whether the armed forces will be able to clear the area of Taliban influence. The Pakistani army has committed just 28,000 troops against 10,000 rebels, not a clear advantage against dedicated practitioners of guerrilla warfare operating in territory conducive to such warfare. And of course the TTP response will not be confined to South Waziristan, as the string of blasts in Lahore, Peshawar and now Islamabad suggest.

The TTP, which has links with the al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, now embraces a vast and dedicated network of militant groups some of which were created by Pakistan to target India. Jundallah, which Iran believes has the covert support of the ISI, is also believed to have links with the TTP as well as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Punjab-based group suspected of involvement in the attack on the army HQ. Until the Pakistani establishment accepts that its former assets are out of control and moves to target them, it will not be able to make a significant strike against the TTP.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

DILEEP PADGAONKAR

 

Much was expected from a regional workshop on mental well-being held in Colombo earlier this month under the auspices of the World Health Organisation. The choice of both the venue of the meeting and its main theme could not have been more apposite. But the way things turned out left one with the taste of ash in the mouth.

Here we were in the capital of a country that has just about begun to emerge from a protracted civil war. Yet, throughout the deliberations, spread over three days, you barely heard a mention of the havoc it has caused: thousands dead, many thousands more injured or uprooted from their homes, properties destroyed, sources of livelihood snuffed out. The sheer scale of the violence and its aftermath should have prompted the experts drawn from many countries of South and South East Asia to speak about the fears, anxieties and traumas of the victims.

But that was not to be. You heard the Sri Lankan health minister hold forth on the topical pertinence of Lord Buddha's teachings to rid the world of want, fear and disease. No participant asked him about the nearly 300,000 Tamils languishing in congested camps placed under high security surveillance. The reason? The minister took no questions.

The theme of the workshop was eminently relevant. Information available on the WHO website lists chilling facts about mental problems prevalent across the globe today. As many as 20 per cent of the world's children and adolescents suffer from mental disorders. Some 800,000 individuals, more than half of them between the ages of 15 and 44, commit suicide every year largely on account of mental illness. The rate of mental disorders tends to double as a result of natural and man-made disasters.

Adding to this litany of woes is the stigmatisation of patients and their families, the acute shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers to provide treatment and care and the near-absence of mental well-being in the public health agenda of most countries. The workshop would have done well to examine these very issues within specific social and cultural contexts. However, for reasons that were difficult to fathom the organisers chose to spread themselves thin. Worse still, they chose to tread a terrain strewn with deadly mines.

On the first count, they expected participants to identify social and economic sectors and suggest ways and means to integrate them. In other words, WHO extended its remit, hitherto restricted to public health, to public policy as a whole. On the second count, the risks it ran were, if anything, even more hazardous. Instead of harnessing the expertise of social scientists engaged in public health and of psychiatrists, psychologists and cultural anthropologists, the organisers turned to spiritual leaders, faith healers, exorcists and sundry practitioners of esoteric cults for guidance on mental well-being.

Participants spent hours learning how to breathe and smile. They received instruction about the therapeutic benefits of certain sounds and mantras. Much knowledge was also imparted about yoga, alternative systems of medicine, the teachings of the Buddha, the glories of the Upanishads and so forth. (Incidentally, there were no representatives of the Muslim and Christian faiths even though Islam and Christianity boast of millions of followers in the countries covered by the workshop.)

One trouble with the choice of speakers was simply this. Each one of them with the exception of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar whose infectious charm held the audience spell-bound gave the impression that the path one indicated to attain mental bliss was the best, if not the only, one because it was secular and therefore had a universal appeal. The fact, however, is that yoga and reiki, ayurveda and unani, vipasana and zen all come with a specific religious and cultural baggage. What is best for some may not be good for all. This explains why certain Muslim countries frown on yoga or why republican France keeps votaries of spiritualism and mysticism at an arm's length.

This is not all. Discourse after discourse at the workshop harped on the alleged infirmities of 'western' medicine as against the innate superiority of 'traditional' healing systems, on how individuals can lead a robust and fulfilling life of mental well-being regardless of one's economic or social situation and so forth. Absent from the discourses were references to the state's responsibility to guarantee the health of its citizens. On the other hand, you witnessed laborious efforts to bestow a scientific cachet on esoteric practices, including some that were outrageously sexist (dance and music to cure the neurosis of barren women!).

At the end of the deliberations one was left wondering whether the WHO, aware of its limited human and material resources, might now consider dispatching these proselytisers to combat mental disorders worldwide. You were reminded of a doggerel written by an anonymous author in 1878 on learning that Indian troops were sent to Malta to help English forces face their enemy: "We don't want to fight/ but, by Jingo, if we do/ we won't go to the front ourselves/ but we'll send the mild Hindoo."

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

Q&A

I LEARNT TO LET GO FROM SUFISM

 

Rekha Vishal Bhardwaj , a trained Hindustani classical singer, stepped into Bollywood with numbers like 'Namak isk ka' (Omkara), 'Genda phool' (Delhi 6) and 'Ranaji' (Gulaal). She speaks to Meenakshi Sinha about music as a way of life:

You recently worked with two well-known folk singers, Bhanwari Devi and Rehana Mirza. Is this your first collaboration with folk singers?

Yes it's my first collaboration with pure folk singers. When i heard them sing, i kept listening to them and forgot all about my songs. Right now i'm trying to find my feet in Bollywood. I have sung 10-12 songs. But yes, i do have a circle of friends where i can talk about them and, God willing, if i'm in a better position, will definitely think of more such performances (with folk singers).

Do you feel that people took time to recognise your talent?

Not necessarily. I feel that songs that suit my voice come to me. Since i have a different and unique voice, i knew it would take time to get songs that suited my voice. Besides, the time is more conducive to heavy, full-throated voices like mine as compared to earlier times when they dropped such voices after two lines in an entire song. It takes a lot of time to come out of that kind of conditioning. For example, i grew up listening to Lataji and Ashaji and even today i haven't grown out of that habit. I don't listen to today's songs.

You call yourself a Sufi. What does being Sufi mean to you?

Sufi is a way of life for me. I don't think i need to convert to Islam to be a Sufi. I adhere to their idea that one should accept life as it comes to you. Live in the moment and celebrate what you have in it be it pain or happiness because whatever you have is by God's grace and one should celebrate that even though its pains. After all pain too is God's way of loving you.

I did my Sufi course from Osho commune, Pune, in 2002. Last year i attended a 10-day camp in Taiwan, which transformed me immensely. I learnt to 'let go' from Sufism. It teaches you that we are all travellers in this world, that everything is meaningless except love for fellow beings and, thereby, God. In my case, i realised that when i stopped expecting things from life, i became more settled. With the success of 'Namak isk ka', i started getting offers from outside. My album Ishqa Ishqa only gave me recognition. No work came my way between 2002 and 2007. When Omkara released in 2006, people started giving me work. It was then that i realised that what's due to me cannot be taken away by anyone and this brought me a lot of peace.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

SOUL FOOD

FISH IN TROUBLED WATERS

SUMIT S PAUL

 

I'm sure a recent report in a leading Bengali newspaper will make a die-hard Bong's heart sink in the river of depression. Pisciculturists are of the opinion that by 2015, the legendary Bangladeshi hilsa (ilish in Bengali) will disappear from the river Padma and that the Hooghly hilsa will follow suit by 2020. Alas, hardly a decade more to relish the heavenly fish! Hilsa is a gourmand's delight. The association of hilsa with the lives of Bengalis is greater even than a true-blue Englishman's fondness for salmon and a European's liking for trout. Hilsa and Bengalis are bound together. No occasion in a Bengali household is complete without hilsa and rosogulla. A book at the famous 'India House' in London, written by two Englishmen, describes 365 preparations of hilsa one for each day of the year. Connoisseurs say that hilsa cooked in mustard with Basmati rice and garden fresh green chillies tastes like nothing else on Earth. When Ghalib went from Delhi to Calcutta, he too became enamoured of the 'sparklingly shining and smart-looking fish' and mentioned this in his Persian letters. Even the first British principal of Calcutta's Fort William College, Prof Gilchrist, was so smitten by hilsa that he never went back to England! The story may be apocryphal, but it underscores hilsa's significance.

The fastidious lovers of this queen of fish are of the view that people relish hilsa because it naturally tastes a bit salty, much like South Africa's fresh-water fish, nivega. It's said that the real taste of hilsa lies in the manner in which its thorns are removed from the flesh. This requires a certain level of skill. Food experts say that the thornier a fish, the tastier it is, but those thorns have to be deftly removed before consumption! Only flesh makes a fish taste bland, like tuna, for instance. Another thing that makes hilsa altogether different from other fish is that it distinctly tastes below par during the mating season and when it produces eggs. Even die-hard hilsa lovers avoid it during this period and turn to other varieties. The late poet Subhash Mukharjee called it ''separation from one's beloved.'' The extinction of this beloved and delicious fish will mark the end of a romantic chapter from the food-loving Bongs' consciousness. So have it to your heart's content. All good things eventually come to an end. And they must.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

SUBVERSE

POVERTY OF IDEAS

JUG SURAIYA 

 

There is something fundamentally wrong with the vocabulary of our political economy: with the new emphasis on aam aadmi and austerity, wealth has become a dirty word, and an even dirtier concept. Even if you've got it, don't flaunt it, is the motto. Wealth stinks. It's garbage. Let's hide it away where it won't offend our senses.

 

Poverty, on the other hand, has been made to exude the odour of sanctity. The figures relating to the BPL (below poverty line) population are constantly being competitively upgraded. How many BPL Indians are there? Twenty-six per cent? Thirty-four per cent? Over 50 per cent? Strange paradox. The more we talk about poverty, the less we seem to be able to do something about it.

 

This is where the flaw in our economic vocabulary reveals itself. Instead of pretending to be ashamed of wealth, and trying to sweep it under the carpet of conspicuous austerity, we should be ashamed of our entrenched poverty, and of our collective failure after over 60 years of independence to eliminate it. Indira Gandhi was wrong about many things but she was right when she said that poverty was the biggest pollutant. It's not wealth that's filthy, that's garbage; it's poverty, as distinct from the poor who suffer from poverty the way a once-healthy person suffers from a disease.

 

Sickness and disease are an aberration, a deviation from normality, which is health. Similarly, we should think and speak of poverty as being the deviation from the norm, which is wealth. In our minds and in our words which both reflect and shape the way we think poverty has become a positive entity, something which has an existence of its own. What if we were to think about poverty as a negation, as a lack of existence, not as an active presence but as a passive absence of what ought to be present?

 

Theologians speak of evil not as a force or a manifestation in its own right, but as a retraction or an absence of the good, a vacuum from which goodness has been removed. Perhaps it's time we began to think of poverty and of wealth in similar terms; poverty not as an adversarial antithesis to wealth, but as a lack of wealth, a wealth vacuum.

 

Is this mere word play, which will do nothing to alleviate the brutal fact of poverty? In that words can change the way we perceive things, a new idiom for poverty, and for wealth, might prove to be more than just wordplay; it might become a call for action.

 

It's said that mediocre doctors try to cure their patients; enlightened doctors heal them. The mediocre doctor focuses on the removal of disease; the enlightened physician seeks to restore the patient to normal health. One's view is negative, the other's is positive.

 

Perhaps it's time that our economic physicians our policymakers and our policy implementers began to realise that wealth is not the aberration, the disease; it is poverty that is the illness, the lack of normal health to which the patient must be restored. Of course there is no magic wand that can make everyone from the poorest of the poor into a crorepati, or even a lakhpati overnight. But if our policymakers began to think in terms of wealth creation instead of poverty eradication it might make for a sea change in our geography of hunger and deprivation.

 

Currently, a family of five earning less than Rs 3,000 a month is officially deemed to be below the poverty line. If, through a more efficient utilisation of the human resources of labour and innate intelligence this family represents, you were to enable it to increase its income by just a hundred rupees a month you wouldn't eradicate its poverty. But you would have helped create Rs 100 worth of wealth for it. You would have helped it take a small step forward to that distant horizon which represents the wealth potential that ought to be the birthright of every human, not just in this country but on this planet.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

STRUCK DOWN BY STRIKES

 

Strikes, sometimes violent ones, are visiting the girdle of industries surrounding Delhi with sickening regularity. At an average Rs 28,000 per month, the capital's automobile cluster — which produces nearly 60 per cent of India's cars and bikes — is among the best paymasters for blue-collar workers anywhere in the country. Yet the simmering discontent here is as much about wages as it is about working conditions. This is not helped by the fact that the political parties of predominantly agrarian Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have felt little need to nurture industrial workers as a constituency. Nor by the fact that the nascent administrative apparatus in Gurgaon and Noida are ill-equipped to handle labour unrest.

 

The lack of trade union activity was a major attraction for investment in this belt, pitchforking the region into the country's largest auto hub in less than a generation. But it would be a pipedream to expect political awareness of a quarter of a century ago on Gurgaon's shop floor today. The proximity to New Delhi gives militant unionism extra traction in its fight against foreign capital, and the central government gets roped into situations that ought to be dealt with at the municipal level. New Delhi needs to work with the states in question to help them develop institutional capabilities to preserve industrial harmony. The region's prosperity depends on all stakeholders playing by the rules, with the government, if called in, acting as an honest broker.

 

The Gurgaon-Noida industrial complex was spawned when India started opening itself to the world.  The Japanese, famous for hunting in packs, are big players here. Roughly three in four Japanese companies operating in India are located in this cluster, with ambitious plans of developing a Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor. Spook them and a lot more than Gurgaon's future is at stake. Yet the foreign investor must be made aware that Indian workers enjoy rights unavailable in many parts of emerging Asia. These have to be respected. No country has developed without going through an industrial revolution and India's unlikely to be an exception. The scramble for investment can't be at the cost of a brutalised workforce. The central government needs to look more closely at what's happening in Gurgaon if it intends to pitch India as an investor-friendly destination without diluting labour rights.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

NOT A CLOSE SHAVE

 

The Indian Air Force seems to be caught in a hairy situation. To beard or not to beard is the question. Twin appeals from within its ranks, challenging the validity of its service rules proscribing personnel inducted after 2002 from growing a beard, have helped crash-land the IAF in the midst of a three-way battle — against personnel unhappy with such 'secularism' and the Supreme Court, unhappy with its fuzzy response to the issue.

 

Earlier this year, both the Haryana High Court and the apex court had justified the IAF's defence of its no-beard-for-all policy citing that, in Islam, the beard was not compulsory as in Sikhism – Sikh personnel being the only ones allowed to sport an abundance of facial hair. So, while we can understand the ban on the overt display of religious accessories in the armed forces as being crucial in maintaining the secular ethos, what does baffle us is the security threat that a face full of fur might pose, now that the days of hand-to-hand combat are long past. For there was a time when beards could prove to be deadly handles for gaining access to the enemy's throat for quick slitting.

 

Now, as long as a furry face does not impede the smooth functioning of cockpit controls, or interfere with quick missile launches, we say go for the grunge. But then, having knowingly signed on to a set of service rules, those seeking to sport the odd stubble are probably committing a breach of contract every bit as serious as walking into a gentlemen's cigar club with flip flops and a sarong. So, pending a change in the house rules, or unless the top house rules, this could prove to be a quite a close shave for those protesting men in blue.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

IT'S A DIM SUM GAME

PREM SHANKAR JHA

 

The media have responded to China's unusually strong demarche over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh with a universal cry of 'How Dare You'? Such sanctimonious outrage serves little purpose. China dares because it is now accepted as the second most powerful nation in the world and holds the keys to the US treasury. These are facts. Railing against them will not serve any useful purpose.

 

Continuing to do so can, however, push us into war. Every single action of the Chinese in the past two years — from the denial of a visa to an official from Arunachal Pradesh in 2007 to the 270 incursions across the Line of Actual Control this year — has been a carefully calibrated escalation of the border dispute.

 

The only mystery is their motive. Is the escalation designed to provoke India into doing something that will justify the annexation of Tawang and other parts of the so-called disputed areas? Or is China using pressure on Arunachal to pursue an entirely different goal?

 

The accepted view in Delhi is that after its phenomenal growth, and the spectacular success of the Beijing Olympics, China believes that it has once again become the centre of the world and will brook no rivals. A small, winnable, war in the Himalayas — like the US's war on Grenada in 1983 and Britain's in the Falklands in 1982 — would end the Indian challenge once and for all.

 

There is, however, a second explanation. But one needs to look at the world through Beijing's eyes to grasp it. These are the eyes of a country whose electrifying growth has created an alarming, and so far uncontained, rise in social discontent. These are the eyes of a country with no fewer than 56 minorities, the two largest of which are in open revolt. These are the eyes of a country that has had no experience of political accommodation in the past two millennia and does not now know where to start.

 

All of these anxieties are reflected in its reaction to its failure to assimilate Tibet. For this the Chinese hold India responsible because it has kept the Tibetan cultural and political identity alive by sheltering the Dalai Lama. This was the bone of contention that led to the 1962 war. It is almost certainly the real bone of contention today.

 

After the Sino-Indian rapprochement in 1993, Beijing was prepared to overlook the presence of the Dalai Lama in India. But its attitude has hardened after two recent developments. The first is the emergence of a younger, restive, generation of Tibetans-in-exile whom the Dalai Lama does not really control. The second is satellite telephony and the internet, which have enabled these elements to build links with their counterparts in Tibet, to weave together what could be the first 'virtual' nation in the history of humanity.

 

The March 2008 uprising in Lhasa, which spread quickly to towns in three other provinces, brought Beijing face to face with these changes for five of the seven organisation that instigated it had little to do with the Dalai Lama. Nevertheless since the planning took place in Dharamsala, Beijing concluded that the Dalai Lama had given the so-called March 'plot' his blessings.

 

This suspicion turned into certainty when, in the eighth round of autonomy talks with Beijing in April 2008, the Dalai Lama continued to insist that autonomy should be granted not just to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) but to 'Greater Tibet'.

 

Faced with this demand the Chinese representatives, at the April conference, went ballistic and stormed out. For Greater Tibet includes TAR and parts of four other Chinese provinces, and covers one quarter of China's land area. By contrast, Kashmir valley, which also has six million inhabitants, occupies only 0.13 per cent of India's land area.

 

Vivisecting China may have been the last thing in the Dalai Lama's mind. But an already paranoid Chinese State could not afford to ignore this possibility. The escalating tension with India reflects Beijing's inability to reconcile India's professions of friendship with its willingness to allow the Dalai Lama to raise such subversive and 'splitist' demands from Indian soil.

 

The resulting confrontation has now acquired a life of its own and is leading the two countries towards a war that neither wants. The calibrated escalation of China's  demands and actions suggests that the point of no return will be the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in November. Wen Jiabao's request for a meeting with Manmohan Singh in Bangkok should, therefore, be seen as a last ditch effort to avert war.

 

Fortunately for India, reversing the escalation does not require making humiliating concessions. All that New Delhi needs to do is clear up the misapprehensions that have taken root in the Chinese leaders' minds.

 

India never has, and never will, support the demand for an autonomous 'Greater Tibet'. Its every reference to autonomy so far has been limited to the TAR. This is a carefully considered position, for any departure would open a Pandora's box within India that New Delhi would never be able to close.

 

It has not associated itself with the details of the Dalai Lama's latest autonomy proposal only out of an exaggerated respect for China's internal sovereignty. But this could easily change if China were to hint that India could play a mediator's role and make the Dalai Lama lower his demands.

 

Time, however, is running short. The immediate need is to persuade the Dalai Lama to postpone his visit to Tawang. This should not prove difficult for he could hardly be relishing the prospect of setting the house he has been living in on fire. A postponement will buy time for the two countries to clear misunderstandings and evolve a policy that brings peace to Tibet.

 

Prem Shankar Jha is  the author of The Twilight of the Nation State: Globalisation, Chaos and War.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

A LOVE THAT DARES SPEAK ITS NAME

KARAN THAPAR

 

Were Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten in love? Her daughter, Pamela Hicks, says "the answer undoubtedly is yes". His sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, agreed. How do I know? Her daughter, Nayantara Sahgal, is my mami. She told me.

 

Did Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten make love? Pamela Hicks thinks not but can't be sure. "Panditji was a widower," I asked her in 2007, "he needed female affection and he must have wanted it. Your mother was alluring and beautiful. They were so close together. It would be natural for the emotional to become sexual." This was her reply: "It could be and maybe everybody will think I'm being very naive… but I don't believe it."

 

Nayantara Sahgal tells me her mother always hoped the answer was yes. Speaking for herself: "I won't know for sure. It was between two people in private. How can one know?"

 

Given that Jawaharlal and Edwina loved each other deeply — and Edwina left behind suitcases of his letters; indeed, several were found on her bedside table — the answer could be yes.

 

Of course, none of this is clinching. The truth is we can only make intelligent guesses.  We don't know for sure. But what is beyond doubt is that none of Nehru's heirs — including Sonia Gandhi, who never ever met him — or any historian can speak definitively on the subject.

 

So objections to Joe Wright's proposed film on Edwina and Nehru, based on Alex Von Tunzelmann's book Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, on the grounds that this romance is not proven by historical facts, are themselves patently and verifiably wrong. For the government to deny permission to the producers to film in India unless they amend the script and delete kisses or declarations of love flies in the face of what Edwina's and Nehru's own relatives would accept as fact.

 

Here's proof. This is what Pamela Hicks told me in a formal interview: "I believe that they loved being together… they might like to hold hands or to hug or something like that."

It's also, I would add, not the business of government to 'protect' the image of Jawaharlal Nehru and to do so in this way is nothing short of censorship.

 

First, this business of protection. Nehru was a public figure and he was not ashamed of his love for, or relationship with, Edwina. For his heirs or this government today to demand 'suitable' changes would suggest there was something improper, even morally unacceptable. That's an insult to both Nehru and Edwina.

 

Second, is it the business of governments in a democracy to determine or approve how film directors treat historical relationships? The answer is an unequivocal no and both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi know this. They wouldn't dare stop biographers — Stanley Wolpert, for example — suggesting Nehru experimented with a homosexual relationship during a holiday in Scandinavia. The only reason they feel they can tamper with Wright's film is because he wants to make it in India. But isn't that an abuse of their power to grant permission?

 

Instead, the government should focus on what Edwina and Jawaharlal meant to each other. As Nehru wrote in his letters: "I realise that there was a deeper attachment between us, that some uncontrollable force drew us to one another." Lord Mountbatten confirms this. As he told his other daughter, Patricia: "She [Edwina] and Jawaharlal are so sweet together. They really dote on each other."gaurav.choudhury@hindustantimes.com When Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the annual budget in July, the stock market was disappointed because the proposals did not include a timetable for disinvestment.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

HOW ONE INSTRUMENT COULD KINDLE DESIRES

NANDINI R IYER

 

My first reaction when I heard that the Kindle reader is now available in India was that for many women here, the electronic reading device would open up the doors to erotica. For many desi ladies, buying a Nancy Friday or the copy of Hustler letters is too risky an affair.

 

Some say the Internet provides a window. Really? Most people aren't tech-savvy enough to figure out their privacy settings. Computers are shared by the entire family and rarely do women of the house opt for separate user IDs on their home computers.

 

So imagine the poor girl, furtively typing in a few erotica search slugs in Google and wondering whether she should be just happy seeing the search results. And most of the time that she should have spent in furtive enjoyment goes into worrying about whether it's okay to put the phone on silent, on whether husband (or in-laws and children) will suddenly walk in.

 

On the rare occasion she actually gets into a pornographic site or an adult chat room, she squints at those tiny photos that are supposed to serve as bait and wonders whether it could be an ISI spybot that will actually download a virus into the system. Imagine having to explain to hubby, friends and relatives that your desperation for porn (horror of horrors!) was what made your computer crash.

 

The furtive erotic experience ends with a ritual cleansing: cookies cleared, caches cleared, history cleared — 'Oops! Was that a password I just deleted?'

 

Since an overwhelmingly large number of Indian men don't read and probably prefer a PlayStation 3 to a Kindle, women might well find that their erotica is safe in the happy confines of a Kindle. A close friend suggests loading three or four books including, but not restricted to, Hitler's Mein Kampf just to throw nosey parkers off their trail about my real Kindle reading preferences.

 

Kindle, I hope, will help women go where no woman has comfortably gone before.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

THE 5% FORMULA

 

The decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday, to move ahead on disinvestment of the National Thermal Power Corporation or NTPC, is the first such move by the second avatar of the United Progressive Alliance and, if only as such, deserves closer scrutiny. It takes on more significance when it is paired with a reading of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at Scope's "excellence awards", a function to recognise government-run enterprises and their employees that have done exceptionally well; the PM spoke then about how listing public sector companies on stock exchanges had served the government and consumers well in the past. The divestment of NTPC announced was of 5 per cent, through a "follow-on public offer"; 10 per cent has already been sold off. This is a little less than what was expected (expectations were of another 10 per cent), and is limited to NTPC and another power-generation utility, the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, which is co-owned by the government of Himachal Pradesh, rather than across a broad swathe of such public-sector utilities, as many had hoped. But it nevertheless serves as a useful signal of the government's continued commitment to the privatisation process, half-hearted though it might appear.

 

If UPA-II has taken a decision to defer big-ticket privatisation, for whatever political or ideological reason, then that is an error. However, even within these parameters, there are steps that can be taken. Lowering government holding in certain public sector companies, especially those that are doing well and are properly valued by the markets, will aid in increasing efficiency. Yet others need to be listed for the first time, which is in itself a method of instilling some market-related discipline to their operation. Other small road-blocks have already been removed: for example, a debate that helped delay earlier such moves — on whether the proceeds should stop going, as has been the practice since 2004, to the National Investment Fund — appears to no longer be seen as sufficiently problematic.

 

The way ahead is clear, even if the government wishes to be excessively cautious. Progressive listing of state-controlled enterprises, strategic sales of those doing badly, and uncomplicated, if small, reductions in government holding of those doing well. This helps consumers, the market, the companies, and is likely uncontroversial enough to be pushed through without push-back from the more prehistoric wings of the Congress party. This is a good start, but more should be expected in the next few months.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

JEE, MINISTER

 

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal's enthusiasm for rolling out reforms in education shows no sign of ebbing. Days after liberating the Indian Institutes of Management from government curbs on setting up campuses abroad, he has now weighed in with suggestions on admission criteria at the Indian Institutes of Technology. On Monday, he recommended that the IITs raise the cut-off for students to clear the Joint Entrance Examination. The present minimum of 60 per cent in Board examinations, he said, disincentivises IIT aspirants from taking the school-leaving board examinations with enough seriousness. Besides, he argues, that reconfiguring the admission requirements would limit the sprawl of coaching centres.

 

The objectives the minister lists are unexceptionable, but is realising them that easy? There is already considerable disquiet that raising the cut-off to 80 per cent would undermine the inclusiveness of the current arrangement. Anand Kumar, a Patna-based mathematician who has been extensively profiled for his success in mentoring students from rural and small-town schools for the JEE, is of this view. He points out that of his 30 successful candidates for the IITs in 2009, only three managed more than 80 per cent in their Class XII examinations. Votaries of Sibal's suggestions, and there are many, would see this as proof of his argument, that serious aspirants do not take the boards seriously. Yet these numbers equally support the contrary view, that the JEE is providing a way of levelling the field. That it is giving the largest possible number of students a chance to qualify, on merit for a quality education. A thesis is often put forth that institutions of higher learning with a reputation for producing exceptional talent do so by perfecting admission criteria that pluck out the most promising candidates. This is perhaps why more and more engineering colleges want to get on to the JEE platform.

 

However, the main point is not the JEE. It is the larger reform needed to find ways of testing students in a way that the results reflect the keenest possible assessment on their preparation as well as aptitude — and to do so in a manner that irons out as many class distortions as possible. Any reform undertaken in marking school-leaving students — whether for admission to the IITs or elsewhere — must be informed by these nuances.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE MAHA CRATER

SHEKHAR GUPTA

 

This is obviously not my year for catching up with a drought. It is not as if the facts, or rather what the venerable Narayana Murthy of Infosys would call "data", do not confirm a drought. Nationwide, this is the worst drought of the century by far. The overall rainfall figure of 77 per cent of LPA (Long Period Average) is a clear five percentage points worse than 1987, which remains imprinted in our heads as the worst drought of the last century. I have also not been traveling in the wrong geographies. I went driving through Punjab and Haryana, the states with huge shortfalls — the latter being the worst, with a deficit of nearly 60 per cent — and reported the somewhat startling findings to you ('Drought-proofing politics', National Interest, August 15). That sighting of endless green all over the region has now been confirmed by the very strong paddy procurement figures in both states.

 

And the region we, a motley group of journalists, economists, financial wizards, psephologists and TV anchors, the self-styled "Limousine Liberals", have chosen to watch elections in Maharashtra, could have been hand-picked for distress tourism at any time. And even more so now, when every district along the nearly 500 km between Aurangabad and Nagpur has a monsoon deficiency ranging from 18 to 27 per cent (deficit figures for Aurangabad, Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur). But you can't find or see distress. At least not so easily as you would expect to do in what has now been written off by the "povertarians" in the media and the NGOs as "suicide country". Remember our definition of "povertarians", as explained by the very simple credo of its practitioners and peddlers: poverty is my birthright, but you shall have it.

 

Poverty you can see in what is, indeed, one of the drier and historically distressed zones in the country. But distress, you don't. And drought, most certainly not. Every square foot of cultivable land has bounteous standing crops, from cotton to maize to tur dal to a very occasional sugarcane and, as you get closer to Nagpur, the most exhilarating patches of sunflower, millions and millions of smiling, seed-and-oil-filled bundles of joy bobbing in the breeze and weaving in the path of the sun, a sight to light up the gloomiest of days, and hearts.

 

But there is poverty and backwardness if not drought and distress. You can see that the farmer is hard-working and knowledgeable. Almost any village of a reasonable size has a seed and fertiliser shop that reports robust business. And what writings do we see most often on the walls? Rashi 530 "Boll Guard", Ajit Bt 12, 13. You know we are talking about Bt cotton. My interlocutor at the seed shop in the village-grown-into-highway-bazaar, Mehekar, tells me no farmer buys any other cotton seed now. Yields are up, of course, but his profits, funnily, have fallen — because he is selling much less insecticide.

 

But if yields are up, and both late rains and irrigation — mainly tubewells run with expensive power — have saved him from the drought, why is the farmer still poor? In nearly 500 km of driving, we see no more than a dozen tractors — outside the campuses of the two agricultural universities we pass, of course. Elsewhere, you see something that's a rarity in green revolution states: farmers ploughing with bullocks. The other indicators of bounteous agri-zones are missing too: no new, flashy village homes, Marutis or Santros (motorbikes are there), hardly any writing on the walls selling white goods. One reason for the relative absence of agri-riches is evident: the small size of farmers' holdings. But the bigger culprit is poor governance, evidence of which you see wherever you look. Power cuts are murderous, district administrations are not as bad as in the Hindi heartland, but are quite bad. Mahesh Joshi, a schoolteacher working part-time for Congress-NCP candidate Kailash Gorantyal in Sindkhed Raja village (near the constituency of Naya Jalna, made famous in Vividh Bharati days by its music-loving residents' domination of request programmes) tells us it is nowhere as good as even in "Sharad Pawar's western Maharashtra".

This, then, is what bedevils Maharashtra: lousy governance that makes what should have been forever the richest state in India one of the poorest in its political hinterland. In fact, if you take out Mumbai, Maharashtra now ranks 11th among our states. The pipeline from the Mantralaya to Marathwada and then on to Vidarbha is far too long and far too leaky for this region to get a fair deal. That is why you have the paradox here of marginal farming with bullock ploughs and Bt seeds while western Maharashtra booms as a green revolution zone. It is not so close to Mumbai either, but its political capital is Baramati and its de facto chief minister Sharad Pawar, forever.

 

But politicians could turn around and tell you how difficult this zone, too far from just anywhere, is to govern. If you have doubts, ask the Great Mughals, whose empire finally lost its way here, trying to subdue the region, collect its tribute and taxes, quell the defiance of natives, rebellions of loyalists. Aurangzeb himself moved here to sort things out, failed, died here as an emperor defeated by the elements. But that is no excuse for the neglect now. You want to see how bad it is, take a 30-km detour from National Highway 6 to Lonar, again an overgrown village no different from a hundred others. But that is not what you come here for. You come to look at what you may have seen in your Class VI geography textbooks, one of the largest meteorite craters in the world. And one look, and you know the crater is the real thing. You have seen nothing like it unless you've been to the more famous one in Arizona. It is 1.8 km from one end to the other at the top and the meteorite that struck this part of the Deccan Plateau, probably 50,000 years ago, sliced out a perfect circle. Accumulated water has formed a permanent lake which, shallow this year, can hold a lot more water after a better monsoon. But this water, a bit like the Dead Sea, is heavily salt-laden and supports animal, bird and plant life that is unique for any part of India. There are wonderful walks around and into the crater, and two 10th century temples at its base, one with a reclining Hanuman said to have been cut from the meteorite. And yet, how many tourists come to see this marvel? There is a circuit house built by the British at the rim of the crater. A peek inside its jammed doors tells you nobody has been around for years.

 

You may fault governments for a million things, but picking the right real estate can never be one of them. Just two minutes away, on a hillock providing a stunning view of the crater, the Maharashtra government has built a "tourist complex". It is an impressive building with a spread of tourist cottages bristling with split air-conditioners. But walk around it and you know few have visited since Chhagan Bhujbal inaugurated it in 2002. The place, in fact, could at most times be as desolate as the very meteorite that fell here 50,000 years ago. Its reception is in a rotten state, its gardens filled with just weeds — albeit some nicely flowering ones — and its toilets have been vandalised in a way toilets can only be vandalised in India. Seats have been yanked off, and the entire flushing units, tank chains and handles, taken away, leaving just the stumps of what once used to be plumbing. The staff is still wonderfully warm, happy to see customers and conjures up a wonderful lunch for our group of nearly thirty. But think of the waste, not just of this facility but of this celestial gift. The Americans would have built facilities and created 50,000 jobs around it. The Chinese would probably have done twice as well. All we have created here is one more colossal missed opportunity, a real monument to sarkari apathy and incompetence.

 

One other, though more modern, monument to poor governance lies next to this "tourist complex". From a distance, it looks like a tin-shed compound for stabling horses or sheep. But get closer and you see children in school uniform playing kho-kho inside and a signboard proudly introducing "Gyandeep Convent". Why convent, you ask? And you will be told that that is because it is English medium, something government schools are not, and so people beg, borrow and steal to send their children here so they might have some future. This, when three different sets of political leaders in Mumbai fight over who is doing more for the Marathi language — while, of course, all their own children go to real convents, not some Gyandeep in the middle of nowhere in tin-sheds.

 

It is only when you reach Amravati that you see some electricity in the campaign. President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Shekhawat is contesting here, and so is the incumbent MLA, now a formidable Congress rebel, Sunil Deshmukh. Rahul and Sonia avoided the constituency, but Narendra Modi is arriving today. The Shekhawat-Patil residence is a kind of landmark here, a replica of a haveli from Shekhawati, Rajendra's father's native place. Sure enough, none of his supporters knows him by his first name; he is simply called Chhote Rao Sahib. Chances are, not many of them know him at all. But this is now a life-and-death contest. The stakes are so high, the prestige of Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Congress party is on the line, and that tension shows in Chhote Rao Sahib's chubby baby-face that belies his 42 years. "I am up against everybody," he says, "the BJP-Sena, Sunil Deshmukh and the media." Like a schoolchild he has rehearsed hard the answer to the most obvious question he is asked: he points out V.V. Giri's son also contested while he was president. But there is neither excitement, nor defiance in his face, it is some kind of a fear, almost as if his eyes are trying to tell you, hell, did I really have to get into this? The skin of his face, he complains, is burning and peeling off from campaigning in the sun. He may still win, who knows, given how hard the Congress will work to salvage its name in Amravati, but he is lucky he is contesting in genteel Vidarbha and not some nastier place up north. Or he would have been called not Chhote Rao Sahib, for sure, but Pappu, and the rest, on whether he can dance or not, would have naturally followed.

 

There must indeed be something in the air of Vidarbha that even the "lion" of Gujarat presents a "pappu-fied" image here, talking development, growth, increase in water bodies and, most interesting of all, his state's success in collecting carbon credits. Muslims, Pakistan, terrorism are not mentioned even in passing. Nor is there any mocking of anybody, Sonia, Rahul, or even junior Shekhawat, no vitriol, none of the juicy innuendo that makes crowds flock to his meetings. Is he scaling down his ambitions, redefining himself as Gujarat's Vikas Purush rather than building the image of a new all-Indian Lauh Purush, the Chhota Sardar? He won't engage in conversation on anything other than the local campaign. That, for you, is a new Modi, or may be just the Modi-in-Vidarbha. But that is a space worth watching.

 

You would normally not associate anything genteel with the headquarters of the RSS in Nagpur, and certainly you will not say that for the sizzling upma that its national spokesman and veteran of nearly 90, M.G. Vaidya, serves us. He talks happily about his recent acquaintance with a "lady" called Angina, whom he has now decided to keep close to his heart. Vaidya, one of Vajpayee's oldest and closest colleagues, sits under the RSS map of "Greater" India, which encompasses almost the entire subcontinent, and makes a valiant, but hopeless case for the RSS as a non-communal organisation, of Hindutva as a secular concept. You talk to the RSS people, and they remind you of the Chinese, not people in denial, but people fervently believing their own myths and half-truths and so disappointed when others do not "get it". The only thing Vaidya would not talk about is the BJP, though he does repeat his chief's "advice" that its new president will be between 50 and 55. That would rule out almost anybody you and I know — including all the senior BJP leaders, Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Gopinath Munde, that the Limousine Liberals meet during this romp.

 

For a bit of a reality check, meanwhile, stay overnight in Akola which, in so many ways, looks and feels like an eternal depression town: rotting, stinking, full of uncleared garbage, with shells of old but beautiful little houses and buildings, and the most awful new construction. The power goes off so many times during the night that I decide to take a walk from our hotel at 2 am. The railway station is just five minutes away and it is both alive and dead, buzzing and depressing. In a tiny Hanuman temple by its side, a dozen poor, poor men are chanting the Hanuman Chalisa with sheer joy on their faces. On its platforms and outside, in what is supposed to be its parking area, hundreds of people sleep on the floor, men dressed in near-tatters, women with small children, nobody bothering to even swat the mosquitoes which swoop in their thousands. I talk to someone who is awake. Everybody, he says, wants to go to Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur for a job, a living, an escape from that half-acre of land that cannot even produce subsistence income and, in the case of many others, to escape caste. An Indian village is a cruel place, too small and too intimate for you to disown your identity, whether defined by your caste or your family history. So you head for Mumbai, the slums and yet a breath of fresh air!

 

Postscript: The brilliant American humorist, P.J. O'Rourke once wrote that it seemed anybody who failed architecture school somehow reached Saudi Arabia, so awful was the new architecture there. What would you say about the architects who are building in our cities now? Probably that anybody who failed in Class X somehow got himself an architect's licence and started building these sad, sad new monstrosities. Our cities now must have the worst architecture in the world, and you see it most starkly in Aurangabad, a boomtown, and home to wonderful Mughal architecture. It seems the harder a modern architect tries, the more disastrous the results. Drive in from the airport and you see a PVR multiplex built in such a way that it is totally slumped on one side, as if a tsunami had flattened it. Somebody has worked hard at it, but if you call it imaginative or creative, you must really be imaginative and creative yourself! But my favourite signboard pick from this journey is indeed from Aurangabad: the so-aptly named "Pyaasa Wine Shop".

 

sg@expressindia.com

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

MAKING SENSE OF CHINA

K. SUBRAHMANYAM

 

The editorial in the People's Daily of October 14 attacking India's alleged hegemonism took the memories of senior citizens and Sinologists back to 1959-60, when polemical articles attacking Jawaharlal Nehru appeared in the Chinese media. In those articles Nehru was accused of taking an aggressive line on Tibet in the expectation of aid from the US. Nations tend to see other nations as extensions of their own self-image. There are serious cultural problems in the Chinese interpretation of India and Indian foreign policy.

 

Whenever a major power emerges the rest of the international system voices concerns about the aggressive nature of that power. The rise of Britain, France, Germany, US, Japan, Russia and Communist China itself have been viewed with apprehension by other powers, and in most of those instances there were wars. Though today all those nations, other than China, are democracies, they were not so at the time of their emergence as powers, except for the US. Even the US, with slavery, was only a partial democracy. The foreign policy of a country is mostly an extension of its domestic values. Since most of the nations listed emerged as powers before they became full-fledged liberal democracies their non-democratic internal values got projected in their external policies, often resulting in aggression. Once nations get fully democratised, their mutual animosities tend to fade as witnessed in Europe with the formation of the European Union.

 

China expects to overtake the US as the nation with the highest GDP in the next two to three decades. China today has the world's highest foreign exchange reserves and the highest economic growth rate. They already talk about a G-2 arrangement, sharing world financial dominance with the US. Proposals are afloat in the Chinese strategic community about dividing the Pacific Ocean into spheres of influence between China and the US. Their military modernisation programme is being pushed ahead rapidly, and is not transparent. Consequently there is concern all over the world that a non-democratic China wants to become the untethered hegemon first of Asia, and then of the world.

 

There are no such fears about India. At an April 2008 conference in Delhi held by the International Institute of Strategic Studies the emergence of India was greeted as a uniquely non-threatening phenomenon, unprecedented in history. It is no surprise, since India's emergence as a global player has come about decades after India adopted a democratic and pluralistic constitution. It is a widely-recognised fact that democracies do not fight each other. Today all major powers except China are democracies. Once upon a time it used to be said that socialist countries did not initiate wars. But China's own experience with India, the Soviet Union and Vietnam disproves it.

 

China is far ahead of India economically, militarily and — in some sectors — technologically. Still, why are they picking on India, creating terrorism- and nuclear-related problems through their surrogate, Pakistan? Why are they applying pressure on India and trying to keep it off-balance on the border?

 

In the editorial India has been accused of having followed a "befriend the far and attack the near" foreign policy. This perhaps is a reference to India's wars with Pakistan and China. History has recorded that in all these cases India did not initiate the attack but was subjected to attacks by Pakistan and China. Pakistani attacks have been meticulously described by Shuja Nawaz in his book Crossed Swords and a detailed account of Chinese planning of the 1962 attack using Chinese documentation has been made available by the American Sinologist, John Garver. At the same time it cannot be overlooked that China also attacked the USSR at Ussuri in 1969 and Vietnam in 1979. After conducting annual "hate America" campaigns, pontificating on the antagonistic contradictions between capitalism and socialism, and promoting the strategy of "countryside surrounding the cities", China made a complete U-turn and befriended the far-off US in 1971, gave it bases to monitor Soviet missile tests in 1979 and allowed free access to US multinationals. Its trade surpluses were not utilised for the benefit of the Chinese population but invested in US bonds to enable further credit expansion in the US and higher spending by US consumers. Which country in recent history has done so much for a far-off friend? Deng Xiaoping, who talked of seeking truth from facts, should be spinning in his grave.

 

The Indian government discouraged jingoist views in the media. The Chinese ambassador in India wrote an article advocating further cooperation between the two countries pointing out that it would be in mutual interest of both countries. That cannot be faulted. In those circumstances why should the Chinese Communist Party embark on these provocations, with such wholesale misrepresentation of facts? Dr Manmohan Singh was not the first prime minister to visit Arunachal Pradesh. Previous prime ministers had been there without evoking such protests. We are only left to speculate on possible reasons for this provocative behaviour.

 

Since the protest and the editorial came at the time of the Pakistani prime minister's visit to Beijing, could it be an attempt to show solidarity with the Pakistanis at a time when they are having serious problems? Or is this a follow-up to the successful forestalling of the Dalai Lama's meeting with President Obama? If it is an attempt to bully India away from developing a closer relationship with either Russia (which the prime minister is due to visit in December) or the US (which is hosting a state visit for him in November) nothing could have been more foolhardy. Russia has reasonable worries about Siberia and Central Asia. The Indian defence minister just had a very fruitful visit to that country. The US is keen on sustaining its pre-eminence in a world where China has reduced the gap between itself and the US in the aftermath of the recession.

 

Having recorded all this to clarify the misrepresentations by the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party, it must be recognised that India and China together constitute 40 per cent of mankind, yet face common international challenges such as climate change, trade, energy, food security, etc., on which they have a significant mutuality of interests. They have a fast-growing trade and technology relationship and their leaders have had a number of cordial interactions. There are certain problems involving nearly a century-old status quo which need to be handled with delicacy and care. Slanging exercises of the type witnessed in recent weeks do not help, when indeed more steps to promote confidence-building are called for.

 

The writer is a senior defence analyst (express@expressindia.com)

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE OCTOBER STAKES

SUMAN K JHA

 

It's hard not to miss the belligerent tone in RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat's speeches, post-Vijayadashmi. After having started on a reformist note — he repeatedly invoked Abdul Kalam and Verghese Kurien in his first few speeches after taking over as RSS sarsanghachalak early this year, to explain "his idea of an inclusive Hindu way of life" — Bhagwat has been overtly political in his pronouncements lately.

 

He spoke about a "swayamsevak chief minister setting an example for others" (Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's "statue diplomacy" with his Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi); stressed the need to restore the "pre-August 15, 1947 map of the Indian Union"; and last week, like a veteran demagogue, warned China against "its designs on India". "India has the wherewithal to divide China into three parts, were such a need to arise," he reportedly said.

 

Some may be tempted to read Bhagwat's speeches as the usual RSS stuff. There is, however, a pattern discernible. After his three days in Delhi this August, when every single BJP leader of note knocked on his door, Bhagwat asked them to "behave and function like a team". Seeing no signs of his "shape up or ship out message" getting through on the ground, the RSS chief, it appears, has arrogated to himself the demagogic role that had made the BJP president proud until a few months ago (one of the favourite themes of BJP president Rajnath Singh has been on "how India should deal with Pakistan and POK").

 

Bhagwat's message, evidently, has gone down well with the BJP cadre. The IIT-educated Goa BJP leader Manohar Parrikar, whose name has been discussed as a "future prospect", often likes to temper his speeches with "his being a bal swayamsevak". Some of the central party's lawyer-turned-spokespersons, too, spare no effort in convincing others how "they are thoroughbred swayamsevaks".

 

The party has taken Bhagwat's "sampurna desh ko sanghmaya banaeyin" ("the RSS should permeate the nation's consciousness") message, given in his Delhi Vijayadashmi speech, a tad too seriously; the original project to restore and protect the autonomy of the BJP thus has taken a severe beating.

 

In one of his finest moments, L.K. Advani, in his by-now-famous 2005 Chennai speech, had warned against the perception that the RSS interferes in the day-to-day functioning of the BJP. With Advani considerably weakened, there's little to show that the coming weeks will see order returning to the BJP, and with it resolve to fight the Sangh's tightening grip.

 

Consider this: The BJP lost the election in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana even before the match began. Its best-known face, and someone who acted as Advani's point man in the North-East, Kiren Rijiju, left the party — after being declared its chief ministerial candidate in Arunachal Pradesh. In Haryana, the party's strategy vis-à-vis Chautala and the Haryana Janhit Congress, is often decided by the factional feud between powerful central leaders.

 

In Maharashtra, it struggled to nuance is position on "outsiders"; under severe pressure from Raj Thackeray, and then its own ally, the Shiv Sena, it stopped just short of supporting a permit-system for outsiders coming to the state — leaving its allies outside the state squirming. In the name of "winnability", the party nominated the kith and kin of powerful satraps, after earlier setting an example elsewhere. The party is, however, resigned to a Congress-NCP comeback, when votes are counted on October 22 here as well.

 

Thus, when the BJP's Parliamentary Board meets after the results, it will probably, again, discuss the Vasundhara Raje episode rather than the elections. This highlights what ails the party. Raje's fight — essentially between the Centre's arbitrariness and the State's right to have its own say in deciding its fate — has been converted into yet another slugfest between the warring groups in the central BJP.

 

The decision on October 22, and even in the coming weeks, therefore, is unlikely to help. A new team, as also a new party president, will be in place by year-end, or early next year. This interregnum, till that new order is established, will be used by every single player in the party to protect their own little turf. In all probability, Advani would have made his future plans — on distancing himself from day-to-day affairs in the party — public by then too.

 

It's unlikely, however, that the new order will be able to redeem the BJP, given the systemic collapse it has suffered, especially after the recent parliamentary elections. The vacuum in the organisation will likely only help the Sangh tighten its stranglehold. The BJP's vision of defining the second pole of Indian politics will lie severely compromised in the process.

 

suman.jha@expressindia.com

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

THE GREAT GAME FOLIO

C. RAJA MOHAN

 

All the major players in Afghanistan are either moving to plan B or searching for one. The most painful transition is in Washington, where President Barack Obama is taking his time to change his mind in the full glare of the media.

 

Nearly six weeks since the inconclusive debate on Afghanistan began in Washington, there is no decision yet from the White House on how to change a strategy that was launched with great fanfare only six months ago. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai is said to be adapting to the international pressures upon him to accept that the first round of recent presidential polling was flawed and agree to a run off second round against his former foreign minister Abdullah.

 

The most impressive is Pakistan's mastery at implementing plan B even as it wins credit for embarking on Plan A. Consider for example the Pak Army's long awaited and much lauded military offensive into South Waziristan launched a few days ago. According to an Associated Press report from the Pak-Afghan border region, the Army is cutting deals with tribes that fight the Americans to maintain neutrality in the current war between the Mehsuds who had lent support to the Pak Taliban and the Pakistani state.

 

According to AP, "the deals increase the chances of an army victory against Pakistan's internal enemy No. 1, but indicate that the 3-day-old assault into the Taliban's strongholds in South Waziristan may have less effect than the US wants on a spreading insurgency across the border in Afghanistan."

 

Unofficial but influential voices from Pakistan make it quite clear that Taliban's return to power is inevitable and that Washington must cut its losses and leave Afghanistan's future in the hands of Islamabad. Meanwhile the Afghan Taliban, convinced of its impending victory, is adding a diplomatic element to its strategy by reaching out to potential friends in the international community. It was by no means accidental that the Taliban's first diplomatic outreach was to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that brings China, Russia and the Central Asian neighbours of Afghanistan together.

 

CHINA'S ENTRY

If Americans are considering options for exiting from Afghanistan, the Chinese seem well poised to consolidate their recent strategic entry. Beijing is smart enough to recognise the importance of engaging all Afghan actors in order to develop lasting leverage in Kabul. Beijing's closeness to the Karzai government was reflected in its successful bid for the massive copper mining contract in Afghanistan last year. The Chinese plan to invest more than US$ 3 billion in developing the Aynak copper mines is probably the largest single commercial contract ever in the history of Afghanistan.

 

A report released last week in Washington by a former advisor to the Afghan ministry of mines says Beijing won the tender because the process was flawed; it had no oversight and was biased in favour of Chinese companies.

 

If the Pakistani Army manages to reinstall its Taliban allies back to power in Afghanistan, China will naturally be a major beneficiary. Unlike in the 1990s, when Pakistan allowed its moment of control in Kabul slip quickly, this time it will have a strong partner in China to make some positive economic developments happen in Afghanistan.

 

Meanwhile China hosted last week the Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili who is also the leader of the Hazara community and had played an important role in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the late 1990s.

 

IRAN VS SAUDI

As Tehran points a finger at Islamabad (as well as Washington and London) for the recent spectacular bombing of its top security officials in Sistan-Balochistan on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, its real concerns may well be about Saudi Arabia.

 

Iran's fears about Saudi-Pak promotion of Sunni extremism, of the kind championed by the Taliban, resulted in its support to Taliban's enemies in the 1990s. Tehran is bound to see the recent bombings in Sistan-Balochistan in the context of a resurgent Taliban and the Saudi-Pak attempts at getting Washington to reconcile with the Taliban.

 

As America dithers, it is the Saudi-Iran rivalry, rather than the much trumpeted India-Pak competition, that could turn out to be one of the decisive factors in the latest round of the Great Game.

 

The writer is Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, Washington DC

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

VIEW FROM THE LEFT

SHADES OF RED 

MANOJ C G

 

In the latest issue of its weekly mouthpiece People's Democracy, the CPI(M) engages in an ideological war of words with the Maoists. The lead editorial argues that the cause of the exploited and the marginalised was espoused by the CPI(M) and the Left parties and not by the Naxalites: "Contrary to the infatuated romantic description that Maoist influence is spreading because they espouse the cause of the most marginalised sections like the tribals, the truth is that control over administration of a territory provides substantial pecuniary as well as political power. This is the driving force behind much of their violent activities," it says.

 

Questioning the ideology and the reach of the Maoists, it wonders where the Maoists were when many battles occurred against the ruling class policies and imperialism during the course of this decade. "Have the Maoists ever been seen, leave alone heard, to raise their voice on such vital matters?"  

 

"They are promoting a person to be the future chief minister of West Bengal who served as a cabinet minister in the Vajpayee government, remaining silent, thus implicitly supporting, the State-sponsored communal genocide in Gujarat. She is serving as a cabinet minister today in the Manmohan Singh government.  Such is the opportunism of the Maoist 'class assault' against the State," it says.

 

"Today's Maoists are the result of a partial reuniting of the hopelessly fragmented Naxalite groups following their split with the CPI(M) in 1967. Despite the experience of the last four decades, which vindicated the CPI(M)'s understanding that the bourgeois-landlord Indian ruling classes had a strong political and social base among the Indian people, the Naxal/Maoist groups continued with their earlier assessment." 

 

BALCO accident                                                               

The edition quotes a report prepared by the CPI(M)'s trade union arm CITU on the recent accident at the BALCO's power plant in Chhattisgarh. It says the facts gathered from the accident site show that the mishap occurred due to the use of substandard construction materials and substandard technique, and holds the Sterlite group and Gannon Dunkerley & Company Ltd responsible for the mishap. Interestingly, there is no mention about Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation , the Chinese company which was awarded the chimney construction project. "According to the information collected, only 90 piles were used in the foundation of the chimney under construction, while the public sector National Thermal Power Corporation uses 350 to 400 piles in constructing a comparable kind of chimney. The iron rods used in it were found to be of 18 to 20 mm thickness while the height of the proposed chimney demanded iron rods of 30 to 35 mm thickness. Nor was enough water used in curing the constructed parts of the proposed structure," it says

 

It criticises Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram for not talking about the issue while visiting Raipur recently and accuses the state government of not acting against the company officials. "As for the BJP government of Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh did visit the accident site, but did nothing further. It has come to knowledge that no permission was taken from the administration for constructing the chimney. So the question is; Who was colluding with the management in this construction? Why did the administration fail to take note of this construction? Why did they not act against such an illegal construction?" it asks.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

ENTER THE DRAGON

 

China turns the economic crisis into an opportunity China is well aware of its dependence on imported oil and is acting in surprisingly farsighted ways. It now spends more on solar, wind, and battery technology than the United States does.

 

ONE year ago, the leading governments of the world saved the global economy. Remember October 2008: Lehman Brothers had disappeared, AIG was teetering, every bank was watching its balance sheet collapse.
Around the world, credit had frozen and trade was grinding to a halt. Then came a series of moves beginning in Washington -- bank bailouts, rescue packages, fiscal stimuli, and,most crucially,monetaryeasing.Itisnotanexaggeration to say that these measures prevented a depression. But the crisis has still fueled a major slowdown that hasaffectedeverycountryintheworld.

 

The great surprise of 2009 has been the resilience of the big emerging markets -- India, China, Indonesia -whose economies have stayed vibrant.

But one country has not just survived but thrived: China. The Chinese economy will grow at 8.5 per cent this year, exports have rebounded to where they were in early 2008, foreign-exchange reserves have hit an all-time high of $2.3 trillion, and Beijing's stimulus package has launched the next great phase of infrastructure building in the country. Much of this has been driven by remarkably effective government policies. Charles Kaye, CEO of the global private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, lived in Hong Kong for years.

After his last trip to China a few months ago he said to me, "All other governments have responded to this crisisdefensively,protectingtheirweak spots. China has used it to move aggressively forward." It is fair to say that thewinneroftheglobaleconomiccrisis is Beijing.

 

Almosteverycountryinthe Western world entered the crisis ill prepared.

Governmentswerespendingtoomuch money and running high deficits, so when they had to spend massively to stabilise the economy, deficits zoomed into the stratosphere. Three years ago, European countries were required to have a budget deficit of less than 3 per cent of GDP to qualify for EU membership. Next year, many will have deficitsofabout8percentofGDP .The US deficit will be higher, in percentage terms, than at any point since World War II.

 

China enter edthecrisisinanentirely differentposition.Itwasrunningabudgetsurplusandhadbeenraisinginterest rates to tamp down excessive growth.
Itsbankshadbeenreininginconsumer spendingandexcessivecredit.Sowhen the crisis hit, the Chinese government could adopt textbook policies to jumpstart growth. It could lower interest rates, raise government spending, ease uponcredit,andencourageconsumers to start spending. Having been disciplined during the fat years, Beijing could now ease up during the lean ones.

And look at the nature of China's stimulus. Most of US government spendingisdirectedatconsumption-in the form of subsidies, wages, health benefits,etc.ThebulkofChina'sstimulus is going toward investment for future growth: infrastructure and new technologies.

China will spend $200 billion on railways in the next two years, much of it for high-speed rail. The United States, by contrast, has designated less than $20 billion, to be spread out over more than a dozen projects, thus guaranteeing their failure. It's not just rail, of course. China will add 44,000 miles of new roads and 100 new airports in the next decade. And then there is shipping, where China has become the global leader. Two out of the world's three largest ports are Shanghai and Hong Kong.

 

China is also well aware of its dependence on imported oil and is acting in surprisingly farsighted ways. It now spends more on solar, wind, and battery technology than the United States does.Researchbytheinvestmentbank Lazard Freres shows that of the top 10 companies (by market capitalisation) in these three fields, four are Chinese.

(Only three are American.) It is also making a massive investment in higher education.

 

"For the last decade, as China's economy kept growing at unprecedented rates, most Western analysts kept discussing when it would crash," says Zachary Karabell, the author of a smart new book, Superfusion, on the Sino-US economy. "Now with China surging ahead through this crisis, all they can discuss is, when will China stall?It'sasiftheyseethefacts,butthey can't quite make sense of them."

 

China's strange mixture of state intervention,markets,dictatorship,andefficiency is puzzling. But it's time to stop hoping for China's failure and start understanding andadapting toitssuccess.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

WELCOME TO PAKISTAN

EXCERPTS FROM THE SECOND PART OF A SERIES BY `NEW YORK TIMES' REPORTER DAVID ROHDE, ON HIS SEVEN MONTHS AS A CAPTIVE OF THE TALIBAN

DAVID ROHDE

 

A YOUNG Taliban driver with shoulder-lengthhairgotbehindthewheelof the car. Glancing at me suspiciously in the rearview mirror, he started the engine and began driving down the lefthand side of the road. It was some sort ofprank,Ihoped,somejihadiversionof chicken -- the game where two drivers speed toward each other in the same lane until one loses his nerve. Which lane he drove down showed what countrywewerein.Ifhecontinueddriving on the left, we had crossed into Pakistan. If he drove on the right, we were still in Afghanistan. A mile down the road, traffic signs appeared in Urdu. We're in Pakistan, I thought to myself. We're dead.

 

Eight days earlier, a Taliban faction had kidnapped me along with an Afghan journalist, Tahir Luddin, and our driver, Asad Mangal, during a reportingtripjustoutsideKabul.Thefaction's commander, a man who called himself Atiqullah, had lied to us. He had said we were being moved to southern Afghanistan and would be freed.

 

Instead,onNovember18,wearrived in Pakistan's tribal areas, an isolated belt of Taliban-controlled territory. We were now in "the Islamic emirate" -the fundamentalist state that existed in Afghanistan before the 2001 American-ledinvasion.Thelossofthousands of Afghan, Pakistani and American lives and billions in American aid had merely moved it a few miles east, not eliminated it. Through seven years of reporting in the region, I had pitied captives imprisoned here. It was arguably the worst place on earth to be an American hostage. The US government had virtually no influence and was utterly despised. Since 2004, dozens of missiles fired by American droneshadkilledhundredsofmilitants and civilians. The Taliban had held fghan,Pakistaniandforeignhostages in the area for years, trading lives for ransom and executions for publicity...

A TALIBAN STRONGHOLD OUR first Pakistani home was in MiramShah,thecapitalofNorth Waziristan. Two large sleeping rooms looked outonasmallcourtyard.Oneevenhad a small washroom, separate from the toilet, for showering. On the first day there, I went to the bathroom and returned to find Tahir with a fresh cut on his calf. It looked as if someone had drawn a line across his leg in red ink. A local Waziri militant had taken out his knife and tried to cut off a chunk of Tahir's calf, saying he wanted to eat the flesh of an Afghan who worked with Westerners. One of Atiqullah's guards had stopped him. All day, a parade of random Pakistani militants stopped by the house to stare at us. I felt like an animal in a zoo...
A NEW HOUSE ATIQULLAH said he needed to returntoAfghanistan,buttwoofhismen stayedbehindtoguardus."Iwillreturn in seven to 10 days," he promised, then disappeared.

 

That week, to help us pass the time, we received a shortwave radio and a boardgamecalledcheckah,aPakistani variation of Parcheesi. To my amazement, the guards even brought me English-language Pakistani newspapers. Delivered to a shop in Miram Shah, the newspapers were only a day ortwoold.InsteadofbeatingusasIexpected, our captors were at least trying to meet some of our needs.

 

But as in so much of our seven months in captivity, reasons for optimismwouldbeovertakenbyharshrealities. For the next several nights, a stream of Haqqani commanders overflowing with hatred for the United States and Israel visited us, unleashing blisteringcritiquesthatwouldcontinue throughout our captivity.

 

Some of their comments were factual. They said large numbers of civilians had been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories in aerialbombings.Muslimprisonershad beenphysicallyabusedandsexuallyhumiliated in Iraq. Scores of men had been detained in Cuba and Afghanistanforuptosevenyearswithout charges.

 

To Americans, these episodes were aberrations. To my captors, they were proofthattheUnitedStateswasahypocritical and duplicitous power that flouted international law. When I told them I was an innocent civilian who shouldbereleased,theyrespondedthat theUnitedStateshadheldandtortured Muslimsinsecretdetentioncentresfor years. Commanders said they themselveshadbeenimprisoned,theirfamilies ignorant of their fate. Why, they asked,shouldtheytreatmedifferently?

Other accusations were paranoid and delusional. Seven years after 9/11, they continuedtoinsistthattheattackswere hatchedbyAmericanandIsraeliintelligence agencies to create a pretext for the United States to enslave the Muslim world. They said the United States wasforciblyconvertingvastnumbersof MuslimstoChristianity.Americanand NATO soldiers, they believed, were makingAfghanwomenworkasprostitutesonmilitarybases.

 

Their hatred for the United States seemed boundless...

ATIQULLAH'S RETURN SEVERAL days before Christmas, Atiqullah finally returned. He announced that he had spectacular news.

"We are here to free you," he said, wearing no scarf over his face for the first time. "We have come here to release you." At first, I was euphoric. My confidence in Atiqullah had not been misplaced. Here was a more moderate and reasonable Taliban leader who would persevere and release us. Then, later that night, the conversation turned menacing. The American military had mounted an operation to arrest Abu Tayyeb on the morning that we were to interview him, Atiqullah said, referring to the Taliban leader we had been travelling to meet when we were kidnapped. Shocked, I told Atiqullah I knew nothing about a military operation.

 

In conversations when our guards lefttheroom,TahirandAsadeachseparately whispered to me that Atiqullah was, in fact, Abu Tayyeb. They had known since the day we were kidnapped, they said, but dared not tell me. They asked me to stay silent as well. Abu Tayyeb had vowed to behead them if they revealed his true identity.
Abu Tayyeb had invited us to an interview, betrayed us and then pretended that he was a commander named Atiqullah. I was despondent and left withonlyonecertainty: We hadnosaviour among the Taliban.

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

APPRECIATE THE REAL DATA

 

FIEO, the exporters' main lobby group, has made the point that exports are suffering from an appreciation of the rupee. They cite year-on-year export growth, which is still in negative territory, to argue their case. But let us look at what the data actually says about Indian exports. In the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, exports fell sharply as trade credit and financial difficulties hit world trade. We look at export figures in rupee terms that take into account changes in the exchange rate. The income of exporters, at the end of the day after taking exchange rates, prices and quantities into account, is what was earned in rupees. In September 2008, merchandise exports from India measured in rupee terms stood at Rs 63,003 crore. By November 2008, this figure had fallen sharply to Rs 50,011 crore. This was likely the impact of the sharp fall in credit as well as world demand. Growth in exports remained sluggish until May 2009 when it was Rs 53,435 crore. Since then, it has been rising every month. In August, the rupee value of exports from India was Rs 69,066 crore. Now, there are two ways of looking at this data. One is to compare it with the pre-crisis period and look at the August numbers, which were Rs 76,103 crore. Exporters' lobbies can complain that they were high and we have had negative growth. This is very self-serving; exporters simply want to influence policy by raising an alarm about how Indian exports are suffering. In this approach, the argument takes advantage of the incompetence of the government's statistical system that does not release seasonally-adjusted data and allows anyone to get away with analysing the data incorrectly.

 

The alternative would be to say that exports suffered a big hit after the death of Lehman. With the improvement in world demand conditions, exports are now looking up. The last three months have seen a perceptible and continuous improvement in the value of Indian exports. But then, exporters' lobbies are lobbies and they would advance arguments that serve their interests. If they are comparing exports with those of last August, then let them remember that the rupee in the first week of August 2008 was at Rs 42/dollar. Now, when it is near Rs 49/dollar, it may have appreciated compared with what it was in March 2009, but it has depreciated compared with what it was last year. Clamour by interest groups can influence policy if the government does not analyse data properly.

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

LET THIS ONE BE, MR SIBAL

When he appeared on Walk the Talk in July, less than two months after being assigned the human resource ministry, and was asked to quote the worst thing somebody had said about him, Kapil Sibal replied: "He is moving too fast." Sibal said he wasn't. Only, if he could do anything immediately, he would do it immediately. Indeed, with every passing month, the minister has stepped into one set of troubled waters after another. Last week, too, he went where no predecessor had gone before, announcing that the government didn't have any "in-principle" objections to IIMs setting up overseas campuses—a big break with the Arjun Singh era. This is very good. We have consistently argued that the IIT and IIM brands should be given more autonomy and be allowed to chalk out their own growth trajectories. Last month, Sibal announced that from academic year 2010-11, schools would conduct class X examinations themselves and award grades instead of percentages. We found ourselves a bit wary on this one. On his standoff with IIT faculty over pay structures, we were in opposition and breathed a sigh of relief when Sibal finally conceded that the IITs had flexibility enough to deviate from government norms. Now, the minister has thrown up another tough one, saying IIT JEE—the joint entrance exam for 15 premier colleges—should give more weightage to class XII board exams.

 

For someone who has been trying to dilute the burdensome impact of board exams on Indian students' psyche, this is strange. As of now, anyone securing 60% in class XII can take the JEE. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is just one among many who are questioning why this bar needs to be raised. Kumar says the existing system allows a large pool of students, with different socio-economic backgrounds, to take the JEE. If only those who secure 80-85% in class XII boards are able to take the test, obviously this will severely limit the applicant pool. Sibal says the IIT council will take the final call, and that all he wants to do is reduce dependency on coaching and teaching shops. This is a bit disingenuous. The government has overriding powers in the council. Then, it's not that there are no IIT voices questioning the JEE format. Let change come from within the institution. The number of students who took the exam went up to nearly five lakh this year, sharply up from around three lakh last year. Why does the minister want to step between these applicants and their aspirations? He has productive energies, but they can be better devoted elsewhere.

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

WHY I-BANKS WERE FATED TO BE ROADKILL

VIRAL V ACHARYA

 

Within 13 months of August 2007—the official outbreak of the subprime crisis—the US investment banking sector collapsed. Bear Stearns was the first to fold in mid-March 2008, followed by the bankruptcy of Lehman and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America in mid-September. Soon after, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs formed bank holding companies and were looking to survive by acquiring regional deposit-taking banks. It is not inconceivable that over time these remaining investment banks will also become like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup —universal banks, leaving no trace of any pure investment bank on the financial landscape.

 

Was the pure investment banking structure destined not to survive in the long run? Yes, due to a government subsidy not present in the capital structure of investment banks—namely deposit insurance—which is present in that of universal banks.

 

It is useful to rewind history to 1933, when the passage of the Glass Steagall Act in the US set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and introduced separation of commercial and investment banking. The aim of the Glass Steagall Act was to avoid the conflicts of interest that characterised the granting of credit to a borrower and the provision of investment and underwriting services in securities of the same borrower. Investment activities were deemed too risky to be put under the same umbrella as a commercial bank since the Act found it important to protect depositors' interests and reduce the risks FDIC was exposed to. The passage of the Act shaped the US financial arena in years to come. From 1933-2007, the world witnessed supremacy of US investment banks.

 

As investment banks thrived, the pure commercial banks felt at a disadvantage. Commercial banks wished to but could not underwrite and trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities.

 

They also complained about the lack of a level playing field given the many regulations they were subject to compared with the unregulated investment banks and foreign universal banks. Lobbying efforts, and concessionary responses from regulators, during 1963-1987 meant that commercial banks could do what investment banks were doing. The Act was formally repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which also removed scope restrictions like those allowing insurance business under bank holding companies. The hope was that there would be a perfect level playing field in the financial sector.

 

However, the repeal worsened the situation. Take Citigroup, a universal bank. Citi could invest in risky securities since the repeal but still had the cushion of government-insured deposits. In contrast, Morgan Stanley, an investment bank also pursuing similar investments, did not have access to government guarantees unless it became a universal bank or acquired deposit-taking banks (as Merrill Lynch did to an extent). The repeal of the Act meant that the same economic activity of investment banking and trading could be pursued under two structures—one with government guarantees and one without.

 

How did investment banks survive the lack of a level playing field until 2007? The answer lies partly in their relative expertise and partly in their higher leverage and risk-taking activities. The first was a historical accident as commercial banks had just entered investment banking. The second was because of investment banks' leverage being unregulated. They funded themselves with uninsured, short-term commercial paper debt—often up to 33 times their equity—so their shareholders earned as high a return as from competing universal banks.

 

Short-term commercial paper debt is not too different from retail deposits—both forms are meant to be demandable forms of debt. But deposit insurance means the demandable aspect of deposits triggers a run for a universal bank only at much higher levels of losses than for an investment bank. By offering debt guarantees to some institutions engaged in investment banking but not others, the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act ensured the demise of pure investment banks when a systemic crisis hit. Post-Lehman, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lost their clients to universal banks that took similar bets but were funded by government-guaranteed deposits. Losses incurred by universal banks—from investment banking—suggest these banks were lucky to have had guaranteed deposits. In fact, the worst of their lot failed in spite of these.

 

Investment banks were late to realise the significance of deposit funding to surviving competition of universal banks. But it is questionable if the regulators themselves understood fully the subtle implications of repealing one part of the long-standing Glass Steagall Act—the scope restrictions—but not the other— deposit insurance.

 

If you remove lane restrictions between cars and trailers on a high-speed road, cars don't survive when there is an accident.

 

The author is a professor of finance at NYU Stern School of Business and co-editor of "Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System"

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

G FOR GROWTH G FOR GLOBAL G FOR GOOGLE

NIKHIL PAHWA

In a conference call which sent out waves of optimism across the Internet industry, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that the company believes that the worst is over, and despite uncertainty of the pace of recovery, Google now has the business confidence to invest, hire and acquire. This is at the end of a quarter when Google reported gross revenues of $5.94 billion, and net income also increased to $1.64 billion—both numbers higher than what the company reported last year, as well as last quarter. Google is an economy unto itself, servicing both some of the biggest and the smallest online advertisers in the world, and probably has the largest advertiser base on the web by some distance. The positive sounds out of Mountain View are being seen as an indication of better times to come.

 

Apart from this, the monetisation of Google-owned YouTube, easily the largest video platform on the Web, is on track—Nikesh Arora, president (Global Sales Operations & Business Development) said that the company has been able to sell display advertising on the YouTube homepage—selling out 90% of its US inventory, and increasing monetisable views to over three times the number last year. Google's display advertising ad-exchange Doubleclick has over half the largest 25 advertising networks in the US participating.

 

It is not by accident that Google achieved such growth: the company rolled out some interesting products and made some key changes during the quarter—they launched a new interface for their AdWords programme that gave advertisers better access to data, made 121 changes to their search, optimised the way search results are displayed for wide screen computer monitors, and also rolled out "Place Pages", a local listing advertising format, which gives small advertisers an online presence, and allows Google to eventually introduce the advertiser to more advanced formats. Google has already launched 50 million place pages, and integration with Google Voice (currently deployed in San Diego and San Francisco) connects consumers to businesses. These solutions will take a long time to become ubiquitous, but it is the correct route: making businesses discoverable, and connecting interested consumers directly with businesses.

 

But Google is still feeling its way around the mobile space: while the company witnessed a 30% quarter-on-quarter growth in mobile searches, helped largely by the growth of smart phones, monetisation is still an issue. The mobile screen is smaller, so consumer behaviour differs from that on the PC: display advertisements are more noticeable on the mobile, but consumers are less likely to click on them, and move away from the page that they are on. In case of local business advertisements, it is sometimes difficult to convince advertisers that it resulted in a prospective lead. For example, I often search for a specific address of a business when I feel I'm close to it. When I get the result, I just go there, instead of visiting a storefront online. The search engine or local business listing gets little credit for generating that lead.

 

Another problem is the integration of advertising on mobile products—users, when limited to a small screen, or with detailed location data, might seem either too intrusive, or just taking up too much screen space.

 

However, Google is continuing to invest in its mobile initiatives—increased usage of mobile search will help the company refine its search better, apart from adding the location based component to it. In order to help increase search from mobile, which tends to add on to its web search usage, Google is also investing in its mobile platform Android, which competes, at least in the smart phone category, with Windows Mobile, the soon-to-be-launched Maemo platform from Nokia, and the iPhone platform used by Apple. The Android is deployed on 12 devices, in 26 countries, and with 32 carriers, and has over 10,000 applications.

 

Above all, the most positive sign, particularly for startup entrepreneurs, is that Google is ready to acquire again, and appears to be particularly keen on the display advertising business. There was a time when Google was acquiring a small company a month, adding new technology and services to its pool—killing some products and integrating their technology, or even making them free to users in order to increase usage of the Internet, and adding to its massive index of the world we see on the Internet.

 

Through investment and acquisitions, Google is getting ready to invent the future of the Internet.

 

The author is the editor of MediaNama.com

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

SOFTWARE'S TAXING PROBLEM

SURABHI

Microsoft's Windows 7 may be the latest victim, but the taxation of packaged software has been a longstanding problem. What makes it even more convoluted is that there seems to be no consensus on what needs to be done.

 

All agree that the tax regime for packaged software is complicated and there is an anomaly of dual taxation. Till July (when the Union Budget 2009-10 was passed), software attracted a 10% service tax when it was downloaded. It also attracted an 8% countervailing duty for a licence and a Vat at 12.5%. To be fair, the finance ministry did try to sort out this mess in the Budget. Based on industry representations, packaged software was granted partial exemption from excise duty and the countervailing duty. Now, it is taxed in two parts—excise duty is levied on the cost of media and service tax on the software's licence.

 

The changes haven't helped though, with the industry continuing to badger finmin mandarins. While some have asked that the excise duty exemption be replaced with a service tax exemption, others say service tax can't be levied on packaged software as it is a good and not a service. In fact, a writ petition is pending with the Madras High Court, questioning the constitutionality of levying service tax on packaged software.

 

Perplexed, finmin plans to meet all software industry bodies to understand their demands. Whatever it eventually decides, the Centre must ensure that it percolates to the ground level. Much before the current imbroglio, customs officials have been regularly holding back consignments of imported software, often over their valuation for tax purposes.

 

Meanwhile, piracy is booming. And 35% of Indian-domiciled desktops have illegal operating systems. Worse,domestic sales in the Rs 10,000 crore packaged software market have been dipping. Some of the demand contraction may be due to the global slowdown, but at least a part of it is because global software majors can't get their products into Indian market on time. Savvy retail customers don't buy software from the grey market to save costs: often, the only place where the latest version of a software is available is the grey market.

 

surabhi.prasad@expressindia.com

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

BRINJAL AND BEYOND

 

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee's recommendation that Bt brinjal be commercialised is a significant marker in the country's slow and somewhat hesitant embrace of agri-biotechnology. The nod has come a full seven years after approval for the country's first transgenic crop — Bt cotton. But Bt brinjal is the country's first approved genetically modified (GM) food crop and the decision of the GEAC, the high-level committee under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, may be read as an affirmation of a key principle. It is that transgenic seeds will be approved for commercialisation as long as they adhere to the bio safety and other requirements demanded by the regulatory process. This may well spur the process for clearance of other transgenic food crops at different stages of the regulatory and approval process. It is imperative that Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who says he will study the GEAC's recommendation in depth before giving a final stamp of approval, bases his decision solely on the body of scientific data culled from Bt brinjal trials. He should ignore the huge pressure from organisations that have no time for the scientific evidence while claiming to speak for the environment and the public. It is not just the 'organic' movement but also the pesticide industry lobby that is viscerally opposed to Bt crops, which acquire a pest-resistant character with the introduction of a gene derived from a common soil bacterium (bacillus thuringiensis).

 

Introduced commercially in the United States in the mid-1990s, genetically modified crops have expanded substantially in recent years. An estimated 125 million hectares were under such cover in 2008 in 25 countries, including China, Brazil, Egypt, and Australia. Even in GM-phobic Europe, seven countries, including Germany and Portugal, grow genetically modified maize commercially. It is nobody's case that the massive spread of agro-biotechnology is proof of its safety. India's regulatory process must continue to put transgenic plants through a battery of rigorous tests — for toxicity, allergenicity, bio safety, agronomic worth, and so forth — before recommending commercial release. It is also important that the country addresses issues such as labelling GM products through an independent regulatory process that commands public confidence. Legislation must be speedily introduced to set up a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, as recommended in 2004 by a task force led by eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan. In a country where agricultural productivity and food security are vital issues, agri-biotechnology holds great promise. We need to regulate its application, not allow it to be strangled by misconceived or motivated campaigns.

 

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

END OF A SYSTEM?

 

Life insurance and mutual funds have been two large segments of the financial sector that have depended on agents and independent distributors for developing their business. Traditionally, the ubiquitous agent has been the first, and often the only, point of contact for the customer with the Life Insurance Corporation. Most often, a policyholder has very little interaction with the insurer beyond the periodic payment of premium. The LIC's marketing strategy of relying heavily on its agents has served it well. Private companies, which re-entered the field, have designated their agents as investment advisers, consultants, and so on without altering their job profiles substantially. However, the number of advisers that the private companies deploy is small compared to the LIC. Development of alternative distribution channels has not diminished the importance of the agent. In return for mobilising business, these intermediaries are compensated through commission payments.

 

This traditional business model will come in for change if one of the key recommendations of the Committee on Investor Awareness and Protection headed by D. Swarup is accepted. In essence, it says insurance companies should stop paying commissions. The agents should charge their clients a fee for the advice given. Apart from pruning down the costs for the companies by saving on commissions, the idea behind the suggestion is to develop a higher degree of professionalism among the intermediaries. But it is doubtful whether a customer can be persuaded to pay for advice especially in a business where the agent generally passes on a part of the commission. The practice of rebating is both unethical and illegal but insurance companies and the regulators will need some more time to stamp it out. Doing away with commission payments has major livelihood implications for a large number of LIC agents. Most of them earn meagre sums for their work. The developments in life insurance follow those in the mutual funds industry. In June, SEBI decided that there will be no entry load — the commission investors paid — for all the schemes. The distributors shall be paid directly by the investors and not by the mutual funds. The insurance industry can take stock of developments in the mutual funds industry before implementing the Swarup Committee's recommendation. Early indications are that the mutual funds are finding it difficult to distribute their products without the active support of the distributors.

 

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THE HINDU

LEADER PAGE ARTICLES

JUDICIAL INTEGRITY: LESSONS FROM THE PAST

CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA SABYASACHI MUKHARJI'S ADVICE TO JUSTICE RAMASWAMI TO DESIST FROM DISCHARGING JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS SO LONG AS INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUED IS WORTHY OF EMULATION.

ANIL DIVAN

 

"A single dishonest judge not only dishonours himself and disgraces his office but jeopardises the integrity of the entire judicial system" said our Supreme Court.

 

In our country, the Supreme Court and the High Courts have set very high standards in protecting the citizen's rights, the freedom of speech and expression, the rule of law, the independence of judiciary and judicial review. The Indian judiciary has earned and won international accolades. Its achievements are second to none. Every citizen, every judge and every lawyer owes it to the country and to future generations that this lustre is not dimmed, this reputation is not tarnished, this bulwark of freedom is not undermined or weakened.

 

When citizens and lawyers make complaints against the functioning of judges, it is because they want to preserve this vital institution in our democracy.

 

The Justice Dinakaran controversy is 'snowballing' and is diminishing the image of the judiciary with every passing hour. National dailies have been reporting various news items. Some of the headlines run — "Dinakaran elevation put on hold" (The Hindu, 11.10.2009); "TN report may nail Dinakaran" (The Times of India, 11.10.2009); "Dinakaran row: Panel may ask Govt. to consider others" (The Indian Express, 11.10.2009); "Supreme Court studies secret report on Dinakaran" (The Times of India, 11.10.2009); "Dinakaran move to SC held up" (The Asian Age, 12.10.2009); "Government to take possession of Judge land" (The Asian Age, 12.10.2009); "Charges pile up against Dinakaran" (Hindustan Times, 13.10.2009); and "TN farmers now add to Dinakaran's woes" (The Indian Express, 13.10.2009).

 

The informed citizen is inquiring — what is happening? What are the decisions of the Collegium? Why the delay in appointing four other State Chief Justices to the Supreme Court — all senior to Justice Dinakaran? Why is Justice Dinakaran being permitted to sit and discharge judicial functions in spite of serious allegations being looked into? Even though over a month has expired there is no press release, official statement or information officially given or emanating from the Supreme Court.

 

In contrast, it is interesting to recall the sequence of events that took place in the case of Justice V. Ramaswami in the 1990s when he was a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. In the beginning of May 1990, reports started circulating about various questionable acts of Justice Ramaswami when he was the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. There were reports submitted by the Internal Audit Cell of the High Court, a report by the District and Sessions Judge (Vigilance), reports and audit queries from the Accountant General's Office.

 

The then Attorney-General of India, Soli J. Sorabjee, and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, K.K. Venugopal, and other leaders of the Bar met Chief Justice of India Sabyasachi Mukharji and drew attention to these reports. On July 20, 1990, CJI Mukharji, when some of us were present in Court, got up a few minutes earlier and announced that he would come back to make a statement. He did so after 4 pm. His statement was widely published and is part of the Supreme Court record.

 

After referring to the reports circulating about Justice V. Ramaswami, his statement to the Bar, in open Court contained the following: "This was an unprecedented and an embarrassing situation. It called for caution and establishment of a salutary convention." ... "The Supreme Court must uphold the rule of law. It is, therefore, necessary that those who uphold the rule of law must live by law and judges must, therefore, be obliged to live according to law." ... "We must, therefore, ensure that there is no conduct of the judges which affects the faith of the people that judges live according to law."

 

… "I was constrained, in those circumstances, to advise Brother Ramaswami to desist from discharging judicial functions so long as the investigations continued and his name was cleared on this aspect." ... "Since I had assured the learned Attorney General, the Law Minister, the president of the Bar Association and others that I will look into it, I thought I must convey to you the result of my looking into it."

 

Justice Ramaswami went on leave.

 

The sequel to Justice Ramaswami's case needs to be recalled. On August 29, 1990, CJI Mukharji constituted a Committee of three judges — Justice Ray, Justice Shetty and Justice Venkatachaliah and sought their advice as to whether Justice Ramaswami should sit in Court. Unfortunately, CJI Mukharji died prematurely on September 25, 1990, and the matter took a different turn under the leadership of Chief Justice Ranganath Misra who was appointed CJI on October 6, 1990. The Committee of three judges made its report on November 6, 1990, saying it did not see any ground of moral turpitude which would prevent Justice Ramaswami from discharging his duty as a judge. The Committee made clear that "This exercise is not to sit in judgment over the conduct of Justice Ramaswami, much less to engage ourselves in any exercise to ascertain whether his conduct is blame-worthy in any manner."

 

Thereupon, Justice V. Ramaswami started discharging his judicial duties. But my recollection is that at the request of the Bar, the Court agreed that advocates who did not want their matters taken up by him could request listing before another Bench.

 

The Lok Sabha Speaker, on an impeachment motion, appointed a Committee consisting of Justice P.B. Sawant of the Supreme Court, Justice P.D. Desai, Sitting Chief Justice of Bombay, and O. Chinnappa Reddy, a former judge of the Supreme Court. The Committee in its report gave adverse findings opining that the acts constituted "misbehaviour".

 

The rest is history. The ruling party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao abstained from voting and the impeachment motion failed. (196 for the motion, none against, 205 abstentions).

 

In the Justice Dinakaran matter, after September 8, 2009, several representations with facts and documents containing serious allegations have been sent to the collegium by responsible lawyers regarding the appointment of Justice P.D. Dinakaran.

 

There is no sharing of information by the Supreme Court collegium with the public or the Bar, no official statement, no press release. Rumour and speculation are having a field day. It is said "there is nothing busier than an idle rumour."

 

In Justice Ramaswami's case, the statement made by CJI Mukharji in open court set a precedent and should be regarded as a healthy convention. What is the way forward? First, if the representations made to the collegium are of sufficient gravity, surely the precedent by which Justice Mukharji requested Justice V. Ramaswami to go on leave is worthy of emulation. Secondly, the way forward would be to take the public, the legal fraternity and the media into confidence by regular official releases or press statements issued under the authority of the Supreme Court collegiums. Thirdly, before the snowball turns into an avalanche, it is important to know whether his appointment is going forward or not.

 

The wise words used by the three Judges Committee in the Ramaswami case need to be recalled: "A judge's morals are not the standards of the marketplace but are the "punctilio" of a higher code.

... "There has, indeed, been a growing sense of cynicism and concern in public mind about the fall in the standards of judicial conduct and of the wisdom of such constitutional immunity for judicial improprieties from public scrutiny and censure.

 

... "Today, the incantation of maxims of high judicial morality has few takers; acceptable precept is acceptable example alone. Sunlight is, perhaps, the best disinfectant."

 

(Anil Divan is a Senior Advocate. Email: abdsad@airtelmail.in)

 

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THE HINDU

NEWS ANALYSIS

INDIA, CHINA AND WATER SECURITY

CHINA'S CURRENT POWER GENERATION PROJECTS ON THE BRAHMAPUTRA ARE NEITHER NEW DEVELOPMENTS INDICATING SHIFTS IN POLICY NOR CAUSE FOR ALARM. WHILE THERE ARE SERIOUS CONCERNS, WHAT IS CLEAR IS THAT THERE IS A NEED FOR ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT ON WATER SHARING ISSUE.

ANANTH KRISHNAN

 

More than one year ago, China announced plans to build a series of dams in Tibet, including a hydel power generation plant at Zangmu on the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra. The plan was part of a larger initiative by Beijing to tap Himalayan rivers for hydropower. Tibet's rivers have remained largely untapped because of the difficult terrain, but with improvements in technology in the past decade, China's leaders have embarked on a damming spree in the mounta ins of Tibet and Yunnan in the southwest.

 

The plans will have an impact on the lives of millions in seven countries that lie downstream of these rivers — India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. The dams on the Salween river in Yunnan, by some reports, have already resulted in flooding in the Mekong region downstream. How concerned should India, which lies downstream on the Brahmaputra, be? Work on the Brahmaputra, or Yarlung-Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet, is still in the early stages. China's projects on this river are of two kinds — one, for hydel power generation, and the more ambitious kind, still in the works, a massive diversion project that envisages diverting the river's waters to the arid north.

 

The Zangmu project, which has been in the news in India recently, was publicly announced a year ago, and the contract awarded this March. Some reports have alleged that Beijing was going back on its commitment to India to not divert the Brahmaputra. The Zangmu site is essentially a hydel power project — a 'run of the river' power generation project, which experts say is no cause for alarm as it will have little impact on the course of the river downstream.

 

The real worry for India, experts and officials say, is when China embarks on its diversion plan. The mammoth $62 billion "South-to-North Water Diversion" project, currently embroiled in debates and delays in Beijing, is the centrepiece of the Chinese government's plans to address its northern water crisis. The spreading water crisis, which already affects more than half of the country's 660 cities, is largely sourced in its strikingly uneven distribution of water resources. The arid north and northwest, home to 35 per cent of the population, has only 7 per cent of the country's water resources.

 

The diversion project, first mooted by Mao Zedong in the 1950s, involves diverting water from the south to the north along three routes. The central and middle routes, which have no impact on India, will divert water from the Yangtze river to Beijing and Tianjin in the north. The western route, from the Brahmaputra, is the most ambitious and is of huge consequence to India and Bangladesh. It involves building a dam on the 'great bend' of the Brahmaputra — the spot where the river does a u-turn of sorts and begins its journey east to India.

 

Work has begun on the central and eastern routes. It is four years behind schedule because of increasing costs and problems with relocating millions of people along the routes. The eastern route will be completed by 2012, but has also been plagued with environmental problems. Officials said last week the government has begun to relocate 330,000 people along the central route, which also runs from the Yangtze.

 

The delays and costs of the first two routes have resulted in growing opposition to the western route, which is also the most technically complicated. Its fate is undecided. According to Wang Shucheng, former water resources Minister, Beijing is even considering abandoning the project. Technical feasibility studies are still under way. Mr. Wang argues that it is "unnecessary" and "infeasible" to include the Brahmaputra in the diversion project, and that the Yangtze was large enough to deal with the northern shortages. He has cautioned that the speed of the flow of the river, which is the world's highest and fastest-flowing, would damage dams and embankments. The 'bend' is also an earthquake-prone zone.

 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised India's concerns about the western route when he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing in 2008. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan told The Hindu in a recent interview India was following a "trust but verify" approach on the diversion project. "Our information is, and satellite pictures also show, that there is no work which has taken place," he said. "As of now, we have not seen any evidence of them doing the great bend so to say."

 

Kenneth Pomeranz, an expert on China's water issues at the University of California Irvine, says it is "hard to get a handle on" on the Chinese's government's views on the western route. There is clear dissent within the Ministry of Water Resources, with Mr. Wang leading the arguments against the project. But others among China's leaders, including President Hu (a hydraulic engineer by training) and the influential former President Jiang Zemin, are thought to back the project. "A lot of people in government see it as a risky project, and kind of hope other things come along that make it unnecessary," he says. But avoiding the project, according to him, would require massive improvements in water conservation in the arid north, the equivalent of "fixing a million leaky taps."

 

The problem for India, Mr. Pomeranz says, is China has all the leverage in the issue, with weak international laws and no robust water-sharing arrangements between the two countries. The pressing concern for New Delhi, experts say, is to begin to actively engage with Beijing on water sharing issues. India needs to institutionalise a sharing mechanism before it is too late, and before Beijing presents New Delhi with a fait accompli about its dams.

 

"There is no 'water-sharing' arrangement between India and China," Ramaswamy Iyer, former Water Resources Secretary of the Government of India, said in an email message. "Water has not figured in the India-China talks. It is now included in the agenda." But Mr. Iyer argues the issue needs to be given more attention, and made as important a part of the agenda as the border issue. From India's point of view the point to consider, according to him, is the "quantum of possible diversion and the impact it would have on the flows to India." Hydel projects would not affect India "if the waters are returned to the river after they pass through the turbines", but the Indian government needed to "keep questioning China constantly on their plans."

 

"The issue for India and China is that there is no understanding, no agreement, on international rivers," says Brahma Chellaney of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. "Between India and Pakistan, we have a treaty which provides for third party arbitration and defines what the rules and no-go areas are. But between India and China, there is a huge vacuum which is not good for stability and water security."

 

"The run of the river projects [such as Zangmu] are of lesser concern to India," he added. "I'm surprised at seeing the news reports now, as it is not a new issue… China has every right to use water resources for energy. International norms allow any country upstream to do so. The Indus river water treaty allows India to do the same." But even hydel projects could have potentially disastrous effects, he said, if there are many dams that are large enough to decrease flow, which is not the case at present. In Yunnan, China built four hydel power dams along the Salween, which many experts say resulted in flooding downstream in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

 

Mr. Chellaney says the first requirement for India is "discuss and define what the no-go areas are, and arrive at basic rules," something the two countries have not done. Officials have so far had three meetings through a working group mechanism that has been set up, but it does not have the mandate to come up with such a robust agreement. "As long as there are no institutional arrangements," he observes, "India's position depends on China basically coming to an agreement by doing us a favour. And that is not a position India should be in."

 

(With inputs from Siddharth Varadarajan in New Delhi.)

 

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THE HINDU

NEWS ANALYSIS

WHAT SEPARATES INSIDER TRADING AND LEGAL RESEARCH

THE CASE AGAINST RAJ RAJARATNAM AND HIS CO-DEFENDANTS APPEARS TO BE COMPLICATED.

ALEX BERENSON

 

The most precious commodity on Wall Street is information, and savvy players will do almost anything for it.

 

Some investment funds canvass doctors to scout out blockbuster drugs. Others pay meteorologists to forecast weather that will affect the price of oil and wheat. And still others hire corporate executives to provide an inside view of companies and indu stries.

 

But now some of Wall Street's biggest hedge funds are watching nervously as prosecutors allege that Raj Rajaratnam, a billionaire fund manager, went too far in this relentless quest for a trading edge.

 

On Friday, federal prosecutors charged Rajaratnam and five other people with insider trading — using information that they received illegally in an effort to make riskless profits on stocks. Prosecutors have said they are still investigating the case, and some defence lawyers who are not representing people already facing charges said on Monday that they could not comment on the record because they may be retained soon. Insider trading, however, can be difficult to prove, said Leslie R. Caldwell, the co-chief of the white-collar crime division at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. The line between buying legitimate research, trading rumours and gossip, and illegally paying for market-moving information can be complicated.

 

"There are some obvious insider trading cases where people obviously have a duty, they're obviously misappropriating information," said Caldwell, the former chief of the task force that prosecuted the Enron cases. "In terms of money managers and other people, where the duty becomes a little less clear, the relationships become a little less clear, the motivations become a little less clear, it can become more and more challenging."

 

The case against Rajaratnam and his co-defendants appears to be far more complicated than a simple exchange of cash for information. A close reading of the two criminal complaints filed so far, and an associated civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggests a web in which hedge fund managers, analysts, corporate executives, and consultants and other people outside Wall Street traded tips — sometimes for money, sometimes for other tips, and sometimes for little more than the promise of unspecified future favours.

 

Not every trade that the complaint outlines was profitable. In fact, Rajaratnam's hedge fund, the Galleon Group, lost millions of dollars buying shares of Advanced Micro Devices, the computer chip maker, after learning that the government of Abu Dhabi planned to invest in AMD, according to the complaint. The investment did occur, but AMD stock plunged between August 2008, when Galleon began buying, and October 2008, when the deal was announced.

 

At other times, Rajaratnam received information from an unnamed witness who is cooperating with the government investigation. But the complaint does not state whether Rajaratnam knew the ultimate sources of the information he received from the witness. Nor does it allege that Rajaratnam paid the witness for the information.

 

Still, the existence of a cooperating witness — along with the fact that prosecutors wiretapped some of Rajaratnam's conversations — gives them a great advantage in the case, said David S. Ruder, a law professor at Northwestern University and a former chairman of the SEC. The conversations may help show that Rajaratnam knew the information was valuable and that he should not be trading on it, Ruder said. "It gets you around the mens rea, or state of mind question," he said. "If you know it's coming from an insider, or if you have strong reason to believe it's coming from an insider, you're in trouble."

 

The SEC has tried to combat insider trading for decades, relying mainly on tips and reports of suspicious trading in a single stock. Two years ago, the commission began to install sophisticated data-mining software that examines trading records, looking for patterns of trades across stocks that appear suspiciously profitable.

 

Unlike the inquiries conducted by stock markets like the New York Stock Exchange, which focus on individual stocks, the SEC's programme aims to identify traders who pop up repeatedly, making surprisingly successful trades in many companies.

 

The SEC has identified some insider trading cases through this project, but the investigation of Rajaratnam was not one of them.

 

Federal securities laws put limits on the race for information. Corporate executives are not allowed to give investors market-moving tips about their companies. Companies must disclose critical news, like quarterly earnings, to everyone at the same time. Investors who try to lock in guaranteed profits by, say, paying to see a news release an hour before a company posts it are engaging in illegal "insider trading."

 

Those are the laws that prosecutors alleged on Friday were broken by Rajaratnam, and five other investors and corporate executives. — © 2009 The New York Times News Service

 

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THE HINDU

NEWS ANALYSIS

BOSNIA, A 'WORLD OF PARALLEL TRUTHS'

BOSNIAN SERB LEADER RADOVAN KARADZIC STILL RETAINS SOME OF HIS OLD POWER.

ALLAN LITTLE

 

In Srebrenica they are still digging.

 

The old battery factory where a small battalion of Dutch peacekeepers once had their headquarters is now mostly derelict.

 

It is a sprawl of vast and echoing industrial hangars, damp and chilly in the encroaching winter.

 

This is one of the darkest places in contemporary Europe, full of ghosts.

 

I stood in the doorway of one of the hangars, sheltering from the rain and watched a mechanical digger scrape a little slit trench in the earth, looking for the bodies of five people who died from natural causes or committed suicide here in the middle of July 1995.

 

That month, the Bosnian Serb army, lead by General Ratko Mladic, had marched down the road.

 

When his men got here, they rounded up the people.

 

The Dutch UN troops offered no protection, even to those inside their own base.

 

The men and older boys were separated from the women and children, and in the space of five days about 8,000 of them were murdered.

 

Fourteen years on, they are still finding the bodies. There is an ossuary in the Bosnian town of Tuzla, which is grim enough to look at but worse still to smell.

 

Collections of bones are bagged up and stacked on shelves like books in a library.

 

I turned my back on the digger and its careful probing of the damp earth and walked into the dankness of the hangar.

 

Shahida Abdul Rakman had agreed to join me there.

 

She was among the thousands who crammed themselves into this place in the hope that the Dutch UN peacekeepers, who were billeted here, might offer some protection.

 

``Every time I come back, the horror of it comes flooding back too," she told me.

 

``Every now and then someone would come to the window with a rumour that the Serbs were coming and people would run into this corner, or that.

 

``I remember the sound of it, the feel of it, the fear of it all," she said.

 

Most of the male members of Shahida's family are buried in the cemetery across the road.

 

Bosnia today is a world of parallel truths. A line on the map separates the Serb half, Republika Srpska, from the rest of the country.

 

A similar line runs through the hearts and minds of the people. Cross it and you enter a universe in which the Srebrenica massacre never happened, or if it did, it was the work of someone else — a nefarious effort to discredit the Serbs.

 

The other day, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appeared in court at The Hague for his pre-trial conference.

 

It was the first time I had seen him in the flesh for 15 years. He stood and chatted to a group of Dutch police officers in his effortless articulate English.

 

He seemed relaxed and untroubled.

 

He cracked a joke, made the officers laugh, and said something that might have been self-deprecating. It was the same old Radovan Karadzic — affable and charming.

 

We, as reporters, were also once subject to the intensity of the Karadzic persona. Somewhere I have in my possession a scrap of muddy paper bearing his signature.

 

``This is the BBC journalist Allan Little," he had written in the half light of a storm lamp in his mountain headquarters.

 

``Please ensure that he is free to travel throughout the territory of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed Dr Radovan Karadzic, President of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

 

For the most part, the document worked, his name was sufficiently revered, his authority recognised.

 

It still is, for Radovan Karadzic sold the Serbs a narrative in which they were the true victims not the perpetrators.

 

And often they were — at least a quarter of those who died in the war were Serbs, many of them at Srebrenica.

 

The prosecution in The Hague alleges they died in the pursuit of a criminal enterprise. Serb public opinion is not ready for this. — © BBC News/Distributed by the New York Times Syndicate

 

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THE HINDU

A HARVEST OF GOLF COURSES FROM VIETNAM'S FARMLAND

FOR A COUNTRY THAT HAD ONLY TWO GOLF COURSES AT THE END OF THE WAR IN 1975, THE INCREASE IN PROJECTS OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS HAS BEEN EXPLOSIVE.

SETH MYDANS

 

• Developers and foreign investors want to make Vietnam a tourist destination
• But the government is saying, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!'

 

It may be the most capitalist enterprise in Communist Vietnam — by the rich and for the rich: a proliferation of golf courses that is displacing thousands of farmers and devouring the rice fields the country depends on. Until last year, according to experts who have done the calculations, licenses for new courses were being issued at an average of one a week, for a total of more than 140 projects around the country.

 

Promoters created the idea of a "Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail," a series of eight courses whose label is as good a sign as any of where Vietnam seems to be headed — its heroic wartime past redefined as a sales pitch.

 

If all those projects were completed, the number of courses would approach that of golf-mad South Korea, where there are close to 200. It would be nowhere near the number in the United States, which has about 16,000 courses, or even Florida, with 1,260.

 

For a country that had only two courses at the end of the war in 1975 and that according to some estimates has only 5,000 golfers today, however, the increase in projects over the past four years has been explosive.

 

But a backlash emerged within the news media and among academics and government officials over the social and environmental costs.

 

In summer 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered a halt to new construction pending a review, and last June the government ordered the cancellation of 50 of the projects. But most of the others are well under way, to add to the country's 13 established golf courses.

 

"Developers and foreign investors are saying they want to make the country a tourist destination, and to do that you need to offer more amenities like golf," said Kurt Greve, the American general manager of the Ocean Dunes Golf Club and the Dalat Palace Golf Club. Most of those tourists would come from elsewhere in Asia, especially South Korea and Japan, where golf courses are hugely overcrowded.

 

"They're all wanting to grow golf," he said, referring to the developers and investors, "but the government is saying, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!'"

 

FALL IN EXPORT REVENUE

In its drive to industrialise, Vietnam has already lost large amounts of farmland to factories and other developments. According to the Agriculture Ministry, land devoted to rice, the national staple and a leading source of export revenue, shrank to 10.1 million acres from 11.1 million acres, just from 2000 to 2006.

 

Many of the new projects seem to have to do more with capitalism than with sport. Taxes on golf courses are lower than those on other forms of development, and many of the projects appear to be disguised real estate ventures. Only 65 per cent of the land involved in the current projects has been set aside for golf courses, Ton Gia Huyen, an official with the Vietnam Land Science Association, said at a conference on golf courses in May. The rest of the land is reserved for hotels, resorts, villas, eco-tourism areas, parks and recreational projects.

 

One solution is to change the tax structure, said Nguyen Dang Vang, vice-chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Science, Technology and Environment.

 

"Golf courses are for rich people, account for vast areas of land, cause pollution and affect food security, so taxes should be appropriately high," he told the newspaper Tuoi Tre in July. And when rich people play, it appears that farmers and villagers pay the price.

 

Development of a single course can cost the land of hundreds of farms, displacing as many as 3,000 people, sometimes devouring an entire commune, Nguyen Duc Truyen, an official of the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Sociology, said at the recent conference. Only a small number of them find jobs on the new golf courses.

 

For example, the Dai Lai golf course in Vinh Phuc province drove thousands of people from their land but provided jobs for only 30 local residents, according to a report in July on the Vietnam News Service. Farmers are typically compensated at a rate of $2 to $3 a square metre, the news service said, about the cost of a sack of rice.

 

STRAIN ON WATER RESOURCES

Along with land, golf courses also put a strain on water resources, said Le Anh Tuan from the Can Tho University Environmental Technology Centre. In a widely quoted estimate, he said an 18-hole course could consume 177,000 cubic feet of water a day, enough for 20,000 households.

 

"The dry season is critical," said Kiet Tuan Le, the chief groundskeeper here at Ocean Dunes, about 200 kilometres northeast of Ho Chi Minh City." I've got to continually ask the water department, almost fight them, because there's not enough water for the city people."

 

Greve said that the resort was working to minimise its environmental impact, with a new strain of grass that was more salt-tolerant and would require less fresh water.

 

The nearby Sea Links Golf and Country Club, which is built on sand dunes, pipes in water from a source nearly two miles away, said one of the resort's directors, Tran Quang Trung. Automatic sprinklers switch on every 15 minutes and individual hoses provide a continuing drip at the base of each tree.

 

The sumptuous, rolling 18-hole course is only one part of the ambitious, 420-acre development, he said.

 

Rows of villas, 315 of them, stand behind the course like soldiers on parade, with many sold before they were built. A five-star hotel overlooking the course has almost been completed.

 

Just beyond the development area, the red earth is already being turned for the construction of six ocean-view apartment buildings with 550 units.

 

In the future, Trung said, it will all be known as "Sea Links City." — © 2009 The New York Times News Service

 

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  THE ASIAN AGE

EDITORIAL

MAKE OUR SCHOOLS BETTER, THEN IITS

 

If the point is to get some of the best young brains in the country to crack the IITs' joint entrance examination, human resources development minister Kapil Sibal had the right idea when he thought that a prospective IIT student's school-leaving grades should also be taken into account, and that they had better be good, not just a bare first division that comes with 60 per cent, which is commonplace at least in the CBSE system. The minister's wish was expressed to the media after a meeting of the IIT council on Monday, and is technically not yet an official proposal. However, the meaning is reasonably clear. We may expect changes not only in the JEE syllabus and style, but also eligibility benchmarks. It is important that the authorities are not fixated only with school-leaving percentages. Perhaps the scores of the last two years in school should be given weightage alongside JEE results. Most kids who clear the JEE are trained at various coaching institutions which rely on the traditional method of cramming, and intensive practice along pre-set lines. A student's creativity is not really assessed.

 

Without this the ability to engage in frontier research — which is apparently high on the list of Mr Sibal's priorities — is affected. High grades are not everything, and cram-shops insist only on this. Hopefully, a longer scrutiny of a scholar's school record will factor in creativity and problem-solving skills. It is also necessary that schoolchildren throughout India take the same school-leaving exam for them to be judged fairly for a common objective. To bring out the best in a student, the school curriculum too needs to be fashioned in a way that does away with rote learning. If the HRD minister can't crack these elements of the problem, he is unlikely to help prepare a national pool of talented young men and women, with an aptitude for science and technology, who can do dream work comparable with the best in the world. Of course, higher school-leaving grade requirements than now will help dig deeper into the available resource base. However, the caveat proffered by private institutions in Patna and elsewhere, which focus on disadvantaged rural students and still produce a very large number of IIT entrants each year, must also be taken on board. Their view is that poor students typically go to schools where facilities are inadequate and teachers don't always show up. As such, the coaching institutions in question play an important shaping role, for most of their wards come out of school with bare 60 percent — the existing base JEE criterion — and are unlikely to greatly improve on this, the way things are. The argument brings up an important social factor that cannot be disregarded. Perhaps a way can be found to make coaching shops an ally by making them conform to certain standards by the IIT Council, besides raising JEE eligibility requirements above 60 per cent.

 

Many recent decisions of the HRD minister underline his concern with excellence in the field of higher education. This is crucial if our universities are to be in step with explorations in knowledge-creation. However, high-level teaching and research institutions must not only be synergised, they should rest firmly on the foundation of a sound school system in all states to which access is available regardless of social status.

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

OPED

WAZIRISTAN: PAK ARMY FORGETS LESSONS OF THE RAJ

INDRANIL BANERJIE

 

"From the time of our earliest dealings with the Wazirs and Mahsuds these tribes have presented a most difficult problem and one which still awaits a satisfactory solution." This was the conclusion of a confidential report compiled by the British Indian Army headquarters in 1921 after approximately 69 years of intermittent warfare in Waziristan.

 

Curiously, the same conclusion could well have been penned by the Pakistani Army top brass as it commenced its latest offensive in that very area last week. Approximately two divisions worth of Pakistani troops supported by artillery, air power and tactical information provided by American military drones pummelled into the heart of Mehsud country in South Waziristan from three axes beginning last Saturday. This was perhaps the 11th attempt by the Pakistani Army to subdue the South Waziristan Agency (SWA) since 2001.

 

The aim is to destroy the core of the Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP), a radical Islamist organisation that seeks to cleanse Pakistan of the American presence and impose Sharia in the country. The TTP is spread across several of Pakistan's tribal agencies and some districts of the North-West Frontier Province. The outfit has demonstrated a capacity to carry out terrorist strikes in Punjab and attack the Pakistani Army, which is viewed as collaborating with the infidel Americans.

 

The core of the TTP is made up of members of the Mehsud tribesmen who live in the mountains and valleys of South Waziristan. The Mehsud heartland comprises the towns of Makin, Kanigoram and the lands around these two settlements. The undisputed chief of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed near a place called Laddah in this area by a missile fired from a US drone on August 5 this year. He had, however, groomed a second-tier leadership comprising, among others, of Hakimullah Mehsud, the present leader of the TTP, and commanders Qari Hussein Mehsud (suicide squad chief), Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud (local commander) and Maulvi Azmatullah. These men have vowed to fight on.

 

The Mehsuds, the British had learnt over almost a century of fighting, never quite give up. "Relying on the inaccessibility of their country, the Waziristan tribes have for centuries defied the power of the rulers of India and Afghanistan, and on more than one occasion in the past they engaged and defeated the invading armies of the Moghuls. Their character, organisation and instincts have made them independent and strongly democratic, so much so that even their own maliks (elders) have little real control over the unruly spirits", observed one British officer almost a century ago.

 

Not much has changed with the Mehsuds. South Waziristan remains the poorest and most backward in all of Pakistan. The valleys are in the most part stony and barren, while the higher reaches are mostly fit only for pasture. Their men have been fighting since Americans, Saudis and the Pakistanis launched the Afghan jihad in the early 1980s. Waziristan was the main area from where the Mujahideen were launched into neighbouring Afghanistan. The Soviets have long gone but the Mehsuds still send their men to fight in Afghanistan and in recent times against Pakistani security forces.

 

The Pakistani Army is faced with the unenviable task on tasking on the Mehsud in his own country. After a string of defeats that entailed fearsome casualties, the Pakistani Army has now launched what it calls the final offensive. Some commentators in the Pakistani media have dubbed it the "mother of battles" of the Frontier. The question is whether the Pakistani Army can do what the British Indian Army could not achieve after a hundred years of intermittent warfare in Waziristan?

British India's involvement with Waziristan began in 1849 with the absorption of the Sikh Empire. The Waziris had hated the Sikhs who had collected taxes from them and had no intention of succumbing to the British. Trouble began in 1850 when several Waziri tribes got together and began raiding British-controlled towns in the plains.

 

Faced with these annoying attacks on their authority, the British did not know quite what to do. Initially the British employed what they called a "closed border" policy which was basically one of non-interference. The British maintained their forces in the towns of Bannu and Tank in the plains, and from time to time led what was called "butcher and bolt" operations against the Waziris. The second most successful was the "modified closed border" policy, which avoided establishing permanent military garrisons in the agency by raising local Lashkars headed by British officers to manage the tribes. The least successful was the "forward" policy, used first during 1895-1901 and then during 1923-47, which entailed the permanent posting of British forces in the tribal lands.

 

The first phase of the "forward" policy in Waziristan was prompted by the tribal jihad launched against the British for demarcating the Durand Line, which effectively divided Pashtun lands. This was when British troops learnt that "the Wazirs and Mahsuds operating in their own country, can be classed among the finest fighters in the world... they seldom allow a tactical error to go unpunished." The second phase of the "forward" policy was instituted after the third Anglo-Afghan War, and the constant revolts by the Waziri tribesmen. Permanent military garrisons were established in the towns of Ramzak, Jandola and Wana. These are the same garrisons from where the Pakistani Army is now launching its latest anti-Mehsud offensive.

 

The problem, as scholars like Dr Stephen Cohen and others have observed, is that the Pakistani military does not understand the concept of counter-insurgency and simply calls it "low-intensity conflict". In its Waziristan operations between 2004 and 2006, some analysts believe the Army lost as many as 3,000 men. Even then they were eventually forced to retreat.

 

Col. Yahya Effendi (Retd) of the Pakistan Army, scion of a distinguished martial family, pointed out in a widely-read paper: "The Pakistan Army over the years has been trained conventionally against India, and it is clueless about unconventional frontier warfare. The lessons learnt from the British in Waziristan, and elsewhere in FATA, have been erased from the Army's institutional memory... and Waziristan perforce is serving as the new instructional campus for the Pakistan Army." The latest offensive is clearly going to prove a very costly refresher course.

 

Indranil Banerjie is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi

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THE ASIAN AGE

OPED

BEHIND CHINA'S SABRE-RATTLING

AMULYA GANGULI

 

The deterioration in Sino-Indian relations is obvious. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the present phase is the worst since 1962. What is also clear is that the responsibility for the downturn is Beijing's. Arguably, India even bent over backwards for a time to placate an increasingly belligerent China, as when government officials stayed away from the inauguration by the Dalai Lama of a Sanchi-style stupa in East Delhi's millennium park. But China did not respond favourably.

 

As a result, New Delhi's attitude is a lot more assertive at present as is evident in its decision to ignore Beijing's protests about the Tibetan pontiff's forthcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It has also been strengthening its military presence on the Chinese border, imposing stricter curbs on visas, protesting against Chinese activities in PoK and on the Tsangpo river and has even mentioned the 'T' word, probably for the first time since it accepted Chinese overlordship over the roof of the world.

 

Apart from these diplomatic manoeuvres, what is of interest is the reason for China suddenly upping the ante. The change for the worse began not long after the 2005 agreement under which the inhabited areas were to be kept out of any settlement of the boundary question. There are two possible explanations why China unilaterally resiled from this stand. One is its realisation that for all the economic progress that is claimed for Tibet, the people there remain unreconciled to Han Chinese hegemony.

 

Secondly, China is probably worried about the post-Dalai Lama scene, for it realises that once the restraining influence of the spiritual leader is removed, the more militant among the Tibetan exiles will become active. It isn't only the recrudescence of the kind of violence which the plateau saw before the Olympic Games about which China is concerned, but the possibility of simultaneous uprisings in both Tibet and Xinjiang. As a ruthless dictatorship, China may have little difficulty in controlling the situation, but the uneasiness in the rest of the world about the persistence of its Tiananmen Square mentality will undermine its standing.

 

It is apparently in preparation for such a turn of events that China wants to ratchet up tension in Southern Tibet, which is its name for Arunachal Pradesh. Ideally, it would like to grab Tawang, which is an important centre of Tibetan Buddhism. But since it cannot conceive such a step even in its hubris, especially after India has militarily bestirred itself, what China seems to want is to keep the pot boiling and even engage in a short border conflict to, first, keep the adventurous Tibetan exiles off balance since India will not like them to create more problems at a time of heightened tension between the two countries. Secondly, China may also use such a border skirmish to whip up nationalist sentiments at home in order to divert attention from its uncertain hold on Tibet and Xinjiang.

 

The restiveness of its Buddhist and Muslim minorities are not the only internal problems faced by China. The reports of fairly widespread rural unrest in the context of its embracement of capitalism also underline the uncertainties through which China is passing, making any prediction about its steady economic development difficult. In contrast, much of the world is slowly realising that the innate stability provided by Indian democracy makes its admittedly slower economic progress more durable. This is another of China's worries, for its earlier belief about India not only remaining mired in poverty, but also disintegrating because of its many internal fissures (which made a Chinese analyst speak recently of India's Balkanisation) is being negated.

 

Instead of India, it is Pakistan which is in danger of falling apart. There is little doubt that China's all-weather friend is now very much under the weather. There is no certainty whether it will survive in one piece in five years or become some kind of a diplomatic oddity with the Army holding on to Punjab and adjoining areas while Sindh, Balochistan and the Pushtun areas breaking away. But, whatever happens to Pakistan, it is clear that China can no longer use it as a cat's paw to needle India. The scene will be even more nightmarish for China if the turmoil in Pakistan compels the Islamic terrorists, under pressure from an increasing American presence in the region, to turn their baleful attention to Xinjiang, where their co-religionists are not some of Beijing's favourite citizens.

 

India, in contrast, is better placed. It does not face the same level of rural unrest because of the economic reforms as China does. The insurgencies in Kashmir and the Northeast, though bothersome, no longer threaten to spin out of the control. As for Pakistan, even it does not take its earlier quest for parity with India seriously. Only the Maoists are a problem, but they do not pose an existential threat. India's soft power, too, mainly because of its vibrant multicultural democracy, is a constant reminder to China that no one loves a one-party state. Its provocation, therefore, may not be unrelated to a latent belief that it may not come first in the race between the two Asian giants.

 

Since China's Middle Kingdom dreams of a great power surrounded by subservient states are being nullified not only by its inability to keep the lid on Tibet and Xinjiang and defuse rural resentment over the growing rich-poor divide, but also by Pakistan's virtual collapse and India's perceptible rise, it is resorting to bullying tactics on the Sino-Indian border seemingly out of frustration.

 

Amulya Ganguli is a commentator based in New Delhi

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

COLUMN

AFTER THE POLL RESULTS, EXPECT REALIGNMENTS

ARUN NEHRU

 

The results of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will throw up few surprises and the Congress should win in all the three states with comfortable margins. The results are out on Thursday.

 

There will be trends for the future in each state. In Maharashtra, the question is whether the Congress will gain in total numbers over the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) where Sharad Pawar — now in his seventies — has to unfold his succession plans for the future. Will the NCP cadres have full faith and confidence in his nephew Ajit Pawar for the future?

 

We may well see a migration towards the Congress in the immediate future. Mr Sharad Pawar has very limited options, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, since the NCP's strength is "weak" at the Centre.

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues its weak run. It has not been able to produce a leader who can match the charismatic Pramod Mahajan.

 

The Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray poses a formidable challenge and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena with Raj Thackeray looks jaded except for limited areas in Konkan and Mumbai. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats and is critical for the future. Despite the anti-incumbency factor, the Congress has the upper hand.

 

In Haryana, chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will gain and consolidate his base within the party with a 40 per cent vote share. The balance 60 per cent will be divided between the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bhajan Lal and sons.

 

Individually they do not offer any credible opposition and a poor performance in the Assembly elections will force all four to consider forging an alliance for the future.

 

The BSP, under pressure in Uttar Pradesh, will achieve very little unless Mayawati accepts the reality and "aligns" with local units that can add to her vote bank. This can vary from five to 12 per cent in North India and has the ability to change the entire political structure.

 

The 2009 Lok Sabha elections have decimated the Left and, in 2011, it will lose its political space both in West Bengal and Kerala. The Left's ideology is shrinking by the day. The BJP is no longer considered an "alternative" and the National Democratic Alliance has no political value.

 

We are looking at a realignment of political forces as political workers and the voting public will not waste their energy on a political party or group which is unable to inspire confidence to be part of a coalition structure.

 

The Congress will do everything to keep the political parties divided. This is legitimate political strategy. A great deal will happen on both sides in the next year as all parties prepare for the Assembly elections in 2011, which, besides West Bengal and Kerala, will also include Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

 

There are no vacations in politics and political accidents continue to take place. The Central Bureau of Investigation has begun investigating into the cases involving hefty bribes allegedly paid by US companies to Indian entities and ministries. The probe by the CBI is based on a letter said to have been written by Indian envoy to the US Meera Shankar who named several departments involved in accepting bribes.

 

The CBI will no doubt be assisted by the media and the hunt to get the details of corrupt bureaucrats is on. This can prove to be a major embarrassment for the government. The media exposures will be relentless. It is time for the CBI to take instant action to avoid political damage.

 

The reaction from Pakistan on the 26/11 tragedy is predictable and repeated encounters in the Valley are an indicator that the rogue elements within the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence are not in control of the government of Pakistan.

 

The US tries to pressure Pakistan but it is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Look at the daily graph of violence and death in both these countries.

 

Things in Afghanistan are deteriorating and the departure of a senior diplomat who alleged that fraud and criminal acts were allowed by his superior in the election of the President will only alienate the voting public. Things will grow worse as additional forces are sent to Afghanistan.

 

President Karzai is not in control of the situation and additional troops and weapons will only add to the conflict.

 

There will be little peace in either of the two countries and whilst we wish US President Barack Obama well, it is difficult to comment on the Nobel Peace Prize (where is the peace?). But in all fairness it is not always easy to predict the thinking of the Nobel committee.

 

We in India can only express regret and surprise that Mahatma Gandhi (man of the century) never found favour with the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

 

The controversy about whether Mr Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize will die down. What concerns us today is the global assistance on terrorist acts emanating from Pakistan. We cannot wait for the next attack to take place by non-state actors and sleeper cells within the country.

 

The home minister and the security forces have done well in dealing with the situation and we have the capability of dealing with the situation in a very competent manner.

 

A lot of hard work has been put in and I would have little hesitation in saying that it would be churlish for anyone to treat us as a "soft" state.

 

Matters of internal security require political intervention but sadly the violence unleashed by the Naxalite cadres on security forces and innocent villagers reduces the options available to the government. Hopefully better counsel will prevail before the situation gets out of control.

 

Governance in Jammu and Kashmir is never easy and both Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad did well under the circumstances, as Farooq Abdullah had done earlier.

 

Now the torch passes on to Omar Abdullah of the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti, who has kept the People's Democratic Party cadres intact. Good, effective leadership on both sides bodes well for the future.

 

Farooq Abdullah can be quite emotional on occasions but he, more than anyone else, knows the contradictions within the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Unless action is taken on 26/11, it would be impossible for any progress to take place. There will be constant pressure on both Omar Abdullah and Ms Mufti in the Valley and we must wish them well for the future. Things will not be easy as few can predict with any certainty the turn of events in Pakistan.

 

Arun Nehru is a former Union minister

 

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DNA

EDITORIAL

FAULTY SYSTEM

 

The more Union education minister pries into the education can in India, the more snakes worm out of it. Just as the excitement over his one board suggestion, his scrapping of Class X exams for CBSE and his idea of a national curriculum are dying down, we find ourselves examining his ideas on Indian Institutes of Technology and Joint Entrance Exams (JEE).

 

Sibal has set up a committee to look into the JEE system as it does not appear to have worked well. He has also suggested that the current 60 per cent cut off for the Class XII exam may be raised, perhaps to as high as 85 per cent.

 

Predictably, there have been reactions to this and many of them are outraged. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has gone as far to say that this is a conspiracy against poor students and his arch rival Lalu Yadav is not far behind him in agreement. Other reactions ask if such a high cut-off is fair and if Sibal claims that he is in favour of de-stressing students and recommending grades over marks at other times, will this move not be counter-productive to that effort?

 

However, careful examination of both entrance exams and coaching classes as they operate in our country is imperative. The minister has clarified that the IITs will decide for themselves what they want to do and the committee is still to submit its report about cut-offs and Class XII exams. But no one can deny that the situation is a mess and that the IITs themselves have been complaining about the quality of students they've been getting. More frighteningly, industry leaders have been pointing out that they get "automatons" with the ability to pass exams but little else. This means that regardless of the system we use, there is dissatisfaction at different sections of the education chain.

 

The much criticised coaching classes emerged to fulfil the need felt by those who realised that regular education was not enough to tackle the JEE. In that sense, they provide answers where the schools do not. Merely changing the minimum marks at the high school level to appear for the JEE therefore will not be enough. If serious upgradation is what we want, then we need to overhaul the whole system.

 

Sibal appears to have his heart in the right place and his intentions are worthy. But the task that he has taken on needs courage, determination, strength, stamina and an ability to combat fearsome snakes. The system needs an overhaul but it will have to be done with a great amount of study and consultation.

 

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DNA

EDITORIAL

RISING TERROR

 

India has long complained about terror emanating from Pakistan and after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York, the US and the world at large too has woken up to the dangers of terrorism epicentred in Pakistan. Now the country's friendly neighbour Iran has added its voice of complaint, asking Islamabad to cut off support to terrorists operating from its territory.

 

Tehran's request comes in the wake of a Sunni terrorist attack in Iran's south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan on Sunday in which 41 people were killed including senior members of the Iranian Revolution Guards Corps. It is suspected that Jundallah, a Sunni terrorist group operating from Pakistan, is behind the deadly offensive. Tehran is of the firm view that the base for terrorist attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan is Pakistan.

 

India is not alone in pointing a finger at Pakistan. There is already suspicion in China that the Uighur Muslim rebels in the troubled Xinjiang province are being encouraged by elements in Pakistan. China has not been pressing Pakistan too hard on this issue but will be forced to do so sooner than later. Iranians may want to blame Americans and the British — for their alleged support to such groups — more than they would Islamabad have had to accept that terrorist bases are in Pakistan territory and the Taliban has become a force to reckon with.

 

Pakistan is of course fighting its own battle of survival against Islamic terrorists. The situation in Waziristan and the neighbourhood is truly worrying. Besides, there are attacks in key cities like Lahore and Islamabad. Its leaders' assertion that Pakistan is a victim and not perpetrators of terrorism smacks of hypocrisy because the Sistan-Baluchestan attack shows that Islamabad is not taking serious note of the terrorist elements operating from inside its borders.

 

The problem cannot be wished away either by Pakistan or by its other neighbours, including India. Indian defence minister AK Antony has correctly said that the situation is serious and that India is prepared to meet any challenge emanating from the Taliban.

 

Pakistan's leaders will have to accept the fact that they cannot support those terrorists who create problems in the neighbourhood and fight those who have become a problem at home. The time for cynical calibration is past. Pakistan will have to say no to terrorism and kick the habit once and for all.

 

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DNA

COLUMN

FAILING THE TEST

AROON TIKEKAR

 

The Government of Maharashtra feels, perhaps rightly so, that any reform in university education begins with appointments of vice-chancellors. It has come to the conclusion that the process of selection to that august body must be transparent. Each time the positions of VCs fall vacant, the Maharashtra government comes out with some new norm, much to the discomfiture of candidates. Each time some additional word gains authority; this time it is the word 'transparency'.

 

Despite this, nothing, however, really happens as such measures do not touch the crux of the issue. The experience of the past decade and a half has been that every new effort of the state government in bringing about qualitative change in the University of Mumbai in particular and in higher education in general, has rendered itself futile. Chances are that the much talked about amendment to the University Acts in an attempt to bring transparency in the selection process of vice-chancellors may meet the same fate.

 

"We want eminent academicians to join our universities as vice-chancellors" declared the state's principal secretary for higher and technical education and also member of the search committee appointed for selection of VCs for five of the 11 universities in Maharashtra recently. How many such "eminent men and women" are to be found at any given time on and outside various campuses, one wonders. Is it difficult for the search committee to call for CVs of such persons and after preparing a short-list invite them for personal interactive sessions with itself or with the chancellor? Self-respecting academics are surely prone to keep away from a selection process which starts with 'application'.

 

Why does not the GR No XIV 2009 seeking an amendment to the University Acts regarding selection of VCs make provisions for "invitation"?  Many top academic institutions in India these days include in their advertisement an additional line: "The institution can consider suitable candidates who may not have applied."

 

The so-called progressive Maharashtra government does not feel the need to bring about this change. It wants transparently selected persons who are willing to suffer all kinds of humiliation — being summoned by the chancellor's office at a short notice, waiting outside education minister's cabin for hours despite fixing appointment, running to the education secretary for all types of sanctions and so on.

 

The application for the position of VC is the preliminary test while unquestioned obedience is the ultimate. As long as the condition of "applying" is not done away with, only academic charlatans who have intentionally developed connections with the higher echelons in the government and/or those who will not dither before "padding" their curriculum vitae or even lobbying for their selection will build their way to the highest position.

 

One may grant it to the state government that, following the lead given by the HRD ministry of the Government of India, it wishes to improve the quality of university education. And that the exercise must begin with the selection of VCs and other high university officials. So a change in the norms and the constitution of the search committee is no doubt necessary. But has serious thought been given as to what was wrong with the way the earlier search committees were constituted and functioned? If not, the present attempt too would be a change for the sake of change and it will belie the proclaimed objective!

 

The search committee now is constituted of a scholar of repute decorated with a national honour, a head of the institution such as IIT and the secretary, education department. First of all, the inclusion of the education secretary defeats any talk of transparency as politics in academia in most cases begins from the secretary's or minister's cabin. Secondly, what is so sacrosanct about this national honour? Many a renowned scholar has died unsung without any official recognition. It is common experience that these days one has to lobby to get any honour, whether national or local. Those who harbour self-respect pay the price for their refusal to do so. Thirdly, directors of 'valued' institutions such as IITs or national universities may not comprehend the real issues and problems of state-neglected universities, with which they are not familiar.

 

Publishing advertisements in newspapers calling for applications from candidates for vice-chancellors is the state government's idea of transparency. What, according to it, are the prescribed academic qualifications to be a VC? Experience to conduct a research project of at least five to seven years and publication of five research papers in international journals are the only two academic criteria.

 

The criteria of getting published in international journals can prove to be a ploy to give preference to candidates from science faculty. Those from humanities and other faculties do not, rather cannot, get published in foreign journals.

 

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DNA

MATTER OF CHOICE

 

Our fundamental rights are being violated by our ministers and babus with the approval for the release of Bt brinjal ('Decision on Bt brinjal after consulting scientists, farmers: Ramesh', DNA, October 15). Vested interests in our own government seem to have colluded with the GM food industry. The scientific panels of the FSSAI consist of interested parties like large multinational corporations. Do we  really have freedom of choice?

VV Vijayan, Mumbai

 

GOOD IDEA, SIBAL

This is with reference 'Sibal says: To take JEE, score 80-85% in Std XII', (DNA, October 20). Kapil Sibal should be complimented for thinking out of box and trying to reduce the spread of the coaching class culture. This move will bring back focus on regular studies and discourage the coaching class syndrome. For poor and middle class parents, coaching classes are a burden on their financial resources. Sibal should now address the capitation fee issue which is seriously impeding the flow of education to the poor and needy.

 

Ashok Goswami, via email

 

II
The government's proposal to raise the bar for those who want to take the IIT-JEE from the present 60 per cent to over 80 per cent at the class XII examinations is well thought out and it will certainly make the JEE a healthier competition than the cruel test that it is at present with only about 2 per cent of 3 lakh students who sit for JEE every year clearing it.  There is no point in allowing everyone to attempt the JEE, with a vast majority of them wasting their time, energy and money. If only those who score 80 to 85 per cent at their class XII examinations are permitted to sit for JEE, the chances are that some 30,000 to 50,000 will qualify with the possibility of about 7,000 making it to the IITs.

V Subramanyan, Thane

 

Flouting rules

We saw how all rules were flouted this Diwali with people bursting crackers in designated silence  zones and not observing the 10pm deadline ('This year's Diwali noisier despite the 'silent' promise', DNA, October 20). Some crackers which were banned were also available in the markets. It is very unfortunate that there has been a total lack of sensitivity displayed by these citizens and also the civic administration which was supposed to maintain a vigil against such offenders. We have about 1000 demarcated silence zones and yet we see crackers being burst in hospital compounds. The police control room number was virtually non-functional. Who takes the responsibility for such violations? Or is it just a passing the buck game?

Deepak Agharkar, via email

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

TWO BETTER THAN ONE

CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES SHOULD NOT BE CLONES

 

THE Cabinet approval to the ordinance for establishing not one but two Central universities in Jammu and Kashmir is in sync with the government's approach to treat the state as a special case. The decision to have two Central universities in J & K was guided as much by political considerations as by a desire to open up further avenues of higher education in the border state. The government's prompt action in clearing the decks, less than a month after the formal announcement was made, may also be prompted by a desire to rob political parties and separatists of an issue. The earlier decision of having a Central university in Jammu and an Indian Institute of Management in the Valley had led to protests in both regions, but hopefully the decision to set up one Central university in each region will be welcomed by all sections, leaving no scope for agitations or a feeling of discrimination.

 

The real challenge, however, will be to ensure that the two universities make a difference to higher education in the state. It will be a pity if these universities also turn out to be clones of the existing universities and offer similar courses. There are already half a dozen universities in the state and it will be better if the role and character of the two new universities are designed on new lines meant for the 21st century. It will certainly be unfortunate if the two universities offer the same disciplines for higher study and research and are confined to catering separately to the needs of the two regions. What is required is a free flow of students and researchers to enable the Central universities to impart education and research facilities in new areas.

 

The two universities need not duplicate each other's effort and disciplines. This way the students and researchers will have access to a wide range of subjects to delve into. Ideally, the two universities need to be developed as world class institutions. Over a period of time , when the state is free from its present travails, the two universities should provide a window of opportunity to attract the best of talent that builds institutions engaged in the pursuit of excellence.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

AND NOW IRAN

PAKISTAN MUST STOP CROSS-BORDER TERRORISM

 

IRAN has suffered a major blow at the hands of terrorists having their bases in Pakistan. Jundallah, the outfit that has claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bomb attack at the entrance of a sports complex, killing 42 persons, including five senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has been active in the country's northeastern area (Sistan-Baluchistan province) bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan for some time. Iran has accused intelligence agencies of Pakistan, the US and Britain for masterminding the terrorist attack at the sports complex where the killed Revolutionary Guards commanders were scheduled to have a meeting with Sunni tribal representatives to redress the grievances of the minority community. Whatever the truth, but the fact that the Jundallah terrorist group has been operating from inside Pakistan cannot be denied.

 

Iran has rightly asked that Pakistan must hand over to Teheran all the Jundallah members who are believed to have been involved in the deadly attack. Jundallah is known for its links with the Al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan. President Asif Zardari has offered to cooperate with Iran in the efforts to bring the culprits to book in a time-bound manner. But that is not enough. What is alarming is Pakistan's failure to prevent the use of its territory by the so-called "non-state actors" for launching terrorist attacks in other countries. The problem of cross-border terrorism needs to be given a more serious thought, as it is showing no sign of coming to an end. And Pakistan has not shown keenness to stamp out terrorist outfits, which generally get away with murder.

 

Iran, a Shia-majority country, has a restive Sunni minority. The Jundallah group has succeeded in spreading its tentacles in Sistan-Baluchistan province because of a large concentration of disgruntled Sunni Muslims there.

 

The region cannot afford to have socio-political destabilisation in Iran when three of its neighbours — Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan — are striving for peace. No militant group should be allowed to exploit the sentiments of any section of the population in Iran irrespective of the nature of its grievances against the rulers.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

NOT SWEET ENOUGH

PRICE HIKE FOR SUGARCANE

 

THE Punjab government's decision to raise the state assured price (SAP) of sugarcane by Rs 20 may not enthuse farmers who had expected at least Rs 250 a quintal. Growing sugarcane is no longer profitable. That is why the area under sugarcane has shrunk by 30 per cent in Punjab. Worse, farmers have shifted to paddy, a source of the state's water woes. Not just the low support prices, delayed payments by sugar mills too have forced farmers to abandon sugarcane. Sugar mills have their own problems. Despite sugar prices doubling in the past one year, their profits have not soared accordingly because they do not get enough sugarcane supplies and power to operate at full capacity.

 

Because of low production, the country's sugar stocks may dwindle further in the coming year. Globally, sugar prices are ruling at a high — partly because of imports by India and partly because of a crop failure in Brazil. This may spur hoarders to exploit the situation unless the government nails them effectively. Since sugarcane cultivation is time-consuming, the situation cannot be eased in a short time. The consumer, meanwhile, is paying a heavy price for faulty government policies, which result in gluts or shortages.

 

Politics dictates sugar and sugarcane prices. The Centre fixes its minimum support prices and then state governments announce their own prices depending on whose interests they have to protect and promote. Little attention is paid to improving sugarcane productivity, which is abysmally low due to outdated farming practices. Inefficiencies have crept in the functioning of sugar mills both in the private and cooperative sectors. Since every crisis throws an opportunity too, now is the time for hard decisions to clear the mess. Farmers must get a fair price so that they grow enough sugarcane. Mills have to be modernised and assured regular power and sugarcane supplies so that they stay in business.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

CHINESE CHEQUERS, DAM(N) NONSENSE

INDIA DOESN'T NEED TO LOSE COOL

BY B.G. VERGHESE

 

WHY are the Chinese so nervous, huffing and puffing away over something as innocuous as Dr Manmohan Singh's election visit to Arunachal and the Dalai Lama's spiritual journey to the revered Buddhist monastery in Tawang? These demarches were preceded by a gratuitous statement that Arunachal is part of China and India should best back off from there. This bluster, sometimes expressed though the columns of party journals, targets India for not responding to China's boundary "concessions" and for adopting a hegemonistic attitude towards its neighbours, Pakistan and Nepal included. The Sino-Indian boundary is still "disputed" and while negotiations are in progress, the matter has not been settled and hence the status quo ante, as perceived by Beijing, must prevail.

 

The facts are otherwise. China has dragged its feet on boundary demarcation, refusing to exchange sector maps as settled through talks so as to avoid inadvertent incidents of innocent trespass. It has also blandly gone back on one of the agreed principles of understanding, namely, that settled border areas shall not be brought into question during the boundary talks. It has violated this seminal principal by claiming "possession" of all of Arunachal, particularly Tawang, and adopting ludicrous rhetorical positions.

 

India does not need to be unnerved by such conduct that betrays a sense of uncertainty and anxiety over the situation in China's borderlands in Tibet and Xinjiang which remain restive. Arunachal went to the polls once again and registered a 75 per cent vote in a democratic process that Communist China does not understand and deeply fears. China may have appeared proud and powerful as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic; but while the stands in Tiananmen Square were full of regimented supporters, the people were locked away. China has done remarkably well in many ways. But it is replete with inner contradictions and social disharmonies. Economic liberalism and modernisation do not go well with a tight party dictatorship, the suppression of religious freedom and rural-urban and regional disparities. All monoliths are solid until they crack.

 

There has, however, been too much media and right-wing hype about alleged Chinese designs on India by projecting growing capabilities into malevolence. This mix of jingoism and fear is immature. Chinese military modernisation and technological displays are impressive but India has no need to match either of these in numbers or idle showmanship. Ours is not an aggressive posture and the Chinese have a shrewd idea that 1962 is ancient history and adventures are best avoided. This does not mean that India should not improve its border infrastructure and connectivity and uplift living standards in all outlying regions.

 

If Dr Manmohan Singh meets the Chinese Premier, Mr Wen Jiabao, in Bangkok on October 23 on the margins of the East Asian summit, this should offer opportunity to iron out recent wrinkles in bilateral relations. Among these is a new red herring being dragged across the trail as a result of reports that the Chinese plan to dam the Tsangpo at Zangmu (29.14 lat., 29.52. long.) with an installed capacity of 450 MW (comparable to the Baglihar project India has commissioned on the Chenab). Even if this be true (and more such sites are reportedly being investigated) this is probably a modest run-of-river hydro-project with little consumptive use and no hint (or capability) of diversion northwards. Such a project would be fully within China's right to build.

 

Indian news reports continue to be singularly ill-informed about Tibetan geography, topography and hydrology. The Water Resources Ministry must take the rap for such national ignorance which has deeper roots in the downgrading of geography as an educational discipline. For one thing, the Tsangpo (Siang/Dihang in Arunachal) is confused with the Brahmaputra (which is formed in Assam after the confluence of the Siang, Luhit, Dibang and Noa Dihing, all substantial rivers in their own right). So the "Brahmaputra" is not being diverted anywhere and will not "run dry". In any event, more than 70 per cent of the run-off of the Brahmaputra is generated south of the Himalaya.

 

Reference is made to a report by Li Lung, "Tibet Water Plan to Save China" (2005) through the Great Western Route Project, by diverting over 200 billion cubic metres of water from Tibet to North China, 120 BCM of this coming from the "Brahmaputra basin". This diversion is proposed at a far higher latitude in the great U-Bend of the Tsangpo as it drops into India from Tibet is also confusingly discussed as a possible source of pumping power for moving water north. While many old time generals and ideologues have commended the Great Western Diversion Project, a number of technical experts, economists and ecologists have panned this fantasy.

 

So, while India keeps a wary eye on water resource development in Tibet, it does not need to become hysterical and thrown off balance and diverted from the real tasks of diplomacy and development. Earlier reports of floods from extreme river surges in Arunachal and in the Sutlej Valley were mistaken for Chinese mala fides. They were, in fact, the result of debris/glacial lake outbursts in remote Himalayan Valleys. These, with glacial and permafrost melting and aberrant weather, are going increasingly to impact the entire Himalayan-Karakoram region on account of climate change. Cooperation in meeting this common challenge is what India and China should be talking about.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE

BY B.K. KARKRA

 

DURING my long service with the government, I have attended a number of computer courses on system design and analysis with the Computer Maintenance Corporation, Crimes Record Bureau and my own organisation i.e. the C.R.P. Force. With my background of mathematics, I did quite well in all these programmes. However, I still feel that I am not adequately literate in computers.

 

Occasionally, I take the help of my grandson, yet to be seven, when I get stranded on my personal computer. His principal area of interest is, of course, the video games. But he often ensures that my computer gets in a mood to comply with my commands also.

 

However, while struggling to learn computers, I strayed on to a bit of philosophy. I picked up a realisation that the binary language of the computer is symbolic of the language of life. Computer is based on the inter-play of eight tiny bulbs. These get individually lighted or go off on command to permute into 256 combinations that have been assigned various characters like the digits from 0 to 9, letters of various languages and mathematic symbols etc. These characters and their combinations are used to give commands to the computer that is programmed to respond to these.

 

Coming now to life, the scheme is strikingly similar. We see some sort of a binary system operating in our lives also. Some of us are good (a lighted bulb) and some are bad (a bulb that is off) — of course, the good means more good than bad and the bad is more bad than good. Some promote love and others hatred, some inflict wounds on the humanity and the others strive to heal these, some create wealth and the others destroy it, some earn through the sweat of their brows and others feed on their effort, some look highly presentable and some ungainly.

 

One could go on like this to eternity. So let us conclude here that some of us are positively bestowed and some are negatively charged.

 

What then is the sum total of every thing? Do the things just cancel each other out into an ultimate nothingness? No, though the material remains the same it constantly keeps changing shape. Thus, iron ore gets converted into a Swiss watch, allied with alumina it metamorphoses in to an aircraft; fossils become a valuable source of energy and so on. The world today is a lot different from the lump of the gases that somehow got cast away from the Sun billions of years back.

 

Thus, the binary aspect of life though a universal phenomenon, this is not all to a life. The essential difference is that there are shades of grey in life that a computer does not cater for.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

THERE ARE MYTHS ABOUT IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR BOMB

BY JOSEPH CIRINCIONE

 

Iran's expanding nuclear program poses one of the Obama administration's most vexing foreign policy challenges. Fortunately, the conditions for containing Tehran's efforts may be better today than they have been in years.

 

The recent disclosure of a secret nuclear facility in Iran has led to an apparent agreement to allow in U.N. weapons inspectors and to ship some uranium out of the country, and the United States and Europe seem to be closing ranks on the need for sanctions and engagement.

 

Of course, the matter is far from resolved; Russia and China are sending mixed signals on their position, while even a weakened Iranian regime remains duplicitous. But the prospects for developing a strategy with a solid chance of success improve if we dispose of five persistent myths about Iran's nuclear program:

 

1. Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

For years we've heard conflicting accounts on this issue. There have been claims since the 1990s that Iran was a few years away from a bomb. Then, two years ago, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Iran had discontinued its dedicated nuclear weapon efforts in 2003. Today, the consensus among experts is that Iran has the technical ability to make a crude nuclear device within one to three years — but there is no evidence that its leaders have decided to do so.

 

The regime's most likely path to the bomb begins in Natanz, in central Iran, the site of the nuclear facility where over the past three years about 1,500 kilograms of uranium gas has been enriched to low levels. Iran could kick out U.N. inspectors, abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty and reprocess the gas into highly enriched uranium in about six months; it would take at least six more months to convert that uranium into the metal form required for one bomb.

 

Technical problems with both processes could stretch this period to three years. Finally, Iran would need perhaps five additional years — and several explosive tests — to develop a Hiroshima-yield bomb that could be fitted onto a ballistic missile.

 

Of course, the United States and others would see Tehran moving in this direction, and exposure or inspection of suspected facilities would complicate Iranian objectives. We can further lengthen this timeline by ridding Iran of the essential ingredient for a bomb: low-enriched uranium.

 

On October 1, Iran agreed to ship most of this uranium to Russia for fabrication into reactor fuel; we will know in the next few weeks if it will keep that pledge. If it does, Iran's "break-out" capability — the ability to produce a bomb quickly — would be eliminated, at least for the two years it takes to enrich more uranium.

2. A military strike would knock out Iran's program.

 

Actually, a military attack would only increase the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

 

"There is no military option that does anything more than buy time," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month. "The estimates are one to three years or so." And that's if the United States struck hundreds of targets. A less powerful Israeli attack could only damage, not destroy, Iran's facilities.

Worse, after such a bombing, the Iranian population — now skeptical of its leadership — would probably rally around the regime, ending any internal debates on whether to build a bomb. Iran would put its nuclear program on fast-forward to create weapons to defend itself.

 

It could also counterattack against Israel or other U.S. allies. This month, a top official of Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to "blow up the heart of Israel" if the United States or Israel attacks first.

 

On the merits of a U.S. strike, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said he worries about "the possible unintended consequences of a strike like that ... having an impact throughout the region that would be difficult to predict."

 

Attacking Iran would not end the problem; it could start a third U.S. war in the region.

 

3. We can cripple Iran with sanctions.

Sanctions rarely, if ever, work on their own. There is no silver bullet that can coerce Iran into compliance or collapse. Some mix of sanctions — whether restricting travel, making it harder for Iranian banks to do business, further limiting foreign investment or even denying Iranian citizens basic needs, such as gas — may be necessary if Tehran does not restrain its nuclear program or live up to its pledges. But the key is to couple such pressure with a face-saving way out for the Iranian leadership.

 

4. A new government in Iran would abandon the nuclear program.

Some believe that an irrational, apocalyptic government now rules Iran and that regime change is the only solution. But there is broad support across Iran's political spectrum for the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

 

Recall that the country's nuclear program began with the shah, a U.S. ally who had plans to build 20 nuclear reactors, similar to the plans the mullahs promote today. The shah also started covert work on nuclear weapons. The U.S. government knew about this research but looked the other way, going as far as selling Iran its first nuclear reactor.

 

Even with a reformist government, it is unlikely that Iran would quickly end its nuclear program. But its leaders might be persuaded to limit the program's nuclear weapons capabilities. "Tehran's decisions," according to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, "are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic, and military costs."

 

5. Iran is the main nuclear threat in West Asia.

The real threat posed by Iran's nuclear program is that other states in the region feel they must match it. The race has already begun.

 

While Israel's possession of nuclear weapons has not spurred other countries in the area to develop their own, over the past three years a dozen states in West Asia, including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Libya (again), have begun civilian nuclear programs.

 

These programs, alas, are not about reducing the countries' carbon footprint — they are a hedge against Iran. These states have begun the decades-long process of developing the technical, commercial and engineering capabilities to build nuclear weapons, should they decide to do so. At this point, it is not clear that stopping Iran would stop these programs.

 

The real danger is not a nuclear-armed Iran but a West Asia with more nuclear-armed nations and unresolved territorial, economic and political disputes. That is a recipe for disaster, and that is why there is no country-specific solution; we cannot play nuclear whack-a-mole.

 

A comprehensive plan must build barriers against acquiring nuclear weapons and must reduce the motivation to do so. This means dealing with the regional security and prestige issues that motivate most countries to start nuclear programs. It requires a global approach that deals with both sides of the nuclear coin: disarmament and proliferation.

 

Reducing existing nuclear stockpiles creates the support needed to stop the spread of the weapons; stopping the spread creates the security needed to continue reductions. We must keep flipping that coin over. Each flip, each step, makes us a little safer.

 

Joseph Cirincione is the author of "Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons"

 

By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

WHEN INDIA LOOKS EAST

BY RUP NARAYAN DAS

 

THE much-delayed annual East-Asian Summit, postponed thrice, is finally taking place in Thailand from October 23 and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is participating in the conference to engage India in the multilateral organisation.

 

Dr Manmohan Singh is now a familiar face at such summits for having made his presence felt at the G-20, Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) and Shanghai Corporation Organisation conferences. Such meetings have provided him an excellent opportunity to share and exchange India's perspectives with world leaders.

 

The signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the 10-member ASEAN in Bangkok on August 13 after protracted negotiations opens a new chapter in India's relationship with the ASEAN countries, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

 

It is unfortunate that in spite of India's geographical and cultural proximity to ASEAN, India's relationship with the region has remained rather subdued, if not lukewarm until India embarked on liberalisation and economic reforms in the early 1990s.

 

Despite the shared maritime heritage of India with the countries of the region, particularly Indonesia, it has not been fully exploited until recent times. It is perhaps not widely known in India that Sumatra in Indonesia is only 92 nautical miles away from Indira Point.

 

Similarly, Phuket in Thailand is only 273 nautical miles away from Indira Point in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. As such, it is closer to Thailand rather than India.

 

Besides, with Myanmar becoming a member of ASEAN, India also shares a land border with this regional entity. With the eastward expansion of ASEAN to include Myanmar, India and ASEAN are no longer just maritime neighbours but share a land boundary of over 1,600 km. Both India and Indonesia were also two important founder members of the erstwhile Non-Alignment Movement.

 

How does one explain India's earlier subdued relationship with the region in spite of geographical contiguity and proximity until when India ushered in what is christened as "Look-East Policy". One plausible reason perhaps is that the Cold War years were characterised by geopolitics in which economics was on the back burner.

 

India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and a full dialogue partner in 1996. The dialogue partnership with ASEAN has enabled India to significantly deepen its relationship with its member countries. The accordance of the status of full dialogue partner to India along with others such as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA is a recognition of India's economic prowess and potential.

 

As part of its Look-East Policy, India had been securing a summit-level engagement with ASEAN. It was in this backdrop that at the 7th ASEAN summit, held in November 2001 in Brunei Darussalam, the then Chairman of ASEAN took a decision to upgrade its relations with India to the summit level.

 

Thus India participated in the first ASEAN-India summit in Phnom Penh in November, 2002, and the second ASEAN-India summit in Bali in October, 2003.

 

The Bali summit articulated the framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation between ASEAN and India. The framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation signed at Bali in October, 2003, provided a road map to future economic cooperation between India and ASEAN.

 

The third summit held in Vientiane further articulated this road map and committed to full implementation of the ASEAN-India free trade area. The signing of the FTA with ASEAN is the fruition of the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

 

Dr Manmohan Singh is also likely to meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other world leaders to have discussions on bilateral issues. Dr Manmohan Singh's proposed meeting with his Chinese counterpart has assumed significance in the light of the recent controversy relating to Arunachal Pradesh, a part of which is claimed by China.

 

There is speculation that the one-to-one exchange of views between the two Prime Ministers, who share a positive vibe, will considerably ease the tension between the two Asian giants, who are poised to play a critical role in world politics in general and regional politics in particular.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

GLOBAL WARMING TO HIT FOOD PRODUCTION

BY EZRA KLEIN

 

Experts have focussed on the effects of food production on climate change. But what about the effects of climate change on food production? After all, few things are as sensitive to changes in weather as agriculture. Farmers wait for warmer seasons to grow some crops and colder seasons to plant others. They pray for rain and, at times, hope the rain eases up. The relationship between a good yield and the weather that produces it is rather delicate.

 

Climate change, however, is going to be rudely indelicate. The basic story is simple: Greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere. More heat causes more evaporation. That water has to come down somewhere. Where it comes down depends on atmospheric conditions, weather patterns and much else. It is, frankly, quite complicated.

 

But it's also quite important. Where it comes down also decides growing patterns and land suitability. That's why the number crunchers over at the International Food Policy Research Institute have built a complex model to estimate such things.

 

The results of the model, which compares a world with climate change to a world without it, are not comforting, particularly in the developing world. By 2050, wheat yields in developing nations would drop by about 30 percent and irrigated rice yields would drop by 15 percent.

 

That would have an outsize impact on cost: Wheat prices are projected to increase by about 180 percent, and irrigated rice prices would jump by about 115 percent. The overall result? Twenty-five million more children would be malnourished.

 

We can, to some degree, buy our way out of this. IFPRI estimates that counteracting the effects of climate change on children will cost $7 billion annually. If we begin spending that sum next year, that will be $280 billion in increased aid.

 

Sound bad?

"We've underestimated it," says Gerald Nelson, a lead researcher on the study. "We don't take into account variability, melting glaciers or sea level rise. We don't take into account droughts and floods." At that point, you're not talking about decreased yields. You're talking about the extinction of foodstuffs, unless scientists can breed plants that endure totally different climates.

 

A study by Wolfram Schlenker, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia University, and Michael Roberts, a professor of agricultural economics at North Carolina State University, attempted to calculate the long-term impact of climate change on U.S. production of corn, soybeans and cotton. Climate change might hit the developing world hardest and first, but as Schlenker and Roberts show, over time it hits the developed world pretty hard, too. Their study proceeds from the finding that moments of "extreme heat" are critical to crop outcomes.

 

They found that nationwide average yields on corn, soybeans and cotton drop by 30 to 46 percent under the slowest warming scenario, which is considerably more mild than most scientists think is likely.

 

 By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

FOSSIL FUELS' HIDDEN COST IS IN BILLIONS

 

Burning fossil fuels costs the US about $120 billion a year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution, the National Academy of Sciences reported in a study released on Monday. The damages are caused almost equally by coal and oil, says the study, which was ordered by Congress. The study set out to measure the costs not incorporated into the price of a kilowatt-hour or a gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel.

 

The estimates do not include damage from global warming, linked to the gases produced by burning fossil fuels. The authors said the extent of such damage, and the timing, were too uncertain to estimate. The study did not measure damage from burning oil for trains, ships and planes, or the environmental damage from coal mining or the pollution of rivers with chemicals that were filtered from coal plant smokestacks to keep the air clean.

"The largest portion of this is excess mortality — increased human deaths as a result of criteria air pollutants emitted by power plants and vehicles," said Jared L Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who led the study committee. Nearly 20,000 people die prematurely each year from such causes, according to the authors, who valued each life at $6 million based on the dollar in 2000. Those pollutants include small soot particles, which cause lung damage, nitrogen oxides, which contribute to smog, and sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain.

The study lends support to arguments that society should pay extra for energy from sources like the wind and the sun, because their indirect costs are extremely small. But it also found that renewable motor fuel, in the form of ethanol from corn, was slightly worse than gasoline in its environmental impact.

Coal burning was the biggest single source of such external costs . The damages averaged 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 0.16 cents for gas. But the variation among coal plants was enormous. The worst plants, generally the oldest and burning coal with the highest sulphur content, were 3.6 times worse than the average, with a cost of nearly 12 cents per kilowatt-hour (more than the average retail price of that amount of electricity). The best plants carried a cost of less than a quarter of a penny. Natural gas plants also showed a large variation, but both the best and the worst costs were far smaller than for coal.

Such variation suggests that existing technology could be applied to make the electric system a lot cleaner, experts said. One of the authors, Maureen L Cropper, an economist at the University of Maryland, said the findings should be used not to raise the price of electricity based on an average of indirect costs but to measure the cost of cleanup on a plant-by-plant basis. The study did not measure damage from pollution-control devices. "If you're taking the output of a scrubber and dumping it in the Monongahela River, that's not in our study", Cropper said.

The study found operating nuclear plants did not impose significant environmental costs, although uranium mining and processing did. But 95% of uranium mining takes place in other countries, the study said. Canada and Australia together account for 44% of world production. The committee did not put a dollar value on the risk of a nuclear accident that would produce environmental damage.

The committee said environmental damage from gasoline and diesel fuel cost 1.2 cents to 1.7 cents per mile. Co-author and Health Effects Institute president Daniel S Greenbaum said that would come to 23 cents to 38 cents per gallon. Still, Greenbaum said, "we were hesitant to make that a central part of our findings," because pollution also results from manufacturing cars.

As for wind energy, the study said it killed birds but not enough to seriously affect populations. A possible exception was raptors, birds of prey that ordinarily eat species whose numbers are being reduced by spinning turbine blades. The study was not kind to ethanol. A mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gasoline, or E85, showed slightly higher damages to environment and health than ordinary gasoline, because of the energy required to raise the corn and make ethanol from it.

Electric vehicles and vehicles using synthetic diesel fuel, also ranked poorly. The electric vehicles might do better if emissions of heat-trapping gases had been factored in, because they have lower carbon dioxide emissions per mile than gasoline-powered cars. But the cars running on artificial diesel would look slightly worse in that analysis, the study said.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

CORE ENGLISH

 

When the phrase 'politically correct' finds itself at number 6 on a list of the year's most politically incorrect words and phrases, something's got to be wrong either with the 'proprietary algorithm' used by the Texas-based Global Language Monitor, or the Anglophone world in general. While 'swine flu' was tagged as the most politically incorrect word of 2009, the other eight words in the top 10 point more to fads in perception rather than actual trends in word usage. Reasons as diverse as hurting religious sentiments and economic prospects (of pork producers) have been used to try and stamp out 'swine flu'.

 

But has the PC-speak brigade managed to get people to call it by its longwinded alpha-numeric alternative, Influenza A-H1N1 instead? No. In the same vein, people certainly will puzzle over the comparative benefits of calling 'senior citizens' just older persons (as suggested helpfully by a British University) or not calling smaller groups 'minorities', in case they feel, well, outnumbered. 'Oriental' may be geographically discriminatory, but why not consider then, an Indian grouse about why the word 'Asian' should now mean only mongoloid nations, leaving the rest with hyphenated identities like 'south-Asians' or 'west-Asians'?

Indians will wonder why there's American 'founding fathers' on the list and why there's a black mark against the 'green revolution' and 'flush toilets'. 'Saint' was included as it was one of the words, along with devil, sin, abbey, monastery, nun, carol, holly, elf and more, that the Oxford University Press decided to drop last year from a children's dictionary in favour of modern and multicultural 'database', 'export', 'tolerant', 'vandalism', 'interdependent', 'voicemail' and 'celebrity'. That points to the real malaise English faces: the rampage of the phrase at number 6. It is time to call a halt to the inexorable rise of 'political correctness' as the arbiter of language before English is reduced to a cipher.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

COMMONWEALTH GAMES MESS

 

The mounting concern over Delhi's unpreparedness to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the attendant spat between Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi and Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) CEO Mike Hooper, underline the malaise that afflicts sports bodies in India. Much of the blame lies on the lack of accountability stemming from the 'president for life' culture that pervades such institutions and bodies. Eradicating that style of functioning would be a major step forward.

 

This isn't only about ensuring effective sports development and promotion. The endemic problem of lack of accountability in such bodies has threatened to derail events and tarnish India's image earlier as well. It isn't just the Games India is hosting next year, but also the Hockey World Cup. And only last year, we had the spectacle of the International Field Hockey Federation — after reports of unprecedented corruption within the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) — warning India that it could not only lose the right to host the World Cup, but also funding for the promotion of hockey.

 

That warning had prompted the IOA to suspend the IHF, ending the 15-year tenure of KPS Gill as its chief. Of course, it was ironic that it was the IOA that cracked the whip, a body led by Kalmadi since 1996 with scant accountability and even lesser results. Now, the current fracas over the Games has again exposed the opaque, undemocratic functioning in such bodies and institutions in India — spurred by the system of capture of sports federations by politicians.

For now, the government has appointed a new chief executive to the Games Organising Committee. But that still leaves the larger problem of balancing autonomy and accountability in Indian sports bodies. And accountability is also an issue of public, democratic participation. The professionalism of sports bodies in other nations derives from the wider democratic impulse and answerability to the public. Many cities have used sporting events to leapfrog to international fame. And if Delhi isn't able to host the Games safely and successfully, we'll have achieved the opposite.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

REASSESSING UNIONS

 

Worker unrest is again making its presence felt in different parts of India, leading to disruption of work, production loss and even loss of life.

 

This is not in the economy's larger interest, at a time of economic recovery leading on to resumption of fast growth. We must put such disruption behind us. For that, there has to be a paradigm shift in the way unions and managements see and engage with each other, replacing hostility with longer-term self-interest as the fulcrum of their mutual relationship. Unions are conditioned to see cooperating to raise production and productivity as despicable 'class collaboration'.

Managements see unions purely as trouble, portending lower productivity, more complex and time-consuming day-to-day transactions at the workplace and reduced profitability. Both perceptions are flawed and fly in the face of historical experience around the world. Both posit a zero-sum relationship between workers' entitlements and capital's profits.

Such a notion is obsolete and harmful at the present stage of evolution of the production process. Workers' entitlement would cover wages, a say in how their work is organised and time away from work. Rationality at the level of an individual enterprise might suggest that lower wages yield higher profit margins. But once you factor in the fact that one enterprise's workers are other enterprises' consumers, the enterprise-level rationality becomes irrational at the level of the economy. The greater the workers' collective income, the greater the demand for the economy's produce, growth and profits. The more time away from work workers have, the better for businesses such as books, newspapers, music, movies, sports and TV. Workers' greater say in the running of the workplace was effectively used by the Japanese to bring about the quality revolution that made Japan the manufacturing superpower of the eighties.

Unions and their collective bargaining build the needed bridge between enterprise level rationality and the needs of the economy as a whole. They also combat retrograde social tendencies — militarism in post-war Japan, communalism in India. Informal workers are a drag on the system but are preferred due to irrational laws that make permanent workers a source of inflexibility. Labour laws must change, as well as labour practices.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

REGULATING EMOLUMENTS WITH CLAWS

NEERAJ KAUSHAL

 

Should the government be in the business of fixing the salaries and bonuses of private sector bank employees? An intense debate is raging on this issue in Europe and the US. On one side are diehard free marketers who are against any government intervention even in a sector that has received billions in bailout over the past year and due to the bailout, governments in Europe and the US own substantial stakes in many banks and financial companies.

On the other side are those who argue that last year's global financial crisis was caused by the outrageous compensation practices that provided executives high incentives for taking unwarranted risks. These compensation packages included high reward for short-term profits, but no punishment for losses. To avoid future financial crises, it is argued that governments should regulate the compensation packages of bankers so that they are not rewarded for taking excessive risks and governments should 'claw back' bonuses in the event of poor performance.

Despite the intense debate and public outrage, executives in banking and investment companies that were bailed out by tax money last year have continued to receive outrageous salaries and bonuses. In July, the New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo's office reported that financial firms that received federal bailout paid more than 5,000 employees over $1 million each in bonuses in 2008. But for the bailout money, it seems, many of the banks may not have been able to pay multi-million bonuses to their employees. The saga of banking excesses is continuing in 2009. The Wall Street Journal recently projected that in 2009 the US banks and securities firms will pay $140 billion in bonuses and salaries — an all-time high.

Political response to big bonuses has not been uniform on both sides of the Atlantic. Politicians in Europe have been more proactive in taking on big banks and investment companies. At the G-20 meeting in Pittsburg last month, all the 27 EU nations supported global rules for restraining bank bonuses that included deferment of a major part of the bonuses and possible cancellation in the event of poor performance.

In France, at the intervention of President Nicolas Sarkozy in August, France's biggest bank BNP decided to hold back half the bonus for three subsequent years. Last week, the top five banks in the UK also agreed to tighter control on bonuses with assurances from the government that foreign banks in the UK would be subject to same rules.

Politicians in the US, on the other hand, have been reluctant to intervene. While expressing outrage at the huge bonuses being awarded to bank employees, even democrats are hesitant in advocating any measure that would put caps on salaries and bonuses lest they are perceived as enemies of free enterprise or as meddling too much into the economy. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Service Committee, one of the most vocal advocates of reforming and regulating the banking industry, recently argued that the government should not determine the pay levels of bank employees.

In a recent interview to Bloomberg News, President Obama too questioned the case for limiting financial-sector pay. Obama argued that executive compensation for Wall Street bankers should not be capped for the same reason that the Silicon valley entrepreneurs do not face any such salary cap. The US President missed a small detail in comparing the technology sector with the banking industry. When Silicon Valley entrepreneurs lost billions in the stock market with the bursting of the dotcom bubble a few years ago, the government did not come to their rescue. Banking industry is different. The government cannot allow banks to fail because such a failure is likely to shake public confidence in banking industry in general, that can potentially lead to the collapse of the banking and financial sector worldwide.

To be fair, the Obama administration has taken a number of steps to limit executive compensation at financial institutions that have received bailout money. In July, the US House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that allowed shareholders to vote on pay packages. The Bill also gave regulators the authority to prohibit inappropriate or risky compensation practices by banks and other financial institutions. Unfortunately, it does not seem that shareholders are using their powers. Take the case of Bank of America. It incurred a loss of $3.2 billion in the most recent quarter, but its employees received a hefty $13.2 billion in compensation and the share holders did nothing about it.

The Obama administration has also appointed Kenneth R Feinberg as the pay czar to oversee the compensation of employees at companies receiving billions in federal assistance. According to news reports, Feinberg has broad discretion to determine the salaries and bonuses of the five most senior executives and 20 most highly paid employees at each of these companies.

However, it appears that there is little political will in the US to restrain the salaries of employees in the financial sector. Instead, the pressure to curtail salaries and bonuses of bank employees appears to be coming from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is considering imposing rules that require banks to "claw back" bonuses in the face of losses and link pay to long-term rather than short-term performance. The Fed has argued that it has the authority to impose this rule as part of its general mandate to oversee banks' soundness, and that it does not need mandate from the Congress for this. It may have the authority, but it is uncertain if it will be able to effectively restrain the salaries and bonuses of bank employees without the enthusiastic backing and support of the White House.

Banking is one of the most globalised industries. International cooperation would, therefore, be needed to regulate this sector. European countries that have proceeded with regulating executive salaries are hoping that the US government will follow similar policies. If it does not, the EU countries would come under considerable pressure from their banks to become lax on these restrictions.

(The author is associate professor, Columbia University)

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

SHED YOUR WORRIES TO FLOAT ACROSS

VITHAL C NADKARNI

 

AT the pre-dawn hour, the City of Light on the Ganga looks a little like the Queen of the Night by the Arabian Sea, from where your columnist has flown in the previous night with a Dutch scribe. As our boat churns through the sacred waters off Benares, there is a whoosh and a glittering submarine form glides by the prow. "Sisu!" the boatman hisses. "Does he mean a corpse?" whispers the scribe, who lives on a boat in a city famed for its carmine-coloured 'cannonball' cheese.

 

In response the boatman puckers up the fingers of his right palm into a cobra-like hood and makes dolphin-like curving, dancing movements. "Of course he means the dolphin," the penny drops. Sisu is the local name of the Gangetic Dolphin, which marine biologists have woven into the creature's Latin name as well. There is another splash and the dolphin tumbles by the side of our boat once again.

This time the darshan is long enough for us to spot its tiny vestigial eyes. These make it look like some myopic Muni grinning perpetually with its half-open beak-like mouth. The facts are more prosaic: over millions of years of the Sisu's evolution in the muddy environment of the Ganga, its eyes have withered away and the dolphin is not grinning as much as sending waves of sonar to 'see' its way around.

We must regard ourselves as fortunate for having seen so highly endangered a creature so quickly. "Perhaps there's a more ominous portent to the encounter," the scribe begins to ruminate uneasily. "Aren't dolphins traditionally regarded as porters of the dead?" They are indeed. Notice how William Butler Yeats used them in his celebrated poem Byzantium, where after "dying into a dance/ an agony of trance" the poet arrives into the city of eternity "astraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood" by that "gong-tormented sea".

We decide to ask the boatman, "What kind of shakun (omen) is the Sisu?" "Ji Shubh! (Lucky)," he replies. Is he certain? What if our boat were to capsise now? Does he have life-jackets for us all? In response to our persistent questioning, the boatman simply quotes a doha from Kabir, the 15th century mystic master who was connected with the City of Light (Kashi).

The couplet is about a worn-out boat (nab jarjari) rowed by a frail old captain: "Travel light (without worries) if you want to float across," the Master advises, "(halke halke tire). For those who loaded their heads sank (Bude tini sirh bhar)."

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

FOR STATUS QUO IN MONETARY POLICY

JAIDEEP MISHRA

 

It would be reasonable to take the view that everything is in a state of flux, more or less — including the status quo — certainly in the domain of policy making. Consider, for instance, the monetary policy stance, going forward.

With the latest estimates for industrial production back in the double digits — against the backdrop of a smart, sustained stock market rally — there's a seeming case for tightening monetary policy: of the central bank revising its policy rates upwards and/or tweaking the cash reserve ratio higher, or so it would appear. However, the correct policy move would surely be to maintain the status quo, for now.

The fact of the matter is that the recent spurt, year-on-year, in the index of industrial production (IIP) is on a very low base. It is welcome that in July and August, the estimates suggest that the growth in the IIP — over the like period last year — is in the 10% range. But the reason, in the main, why it is so is because the increase in the IIP was rather lacklustre in the same period last year. We clearly need to keep the policy interest rates unrevised, so as to rev up investment and growth. Note that capital goods output in the IIP has begun to considerably decelerate, of late. It is all the more reason for the Reserve Bank of India to policy induce the status quo in interest rates and the cost of funds. And doing otherwise — raising its key policy rates next week, say — when the economic recovery is tentative and patchy would send entirely wrong policy signals.

It is true that consumer price index remains uncomfortably high. But disaggregated data does show that it is dearer food prices — along with higher, imported crude oil costs — that's keeping the increase in the CPI much too buoyant and in the double digits. The point is that the inflationary trend remains very much supply-induced. Note that producer-price inflation, the increase in the wholesale price index, remains rather subdued — barely in the 1% range y-o-y. It indicates that the general increase in prices is not really demand-driven. In a demand-led price-rise scenario, there can be a fit case for monetary tightening. But when it's rigidities in supply that's driving up prices, tighter monetary policy may not so much bring down prices as decelerate overall growth.

There are other reasons to keep the RBI's repo rate and the reverse repo rate — the rate at which the central bank lends to the banking system and accepts deposits — unrevised for this quarter; the monetary authority also needs to keep the reserve ratios unchanged, in the immediate term. In a regime of fiscal stimulus, what's needed is an accommodative monetary policy, to shore up growth and provide jobs.

There would still be the need to discourage lending in sectors where there may be a price bubble building up, such as real estate. Indeed, the RBI would be well advised to increase the risk weightage for bank lending to the real estate sector, so as to disincentivise a bubble build-up. But here again, what's called for is nuanced policy. For example, as a general rule it would make no sense to drive up the effective cost of funds for warehousing, cold-chains and the like. Actually, the policy response needs to be the opposite, so as to boost supply of food articles and attendant storage, to tame prices.

Besides, a policy induced hike in interest rates would be a perverse incentive for heightened capital inflows, which would have untoward consequences. It would quite needlessly harden the rupee against the dollar, when we do need easier exchange rates to not unduly compromise exports and growth. Now that monetary policy in the US is ultra loose against the back drop of the Great Recession of the past year, there's much borrowing in dollars to park funds in select economies abroad, where interest rates are far more attractive. Given that external trade is an increasingly significant part of our economy, it is inevitable that there would be heightened funds flow from abroad, as short-term trade finance, say, in the search for interest arbitrage and higher returns.

We may take comfort from the fact that there's only limited scope for debt flows from abroad, given the severe restrictions. However, not having a thriving debt market means huge costs right across the board. It is, of course, true that capital inflows from abroad is driving up equity prices here. But it hardly indicates 'overheating' in the economy. Instead, there's large spare capacity at hand.

In tandem, we do need to look for empirical evidence of how the quantity of money in circulation buoys output in the system. The fact remains that credit offtake has decelerated this fiscal. Decades ago, the monetarist position argued that the level of nominal money supply is accountable for inflation. Since then, the monetarist assumption that policymakers necessarily need to forego growth to maintain a certain level of prices has been discredited, thanks to globalisation and more complete markets. Monetary policy based upon the "flawed quantity theory of money" can thoroughly disrupt policy design.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

INDIA INFOLINE'S CALLS FOR TODAY: GE SHIPPING, JP ASSOC, RCF, BANK OF RAJASTHAN

ANU JAIN, TECHNICAL ANALYST AT INDIA INFOLINE GAVE HER TRADING PICKS FOR THE DAY AT ET NOW. HERE IS WHAT SHE HAD TO SAY:

What are you tracking today and of course if you track either of these two stocks as well, Sesa Goa and Tech Mahindra?
Tech Mahindra has a resistance of around about Rs 960 to 1000 odd levels, so probably it has to have some kind of resistance building in over there. I have not really looked at the chart of the other one. As for what I am looking today, it is a very simple trade. The Baltic Dry has been going up over the last couple of weeks continuously. We have given a buy on shipping stocks. We continue to give a strong buy on them. I feel today also the Baltic Dry has closed about a 1.5% up yesterday, so we hold our buy to GE Shipping and I would say that looks good, it has closed at about Rs 300. Last time Baltic Dry was at these levels in the month of May and June, GES attempted a 52-week high of about 317, it has closed at Rs 300. At Rs 317, that still leads roughly about 5% still on the table and if the Baltic Dry continues to be strong, probably it could scale beyond that. My first pick would be GE Shipping. I would keep a stop loss of Rs 293 with the first target of Rs 317. I probably look to hold it for a longer period, but, would look at The Baltic Dry.

Is there anything else that you would be tracking aside of the shipping stock?

We are looking at JP Associate. It is looking good. Yes, result day, so it is slightly dicey, but, the fact still remains that if a stop loss of Rs 258 is maintained, I think you could probably look at a target of about Rs 286 for the short term. I think it is a scrip, which is showing long-term traction also for higher levels, so probably even for short-term trading and for a longer period of trading, I would probably look at JP Associate.

Yesterday we did see a build-up in a lot of fertiliser stocks. This is one sector, which has given false breakout and kind of come back again, so it is a little dicey but we like RCF. RCF with a stop loss of 73, I think a 10% upside is possible and the last basically two stocks that we are looking at are United Spirits closed at Rs 1042. I would be very comfortable if it crosses Rs 1062-1063 resistance. If it does that with a stop loss of about Rs 1016, I think there is a lot of traction, which is possible. There is another resistance at about Rs 1126, so I think the first target would be Rs 1126. If it crosses Rs 1126, then it gets far stronger than what it is today, so probably United Spirits is not something that I would take a trade call early in the morning but I would see how it trades during the day and then get into the counter.

The other counter, which closed extremely strong yesterday, was Bank of Rajasthan. Yesterday we saw banking in fact give up towards the end but this is a stock, which moved in complete opposite direction when banking was kind of getting weak towards the end. Bank of Rajasthan got stronger, so at Rs 92.5, I think with a stop loss of Rs 90, if you are a long-term player, probably Rs 114-115; for the short term, it can definitely give you a 4-5% move in the next couple of days.

How about sugar as a pack and the tyre space because they were pretty active in trade yesterday?

I do not really track the tyre space, but, sugar, yes, looks very good. We basically feel that probably Renuka being a fundamentally stronger scrip, we really track that, there is traction for another 4-5% for sure. Resistance is at about Rs 232 levels, and so we probably need to watch it at around those levels - whether it can manage to cross that. Yes, as a full sector, it is strong but we have known the sector to be extremely volatile, so we really do not give out calls. This is probably the first time we are giving a call out on fertilisers as well, so keeping our fingers crossed, these are two volatile sectors and usually they generally come towards the peaking of the market, so that's another scary factor but overall, yes, positive biases into the sugar sector definitely.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

GOOD ENTRY POINT FOR BHARTI; SESA GOA & BALAJI NOT LOOKING GOOD: ANGEL BROKING

HITESH AGRAWAL, HEAD OF RESEARCH, ANGEL BROKING TOLD ET NOW THIS MORNING THAT THE INCUMBENTS IN THE TELECOM SECTOR ARE AT AN ADVANTAGE AND THAT COMPANIES LIKE BHARTI AND R COM WOULD BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND COMPETITIVE PRESSURES.

What do you make of the numbers that came out yesterday, Sesa Goa and Tech Mahindra, how do they look to you?
I have not gone through the Tech Mahindra numbers, but, as far as Sesa Goa numbers are concerned, the numbers were of course little below expectations. The primary reason being that the volume numbers on the iron ore front were not as per what we were expecting, and apart from that they have sold much more of iron ore from their Goa facility where the realisations are lower.

Apart from that, trade costs have hit the company's realisations, the operating margins and also the royalty factor came into the picture during the quarter, so overall the numbers are bleak. At this point of time the valuations of Sesa Goa are at a historical peak. So at this point of time really we fail to understand what is driving the stock up.

Madhucon Projects and Bharti Airtel interestingly are also on your buy recommendations. We would want to understand why you are recommending a buy on Bharti and sell post results Balaji Tele?

Yes, if you look at Bharti Airtel, basically the entire market seems to be at this point of time against the company. But, Bharti Airtel at this point of time makes a good entry point though there is increasing competitive pressure in the short term and probably in the next couple of quarters Bharti stock could under-perform. It makes a good entry point at this point of time basically considering two three factors - one, we have to understand that only 60% of its revenues come from mobile services, the remaining 40% comes from the value added services, broadband and enterprise solutions. So in that sense this segment commands almost 45 to 50% operating margins compared to 30% in mobile services. So that way Bharti is hedged to a certain extent.

Apart from that we have to understand that the incumbents are at an advantage to the newer players that are entering the market. So, they will find it much tougher to challenge the incumbent players who are already commanding a good 60 to 70% of the market share. So, we think that in the immediate short term though there could be some impact over the overall market share, but, I think Bharti and players like RComm would eventually be able to withstand the competitive pressure. So I think Bharti at 13X FY11 earnings makes a good entry point though the stock could probably head lower by another 5 to 7%. But, just for a downside of 5-7% we should not miss an upside of 22 to 27% from the current levels.

 

As far as Balaji Tele is concerned, the stock has outperformed the Sensex by 35 to 40% over the last three to six months and though the quarterly numbers were better than what we expected, but, the surprise came in on the realisations front. If you like the commissioned realisations for Balaji Telefilms, they have actually come down 50% YoY from 3.2 million per hour to 1.6 million per hour which was a major setback as far as our numbers go. So, even though we have re-jigged down the commissioned programming front, the realisations were a big setback for us. Though top line remains unchanged for us as far as estimates are concerned, the margins have gone for a toss.

FY09 was a very low base because the company reported some kind of losses because many of its programmes went off air and the whole issue with Star Plus, the company will show very good growth going forward and probably will report Rs 26 to 27 crores by FY11. But, looking at the current valuations of around 16 to 17X, I do not think Balaji Telefilms makes a good investment argument. We recommend a sell on Balaji Telefilms at this point of time. ROEs are only 6%, that is another point we are looking at. We have a price target of Rs 50 on Balaji Telefilms.

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

MIXING BUSINESS WITH PASSION IS A WRONG IDEA: GAUTAM SINGHANIA

ABHA BAKAYA

 

Gautam Singhania, 44, is not shy of taking unconventional routes. After restructuring the group and selling its non-core businesses such as synthetics, steel and cement, the chairman and managing director of Raymond is now going whole hog into expansion. He spoke about his plans and mistakes to ET Now. Excerpts:

You've seen some impact on margins. So, in terms of overall growth, what are you doing to maintain momentum?
It's quality and value I think. There has been a slight slowdown in the economy. This is not only confined to textiles, but can be seen across all product categories. The challenge is to keep coming out with new products. As a company, we have such a diversified product range as we sell product costing from Rs 150 a meter to Rs 150,000 a metre. A person who buys Rs 300 a metre fabric is very different from the one who buys it for Rs 150,000. But they coexist, and I think the real strength is that a consumer sees value at Rs 300 and Rs 150,000. That's really the core strength of this brand.

While others are still being cautious in approach due to slowdown, Raymond is going whole hog into expansion. What's the thinking behind that?

I think, there is a lot of demand. One of the theories I have is that for every person who travels, there are probably 200 that do not travel from their city. So, when you take the product to them, and when you happen to be the first one to do so, there is an aspiration to it because they see it on TV but they do not have access to the brand. I think class IV, class V towns could easily contribute about 25% of revenue, which is very, very significant.

Are you planning to increase presence in overseas markets ?

We are continuously expanding distribution and adding new customers. For example, in the Middle East we have 36 stores. Now, how do we expand that to 100 stores is something under discussion. Markets like Saudi Arabia are growing very, very fast. We have opened a 6000 square feet store in Saudi Arabia, which I would not have thought five years ago.

Would you ever look at making Raymond a global brand?

The global market is a very garment market as opposed to a fabric market. Our garment industry is still immature compared to what's happening in the West. Today if I had to put my money, I would do it for market expansion in India.

How is your style of management different from your father's?

I think, it is really in the age when people did business. we lived in a licence era. So in a licence era, your principal skill was to go and get a license and then manage your operations. The more efficiently you managed your operations, the more money you made. Having moved out of the licenses era, it is a very different environment. You have got to think strategic, you have got to think completely different and you are competing, it is a free environment, anybody can enter your space. So it is a completely different way of doing business.

Looking back, would you have done anything differently?

I would like not to repeat my mistakes. I think denim was a mistake, GAS was a mistake—or it was at wrong timing. But in life, if you are going to do 10 things, you are going to make mistakes. So, you should never be scared of that. And I am sure I will be making few more mistakes. But the challenge is to learn from mistakes . If you made mistakes, do not repeat them. Making mistakes is human, but to not learn from them is unforgivable.

Do you have any plans to sponsor F1 team or IPL or any sports?

All my friends own these teams, so why should I? I think mixing business with passion is a completely wrong idea. So, I enjoy Formula 1, I enjoy cricket, but it does not blend with my business.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

GOOGLE INC WAGES WAR AGAINST 'DIRTY ENERGY'

PRAVEEN S THAMPI

 

William E Weihl is at war with coal and other such sources of "dirty energy". He leads the clean energy initiative at Google, with a mandate to put the zing in renewable energy research by bringing the Silicon Valley spirit of innovation into the niche segment. Google's founders also want him to minimise the carbon footprint of the $174-billion giant which runs 300 million web searches a day across an estimated 4,50,000 servers around the world. At Google, Weihl is called The Energy Czar, and his clean energy strategy could be summed up in a deceptively simple formula: RE< ET. with interview e-mail an from Excerpts coal. than less costs energy renewable is, that>

What's a software firm doing with solar thermal technology? What's the logic of Google getting into the clean energy business?

Google is committed to building a clean energy future and most of our work in this area is sponsored by our philanthropic arm, Google.org. We see an opportunity to drive more rapid innovation in the clean energy sector and we're particularly focused on driving down costs dramatically. In 2007 we launched RE

Almost 70-80% of India's power comes from coal-fired plants. The shift to cleaner sources is happening, but it's painfully slow, mainly because of the cost factor that would make Indian products less competitive. Does your research have any specific emphasis on countries like India?

Our RE

How will India stand to benefit from your research? Are you keen on transferring technologies to the emerging economies? Do you seed fund clean energy initiatives?

If we're successful, we hope that all countries will benefit from our clean energy research, investment, and advocacy work. However, we are not currently funding clean energy initiatives in India, specifically.

How do you explain this trend that digital companies are in the forefront of green energy initiatives while the big polluters in the manufacturing sector look the other way?

Google draws power from the same electricity grid as everyone else, which means we have limited options for affordable, utility-scale renewable energy. Like other businesses, we are currently dependent on fossil fuels and want to have as many options as possible when choosing how we power our operations. We thus see a long-term corporate benefit to our investment in clean energy research.

In the Indian context, which specific green technologies do you think the country's policy-makers should promote, and why? Alternatively, do you think arbitrage-prone measures such as cap-and-trade will have any significant impact in reducing emissions in countries like China and India?

It is my understanding that some areas of India have substantial solar resources, and some have substantial wind resources as well. I do not know whether enhanced geothermal might be viable in India, but it is possible that it could be. I do think that putting a price on greenhouse-gas emissions could play a significant role in reducing emissions in the future, including in China and India.

 

What is the biggest stumbling block towards the development of new energy?

In the United States I think many people do not understand the key role that public money can play in driving innovation. Developing low-cost renewable energy technology requires a strong financial commitment to clean energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to achieve big breakthroughs.

 

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                                                                                                               DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

MAKE OUR SCHOOLS BETTER, THEN IITS

 

If the point is to get some of the best young brains in the country to crack the IITs' joint entrance examination, the human resources development minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, had the right idea when he thought that a prospective IIT student's school-leaving grades should also be taken into account, and that they had better be good, not just a bare first division that comes with 60 per cent, which is commonplace at least in the CBSE system. The minister's wish was expressed to the media after a meeting of the IIT council on Monday, and is technically not yet an official proposal. However, the meaning is reasonably clear. We may expect changes not only in the JEE syllabus and style, but also eligibility benchmarks. It is important that the authorities are not fixated only with school-leaving percentages. Perhaps the scores of the last two years in school should be given weightage alongside JEE results. Most kids who clear the JEE are trained at various coaching institutions which rely on the traditional method of cramming, and intensive practice along pre-set lines. A student's creativity is not really assessed. Without this the ability to engage in frontier research — which is apparently high on the list of Mr Sibal's priorities — is affected. High grades are not everything, and cram-shops insist only on this. Hopefully, a longer scrutiny of a scholar's school record will factor in creativity and problem-solving skills. It is also necessary that schoolchildren throughout India take the same school-leaving exam for them to be judged fairly for a common objective. To bring out the best in a student, the school curriculum too needs to be fashioned in a way that does away with rote learning. If the HRD minister can't crack these elements of the problem, he is unlikely to help prepare a national pool of talented young men and women, with an aptitude for science and technology, who can do dream work comparable with the best in the world. Of course, higher school-leaving grade requirements than now will help dig deeper into the available resource base. However, the caveat proffered by private institutions in Patna and elsewhere, which focus on disadvantaged rural students and still produce a very large number of IIT entrants each year, must also be taken on board. Their view is that poor students typically go to schools where facilities are inadequate and teachers don't always show up. As such, the coaching institutions in question play an important shaping role, for most of their wards come out of school with bare 60 percent — the existing base JEE criterion — and are unlikely to greatly improve on this, the way things are. The argument brings up an important social factor that cannot be disregarded. Perhaps a way can be found to make coaching shops an ally by making them conform to certain standards by the IIT Council, besides raising JEE eligibility requirements above 60 per cent.

Many recent decisions of the HRD minister underline his concern with excellence in the field of higher education. This is crucial if our universities are to be in step with explorations in knowledge-creation. However, high-level teaching and research institutions must not only be synergised, they should rest firmly on the foundation of a sound school system in all states to which access is available regardless of social status.

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

AFTER THE POLL RESULTS, EXPECT REALIGNMENTS

BY ARUN NEHRU

 

The results of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will throw up few surprises and the Congress should win in all the three states with comfortable margins. The results are out on Thursday.

 

There will be trends for the future in each state. In Maharashtra, the question is whether the Congress will gain in total numbers over the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) where Mr Sharad Pawar — now in his seventies — has to unfold his succession plans for the future. Will the NCP cadres have full faith and confidence in his nephew Mr Ajit Pawar for the future?

 

We may well see a migration towards the Congress in the immediate future. Mr Sharad Pawar has very limited options, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, since the NCP's strength is "weak" at the Centre.

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues its weak run. It has not been able to produce a leader who can match the charismatic Pramod Mahajan.

 

The Shiv Sena under Mr Uddhav Thackeray poses a formidable challenge and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena with Mr Raj Thackeray looks jaded except for limited areas in Konkan and Mumbai. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats and is critical for the future. Despite the anti-incumbency factor, the Congress has the upper hand.

 

In Haryana, Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda will gain and consolidate his base within the party with a 40 per cent vote share. The balance 60 per cent will be divided between the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bhajan Lal and sons. Individually they do not offer any credible opposition and a poor performance in the Assembly elections will force all four to consider forging an alliance for the future.

 

The BSP, under pressure in Uttar Pradesh, will achieve very little unless Mayawati accepts the reality and "aligns" with local units that can add to her vote bank. This can vary from five to 12 per cent in North India and has the ability to change the entire political structure.

 

The 2009 Lok Sabha elections have decimated the Left and, in 2011, it will lose its political space both in West Bengal and Kerala. The Left's ideology is shrinking by the day. The BJP is no longer considered an "alternative" and the National Democratic Alliance has no political value.

 

We are looking at a realignment of political forces as political workers and the voting public will not waste their energy on a political party or group which is unable to inspire confidence to be part of a coalition structure.

 

The Congress will do everything to keep the political parties divided. This is legitimate political strategy. A great deal will happen on both sides in the next year as all parties prepare for the Assembly elections in 2011, which, besides West Bengal and Kerala, will also include Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

 

There are no vacations in politics and political accidents continue to take place. The Central Bureau of Investigation has begun investigating into the cases involving hefty bribes allegedly paid by US companies to Indian entities and ministries. The probe by the CBI is based on a letter said to have been written by Indian envoy to the US, Ms Meera Shankar, who named several departments involved in accepting bribes.

The CBI will no doubt be assisted by the media and the hunt to get the details of corrupt bureaucrats is on. This can prove to be a major embarrassment for the government. The media exposures will be relentless. It is time for the CBI to take instant action to avoid political damage.

The reaction from Pakistan on the 26/11 tragedy is predictable and repeated encounters in the Valley are an indicator that the rogue elements within the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence are not in control of the government of Pakistan.

The US tries to pressure Pakistan but it is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Look at the daily graph of violence and death in both these countries.

Things in Afghanistan are deteriorating and the departure of a senior diplomat who alleged that fraud and criminal acts were allowed by his superior in the election of the President will only alienate the voting public.

 

Things will grow worse as additional forces are sent to Afghanistan.

President Karzai is not in control of the situation and additional troops and weapons will only add to the conflict.

There will be little peace in either of the two countries and whilst we wish the US President, Mr Barack Obama, well, it is difficult to comment on the Nobel Peace Prize (where is the peace?). But in all fairness it is not always easy to predict the thinking of the Nobel committee.

We in India can only express regret and surprise that Mahatma Gandhi (man of the century) never found favour with the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

 

The controversy about whether Mr Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize will die down. What concerns us today is the global assistance on terrorist acts emanating from Pakistan. We cannot wait for the next attack to take place by non-state actors and sleeper cells within the country.

 

The home minister and the security forces have done well in dealing with the situation and we have the capability of dealing with the situation in a very competent manner. A lot of hard work has been put in and I would have little hesitation in saying that it would be churlish for anyone to treat us as a "soft" state.

 

Matters of internal security require political intervention but sadly the violence unleashed by the Naxalite cadres on security forces and innocent villagers reduces the options available to the government. Hopefully better counsel will prevail before the situation gets out of control.

 

Governance in Jammu and Kashmir is never easy and both Mr Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad did well under the circumstances, as Mr Farooq Abdullah had done earlier.

 

Now the torch passes on to Mr Omar Abdullah of the National Conference and Ms Mehbooba Mufti, who has kept the People's Democratic Party cadres intact. Good, effective leadership on both sides bodes well for the future.

 

Mr Farooq Abdullah can be quite emotional on occasions but he, more than anyone else, knows the contradictions within the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Unless action is taken on 26/11, it would be impossible for any progress to take place. There will be constant pressure on both Mr Omar Abdullah and Ms Mufti in the Valley and we must wish them well for the future. Things will not be easy as few can predict with any certainty the turn of events in Pakistan.

 

Arun Nehru is a former Union minister

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

AFGHANISTAN'S COMMITMENT TO ENDURANCE

BY BY ROGER COHEN

 

When it comes to Afghanistan, hawks back General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 or more troops while doves try to parse the distinctions between the Taliban and Al Qaeda to justify rejecting his view and eventually heading for the exit. Right?

 

No, wrong. I'm a hawk on Afghanistan but for that reason I'm sceptical of a major troop surge because it might bolster the view that there's a quick fix for a country that's the fifth poorest in the world, enjoys life expectancy of 44, and has been lacerated by three decades of war. In Afghanistan, 30 years of fighting now demand 30 years of partnership from the United States.

 

The troop numbers game, in which President Obama looks wobbly, is in fact a distraction. Numbers matter less than endurance, details less than overall design. A word that needs to pass Obama's lips soon is just that: "endurance". Afghanistan, as he has said and must not unsay, is the "necessary war".

 

A US official now serving in southern Helmand Province told me: "A big bang will weaken our endurance ability. People will say, OK, with 40,000 more troops things should change overnight. We need to sustain at the lowest level that gets the partnering done".

 

Before explaining what should comprise this partnership, it's important to dispel some myths. Much is being made of how the Afghan war will soon be the longest in American history. But the US took a major detour called Iraq. It still has almost twice as many troops in Iraq as Afghanistan.

 

In the south of the country — the critical nexus of the Kandahar-born Taliban, narco-trafficking and corrupt governance — America's war is only months old, having begun with the Marines' summer arrival in Helmand.

 

It took years in Iraq's Anbar Province for the US to work out which sheikhs were amenable and so engineer the Sunni awakening. The work on a Pashtun awakening has just begun.

 

A second important clarification is that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have not become distinct because that would be politically welcome to the blossoming just-pick-off-the-terrorists school in Washington.

 

Mullah Muhammad Omar has not suddenly awoken to Osama bin Laden's perfidy. There are plenty of bad Taliban; changing hats in Waziristan was never a big deal.

 

The truth is that the "AfPak" theatre is comprised not of two countries but three: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Pashtunistan. In the latter, which straddles the non-AfPak border that is the 1,610-mile Durand line (British colonialists were ever adept at drawing conflict-perpetuating lines on maps), Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives mingle.

 

This does not mean that there are no "small T" Taliban-for-hire who can be co-opted, but does mean that "capital T" Taliban remain a major strategic threat to the US.

 

A third clarification is that you can't just take to the air, lighten the allied "footprint" and pick off terrorists. Afghan bases are needed for drones to operate. The human intelligence gathered at or near the border is critical to identifying targets of value. The fight for Pashtunistan has to be won on the ground: That's where counter-insurgency happens.

 

If the US steps back — or is seen to be stepping back — Nato will fold. So will Pakistan. That would be a disaster for Western security. America walked away from Afghanistan at the fall of the Soviet Empire with catastrophic results: After the expenditure of so much blood and treasure the retreat-and-return cycle has to end.

 

But, as the lucid McChrystal has said, the situation has been "deteriorating" and failure is possible. So what to do? Yes, the US needs a credible partner in the Afghan government and has not had one. President Hamid Karzai — assuming he remains in office — must be presented with certain non-negotiable demands: better governors; officials not beholden to Narcoshire; a transparent outreach program to "small T" Taliban; strong cooperation in fast-forwarding the Afghan Army and police.

 

"We have to tell Karzai, here's a contract and either your signature is on it or your brains will be", a British general told me. I'd say that's about the right tone.

But as McChrystal has been urging, US strategy also has to be rethought independent of Afghan government actions.

The essence must be economy of force for maximised effect. It's impossible — and foolish — to try to control the whole country or chase Taliban into caves. Rather, focus on model districts in contested areas of Pashtunistan. Give mud-hut Afghans something to believe in — not least efficient courts, motivated police and easy credit.
President Obama is playing a wait-for-Karzai-to-shape-up game. I don't buy it because it hangs McChrystal out to dry. As the general has said, "Time does matter" for "a favourable outcome". Waiting is bad.

Most Afghans still support the American presence. A swift commitment to endurance, with minimum additional troops required to convey that message, is needed from Obama.

 

More than a specific number of troops, what McChrystal has pleaded for is "patience, discipline, resolve and time". Do you hear him, Mr President?

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

WAZIRISTAN: PAK ARMY FORGETS LESSONS OF THE RAJ

BY INDRANIL BANERJIE

 

 "From the time of our earliest dealings with the Wazirs and Mahsuds these tribes have presented a most difficult problem and one which still awaits a satisfactory solution." This was the conclusion of a confidential report compiled by the British Indian Army headquarters in 1921 after approximately 69 years of intermittent warfare in Waziristan.

 

Curiously, the same conclusion could well have been penned by the Pakistani Army top brass as it commenced its latest offensive in that very area last week. Approximately two divisions worth of Pakistani troops supported by artillery, air power and tactical information provided by American military drones pummelled into the heart of Mehsud country in South Waziristan from three axes beginning last Saturday. This was perhaps the 11th attempt by the Pakistani Army to subdue the South Waziristan Agency (SWA) since 2001.

 

The aim is to destroy the core of the Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP), a radical Islamist organisation that seeks to cleanse Pakistan of the American presence and impose Sharia in the country. The TTP is spread across several of Pakistan's tribal agencies and some districts of the North-West Frontier Province. The outfit has demonstrated a capacity to carry out terrorist strikes in Punjab and attack the Pakistani Army, which is viewed as collaborating with the infidel Americans.

 

The core of the TTP is made up of members of the Mehsud tribesmen who live in the mountains and valleys of South Waziristan. The Mehsud heartland comprises the towns of Makin, Kanigoram and the lands around these two settlements. The undisputed chief of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed near a place called Laddah in this area by a missile fired from a US drone on August 5 this year. He had, however, groomed a second-tier leadership comprising, among others, of Hakimullah Mehsud, the present leader of the TTP, and commanders Qari Hussein Mehsud (suicide squad chief), Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud (local commander) and Maulvi Azmatullah. These men have vowed to fight on.

 

The Mehsuds, the British had learnt over almost a century of fighting, never quite give up. "Relying on the inaccessibility of their country, the Waziristan tribes have for centuries defied the power of the rulers of India and Afghanistan, and on more than one occasion in the past they engaged and defeated the invading armies of the Moghuls. Their character, organisation and instincts have made them independent and strongly democratic, so much so that even their own maliks (elders) have little real control over the unruly spirits", observed one British officer almost a century ago.

 

Not much has changed with the Mehsuds. South Waziristan remains the poorest and most backward in all of Pakistan. The valleys are in the most part stony and barren, while the higher reaches are mostly fit only for pasture. Their men have been fighting since Americans, Saudis and the Pakistanis launched the Afghan jihad in the early 1980s. Waziristan was the main area from where the Mujahideen were launched into neighbouring Afghanistan. The Soviets have long gone but the Mehsuds still send their men to fight in Afghanistan and in recent times against Pakistani security forces.

 

The Pakistani Army is faced with the unenviable task on tasking on the Mehsud in his own country. After a string of defeats that entailed fearsome casualties, the Pakistani Army has now launched what it calls the final offensive. Some commentators in the Pakistani media have dubbed it the "mother of battles" of the Frontier. The question is whether the Pakistani Army can do what the British Indian Army could not achieve after a hundred years of intermittent warfare in Waziristan?

British India's involvement with Waziristan began in 1849 with the absorption of the Sikh Empire. The Waziris had hated the Sikhs who had collected taxes from them and had no intention of succumbing to the British. Trouble began in 1850 when several Waziri tribes got together and began raiding British-controlled towns in the plains.

 

Faced with these annoying attacks on their authority, the British did not know quite what to do. Initially the British employed what they called a "closed border" policy which was basically one of non-interference. The British maintained their forces in the towns of Bannu and Tank in the plains, and from time to time led what was called "butcher and bolt" operations against the Waziris. The second most successful was the "modified closed border" policy, which avoided establishing permanent military garrisons in the agency by raising local Lashkars headed by British officers to manage the tribes. The least successful was the "forward" policy, used first during 1895-1901 and then during 1923-47, which entailed the permanent posting of British forces in the tribal lands.

 

The first phase of the "forward" policy in Waziristan was prompted by the tribal jihad launched against the British for demarcating the Durand Line, which effectively divided Pashtun lands. This was when British troops learnt that "the Wazirs and Mahsuds operating in their own country, can be classed among the finest fighters in the world... they seldom allow a tactical error to go unpunished." The second phase of the "forward" policy was instituted after the third Anglo-Afghan War, and the constant revolts by the Waziri tribesmen. Permanent military garrisons were established in the towns of Ramzak, Jandola and Wana. These are the same garrisons from where the Pakistani Army is now launching its latest anti-Mehsud offensive.

 

The problem, as scholars like Dr Stephen Cohen and others have observed, is that the Pakistani military does not understand the concept of counter-insurgency and simply calls it "low-intensity conflict". In its Waziristan operations between 2004 and 2006, some analysts believe the Army lost as many as 3,000 men. Even then they were eventually forced to retreat.

 

Col. Yahya Effendi (Retd) of the Pakistan Army, scion of a distinguished martial family, pointed out in a widely-read paper: "The Pakistan Army over the years has been trained conventionally against India, and it is clueless about unconventional frontier warfare. The lessons learnt from the British in Waziristan, and elsewhere in FATA, have been erased from the Army's institutional memory... and Waziristan perforce is serving as the new instructional campus for the Pakistan Army." The latest offensive is clearly going to prove a very costly refresher course.

 

Indranil Banerjie is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

BEHIND CHINA'S SABRE-RATTLING

BY AMULYA GANGULI

 

The deterioration in Sino-Indian relations is obvious. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the present phase is the worst since 1962. What is also clear is that the responsibility for the downturn is Beijing's. Arguably, India even bent over backwards for a time to placate an increasingly belligerent China, as when government officials stayed away from the inauguration by the Dalai Lama of a Sanchi-style stupa in East Delhi's millennium park. But China did not respond favourably.

 

As a result, New Delhi's attitude is a lot more assertive at present as is evident in its decision to ignore Beijing's protests about the Tibetan pontiff's forthcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh. It has also been strengthening its military presence on the Chinese border, imposing stricter curbs on visas, protesting against Chinese activities in PoK and on the Tsangpo river and has even mentioned the 'T' word, probably for the first time since it accepted Chinese overlordship over the roof of the world.

 

Apart from these diplomatic manoeuvres, what is of interest is the reason for China suddenly upping the ante. The change for the worse began not long after the 2005 agreement under which the inhabited areas were to be kept out of any settlement of the boundary question. There are two possible explanations why China unilaterally resiled from this stand. One is its realisation that for all the economic progress that is claimed for Tibet, the people there remain unreconciled to Han Chinese hegemony.

 

Secondly, China is probably worried about the post-Dalai Lama scene, for it realises that once the restraining influence of the spiritual leader is removed, the more militant among the Tibetan exiles will become active. It isn't only the recrudescence of the kind of violence which the plateau saw before the Olympic Games about which China is concerned, but the possibility of simultaneous uprisings in both Tibet and Xinjiang. As a ruthless dictatorship, China may have little difficulty in controlling the situation, but the uneasiness in the rest of the world about the persistence of its Tiananmen Square mentality will undermine its standing.

 

It is apparently in preparation for such a turn of events that China wants to ratchet up tension in Southern Tibet, which is its name for Arunachal Pradesh. Ideally, it would like to grab Tawang, which is an important centre of Tibetan Buddhism. But since it cannot conceive such a step even in its hubris, especially after India has militarily bestirred itself, what China seems to want is to keep the pot boiling and even engage in a short border conflict to, first, keep the adventurous Tibetan exiles off balance since India will not like them to create more problems at a time of heightened tension between the two countries. Secondly, China may also use such a border skirmish to whip up nationalist sentiments at home in order to divert attention from its uncertain hold on Tibet and Xinjiang.

 

The restiveness of its Buddhist and Muslim minorities are not the only internal problems faced by China. The reports of fairly widespread rural unrest in the context of its embracement of capitalism also underline the uncertainties through which China is passing, making any prediction about its steady economic development difficult. In contrast, much of the world is slowly realising that the innate stability provided by Indian democracy makes its admittedly slower economic progress more durable. This is another of China's worries, for its earlier belief about India not only remaining mired in poverty, but also disintegrating because of its many internal fissures (which made a Chinese analyst speak recently of India's Balkanisation) is being negated.

 

Instead of India, it is Pakistan which is in danger of falling apart. There is little doubt that China's all-weather friend is now very much under the weather. There is no certainty whether it will survive in one piece in five years or become some kind of a diplomatic oddity with the Army holding on to Punjab and adjoining areas while Sindh, Balochistan and the Pushtun areas breaking away. But, whatever happens to Pakistan, it is clear that China can no longer use it as a cat's paw to needle India. The scene will be even more nightmarish for China if the turmoil in Pakistan compels the Islamic terrorists, under pressure from an increasing American presence in the region, to turn their baleful attention to Xinjiang, where their co-religionists are not some of Beijing's favourite citizens.

 

India, in contrast, is better placed. It does not face the same level of rural unrest because of the economic reforms as China does. The insurgencies in Kashmir and the Northeast, though bothersome, no longer threaten to spin out of the control. As for Pakistan, even it does not take its earlier quest for parity with India seriously. Only the Maoists are a problem, but they do not pose an existential threat. India's soft power, too, mainly because of its vibrant multicultural democracy, is a constant reminder to China that no one loves a one-party state. Its provocation, therefore, may not be unrelated to a latent belief that it may not come first in the race between the two Asian giants.

 

Amulya Ganguli is a commentator based in New Delhi

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

BY DAVID BROOKS

 

In Homer's poetry, every hero has a trait. Achilles is angry. Odysseus is cunning. And so was born one picture of character and conduct.

 

In this view, what you might call the philosopher's view, each of us has certain ingrained character traits. An honest person will be honest most of the time. A compassionate person will be compassionate.

 

These traits, as they say, go all the way down. They shape who we are, what we choose to do and whom we befriend. Our job is to find out what traits of character we need to become virtuous. But, as Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Princeton philosopher, notes in his book Experiments in Ethics, this philosopher's view of morality is now being challenged by a psychologist's view. According to the psychologist's view, individuals don't have one thing called character.

 

The psychologists say this because a century's worth of experiments suggests that people's actual behaviour is not driven by permanent traits that apply from one context to another. Students who are routinely dishonest at home are not routinely dishonest at school. People who are courageous at work can be cowardly at church. People who behave kindly on a sunny day may behave callously the next day when it is cloudy and they are feeling glum. Behaviour does not exhibit what the psychologists call "cross-situational stability."

 

The psychologists thus tend to gravitate toward a different view of conduct. In this view, people don't have one permanent thing called character. We each have a multiplicity of tendencies inside, which are activated by this or that context. As Paul Bloom of Yale put it in an essay for The Atlantic last year, we are a community of competing selves. These different selves "are continually popping in and out of existence. They have different desires, and they fight for control — bargaining with, deceiving, and plotting against one another".

 

The philosopher's view is shaped like a funnel. At the bottom, there is a narrow thing called character. And at the top, the wide ways it expresses itself. The psychologist's view is shaped like an upside-down funnel. At the bottom, there is a wide variety of unconscious tendencies that get aroused by different situations. At the top, there is the narrow story we tell about ourselves to give coherence to life.

 

The difference is easy to recognise on the movie screen. Most movies embrace the character version. The hero is good and conquers evil. Spike Jonze's new movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are illuminates the psychological version. At the beginning of the movie, young Max is torn by warring impulses he cannot control or understand. Part of him loves and depends upon his mother. But part of him rages against her. In the midst of turmoil, Max falls into a primitive, mythical realm with a community of Wild Things. The Wild Things contain and re-enact different pieces of his inner frenzy. One of them feels unimportant. One throws a tantrum because his love has been betrayed. They embody his different tendencies. Many critics have noted that, in the movie version, the Wild Things are needlessly morose and whiney. But in one important way, the movie is better than the book. In the book, Max effortlessly controls the Wild Things by taming them with "the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once".

 

By arrangement with the New York Times

 

In the movie, Max wants to control the Wild Things. The Wild Things in turn want to be controlled. They want him to build a utopia for them where they won't feel pain. But in the movie, Max fails as king. He lacks the power to control his Wild Things. The Wild Things come to recognise that he isn't really a king, and maybe there are no such things as kings. In the philosopher's picture, the good life is won through direct assault. Heroes use reason to separate virtue from vice. Then they use willpower to conquer weakness, fear, selfishness and the dark passions lurking inside. Once they achieve virtue they do virtuous things.

 

In the psychologist's version, the good life is won indirectly. People have only vague intuitions about the

instincts and impulses that have been implanted in them by evolution, culture and upbringing. There is no easy way to command all the wild things jostling inside.

 

But it is possible to achieve momentary harmony through creative work. Max has all his Wild Things at peace when he is immersed in building a fort or when he is giving another his complete attention. This isn't the good life through heroic self-analysis but through mundane, self-forgetting effort, and through everyday routines.

 

Appiah believes these two views of conduct are in conversation, not conflict. But it does seem we're in one of those periods when words like character fall into dispute and change their meaning.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

PORTALS OF IITS 

REASONABLE CUT-OFF, ENTRENCHED TUTORIALS

Considering the astonishingly high scoring rate in the science stream of the Class 10 exam ~ admittedly to a marginally lesser degree in Class 12 ~ the proposal for a higher benchmark to be eligible for the entry test to the IITs is fairly reasonable. The 60 per cent cut-off, as now, can be likened to chicken-feed in any science subject; the HRD minister's proposal to the IIT council to raise the minimum requirement to 80 per cent in the Class 12 exam ought not to dishearten a potential aspirant. Of course many or most of them will have to be as focussed on the Class 12 performance as they are on the IIT joint entrance. This indeed is the primary underpinning of Kapil Sibal's move. It reverses the conclusion-to-premise mindset of the students ~ to be relatively indifferent towards the school-leaving exam and pull out all the stops for the next stage. It is a salutary development that Monday's meeting of the IIT council has accepted Mr Sibal's contention that "students ought not to neglect their board examinations". Arguably, the only snag that calls for reflection is that the syllabus and evaluation of the boards, notably the CBSE, the ISC council and the Higher Secondary boards in different states, are not uniform. It may just be possible to score 80 per cent and much more under one board than in others. Resentment at being left out cannot entirely be ruled out, though the IIT qualifier will be the eventual determinant. The other objective, specifically to curb the growth of what the minister calls "teaching shops" may be more difficult to achieve. In real terms, it will mean a crackdown on the tutorial centres that train candidates for the IIT entrance exam. Despite legislation, there is hardly a state that has succeeded in banning private tuition from the primary to the post-graduate levels. Across the country, it is a thriving home industry whose profits are higher if the stakes are career-oriented, pre-eminently engineering and medicine.

Hopefully, the reformist agenda will work though experience doesn't readily inspire optimism. The recommendations of the two previous exam reform committees are yet to be implemented. It would be instructive to identify the drawbacks without pleading in the manner of the present minister, "I was not there when the panels were set up; let us not look at the past." Assuming that the promised "vision document" will be a blueprint for the future, the reforms must translate to the progress of science and technology and a curb on brain drain as well. The tightening at the entry level can only be the first step.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

FIESTA OR ORDEAL

GAMES DELHI'ITES WON'T PLAY

SECURITY, alas, is now a major concern at every international event, more so since terrorists do not exclude sporting activity from their targets: whether it were Israeli athletes massacred at the Munich Olympics or shooting at the bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan. So the concerns of the Delhi Police over preparations required for the Commonwealth Games next year are more than understandable. Also to be appreciated is the Police Commissioner's observation that "We believe that we can have safe Games only if the rest of Delhi is safe". Unfortunately the security gameplan that was unveiled with much fanfare seems to totally ignore the critical need to ensure that normal life in the city is not disrupted during that fortnight. The Commissioner's "appeal" to schools to re-schedule holidays, for shops and traders to keep the shutters down on the day of the Closing Ceremony, and for public transport to be preferred over personal vehicles all point to serious magnification of what constantly plagues the Capital ~ the practice of allowing VIP comfort to ride roughshod over aam aadmi's basic needs. The plans that the police unveiled might appear impressive ~ multi-layered cordons, helicopters buzzing around, well-positioned snipers, quick-reaction teams, a host of hi-tech gadgetry ~ but equally would they trigger dismay and disgust among the majority of the city's residents who have yet to display much genuine enthusiasm for an event that will have widespread impact, disrupt an already fragile traffic-transport system. It is also open to question if massive "police bandobast" actually equates with "security". Hopefully, as elaborate as what was projected by the Commissioner and his aides, will be the intelligence gathering exercise that would possibly yield greater dividends than a mere show of force.
Yet a basic issue requires addressing: what crime did the average citizen commit to have to bear the burden of an event that will benefit only selected interests? This "showcase" business is top-heavy, within a few miles from the Games village exist slums that would bring shame to any city. The crores expended could have been better utilised to develop low-cost housing, provide hospitals, schools and so on. As happens so often, a fiesta for the few proves an ordeal for the many. Time was when the Commonwealth Games were known as the "Friendly Games" ~ do Suresh Kalmadi/Mike Hooper enhance that image?

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

MIXED SIGNALS

GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT

There is much to feel encouraged and equally as much to be discouraged with the findings of the Centre's first-ever rating of gender development. The report of the women and child development ministry goes beyond the rapid-fire generalisation of the social scientist, based as it is on the two distinct parameters of Gender Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). With 2006 as the base year, quite the most reassuring feature must be that on both counts, India has been able to improve its record by more than 10 percentage points over the past decade. Nationally, this is doubtless a forward progression with the GDI rising from 0.568 in 1996 to 0.633 in 2006 ~ an index of improved gender equality. Statewise, however, the record has varied and doesn't quite mirror the claims of "ideologically progressive" dispensations, notably Kerala and West Bengal. It thus comes about that the southern state, with the highest literacy rate, has lost its distinction of being the most gender equal state. It has been overtaken in this segment by the two Union Territories of Chandigarh and Goa. The slip to third position is a comedown certainly for a Leftist state that had topped the GDI of 1996. And in terms of empowerment, the women of Andhra Pradesh decidedly lead the rest. The state has risen and risen convincingly from the 14th position in 1996 to the top slot of the 2006 gender empowerment measure.

The findings carry a message not least for Leftist West Bengal which has slid from the 19th position in 1996 to the 24th in 2006 in terms of gender development. Overall the scenario is dismal despite the improvement in the gender empowerment measure. It has now been ranked at 16th, up from 24th. While this may reflect a degree of progress in terms of legislative representation, employment and welcome inroads into the traditionally male bastions, it is the general development or gender equity that ought now to be the focus of governmental planning for at stake is child development as well. The test of progress is, after all, the balance between equality and empowerment. Progress and regression turn out to be the two sides of the Bengal coin.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR

WHERE DOES INDIA STAND?

BY JAYITA MUKHOPADHYAY

While India has been celebrating Durga Puja - the triumph of good and justice over the forces of evil - a frail woman with an indomitable spirit has been fighting for the deliverance of her countrymen from exploitation and oppression perpetrated by the military of neighbouring country Myanmar. Yet, we in India, particularly our government, are oblivious to the trials and tribulations of Aung Sung Suu Kyi, leader of that country's peaceful pro-democracy movement and an icon of the democratic aspirations of the downtrodden the world over.
Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest by the military dictators. Recently, she faced fresh trial on the flimsy charge of breaching the conditions of her detention after the bizarre incident in which an American, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside residence in May this year. After a farcical trial condemned worldwide, she has been found guilty and her house arrest has been extended by another 18 months.

It is quite evident that the junta is determined to keep her out of the public domain during the election next year. However, India maintains an intriguing silence over the whole episode. The government's response to the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy rallies, led by the Buddhist monks in September 2007, was also quite lukewarm. Indeed, India's policy towards Myanmar has undergone a sea-change since the nineties. The Rajiv Gandhi government had expressed full solidarity with Suu Kyi and the pro-democracy movement, extending every possible support. Refugee status was granted to those who had left their hearth and home, taking shelter in the North-east.

Shift in policy

However, a paradigm shift in policy took place towards the early nineties. With the introduction of economic reforms by the Narasimha Rao government, India started treading the path of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. Foreign policy priorities were rejigged as Delhi wanted to emerge as a global power. Protection of national interests was accorded greater importance than commitment to the values of democracy, popular governance, protection of human rights and so on.

To gain the status of a global power, India needs to achieve a dominant position in Asia, ensure its territorial security and suitably protect and enhance its military might. China has historically been its main contender in the race to gain hegemonic status in Asia.

Myanmar is strategically important to India as it acts as a buffer between the two countries, preventing an accidental collision. Since the beginning of the junta rule, Myanmar started moving closer to China. Pakistan also boasts cordial relations with China. This geo-political scenario has created the possibility of "encirclement of India" by countries close to China, whereas our interest lies in "limiting the zone of influence" of China.

Beijing is playing a substantial role in the industrial development of Myanmar. It has set up a maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence station in the Coco Island off Myanmar. It is a site from where it can keep a close watch on the vital military installations on our eastern shore. China is reportedly building a base at this strategic location.

To counter-balance this growing Chinese influence in Myanmar, our foreign policy establishment decided to court Myanmar as well, particularly to develop military cooperation so as to offset the advantages China has gained. There has been an exchange of visits by the chiefs of the army, navy and air force. There have been joint manoeuvres too with the Myanmar navy.

It was also felt that to tackle insurgency in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, the cooperation of Myanmar would be useful. Tribal groups, involved in secessionist movements in the North-east, have ethnic ties with similar groups within Myanmar and receive training in bases operating there. It is necessary to bust these bases to curb these movements, and this can only be done if the junta cooperates.

It was also felt that intensification of legalised border trade between the two countries would provide new sources of livelihood to people of this land-locked region. That will also curb the volume of drug-peddling and arms smuggling across the border, and may also help control the spread of AIDS in the region.
The success of India's "Look East Policy" (initiated by Narasimha Rao), with its emphasis on expanding trade relations with South-east Asia, presupposes friendly relations with Myanmar. It is India's gateway to ASEAN. It is the only ASEAN country with which India shares a land border. The proposed Trans-Asian Highway, if implemented, will link India with Bangkok via Myanmar and is likely to open up new vistas in trade and commercial exchanges between India and other countries of this region.

Fear factor

Myanmar offers a veritable source of energy at our doorstep. China is already ahead of us in exploring and using Myanmar's natural gas. ONGC Videsh Ltd and the Gas Authority of India hold 30 per cent and 10 per cent equity shares respectively in companies exploring oil and gas at Rakhine coast off Myanmar. 

Our policy-makers believe that India cannot afford to turn its back on a regime which does not measure up to international norms. The country's security and economic stakes are much too high to allow such a stand. Recently, India has signed agreements with Myanmar for the development of Sittwe port and the implementation of the Kaladan transit transport project that links India's North-east with Bay of Bengal. The strategic and commercial benefits are likely to be considerable.

In its obsessive concern with national interest, India appears to have forgotten its hallowed tradition of respecting values of liberty and extending support to national liberation movements. While abandoning "constructive engagement" with the junta would perhaps not be a pragmatic option under the prevailing circumstances, India can try to be a little more assertive about what she expects from the junta in terms of respecting democratic norms. The junta also has a stake in improving relations with India.

Instead of being in perpetual fear of losing ground to China, India should make the best of the situation by taking concrete steps to make interaction with Myanmar beneficial for both. We should persuade the junta to follow the path of reconciliation with Suu Kyi so that democracy is eventually restored in Myanmar. If India fails to raise a voice against the harassment faced by Suu Kyi, its credibility as the largest democracy on earth stands questioned.

As Suu Kyi herself has observed: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who yield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it". (Freedom from Fear).

The writer is Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Women's Christian College, Kolkata 

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

SOON, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GROW YOUR OWN

 

LONDON, 20 OCT: In five year's time, humans may be able to grow their own damaged body parts, such as joints, spine and heart, which would allow the elderly to stay active even as they age, say scientists.
A team from the Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering at Leeds University is working on a project which should allow the elderly to buy body parts "off the shelf" and even regenerate their own damaged joints and hearts.

According to the scientists, the ultimate ambition is to fix up the body with customised replacement parts grown to order and the main thrust of the research centres around a method of tissue and medical engineering.
Led by the immunologist Professor Eileen Ingham, the scientists are in fact pioneering a technique of stripping the living cells from donor human and animal parts, leaving just the collagen or elastin "scaffold" of the tissue.
Living cells make up less than five per cent of ligaments, joints and blood vessels and can be "washed away" with special enzymes and detergents.

These "biological shells", which could be for knee, ankle or hip ligaments, as well as blood vessels and heart valves are then transplanted into the patient whose own body then invades them replacing the removed cells with their own, The Daily Telegraph reported.

According to the scientists, the technique, which could be available within five years, will effectively allow the body to grow their replacement and remove the need for anti-rejection drugs.

"We are all living longer. But our bodies are wearing out at the same rate. We now want a more active lifestyle in our old age," Prof John Fisher, who is overseeing the project, was quoted as saying. ~ PTI

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

CENTRAL RULE

 

For those concerned about higher education in India, Kapil Sibal's ministry remains the space to watch. Mr Sibal's verve for reform is evident almost every day. But how progressive are the changes being initiated by his ministry? Do they indicate a radical change in the mindset that informs these 'innovations'? The minister's latest worry is about the coaching classes for the IIT entrance examinations that end up devaluing the higher secondary results and affecting the students' motivation to prepare for the latter properly. So he wants all the IITs to raise the Class XII eligibility score. Underlying such an idea is the notion of all the IITs being united under a common sky, which is nothing other than a centralized system of governance overseen by the State. So a sort of Soviet-style tendency towards uniformity and centralization remains the ministry's style of thinking and working. Why should all the IITs, each of them a distinct institution for all practical purposes, submit to such a levelling rule? And why should the Union human resource development ministry set and guard this rule?

It is perfectly possible to inject new life into higher secondary education, and to kill the coaching classes, without taking recourse to measures that remain essentially regressive. There could be, instead, a three-tier system of admission, which avoids the government's intervention and preserves the autonomy of each institution. First, the Class XII results, and each institution can decide for itself what cut-off mark it would like to set. Second, a GRE-style examination — an elimination round, perhaps with multiple-choice questions — that separates the wheat from the chaff. Finally, examinations conducted by individual institutions that are free to make the tests challenging and innovative. There is a way of examining students that makes it impossible for coaching classes to perpetuate their mechanical, 'trends'-driven approach to preparing the candidates. Each institute should devise its own way of testing range and depth of knowledge, and in such a way that makes it difficult for students to predict the nature and contents of the tests. Each Oxbridge college conducts its own, highly eccentric, entrance test and interviews. But to do this sort of thing with centres of excellence in India, the minister will have to give up first his inclination to centralize and control.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

BAD FORM

 

Good manners maketh a man but may not make a politician, at least in West Bengal. At the national level, the custom of maintaining common courtesies across ideological and political divides continues. The leader of the United Progressive Alliance and the president of the Congress did not hesitate to send her Diwali greetings to her political rival, L.K. Advani, the veteran leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr Advani, in his turn, did not fail to greet the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, during the festive season. This last gesture is remarkable since, during the election campaign, Mr Advani had let loose a war of words on Mr Singh. The attack and the subsequent greetings must be seen in the context of the best tradition of democracy. In a mature and civilized democracy, politicians respect the division between the personal and the political. Thus, political differences, or a vicious exchange in the course of a parliamentary debate, do not stand in the way of personal pleasantries and even friendship.

 

In West Bengal, however, the distinction between the personal and the political, between good manners and political animosity, has not only been blurred, but it has also disappeared. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Trinamul Congress, the two principal political formations in the state, are at loggerheads, and this has poisoned even the exchange of common social niceties. The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, reaches for the red flag every time he hears the name of the TMC numero uno, Mamata Banerjee. The latter, not to be undone, will not be seen — and will not allow any of her party members to be seen — within even sniffing distance of an important member of the CPI(M). This has, of course, made any dialogue between the two groups impossible even when the welfare of the community or society demands such dialogue. Under the circumstances, it would be stupid to expect that Mr Bhattacharjee and Ms Banerjee would have the good grace to exchange festive greetings. The roots of this condition lie deep in the 30 years of Left dominance. During this period, the CPI(M) successfully alienated all and sundry by its arrogance and show of strength. It respected no social niceties and, in the name of the class struggle, rode roughshod over all social graces. The result is a steep decline in the level of culture and in the level of politics.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

DEVELOPING CONTENTION

THERE IS A REAL FEAR THAT THE KYOTO PROTOCOL WILL BE KILLED SOON

CHANDRASHEKHAR DASGUPTA

 

Two years ago, amidst much fanfare, a United Nations ministerial meeting in the fabled island of Bali adopted a "roadmap" for tackling climate change. The roadmap laid down two tracks for progress, corresponding to the two international agreements on climate change — the Kyoto Protocol and the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

 

With regard to the first track, it required developed countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol to adopt their post-2012 emission reduction commitments in a timely manner. Under the second track, the Bali Action Plan called upon all countries to "urgently enhance implementation of the Convention". The United States of America — the only party refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol — is required to adopt an emission reduction commitment reflecting "comparability of efforts" with those of other developed countries under the protocol. Developing countries are expected to implement nationally appropriate mitigation actions "supported and enabled" by finance and technology from the developed countries. The new post-2012 emission reduction commitments of developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the details of measures for "enhanced implementation" of the convention, were to be adopted at Copenhagen in December 2009.

 

Great expectations have understandably been built up for the Copenhagen conference, against the background of dire scientific estimates of the extent and severity of climate-change impacts. Sadly, these expectations will not be met. With barely six weeks left for the inaugural session, the negotiations remain deadlocked.

 

The deadlock is caused by the adamant refusal of the developed countries to respect the terms of the Bali roadmap. The Bali Action Plan, as we have noted, calls for enhanced implementation by all countries of their respective commitments under the FCCC. The developed countries, however, are insisting on revising the provisions of the FCCC in a manner that would enable them to transfer a large share of their responsibilities and commitments to the shoulders of developing countries such as India. With the same objective in mind, they are also determined to kill the Kyoto Protocol, unless the developing countries agree to a drastic revision of its terms. The daggers are out for the protocol and it will be buried in Copenhagen if the developed countries have their way.

 

An outline of the basic features of the FCCC and its Kyoto Protocol will help explain the issues at stake in Copenhagen. The convention and the protocol are based on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" of countries. Since developed countries are primarily responsible for causing climate change (because of their high per capita emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution), the convention requires them to reduce their emissions in a time-bound manner. It also requires them to provide finance and technology to developing countries to help them respond to climate change. The Kyoto Protocol supplements the convention by laying down specific emission reduction commitments of developed countries for the period ending 2012. It also requires them to adopt further commitments for periods beyond 2012.

 

The convention and the protocol do not require developing countries to implement mitigation actions involving incremental costs, unless these costs are fully covered by developed countries. The convention states specifically that the "extent to which developing country Parties will implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology".

 

In short, the convention and the protocol reflect recognition of the fact that developing countries are victims of climate change, a phenomenon induced primarily by the industrialized countries. Indeed, the world would not be confronted with a climate-change problem if all countries had the same per capita emissions as India.

 

The developed countries are now pressing aggressively to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new climate-change agreement which would enable them to transfer a large share of their responsibilities and obligations to developing countries. They are insisting that developing countries, with the exception of the Least Developed Countries, should also take on legally binding mitigation commitments and meet the costs of implementing these measures. Poorer countries may receive some "assistance", depending on an assessment of their "needs", but this would not in any case cover the full incremental costs. Moreover, developing countries would also be required to contribute financial resources for "assisting" other developing countries. In short, they would have to shoulder a considerable share of the obligations assigned to the developed countries under the existing agreements. The objective is not only to scrap the Kyoto Protocol but also to severely maim the FCCC and the principles upon which it is based. Ignoring questions of equity, the industrialized countries are simply shrugging off their historical responsibility for causing climate change.

 

A particularly objectionable feature of these proposals is the demand that developing countries should submit projected long-term emission trajectories up to 2050, so as to ensure adequacy of the total global effort. The fact that this is coupled with a rejection of the concept of equal per capita emission entitlements for all countries makes this a truly sinister demand. Developed countries are seeking to impose an agreement that would allow them to maintain per capita emissions that are several times higher than those of developing countries. Since carbon emissions result mainly from the use of coal, oil and natural gas to generate energy, this means that developing countries would have to surrender their right to access these energy sources on an equal per capita basis. Developing countries would be subject to unequal emission constraints in pursuing their energy options.

 

The FCCC permits developing countries to pursue the overriding priorities of economic and social development and poverty eradication, simultaneously with climate-change mitigation, since the incremental costs have to be met by the industrialized countries. The proposals now being pressed by the industrialized countries would require developing countries themselves to bear the incremental costs of mitigation actions, either in full or, at least, in substantial measure. By requiring developing countries to divert scarce resources from their national priorities, the proposed new protocol would slow down the development of the so-called "emerging economies" such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa and blunt the rising competitiveness of their economies. It would be fair to view this as an attempt by the leading economic powers to preserve their existing privileges at the expense of the developing countries and to slow down the ongoing shift in the global economic balance.

 

During the next six weeks before Copenhagen, our leaders will come under heavy pressure to accept the proposal for a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. India must continue to firmly defend the cause of environmental justice and its own national interest. We must resist the conspiracy to kill the Kyoto Protocol.

 

The author is a retired ambassador

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

FOR A CLEANER STATE OF AFFAIRS

SUMANTA SEN

 

The external affairs minister, S.M. Krishna, and the government as a whole need not take pains to refer to maps and documents to establish the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. The assembly elections, held recently in the state, should make it clear to all and sundry how deeply attached the state is to the country's political culture. The attachment is evident not just because the state recorded the highest voter turnout, but also because money power was used during campaigning which is a feature of political life in most Indian states. The Chinese would certainly do well to take note of this. You cannot claim a region to be your own when people there are by and large hand in gloves with the supposed forcible occupiers.

 

There is no point in blaming the Congress for creating this situation just because it has been in office in Itanagar on most occasions. Other political forces have also imbibed the big money culture. Barring Tripura and Assam to some extent, the culture is also to be found in the other Northeastern states.

 

But, at the same time, there is also resistance to it. The latest evidence of such resistance could be had in Mizoram where the Church actively ensured that the election was not marred by the sight of big spenders buying votes. It was successful in this because of its widespread influence on the almost wholly Christian population. In Nagaland, where Christianity is also powerful, there is resistance building up against what is perceived by many as an alien culture.

 

Unfortunately, in Arunachal Pradesh, such an influence seems to be missing. The famed Buddhist monastery at Tawang is obviously less interested in things temporal. In the absence of a moral guardian, it is not uncommon to hear allegations of voters having been lured to the polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh.

 

FAITH MATTERS

The Northeastern states are small, and have little industrial activity. So where do the politicians get this kind of money that can be spent at will? The answer lies in the strong politician-contractor nexus in the region. The shriller the cry for development, the wider is the smile on the faces of these two classes of people. Development means government spending, which, in turn, implies fatter individual purses. Such smiles will not disappear as long as development is seen as the best way of countering insurgency. Indeed, it is perceived by many that insurgency is actually kept alive by those who stand to gain from it.

 

Arunachal Pradesh has its share of the threat. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) as well as the Khaplang faction are active in the state. Both groups enjoy money power, which is bolstered by the earnings from opium smuggling from neighbouring Myanmar. In places near the border of that country, opium is manufactured in peace as the writ of the military junta does not run much beyond Yangon. It is doubtful if the trade in opium within Arunachal Pradesh could have continued had the political, bureaucratic and security establishments been more alert. In such a context, the results of an election become irrelevant. What does it matter if a party or combination of parties rules in Itanagar for the next five years unless the basic issue of moral cleansing is addressed? The Church often comes under fire in the Northeast. In Tripura, for instance, it has been accused of encouraging fissiparous tendencies in the past. But in Mizoram, it played the vital role of a watchdog.

 

The Church and the other religious bodies will be rendering yeomen service by playing the same role elsewhere if the non-religious establishment fails to perform its tasks

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

BRING ON THE DONORS

 

The amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act promise to increase the pool of organs available for transplant. But will it root out the illegal trade in organs, asks Devlina Ganguly

 

Last year, Amit Kumar, a Gurgaon-based doctor, was charged with having performed more than 500 illegal kidney transplant surgeries over a decade. Kumar used to hoodwink poor patients into parting with their organs and transplant them in his rich patients. The shocking exposure raised serious questions about the effectiveness of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, which, among other things, sought to curb the illegal trade in organs.

 

Last month, the Union law ministry finally cleared the long pending amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, raising hopes that the new provisions would go a long way in addressing the shortcomings of the existing Act and also contain the rampant illegal trade in human organs.

 

Experts point out that the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, had failed on many counts. Says A.

Gopal Kishan, president of the Hyderabad-based Indian Society of Organ Transplantation, "It limited the number of donors by inserting certain clauses as to who could donate an organ to whom. This caused an acute discrepancy between demand and supply. For instance, though almost 1,50,000 kidney transplants are required in our country annually, we can barely procure 10,000 kidneys for transplants. This shortage gives a stimulus to the unholy nexus dealing in illegal organ transplants."

 

The original Act specified that "first" relatives (father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter and wife of a patient) could donate organs without obtaining permission from the government. The amendments will now make it possible for a "second degree" relative such as a grandparent, grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, half sibling and so on, to donate an organ without having to obtain the government's permission to do so.

 

Incidentally, each state has an authorisation committee under the ministry of health and family welfare that grants permission for organ donation between unrelated persons.

 

The amendments will also legalise the swapping of vital organs between willing but incompatible donors. Under this system, when a donor's organ is not compatible with his own relative but is suitable for another person needing an organ transplant, two families, unknown to each other, can exchange organs between them.

 

Medical practitioners agree that this is a vast improvement on the previous Act. Dr Sadiq S. Sikora, head of the department, surgical gastroenterology, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, points out, "The existing Act made it difficult to utilise the scope of organ donation to the fullest. The inclusion of second degree relatives will increase the pool of donors, so there will be no need to resort to illegal means to procure an organ."

 

However, others point out that though these amendments will theoretically increase the pool of organs available for transplant, the numbers may not be big enough to curb the illegal trade in organs significantly. Says Dr Debasish Banerjee, consultant kidney and liver transplant surgeon, AMRI, Calcutta, "The amendments are focused more on cadaver transplants. One should remember that they do not really focus on stopping the illegal organ trade."

 

The amendments do make a serious effort to tap organs from cadavers or brain dead patients. For instance, it will now become mandatory for all intensive care units in hospitals to maintain a record of patients who are brain dead, so that their families can be approached for organ donation. Kishan goes a step further, "The government should set up a body to see how many brain dead patients can be harvested at any give time. We should emulate the organ transplant system that is followed in Spain where every corpse can be tapped for organs unless the person had expressly forbidden it."

 

Agrees AMRI's Dr Banerjee, "It would help if India adopted the concept of 'presumed consent' as practised in countries like Spain and the Philippines. Under this, a deceased or brain dead person is classified as a potential donor in the absence of explicit opposition to organ donation before death. The implementation of presumed consent has led to a highly successful organ transplant programme in Spain."

 

Of course, adopting a similar programme in India may not be easy. As Dr Banerjee explains, "In Spain, healthcare is mostly provided by the government. So if a person avails of government services, he or she has an obligation to give something back to society. But in India the private sector is the dominant player in medical services. However, the government could introduce this model in a few centrally run health institutes and, depending on the response, other government hospitals could follow suit."

 

Of course, the entire issue of organ transplants is fraught with socio-legal concerns. Says Calcutta High Court advocate Amjad Ali Sardar, "Seen from another angle, cadaver transplant is an encroachment on a person's basic fundamental right. An individual is the master of his or her organs and it would be an offence to take out his or her organs at a time when he or she is in no position to agree if the procedure should take place."

 

The amendments have also made the punishment for illegal trade in organs stiffer. Section 18 (1) of the existing Act states, "Any person who renders his services to or at any hospital and who, for purposes of transplantation, conducts, associates with, or helps in any manner in, the removal of any human organ without authority, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000." The amendments, on the other hand, propose that those involved in the trade, including doctors, will be punishable with imprisonment of two to seven years and a penalty of Rs 10,000- Rs 20,000.

 

The amendments also provide certain incentives to living donors. They will be entitled to a 50 per cent discount on second class rail travel, lifelong free medical check-ups and care in the hospital where the organ donation took place and get a customised life insurance policy worth Rs 2 lakh.

 

But these moves, welcome though they are, will not meet the acute shortage of organs, says Kishan. "The government should take the initiative to start awareness programmes about organ donation. Just as there is a lot of awareness regarding eye or blood donation, a campaign should be undertaken to motivate people to donate organs."

 

That will perhaps be as important as passing a law to facilitate and regularise organ donation in our country.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

LEGAL FAQS

ADVOCATE NIBEDITA ROYE ANSWERS YOUR QUERIES

 

Q: When I was working in the Gulf, I had given a relative the power of attorney (POA) to sell my property. Now that I am back and the sale has not taken place, is the POA still valid and can the authorised person still use it?

 

Yousuf Kutty, via email

 

A: Yes, the power of attorney is still valid, entitling your relative to use it till you cancel the power by making a notice of revocation of the POA. Make sure to communicate the revocation to your constituted attorney and also publish the notice for the general public in some daily newspaper.

 

Q:An acquaintance built a house on a co-operative society plot and made his son the nominee at the society. The son acquired the house after his father's death. The father also had about Rs 25 lakh worth of National Savings Certificates and fixed deposits held jointly with his daughter. But after he died, the son had all the NSCs and deposits encashed and took the entire amount, saying that the money would be needed at the time of her marriage. Yet, not more than Rs 3 lakh was spent at the wedding. Can the daughter claim the money and a part of the house now?

 

Dilip Chatterjee, Salt Lake, Calcutta

 

A: It appears that there is no documentary evidence to prove that an amount of Rs 25 lakh had been handed over to the son who misappropriated the same. In that case, the daughter cannot claim the money now. As far as the house is concerned, the daughter is not entitled to a share in it since the son is the sole member of the co-operative society.

 

Q:I am a 76-year-old ailing, single man. I have six brothers. I have deposited my savings in various fixed deposits and post office savings schemes. All the accounts have been opened jointly with one or the other brother on an either or survivor basis. My younger brother, who has been looking after me, holds almost half of the accounts jointly with me. I want to know if my other brothers can claim an equal share of my savings after my death. Also, I have executed a will in my own writing, duly witnessed and noted by a notary public. Will that be enough to safeguard the interest of my brothers?

 

Name Withheld

 

A: Since you have opened joint accounts on an either or survivor basis, on your demise your share shall pass on to the joint holder and the others cannot claim the same. Though you have made a holographic will (a handwritten will), it is desirable that a will should be typed on plain paper and attested by at least two witnesses.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

POISONED PROBE

"ASTHANA'S DEATH MAKES THE JUDICIAL CRISIS DEEPER."

 

If the mysterious death of Ashutosh Asthana, the prime accused and witness in the multi-crore UP Provident Fund corruption case involving judges, in a Ghaziabad jail on Saturday raised suspicions of foul play, the hurried cremation of his body has strengthened them. The body was cremated before a supreme court directive to preserve his body was delivered to the police. Though the post-mortem on the body had been done, there was demand for further examination as the results had been inconclusive. Doctors had however felt that he had died of poisoning and circumstances had pointed to that possibility. Asthana had threats to his life apparently because of his value as a witness. These had been ignored, and the jail authorities and the CBI, which is investigating the case, have much to answer for this lapse. It is pointed out that the death could not have taken place without the collusion of the jail authorities or other influential persons who wanted to silence him.

Asthana's role in the case was crucial as he was the person who facilitated illegal withdrawal of about Rs 23 crore from the PF accounts of employees in the Ghaziabad region on the orders of judicial officers from 2001 to 2007. Asthana retained part of the money and claimed to have passed on the rest to the judges who authorised the withdrawals. As many as 36 judges, including many high court judges and one supreme court judge, are allegedly involved in the scandal. As it involved judicial corruption on a massive scale, the supreme court was directly monitoring the case. Asthana had provided a number of important documents to the CBI which now feels that his death is a major setback to its investigation.

The case should be followed up more vigorously, as these documents and the confession made by Asthana before a magistrate will stand judicial tests. It is equally important to probe the circumstances of his death and bring to book those who had a hand in it. It will also be noted that the judges, whose names have figured as beneficiaries of the scam, are still serving on the bench. It underlines the limitations of the present system of dealing with corruption charges involving members of the judiciary. When influential accused in similar circumstances elsewhere are generally asked to step aside to prevent them from derailing justice, it will be interesting to see how the supreme court deals with this crisis involving the judiciary.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

SUPER NSG

"THE SECURITY SITUATION MAKES NSG'S ROLE CRITICAL."

 

The National Security Guard (NSG) celebrated its 25th anniversary last week as a counter terror force in the service of the nation. The most recent public memories of the NSG are associated with 'Operation Black Tornado' — the operation launched in November 2008 to fight the Pakistani sea-borne terrorists who attacked Mumbai. Clearly the NSG's role is to provide the necessary specialised support to central or state police forces to tackle terrorism beyond their capabilities which it has measured up to. Otherwise the NSG, which also trains state police personnel in counter terror functions, has successfully inculcated this orientation on a broader scale among the law enforcement agencies around the country. The NSG undertook an exercise with the Indian Air Force commando group 'Garuds' last year  involving the use of helicopters for swift deployment which also developed an operational synergy between them.

The need for a counter terrorist force like the NSG was felt soon after the assassination of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984, which marked a new low in security climate in the country. As a result, the NSG was modelled along the lines of the legendary British Army commando force,  the Special Air Service and the German GSG-9. Initially the NSG's role was confined to a counter terror role, but two years later around 1986-87, it was expanded to include VVIP security duties and aviation security through the provision of sky marshals. Clearly the NSG's involvement in VVIP security has proved controversial time and again considering it was perceived as dilution of the purpose for which the organisation was originally created.

Today the NSG assumes importance owing to the rise of terrorism within the country and globally. Neither conventional military nor police forces are capable of tackling terror threats. In view of this, the NSG, which has both army personnel who comprise its strike element and para-military personnel who perform support roles specifically trained for such missions can prove effective in terms of quick responses and surgical strike capabilities. The evolving security environment coupled with the pace of economic growth and the increased air traffic in the region, results in increased vulnerability of the country to terrorism. Given these realities the NSG has a greater role to play as a critical organ of national security in times to come.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

DON'T SLAM THE BRAKES

IF RBI RAISES INTEREST RATES NOW, IT WOULD FURTHER ENCOURAGE FUNDS TO FLOW INTO INDIA, CAUSING APPRECIATION OF THE RUPEE.

BY ALOK RAY

 

The RBI Governor has recently indicated that, in view of the inflationary pressures building up, India may have to go for tightening of monetary policy before the developed countries do so. This has created apprehension in industry circles that the days of cheap money may be over soon.

But is this the right time for a hike in interest rates in India? Most economists do not think so. Their argument rests on several pillars.

First, it is possible that the Indian economy, despite negative growth in agriculture (due to drought), may yet clock a 6 per cent plus growth rate this year. Though this is a respectable growth rate amidst a global recession, it is still much below the potential growth rate of 8 per cent plus (as indicated by the average growth rate for the latest five years before the slowdown).

There are indications (from recent industrial production and investment data) that the growth engine is gaining speed. So, if the brakes are slammed right now through increase in interest rates and reduction in liquidity, the economy may lose its momentum and it would be forced to grow much below its potential.

Further, the government of India cannot afford to run the huge fiscal deficits which it is doing now to combat the effects of global recession and drought on the Indian economy. If monetary tightening takes place along with fiscal contraction, the adverse effects on growth would be even stronger.

Second, even if there are some early signs of the developed western economies coming out of recession, there is considerable uncertainty about its durability. The private households, in particular, have suffered a huge wealth destruction caused by the fall in home and stock prices. Now they are desperately trying to build up assets by cutting down their consumption expenditures.

Since the turnaround in unemployment rate lags behind the turnaround in GDP growth rate, the fear of jobless growth is still very real in the US and Europe. This is further restraining consumption expenditures as unemployed  people are in no position to spend.

In addition, a significant part of the recovery is due to the huge stimulus packages thrown in by governments. It is not clear what would happen when the stimulus funds are gradually withdrawn by the governments in such countries which they will have to do to bring fiscal deficits to sustainable levels.

Exports vital

Despite talk of a 'decoupling effect' (meaning that the Asian economies today are much less dependent on western economies for exports and growth), a full recovery in economies like India cannot take place without the export growth rate reaching their pre-recession levels. But that may take a couple of years.

Third, the nature of the current inflation. According to WPI, the inflation rate is just above zero. By CPI measure, the inflation is in double digits. This is because the sharp rise in prices is mostly restricted to food items like rice, sugar, pulses and vegetables. In other words, the high inflation (CPI) is primarily due to sector-specific supply side factors getting worse by the drought. Since there is no general excess demand problem, the tight money policy will be ineffective to contain it.

On the contrary, restrictive monetary policy, by raising the interest cost of production and distribution operations, may increase the prices further. The measures needed to tackle the current inflation have to be supply side initiatives like offloading from buffer stocks and imports and discouraging hoarding of commodities by selective credit controls.

Fourth, the growth rate in non-food credit is still much below the pre-slowdown rate. So, there is no evidence of an excessive money supply growth in the economy.

Finally, for some time following the onset of the global financial crisis, the US dollar was steadily rising against the Indian rupee as investors and central banks were switching to the US dollar, the safe haven asset in times of global turmoil. Now that the situation has stabilised, investors are coming back to emerging markets like India.
As a result of massive capital inflows, the rupee has now started to appreciate. This would adversely affect the export industries and would have a negative impact on the growth rate. If RBI raises interest rates at this juncture, it would further encourage funds to flow to India in search of higher returns, causing further appreciation of the rupee and depressing the growth rate.

So, all considered, a general tightening of monetary policy is not the right option at this point of time. The RBI will have to keep its monetary policy (interest rates and supply of credit) tilted in favour of growth for some more time in the game of growth-inflation trade-off.

(The writer is a former professor of economics at IIM, Calcutta)

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

PROTECTIONISM WILL WORSEN THE CRISIS

FINANCIAL CRISIS IS SERIOUS, BUT IT IS NOT THE ONLY GLOBAL PROBLEM THAT AWAITS ACTION ON OUR PART.

BY PASCAL LAMY,IPS

 

World economic growth, as measured by the world's production of goods and services, has slowed abruptly in 2008 and the early part of this year. The contraction in demand led to a slowdown in production, and in international trade. World merchandise trade is projected to fall by a full 10 per cent this year, and foreign direct investment, which fell by 15 per cent in 2008, is projected to drop further.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has quickly responded to the crisis by cautioning governments against beggar-thy-neighbour policies, which have been tried in the past, in similar situations, and which have shown their gross inadequacy. It has cautioned against protectionism through a monitoring mechanism of trade restrictions that it enacted in the immediate wake of the financial crisis.

What the WTO radar shows so far is 'low-intensity' protectionism, a large number of measures whose intensity has so far remained constrained. But there should be no complacency. Rising unemployment will continue to usher in the inevitable protectionist pressures.

The impulse to go 'local' in answer to the financial crisis must be resisted. In fact, we should continue 'going global', for the simple reason that many consumers have seen their purchasing power decline, and are in need of cheaper, more competitive, goods and services, and not more expensive ones produced behind a national tariff wall.

Consumer is king

International trade helps lower the cost of goods and services to the final consumer. And it is for this reason also that it is imperative that we conclude the Doha Development Round of world trade negotiations started in November 2001. In fact, if the entire WTO community of nations were to decide to raise its applied tariff levels all the way up to WTO legal ceilings, this would raise the world's average tariff hurdle to about twice its current level. In other words, exporters would become 100 per cent worse-off than they are today if the full policy-space that the WTO provides were to be exploited.

The Doha Round would not only open new markets for exporters, but also curtail some of the existing margin of manoeuvre that could take the world backwards.

This explains why this issue has featured so highly on the G20's agenda since last year, including in Pittsburgh last summit (September 24/25). I have used  this opportunity to report to G20 leaders on the state-of-play of international trade. I said that political signals of commitment to resisting protectionism and to concluding the Doha Round in 2010 were needed. But that, as long as they do not translate into concrete engagement, declarations would not in-and-of themselves deliver an outcome. Leaders have agreed that their negotiators now embark on the work programmes that we have established for the next three months, and that they then assess our collective ability to achieve our 2010 target. It is now incumbent upon them to 'walk the talk'.

Bouncing back

Part of the contraction in world trade that we have seen in 2008 and 2009 occurred due to the drying-up of trade finance. Trade finance institutions rolled back their export credits in response to the financial crisis, having seen the number of defaults on trade contracts that had taken place. The WTO has not sat by in silence in response to the problem. It has mobilised the trade finance community and world leaders, alerting them to the downward spiral in world trade that this was leading to. Trade finance is now beginning to shore-up. It is my hope that we will soon see previous levels of trade finance restored, especially where it is most needed. In other words, for small businesses and least-developed countries.

While the financial crisis is a serious preoccupation, it is not the only global problem that awaits action on our part. It is critical as well that the international community 'seal a climate deal' at the Copenhagen Summit at the end of this year. Only through an equitable 'global' climate deal can we tackle the climate crisis effectively. We need a deal that clearly spells out the commitments of each and every player. Unilateral action of a few will not halt the climate crisis. WTO members can help by accelerating market-opening for environmental and climate-related goods and services through the Doha Round. In this way, the trade community can chip into the construction of a global climate deal; one that we certainly hope to see emerge from the Copenhagen Summit at the end of this year.

All of us must act because what is at stake is our very ability to survive.

(The writer is director-general of the World Trade Organisation)

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

THE LOVELY BOND

THE MOTHER AND CHILD WERE A PICTURE OF PERFECT BLISS AND HAPPINESS.

BY PRAVEEN MULL

 

Ever so often, I watched mother and child at play in a neighbour's garden, completely lost and entranced with each other, quite oblivious of all around them. The child, prancing and scampering energetically around the lawn, enjoying a game of 'catch-catch' with his mother in hot pursuit. Tiring finally, the pair would rest on the lush green grass, basking in the sunlight.

Total comfort and contentment writ on their faces, the pair would snuggle close to each other locked in a fond and loving embrace. Bonds of love and togetherness between the two were evident, and it was a pleasure to watch a picture of perfect bliss and happiness. Days passed by. Nothing changed between the mother and child. Only the bond between the two grew stronger and stronger.

The day dawned bright and clear like any other day. But something was missing. All was quiet in the garden. The familiar scene was missing. The pair was nowhere in sight. Where were they, I wondered.

Anxious and curious, I stepped across and spotted the mother, sitting in solitary silence in a remote corner. She appeared miserable with grief, eyes red and puffed up, her cheeks wet with tears as if her entire world had crashed. I soon learnt about the tragedy that had befallen. Apparently the child had been missing for some days, and all efforts to find him had been fruitless. Where had he disappeared? Had somebody kidnapped him or was he the victim of a hit and run vehicle?

No amount of sympathies from all around seemed to help. She remained forlorn and listless, unable to sleep or eat. As if in a trance, she kept calling out to her baby in soft mournful tones. She presented a picture of abject misery. She was indeed a heart rending sight, her suffering so acute that tears welled up in my eyes.

Time being the best healer, she gradually came to terms with her tragic loss and learnt to accept the void in her life. Slowly coming out of her seclusion, she was once again her cheerful self. And so the days passed. But, mother nature too, is a big leveller. One day, I learnt that she was expecting again. Her face glowed, as fresh hopes kindled in her breast. As she grew heavy with child, we all waited patiently for the new arrival.

And arrive they did, four bonnie kittens of all hues and colours, bringing new excitement and joy to all around!

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

NO MORE POLLARDS

 

Whatever the truth, the FBI's arrest of Stewart David Nozette in Washington Monday on charges of spying for Israel is bad news. It will provide fodder for enemies of this country and cause them to hope that the energies of the pro-Israel community will be diverted, dissipated or delegitimized. It will bolster anti-Zionist extremists across the political spectrum who promulgate the canard that Jewish Americans are guilty of dual loyalty. And though there is no evidence whatsoever that Israeli intelligence had any connection to Nozette, the arrest will reinforce the slander about Israeli spying in the US.

 

NOZETTE, BY all accounts, is an odd genius. He holds a PhD in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was his expertise - radar that can penetrate through earth and rocks - that helped establish the presence of water on the south pole of the moon.

 

The 52-year-old Maryland resident has a stunning resume, having worked for the US Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, and even the White House.

 

Nozette had high security clearance, gaining him access to top-secret material.

 

After he left full-time government service, he became a paid consultant to a defense/aerospace company in Israel - some speculate Israel Aircraft Industries - between 1998 and 2008, accruing over $225,000 in fees.

 

Was it this work that aroused suspicions in the American counterintelligence community? Did they suspect that Nozette was divulging secrets about the technology US spy satellites utilized to "see" sensitive security locations in Israel - or, perhaps, with whom the US was sharing this data?

 

In reality, there is no evidence that Nozette crossed the line in his consultancy work by giving the Israeli firm data that was top-secret.

 

Left unsaid amid the barrage of news coverage concerning the arrest is the simple truth that the US does spy on Israel and - who knows - maybe withholds information it is morally bound to share.

 

At any rate, in January of this year, Nozette left the US carrying computer disks, content unknown, that American counterespionage apparently believes were turned over to someone while he was abroad.

 

Perhaps because the FBI didn't have proof of any of its suspicions - let alone hard evidence that would stand up in court - the decision was made to entrap him.

 

Or was the case ignited by a weird comment Nozette was reported by a colleague to have made, that he would travel to Israel or some another country and "tell them everything he knows" were he ever arrested - presumably for a crime having nothing to do with espionage?

 

Whatever the impetus, on September 3, Nozette received a phone call from an FBI man identifying himself as an Israeli secret agent. It seems incredible, but within days, Nozette - long retired from the US government - was duped into delivering envelopes containing supposedly sensitive materials about American intelligence capabilities.

 

NOZETTE IS said to be Jewish. It's plain, however, that neither ideology nor ethnicity served as a catalyst for his alleged treason.

 

"Don't expect me to do this for free," he told the FBI agent posing as a Mossad operative.

 

At another point he said, "I thought I was working for you already," referring to the the payments he had previously received for his consultancy work.

 

In the words of Channing D. Phillips, acting US attorney for the District of Columbia: "This case reflects our firm resolve to hold accountable any individual who betrays the public trust by compromising our national security for his or her own personal gain."

 

SOME WILL see this case as part of an ongoing vendetta by US counterespionage against Israel - contributing to an overzealousness that has seen some of its cases thrown out of court. The feud purportedly stems from a conviction in Washington that an Israeli "super mole" infiltrated the US government and that until Jerusalem admits this and makes amends, the witch-hunts will go on.

 

But Israel's position since the 1984 Pollard affair is that it does not spy on the United States.

 

The Nozette case only reinforces the need to adhere strictly to this promise and not to let anything undermine the special relationship between our two countries.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

IN MY OWN WRITE: UGLY CAN BE BEAUTIFUL

JUDY MONTAGU

 

Anything more than a passing acquaintance on my part with rock and other modern music is down to one of two people: my 20-something daughter, Avital, and my brother, Leonard, a London-based entertainment lawyer who has spent decades in the music business. When I'm over for a visit, he's likely to put on a CD by a singer he favors and await my reaction.

 

Thus was I first exposed, a couple of years ago, to California-born veteran rocker Tom Waits. My introduction to his oeuvre was "What's He Building in There?," whose brilliant, sly lyrics parodying the suspicious small-town mind are spoken, not sung, and whose effect is spooky, to say the least.

 

Listening to more, I strongly sensed that this Waits was an acquired taste - one, moreover, that my brother's family were determined not to acquire. Any mention of his name, any move to play his songs, elicited loud cries of disapproval.

 

My brother was clearly a fan; the family clearly weren't; and I was undecided - until the day I left, when my brother drove me to the airport and on the way played two melancholy Waits ballads: "On the Nickel" and "Ruby's Arms." I was so utterly taken with both that I refused to get out of the car until he had promised to send me the songs.

 

FOR those unacquainted with the singer, here are some descriptions of his vocal abilities - all, I can now confirm, fairly accurate:

 

"Tom Waits' voice is like the serenade of a drunken train engineer who is aiming the train into the side of a cliff."

 

"Tom Waits' voice is like broken glass and gravel and fingernails scraping on a blackboard."

 

And from the London Times's Richard Owen in 2007: "One critic described [Waits'] voice as sounding 'like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car.'"

 

ON THE face of it, it's difficult to fathom how a voice which runs the gamut between a growling whisper and a hoarse bark, with only the rare errant sweet note, could have a claim to beauty. And yet many of Waits' songs are beautiful - haunting, insightful, poignant and deeply touching.

 

Part of it is the highly original lyrics and arrangements, including some which soar into exquisite orchestral music (a treatment Waits has, regrettably, largely eschewed since the mid-1980s, calling it too stifling); but the beauty is undisputedly centered in the singer himself - a performer who paradoxically has, over the decades, cultivated an image of personal weirdness.

 

WHICH prompts the question: How can ugly be beautiful?

 

"Waits is unique," my brother reflected. "There's no-one else like him. His music reaches down into a place where other music doesn't go - probably too scared of who or what it might find there!"

 

While a song like the pretend-German "Kommienezuspedt" - in which Waits sounds alternately like someone being strangled and the one doing the strangling - is admittedly hard to stomach, other tracks from the same album, Alice (2002), are outstanding, each one different, each a surprise, whether bizarre ("Everything You Can Think"; "We're All Mad Here"), offbeat ("No-One Knows I'm Gone"; "Lost in the Harbour"), sultry ("Alice"; "Watch Her Disappear"), or deceptively simple ("Flower's Grave"; "I'm Still Here"). There's even a track ("Reeperbahn") with a strong klezmer influence.

 

And if you still don't believe the man's an original, listen to "Poor Edward" and "Table Top Joe."

 

"He's up there with the best that popular music has ever produced," my brother said. "It's a case of expect the unexpected - for example, the contrast created when that wrecked voice sings the tenderest of ballads. It gives them a raw honesty, an openness and an authenticity."

 

I have to agree; I've listened to "Ruby's Arms" (1980) on dozens of occasions, and been moved each time.
So here's an attempted answer to my own question: What looks like ugliness can open the way to a deeper, unexpected beauty.

 

CHANCES are you've probably sat with a child or grandchild and watched Walt Disney's delightful film Beauty and the Beast, and I wonder whether you share my feeling: that the Beast is far more interesting - and appealing - in his beastly persona. Once the spell is removed from the castle and he returns to being, as it were, a mere prince, he becomes a rather plasticky, Ken-like figure - that amazing transformation scene notwithstanding.

 

Is the Beast ugly? One would have to say yes. And yet, there's a beauty there, too - an authenticity, as my brother put it, that makes one look beneath his surface appearance.

 

For what? For character, for individuality, and - amusing as it sounds in this particular context - for humanity.

 

A FEW years ago, American David Horvath and his wife Sun-Min Kim co-created a toy line that has become hyper-popular. They called it Ugly Dolls, and named their company - what else? - Pretty Ugly. In 2005, it brought in over $2.5 million in sales.

 

A earlier generation of little girls had gone gaga over Cabbage Patch Kids - a range of soft, fat-faced dolls that looked as if they spent every spare minute stuffing themselves with food until they were about ready to burst. Appealing? Legions of preteens thought so.

 

Horvath's mother designed toys for Mattel. "She would bring home her beautiful unique prototypes, but when I saw them in the toy store, they looked the same as everything else," Horvath told Time magazine.

 

Was he intimating that beauty can be... boring?

 

LET'S be honest here. Almost every person alive, asked if they would rather be beautiful or ugly, wouldn't hesitate to say the former. Physical beauty is a calling card with the potential to smooth the path of life for its possessor in ways that make the rest of us envious, sometimes resentful.

 

Never mind that it can shape its owner's personality in problematic ways and create its own kind of insecurity; modern society worships beauty, and modern man - especially woman - is ready to suffer in sometimes unbelievable ways to achieve it.

 

And yet those who lack conventional good looks needn't despair. There's a reason why those offbeat dolls are so well-loved: because they strike a human chord.

 

We have flaws? So do they. We're less than physically ideal? So are they. How comforting.

 

It's true that Barbies, with their chocolate-box prettiness, have maintained their popularity, but important to remember: They aren't the supreme, or only, model for feminine appeal.

 

Does any normal woman have legs that long?

 

MANY years ago, a British Sunday newspaper carried out an interesting experiment. It took portraits of some of the most beautiful actresses and other legendary celebrities - Marilyn Monroe was one - and superimposed them on top of each other. Ditto with the most-admired men.

 

The premise was that the resulting two images, an amalgam of all those stunning features, would be a super-beautiful man and a super-beautiful woman.

 

The result was disappointing. In each case, the final picture was an uninspiring, ordinary looking face that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. The reason? I think it was because the individuality, the human particularity, had been obliterated.

 

Whoever coined the expression "Beauty is skin-deep" clearly knew what they were talking about.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

GRAPEVINE: PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE

GREER FAY CASHMAN

 

  MOST FOREIGN heads of state and government visit Yad Vashem when they come here. It's not unusual for heads of state to visit on consecutive days. Two on the same day is highly unusual. Two at the same time is even more so, but that's what happened on Tuesday. Croatian President Stjepan Mesic arrived at around 10 a.m. and was followed by Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov who arrived at 11 a.m., while Mesic was still in the complex. Their respective visits overlapped by half an hour.

 

Ivanov is the first Macedonian president to visit Israel. At the end of last week he was in Turkey. Both Mesic and Ivanov are here to participate in the Presidential Conference "Facing Tomorrow." The two met separately with President Shimon Peres on Monday, but at the end of the day returned to the same Jerusalem hotel - the King David.

 

Ivanov told Peres that it had long been his dream to come here. His visit is particularly exciting for Hebrew speaking Macedonian Ambassador Pajo Avirovik, who presented his credentials to Peres less than a month ago and who accompanied his president to Beit Hanassi. Avirovik is Macedonia's first resident ambassador to Israel.

 

  AS EXCITING as a profession in the fourth estate might be, it's not a pretty business. It's cutthroat competition in which ethics are sometimes swept aside in the interests of immediacy - more so since the advent of the Internet. Yet in times of trouble, media people can be relied on to give moral and other boosts to colleagues and even rivals. Thus it was hardly surprising to see the huge turnout of photographers and print journalists, most of them from The Jerusalem Report and The Jerusalem Post, including people who've had a relationship with both, at the photo exhibition "Life in a Frame," featuring portraits by Argentina-born photographer Esteban Alterman, who for 18 years has been the staff photographer at The Jerusalem Report.

 

A very positive person, who according to Hanan Sher, a former longtime editor with the Report, was always involved with the subject matter, because he was more than a photographer - he was a photojournalist. However it would seem that Alterman's days as a photographer may be restricted to what is left in his files. He has been stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive degenerative disease which will rob him of the use of his limbs. Spurred by restaurant co-owner Lara Mor, founding editor of the Report Hirsh Goodman and others who appreciate Alterman as a human being, a friend and a top-ranking photographer, an exhibition of his works was mounted at the Jerusalem Theater, and will remain there till November 12.

 

Israel Prize laureate and the country's best known photographer David Rubinger was recruited as editor of the exhibition and gladly took on the role, although he later made light of his contribution. Declaring himself to be "very impressed" by Alterman's work and his ability to show more in a portrait than just a face, Rubinger noted that in the Internet era there are no longer outlets for good photographers, which is why exhibitions documenting reality were desperately needed. "Without them our profession is doomed," he said.

 

Among the other photographers who came to give Alterman moral support were Ariel Jerozolimski, whom Alterman described as not only a good friend, but "my driver and my hands"; Sasson Tiram who is holding his own exhibition at the Hebrew University on October 30; Isaac Harari and Sarah Levin, as well as people behind the bylines such as David Horovitz, Sharon Ashley, Leslie Susser, Isabel Kershner, Netty Gross, Alvin and Gilah Hoffmann, Ralph Amelan, Calev Ben-David, Eeta Prince Gibson, Ina Friedman, Judy Siegel, Liat Collins, Ruthie Blum, Susan Lerner, Elliot Jager, Jean-Michel Rykner and many others. Also present was Bridget Silver, the wife of the late Eric Silver, whose writings appeared in publications in different parts of the world, and whose byline was frequently seen in The Jerusalem Report.

 

Alterman's parents, whose emotions were vividly reflected on their faces, were likewise in attendance, as were his wife Alejandra and his children Tamar and Yonatan, who handed out roses to people who had been most involved in putting the exhibition together - among them curator Noga-Arad Ayalon. A grant from The Jerusalem Post Group made the exhibition possible.

 

Cheerful, though confined to a wheelchair, Alterman went through a list of thank yous, and said that on the night before the opening of the exhibition, he had realized that it meant more than portraits. It was an expression of friendship and solidarity, for which at the end of the day he had one word - "gracias!"

 

  IN ANOTHER part of the same building complex Canadian Ambassador Jon Allen, temporarily shed his diplomatic role and became the photographer at the opening of an exhibition of acrylic paintings and photographs by his wife Polish-born wife Clara Hirsch. Called "Marking Time" the exhibition is the history of a migrant family in which the parents, both Holocaust survivors, who lost their first families, start life anew after the war. Many of the visitors were eager to hear from Hirsch what it was like for her and her brother to leave Poland, to go to Austria and from there to Canada, where her father ran a grocery store, and where the language at home was Yiddish. The exhibition will remain on view till November 15.

 

  SOME OF the guests who joined Indian Ambassador Navtej Singh Sarna and his wife Avina in celebrating Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, were already exhausted before they arrived, having danced the previous night away till 3 a.m. at a Diwali party at the Port of Tel Aviv hosted by the Indian diamond merchants residing here. Others had attended a spectacular Chinese variety show at the Israel Opera House in Tel Aviv, but everyone was willing to party yet again.

 

Following a reception in the back garden which looked like fairyland, with candles in glasses surrounding the pool and hundreds of tiny colored lights festooning the trees and shrubs, everyone moved to the front garden to watch traditional Indian dance recitals by Yuval Cohen and Miho Kataoka Erlich. At the conclusion of their remarkable performances, Sarna commented to one of the guests: "This really shows that we're outsourcing our culture to Israel and Japan."

 

Among those gathered at the residence were celebrated restaurateurs Reena and Vinod Pushkarna; Yitzhak Eldan, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Protocol Department; Bahai representatives in Jerusalem Barbara and Kern Wisman; V. Sasikala, CEO of the Tel Aviv branch of the State Bank of India; Indian-born Linda Rifkind, who for 25 years was the foreign press liaison at the Government Press Office and now works in a similar capacity on a freelance basis for the GPO and other organizations; Cameroon Ambassador Henri Etoundi Essomba, the dean of the diplomatic corps, and the and his wife Esther; Japanese Ambassador Yoshinori Katori; Nigerian Ambassador Dada Olisa and his wife Janet; Egyptian deputy head of mission Sameh el-Souefi; and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer and his wife Rhoda. Apropos Fischer, he has been named as one of the world's top seven bankers by Global Finance Magazine.

 

Nearly all the Indian women present, including the ambassador's wife, were clad in exquisite, eye-catching

saris.

 

  RELATIONS BETWEEN Israel and Poland are becoming ever closer. Hard on the heels of the official visit to Poland last week by Defense Minister Ehud Barak is the visit to Israel this week by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski who met with Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Sikorski met with Barak when he was in Poland.

 

  IT'S AN organization with a constantly changing membership. Some of its presidents leave before the completion of their one-year term - and yet the International Women's Club currently headed by Margarita Stegny, the wife of the Russian ambassador, last week celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv. Among those present was Aviva Zak who four decades ago was among the founding members of the IWC which came into being over a game of bridge hosted by the wife of the then deputy head of mission of the US embassy. The women agreed that they needed some sort of a club to foster mutual understanding and friendship.

 

The club now has more than 400 members, half of whom are Israeli and the other half female diplomats, spouses of diplomats and wives of foreign academics, business people and others currently stationed here. Zak said that she never imagined that 40 years after the club was started, that there would still be a need for it. A nostalgic slide presentation of the history of the IWC was prepared and narrated by multitalented Ann Kleinberg, who wove her tale against the backdrop of world events and the history of modern Israel. The presentation included photographs of members who have left the country as well as deceased members, thereby paying tribute to some women who helped to make a difference.

 

Stegny organized first class entertainment by the Katyusha group of Russian singers, dancers and musicians, who absolutely delighted the audience with their individual and collective talents.

 

Luncheon was served buffet style in another hall, and executive chef Charlie Fadida came in for many compliments for the quality and variety of the dairy meal. Fadida made a point of personally waiting on Stegny and vice president Yaffa Weinberg. On the following day, Stegny, who has been doing a lot of commuting between Tel Aviv and Moscow, was again off to Moscow, this time to shepherd her infant twin grandchildren home after their stay with her and the ambassador at their residence in Herzliya Pituah.

 

  EVEN THOUGH his country was one of the 25 member states of the UN Human Rights Council that voted to adopt the Goldstone report that so strongly castigates Israel's conduct in Operation Cast Lead, there is no doubt about the warmth that outgoing Nigerian Ambassador Dada Olisa feels toward Israel. Olisa, who has reached retirement age and is winding up his diplomatic career was emotionally positive in his address at the reception that he and his wife Janet hosted at their residence in Kfar Shmaryahu to mark the 49th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. More than that, when it came to the playing of the national anthems, Janet Olisa, a diplomat in her own right, sang "Hatikva."

 

Another interesting aspect of the occasion was that in contrast to previous years, the catering was kosher and sufficiently varied to enable all guests, including vegans and vegetarians, to find something to their liking and in keeping with their beliefs. As they have done in the past, the Olisas and members of the embassy chose to wear the national dress of their country, with the women crowning their costumes with magnificent head-dresses. Janet Olisa looked particularly striking in her full-blown, tangerine-hued headdress.

 

Regardless of the Goldstone report, there has been remarkable progress in relations between Nigeria and Israel since Olisa's arrival in 2007, with Nigeria's Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as well as its foreign minister paying visits. Olisa also mentioned the success of Lieberman's recent visit to Nigeria, during which there were two business forums with Nigerian and Israeli participants and the signing of a bilateral trade agreement. The number of Nigerian pilgrims to Israel has increased from 11,000 to 20,000. Olisa also noted that at least 100 Israelis per month are making first visits to Nigeria.

 

Making no effort to hide his personal attitude, Olisa said: "I have been to every nook and cranny in Israel, and in each place I am reminded that God has a special plan for this land." Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Begin also commented on the enhanced diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with Nigeria and praised it for promoting stability and democracy in West Africa. He made a last ditch appeal for Nigeria to vote against the adoption of the Goldstone report, but to no avail.

 

  THE MULTIMEDIA presentation "The World that Was," endowed by the British Friends of Yad Vashem, was unveiled last week in Yad Vashem's Valley of the Communities. The short film, available in Hebrew and English, depicts the richness and vitality of 2,000 years of Jewish life and culture before the Holocaust. Fittingly it is screened in the valley, a 2.5 acre memorial to the more than 5,000 Jewish communities decimated in the Holocaust. More than 100 stone walls tower above the ground, and are engraved with the names of each of those communities, a testament to what was and no longer exists.

 

Speaking in barely controlled tones, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, who was a child in the Holocaust and whose book on those experiences is now being translated into Chinese, underscored the importance of not just talking about how people perished and the horrific ways in which their lives ended, but remembering who those 6 million Jews were and the communities which nurtured them. "If someone doesn't appreciate a phenomenon, he will not feel any pain if that phenomenon ceases to exits," he said

 

BFYV chairman Brian Markeson emphasized that "it is essential to learn what was lost in the Shoah in order to understand its implications." He reiterated the dedication of the trustees to "raising the profile of Yad Vashem in the UK in order to support and enable its initiatives and educational efforts."

 

  SIGNIFICANT ANNIVERSARIES bring major players in events being celebrated out of the mothballs of history. Some of these people are retirees, and some have gone on to confront new career challenges. There will be a little of both on Monday, when past and present Jordanian, Israeli and American diplomats get together at the Hebrew University's Abba Eban conference hall in the Truman Institute to mark the 15th anniversary of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.

 

Among the speakers will be Prof. Ruth Lapidot, a former legal counsel to the Foreign Ministry, who will discuss the points of similarity and divergence between Israel's peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt; Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon; US Ambassador James Cunningham; Jordanian Ambassador Ali al-Ayed; Ambassador to Jordan Ya'acov Rosen; former US ambassador to Israel William Brown; Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, who chaired the Israel delegation in the peace negotiations; General (res.) Mansour Abu Rashid, Jordan's former chief of intelligence who chairs the Amman Center for Peace and Development; Ambassador Munther Haddadin, former minister of water and irrigation and a member of the Jordanian delegation to the peace negotiations; as well as several academics, interfaith and coexistence activists.

 

AGE IS no deterrent to Raya Jaglom, the feisty veteran Zionist activist whose primary concerns were women, children and education. After spending the summer in Switzerland and France, the 90-year-old Jaglom returned to become enraged by the news surrounding the plan to deport 1,200 children of foreign workers. She immediately got to work to mount a protest. Initially she wanted to bring busloads of women who had participated in the building of the nation to Jerusalem, and there were indeed several women in their 70s and 80s who were willing to stand outside the Prime Minister's Office in the grueling heat. But there were others who were afraid that it would be detrimental to the health of the protesters, so the compromise was a plan to place protest advertisements in two major newspapers.

 

Within less than a week, Jaglom had rounded up more than 60 people who supported her initiative. She finds it repugnant that the government of a nation whose people were so frequently persecuted throughout the ages, should be so heartless in relation to children, who though not citizens were born and raised here.

 

A somewhat younger activist on behalf of these youngsters is Noa Maiman, the daughter of business tycoon Yossi Maiman. The granddaughter of a nonagenarian Holocaust survivor, who has a Peruvian caregiver whose child is in danger of deportation, Noa Maiman is committed to repaying in kind the humane attitude of a Polish gentile woman who hid her grandmother from the Nazis for two and a half years. While she does not make any kind of comparison between the situation that confronted her grandmother and that of the children whom she is trying to save, she has arranged for many hiding places for those children who do not receive a reprieve.

 

Maiman and her father were among leading personalities who this week attended the opening at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Tel Aviv owned by businessman Ronald Fuhrer, of a photographic exhibition "Children Living under the Shadow of Deportation." She initiated the exhibition which was attended by Ministers Gideon Sa'ar, Avishay Braverman, Limor Livnat and Yossi Peled who was a child Holocaust survivor. Former ministers MK Yuli Tamir and Yossi Sarid also came to demonstrate their support, as did present and former MKs Nitzan Horowitz and Yael Dayan.

 

  SEVERAL YEARS ago when Haim Yavin was CEO at Israel Television, he was invited to speak at the Jerusalem Bar Association at a award ceremony at which the honoree was fellow veteran broadcaster Ya'acov Ahimeir. Yavin referred to the topsy-turvy media world in which there is so much role changing in that someone who is subservient to a boss on one day becomes the boss's boss the next. It could easily happen, he surmised at the time, that Ahimeir could take over from him and that he in turn, would do Ahimeir's job. That didn't happen, although Yavin was replaced as CEO by another colleague.

 

Now, he's changing roles again. Last year, Yavin was given a life achievement award by the Association of Israel Journalists. This year, on November 29, he will be the emcee at the presentation of life achievement awards at the annual Eilat Journalists Conference organized by the Association of Israel Journalists. Recipients will be Yaron London and Moti Kirschenbaum - both former colleagues of Yavin's - in recognition of their contributions to the electronic media; and Sever Plocker, the economics editor of Yediot Aharonot.

 

The awards ceremony will be preceded by an address by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who celebrates his 60th birthday today. Traditionally, the prime minister used to address the editors of Israeli newspapers, magazines and electronic media at a November 29 luncheon at Beit Sokolov, which is the headquarters of the AJI. Since the advent of the Eilat Journalists Conference, the Prime Minister now addresses a much wider media audience.

 

November 29 is the date on which the United Nations in 1947 adopted a resolution on the partition of Palestine, paving the way for the establishment of the State of Israel.

 

  NOTHING IS forever, even a long-lasting tradition. Guests who have attended the annual Day of German Unity hosted by a series of German ambassadors, have become accustomed to participating in a raffle in which the prizes were expensive household electric products provided by German sponsors. Many guests cheated by taking several of the free tickets from the baskets held by staff members of the German Embassy, who moved among the crowd gathered on the ambassador's back lawn.

 

This year, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of reunification between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, some guests expected even better prizes than in previous years. But no. At the reception hosted by Ambassador Harald Kindermann and his wife Ingrid, there was more room than usual in which to move around because there were no German luxury cars parked in the garden and there was no raffle. However, there was a representative of the government in the person of Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled.

 

  AS IT does each year, the Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association is hosting a Balfour Dinner to commemorate the November 1917 Balfour declaration. The usual practice at such dinners is to have two speakers, one from the United Kingdom and the other from Israel. Speakers at this year's dinner at the Tel Aviv Hilton on November 2 will be MP John Mann, who chairs the parliamentary committee against anti-Semitism, and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni.

 

IBCA rarely has a function Jerusalem, primarily because the bulk of its membership lives on the Coastal Plain. Jerusalemites who usually travel to Tel Aviv, Herzliya Pituah and Ramat Gan for IBCA functions will be spared the trouble on Monday, November 23, when IBCA in conjunction with the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland will host a panel discussion in the Weizmann Hall of the Jewish Agency. The event to be chaired by Andrew Balcombe, chairman of the ZF UK, will feature British Ambassador Tom Phillips, executive director of NGO Monitor Gerald Steinberg, former for the Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Miri Eisin and Daniel Taub, the principal deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry. Advertised as "Any Questions?" the event will be a no holds barred affair, but one that the organizers stipulate will be conducted in a thoroughly civilized manner. Tickets are NIS 75 if paid for on the night and NIS 50 if paid in advance. For details, contact IBCA chairman Austen Science at (054) 761-2306

 

  HIS AMERICAN-born friends, especially those from the Yeshiva of Flatbush and from Yeshiva University, were thrilled by the appointment to the Supreme Court of New York-born Neal Hendel. Hendel is not the first American-born judge here, nor the first to serve on the Supreme Court. That honor belonged to Kentucky-born Shimon Agranat, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1949 and served as its president from 1965 to 1976. Agranat's name is enshrined in history as having headed the commission that investigated the circumstances under which Israel entered the Yom Kippur War.

 

Current Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch is not only the first woman president but the first sabra president. All her predecessors, with the exception of Agranat, were born in Europe. Beinisch still has a few years to go before reaching mandatory retirement age of 70.

 

greerfc@gmail.com

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

IN THE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, DON'T FORGET ABOUT SYRIA

BENNETT RAMBERG

 

Renewed international efforts to reign in Iran's atomic program have shrouded another unresolved Middle East nuclear challenger, Syria. The International Atomic Energy Agency's failure to get Damascus to reveal the history of its secret nuclear reactor and related elements raise troubling questions not simply about the Assad regime's nuclear intentions but, more fundamentally, about the ability of the IAEA to act as an effective watchdog. Unless Syria provides a full accounting, its successful stonewalling will only serve further to undermine international efforts to curb proliferation.

 

International awareness that Syria poses a nuclear threat emerged only in September 2007 when it is believed that Israeli aircraft destroyed the nuclear plant under construction in the country's remote northeast desert.

 

The attack generated a surprisingly muted response from Damascus and Jerusalem, but in Vienna, the IAEA condemned the strike arguing that Israel should have informed the agency about Syria's installation. Israel's unwillingness reflected a common and growing uneasiness that the IAEA has become a hollow instrument to ferret out nuclear cheaters or reverse them once revealed. The result - Jerusalem, unwilling to risk international dithering, allegedly took matters into its own hands.

 

THE SEPTEMBER 2009 meetings of the agency's 35 nation Board of Governors and the General Conference - the annual conclave of the IAEA's entire membership - sustained growing apprehensions about Middle East nuclear proliferation but focused on Israel to abandon its program. The General Conference only gently rapped the knuckles of Syria and Iran, calling on both "to cooperate fully with the IAEA within the framework of their respective obligations."

 

The statement reflected a "coaxing" strategy - repeated requests that nuclear transgressors provide transparency and eliminate contraband - that has become the agency's trademark to constrain violators. The approach builds on the hope that calibrated calls for openness can prompt transgressors to feel more comfortable with revelation. However, too often the response is otherwise. Violators throw a few bones followed by agency demands for more. The dance repeats but never comes to a satisfactory non-proliferation conclusion.

 

The Iran case illustrates. Coaxing discouraged the revolutionary regime from bolting the non-proliferation treaty while tethering it to safeguards on declared nuclear sites. Coaxing also generated IAEA inspector access to sites otherwise unavailable for review, but not "comprehensive" nuclear transparency. But the policy also allowed Teheran to buy time to build a nuclear weapons breakout capacity.

 

Evidently, Syria has learned much from the Iranian experience as it denies agency requests for a full explanation of its nuclear enterprise. The behavior reveals why coaxing that buys time wastes time to promote accountability.

 

Syria, which became an NPT party in 1968, applied safeguards to a small research reactor in Damascus in 1992. The agreement required Syria to inform the IAEA about any planned nuclear installations. The alleged Israeli strike clearly spoke to the Assad regime's failure to do so.

 

In a time line provided by Washington eight months later, officials traced the origins of the Dair Alzour reactor to a collaborative North Korean undertaking that broke ground in 2001. Israeli operatives confirmed the facility's weapons potential prior to the assault, although there remains the mystery of how Damascus intended to extract weapons usable plutonium absent a chemical extraction plant.

 

Following the attack, the IAEA attempted to get Syria to clarify the plant's purpose. Ten months would pass before Damascus allowed inspectors access to the site. Syria used the interim to demolish the installation's skeleton. It then buried its foundation, plowed over the ground and built a structure over the remains. It removed debris to an undisclosed location. Despite the cover-up, inspectors found uranium particles in soil samples. Syria unsatisfactorily explained that the residue came from Israeli munitions that destroyed the plant.

 

IN FOUR reports published by the agency since 2007, Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei repeatedly called upon an "uncooperative" Damascus to reveal the facility's function, the uranium residue and the location of debris carted away. He also requested access to three additional suspect sites. Syria stonewalled.

 

Damascus' repeated resistance to transparency naturally raises questions about what the Assad regime is hiding. But Syria's behavior also begs a response to an equally fundamental matter: How ought the international community deal with current and future violators? Evidently coaxing does not work. Transgressors see coaxing as IAEA impotence. Change requires the agency and the Security Council to replace the practice with meaningful "benchmarks" enforced by with "time certain" sanctions that nuclear violators cannot ignore.

 

In the months to come the IAEA will have an opportunity to strengthen its policing function, with a new director-general in December followed in May 2010 with the important NPT Review Conference that convenes every five years. The meeting offers an opportunity for attendees to press the Security Council to authorize the IAEA to be more assertive with nuclear violators. The practice is long overdue.

 

The writer served as a State Department policy analyst during the George H.W. Bush administration and as a consultant to the US Senate, Rand, Nuclear Control Institute, Henry Stimson Center, Global Green and Committee to Bridge the Gap.

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

CAUGHT IN THE PARTISAN CROSSFIRE

JONATHAN TOBIN

 

The loyalty of most American Jews to the Democratic Party and their current leader President Barack Obama is not in question. Yet while the ideology of the majority of their members and contributors is no secret, most major Jewish organizations, not to mention synagogues, attempt to stay out of partisan controversies, even while often espousing liberal causes. Most sensible people understand that these days the Jews and Israel have friends on both sides of the aisle, and it is bad politics as well as bad policy to forget that.

 

But in the partisan rage of the moment, some Democratic partisans want to eschew this common sense approach and to deploy the full force of organized American Jewry to demonize critics of the Obama administration. Their rationale is that some right-wing critics of Obama and especially his plans to change America's health care system compared the president to Hitler and his programs to Nazism. Peter Keating of New York Magazine recently wrote that Jewish groups ought to inject themselves into the health care debate on this shaky premise and wondered at their reluctance.

 

SUCH COMPARISONS are, of course, not merely over-the-top insults but vile. Say what you will about the faults of Obama-care as well as the absurd cult of personality that has grown up around the president, but neither he nor his party can or should be compared to the Nazis. Obama is besotted with some very bad ideas, but he is the elected leader of a democracy and no totalitarian. Hitler murdered 6 million Jews and launched a genocidal war that took the lives of tens of millions of others. Any comparison between the two or of liberal Democrats with Nazis says everything about the people who make such comparisons and nothing about Obama. The simple rule for rational politics is that anyone who invokes Hitler loses the debate as well as the respect of right-thinking citizens.

 

The promiscuous use of the word "holocaust" to describe anything bad (I knew we were in trouble several years ago when an episode of X-Files had one of the heroes saying that a mysterious happening in a lake that killed amphibians was a "frog holocaust") has gotten out of hand. Indeed, Keating notes that recently a Democratic member of Congress decried our current system of health care as a "Holocaust in America."

 

But what liberal polemicists like Keating as well as other members of the Obama cheerleading squad want from Jewish groups aren't merely press releases or the usual attempts at education and outreach in response to such offenses. What they desire is a full-court press of the entire organized Jewish world whose aim is to take down Obama's critics and effectively tar all such dissenters from our Nobel laureate leader's plans with the brush of extremism, if not anti-Semitism.

 

Obama asked sympathetic rabbis to speak up for his health care plans in their High Holy Day sermons. Some not only complied on that score but also weighed in by characterizing opponents as part of an extremist mind-set that threatens American Jews. The goal of such a stand isn't just to pass a bill they like but to intimidate all those who take the name of Obama in vain, not just people who foolishly circulate goofy e-mails about his place of birth or religion. It is opposition to Obama-care and those who worry about Obama's predilection for government power at home and appeasement of tyranny abroad that liberals wish to silence.

 

But if most Jewish groups, which are, contrary to the myths propagated by the anti-Israel left, mostly populated by mainstream liberals and not conservatives, are reluctant to join in this fray, they have good reason.

 

The most obvious reason is that although the general outrage heard from liberals about the nature of the criticism of Obama treats the use of Nazi analogies as something new, it isn't. For the entire eight years of the administration of George W. Bush, such invective was commonplace. There is virtually nothing nasty that has been put about by the nuts on the right about Obama that wasn't already spewed by the left about Bush and Richard Cheney. Liberals pretend that there is something particularly dangerous about right-wingers who get up at town hall meetings and rant about expanding government power. But what exactly is the difference between such persons and many anti-war protesters who often used intemperate and insulting rhetoric about Bush as well as being just as contemptuous about the right of others to free speech?

 

LIBERALS CHOSE not to notice the excesses of Code Pink provocateurs or the nonsense spouted by the Moveon.org crowd when they were portraying Bush and Cheney as totalitarians extinguishing the flame of American liberty. But when right-wingers behave badly, it isn't merely protesters losing perspective but the thin edge of a new wave of racism and anti-Semitism (the irony that the demonization of the State of Israel is primarily a left-wing phenomenon is lost on those who make such accusations). When left-wingers take to the streets, liberals say it is democracy in action; when right-wingers do the same, they invoke the shade of the Klan and Father Coughlin.

 

Keating is right when he says "injecting Hitler analogies into subjects like Medicare reimbursement rates renders the Holocaust mundane, as though Nazis simply supported big government, rather than genocide." But that was just as true when liberals were trying to compare Bush's successful counterterrorism tactics against al-Qaida and other Islamists to that of Hitler's Gestapo.

 

We are currently living through one of the most partisan moments in American history. Starting with Bill Clinton and proceeding through the presidencies of first Bush and now Obama, we have had chief executives who have induced what is rightly termed derangement among their critics.

 

Both sides of the political divide are guilty at times of hypocritically judging their opponents more harshly than their allies. Not very long ago some on the right were happy to brand Bush-bashers as un-American or unpatriotic, a stance that liberals found intolerable since it blurred the very real distinction between extremists and mainstream dissent. Today, the left is trying to play the same game in dealing with Obama-bashers. But this is not a pastime in which those who claim to represent American Jewry should play a part.

 

While Jewish groups have an obligation to hold those who employ Holocaust analogies accountable, they would do well to stay out of the sort of partisan crossfire into which Obama's foot soldiers would like to fling them.

 

The writer is executive editor of Commentary Magazine where he blogs at www.commentarymagazine.com.
jtobin@commentarymagazine.com

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

SHIDDUCH CRISIS? WHAT SHIDDUCH CRISIS?

CHANANYA WEISSMAN

 

What is one supposed to do when a respected rabbi makes a pronouncement that is disconnected from logic and reality? Is he supposed to convince himself that he doesn't know better, can't possibly know better? Is he supposed to keep quiet, lest the thought police bludgeon his dissent? Should he risk bringing serious social retribution upon his family for challenging the cozy illusions many have about their leaders and their society?

 

What if it is not one rabbi making this wayward pronouncement but 60?

 

That is what happened earlier this month with a letter signed by 60 prominent rabbis.

 

"It has recently been revealed [by whom, Elijah the prophet?] that the primary cause of the [shidduch crisis] is that boys frequently prefer girls who are a few years younger... Since every year our population grows, the result is that there are always more girls in need of a shidduch than there are available boys."

 

The letter strongly urges shadhanim [matchmakers] to push shidduchim[matches] in which there is a minimal age gap between the boy and girl, or for the girl to be older.

 

For years we were told that there is no crisis in the "frum world," only in the "modern world." Then a crisis was grudgingly acknowledged but blamed on scapegoats like television, movies and the Internet, implying that good Jews who avoided these contaminants faced no crisis. Then we were told the problem was simply that singles are too picky, or that some girls are not "cut out" for the holy kollel lifestyle, or that we should learn from the arranged marriages of the hassidic world, where everything is always swell.

 

But no. It has finally been revealed that the heart of the problem is a shortage of eligible men and too wide an age gap in shidduchim. All those other issues I've been writing about for seven years? Mere spilled ink it seems. I'm a little embarrassed.

 

THE PROPOSED solution of these signatories is even more bizarre than their determination of the problem. For one thing, it is self-contradictory. The problem assumes that more girls are being born than boys, thus exacerbating the gender disparity over time. But the proposed solution - manipulate men to marry older women - is predicated on the assumption that if we can only buy some time things will even out. In other words, the incoming crop of singles will have more men than women. Wrap your head around that.

 

It gets worse. This fancy cocktail of demography, sociology, mathematics and mythology is really nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. Let's assume that there really are far more eligible women than men. And let's assume we can manipulate the men to marry the oldest women in the pool. What will happen to all the younger women who remain? They will simply age and become older singles. What problem exactly have we solved here?

 

There are a finite number of men and a finite number of women, and each shidduch takes one of each out of the group. You can play with the numbers all you want, but you can't escape that simple fact. More men will not magically appear if we manipulate who marries whom and try to buy some time. Did Bernie Madoff come up with this idea?

 

Just as the thought police will rant that I should have more faith in these rabbis, I will counter that these rabbis should have more faith in the sages and God. After all, the Gemara at the beginning of Sotah famously teaches that 40 days before birth a heavenly voice declares the daughter of so-and-so will marry the son of so-and-so. In other words, God created a soul mate for everyone.

 

Do they deny the veracity of this teaching? Are these rabbis "modern" and believe it is no longer relevant? Has God decided to take a sabbatical for a generation or two and stop keeping track of things? They tread on dangerous ground with this proclamation, far more dangerous than mine in calling them on it.

 

According to these rabbis, or whoever wrote this letter for them, if I see a successful, beautiful, happily married couple with more than a few years between them, I should shake my head and wish we could do it over again. After all, their shidduch exacerbates a demographic problem. If I have the opportunity to introduce a man and woman who seem absolutely perfect for one another, I should first see if I can find an older woman for that man. There should even be a financial incentive for me to do so.

 

In essence, their recommendation is not that we arrange dates based entirely and exclusively on considerations of marital compatibility. We should give strong preference to an artificial consideration based on a presumed demographic problem. Don't suggest the most suitable shidduch for that man; suggest a somewhat reasonable shidduch within a narrow age range. That's the most important thing. We're not trying to build the happiest and most stable Jewish families, but to play a numbers game. Right?

 

NO MATTER how you look at it, this pronouncement is nothing more than science fiction, and whether 60 rabbis or 6,000 rabbis sign it doesn't make it any more intelligent. Balaam's donkey said some wise words, and the fact that they came from a donkey didn't change that. These rabbis have attached their names to some foolish words, and their rabbinic title doesn't change that either. We need to acknowledge that and soundly reject their recommendation, which would solve no problems and only create new ones, all while distracting our community from the real issues.

 

This is not a matter of Torah scholarship or interpretation of a traditional text, but one of plain facts and basic reason. Rabbinic titles do not trump facts and reason. A rabbi can tell us if the chicken is kosher or treif. A rabbi cannot tell us that the chicken is really an ostrich.

 

A true Torah scholar is well aware of a communal crisis early on, even anticipates the crisis. A true Torah scholar is intelligent and informed about the real issues, is proactive in developing truly meaningful and effective responses that address the heart of the problem, and is not afraid of what some members of the community will think of them.

 

A true Torah scholar does not follow, but leads, and leads well - not off the cliff.

 

Those who signed this letter have essentially advertised their ignorance of these critical issues and have recklessly urged a harmful course of action. Shame on them and shame on those responsible for this letter.

 

The writer is the founder of End the Madness (www.endthemadness.org), a volunteer effort to rehabilitate the culture of the shidduch world.

admin@endthemadness.org

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

WHAT AILS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH?

ANNE HERZBERG

 

In The New York Times on Tuesday, Robert Bernstein, the founder and chairman of Human Rights Watch for more than 20 years, wrote that he must now "publicly join the group's critics." This bold step is a result of several scandals that have plagued the powerful New York-based organization this summer, as well as the dawning recognition of its one-sided agenda in the Middle East which props up authoritarian regimes and terror groups - an agenda that culminated in the adoption of the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council.

 

Since its May 2009 Saudi fund-raising jaunt, where Mideast North Africa program director Sarah Leah Whitson boasted about taking on "pro-Israel pressure groups," HRW has been in overdrive lobbying for the one-sided, and widely criticized Goldstone report. Since Richard Goldstone's appointment in April, HRW has launched a PR blitz releasing almost 30 statements supporting his mission and the report.

 

Its staff members, in addition to Whitson, have also gained wide media coverage. These statements range from whitewashing the HRC's biased mandate, testimonials regarding Goldstone's character, admonitions against Israel for its refusal to cooperate with the inquiry and lobbying governments to press for a Security Council referral of Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

 

HRW's September 30 release, for instance, calls the US and the EU "shameful" and scolds them for "undermining justice" by not immediately and unreservedly embracing Goldstone. A letter by HRW executive director Ken Roth, in the Economist, repeats Goldstone's charges accusing Israel of "punitive attacks" and the "deliberate infliction of suffering on civilians."

 

NOT COINCIDENTALLY, Goldstone was a member of HRW's board until the conflict of interest was exposed shortly after his appointment. He was also a staunch defender of Ken Roth during the 2006 Second Lebanon War after Roth leveled false claims regarding Israeli operations against Hizbullah. And Goldstone's September 17 New York Times op-ed so closely mirrors HRW's September 16 press release backing his report that it appears the two collaborated on the timing and content of the piece.

 

It is certainly in HRW's interest to bolster the report aside from personal connections with Goldstone - HRW is cited by Goldstone more than 36 times and the credibility of the organization is directly tied to the report's acceptance.

 

Rejection of Goldstone's substance calls into question HRW's own findings regarding the Gaza conflict. Manufacturing PR for Goldstone also diverts attention from the growing criticism HRW has faced regarding its employment of staunch anti-Israel activists in the Mideast department and the Nazi memorabilia penchant of its "senior military expert," Marc Garlasco (author of many harsh reports on Israel).

 

The most outrageous and untenable argument HRW officials are advancing, however, is that the US has to promote Goldstone's discredited report so that it will have greater standing going after crimes in Darfur.

 

According to Whitson, failure to demand justice for attacks on civilians in Gaza and the Negev will reveal hypocrisy in US policy. The Obama administration cannot demand accountability for serious violations in places like Sudan and Congo but let allies like Israel go free.

HRW's "emergencies senior researcher" Fred Abrahams made similar claims on a conference call organized by B'Tselem and the fringe group Ta'anit Tzedek (Jewish Fast for Gaza). To equate January's Gaza confrontation aimed at eliminating rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with the genocide in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands have been murdered, and systematic mass rapes and torture are a daily horror is an affront.

 

As the Volokh Conspiracy's David Bernstein commented about the immoral tenor of these claims: "[Reasonable people would not think] to analogize Israel's action in Gaza to the wars in Congo and Sudan to begin with." If any further proof was needed, HRW has clearly lost its moral foundations.

 

Perhaps HRW is trying to win over its prospective Saudi patrons who have routinely backed the Sudanese government led by ICC fugitive Omar al-Bashir. In addition to Saudi Arabia, HRW's support of Goldstone aligns it with such human rights stalwarts as Cuba, Libya, Iran, Malaysia, Venezuela, Egypt and Hamas, which have all vigorously advocated for Goldstone's adoption. In contrast, democratic countries like Canada, the US, Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands all refused to endorse the mission's mandate or its findings.

 

HRW's overzealous promotion of Goldstone and its siding with the world's worst regimes are further examples of why Elie Wiesel has called for a full and complete investigation of HRW, Irwin Cotler (former Canadian justice minister and attorney for Nelson Mandela) has remarked that Ken "Roth writes not like a lawyer - let alone a human rights lawyer - but as a propagandist," and now its own founder believes the group needs to "resurrect itself" and return to its "spirit of humility."

 

HRW needs to do some serious soul searching - is it up to the challenge?

 

The writer is the legal adviser of Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor and author of NGO Lawfare: Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

EFFICIENCY IS GOOD FOR SECURITY

BY HAARETZ EDITORIAL

 

On Monday, the Defense Ministry announced a cutback in its New York procurement office involving cutting the staff by 10 Israeli and 40 local employees over three years. Although this looks like a cut, in practice, it is just another round in a public relations campaign by the ministry and the Israel Defense Forces, throwing sand in the public's face.

The procurement office in New York should have been closed long ago. There is no need for it in the Internet era. Egypt buys military hardware in the United States in similar amounts as Israel, but has a staff of only three for that purpose. The Israeli office comprises 170 employees, at a huge cost, and senior staff receive jobs in New York as a perk due to their connections. In that same spirit, Victor Bar Gil, the Defense Ministry's deputy director general, was appointed this week to the superfluous position of head of the Israeli military delegation in Thailand.

The military delegation in Paris is also superfluous. It is nothing more than an unnecessary holdover from the period of good military ties between Israel and France until 1967. It is the same office that was unable to even find a hotel room at a reasonable price for Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his entourage when they attended the Paris Air Show.

 

The Finance Ministry has been unsuccessfully trying for 10 years to close the Defense Ministry's overseas military offices around the world (including those in Brussels and Berlin). Similarly the treasury hasn't been able to impose a cost-saving plan on the IDF, to which the government consented more than two years ago in connection with the Brodet Commission's report.

At that time, it was decided that the IDF would submit a comprehensive cost-saving plan of a magnitude of NIS 30 billion over 10 years. The IDF committed to submit the plan by November 1, 2007, but no such plan has been forthcoming. Instead there are periodic declarations about mini-measures involving negligible sums, such as the cosmetic cuts to the New York staff, which don't address the tough problems at all.

One of the most important measures that could be implemented is raising the retirement age of career soldiers, which today is 42. In May, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi committed to submit a detailed plan for raising the retirement age within four months, but those months have come and gone and no plan has been forthcoming.

The prime minister and defense minister must take charge and force the IDF to submit a detailed cost-saving plan and implement it. That, too, would contribute to the defense of the country.

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

ANOTHER CENTURY OF TRAFFIC JAMS

BY ALUF BENN

 

Here's a question worthy of a national commission of inquiry: How is it that Tel Aviv, which is celebrating its centennial, doesn't have a subway?

Israelis traveling abroad enjoy the availability, speed and comfort of public transportation, but here we wait for the bus in the rain and heat, and lumber along through narrow, crowded streets. More than 3 million people live in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area without an acceptable level of public transportation, while in significantly smaller European cities, subway systems have long been running; in Iran and North Korea, too. In Israel we get talk and promises, but no subway. Only a pathetic PR film can be found on the project's Web site.

The benefits for crowded central Israel, the savings to the economy and the impact on the environment of an electric-powered train filled with passengers instead of masses of polluting cars will be enormous. Also, accident rates will drop if young people have a cheap and easy alternative to driving at night.

 

But building a light railroad in the greater Tel Aviv area, part of which has been planned as a subway, has not moved forward because of problems involving the entrepreneurs behind it. Now, after a year of empty debate, the state is threatening to quash the project, according to Avi Bar-Eli in yesterday's TheMarker. This will require a new tender and there will be petitions to the Supreme Court. And the result? A child born today will not benefit from a ride to school using modern, quick public transportation immune to bad weather or traffic jams.

The Israeli culture of improvisation has trouble handling large projects; there is no more blatant expression of this than the Tel Aviv subway fiasco. Its roots can be found before the establishment of the state. The British built the country's basic infrastructure, like Haifa Port and Lod Airport, and the Zionist Movement focused on developing agriculture in the periphery, which the first Hebrew city developed under private auspices, patch by patch, without direction.

David Ben-Gurion, who lived in Tel Aviv and declared Israel's independence there, didn't gave priority to his home city. He considered spreading out the population and developing the Negev more important. Israel's blueprint during his time (the "Sharon Plan") accounted for the system of roads and railroads and ignored the needs of urban transportation. The national projects of the nuclear plant and the National Water Carrier were about the collective's needs - deterrence and irrigation - not the welfare of the masses. Comfortable and speedy transportation to the job and leisure activities were not even on the agenda.

Only in 1973 did Golda Meir's government decide to design a public transportation system for the Dan Region - the greater Tel Aviv area. Shimon Peres was transportation minister at the time. Nothing was done for 20 years until Roni Milo was elected Tel Aviv mayor based on his campaign to put a subway in the city, and he pushed the idea forward. Since then the initiative has drowned in bureaucratic verbiage.

Illustrating the low priority that the project has received, the declaration this week that "the light rail in the Dan Region is the most important project in Israel" was made by a low-ranking treasury official, not the prime minister. The capitalist Benjamin Netanyahu is behaving just like the socialist Ben-Gurion. He is opting for "national goals" like populating Sheikh Jarrah with Jews over creating infrastructure that would let the majority of the country's citizens enjoy quality living.

In his Knesset speech last week, Netanyahu spoke about the Galilee's new roads, but not about Tel Aviv's trains. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, who is promising new roads to the settlements, "hopes" that the light rail project will begin. "Hopes?" Just who will ensure that the hopes come true?

The time has come to rally and give Tel Aviv a subway. But large projects require an initiator and leadership, like Peres with Dimona, Levi Eshkol with the National Water Carrier, Israel Tal with the Merkava tank and Ariel Sharon with the settlements. Who will initiate the Tel Aviv subway and ensure that the children of the fall of 2009 will use it to get to school?

 

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

AGAINST INTEGRATION

BY AVIRAMA GOLAN

 

It transpires that the Ministry of Education knows how to demonstrate diligence and efficiency when it so desires. For example, the head of the ministry's Northern District, who expressed firm opposition to opening a school for the sciences in Dabburiya with the explanation that "establishing it will harm the existing school."

The explanation in itself, like the other explanations in response to the lawsuit filed by Dr. Elias Chacour, the archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic community in Israel, and Aas Atrash, the principal of the school for sciences and the association for the promotion of education and culture in Dabburiya, is reasonable. A private school really is liable to weaken the public school.

But these reasons were not given in a vacuum. In light of the Nahari Law, which requires local authorities to budget independent schools; with ultra-Orthodox education doing as it pleases without proper supervision and without meeting the demand for a core curriculum; and with prestigious schools for the sciences, arts, anthroposophy, democracy and whatnot cropping up in well-established Jewish communities - these reasons are hollow and hypocritical.

 

Ester Hellman-Nussbo, the Nazareth District Court judge who early in September dealt with the school's request to order the Education Ministry via an interim injunction to transfer the discontinued budgets, and decided to turn down the request, relied on previous decisions regarding the network of Chabad kindergartens and Noar Kehalakha - which ruled that private schools should not receive an additional budget. But because the budgeting of private schools is by law in the hands of the education minister, in practice the minister actually budgets most of them. At most, as in the case of the schools in Petah Tikva that excluded the Ethiopian children, the minister threatened to discontinue the budgeting. He threatened, but failed to carry out his threat.

Amazingly, in Dabburiya the ministry cut the budget immediately, both because it was afraid of redundancy with an identical school in nearby A'ablin, and because it felt like doing so. The Arab public justly concludes that the establishment demonstrates a strong arm toward the weak. But the case of Dabburiya is evidence of a far more serious phenomenon: the double talk of the Israeli establishment and society when it comes to Arab citizens.

In recent years two ostensibly contradictory tendencies have been developing among the Arab public, which in fact coexists peacefully: On the one hand, nationalist-isolationist politics and the demand for autonomy based on the rights of a nation in its homeland are becoming stronger. On the other hand, a large group is bypassing the failure of long-term government neglect in the area of education, and through private means (the churches, the Islamic Movement and various non-profit organizations) is providing its children with high-quality education, mainly in technology and the exact sciences.

The State of Israel should be rejoicing. Without investing a penny it is getting citizens who can contribute far more to society than others in whom it invests billions. But although the government calls on the Arabs to integrate and become part of the country, the outstanding students who study pharmacology and medicine become integrated because we need them desperately, whereas the others - the high-tech workers, engineers, et al - knock on doors and are rejected for false security-related reasons. No more than 3 percent of them succeed in penetrating the public networks, and even fewer the private ones. Integration, which is likely to improve their economic situation and moderate extremism, is being prevented in all fields.

And when the establishment behaves in such a way, is it any wonder that society feels free to keep the Arabs out? In Upper Nazareth, for example, groups of national religious Jews are organizing, with the encouragement of Mayor Shimon Gapso (the representative of Yisrael Beiteinu who returned to the Likud because his party did not support the construction of an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood as a "barrier" between Upper Nazareth and Kafr Kana) and with the help of government ministers and yeshiva heads, to engage in vigorous activity against the sale of homes to Arabs. Those coming to the neighborhoods of private homes in the city are a strong Arab populace of doctors, lawyers and other academics, which could contribute a great deal to the quality of life in the city, but Gapso and the activists are spreading hysterical warnings against the "takeover by hostile factors."

The ethnic-purification reaction to the purchase of homes by Arabs in Upper Nazareth and other non-mixed cities - a purchase that clearly stems from civic and economic reasons - is the real answer of Israeli society and the Israeli establishment to the integration of Arabs. Instead of understanding the change in the Arab minority and turning it into an advantage, Israel once again prefers to turn it into a destructive double-edged sword.

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

PUBLIC OPINION, WHERE ART THOU?

BY YITZHAK LAOR

 

The avaricious sortie by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his courtiers to Paris was sponsored by a state in which a third of all children live under the poverty line; Barak himself is supervising the starving of Gaza and its 1.5 million inhabitants. All this ties in well with Israel's current political crisis, which revolves around a crisis of representation: Whom does Ehud Barak represent apart from the arms dealers and military elites? How can the commonwealth's citizens demand accountability in a manner that would force le petit empereur to reply? The answer is they can't.

Israel's political society is essentially a club of advocates. Those advocates are portrayed to constituents as their representatives. The public is invited to elect those representatives, who are feeding on propaganda money, to a term in office. The public is only allowed to choose from the limited offering available, and essentially gives the advocates carte blanche until the next elections. "Public opinion" is not consulted until those next elections, when it is offered such tantalizing choices as "He's not a pal, he's a leader," "He will defend Jerusalem," and "Who will take on the ultra-Orthodox's extortion?" Anything goes.

The formerly representative institutions of Israel's never-too-representative democracy are all but gone: the unions, the workers committees, the protest movement, and most importantly, the political parties as organizations based on membership, chapters and conferences. We're left with the Knesset factions, which are staffed with the above-mentioned advocates who are wealthy enough not to give a damn. There will be primaries before the next elections. Barak will take to the podium on some kibbutz and speak out against the settlements, and then go on building them regardless. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will talk about the Holocaust, and then give a macho speech at the UN. We'll be called up to agonize over which is the least repugnant. That's all.

 

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At the end of the new century's first decade, Israeli democracy is being administered by four elites: the political elite (which includes influential journalists), the financial elite (which excels in extraordinary cowardice when it comes to opposing the powers that be), the military elite (whose power is greater than anyone would like to admit), and the academic elite (whose role is to legitimize the other three elites). These elites ensure society's approval for each other, as in the words of the Talmud, "whores fixing each other's makeup." Their supreme indifference to public opinion is most visible in moments when they might be held accountable. This is where you'll find senior officers violating laws accompanied to court by entire lobbies of comrades-in-arms, or that Tel Aviv University dean about whom a court said there was "not a grain of truth" in his claims, but got to keep his job despite clear hints from the judge to the university.

And as indifference goes, there's nothing quite like the apathy toward the horrors in Gaza while they were happening, despite clear knowledge of what was happening. But the "consensus," for which a price is now being exacted in Geneva and might soon be exacted in The Hague, was not reached by idiotic solidarity with the military and its orchestra of propagandists in the vast majority of the media, it was ensured by the continuous disconnection between "public opinion" and the political elite. "Public opinion" hasn't had influence over any level of government, a situation amply illustrated by the failure to release Gilad Shalit or curb the settlement project.

When public opinion doesn't influence anything for years it dies out, at least while its subjects are law abiding and don't become military or tax objectors. The paralysis gripping Israelis in everyday life is fed by the emptying of political life of democratic content. Hence the thrill when "the world is against us," or when "we're up against the world" - the world in the latter case being the besieged Palestinians. On occasion, "public opinion" stumbles on the Armenian genocide, because that's what the politicians told it. And the next day comes a new patriotic thrill.

 

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

AN INVESTIGATION WILL GUARANTEE A VETO

BY IRIT KAHAN

The results of the vote on the Goldstone Commission report in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva were expected. The council adopted the report by a majority and attached a particularly harsh declaration that included a condemnation of Israel's activity in East Jerusalem.

The council in effect adopted Judge Richard Goldstone's recommendations to transfer the report, which accuses Israel of war crimes, to the UN secretary general, who will send it to the UN Security Council. The report also calls on Israel to conduct an independent investigation of the incidents mentioned in the document, as well as other cases that have come to its attention.

The time allocated for doing so is three months, with Israel getting another three months to take the necessary steps. The procedure will be supervised by an international committee of jurists, which will report from time to time to the Security Council. If the committee concludes that these decisions are not being implemented properly, the Security Council will recommend transferring the investigation to the International Criminal Court.

 

We should recall that universal authority is complementary authority - it will be used only if the country in whose territory crimes allegedly have been committed does not exercise its power of investigation and jurisdiction. And in fact, Goldstone operated according to this principle and gave Israel an opportunity to act on its own.

It was clear in advance that the efforts to postpone the date for voting on the report would not remove preoccupation with it. Anyone keeping track of articles published on international law knows that demands for an independent investigation are increasing, without any relation to the fact that many legal experts believe that the report is biased and suffers from many contradictions.

In my opinion, the investigations begun by the army should be continued more intensively. According to a Foreign Ministry document dated September 17, after Operation Cast Lead the army began to investigate five issues: claims of attacks on UN installations, attacks on medical installations and medical teams, attacks on large numbers of civilians, the use of white phosphorus and attacks on private property for military purposes. The investigations' findings are now being examined by Israel's military advocate general to decide if the military has cause to begin criminal investigations. The army is also investigating around 100 additional complaints submitted after the operation.

To overcome the obstacle that stems from the fact that the army's investigation of itself is not independent, a high-profile Israeli jurist might be needed to ensure that the army's investigations meet the requirements of international law.

No less important is the establishment of a committee of Israeli and international jurists that will examine adapting the rules of war to situations when a country is fighting a terrorist organization. The answers will have implications for examining what took place during the war.

There is no question that investigating events that took place on the battlefield is a difficult task. Nevertheless, we must complete the investigation quickly because time is not on our side. We owe this investigation to ourselves, first of all. If we are equipped with the results of a serious investigation, as proposed, it will be easier for our friends in the Security Council to veto the proposal to transfer the matter to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The writer, a former head of the international department at the State Prosecutor's Office, is the vice president of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

MR. KARZAI RELENTS

 

Before Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, acceded to a runoff election on Tuesday, you could almost hear his arm being twisted. And it took a lot of top-level talent to do it. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, all insisted that Mr. Karzai accept an international audit that found that nearly one-third of his first-round votes were stolen — driving his final count to below 50 percent.

 

Even then it took a five-day marathon of negotiations with Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to get Mr. Karzai to do what was necessary. And that was the easy part.

 

To ensure that the runoff is fair and credible, it's going to take a lot more effort and high-level attention — and even more arm-twisting. And there are less than three weeks before the Nov. 7 vote.

 

A fair election is essential. But if Mr. Karzai wins — odds are he will — that won't turn him into the credible leader that the Afghan people deserve and the credible partner that the United States needs if there is any hope of holding off the Taliban. Mr. Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, talks a better game but is untested.

 

The next Afghan government has no hope at all unless it is truly committed to rooting out corruption (Mr. Karzai will have to start with his own brother, who, American officials charge, is deeply involved in the drug trade) and delivering basic services and security to its people.

 

President Obama may still be undecided about future United States troop levels, but he should be delivering this message to Afghanistan's leaders — and the American military and diplomats — right now.

 

When asked why Mr. Karzai thought he could get away with stealing the election, American officials blame the Bush administration, and, in particular, President George W. Bush, who enabled Mr. Karzai's worst impulses while refusing to invest the troops, money or attention that Afghanistan desperately needed.

 

That is all true. And the election planning was well along before President Obama took office. But he and his aides should have taken a lot more care to ensure that Mr. Karzai and his challengers understood that such wholesale fraud would be a disaster — in Afghanistan and in the United States, where support for the war is fast evaporating.

 

(Like many, we wonder what happened to Mr. Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, who established a bureaucratic fiefdom at the State Department but has been neither seen nor heard from during this critical period.)

 

The runoff won't be easy to pull off. Time is short, winter is near and the Taliban threat continues to worsen.

 

The Afghan government must immediately dismiss any election officials implicated in the fraud. The United Nations, which sponsored the independent audit, will have to play a more robust role in overseeing the preparations for the vote, monitoring polls and the count. The United States and NATO must get ready to provide security for voters and monitors.

 

To have any chance of producing a legitimate result, both candidates must make clear that, this time, they are not encouraging and will not tolerate ballot-box stuffing and phantom voting. While Mr. Karzai's supporters accounted for nearly a million tainted ballots, some 200,000 votes cast for Mr. Abdullah were also thrown out.

 

Meanwhile, there is talk of a possible political deal between Mr. Karzai and Mr. Abdullah that might obviate the new election. That should not be anyone's first choice. If it is unavoidable, it must be done constitutionally, and it must produce a functional government that is committed to a responsible agenda.

 

We have watched as American officials debate military strategy for Afghanistan. They need to devote at least as much attention to coming up with an effective political strategy. The lesson of the stolen election is clear: Nothing in Afghanistan can be taken for granted.

 

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

SENATOR MONSERRATE MUST GO

 

Anybody who has seen the disturbing video of State Senator Hiram Monserrate dragging his girlfriend through an apartment lobby knows that he does not belong in public office. Convicted last week of assaulting his unfortunate companion, Mr. Monserrate, a Queens Democrat, should resign immediately.

 

Mr. Monserrate, so far, has refused to do so, but the list of political figures calling for his departure grows by the hour. Not surprising, several leading female politicians have expressed outrage at his violent and abusive behavior — and at his apparent belief that he could get away with it.

 

New York City Council Members Annabel Palma and Melissa Mark-Viverito — whose voices are important because they, like Senator Monserrate, are Hispanic — were especially outspoken.

 

"We are both familiar with domestic violence and the cycle of damage it causes," they said in a joint statement. "Lives are destroyed and futures are damaged; tragically, women and children suffer the harshest effects of this violent cycle. Our justice system has a long way to go in defending and safeguarding women against violent abusers, but we cannot remain silent anytime a woman is victimized."

 

With Mr. Monserrate clinging to office, John Sampson, the Democratic conference leader in the Senate, has created a bipartisan committee that would have the authority to expel him.

 

This is not a simple matter. Though the Senate can throw somebody out, state law and the New York Constitution give little guidance about how to do it. But that is no excuse for inaction. The last expulsion in Albany occurred in 1920 when Assembly leaders engineered the rejection of five newly elected socialists on charges they were not sufficiently pro-American. Surely if those legislators could manage to expel colleagues for such an absurd reason, their modern-day counterparts can do it for a very good reason.

 

The New York State Legislature has a lot of important business on deck. It must attend to an alarming budget deficit. It needs a major housecleaning, from campaign finance to redistricting. It does not need to be distracted or consumed by the reprehensible behavior of one senator. The best outcome is for Mr. Monserrate to acknowledge his duty and quit.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

JUSTICE FOR THE MENTALLY DISABLED

 

After eight years of the Bush administration using the power of the Justice Department to undermine civil rights laws, it is good to see the department applying one of those laws, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. It has started a timely new initiative aimed at full enforcement of that law, which forbids unjustified isolation of the mentally disabled and requires that they be integrated into the wider community where appropriate.

 

The initiative is having its coming-out party in New York, where Justice Department lawyers are seeking to intervene in a closely watched federal lawsuit involving thousands of mentally ill people being held in privately run adult homes. A federal judge recently described them as "even more restrictive or 'institutional' than psychiatric hospitals" that they were intended to replace.

 

In a ruling last month, the federal judge, Nicholas Garaufis, painted a dismaying picture of adult "homes" that in no way complied with federal law and that were more like jails than houses. In these places, mentally ill people who did not present a danger to themselves or to others had little of the privacy, freedom or enriching activities that would help them develop full, independent lives.

 

That thousands of New Yorkers were still confined in this way is striking since the state already knows the right way to do it. New York is known nationally for vibrant, innovative housing developments where mentally ill people live successfully and independently while receiving mental health and other services from community-based groups.

 

The judge has already required the state to produce a plan for correcting this egregious situation with the warehousing of the mentally disabled. But in the letter announcing its intent to intervene, the Justice Department said this matter was "a great concern" to the federal government. It said it wanted a role in the process because the remedy designed in New York might serve as a national model for dealing with this problem. The onus is now on the state to come up with that remedy.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

THE NEW UNTOUCHABLES

BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

 

Last summer I attended a talk by Michelle Rhee, the dynamic chancellor of public schools in Washington. Just before the session began, a man came up, introduced himself as Todd Martin and whispered to me that what Rhee was about to speak about — our struggling public schools — was actually a critical, but unspoken, reason for the Great Recession.

 

There's something to that. While the subprime mortgage mess involved a huge ethical breakdown on Wall Street, it coincided with an education breakdown on Main Street — precisely when technology and open borders were enabling so many more people to compete with Americans for middle-class jobs.

 

In our subprime era, we thought we could have the American dream — a house and yard — with nothing down. This version of the American dream was delivered not by improving education, productivity and savings, but by Wall Street alchemy and borrowed money from Asia.

 

A year ago, it all exploded. Now that we are picking up the pieces, we need to understand that it is not only our financial system that needs a reboot and an upgrade, but also our public school system. Otherwise, the jobless recovery won't be just a passing phase, but our future.

 

"Our education failure is the largest contributing factor to the decline of the American worker's global competitiveness, particularly at the middle and bottom ranges," argued Martin, a former global executive with PepsiCo and Kraft Europe and now an international investor. "This loss of competitiveness has weakened the American worker's production of wealth, precisely when technology brought global competition much closer to home. So over a decade, American workers have maintained their standard of living by borrowing and overconsuming vis-à-vis their real income. When the Great Recession wiped out all the credit and asset bubbles that made that overconsumption possible, it left too many American workers not only deeper in debt than ever, but out of a job and lacking the skills to compete globally."

 

This problem will be reversed only when the decline in worker competitiveness reverses — when we create enough new jobs and educated workers that are worth, say, $40-an-hour compared with the global alternatives. If we don't, there's no telling how "jobless" this recovery will be.

 

A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go because with the bursting of the credit bubble, that flow of work just isn't there. But those who have the ability to imagine new services, new opportunities and new ways to recruit work were being retained. They are the new untouchables.

 

That is the key to understanding our full education challenge today. Those who are waiting for this recession to end so someone can again hand them work could have a long wait. Those with the imagination to make themselves untouchables — to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to combine existing technologies — will thrive. Therefore, we not only need a higher percentage of our kids graduating from high school and college — more education — but we need more of them with the right education.

 

As the Harvard University labor expert Lawrence Katz explains it: "If you think about the labor market today, the top half of the college market, those with the high-end analytical and problem-solving skills who can compete on the world market or game the financial system or deal with new government regulations, have done great. But the bottom half of the top, those engineers and programmers working on more routine tasks and not actively engaged in developing new ideas or recombining existing technologies or thinking about what new customers want, have done poorly. They've been much more exposed to global competitors that make them easily substitutable."

 

Those at the high end of the bottom half — high school grads in construction or manufacturing — have been clobbered by global competition and immigration, added Katz. "But those who have some interpersonal skills — the salesperson who can deal with customers face to face or the home contractor who can help you redesign your kitchen without going to an architect — have done well."

 

Just being an average accountant, lawyer, contractor or assembly-line worker is not the ticket it used to be. As Daniel Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind," puts it: In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper "and just as well," vanilla doesn't cut it anymore. It's all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top. So our schools have a doubly hard task now — not just improving reading, writing and arithmetic but entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.

 

Bottom line: We're not going back to the good old days without fixing our schools as well as our banks.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES

BY MAUREEN DOWD

 

Can vice save journalism?

 

It's an intriguing idea, especially since the profession had such a cozy relationship with vice in the old days.

 

Arthur Gelb, The Times's famed former culture impresario and managing editor, begins his wonderful memoir, "City Room," by describing the racier Times newsroom of the 1940s. He says it was a time of clandestine sex in closets, a movie-star mistress of the publisher sashaying about and two tough bookies from Hell's Kitchen at a corner desk taking bets as "wads of bills peeked from their pockets."

 

In his memoir, "Gaily, Gaily," Ben Hecht describes his years as a cub reporter at The Chicago Daily Journal starting in 1910. It was a time when reporters were still "exotic adults," he writes, and journalism was considered by many as "a catch basin for hooligans, bar flies and minor swindlers."

 

The first thing Hecht did was get his girlfriend, who was "in harlot servitude" when they met, hired as the "first girl reporter" at the paper for $12 a week by pretending she was a Van Arsdale who was a niece of Edith Wharton.

 

When she got caught selling her services in the newsroom, Hecht's cynical Irish editor advised him that reforming women was a time-waster. "The female, from birth onward, is a mist of lies," the editor intoned. "And her white belly is a shrine for swindle and delusion."

 

The next thing Hecht did was plot with his colleague Charles MacArthur — they would later write "The Front Page" — to revive a hanged criminal with a shot of adrenaline and then charge newspaper editors around the country $50 each for the "exclusive" on the "Walking Corpse."

 

In these times when big-city papers and magazines are disappearing and shrinking — The New York Times is cutting 100 more newsroom jobs and Condé Nast is closing four magazines — we need life rafts.

 

Publications once buoyed by splashy ads evoking drinking and sex are now conjuring ways to use drinking and sex to subsidize the news.

 

The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal have wine clubs. Condé Nast has started an online dating Web site for a fee of $30 a month called TrulyMadlyDating.com to "unite glamorous girls with fashion-conscious GQ-reading boys to create matches made in style heaven."

 

Self-described print press "fanatic" Mortimer Zuckerman, who owns The Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, proposed to Forbes that the federal government could save newspapers by allowing sports betting on newspaper Web sites.

 

"It would take Congressional legislation and the willingness on the part of the government to confront gambling and casino interests that have blocked this," he said. "Newspaper owners have never gotten together to lobby for this because they have always been quite profitable. Those days are behind us."

 

I tracked down Zuckerman in Jerusalem on Tuesday to ask him about it. "Newspapers are so critical for public dialogue and holding public officials responsible," he told me. "And who's going to be able to afford original reporting in the next five years? Very, very few."

 

He said some British newspapers make millions on betting games like Bingo. "People are spending money on what is basically a social vice anyhow," he said. "So why not use it to preserve the First Amendment? It's not a perfect solution, but it is a solution."

 

Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced a bill to legalize and regulate online gambling. But he told me that he had to exempt sports gambling from the bill to round up enough votes to get it passed.

 

"Some people apparently believe that betting on games — horror of horrors — does not now happen," Frank said sardonically.

 

Nick Pileggi, who wrote the books and screenplays for "Goodfellas" and "Casino," sees no downside. "It would be a wonderful, huge blow against organized crime because the money would be taken out of what the mob gets," he said. "And every state has a lottery so nobody from the state is going to stand up and say 'We're against gambling.' "

 

He said that if newspapers would stop being so stuffy, they could set up A.T.M.-style machines in lobbies and at newsstands and "take over a business that the mob now does illegally worth $20 to $40 billion a year."

 

"Newspapers are not sacred papal offices," he said. "It's a Damon Runyon business."

 

Arthur Gelb may have written about the Runyon days fondly, but he disputes the virtue of vice.

 

"How about you get some Vegas showgirls to come to the newsroom, do a little performance and charge admission?" he bristled. "Or you could have an escort service. Just take away the managing editor's office, and use it for assignations. Where do you stop this nonsense?"

 

I don't know. The Vegas part doesn't sound so bad.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

A CASE OF CHRONIC DENIAL

BY HILLARY JOHNSON

 

EARLIER this month, a study published in the journal Science answered a question that medical scientists had been asking since 2006, when they learned of a novel virus found in prostate tumors called xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV: Was it a human infection?

 

XMRV is a gammaretrovirus, one of a family of viruses long-studied in animals but not known to infect people. In animals, these retroviruses can cause horrendous neurological problems, immune deficiency, lymphoma and leukemia. The new study provided overwhelming evidence that XMRV is a human gammaretrovirus — the third human retrovirus (after H.I.V. and human lymphotropic viruses, which cause leukemia and lymphoma). Infection is permanent and, yes, it can spread from person to person (though it is not yet known how the virus is transmitted).

 

That would have been news enough, but there was more. XMRV had been discovered in people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, a malady whose very existence has been a subject of debate for 25 years. For sufferers of this disease, the news has offered enormous hope. Being seriously ill for years, even decades, is nightmarish enough, but patients are also the targets of ridicule and hostility that stem from the perception that it is all in their heads. In the study, 67 percent of the 101 patients with the disease were found to have XMRV in their cells. If further study finds that XMRV actually causes their condition, it may open the door to useful treatments. At least, it will be time to jettison the stigmatizing name chronic fatigue syndrome.

 

The illness became famous after an outbreak in 1984 around Lake Tahoe, in Nevada. Several hundred patients developed flu-like symptoms like fever, sore throat and headaches that led to neurological problems, including severe memory loss and inability to understand conversation. Most of them were infected with several viruses at once, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr and human herpesvirus 6. Their doctors were stumped. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation's presumed bulwark against emerging infectious diseases, dismissed the epidemic and said the Tahoe doctors "had worked themselves into a frenzy." The sufferers, a C.D.C. investigator told me at the time, were "not normal Americans."

 

When, by 1987, the supposed hysteria failed to evaporate and indeed continued erupting in other parts the country, the health agency orchestrated a jocular referendum by mail among a handful of academics to come up with a name for it. The group settled on "chronic fatigue syndrome" — the use of "syndrome" rather than "disease" suggested a psychiatric rather than physical origin and would thus discourage public panic and prevent insurers from having to make "chronic disbursements," as one of the academics joked.

 

An 11th-hour plea by a nascent patient organization to call the disease by the scientific name used in Britain, myalgic encephalomyelitis, was rejected by the C.D.C. as "overly complicated and too confusing for many nonmedical persons."

 

Had the agency done nothing in response to this epidemic, patients would now be better off. The name functioned as a kind of social punishment. Patients were branded malingerers by families, friends, journalists and insurance companies, and were denied medical care. (It's no coincidence that suicide is among the three leading causes of death among sufferers.) Soon the malady came to be widely considered a personality disorder or something that sufferers brought upon themselves. A recent study financed by the C.D.C. suggested that childhood trauma or sexual abuse, combined with a genetic inability to handle stress, is a key risk factor for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Many people don't realize how severe this illness can be. It is marked by memory and cognition problems, and physical collapse after any mental or physical exertion. The various co-infections that occur only make matters worse. Many patients are bedridden. And recovery is rare. A significant number of patients have been ill for more than two decades.

 

Dr. Nancy Klimas, an immunologist at the University of Miami School of Medicine who treats AIDS and chronic fatigue syndrome, remarked in The Times last week that if given the choice she would prefer to have AIDS: "My H.I.V. patients for the most part are hale and hearty," she said, noting that billions of dollars have been spent on AIDS research. "Many of my C.F.S. patients, on the other hand, are terribly ill and unable to work or participate in the care of their families."

 

Congress has appropriated money for research on chronic fatigue syndrome, too, though in far smaller amounts, but the C.D.C. has seemed unwilling to spend it productively. A decade ago, investigations by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services and what was then called the General Accounting Office revealed that for years government scientists had been funneling millions meant for research on this disease into other pet projects.

 

As public health officials focused on psychiatric explanations, the virus apparently spread widely. In the new study, active XMRV infections were found in 3.7 percent of the healthy controls tested. Roughly the same degree of infection in healthy people has been found in the prostate research. If this is representative of the United States as a whole, then as many as 10 million Americans may carry the retrovirus.

 

It is estimated that more than a million Americans are seriously ill with the disease. (Not everyone infected with XMRV will necessarily get chronic fatigue syndrome — in the same way that not all of the 1.1 million Americans infected with H.I.V. will get AIDS.)

 

Hints that a retroviral infection might play a role in chronic fatigue syndrome have been present from the

beginning. In 1991, Dr. Elaine DeFreitas, a virologist at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, found retroviral DNA in 80 percent of 30 chronic fatigue patients. The C.D.C. went so far as to try to replicate her effort, but refused to follow her exacting methods for finding the virus. In addition, the centers' blood samples became contaminated, and some people at the agency said that administrators ended the research prematurely. Rather than admit any such failure, the C.D.C. publicly criticized Dr. DeFreitas's findings.

 

That episode had a chilling effect on other researchers in the field, and the search for the cause was largely abandoned for 20 years.

 

Now, Judy Mikovits, the retrovirus expert at the Whittemore Peterson Institute, in Reno, Nev., who led the recent study, has revisited the cold case. Not surprisingly, the institute is private, created by the parents of a woman who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. But Dr. Mikovits collaborated with scientists at the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic.

When she began her work on this disease in 2006, Dr. Mikovits, a 22-year veteran of the National Cancer Institute, knew little about chronic fatigue syndrome. But she was intrigued that an unusually high number of patients being followed by a Nevada doctor were suffering rare lymphomas and leukemias; at least one had died. And she was also impressed that the doctor, Dan Peterson, had built an extraordinary repository of more than 8,000 chronic fatigue syndrome tissue samples going back as far as 1984.

"My hypothesis was, 'This is a retrovirus,' and I was going to use that repository to find it," Dr. Mikovits told me.

What she found was live, or replicating, XMRV in both frozen and fresh blood and plasma, as well as saliva. She has found the virus in samples going back to 1984 and in nearly all the patients who developed cancer. She expects the positivity rate will be close to 100 percent in the disease.

"It's amazing to me that anyone could look at these patients and not see that this is an infectious disease that has ruined lives," Dr. Mikovits said. She has also given the disease a properly scientific new name: X-associated neuroimmune disease.

 

For patients who have been abandoned to quackish theories and harsh ideologies about their illness for 25 years, the dismantling of "chronic fatigue syndrome" can't come soon enough.

 

Hillary Johnson is the author of "Osler's Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic."

 

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 I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

DEATH ON CAMPUS

 

Mid-afternoon on Tuesday and the peace of the Islamic University was ripped apart by two bombs, one in the male campus and the other in the female. The bombs were detonated almost simultaneously, with one of them allegedly exploding inside the female international café and the other in the office of a professor of Sharia law. Latest reports suggest that the bomber may have been a woman – or a man wearing a burqa. At the time of writing there are reports of six students dead and perhaps forty injured, with both figures predicted to rise. A suspect has been arrested on the campus but his connection to the blasts is unknown. The Islamic University has between three and four thousand students. Earlier in the day sharp-eyed students in Peshawar spotted two suspicious-looking pressure cookers close to their school walls, which were revealed as bombs, primed and ready, and defused by the bomb squad. TV pictures revealed that the pressure cookers were stuffed with ball-bearings.

Educational institutions across the country have been shutting down in the face of fears that schools may be targeted by suicide bombers or children taken hostage or school buses hijacked. Today, the fear has become reality and once again the dirty hand of terrorism has struck at our vulnerable institutions. We have become a nation gripped by fear, held in thrall by a minority who see the ordinary man and woman as their enemy and preferred target. Not content with fighting their fight on the battlefield they slaughter their way across the country. The bogeyman of children's nightmares has become a reality and now no school can feel entirely safe anywhere in the country. Following this latest incident, all educational institutions in Sindh too now have been closed, till next week. And then what? We cannot with a happy heart send our children off to their lessons in the morning knowing that they will return with tales of teachers and friends in the afternoon. Instead we are faced with a dreadful dilemma – if we do not send our children to school how will they learn the rudiments of wisdom; but on the other hand if we do are we to see them broken and bloody at day's end? The blasts at the Islamic University, as others in the last fourteen days, are the clearest indicator yet that those who would cull our civilian population are heartless and godless, utterly unworthy of the support of any right-minded person - no matter the perceived injustices that the murderers of children are claiming to be battling to right. The greater tragedy is that we can expect more of the same.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

BETWEEN THE LINES

 

Senator John Kerry has described the meetings he held during a brief visit to Pakistan to 'clarify' the concerns raised over conditionalities attached to the $7.5 billion aid to be extended under the Kerry-Lugar Bill as 'positive'. It is significant that the US lawmaker focused the time he had available on meeting those who had most reservations about the bill – Mian Nawaz Sharif and General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. But reading between the lines, it seems clear that Mr Kerry found the going tough. This is evident from the fact that he carefully declined to say if fears raised by the bill had been allayed and on several occasions looked quite visibly frustrated by the response to it. But the US lawmaker also made several things quite clear. For one, he stressed that the intentions behind the bill were good and that he for one ranked himself as a friend of Pakistan, eager to do what he could to help the country and to strengthen democracy within it. He also pointed out Pakistan was free to refuse the aid package. The plain talking from one of the most experienced US Senators should make us all think. The question is whether as a country strapped for cash, and trapped in a quagmire of problems made up by political instability, economic desperation, a militant threat and a devastating shortage of energy, we are in any position to choose. The country, quite simply, cannot do without assistance. Its people cannot do without the improved access to education and healthcare that the Kerry-Lugar Bill offers. This is the reality that we should be talking about.

The government needs to take a uniform stand. We are told that while President Zardari 'thanked' the US for its help, Prime Minister Gilani urged the US leadership to take note of concerns over the terms of the bill. As Mr Kerry made quite clear, there is no reason for Washington to do so. Its primary duty is, naturally, to protect its own tax-payers. It is under no compulsion to dole out money. This is something we need to accept. There is no point in beating about the bush or pretending that we have much say in the matter. Rather than bowing down as the opposition and its allies huff and puff, the government should lay out this picture as it exists before people.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

POINT OF LIGHT

 

Amid the seemingly unremitting gloom that engulfs as daily it is sometimes hard to discern hope – but hope there is and today it is the tiny Sikh community that provides it. Sikhs are one of our smallest minorities but the ripping asunder that was Partition means that many of their holiest shrines are on 'our' side of the border – whereas the bulk of Sikhs live on the other – Indian – side. They are a minority within the Indian population as well, perhaps two or three per cent, which is no impediment to one of their number becoming president, both unthinkable and constitutionally impossible here in the Land of the Pure.

Over 200 Sikh yatrees (pilgrims) have just returned home and declared themselves well-satisfied by the welcome and the protocol they received here, their sense of feeling secure in a country currently in the throes of a significant disturbance in the security environment, and their pleasure at the way their shrines and monuments have been preserved. Hospitality exceeded their expectations and they were quick to dispel rumours that their holy places had been neglected by our government. Sikh shrines have stood on the land which is now Pakistan for centuries and will stand for centuries to come. They are as much a part of our heritage as they are of the Sikhs. The Sikhs have gone home happy and we will welcome them again next year. We should perhaps spend a few thoughtful moments pondering why it is that we can welcome two hundred Sikhs as guests; but have difficulty living with the three or four million Christians, Hindus Sikhs and Buddhists who live within our own borders.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF HISTORY

ROEDAD KHAN

On Saturday last, the army launched an operation, code-named Rah-i-Nijat against Mehsud strongholds in South Waziristan. "Both air and ground troops are taking part", Major General Athar Abbas, Chief of the Inter-Services Public Relation told the journalists. Earlier Army Chief General Kayani briefed the political leadership on the "imperative" of the operation against the Mehsuds. The die is cast. An invisible Rubicon crossed.

With this operation Pakistan is launched on the path to a protracted, inconclusive war in the mountains of Waziristan. The decision to commit our forces to such a war is, in my view, a tragic error. Waziristan may not be Vietnam but it has its own river of history that General Kayani is now stepping into.

Once again, there is a dry wind blowing throughout Waziristan and parched grasses wait the spark. Now that the match is lit, the blaze may spread like wildfire throughout the tribal area. Talking about Waziristan, a Mehsud tribesman told a missionary doctor at Bannu: "When God created the world there were a lot of stones and rocks and other lumber left over which were all dumped down on this frontier".

In the early 1900s, a crusty British general, Andrew Skeen, wrote a guide to military operation in Waziristan. His first piece of advice: "When planning a military expedition into Pashtun tribal areas, the first thing you must plan is your retreat. All expeditions into this area sooner or later end in retreat under fire".

The British decision to send troops into the Khaisora valley in November 1936 which transformed Ipi's agitation into a full scale uprising almost over night and set Waziristan on fire which lasted until after 1947. The British failed to capture Ipi and the campaign had to be called off. The judgment displayed by the British and the poor intelligence upon which they based their decisions were chiefly to blame for the disasters that followed. This was the last major rebellion in Waziristan which stemmed from an abrupt change of policy.

The tribesmen's unrivalled fighting record, their ability to intervene in Afghan affairs and to involve Afghans in their own affairs, were factors ignored by the British that made Waziristan different from other Frontier areas. This disastrous attempt to "pacify" Waziristan was the last of several major incursions into tribal territory during the hundred years of Britain's presence in Northwest India. On each occasion the tribes and the mountains won a strategic victory, despite local tactical reverses, and the bulk of the Indian troops were forced to withdraw back into the plains of the Indus valley. The British soon learned that you can annex land but not people.

When the British left, Pakistan had reason to be glad that it had inherited a secure North West Frontier. In September 1947, Mr. Jinnah took a bold decision to reverse the "pacification" policy, withdrew regular troops from Waziristan and entered into new agreements with the tribes. Cunningham, the new governor of NWFP, appointed by Mr Jinnah was a Frontier expert. His disillusion with the "pacification" policy was complete. "I think that we must now face a complete change of policy. Razmak has been occupied by regular troops for nearly 25 years. Wana for a few years less. The occupation of Waziristan has been a failure. It has not achieved peace or any appreciable economic development. It ties up an unreasonably large number of troops, and for the last 10 years there have been frequent major and minor offenses against the troops." The change in policy produced dramatic results and paid rich dividends.

All this has now changed. Mr Jinnah's Waziristan policy which had stood the test of time has been reversed. Our troops are back in Waziristan. Some time back, the commander of the US led troops in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Borno, let the cat out of the bag when he said that US and Pakistani forces were working together like "hammer and anvil" to trap Osama and Al Qaeda forces along the border".

Those who know the Frontier are deeply concerned. The Pakistan government is playing with fire. By reversing Mr Jinnah's Waziristan policy, at the behest of Americans, it has alienated powerful tribes in Waziristan and unsettled our western border which had remained peaceful for 62 years since the birth of Pakistan.

The nation is beginning to see the rapidly unfurling consequences of General Musharraf's fateful decision to join the "coalition of the coerced". America's dreaded war on terror has indisputably arrived on Pakistan's soil. Pakistan is slipping into anarchy and stands on the brink of civil war. A perfect storm is looming on the horizon.

We have stumbled into a war that we cannot fight and win for the simple reason that we don't seem to realize what guerrilla war is like. We are sending conventional troops to do an unconventional job. I can foresee a perilous voyage. The war in Waziristan cannot be won because it is perceived as the white man's war. It could be won only if perceived by the powerful tribes as Pakistan's own war. That, unfortunately, is not how they perceive this war. The conflict will, no doubt, be long and protracted. We will suffer more because not even a great power can beat guerrillas. The enemy cannot be seen: he is indigenous to the country. My fear is that we will get bogged down.

War against our own people is too terrible a thing to resort to. Many questions spring to mind. Was the decision to go to war determined by the absence of other viable options? Why was it not debated in parliament? Why deploy military means in pursuit of an indeterminate and primarily political end? Was there a geopolitical imperative to resort to war in Waziristan? Aren't we Pakistanising the American war on our soil?

We must also recognize the limitations of modern, high technology, military equipment in confronting highly motivated guerrilla movement in a treacherous terrain. We must also recognize that the consequences of large-scale military operations – against our own people – particularly in this age of highly sophisticated and destructive weapons – are inherently difficult to predict and control. Therefore, they must be avoided, excepting only when our nation's security is clearly and directly threatened. These are the lessons of history. Pray God we learn them. But as George Bernard Shaw said: "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history."

The writer is a former federal secretary. Email: roedad@comsats.net.pk, www.roedadkhan.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

TIME FOR A DECISION

MASOOD SHARIF KHAN KHATTAK

This is crunch time for Pakistan. A complete stock of the situation needs to be taken and some courageous, prudent and entirely indigenous decisions with Pakistan's own national interests overriding everything else have to come out of that exhaustive stock taking. The main objective of the forthcoming decisions must be to make Pakistan be counted as a responsible state in the comity of nations which values its territorial integrity and sovereignty and respects the same of all its neighbours.

Pakistan must work for peace within itself and should vow to bring it about with its own resources, that is, administrative, military or a combination of both. Pakistan must decide to provide its citizens equal opportunities in life, uniform development, quality education, high class social services, health services and, above all, an effective and fair judicial system. Later, if the world at large wants to help out with no strings attached, it could be accepted to accelerate the pace of nation-building activity. The establishment of total peace is foremost followed by liberal and workable policies encouraging domestic investment, which will then pull in foreign investment without even an effort on our part. Investors always go where the buck is and where the capital multiplies. Pakistan promises a lot and things will happen once we get our strategies and priorities right.

To all those armchair 'babu' economists who have handled Pakistan's finances and have put us in the sorry state that we are now in, all one has to say is "please step aside and let Pakistan breathe freely". The 'desi' nationalist economists will surely achieve for Pakistan what these 'babu' economists could not do or did not want to achieve for this poor exploited nation. Pakistan must spell out that it shall endeavour to overcome its economic woes on its very own, however difficult that might be. Everything else, including the inflow of foreign investment, will follow automatically and in a respectable business-like manner. Pakistan must unleash its own business community and collective business acumen and just watch the wonders that they can do for the country.

It is also time Pakistan stopped behaving like a deer on the run. The way things stand today are synonymous of the deer sprinting away from the danger of the hunters bullet and stopping, once in a while, to look back to see how far behind it had left the danger after first sensing it, and then sprinting off again till it is finally out of breath and stops -- only to be shot with the bullet that it had tried to avoid while it was sprinting away. Pakistan is also trying to run away from the dangers but the hunters are closing up. Pakistan is surely not a deer. It should never have run away in the first place but since it has, the country must now reorient and find its lost sense of honour, dignity, nationhood and pride and shed the crutches that it has got used to over the past 62 years.

To all the pessimists who lack confidence in the Pakistani nation, all I will say is that in every single black cloud hovering over our beloved motherland there are not one but many silver linings. It is only brave people and nations that opt for the silver lining in the dark clouds, while the others take shelter under a roof that is essentially not their own -- they are allowed to rest there for only as long as they are subservient. If, at some later stage, they too opt for the silver lining, it would be too late for the clouds would have got darker and more menacing and the silver linings too would have either diminished or completely disappeared. Pakistan is in that late stage and must come out in the open for its own self or chose the life of an enslaved nation living on whatever crumbs are thrown at it.

Just thinking of such a scenario moves one to tears. Visionary statesmanship and a high degree of efficient statecraft are now absolutely essential to ward off the ever looming dangers caused by six decades of being like the 'deer on the run'. Pakistan has to now stop running from the challenges it faces and must reinvigorate itself, look straight in the eye of the storm that it faces and work its way towards safe waters.

Having said all that, it is understood that Pakistan has to achieve all the objectives outlined without isolating itself from the world and its neighbours. On its march towards taming the storms it faces Pakistan must ensure that it maintains the best of relations with USA, European Union, and the world in which it has to survive. No country has any divine sanction that its integrity is guaranteed forever, irrespective of what they do or fail to do. It is now decision time for the Pakistani nation.

 

The writer is former director-general of the Intelligence Bureau. Email: masood sharifkhattak@gmail.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

A CLUB IN LAHORE

MASOOD HASAN

Those who lament the better days of the past that are no more could perhaps be forgiven for being nostalgic. One refers to the garish and cheap Club that is now the successor of what was once an elegant establishment at the Montgomery Hall in Lahore's Lawrence Gardens. That Club where people of good breeding and class were to be found is long gone, replaced as so often in Pakistan with a motley crowd of power-hungry boors, crooks, yobs and the uneducated. We have destroyed yet another fine institution.

But even if you grant it the benefit of the doubt --- that a club after all is only a reflection of the social values that are prevalent, you cannot accept the rampant decline in standards and etiquette and large-scale looting, plunder and criminal inefficiency. It is simply shocking. This is white and blue collar crime working in tandem. The Club is a favorite hunting ground for bureaucrats. They continue to rule the Club under one dispensation or another and win elections one way or another to retain power.

Club resources are stretched. The losses are in the millions. A grant of Rs50 million shamelessly accepted from the government of Punjab (amidst thunderous applause from the worthies when announced by the then chairman) was quietly channeled into the main accounts. The 2007-08 losses of Rs32m transformed into profit! Allah be praised indeed.

What plagues the Club would fill out this entire newspaper, but suffice to say that there is literally no area where inefficiency, corruption, violation of laws and total fiscal mismanagement does not hold sway. With over 6,000 members on the rolls and many more waiting to get in, you would think that at least financially the club was doing well, but it is not. Of the 15 areas of its operations, it on average reports losses in 12 and measly minor gains in the remaining three. It has an army of employees – over 800 and administrative losses of Rs27m. Rs8m losses in golf, Rs6.2m catering and bar services, Rs4m tennis, Rs3m swimming, Rs2m each cricket and billiards, Rs1.9m cards, Rs1.4m squash, Rs0.7m library, Rs0.3m tambola and Rs0.2m children/women's functions. No way to run a railroad is it? Why are elitist games like golf subsidized? Fees have been raised recently but the raises are meaningless. Losses upwards of Rs.22m are being incurred on sports. This is criminal. Where is the management and what is it thinking? Raise the fees and lose the votes?

Where it is slowly recovering is The Shoppe and guest rooms. There are many stories about senior members holding rooms from one end of the year to the other without payment. Rooms can be hired in advance if you have the right connections while genuine members are always denied the same even when applying weeks in advance. The gym and wellness centre (outsourced), music and film shows and the sports shop are making minor profits. Overall, as of June 30, 2009, the club's losses stand at Rs14 million down from losses of Rs32 million but how kosher are these figures? Everything about the club is tainted and that's a crying shame. The present committee has done precious little to steer the boat ahead safely. As is the custom in the Land of the Pure, some lowly flunky is strung up as a scapegoat and punished.

When it's election time in December the same faces – Lahore's pillars of society, will be popping up to carry on their agenda of mismanagement. When you experience the canvassing onslaught from members, you wonder if they are fighting for the US Presidency or just a Club. It is now common knowledge that the 2008 elections were blatantly rigged. In January this year, 116 permanent members filed a written complaint highlighting serious instances of rigging, misappropriation of funds, violation of laws, etc For all their trouble, they received stony silence from those who were too busy eating into the Club's resources and having a ball. At the last annual general meeting, the chairman astounded everyone – other than his gang, that the number of permanent members was now 'higher' than those listed in the electoral rolls. This was blatant abuse of authority and ensured that the vote would tilt the election in favor of the junta. The matter was brought to the attention of the CEC, Justice (r) Tanvir Khan, who did just the right thing. Nothing.

On another written enquiry moved by members, the club secretary - another compliant cog in the greasy wheel - admitted that 140 regular members had became permanent, 167 regular members were 'inducted' and 53 'A' members were made regular. This was done without the knowledge or approval of the management committee. That this was a violation of club rules and proof of a massive pre-poll rigging did not impress anybody. When the CEC was again approached, he professed helplessness. He also chose not to resign for that would have been an honorable thing. Letters written to the chairman and club secretary have evoked no response. The various 'conveners' who in reality are the viceroys together with whoever is the chairman, simply carry on regardless.

The Shoppe spawned more jokes than all the Sikh jokes that do the rounds and made the Club the laughing stock of the city. A probe committee discovered that goods in excess of Rs11.6m were 'short supplied' to the Club in a period of just six months. The Club's response was to register an FIR against four of the lowlies. No one questioned the big, fat cats. Social circles regaled one another with stories about 10,000 litres of milk and 110,000 eggs having vanished in just six months. The Club said the rats had taken these. For once they were telling the truth. Rats indeed. The Club's already tattered reputation thus sank further and has continued to sink. And this is one area.

In October this year, senior members wrote to the chairman on a subject – misappropriation of funds – and received no answer, the established SOP now. The management committee's 12-page report in the Annual Report 2008 is silent about the various misappropriations. After 18 months of dilly-dallying CCTV cameras were finally installed to check large-scale pilferage in the kitchens but were sabotaged instantly by vested interests. A forensic audit for the last five years is required but it won't happen because the office-bearers are, or think, they are beyond reproach or the law.

'In this hammam,' as Manto Sahib said, 'everyone is naked.'The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email: masoodhasan66@gmail.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

BAYAZID BASTAMI AND THE 500 HERMITS

DR A Q KHAN

God has created us in different tribes with different shapes, colours culture, taste and habits. Even our preference for literature varies from person to person. Personally, I have always been fond of reading books on Islamic history, Urdu literature, (auto)biographies and scientific books. I read, with great interest, books on Urdu poetry, Nasim Hijazi, Al-Farooq, Road to Mecca, Ghubar-e-Khatir, Urdu ki Aakhri Kitab, Ibn Batuta's Travelogue, Tazkiratul Aoulia, etc. The latter is extremely interesting, with detailed biographies of 96 auliya with special emphasis on their spiritual powers.

Tazkiratul Aulia was compiled by Hazrat Fariduddin Attar who himself was recognised as a sage. The book was written almost 800 years ago. Attar was born in 513 Hijra at Neshapur and was martyred there in 627 Hijra by a Tatar soldier.

The book contains the biography of Hazrat Bayazid Bastami (RA) who was recognised as a great sage (wali) of his time. One important story about Bastami (RA) which is not mentioned in Attar's book is given in that of Ruhaniat-e-Islam written by Maulana Alhaj Captain Wahid Baksh Sayyal (Al-Faisal Publishers/Traders, Lahore). I am reproducing the said story from the book because I am convinced many readers will find it interesting and informative. Since I did not have any contact details of Captain Wahid, I could not contact him about this, but I sincerely hope he has no objections to this. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof Ghazali for his assistance and translation.

"Once on a journey, while enjoying the solitude and deeply immersed in reflection and remembrance of Allah, he heard a voice in his heart saying: 'O Bayazid! Go to Dayr Saman and join the Christians in their festivity and worship; a spectacular event will take place'. He recited aa'uzubillah and told himself: 'I will not let this suggestion cross my mind again.' That night he heard the same inner voice. When he woke, he was shivering. He started wondering whether or not he should obey this command. He then heard the inner voice saying: 'Don't be afraid! You are among the best auliya and your name is written in the scroll of the virtuous ones. Put on the dress of the hermits and there will be no blame or sin on you.'

"Early the next morning he put on the Christian hermit's dress and went to Dayr Saman. It was the day of their festivity and hermits were congregating from all over to listen to the sermon of their chief. He took a seat among them. When the chief took the pulpit, everyone was silent. He tried to speak but the pulpit started shaking and he could not say anything. The hermits asked him what prevented him from speaking. He told them that a 'Mohammadan' had come in their midst to test their faith and this had prevented him from speaking. 'Show us that person and we will kill him instantly', they responded to which he said 'don't kill him'. 'I will test him by putting some questions about theology to him. If he answers them all correctly, we will spare him. Otherwise we will kill him'. 'As you wish; we are all your followers', they replied. Thereupon the chief called out from the pulpit: 'O Mohammadan, I give you oath by Mohammad to stand up so that everyone could recognise you'. Bastami stood up. 'Ask whatever you want of rational or traditional matters', he replied. 'Allah is a witness between us'.

"The chief then went on to ask: 'Tell us who is the one who has no second; what are the two that have no third; what are the three that have no fourth… what are the thirteen that have no fourteenth? Tell us who are the people who tell lies and enter paradise and the people who tell the truth and enter hell? Tell us which part of your body is the resting place of your name? What are the winds that scatter dust, the clouds that bear heavy weights of water, the ships that float with ease and the angels that distribute provisions by Allah's command? What is that which is dead and yet it breathes? Who are the fourteen who spoke with the Lord of the Worlds? Which was the grave that moved with the buried one? Which is the water that neither fell from the sky nor gushed out from the earth? Who are the four who were born without parents? Whose is the first blood that was shed on earth? What is it that was created by God; then purchased by him? What was created by God and then disliked by him? What was it God created and then expressed its gravity? What was it God created and then asked Himself what it was? Who are the best women in the world? Which rivers are the best in the world; the best mountain; the best animal; the best month of the year; the best night? What is the catastrophe (Tammah)? Which tree has twelve branches with each of them having thirty leaves; each leaf having five flowers, two of which are in the sun and three in the shade? What is it that performed the Pilgrimage of Baitullah (House of Allah) and performed Tawaf, but it has neither life nor is pilgrimage obligatory upon it? How many prophets were created by Allah and how many of them are fully-fledged messengers? What are the four things with different tastes and colours having one root? What is naqeer, qitmeer, fateel, sabad, labad, Tam and Ram? What does the dog say when it barks; the donkey when it brays? What do an ox, a horse, a camel, a peacock, a nightingale and a frog say? When the bell rings, what does it say? Who are the people to whom Allah sent a revelation, but they are neither jinn nor men nor angels? When the day dawns, where does the night go and when the night falls, where does the day go?'

"After this Bastami said: 'If you have any more questions, ask them now'. The chief replied: 'No more questions". Bastami then asked the chief: 'If I answer all these questions to your satisfaction, will you believe in Allah and His Messenger (PBUH)'. 'Yes, indeed', all of them replied. He then said: 'O Allah! You are witness to this statement of theirs'.

"Thereafter Bastami replied as follows: 'The one who has no second is Allah, the only One who is all-powerful. The two that have no third are the day and the night, for Allah says: 'We have appointed the night and the day as two signs'. (17:12) The three that have no fourth are the throne (arsh), chair (kursi) and pen (qalam). The four that have no fifth are the four major Divine Books – the Torah, the Bible, the Zabur and the Holy Quran. The five that have no sixth are the five obligatory prayers. The six that have no seventh are the six days in which Allah created the heavens and the earth, for Allah says: 'Indeed we created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six days'. (50:38) The seven that have no eighth are the seven heavens, for Allah says: '… seven heavens, one above the other'. (67:3) The eight that have no ninth are the eight angels who are the bearers of the Divine Throne, for Allah says: '… and eight angels will, that day, bear the Throne of Your Lord'. (69:17)"

(To be continued)

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

THE BOSTON BRAHMIN

THE WRITER IS A FREELANCE JOURNALIST WITH OVER TWENTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL REPORTING

ANJUM NIAZ

Since all the worthy columnists have exhausted the KLB, the new name for the Kerry-Lugar Bill, I have nothing remarkable to add to their sound and fury. Let's instead turn to a small housekeeping matter like: is Foreign Minister Qureshi's son working for Senator Kerry? Zain H Qureshi's (ZHQ) business card is circulating the cyberspace these days. It says that he is a legislative fellow in Kerry's Washington DC office. When I called up Kerry's office and asked for Qureshi, the voice at the other end immediately said, "He does not work for us". The woman appeared primed for such a question. She said she had received a similar query earlier that day. Incidentally the cell number on ZHQ's call card has been disconnected; while the mail box belonging to "Zain Qureshi" was "full!" So, I couldn't get to him.

After a number of phone calls to Senator Kerry's office, I finally found out from one of Kerry's male staffers that ZHQ did indeed work for Kerry but had now left. Why has ZHQ gone into hiding? Did he do something wrong? Yes. And the Foreign Office finds itself between a rock and a hard place. How can it condone its boss's act of getting his son a job with Kerry when the KLB talks were at a critical stage? Even if fate smiles upon ZHQ because he's the favoured son of our foreign minister and the doors of the high and mighty in Washington open up for him, we have the right to know whenever the son's job compromises his dad's position. More importantly if it is in direct conflict with Pakistan's interests.

Would you not call this a conflict of interest? Should the foreign minister resign? And if Zardari cannot afford to let him go, then the FM must seek a public apology.

The Boston Brahmin, Senator Kerry is complicit in this act. Boston Brahmins are New England's aristocracy like the Makhdooms of Multan, i.e. Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his tribe. These guys claim to fame is blue-blooded ancestry, wealth, influence and the right to rule. He said the following during his 2004 presidential campaign: "There's a great passage in the Bible that says, 'What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.' And I think everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith . That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith."

Senator Kerry must practice what he preaches. Would he have given ZHQ the time of the day had the young man not been the son of Pakistan's foreign minister?

Why do the good folks fighting Pakistan's case in Washington DC become the usual suspects? In Musharraf's time it was Dr Nasim Ashraf. One wondered whether the Maryland-based millionaire doctor's heart bled for Pakistan or for Musharraf or for himself. Today, Ambassador Husain Haqqani is under fire from certain Pakistani quarters who accuse him of working for Washington and not Islamabad. Haqqani is hitting back via email messages to anyone wondering what's cooking in Washington. Yours truly is one of the unlucky recipients. Surely our ambassador must have known that his boss's son was working for Kerry. Good counselling from Haqqani to Qureshi would perhaps have saved the latter the embarrassment he is facing today?

Another glaring example of how the Democrats are enticing the Pakistani leaders is the recent banner headline: "Zardari far ahead in popularity." According to Democracy International, an affiliate of the Democratic Party of America, Zardari is ahead of Nawaz Sharif in the popularity contest. To anyone with an iota of intelligence, the timing of this screamer is suspect. What has Zardari achieved in recent days for "51 per cent" of Pakistanis to suddenly fall in love with him? His jiyalas, one fears, would declare October 1, the day the survey was announced, as the President's Day – the day of the great revelation. Declaring it a public holiday perhaps?

And when the polls go against the sitting president, these foreign busybodies are kicked out of Pakistan. Gen Musharraf asked IRI (the International Republican Institute), an affiliate of the Republican Party to wind up their office in Pakistan and leave when he got bad ratings from them. Not sure if indeed it was IRI that offended Musharraf, I called up their office in Washington. "What is your column about?" asked Lisa (I couldn't catch her last name) from the press section. I told her politely that it was not possible for me to provide her details of my column. "If you can't tell me what your column is about then I can't help you," she replied sternly. This is just a small example of how Masonic these polling outfits are. They think they have the writ to go around Pakistan poking their noses into our affairs, but when it comes to asking a simple question like if Musharraf asked them to wind up their office in 2008, they get so cagey.

Sadly, the epicentre of our knowledge is the received wisdom from such dodgy polls conducted by Democracy International and the International Republican Institute (IRI). Hey, where's Gallup Pakistan? Have we become so incompetent or doped that we can't even conduct popularity polls in our own country and must therefore rely on America?

We are the opium-eaters. We swallow whatever comes from Washington. While the Democrats tell us that Pakistanis love Zardari because of KLB, the Republicans via their polling affiliate the IRI sing a different tune. Their August polls conclude that "Pakistanis continue to hold onto the opinion that conditions in the country are problematic and President Zardari is perceived as being responsible." If this does not sound confusing enough to an ordinary Pakistani trying to work out the popularity ratings of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have another go. According to September 9 report in the Christian Science Monitor, "Zardari's popularity sags - will it undermine Pakistan's fight with Taliban?"

Here's another twister from the Los Angeles Times. The headline reads: "Zardari at fault for low rating?" This gem was published on August 31. "Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is aware that his popularity has sunk to new lows at a time when his arch rival Nawaz Sharif -- who heads the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) -- is boasting high popularity, a media report said. He is widely viewed in Pakistani society not as a helmsman, but a bystander. It's an image that is largely of Zardari's own making, say analysts who contend that he has failed to forge any kind of connection with the Pakistani public.Last but not the least is the recent poll by the Pew Research Centre, a Washington-based institute, which says that "less than a third of Pakistanis have a favourable opinion of Mr Zardari. The president was widely reviled after being accused of demanding kickbacks while he served in Benazir Bhutto's Cabinet in the late 1980s and again starting in 1993."

Give us a break! If by now we don't get it that the US is using these polls as a weapon for manipulation of third world dictators (Gen Musharraf) and corrupt rulers then Pakistan, I'm afraid to say, is going down the tube fast.

Conflict of interest, eh? Here's yet one more example. Do you know how many Pakistani parliamentarians and cabinet ministers hold foreign nationalities, including our president?

Email: aniaz@fas.harvard.edu & www.anjumniaz.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

LOYAL OPPOSITION

MIR JAMILUR RAHMAN

After his return from four weeks of hibernation in London, Nawaz Sharif has made two statements which are insipid and repetitive. It can safely be assumed that in addition to being friendly opposition, he has also earned the title of loyal opposition. In his statements Nawaz Sharif did not come out with anything new nor could he suggest any concrete measures that the government should take to swiftly overcome various crises. He spoke against the Kerry-Lugar bill but parried the question as to what he would do if the government accepted the bill. He praised his own government for carrying out the nuclear tests in 1998 despite US pressure. He urged the nation to be ready for self-reliance and gave the example of China which now gives loans to many countries. He said country needed a self-reliance plan to turn the economy round and offered to draft such a plan.

Here are some burning topics on which Nawaz Sharif did not offer any comment and even avoided to answer direct questions. 1. The ongoing military operation in South Waziristan; is he for it, against it, or just neutral? 2. The increased terror activities, particularly suicide attacks on GHQ, the Police Training Centre in Lahore and at various locations in NWFP. 3. What position would the PML-N take on the NRO in parliament? Would it vote for it, against it, or abstain? 4. What plan of action does the PML-N have in mind as the KLB has now become law? Would he suggest to the government to reject the cost-free $7.5 billion aid to salvage country's honour? Remember, this aid is cost-free as it will not be paid back and doesn't bear a cent of interest. 5. In his two press talks Nawaz Sharif has pressed the nation to practise self-reliance but has not given any guidelines. He should spell out salient features of his self-reliance philosophy without waiting for the government reaction.

It would be advisable for politicians, including Nawaz Sharif, to remain silent and not indulge in petty talk with the press if they have nothing new to say or have not done their homework. Nawaz Sharif has suggested a very simple antidote to the financial ills Pakistan is suffering from. He says that the government should minimise its expenditure and people should work hard and pay taxes. Ergo, the problem is solved. It is easier said than done. Thank God, he did not suggest confiscation of all foreign currency accounts as he did after exploding the bomb. He blames his succeeding governments of not breaking the begging bowl to regain Pakistan's sovereignty. But neither did he. He raised the slogan 'qarz utaro, mulk sanwaro'. Alas, nothing came about. Yes, we can live without aid and loans but that would be a miserable life to live. The sugar would be Rs100 a kg and petrol would cost Rs100 a litre. All essential items would be rationed.

Self-reliance is a very appealing term. It invokes the feelings of sovereignty, dignity and honour in the chest of every Pakistani. Pakistanis love hearing how China applied this theory and turned into a mighty economic and military power. To become self-reliant China until the early 70s did not allow private ownership of cars and property. It ran buses by coal power to conserve oil. Would Nawaz Sharif insert these measures in the PML-N manifesto? If he tried to do so, his party would abandon him. His MNAs and MPAs would never sacrifice their luxury cars and homes for self-reliance.

 

Email: mirjrahman@hotmail .com

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

IRANIAN GUARDS CHIEF'S UNGUARDED STATEMENT

 

THE entire Pakistani nation, which itself is faced with the serious threats of terrorism, has condemned with one voice the dastardly terrorist attack in Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan killing some 45 people including a number of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commanders and wounded dozens of others. Apart from top Pakistani leadership, political parties, members of the civil society and opinion-makers expressed their complete solidarity with Tehran.

In this backdrop, terse and knee-jerk reaction by Iranian leaders pointing their fingers directly towards Pakistan is deeply painful and regrettable. According to reports, Jundullah Group has claimed responsibility for the attack and chief of the Iranian IRGC has alleged that the United States, Britain and Pakistan were aiding the rebels. He not only implicated Pakistan into the unfortunate incident but also threatened that Iran will "retaliate" the Sunday's terrorist attack in a "proper way". Does this mean sponsoring acts of terror in Pakistan? It is all the more sad that the blame game from Iranian side has come at a time when Pakistan Army was engaged in a decisive battle against terrorist groups and the country itself is being targeted by terrorists. Apart from this, there has also been an un-understandable statement from India that the situation in Pakistan was very serious and that India was ready to fight Taliban. With all this in view, the statement of the IRCG Chief and those of the Iranian President and Tehran's envoy in Islamabad are, to say the least, ill-timed, unwise and somewhat unfriendly. In fact, this is not the first time that statement of such a hostile nature has come from the leadership of a country which is regarded friendly and brotherly by people of Pakistan, as in the past as well Iranians threatened to go for hot pursuit inside Pakistan. We do not want to react to such provocative statements because Iranian sentiments are genuinely hurt and Iranian people were naturally shocked over loss of precious lives. However, we would urge Iranian leaders to appreciate the delicate nature of the situation in which Pakistan finds itself today. World and regional powers have made this area a battleground for advancing their own agendas and their agents are engaged in activities to promote their own interests. Under these circumstances, Iranians should demonstrate maturity and must not indulge in rhetoric that could harm friendly ties between the two countries and create ill will at the people's level. Instead, we should forge unity to fight out terrorists as they are friends of none and enemies of all.

  

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

SBP'S STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

 

AT a difficult time when Pakistan is looking all around for mobilising foreign exchange resources and accepting humiliating conditions of the IMF and Kerry-Lugar Bill, which in political and economic analysts' views impinge on our national sovereignty, it is heartening that the State Bank has taken the initiative to launch aggressive marketing efforts to enhance inflow of home remittances through formal channels.

Under the scheme, overseas entities having specific Home Remittances related arrangements with banks in Pakistan would be encouraged to make additional efforts at origination ends to facilitate remittances flow through formal channels. There can be no two opinions that expatriate Pakistanis have been contributing a lot through their hard earned remittances and investment to salvage Pakistan's economy. While living abroad, they feel more pain of the problems the country is going through than many of us here. Remittances by overseas Pakistanis during the first quarter of the current financial year have shown an increase of 24% touching $ 2.332 billion as compared to $ 1.88 billion in the same period last year. The impressive inflows of remittances have helped in building reserves, which are now hovering around $ 15 billion, the highest since 2006-07. While we expect further increase in remittances as a result of the State Bank's initiative, yet if the present trend is maintained, the country could witness transfer of $ 9 billion at the end of the year. This would be much more than what we are getting from the IMF and through the KL. The remittances have helped to balance the current account deficit, which the country had to face due to higher essential imports particularly petroleum products, cooking oil and machinery. They also contributed in stabilising the local currency in the last three months, which had lost 23 per cent value against the dollar last year. While the State Bank's initiative is in the right direction and laudable, we feel there is a need to create further awareness among the expatriates about sending their remittances through formal channels and for this purpose some delegations of respectable people be sent to countries where Pakistanis have the largest concentrations to build their faith in smooth and fast transactions through official channels.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

FOREIGN MINISTER SHOULD BETTER QUIT

 

FOREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been defending the highly controversial clauses of the Kerry-Lugar Bill in an out of the way manner. It has now been revealed by prominent lawyer Ahmad Raza Kasuri that Qureshi's personal interest was also at play in this episode.

According to Mr Kasuri and his claim has been corroborated by correspondent of this newspaper, Foreign Minister's son Zain H Qureshi is working as staff member of US Senator John Kerry, the co-author of the bill, which contains derogatory and insulting language for Pakistan. This explains why Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been trying feverishly to sweep the issue under carpet on flimsy arguments. The Foreign Minister is supposed to safeguard national interests but here, prima facie, he had been promoting a personal cause and, therefore, has become controversial. It is also a fact that at a time when the Foreign Minister was needed here in Pakistan to explain the circumstances that led to adoption of the Kerry-Lugar Bill in its present form, he preferred to dash to Washington where again he could not present Pakistan's case in an effective manner. He was given a lollipop of the explanatory statement, which he presented as a big achievement. Otherwise too, Shah Mahmood Qureshi is not a successful Foreign Minister, as he lacked clarity of thought and words, which should be the hallmark of the top diplomat of the country. His body language sends confusing signals and he speaks in high pitch as if he is addressing a PPP mammoth public meeting somewhere in Multan. We hope that after this disclosure, the Prime Minister would ask him to quit (if he has no qualms to do so on his own) and, if necessary because of political expediency, may accommodate him in the Agriculture Ministry.

  

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

S WAZIRISTAN: A TOUGH JOB FOR PAK ARMY

M ASHRAF MIRZA

Military operation has been launched in South Waziristan to deal with the terrorists and militants, who are, of late, carrying out attacks on the state institutions, committing suicide bombings and resorting to bomb blasts with unprecedented loss of life. The operation was initiated after endorsement by the country's civil, military and political leadership at a meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani in the chair in the backdrop of a massive surge of terrorism and militancy in different parts of the country. The operation had, in fact, become inevitable as South Waziristan had since turned into the epicentre of terrorism for quite some time. An escalation in acts of terrorism and militancy was witnessed in recent weeks. About 120 persons were reportedly killed in terrorist acts in Peshawar , Shangla, Lahore and Kohat only during the past week.

The most subtle of them was the audacious attack on GHQ in Rawalpindi that had jolted the whole nation as it constituted a direct challenge to the nation's symbol of military might. As many as 15 security personnel including a Brigadier, a Lt. Col and five commandoes were martyred in the attack while nine of the ten terrorists, who launched the attack, perished in the military response. The tenth Aqeel alias Dr Usman, believed to be the mastermind of the attack, was captured in injured condition. He was also reportedly involved in the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Described as the mother of all battles, the war in South Waziriztan will undoubtedly be tough since the army will expectedly encounter resistance from several thousand hard core foreign militants including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs unlike Swat and Malakand where Maulana Fazlullah's followers had primarily fought against the security forces. Besides, Swat was not contiguous to Afghanistan and, therefore, the militants could not get outside support.

But South Waziristan is a different case since it not only borders with Afghanistan from where support in men and weapons may come for terrorists and militants fighting against Pak army but may also receive backing from Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan. The reported vacation of a number of security check posts on the Afghan side of the Durand Line along the Waziristan belt by the US/NATO forces will certainly add to the Pak Army's problems since it will provide open border for the Afghan Taliban to come to the aid of the militants facing the military onslaught in South Waziristan . The logic of and motive behind this decision is simply incomprehensible since the security check posts have been abandoned at a time when Pak Army has decided to take on the terrorists taking shelter in South Waziristan. Pakistan will obviously be justified in taking this act as 'deliberate and unfriendly' since it amounts to stabbing her in the back.

It's, in fact, betrayal of Pakistan at the crucial time, besides negating Washington 's sincerity and oft repeated claims to support Pakistan in the fight against terror. It's disgusting that the US , which is supposed to enhance Pak Army's capabilities to fight the militants, has opted to vacate the check posts. The United States is morally and militarily bound to revoke its decision and reoccupy these check posts since their abandonment constitutes outright violation of the understanding between the two countries on anti-terror war.

It's essential to block the terrorists fleeing from South Waziristan as a result of the military operation as well as to restrain the Afghan Taliban coming to the help of the militants in South Waziristan if the US is really interested in banishment of terrorism and militancy in the region. It's hoped that the COAS Gen Pervez Kayani would have also raised the issue with Gen David Petraeus, Commander of the US Central Commnd currently on a visit to Pakistan . It's, however, a matter of satisfaction that Prime Minister Gilani has reminded Gen Petraeus the imperative need of provision of the military equipment to Pakistan 's armed forces for success in the anti-terror war. Gen Kayani has taken the right step by seeking support of different Mehsud tribes through the leaflets dropped in the agency. What's, however, important is to build public confidence in the armed forces to protect them from the militants' intimidatory tactics. And it will need to be done quickly so as to have inroad in the local populace to evoke intelligence and support.

The operation, however, has the potential of bouncing back if it's not carried out with swiftness and precision. Since the area has emerged as terrorism's centre of gravity, the militant outfits' capability to produce suicide bombers will have to be destroyed as quickly as possible lest they might spread over and carry out suicide attacks in various cities to create panic in the public and build public pressure against the operation. The nation that had risen against the terrorists during operation in Swat and Malakand will certainly remain equally undeterred and committed to eliminate the menace from South Waziristan as well. The masses will be at the back of the Pak Army as it's a national cause. It's hoped that the military leadership will also be mindful of the potent threat of suicide attacks in different cities from the terrorists and militants especially when there is no let up in the anti-Pakistan machinations of India and Afghanistan . It's, however, important that the morale of the Pak army officers and jawans is quite high after successful operation in Swat and Malakand where over 2200 terrorists were eliminated.

Hundreds of militants and their commanders were also captured as well as the unqualified support from all segments of society. The Pak army has been hailed by the nation for its success against the resolute fight by the terrorists and militants. The bipartisan meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Gilani in the chair also expressed unstinted backing to the operation in South Waziristan . It will, however, be a difficult and different war from Swat and Malakand operation, since the army will be expected to fight and defeat the hidden and the faceless enemy. Ironically, the previous two military operations launched in the area during Gen Pervez Musharraf's era had not succeeded through due to the half hearted initiative to deal with the well entrenched militants in the area since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

INDIAN NUCLEAR AMBITIONS

ASIF HAROON RAJA

India had carried out five nuclear tests on 12 May 1998 amidst fanfare. Ruling BJP proudly declared all the tests successful. Despite US doubts it was claimed that 45 KT yield had been achieved. Abdul Kalam was rewarded and made President of India. Scientist K. Santhanan who was part of Pokharan II tests and is senior scientist in DRDO, has now revealed after over a decade that yield of thermonuclear explosion was much below expectations and tests were a fizzle rather than a big bang. In other words, it was a failure. He has urged the government not to sign CTBT since more tests were required for Hydrogen bomb to perfect the device. Although the UPA government and BJP have disagreed with his contention, however, the fact is that he could not have made this revelation on such a sensitive matter without the blessing of policy makers. Anyone with little IQ would discern that the real motive is to pave the way for conducting more nuclear tests and build a full-scale thermonuclear bomb, and also avert signing CTBT.

Indian army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor tried to tickle Pakistan by asserting that India has never been a threat to Pakistan. Till very recent he was breathing fire and giving haughty statements. He has no say in Indian decision making body and remains at the beck and call of Lok-Sabha to do as told to do. Hence his assurance is deceptive and deepens mistrust rather than promoting trust and confidence. His assurance will be worthwhile when Indian forces down grades its force levels which are presently too much in access to actual threat level. After his so-called assurance he is now seeking a review of India's nuclear doctrine and wants it to be expanded and upgraded. In his and Indian naval chief view, 70-90 nukes with Pakistan are excessive and go beyond concept of minimum credible deterrence. They say that Pakistan has exceeded minimum nuclear deterrence level. They also claim that Pakistan has improved upon US made Harpoon missiles issued to Pak Navy for use by ground troops. US media too has publicized these concerns. Indian media joined by political hawks, scientists, intellectuals are indulging in heated debates and exerting pressure on the government to review nuclear doctrine and conduct further nuclear tests to maintain superiority over Pakistan. The tirade spearheaded by Indian COAS against suspected expansion of Pak nuclear arsenal is devious and is meant to justify Indian expansionist program and to undermine Pakistan nuclear program.

Soon after Pakistan acquired weapon graded nuclear strength as well as means of delivery, Indo-US-Israeli nexus put their heads together how to deprive Pakistan from this capability which had the potential of preventing India from becoming unchallenged power of South Asia and thus frustrating their future expansionist designs. One of the major objectives of USA to capture Afghanistan was to make use of Afghan soil to disable Pakistan's nuclear capability and to convert it into a vassal state. With this aim in view, the trio commenced its work in real earnest from 2002 onwards to first weaken Pakistan from within through sabotage and subversion, commit Pak Army in futile war on terror and defame it, degrade ISI and defang it, empower democratic government of its choice under all-powerful civilian president and make it totally subservient to wishes of Washington and then get closer to our nuclear sites and steal them by hook or crook.

Like USA, India also plays up threat posed by religious extremists in Pakistan and harps on the theme that Pak nukes are insecure and are liable to be stolen by terrorists. In order to indicate interest of terrorists in Pak nukes a fake interview was given to a private TV channel by Afghan based so-called Al-Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid on 22 June. He boasted of using Pak nuclear weapons against the US . It was a clear cut put up show to legitimize takeover of our nuclear assets by US marines. The interview was given in Khost (eastern province of Afghanistan), which inadvertently laid to rest the speculation by western countries and US officials including Hillary Clinton that Al-Qaeda leadership is based in FATA. Among several deadly plans executed to either make Pakistani leadership willingly hand over our nukes, or to destroy them or hijack them, one of the plans hatched was to make use of RAW trained Pakistani militants. Indo-western media had already sold this story to the world community and had conditioned their minds about such a possibility. To our good luck, our ever vigilant intelligence agencies learnt about the wicked plan in early July that RAW-Mossad had jointly conceived a plan to target Pak nuclear sites with the help of specially trained terrorist squad. India had allocated $25 million to recruit and train 500 terrorists belonging to Baitullah group along with some Afghanis and Indians skilled in specialised operations.

 

The squad was tasked to mount attacks on one or more nuclear sites of Pakistan located in Frontier Province to create a world wide sensation and fright. The idea was to shake the confidence of US Administration about Pakistan's foolproof nuclear security system. Phase-2 of the plan envisaged use of small kiloton tactical nuclear bomb against US/Nato installation in Afghanistan to show to the world that Islamic terrorists had managed to steal a bomb as had been feared, and that Pak nukes having become highly unsafe must be secured. In actuality, the bomb had already been stolen from Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Karnataka through an Indian scientist Lokanathan Mahalingham. The dead body of the scientist was recovered from Kali River on 13 June under mysterious conditions and the matter was hushed up. He had been murdered either to wash off all footprints or else he was about to spill the beans. Ironically, raucous and scandalous Western media did not utter a word about the incident. Premature leakage sabotaged the plan but it has not been shelved. On 16 May Manmohan Singh told Obama that nuclear sites in Pakistan restive NWFP had partly come in the hands of Islamic extremists. Same day, his telephonic conversation was leaked by Israeli security website Debka and widely publicised. Once Pak Army turned the tide in its favor in Swat and US officials became appreciative and started to change their opinion about the safety of Pak nukes, there was lot of grumbling in India . Efforts are in hand to change perceptions from positive to negative by making wild allegations that Pak troops had indulged in extra judicial killings in Swat and that Pakistan is expanding its nuclear program. Stories of insecurity of Pak nukes are still in circulation. Like India, US leaders are also worried that Pakistan is striving to make qualitative and quantitative improvements in its arsenal. While making unsubstantiated allegations against Pakistan India ignores the fact that not a single case of theft or accident has taken place in Pakistan . Conversely, 152 theft cases of uranium have taken place in India since 1984. These thefts have been registered by the police. Hindu extremists in league with certain nuclear scientists are involved in the racket to smuggle nuclear technology to Israel and western countries through clandestine means. No eyebrows have been raised in USA or western world which starts making loud noises even on a fabricated story of a possible theft of a nuke from Pakistan arsenal and deem it dangerous for world security. Indo-US civilian nuclear deal has allowed India unfettered access to nuclear material and technology from all the suppliers. Since it can import nuclear fuel for its nuclear rectors, its indigenous 300 tons of uranium is available for producing fissile material from eight of Candu Type nuclear plants with 220 mw capacities each. These are outside the purview of IAEA safeguards.

Indo-US deal doesn't impose any restriction on further testing by India. India has been exempted from any penalties in case it resorts to nuclear testing. USA has given a blank cheque to India to expand its nuclear arsenal which is already formidable. In US estimate Pakistan has 70-90 nuclear warheads as against current Indian stock of 200 over and above small tactical nukes. With free access to nuclear materials from international suppliers group, India will be in a position to produce 40 nukes annually. Purpose of ambitious nuclear build up is not to counter Chinese threat which is not there but to render Pakistan nuclear deterrence impotent. It implies that Pakistan will be debarred from undertaking any kind of up gradation of its nuclear assets even from its own resources. Kerry-Lugar contemptuous bill prepared under the aegis of Indian and Israeli lobbies and acclaimed as a great diplomatic triumph by PPP leaders has been vociferously resented by people belonging to all walks of life including the army. It is widely seen as a document of surrender.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

RATIONALE BEHIND WAZIRISTAN OPERATION

SAJJAD SHAUKAT'

After taking cognizance of the deteriorating security situation, emanating from the recent terror-attacks inside the country, Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani briefed the political leadership on October 16 in connection with the military operation against the militants of South Waziristan. Next day, the ground operation, "Rah-i-Nijat" (Path to Deliverance) was launched after weeks of heavy aerial bombardments to weaken militant fortifications. Some 28,000 soldiers moved into a remote corner of the mountainous region, in a three-pronged attack, intended to trap 10,000 insurgents of South Waziristan including some 1 500 Uzbeks and foreign fighters. In this regard, on October 18, the Chief of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas said: "The army has launched an operation after receiving orders from the government."

However, there is an appropriate rationale behind the military operation in Waziristan. Apart from the previous suicide attacks and bomb blasts, terrorists based in South Waziristan, intensified their subversive attacks in the major cities of Pakistan by acting upon the tactics of guerilla warfare in order to create lawlessness in the country. In this respect, on October 15, five civilians and 12 personnel of the security forces have been martyred in three separate terrorist attacks by killing 9 terrorists at FIA Building, Manawan Police Training Centre and Bedian Elite Police Training Centre in Lahore. On the same day, eleven persons were killed in a car suicide attack at a police station in Kohat, while several persons were killed in similar type of blasts in Peshawar intermittently. On October 12, a suicide bomber killed 41 people in Shangla. In their most challenging subversive act, on October 10, nine militants targeted the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi where Pak Army foiled a major tragedy by killing eight terrorists and rescuing 39 hostages. In the event, 12 soldiers, a Brigadier and a Lt. Colonel had also been martyred, but militants' ringleader Aqeel alias Dr Osman was captured alive whose links to South Waziristan were proved after initial investigation.

Waziristan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has connections in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the attacks, occurred in Pakistan within ten days. The group had also claimed responsibility for the last year's terror-attacks on several key installations of Lahore like the Pakistan Navy War College, FIA building, the Manawan Police Training Center and Rescue 15 building of the police including assault on the Sri Lankan cricket team. It was due to the panic and sense of insecurity caused by the merciless insurgents that emotions have been running high against the Taliban militants from all segments of society. Each assault has been strengthening public opposition to militancy and religious extremism. In this context, Pakistan's political commentators and the general masses strongly condemned the recent terror-acts, while expressing their views through electronic and printed media.

Regarding the new wave of terrorism, which killed dozens of persons, the leading newspapers printed the views of people saying: "The militants are not what they claim to be…the enemies of the United States…in fact, they are the enemies of Pakistan and they want to impose their version of Islam on us but they will never succeed." The papers further wrote: "People of Pakistan were not only unanimous on the military operation against militants in Swat and other areas of Malakand Agency, but they also wanted a quick yet effective strike against those hiding in South Waziristan."

Similar thoughts were expressed by the people through TV channels. However, just like the previous military operations which had broken the backbone of the insurgents in Swat, Dir and Buner, Pakistan's major political parties and civil societies of every province have been greatly backing the ongoing offensive in South Waziristan. Besides, the latest wave of terror-attacks and public support to the operation, Rah-i-Nijat, there is other logic behind military action in South Waziristan. Notably, the militants enter Pakistan from Afghanistan where tentacles of terrorism exist.

In this respect, India has set up secret training centres in Afghanistan where its military personnel in collaboration with its secret agency, RAW have been imparting training of guerilla warfare to the youngsters, having connections with South Waziristan where some other such training centres are also working. By setting aside the atrocities of the Taliban insurgents such as hostage-takings, beheadings, and torture, Indian officials incite the local tribesmen by propagating that Pakistan's armed forces are killing its own people. The main aim behind is to attract the innocent people, and to produce suicide bombers after brainwashing.

Now, this fact is known to everyone that Pakistan is the only nuclear country in the Islamic world. Hence, US, Israel and India are in collusion to weaken it by creating anarchy for achieving their secret strategic interests. Covert support to the insurgents of the Frontier Province and separatists of Balochistan are part of the unfinished agenda of these foreign elements. Besides NWFP, sporadic ambush attacks on the security forces, government installations and ministers in Balochistan might be cited as example.

It is of particular attention that location of South Waziristan makes it most conducive place for the anti-Pakistan plotters and fighters. In this regard, Time magazine reported on October 18, 2009: "South Waziristan is close to outsiders…which comprises harsher terrain, made it the ideal hiding place for foreign militants…over the years, various groups of militants fortified their bases…Pakistan's military moved on South Waziristan stronghold of the TTP, an umbrella group of militants…have been behind some 80% of terrorist attacks in the country including the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto."

Nonetheless, the South Waziristan Agency which shares a common border with Afghanistan is the epicenter of all the terrorist activities in Pakistan. Subversion in country's major cities including Khyber, Bajaur, Orakzai and Mohmand agencies are plotted there with the support of Indian RAW which itself is being backed by the tactical help of US and Israel. Regarding the recent terror-attacks, ISPR Spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other TV commentators have indicated Indian involvement behind the attack, remarking: "Hakimullah Mehsud and other terrorists are "the enemies of the state" and "are mercenaries who receive arms from Afghanistan to destabilize the country." Now, the right hour has come that Pakistan's armed forces which have strong rationale behind the military operation must check all these activities of the Waziristan-based militants once for all.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

TURBULENCE IN KASHMIR

SAMAN MALIK

At long last, forensic team of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted its report to the Srinagar High Court about two women, allegedly molested and murdered by Indian forces in the Valley. They were the 17-year-old Aasiya and her pregnant sister-in-law, the 22-year-old Neelofar. Upon the CBI's request for more time to complete the investigation, the Court adjourned hearing to December 14, 2010.

Despite lapse of about five months, little progress has been made to unearth evidence necessary to track the offenders. The investigation was handed over to the CBI when it came to light last month that the evidence collected by local authorities in initial investigation had been destroyed. After receiving and analysing the evidence, Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory reported that the 'the excretal swabs provided did not match with actual swabs taken from the victims, giving rise to possibility that the swabs provided were fake'. The CBI's report has further complicated the case. Their report says that one of the victims was a virgin. It appears that the thrust of investigation is still to hush up the case. Earlier, ahead of the CBI investigations, the state government had appointed a one-man commission, headed by Justice (retd) Muzzafar Jan, to ferret out the truth.

But, this Commission's findings reflected that it was nor more than a witty dilly-dallying tactic. Instead of probing the objective evidence, the Commission made the subjective recommended that 'the victims' relatives, including Neelofar's husband Shakeel Ahanger and her brother Zirar Shah, be questioned in detail'. The Commission tried to divert suspicion from Indian forces towards the victims' relatives. There was no-let-up in momentum of demonstrations despite 'state' government's vigorous efforts to hush up the incident. The protesters remained convinced that military or security personnel had molested the women and dumped their dead bodies in the Rambiyar stream.

According to Kashmir Watch, hundreds of Kashmiri women are sexually assaulted each month, but they avoid reporting their grief for fear of shame and Indian army's special powers. Sheltered by Armed Forces' Special Powers Act and similar laws, Indian army and security forces commit human rights violations with impunity. The other day, an 80-year-old woman was raped, sparking protests at Marmat in Doda.

The plight of hapless Kashmiri women has compelled even the 'state' government to demand repeal of the AFSPA. On his visit to the valley, India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised to 'relook into the law giving special powers to armed forces'. However, it is eerie to note that the Indian Army Chief, in an interview to a private TV channel, NDTV, defended retention of AFSPA as a `shield for the Armed forces' in the occupied territory. He minced no words to flatly admit: "AFSPA is needed to protect the troops legally" [against their crimes].

The Kashmiri people call the AFSPA a "draconian' law as, like Draco's code of 610 BC, it is meant to forestall future revolts by common men. Senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, while talking to media men at Soura Hospital in Srinagar said that India had converted the Jammu and Kashmir into a police state where people's rights were being violated by occupation troops. As Complete shutdowns, marked with demonstrations, continue in the vale of tears, the APHC spokesman has invited foreign diplomats to visit the occupied territory to see India's reign of terror with their own eyes. Renowned Indian writer Arundhati Roy has observed that India was occupying Jammu and Kashmir against the wishes of the people and only through its seven hundred thousand troops. At a seminar in Washington D.C., the speakers demanded withdrawal of army's special powers. India claims to be the "world's greatest democracy".

But, its shiny face is scarred by human-rights violations by its forces. The impact of the AFSPA is that it clothes armed forces and security personnel with emergency powers without explicitly abrogating people's fundamental rights under the Indian Constitution. Interestingly, a fundamental right, per se, cannot be usurped or altered.

 

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

TODAY'S UNUSUAL CALM..!

ROBERT CLEMENTS

An unusual calm reigns: Unusual, like a nation satiated after a frenzied bout of romping with shopping, sales, sweets, crackers, colours and lights. Satiated, like a people tired with family, visiting, traveling, train journeys, air journeys! Satisfied, because it's all over, for another year!

And like some sleeping monster same politician who danced on street and announced subsidized sugar for making sweets, unlimited electricity for lighting houses and buildings, abundant water for washing streets, staircases and temple, now stands stern faced: "It's over!"

"What's over?" "The good times!" "So?""Water cuts! Power cuts! Sugar shortage! Vegetable price hike!" "But last week?"

"Was festival time, time to enjoy!" "But that's not fair!" "What's not fair?" "That you led us into thinking that all's well with the world, the 24 hours electricity would always be there, sugar would never disappear, water never become scarce!" "Sorry we had no choice!" "You had no choice?" "No we didn't! If we had cut your lights, lessened the water, not subsidized your sugar, not imported onions you would have turned on us and torn us apart!"

"So you fooled us! You took us for a ride!" "We do this every year and if we didn't we'd be skinned alive. We give you one week of magic!

"And the rest of the year is reality!" "Simple formula" say the politicians to each other, "No need to produce more energy, build more power plants! No need to build dams and connect rivers, dredge the existing lakes to store more water! No need to produce more rice and wheat, help the farmers with better methods of irrigation! No need, no need at all! Just fool the people at festival time!

"Watch them rushing to the malls! "Buying cars and Barbie dolls! "And split AC's to hang on walls!"

And now, they look at cars for which they have no money to buy fuel, at air-conditioners that have no electricity to run them and and credit cards which they have to pay off, but no money after the lay off. Today an unusual calm reigns! The calm before reality hits you like a sledgehammer! Enjoy today, it's the calm before tomorrow's storm of reality..!

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

FALLOUT OF A FIRE

 

The fire that refused to die down at the warehouse of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) at Tejgaon even after two days has left many wondering about its origin. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had no hesitation in terming the incident a 'planned act of sabotage.' The timing of the fire in particular is more suspect because stored in the warehouse were the printing paper for textbooks and the paper to be used for their cover pages.

Sure enough, this time elaborate preparation was taken to distribute about 20 crore textbooks free of cost among students of primary schools and secondary schools of the country with the secondary schools getting included for free distribution of books for the first time. Decisions like giving printing order to printing presses located outside Dhaka may have antagonised certain vested quarters who have so long established a monopoly hold on printing and binding of textbooks and made undue profits through illegal means and ploys. One cannot also rule out the possibility of some of those disgruntled by the introduction of a new education policy having a hand in it. Whatever may be the case, now that the minister himself has pointed accusing fingers at unknown culprits, the matter should be taken very seriously and a thorough probe carried out to get at the truth. If this is a case of arson, the culprits should be nabbed as early as possible and the findings of the investigation made public so that people know exactly what went wrong and where.

About one thing there is no doubt, though, that destruction of or damage to the stacked paper meant for printing textbooks, apart from the huge loss, will make the task of printing books in time for the academic year 2010 beginning in January difficult, if not impossible for the NCTB. The minister and his deputy have assured that this incident will not deter them from reaching the books to students in time. The government deserves credit for having constituted a monitoring committee earlier to see that the book distribution programme is not hampered in anyway. Now that committee will have to double its effort to get the job done.  

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

MERIT AND EXPERIENCE

 

The cabinet decision to extend the retirement age of government officers and employees, who are freedom fighters, from 57 years of age to 59 is welcome as it accords recognition, though belatedly, to the contribution these officers made in their younger days to the liberation of the country. Earlier, the freedom fighter officers and other categories of employees got the benefit of two years' seniority. The freedom fighters put their lives at risk for the cause of the country. The nation remains grateful to them. 

The decision comes against the backdrop of speculations about the government making a decision to increase the retirement age for all its employees.. This has already been done in our neighbouring countries, considering the increase in average longevity and people's ability to work and there is no reason why it should not be done here.
Retention of experienced staff is necessary as the need for experienced officers to man different offices and projects, now suffering because of absence of adequate number of such hands, is pressing. There is apparently a dearth of well trained experienced officers in government departments. The need for extending the retirement age of all officials cannot be over emphasised. It brooks no delay and the sooner the government takes a positive decision the better. 

As it is, the quality of governance has been the subject of much concern and the government is certainly aware of it. After all, there is no substitute for merit and experience when it comes to administration  or public service.

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

BOB'S BANTER

FORGET THE HURT, MOVE ON...!

 

Studies by a number of psychologists show that it is not great riches that make people happy, but friends and forgiveness. The happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don't care about keeping up with the Joneses next door, lose themselves in daily activities and most important forgive easily. A University of Michigan psychologist calls forgiving the queen of all virtues, which makes me recall my school days where there were always the 'patch up people.' These people believed two guys who had just fought should become friends again by just shaking hands and making up. "Hey come on!" they would shout, "Shake hands with each other!" And the two with anger in their hearts, resentment in their heads and clenched fists would reluctantly shake hands. But they actually never forgave and would soon be at each other's throats! Forgiving one another is the only way we can kiss and make up and forgiving comes from deep within. But, oh boy! it's not as easy as it seems. The idea of forgiving quickly is a tough one. How we all enjoy righteous indignation. But forgiving can be like drinking bitter medicine; we have to force ourselves to swallow … and even that in small doses. In his audio book "Living Faith" (Random House Audio Books, 1996), US President Jimmy Carter talks about forgiving quickly. He says that without the knowledge that he can be forgiven, it would be impossible for him to face his own shortcomings. He relates that both he and his wife, Rosalynn, are "strong-willed" persons who find it difficult to admit being at fault. One day, after a particularly harsh argument, Carter decided that he would never let another day end with each of them angry with the other. So he went out to his workshop and cut a thin piece of walnut, a little smaller than a bank check. On it, he carved the words, "Each evening forever exchange this for an apology or forgiveness, as you desire!" That evening, he gave the plaque to Rosalynn. He reports that, so far, he has been able to honor it each time Rosalyn has presented it to him. With his plaque, Carter made it possible for them to forgive quickly. They created a climate where it became safe to admit mistakes and where it was expected that those mistakes would be forgiven. We don't need the 'patch up people' do we? Instead we need to admit our mistakes, forget the hurt, forgive quickly and move on.

Let me forget the hurt and pain

Found along life's way

Let me remember kindnesses

Given day by day...!

bobsbanter@gmail.com 

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

DEALING WITH AUTISM

SYLVIA MORTOZA

 

April 2, 2008 was a milestone in the area of autism for this was the first UN World Autism Awareness Day. Autism is developmental disorder affecting a person's ability for social interaction and social communication. It is not a mental illness, nor is it due to poor parenting skills. In the early 1940s a new mental syndrome, which child psychologist Leo Kanner called autism, appeared in the wake of the mass vaccination for whooping cough. After WWII, the US occupied Japan and forcibly vaccinated the children: their first case of autism was diagnosed in 1945! In England the vaccination was promoted on a large-scale in the late fifties and a society for those made autistic was founded in 1962. 

In the 1990s there was a huge surge in the number of autism cases reported in children, after a wider diagnostic definition of the condition was introduced. There are an increasing number of children in Bangladesh too who are autistic. Marked by rapid brain growth during early childhood, a classic case of autism is a devastating neurological disorder and victims often require special schooling. Many victims of this mysterious and sometimes devastating condition are as mentally alert as any other children. In California alone the number of children receiving special services for autism tripled from 1987 to 1998 and doubled in the four years after. US national figures tell a similar story and this upsurge has lent urgency to calls for more research on autism and more government spending to educate autistic children. But whether or not the rise in the number of cases was due to improved methods of diagnosis or increased public awareness or actually an increase in the number of child sufferers is not clear.

According to a major new research, one in a hundred adults have a form of autism. The study, the first of its kind, found that autism and related conditions such as Asperger's syndrome are as common in adults as in children. And as with children, the disorder is much more often found in males than in females. The UK Department of Health-funded research also found rates to be higher among single people and among men who haven't been to university. In the first test the topics covered included attention to detail, ability to handle social interactions and ability to read people's emotions. Several hundred were then put through a second, more stringent, test and the researchers estimated that 72 people of those tested had autism or a related condition. Three recent large-scale studies of children in England have come up with a similar rate. 

Classic autism is a devastating neurological disorder. The condition, as experts now conceive it, is like high blood pressure - a "spectrum disorder" in which affected people differ from the rest of us only by degrees. In its classic form the condition leaves people virtually devoid of social impulses. Autistic children have trouble communicating and games like 'peekaboo' just leave them cold. They seem to perceive people as unpredictable objects yet they often excel at systemising. "Even young autistic children love to classify and order things," says Dr Bryna Siegel of the University of California, San Francisco. "They're interested in categorical information." Autistic people are famous for collecting facts and many can recall them with breathtaking precision. Patricia Juhrs, director of a Rockville, Md., group called Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children, has an adult client who has memorised every top-10 song list Billboard magazine has published since 1947. Tell him which day you were born, and he'll tell you what was playing on the radio.

Autistic children cannot process information and sensations properly; hence, most cannot communicate their wants, thoughts or feelings effectively.  They find it difficult to interact and even when they do so, it appears awkward or inappropriate to others.  Sound, touch, smell or light may be difficult to tolerate if the autistic child is hypersensitive. At the other extreme, hypo-sensitivity will lead the child to create certain sensations. Simple activities such as feeding and dressing are difficult because of sensory problems and take a long time to master. The child may display any of the following behaviours: hyperactivity, poor eye contact and short attention span, jumping continuously, climbing furniture, flapping their hands, rocking or spinning, appearing clumsy and bumping into people, walking on tiptoes, making loud unintelligible sounds, have difficulty in chewing their food, brushing their teeth, feeding and dressing themselves.

If the child can learn to read life is made much easier by the fact that one can write 'social stories' for the child to prepare him for certain situations such as riding on the bus, waiting in a queue, etc. Certain general approaches are invaluable for the child's development, for example, providing a routine at home and school diminishes the anxiety many children have to face when they are not sure as to what is about to happen next.
Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychologist at Cambridge University UK has a theory that autism is an imbalance between two kinds of intelligence - the kind used to understand people ("empathising") and the kind used to understand things ("systemising"). Though most of us have both, studies suggest that females are better than males at empathising, while males have a stronger knack for systemising. By Baron-Cohen's account, autism is just an exaggerated version of the male profile - an extreme fondness for rule-based systems, coupled with an inability to perceive people's feelings and intentions. But the truth may not be that simple, however the concepts of "E" and "S" offer a powerful new framework for thinking about boys, girls and autism. If Baron-Cohen is right, autism is a mental style that people can learn to accommodate. But many doctors believe there are a number of environmental factors that could be a cause including a number of infections and the possible role of a mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal.  Whatever may be the cause, children with autism need to be recognised as being in need of special care because many of them are among the most talented persons we have.

Parents, teachers must work very closely and in a consistent manner to encourage communication, whether the child is verbal or non-verbal. Autistic children seem to be visual learners so information can be conveyed using visual prompts, eg symbols, flashcards with photographs, or the written word. Baron-Cohen's team has developed an interactive computer programme that pairs 418 emotions with distinct facial expressions. Preliminary studies suggest that anyone, autistic or not, can develop a better eye for flattery, boredom or scorn simply by practicing for 10 weeks with these electronic flashcards. Autistic people often excel at mundane, detail-oriented tasks. As one would expect, autistic people score even lower than typical males on tests that involve predicting people's feelings and interpreting their facial expressions. But when challenged to find the triangle embedded in a complex design, or predict the behaviour of a rod attached to a lever, they fare as well as normal males, if not better. Baron-Cohen's team found that mildly autistic adults trailed normal women and men on a 40-item empathy test, but trumped both groups on a systemising survey. As it turned out, autistic people were not just extreme systemisers, they systemise in a distinct and unusual way. When normally developing children draw a picture of a train they start with a general idea: a series of long, flat rectangles with wheels underneath. Autistic children differ in that they often start with peripheral details and expand them into dazzling 3-D renderings. "They don't do it in a logical order. They do it as you would if you were tracing."
Whether taking in sights, sounds or sentences, our brains ignore countless details to create useful mental templates. Autistic people make generalisations too, but studies suggest they work from the bottom up, attending doggedly to everything their senses take in. That helps explain various aspects of autism - the encyclopedic memory, the lightning-fast calculation and the extreme sensitivity to sounds, lights and textures. It also ties in neatly with recent studies linking autism to superfast brain growth during the first years of life.

 

Researchers believe that process may generate more sensory neurons than the brain can integrate into coherent networks.

New theories suggest the child, given his or her IQ, may be doing something intelligent: looking for predictable rules or patterns in the data. As one victim said, "We're fine if you put us into the right environment. But when the person and the environment don't match, we seem disabled." Some advocates insist that conditions, like Asperger's syndrome, are not disorders at all, just personality variants that have been misconstrued as defects. They believe that people at the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum should be spared psychiatric labels.
But when the labels are applied without stigma, they can be liberating as autistic adults are often highly employable. If they are matched properly with work they enjoy, they can do as well or better than people who are not disabled. Tapping these strengths makes obvious sense.

 

(Sylvia Mortoza is an Independent staff writer)

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

SWINE FLU: SECOND WAVE PREPARATIONS

KAZI MOSTAQUE AHMED

 

The incidence of the pandemic swine flu has come down sharply in the country, and the hospitals, which opened the swine flu corners to treat the H1N1 patients, are closing down these centres. Quoting the sources of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), a report published in The Independent last Monday mentioned that only 26 fresh cases of the disease were identified in the span of seven days recently. Until now the number of swine flu patients recorded so far in the country is around 710 and the number of casualties are three. True, the incidence of swine flu is on the wane, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that a possible second wave might strike the world again. Since Bangladesh has been attacked with swine flu, the country needs to be always prepared for managing a possible second wave.

The WHO declared global swine flu pandemic on June 1. It raised pandemic alert level to maximum 'six' on June 11. This year's global outbreak was the first flu pandemic in the 21st century. The last pandemic the world experienced was in 1968 that killed millions. But, this time the WHO said that it was not severe.

However, the country's first flu victim was identified on June 18. A 19-year student, after he had made a trip to United States, was first quarantined in Dhaka as he was tested positive for influenza A/H1N1 after examination of his throat swab and wash samples. Soon after the detection of the virus, the health minister Prof Dr AFM Ruhul Haque urged the people not to be panicky as he claimed the government was well prepared to manage the disease. To build resistance against the flu, the government formed a National Rapid Response Team. Health authorities installed Health Support Desks at 15 ports of entries, including the Zia International Airport. The health minister also called upon everybody to avoid sneezing, coughing or spitting just 'anywhere' and to cover their mouth while coughing or sneezing and wash their hands properly. Government officials, as preemptive measures, stockpiled Oseltamivir, the antiviral for the disease, at the district level and strategic points to manage the disease. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, health ministry's response was quick and commendable. In the beginning, for the pandemic the best preparedness was situational awareness. And the government's efforts proved up to the task. Soon after initial detection of cases, epidemiologists predicted that a greater contamination of the H1N1 virus might occur in the country. They pointed out that some 80 per cent people in Bangladesh cough and sneeze in air in open places, while 11 per cent cough in hands and nine per cent uses saris or cloths during coughing and sneezing. So the campaign for the awareness of people was always on the top priority of government's measures to contain any large-scale outbreak of the disease.

Now, it is good news that the rate of the number of fresh swine flu patients are first declining at present, and these cases are not severe enough. Very few patients are getting admitted into hospitals for treatments.
This is indeed an achievement that, in Bangladesh, the figure of deaths caused by swine flu could be struck to three, considering the limited number of health professionals and inadequate health infrastructure of the country. This achievement becomes more pronounced when one takes into account the influx of thousands of people that occurs between Bangladesh and India everyday through the land and air routes. Swine flu had a high prevalence in India where more than 309 deaths were reported due to the disease by the month of September.

Thanks to the timely step of government aimed at generating awareness about the flu, the people became cautious enough to take precautions against the disease. But there is no room for being complacent with the disease's lower prevalence rate now in the country. The warning of the World Health Organization (WHO) about a second wave of the pandemic should be taken seriously. Recently, in the United States, government officials warned that the possible delay of the flu vaccine could be disastrous, as children are the most vulnerable age group to the disease. A total of 86 children died in the United States this year.

Bangladesh has survived the first wave of the pandemic with only three deaths, but the next attack can be more fatal if a massive human-to-human transmission occurs. So preparations have to always remain afoot to combat a possible second attack. It is learnt that vaccines against the swine flu will hopefully be available by January next year in the country. To make vaccines available, Bangladesh has already made a request to the WHO for providing the fund to procure flu vaccines. We hope the WHO will respond positively to the request of Bangladesh to provide the vaccines free of cost.

It is laudable that, on October 18, the IEDCR started a 3-day training programme at the National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) for the teachers on swine flu management with a view to making school children aware of the disease. Initially, the IEDCR is imparting training to the teachers from the schools of greater Dhaka district. The other districts will be covered in phases later. This kind of awareness building programme for children will certainly contribute significantly to the prevention of the disease since children, as pointed out, are more prone to get infected with the disease and are called 'super-spreaders'. The government also needs to carry on with the media campaign detailing the preventing aspects of swine flu.

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

LEARNING ON THE JOB-II

KHORSHED ALAM

 

That was a great get-together, everyone enjoyed amidst business and we had arranged a boat trip on the river Buriganga on the second day. The governors had a view of the scenic beauty of Bangladesh, had the concluding session on the boat and enjoyed luncheon with hilsa fish and other Bangladeshi delicacies. The next ACU conference was hosted by RBI in Bombay in 1994 which I attended with my wife and the youngest son. We were accommodated in a luxurious room of Hotel Taj. We had our regular meetings and could get a good view of Bombay. We were then taken to the sea resort of Goa and the trip by a plane, stay and cultural functions organised there were a real treat. I had expressed my desire to visit Delhi, Ajmere and Calcutta on my return to Dhaka. I only requested for bookings and necessary logistic support. RBI governor was nice enough to treat us as his guests and directed the local RBI branches to make all necessary arrangements. It was conveyed to me through our wonderful High Commissioner Farooq Sobhan before we had left for Bombay. I will not go further into my personal affairs. We came back successfully ending the ACU conference. The following year's meeting i.e. of 1995 was held in Yangoon of Burma. Gradually it became a ritual. At the end of the second day we were taken to a tourist resort and we had the opportunity of visiting historical sites as well as a large number of fine pagodas. I have given a longish account of ACU affairs to show how governors develop into a brotherhood. I will come back to another forum of governors at the appropriate time.

Management of foreign exchange reserves: From 1991 onwards with the signing of Financial Sector Reform Programme (FSRP) with the World Bank and Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) with the IMF, we started receiving FE in installments for banking reforms on the one hand and support to BOP on the other respectively. After the devastating cyclone of April, 1991, on our request the IMF increased the size of their support to BOP. These measures kept on adding to our FE reserves and by 1993 when I was governor it hit the level of about $ 3 billion, a high figure indeed in those days. The FE reserves were invested with different central banks like Bundesbank of Germany, Bank of England, and/or some reputed foreign commercial banks that ensured safety as well as yielded high returns. The officials of the BB dealing with foreign exchange were really adept in making appropriate investments of FE reserves and switching from one currency to another evaluating the rates of returns. The returns from investments of FE reserves were a major source of BB's income. We in the MPC examined the portfolios from time to time and gave further instructions as called for.
When the FE reserves became substantial, many foreign FE investors infested us and sought a chunk of the reserves to invest to our best interests in terms of returns. We did not concede as we found our concerned officials sufficiently conversant with the techniques of investments, and we did not like to part with any amount of returns in the form of commissions to the foreign agents. We relied on the expertise of our own officials.
Dealing with the rate of exchange against other currencies: In earlier days the rates of exchange were fixed by the BB from time to time. As a result if the taka got overvalued, the FE dealers would have to wait until BB changed the rate which was not very scientifically done. As finance secretary in 1990 or 1991, I had found the then Governor Mr. S.B.Chowdhury running from pillar to post to get the rate of the time devalued on ground of its being overvalued which had been hurting exports and thus adversely affecting the FE reserves. He ultimately approached me, I was new to my job, but the governor very effectively convinced me of the need for devaluation. I knew devaluation would make our exports cheaper while making our imports dearer, but on the whole we weighed the overall effect on the FE reserves which were at that time at a very low level. I could convince President H. M. Ershad to have an inter-ministerial meeting involving leaders of the trade bodies.
It was held in the presidential office with the president in the chair with the Vice-President Moudud Ahmed, Finance Minister Dr. Wahidul Haque and others concerned, and after long and due consideration we agreed, if I remember correctly, to devalue our currency by about 8 or 9% in one go.

Later on, even from Governor Chowdhury's time the BB initiated the system of continual adjustments of the rate of exchange based on the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) in order to avoid resorting to devaluation from time to time and to keep the rate of exchange in line with the international trend. Again I would admit the officials dealing with FE matters in BB were adept enough in doing the job and striking at the right rate. In this case, 12 to 15 countries with which Bangladesh had most of the trade relationships were selected and their rates of exchanges against the dollar were monitored on a daily basis and the average rate was interpolated to arrive at the rate of exchange (RoE) of taka against the dollar. It did work, and with experience worked well. Simultaneously an organisation under the title Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association (BAFEDA) was established with all commercial banks dealing in foreign exchange, to whom the daily rate was conveyed by the BB as early in the morning as possible. I had the experience of this mechanism existing in Thailand as early as in mid-70's when I visited Bangkok on official business and had arrived at any bank or money changer to convert dollar into Thai baht quite early, I was requested to wait till they got the day's rate from their FE dealers' association or the Bank of Thailand.

Determination of the RoE on the basis of REER continued in Bangladesh for a long time. I also inherited it in 1992 when I was made the governor. I understand later on May 31st, 2003 the determination of the RoE was totally delegated to the market through the BAFEDA and this was heralded as full float of the RoE. However, some controls were clamped by the BB from March of 2006 on consideration of the then level of FE reserves and the likely need for large requirements of FE for imports to meet internal shortages, particularly of food grains and their very high prices in the international market. I have seen recently some commentators calling it a "controlled" float of the RoE. The new dynamic governor of to-day may, in view of the comfortable size of the FE reserve, consider the rate's full float once again.

In 1993 we had taken the bold step of making taka convertible on current account. Previously all the importers had to approach the FE department of the BB for getting clearance to their Letters of Credit for all imports. q

To be continued

(The writer is a former governor of Bangladesh Bank)

That was quite a hassle for the importers and a burdensome job for the officials.

Clearance often took time and in cases of time-bound offers of prices by the exporters it sometimes overshot the time and fresh offers with new price tags had to be obtained by the importers. In view of somewhat comfortable size of our FE reserves, we considered this control unnecessary and made taka convertible. When at the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF of that year, our finance minister in his speech made announcement of the new measure, the Bank and IMF officials were also pleading in sideline meetings with us to make taka convertible on the capital account as well which would have meant any national of Bangladesh could transfer any amount of money out of the country. We argued that for the domestic currency to be convertible on the capital account, all the fundamentals of economic indicators have to be very strong where the locals would have the propensity to retain their funds in the country and invest in profitable areas. Convertibility of local currencies in capital account had taken in most countries much later than convertibility on the current account. Funding organisations tried to impose their will and we effectively resisted the same. We are still not ready for that convertibility. It should, however, be remembered that taka was convertible for the foreigners, they were free to send their earnings or savings abroad and the foreign companies could repatriate their profits without going through the BB.

Banking control function of the central bank: It has been stated earlier that in some countries, this function is discharged by a totally separate organisation. In our case, this is an important function of the BB. This involves regular annual inspections and reviews of the accounts of all the commercial banks operating in the country, both on-site and off-site.

Then the total loans extended by the banks are classified on an international standard as doubtful, poor and bad categories and the banks are required to make provisions for them on a graduated higher rates. For the absolutely bad loan portfolios a 100% provision was to be made, and that was to be made out of the net earnings of the banks. We came to the finding that all banks had huge outstanding loans against which they were incapable of making adequate provisions. Even all the government-owned banks had huge outstanding loans against which they were not in a position to make provisions out of their net earnings. The government was obliged to issue interest-bearing bonds to their banks to recapitalise the banks to the required extent. The government paid annually to their banks the interests accrued which added to the banks' income and on the maturity of the bonds they were paid in cash out of the budget. It amounted to penalising the government for the failure of their banks to operate on a profitable basis. Similarly, the private banks were to make provisions for their capital shortage. No bank was capable of making the provisions out of their income, in which case they were allowed time. The banks that were in real problems were categorised as "problem banks" and they were kept under strict surveillance. In some cases, the BB appointed observers to the bank's board to monitor their loan portfolios, new loans provided, their recovery efforts and results. These were some measures to keep the banks on sound banking practices.

Central banks acting as the government's bankers: All central banks are bankers of their respective governments. All income inflows of the government, tax and non-tax revenues and fees, due from individuals and institutions are credited into the various accounts of the government maintained by the central bank. Similarly, all government expenditures i.e. outflows from that account are made and maintained by the central bank.

The same is true of the Bangladesh Bank. All receipts of the government are deposited into the accounts maintained by BB through chalans, pay orders or even in cash by all those who owe money to the government in the forms of taxes, duties, fees, etc. On the other hand, all payments by the government are made by the BB by cheques or cash. It needs to be mentioned that some work-related ministries of the government such as public works, roads and highways have cheque-issuing authority by virtue of which they can make payments to the parties themselves by issuing cheques.

One important role of the central banks is management of government borrowing from them. In the case of Bangladesh, the government has a right to have some overdraft facility with no cost, which during my time was a paltry sum of around Tk. 100 crore, which is presently Tk. 1,000 as I have been able to gather from one of the deputy governors, which seems justified in view of the increased sizes of the present day budgets. (To recall I was governor of BB from December, 1992 to November, 1996). The government's deficit is much more than what can be covered by the overdraft facility and as such the government keeps on borrowing from the BB. It is continually recorded in the government's account book maintained by the BB. We have seen earlier that during the budget exercise the government's makes an estimate of their net borrowing from the BB for their anticipated budget deficits and the BB makes provision for it in its monetary programme. The BB keeps track of government's borrowing and keeps the government informed. If the government's borrowing overshoots that estimated amount, the central bank has the obligation to give the warning signal. Such unplanned borrowing will put pressure on inflation rate and also will crowd out the private sector from getting the required loans from the banking system. So the central bank as if acts as the watchdog in that respect.

Central bank's role in fostering development: Central banks are not and should not be only regulators of money supply in the economy, they also have a pivotal role in promoting economic development of the country. In this regard they have to oversee the areas into which the additional money is flowing---to trade or investment, to industry or agriculture-and they may indicate their preferences through dialogues with the bankers, manipulation of interest rates or even clear directives.

I would compliment the incumbent governor for having prepared with great care the policy guidelines and the programme for agricultural and rural credit for FY 2009-10. The policy has taken into account in great details the needs of the various agricultural products going down to spices and other agro sub-sectors, and setting differential interest rates for each sub-sector depending on their vulnerability and profitability. However, it has to be borne in mind that the calculated total agricultural and rural credit would be a part of the overall monetary programme of the BB. I must say preparation of such a policy is a novelty and the BB will now have to monitor its implementation by both the domestic and the foreign banks operating in the country. They may even persuade and prompt the banks to implement the programme in its right spirit.

Governor's foreign exposures: Every year the World Bank and IMF hold their annual meetings, two consecutive meetings in Washington and the third one in a member country of WB-IMF. Prior to the WB-IMF annual meetings, the Bank of England hosts a meeting of the governors of the Commonwealth in London to exchange views, know about the new initiatives taken by the different central banks, if any, laying particular emphasis on the rates of inflation and to evolve a common stance for the WB-IMF joint meetings. I attended the June, 1993, meeting of the Commonwealth country governors in London, and later joined the group to its visit to Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basle. We were not a member by keeping a deposit with the BIS. I instantly committed a deposit with the BIS since it was the Banker of the Central Banks and in times of absolute needs one could borrow from the BIS at concessional rates. I got my decision approved by the board of directors of BB at a later date. That was an interesting trip and on the boat on the river Rhine you developed closer relationship with your counterparts from other countries.

Later in September or October, 1993, I attended the joint board meeting of WB-IMF in Washington as a member of Bangladesh delegation led by the Finance Minster M.Saifur Rahman. To the WB board, the FM was the governor while the Secretary Enam Ahmed Chowdhury was the alternate governor. In the case of the IMF, the Finance Secretary Nasimuddin Ahmed was the governor while I, the governor of BB, was the alternate governor. In my case a funny situation happened. Since I was the finance secretary earlier, I attended the board meeting as governor and in 1993 when I was governor of BB, I became the alternate governor. The finance secretary had the superior position. When I met Mr. Camdessus, the managing director of IMF, he addressed me as Governor. I corrected him by saying that I was then the alternate governor, the MD laughingly replied to us once a governor one is always a governor. At the plenary sessions, the FM's of all the countries made their country presentations emphasising on the new policy stances and measures. Our FM could report about our making taka convertible on the current account transactions. In between the plenary sessions, we had meetings with the president of the WB and the MD of IMF as well as a series of meetings with the officials dealing with Bangladesh desk which were fruitful.

The following year i.e. in 1994, the annual meeting was held in Madrid of Spain. At the previous year's meeting, Bangladesh was elected chairman for the Madrid meeting. As a result, our FM M. Saifur Rahman presided over the meetings most of the time except when he had other engagements. The inaugural reception to all the delegates was hosted in the name of the chairman. There also the same ritual followed, calling on the WB president and the IMF MD in their make-shift offices, followed by meetings with the officials of the two organisations at the official levels.

I had the opportunity of attending the third and the fourth meetings of the WB-IMF boards in Washington in 1995 and 1996. My tenure as governor was initially for a period of three years which was later extended by the government by one more year. That extended term also came to an end in November, 1996.

As members of both WB and IMF the four delegates of each country were sponsored by the respective organisation. The governor and the alternate governor of WB traveled by the highest class by air and were given per diem for the duration of their stay at the meeting place. Similarly, the IMF bore the travel expenses and the per diem of their governors and alternate governors.

After my return from the WB-IMF board meeting, I did not continue for long in my position. The new government relieved me from my position four weeks ahead of the term on the 19th November, 1996 rather than on the 19th December. That is a different story altogether and I will no go into that. I am thankful to the Almighty for having raised to the top position of a very important and sensitive institution.

I started my stint as governor of BB with no prior experience at all, but I learnt my job through experience and interaction with my very competent colleagues. So I keep saying that even for a novice it is possible to learn on the job provided he has the earnestness and a strong common sense. I wish all my successors best of luck.
(The writer is a former governor of Bangladesh Bank)

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

OPED

GOVT EDUCATION POLICY IGNORES CADET COLLEGES

MD MASUM BILLAH

 

Many people think that civilian teachers in cadet colleges are cornered and suppressed. This is not the case actually. My experience says that human being can nowhere enjoy absolute freedom. Probably this is divine law. When humans have the opportunity to enjoy absolute freedom they become autocrats bringing negative impact and results for themselves and for other fellow human beings. Cadet college system does not have direct influence on the teachers by army officers what many people think and say. The principal is direct boss who can be a defense officer (army, navy or air force) who belong to education core of the forces or a civilian teacher promoted to the post of principal.

 I think cominjog into contact with armed forces officers and working with them one can learn a lot. In the same way, adjutant (either a captain or major) is the colleague of the faculty members. The adjutant cannot afford to behave like the boss.  One problem lies here regarding addressing one another. The direct teachers of adjutants receive the addressing from them as 'sir' which other faculty members don't get. The faculty members are in an embarrassing situation how to address the adjutant as he is neither their boss who can receive the addressing as 'sir' nor he is similar in rank. The adjutants also face the same problem. Here I have a suggestion. The cadet college authority can introduce addressing system as 'sir' irrespective of rank and status. The adjutant and medical officer will address all the teachers as 'sir' and all the faculty members except direct teachers of the adjutant and medical officer also will address them as 'sir'.

During my service in Cadet College I placed some proposals to the highest authorities which I believe did not reach them. One was to bring novelty in cadet college service for the faculty members. They should be transferred from cadet college to all the defense academies (army, navy, air force). The then commandant of BMA, Brigadier (now Rtd. General) Ibrahim also showed interest in this matter. I think it can be introduced. If it is done, the job of faculty members would have been much enjoyable. Government college teachers work in military academies on deputation.

This thing can be done by cadet college teachers, who are already acquainted with the affairs of military.

 

Working with defense officials gives an excellent opportunity of learning. This scope should be further extended. Education officers, who teach in academies, can be transferred to cadet colleges as well. Promotion of faculty members should not be on the basis of seniority only. After giving a certain years of service to cadet colleges, faculty members should be given opportunity to sit for promotion test. If it is done, the merit and ability will be evaluated. The existing system evaluates only the length of service which is not a reasonable system of promotion.

Faculty members enjoy rationing facilities and full residential accommodation in the campus. It's very good to dedicate to imparting teaching with cool and peaceful mind. There is no system of private tuition, which I think no educationist would appreciate. Of course, some teachers don't like it. They think their earning source and scope is limited. The authorities should give their eyes and considerations in this regard. Teachers should be engaged in different kinds of creative activities, which will bring them money as well. Suppose the faculty members of cadet colleges can check the scripts of all the cadets of all defense academies.

The system of cadet was first introduced in Germany in the era of Bismark. Napoleon Bonaparte introduced this in France. Military and Royal aristocrats would send their children or wards to those cadet colleges for education and a carrier in the Royal Army. After partition in 1947 the new state of Pakistan, consisting of East and West Pakistan, the system was introduced by the then president of Pakistan Field Marshall Ayub Khan. The first cadet college was built in West Pakistani province in Punjab in the year 1954. It was followed by the establishment of Faujderhat Cadet College in Chittagong in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1958. These institutions were primarily constructed in accordance with the Public Schools of England.

There are now 12 cadet colleges in Bangladesh. Among these nine are for boys and three for girls. Four cadet colleges were established before 1971. Another six cadet colleges were turned from Residential Model Schools founded during Pakistan period. Only two Girls Cadet colleges (Joypurhat and Feni) were established during Bangladesh period during BNP rule (2006). Cadets passed out from a cadet college feel deeply for his her alma mater. From this inspiration, ex-cadets of almost every cadet college have been able to form alumni associations called ex-cadets association.

After taking service in a cadet college young and energetic youths from universities start discharging their duties without any previous training. Usually, new faculty members learn doing and practicing the works and activities of this institution with senior faculty members. The nature, work and environment in a cadet college are different from other educational institutions. Necessarily, working here calls for a special training which generally does not take place. During our time some of us had the opportunity to receive training at Faujderhat Cadet College. It was initiated by Principal Moffazal Hossain and the then Chairman, Maj. Gen Amin Ahmed Chowdhury.

The contribution of cadet colleges is really very exciting and great in the field of education in our country. The cadets have occupied the very leading and significant positions both in the civil and military sectors.

Hundreds and thousands of cadets are scattered in foreign lands contributing significantly to our national economy. In the present education policy no clear and practical directions are indicated and explained regarding the future of cadet colleges and the condition of teachers and other staff and officers of this institution. There should have been a member on the committee from cadet colleges.

Will these institutions continue working just as they do now or these will be turned into schools is not mentioned in the education policy at all? What will happen to the designation of the faculty members also remains vague. Cadet colleges occupy a significant position in our secondary and higher secondary levels.

 

Teachers enjoy the status of officers, a little bit different from civil schools or colleges. The real picture, prospects and the way of managing cadet colleges are still not quite familiar to many. Is it because the proposed education policy did not mention anything about cadet college? 

 

(The writer is Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE)

 

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THE AUSTRALIAN

EDITORIAL

CLOSE PARTNERSHIP IN THE REGION VITAL

INDONESIA'S CO-OPERATION IS THE KEY TO STOPPING REFUGEE BOATS

 

YESTERDAY'S swearing-in of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for a second term as Indonesian president was an endorsement of moderate Islam, democracy and stability in the archipelago nation of 234 million people that has become a good neighbour to Australia. The day was about more than ceremony as Kevin Rudd met the President to discuss a new security pact to stem the transit of asylum-seekers through Indonesia.

 

Given the size of the challenge, it is fortunate that relations between the two nations have rarely, if ever, been as constructive, even when Paul Keating developed a close, respectful bond with former president Suharto. The pair signed a defence treaty in 1995, but at other stages the relationship has been tense, notably after the Howard government backed independence for East Timor during the presidency of B.J. Habibe in 1998.

 

The importance of the relationship was brought home to both nations in October 2002, when 88 Australians were killed by terrorist bombs in Bali. Intense co-operation between Australian and Indonesian officials succeeded in tracking down the culprits and helped defuse Islamist extremists' threats to destabilise Indonesia.

 

Dr Yudhoyono's trouncing Megawati Megawati Sukarnoputri in 2004 to become Indonesia's first democratically elected President was a turning point. Unlike his ill-disciplined predecessors, Dr Yudhoyono has governed cautiously, focusing more on economic growth and stability than short-term political machinations. He deserved his convincing re-election in July, with 60.8 per cent of the vote, although he will be expected to do more to tackle poverty and corruption this term.

 

After a constructive relationship with John Howard, Dr Yudhoyono has further strengthened bilateral ties with the Rudd government. The strength of Mr Rudd's relationship with the President was evident last weekend when he phoned him to ask that a vessel carrying 260 Sri Lankans to Christmas Island be intercepted.

 

As was the case in tracking down the Bali bombers and the perpetrators of other terrorist atrocities, greater intelligence gathering and sharing will be the key to tackling people-smuggling. But so is determination on the part of Indonesian authorities to run those behind it to ground. There is ample room for greater enforcement given reports that Indonesian navy officers turned a "blind eye" to the activities of the notorious Indonesian smuggler known as Captain Bram before being told to seize his vessel. The smuggler has brought about 1500 people to Australia over the past decade.

 

While a spokesman for one of the Tamils on the intercepted boat complained that a Westernised country like Australia was a better place for handling their claims than Indonesia, Australia has no such obligation. If our generous refugee intake is to be further increased it needs to done in an orderly way through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

 

Under the new pact, Australia is likely to help fund Indonesian naval pursuits of asylum boats and carry a share of the cost of running detention centres, which are desperately overcrowded. More than 2500 asylum-seekers and refugees are registered by the UNHCR in Indonesia, but the real total is much higher. Many Afghans, Sri Lankans and others arrive unnoticed. Australia is also likely to play a role in the long-term resettlement of asylum-seekers currently in Indonesia.

 

As a former diplomat with a good feel for Asian attitudes and sensibilities, Mr Rudd is well placed to work with Indonesia to make his proposed solution as effective as possible. Encouragingly, Dr Yudhoyono's administration is enthusiastic about the proposals, provided they ensure "equal position and advantage" for both nations.

 

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THE AUSTRALIAN

EDITORIAL

DEALING WITH SUCCESS

STRONG CURRENCY OFFERS HOPE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INFLATION

 

IT'S official - the inflation genie is still out of the bottle. The national chest-beating over a soaring dollar yesterday came along with chastening news from the Reserve Bank that inflation is proving to be stubbornly high.

 

The dollar soared to its highest level for more than a year, breaking through US93 cents and confirming its status as the new global darling. That's good news. A strong dollar should help reduce the costs of imported consumer goods and make some production inputs cheaper. And while a strong dollar dampens exports, that's not all bad. The overall effect should be to create more capacity in the economy for the expanding mining sector feeding Chinese demand.

 

A higher dollar was inevitable once the Reserve Bank became more hawkish on interest rates and the underlying strength of the Australian economy became apparent. Now the RBA must manage speculation in the currency without going soft on returning rates to a normal setting after the emergency cuts of this year. The strong dollar is an important factor in managing the economy, alongside interest rates and fiscal policy.

 

Of these, fiscal policy remains challenging as the government's spending on schools and housing comes up against tighter monetary settings. The government appears to be in denial about the need to reallocate spending to more productive infrastructure. It understates the importance of the China boom in Australia's success in escaping the GFC, instead suggesting that it was the stimulus package that did it all. This rhetoric may work politically, but does not augur well for good policy settings to ensure inflation does not erode that success.

 

The minutes of the October 6 Reserve Bank meeting released yesterday suggest the impact of the spending peaked in the June quarter and was gradually declining. But in giving its reason for lifting interest rates by 0.25percentage points at that meeting, the bank also made clear inflation was proving hard to budge. Underlying inflation was above target, and the expected trough in inflation was significantly higher than earlier thought.

 

Australia's experience in the face of the GFC has attracted international approval, which is now playing itself out in the surge to the dollar. Its strength reflects real national wealth. We should be proud of a dollar that confirms that we have - in our natural resources, strong business culture and stable democracy - an economy that is the envy of the world. But gloating will not set us up for the future.

 

For that, we need spending on productive infrastructure; a relentless focus on inflation; and policies that ensure we reap the long-term rewards of the China boom. Failure to tackle these issues will see us fritter away the enormous advantages offered by the dollar's success.

 

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THE AUSTRALIAN

EDITORIAL

REVISING AFGHANISTAN

COULD A DIFFERENT US POLICY HAVE AVOIDED THE CONFLICT?

 

AS the world thrashes around for a solution to the imbroglio in Afghanistan, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has offered an intriguing analysis of what might have been. On a speaking tour of the US, Mr Musharraf, who resigned in August last year under risk of impeachment, told reporters in New York, that former US president Bill Clinton, should have taken a more positive stance towards the Taliban government when it ruled Afghanistan.

 

Mr Clinton, he said, had been asked during a visit to Pakistan to establish diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime. If he had done so, Mr Musharraf argues, the world would have avoided the devastation of 9/11 and the entrenchment of terrorism.

 

It's a big call, but it reflects a view widely held in the upper levels of the Pakistan army and by Mr Musharraf's foreign minister of the time. That Mr Clinton refused that advice is understandable. The Taliban's appalling treatment of its citizens was so unpalatable to the West that endorsing it appeared unconscionable. But now as another Democrat president confronts a huge foreign policy challenge in Afghanistan, it's interesting to reflect where a different approach from Mr Clinton might have led. Just as many commentators now argue the case for engaging rather than isolating Burma, the theory was that more would be gained by keeping the Taliban in the tent. It is impossible to know. But what is clear is that reining in the Taliban is an enormous task.

 

Indeed, Barack Obama finds himself fighting the Taliban in a war that is arguably his biggest foreign policy challenge. The President faces complex decisions about increasing US troops for an international operation that is highly unpopular among Americans. Years of conflict since George W. Bush launched operations against al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack have failed to make much headway against the Taliban or terrorists. Corruption, as has been demonstrated in the recent election, remains endemic. Mr Musharraf, for one, believes that there could have been another solution.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

THE SANDS ARE RUNNING OUT

The days when the words ''absolute beachfront'' were an enticement to buy real estate are coming to a close - another casualty of global warming and rising sea levels. Plenty of property owners, though, are unaware or choose to ignore the trend. Beach erosion that will be compounded by climate change is yet another problem over which interests clash: the interest of individual property owners with their often substantial investments versus the interest of the community in having beaches to enjoy.

 

As tides rise higher and inundations become more frequent and extensive, the clash will become sharper and more clearly defined. Property owners, being more closely affected, are better organised and have a louder voice. That is why the State Government is backing their desire to build sea walls against rising water levels. Quite often local councils, concerned for the adjacent beach, outlaw sea walls. Quite rightly, State Government permission to override the council bylaws and build sea walls comes at a price: if the wall causes erosion further along the beach (as almost inevitably it will) the property owner will have to pay the cost of replenishing the sand. That is only fair - although it remains to be seen how strictly the rule is enforced.

 

The alternatives to this privatised strategy are for government to replenish beaches at taxpayers' or ratepayers' expense with sand mined offshore and, in the case of the most vulnerable properties, to buy and demolish houses which have become endangered. The State Government is wary of solutions which will incur continuing costs, and wary too of compensation for property owners facing catastrophic erosion. Here it is on shakier ground. Although other taxpayers will understandably baulk at paying for the ill-starred investment decisions of wealthy people, many properties were purchased long before global warming was ever suspected, and complied fully with the development guidelines of the day.

 

The compensation question, though, is likely to be decided not on the merits of the various arguments, but on whether money is available to pay it. Given the state of the NSW budget, it is not.

 

The effect of all this over time should be to make beachfront property less attractive. As neighbour after neighbour build their walls and watch the beach erode in consequence, leaving only rocks and negative equity behind - or a perpetual bill for beach nourishment - the desire for beachfronts will fall and there will be less political pressure to shore them up. By then, of course, it may be too late to save the beaches.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

OBAMA IS RIGHT TO WAIT

 

President Barack Obama is right to refuse to commit more US troops to Afghanistan until there is a settled government there. The finding by the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission that 210 polling stations returned invalid votes has raised the prospect of a run-off election, and Obama appears to be holding off to induce Hamid Karzai to agree either to it (the better course, if it is logistically possible as winter approaches), or to co-opting his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, into his administration, to give opposition forces a voice.

 

Obama knows US voters will not support the rescue of a country whose government, already proven to be fraudulently in place, appears to be a corrupt shambles.

 

There is also expedience in his decision: Afghanistan is Obama's war now, and he needs as much time as possible to get the numbers right, and to prepare the US public for greater involvement.

 

Only weeks ago the US commander, General Stanley McChrystal, described a campaign close to failure. As battlefield fatalities have climbed, so have reports of civilian deaths caused by ill-managed air strikes. Many in the US believe Afghanistan is already lost - or worth abandoning. After all, the Afghan involvement has always been vulnerable to the simple question: who in Afghanistan is on the coalition forces' side? However, the mission in Afghanistan is necessary both to bolster Afghanistan itself against al-Qaeda, and to support regional stability - in particular Pakistan. The US and its allies do not want to alienate yet another Muslim population. And there might yet be a case for optimism.

 

Despite his warnings, General McChrystal has a plan, and the army under his command is now trying a strategy to win hearts and minds. There are signs, too, of a renewed European interest in reviving the country.

 

A run-off election is not the only answer: even if Karzai were to agree to it straight away, it is likely to prove messy and protracted. Yet it must happen.

 

Obama has seen that a legitimate poll might at once boost support for the war in the US but also restore some faith in the electoral process in Afghanistan. As Senator John Kerry has said, counting the number of US troops is not the key to success in Afghanistan; it is the Afghans themselves who must decide what happens.

 

If they are to be empowered to do that, then stability in the shape of a legitimate representative government, and a willingness to maintain it, must be demonstrated in Kabul.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

JAKARTA TIES NEED MORE THAN ASYLUM SEEKER DEALS

AUSTRALIA SHOULD FORGE A MATURE FRIENDSHIP WITH ITS NORTHERN NEIGHBOUR.

 

THE present fashion, when presidents and prime ministers speak of ties between Australia and Indonesia, is to heap praise on a relationship that we are told has never been closer. Gone are the tumultuous days of the Suharto regime, when corruption and brutality posed awkward challenges for Australia's democratic leaders in their attempts to engage this crucial northern neighbour. There is no doubt that during the past decade Indonesia has made a tremendous shift to open institutions of government that will nourish the country's burgeoning democracy. The phrase is too often abused, but this is a new era of possibilities to improve the links between Australia and Indonesia.

 

The victory of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - who in July became the first person to be re-elected as Indonesia's president - is illustrative of the country's welcome political transformation. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has done as John Howard did before him, making a special trip to Jakarta for Dr Yudhoyono's inauguration. This is an important statement of Australia's goodwill and immense interest in Indonesia's progress. But Mr Rudd must be careful not to follow in Mr Howard's other footsteps, to hector Indonesia over the comparatively small number of people who move through the archipelago and then attempt the treacherous journey by boat to Australia.

 

If the asylum-seeker issue is allowed to become the dominant talking point in Australia's relationship with Indonesia, the interests of both countries will suffer. The signs are not encouraging. Faced with a rise in the number of people attempting passage to Australia, Mr Rudd quickly fell back on the previous government's easy rhetoric about a ''hardline'' and ''tough'' approach to border controls - in essence, he has sought to displace Australia's asylum seeker problem to Indonesia. Mr Rudd's claim that this is also a ''humane'' approach to asylum seekers is belied by the fact that Jakarta has not signed the United Nations convention on refugees. Not that this has stopped Mr Rudd pledging substantial extra financial aid to house and process the would-be arrivals to Australia in Indonesia. Australia has also promised enhanced intelligence sharing and more police co-operation to directly confront smuggling syndicates, although the precise manner in which this will be achieved beyond the present levels of co-operation is far from clear.

 

Indonesia appears to have so far accepted the Australian Government's stubborn attitude towards asylum seekers with what can only be characterised as resigned bemusement. After all, Dr Yudhoyono has many other pressing problems to confront in his coming term and he will need help from international partners. Indonesia has held off the ill effects from the global financial crisis reasonably well, inoculated in part by the difficult experience of the 1990s economic downturn. But the challenges remain immense.

 

Rigorous reform of the bureaucracy is essential, to further stamp out corruption and ensure badly needed infrastructure developments are put in train. High levels of poverty and environmental degradation must be tackled in this, the world's fourth largest country by population. And while Jakarta has successfully confronted the spectre of violent extremism over recent years, terrorism is a threat both to the economic security and rich cultural heritage of the world's largest Muslim majority country.

 

Australia has a real opportunity to forge a partnership with Indonesia by assisting in the country's transformation. Bilateral trade has never achieved its potential and linking the two countries through business and education is the best guarantee of stable political ties in the future. Australia stands to benefit from a newly confident Indonesia in South-East Asia and on the global stage in the Group of 20 nations. But that partnership should not be based on deals over asylum seekers, with the price of Australian aid taking the form of Indonesia's co-operation in housing arrangements.

 

Instead of clearing obstacles in the relationship with Indonesia, the Rudd Government appears intent on creating fresh ones. The asylum seeker problem is not of Indonesia's making, a point Mr Rudd concedes in his constant reminders to Australians of the ''push factors'' driving the increase in those seeking asylum: the situation in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan is to blame. But by seeking to shift its responsibility to Indonesia, Australia is acting contrary to its interest.

 

Source: The Age

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

DON'T PANIC ABOUT THE 'S' WORD. JUST UPHOLD THE LAW

 

SOME words can raise hackles just by being mentioned, and in Western societies ''sharia'' is one of them. Strictly speaking the term is generic: it refers to the several schools of Islamic jurisprudence, not to a uniform code of law. But for non-Muslims in the West, ''sharia'' typically conjures up images of burqas and polygamy, of puritanical repression and women stoned to death for adultery. So when Hyder Gulam, a Melbourne lawyer and a Muslim, proposed that a sharia court be established to settle disputes within the Muslim community, and that its rulings might be acknowledged in the Family Court's mediation process, it is not surprising that many reacted with alarm.

 

Several points are relevant to any discussion of Mr Gulam's proposal. First, no representative Muslim body has called for the establishment of a sharia court. On the contrary, the Islamic Council of Victoria and the Islamic Women's Welfare Council have rejected the idea, which is extremely unlikely to be considered seriously by Australian governments if it lacks broad support within the community affected. Second, Mr Gulam is arguing only that a sharia court could help in mediation and dispute resolution, not that the rulings of such a court should be accepted as precedents in Australian case law. And third, whatever role might be envisaged for sharia courts - or any other tribunals specific to particular communities - in Australian family law, the principles on which that law is based must prevail: equality of the sexes; no-fault divorce; a fair division of the assets of a marriage; and a division of responsibility for the care of children that reflects, as far as possible, both the best interests of the children and the rights of each parent.

 

Source: The Age

 

 

 

 

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE GURDIAN

EDITORIAL

IN PRAISE OF… THE WALTHAMSTOW TAPESTRY

 

Ninety-two years have passed since Duchamp signed the urinal. Brilliant as the joke was the first time around, in the long decades since, the standing of contemporary art has suffered from the "I could do that" reaction. The great thing about the transvestite potter Grayson Perry is that, for all his weird playfulness, he churns out a flood of original ideas – and executes them exquisitely. Few of us could fashion a Ming-style vase, and still fewer would ever think to emblazon it with a pleasing mix of medieval icons and photographs cut out of back copies of Smash Hits. Perry's Walthamstow Tapestry stole the show at last weekend's Frieze art fair, and the full-size version is showing at Islington's Victoria Miro Gallery for another two weeks. It is first and foremost a feast for the eyes, an array of colourful figures doing their thing alongside birds, boats and a great star which all doff a cap in the direction of Bayeux, as does the largely beige backdrop. A giant birthing mother and dying old man suggest one big theme, but step in closer and a stitched brand name emerges alongside every image. McVitie's, Andrex, Lidl: Perry ribs our collective creation of corporate idols. Nor do the supposedly post-materialistic classes escape: the Guardian joins the roll call of fetishised products. Sometimes there is a satirical logic (the RBS astrologer on the BAE warship), although why the blacksmith-cum-policeman labours alongside "Marmite" is anyone's guess. Understand it or not, though, the truth is you would never have dreamed it up.

 

 

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THE GURDIAN

EDITORIAL

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: SPEAKING OUT

 

Somewhere in the Commons library there must be a dusty book explaining the rules and purpose of a Speaker's conference. No one needed to consult it when Margaret Thatcher was in power. John Major left its pages unread. Tony Blair did not want to be troubled by parliament. But it was somehow characteristic of Gordon Brown's cautious constitutionalism that he proposed, in late 2007, that the first Speaker's conference for 30 years should assemble to look at the issue of parliamentary representation. A year later, it began work. Another year on, and under a fresh Speaker after the last one was sacked, it finally got around to interviewing each of the party leaders yesterday morning.

 

The session was dull, enlivened only by David Cameron's suggestion that his party should fill some of its many parliamentary vacancies from all-women shortlists. That upset Tory bloggers yesterday, as he had no doubt hoped. Each of the leaders admitted his lineup was unrepresentative: none of them held out much hope that anything would change before the general election. The issue is one for parties, more than parliament. This Speaker's conference, it is safe to say, will not change politics.

 

But the new Speaker might. A week into the new parliamentary term, it is too soon to tell whether John Bercow's bouncy and interventionist manner will prove effective or irritating. His victory over Sir George Young – now the shadow leader of the house – was divisive. He has not covered himself in glory over expenses – both his own, and the Commons' response to the Legg inquiry, although he has stopped MPs going over the top at demands that they repay money. He has also started his job well. Today, for instance, with his backing, the Commons will debate "the effects of English libel law on the reporting of parliamentary proceedings" – a vigorous response to efforts by oil traders Trafigura, and their solicitors Carter-Ruck, to stifle parliamentary debate and parliamentary reporting. One debate will not stop judges passing secret so-called super-injunctions. But it is a clear statement of intent, and gives MPs a chance, if they want to take it, to use the protection of parliamentary privilege to point out the harm courts are doing.

 

What counts is that Commons sessions are topical: Mr Bercow is shaking off the sluggishness that left Westminster behind the political and media curve. This will horrify some, who will no doubt accuse the Speaker of chasing headlines. But when the alternative is irrelevance, it is the right thing to do. Mr Bercow, unlike his predecessor Michael Martin, now retired to ermine pastures in the Lords, knows that the Commons must discuss things that are in the news, and disrupt ministerial lives in doing so. Already this week Mr Bercow has required Ed Balls to appear in the chamber to explain why he had appointed the new children's commissioner against the advice of the education committee; it was Jack Straw's turn yesterday, on the issue of prison inspections. Mr Bercow said in an interview at the weekend that he intends to allow around one urgent question a week. It would be good for politics if he did, just as he should compel cabinet ministers in the Lords to appear before MPs.

 

The Speaker's triple task is to raise morale in the Commons (now crushingly low, after expenses), reform its procedure and win back public support. A weak Speaker, as Mr Martin was, would simply cheerlead for MPs. A brave one would stand up for their powers. One way to do it is to make sure Tony Wright's select committee on reform proposes changes that matter, and does not get bogged down in details about things such as the election of select committee members. In June, Robert Rogers, the clerk of legislation in the Commons, offered the new Speaker a list of important, if intricate, reforms, including greater use of urgent questions. Mr Bercow may not follow it in every regard, but it is encouraging that he has made a start.

 

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THE GURDIAN

                                                                                                                             EDITORIAL

MORTGAGES: THE WATCHDOG GETS FIERCE

 

In all likelihood, you have not heard much about the most interesting part of the new official reforms of the selling of mortgages. Unsurprising, really, since this bit of the Financial Services Authority's paper does not contain any juicy statistics or dramatic proposals. Instead, the chapter called "Disclosure and changing consumer behaviour" lays out the FSA's new approach to supervising the home-loan market – and it upends the regulator's previous policies.

 

The way the FSA used to regulate mortgages was simple: it saw consumers as "rational market participants". So, as long as the home buyer, the broker and the lender were all legal and consenting adults, the watchdog believed it was best off minding its own business. No more. Adair Turner and his team now talk about their "greater realism about the behavioural biases that drive excess borrowing". And they promise to "be more interventionist to help protect consumers from themselves". After the days of 125% mortgages and liars' loans, it would be shocking if this watchdog were not going to be more vigilant; what is more interesting is that it now accepts the old caveat emptor days are over.

 

Some will criticise the FSA for adopting a new stance of "nanny knows best", but there is precious little evidence of heavy-handedness in the proposals that stem from this new philosophy. These are the bits that have been much written about – and they reek of nothing so much as common sense. Self-certification mortgages will be effectively banned. Borrowers will have to prove they can actually afford the repayments on new loans. And lenders will have to show they have made the necessary checks. Predictably enough, the loan industry has kicked up a fuss about all this, claiming that these reforms will only worsen the mortgage drought – and that signs of a new era of paternalism is nigh. But these are only proposals that will be debated until next year. And besides, this is hardly a throwback to the old days of loan rationing, just some new speed bumps. As the US sub-prime crisis shows, free-and-easy lending can harm not only the overborrowed and the eager lenders – but can also do great damage all round.

 

Still, it is the shift in the regulatory mindset that is the most interesting. The orthodoxy that individuals are always rational has been shown by behavioural economists as so much wishful thinking, but it is only beginning to be applied to public policy. Lord Turner has been at the forefront, with his proposals to reform pension contributions. The Office of Fair Trading has also recently opened a behavioural-economics group. This wave could go on for a long time.

 

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DAILY EXPRESS

COMMENT

DISASTER FOR AN INSTITUTION IF POST STRIKE GOES AHEAD

 

IN SPITE of its increasingly patchy standards of service, there is still great public affection for the Royal Mail.

Its famous red post boxes and vans are reassuring sights, while the commitment to deliver a letter anywhere in the country for a set fee is something that is still appreciated by city-dwellers and country folk alike.

In many neighbourhoods the postman is still an essential community figure: often the first person to notice if an elderly person living alone is in trouble.

Yet with so many alternative ways of communicating now available it is inevitable that the Royal Mail's revenues will come under increasing pressure in the years ahead. So the modernisation of working practices is essential.

It is therefore to be profoundly hoped that the Communication Workers Union will call off its plan for national strikes.

Commercial competitors are waiting to cherry pick the remaining profitable parts of the Royal Mail's operations while business customers are already drifting away.

It is not often that this newspaper can cite the views of Lord Mandelson with approval. But when he warns that nationwide strikes will be "totally self-defeating" he is telling the truth.

CWU leader Billy Hayes is wrong to condemn the company for hiring twice the usual number of temporary staff before Christmas. It is the company's duty to attempt to ensure customers' letters continue to be delivered.

But those on temporary contracts could find them being extended if the dispute drags on. That would raise the prospect of a permanent alternative workforce and the strikers being left out in the cold. Mr Hayes should think long and hard before leading his members to the barricades.

 

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DAILY EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

MANAGEMENT AND UNIONS MUST FIND A RESOLUTION

 

THERE is a disturbing whiff of the bad old days about the Royal Mail dispute.

 

It is a couple of decades since we endured employers and workers in key industries taking each other on, promising to fight to the death.

We know the damage it did. All too often it was indeed to the death –  of jobs, of whole industries. rapid technological development and changes in the market have put the Royal Mail under all sorts of pressure.

The evidence suggests that the management has hardly excelled at modernising the industry and taking its work force along with it.

The unions have become increasingly entrenched and belligerent. When a leader invokes the name of Arthur Scargill you know things have gone badly awry.

 Management tactics have been aggressive, threatening to enlist 30,000 casual workers effectively to break the strike and maybe the union too.

The real danger is that serious disruption will destroy the whole organisation depriving us of the postal service we need and, despite its deficiencies, value.

For the Royal Mail these are challenging times. If the two sides can't find a way forward, they will be playing the last post.

 

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DAILY EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

A GENERATION HAT IS IGNORED AND SCORNED

BY ANN WIDDECOMBE

 

ON Wednesday I went to speak at a lunch club in Hampshire where only a small minority of us was under the age of 70. Indeed I shared a table with one woman of 100 and another of 95.

 

They were both in sparkling form. Some three score had gathered and between them the service they have given to this country is immense.

A handful were old enough to have served in the Second World War but all their lives had been useful. One woman had been the headmistress of a girls' school, a man a diplomat, another an international business- man.

Yet as I glanced round the room I realised that this, despite its collective wisdom and experience, is the ignored generation. Its voice is not heard by those who do not yet have to wear deaf aids and it is barely seen by those whose vision is still healthy. Its often hesitant, zimmer- dependent form is bypassed by youth in a hurry.

It is ignored by political parties which seek to appeal to "modern" Britain and hardly ever select any- one to stand for Parliament who has reached 55, let alone 60.

It is ignored by researchers unless they are looking at stair lifts and foot warmers. It is more worthy to be hip than wise, to be young and misty-eyed rather than to have accumulated a lifetime's learning.

It is ignored by the cosmetics trade and the fashion industry unless they are peddling "miracle" creams to remove wrinkles, which are in other cultures respected as long service medals.

It is ignored by the BBC and other channels which disregard its preference for good English, good morals and good language, instead inflicting on it an endless diet of uncouth humour, violence, swearing and dramas which rely on irregular living for their content.

 

Its preferences are regarded as outdated and not worth taking into account instead of as different and as entitled to be catered for as those of other generations. Authors whose books this generation has enjoyed betray it by gradually coarsening their work to appeal to a different clientele.

Modesty, restraint, self-sacrifice and service were the watchwords of the generation which now hardly gets a hearing from today's me, me, me society of consumerism, hedonism and gargantuan bonuses. Its quiet, wise voice is drowned out.

I wonder what those who are so comprehensively ignored think when they look at the country they worked so hard for: at the petty bureaucracy and overweening power of the State; legislators who not only commit but then defend acts of fraud; the drunken Sodom and Gomorrah of the average urban centre on a Friday night; the dispensing with of saving and the appeal of instant credit; the promiscuity and the abandonment of marriage; the fractured families; the cesspit of drugs; the profanity which pours from the box in the corner; the contempt for the Church. Perhaps they wonder why they bothered but somehow I doubt it.

Whatever they may see around them they have always known what is right and how to live a decent life, hereas those who follow them may find out those truths only when they are too old and feeble to put them into practice.

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DAILY EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

LIVING WITH TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER

BY DR ROSEMARY LEONARD

 

QUESTION: Could you give me some information about triple negative breast cancer with which I have been diagnosed? I believe it is aggressive and likely to recur or spread. I have been in the clear for four years but take nothing for granted.

 

ANSWER: Breast cancer is a very complex disease. It can originate in different types of cells within the breast tissue and there can be varying factors that stimulate the cancer cells to grow.

Some breast cancer cells rely on oestrogen to grow, have oestrogen receptors and can be treated with drugs such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors that block oestrogen production within the body.

Other breast cancer cells have Her2 proteins and can be treated with Herceptin. Some tumours don't have either of these but have receptors for the hormone progesterone. This is thought to be less important than oestrogen but even so there are drugs that can be used to reduce progesterone levels. 

Around 15 to 20 per cent of women with breast cancer test negative for all three receptors. This is known as triple negative breast cancer and this means hormone blocking therapies and Herceptin are likely to be of little benefit.

Triple negative cancers  are more common in  pre-menopausal women and those who carry a faulty gene, which is associated with hereditary breast cancer.

These types of cancer can  be treated with standard chemotherapy but the best regime to use is still being evaluated. Though women with triple negative cancers have a poorer outlook early on, the good news is if the disease goes into remission it is less likely to recur than other types of breast cancer.

 

QUESTION: I suffer from a cholesteatoma in my right ear and have been told I need surgery to remove it and then further surgery to repair the damage in my ear. What is this condition exactly and how serious is it? I had a lot of ear infections and perforated ear drums when I was younger. Is this the cause?

ANSWER: A Cholesteatoma is a lump of tissue that develops inside the middle ear cavity – the space behind the ear drum. The exact reason why it forms is unknown but it is thought having a chronic infection in the ear and eustachian tube can lead to a negative pressure inside the affected ear.

This means the drum gets sucked inwards and this in turn can lead to growth of tissue around the tiny bones in the middle ear cavity.

Sometimes they form from scar tissue on the ear drum and it may be that all those infections you had as a child are to blame.

Symptoms of a cholesteatoma can include hearing loss and a foul-smelling discharge from the ear.

They are more common in men than women. Cholesteatomas grow very slowly but gradually they can erode the bones around the ear and cause permanent damage to hearing.

Surgical treatment involves removing the abnormal tissue, leaving  as much of the normal ear structure as possible intact.

This is usually done under a general anaesthetic but the technique used depends on the size and position of the abnormal tissues. Do not be afraid to ask your specialist exactly what he intends to do.

QUESTION: Whenever I travel to warmer climates I suffer from swollen feet and ankles.  I have tried bathing them in

 

cold water and always sleep with them raised on a pillow but nothing helps. Is it caused by flying and how can I alleviate the condition?

ANSWER: No, It's not caused by flying. It's simply an effect of hot weather. When the temperature rises the blood vessels near the skin widen as this can help to cool the body.

They may also become a little more porous and allow lymph, the clear fluid in blood, to leak out into the surrounding
tissues. This tends to happen more with increasing age and also if you are overweight. Yet it happens even at a young  age in some people, for no apparent reason.

You can help prevent this happening by keeping your feet as cool as possible so putting them into cool water whenever you can is a good idea.

Raising your legs will also help as this reduces the pressure of blood within the lower veins of the legs. as long as your legs reduce back to normal overnight and one leg does not become more swollen than the other there is no reason for concern.

However, if your feet become more permanently swollen you should see your doctor.

 

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DAILY EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

MR BROWN CRUMBLES IN BISCUIT REVELATION.

BY DAVID ROBSON

 

THE question had been put to him again and again last week on the Mumsnet website – "what's your favourite biscuit?" – and he ducked it (or possibly dunked it) over and over again.

 

But there was no getting away from it, he knew the nation must be told.

On Mumsnet he had willingly answered questions on the war, childcare vouchers, swine flu and politicians' expenses – all the easy stuff – but this had been the tough one.

Like the general election he didn't call in September 2007, it was just too risky.

"A potential crumbs-in-the-bed moment" he thought, and we all know how tricky and unpleasant that can be.

"Prime Minister, there are urgent questions about extra troops to Afghanistan," said his private secretary when he'd finished. 

"I know, I know," said Gordon mournfully, "but first things first. Assemble the Cabinet and make sure all the women are here, if there are any. Women know all about biscuits, don't they? And get me a list of biscuits.

"Now colleagues, we meet at a tricky moment. It's essential we get this biscuit thing right," the PM told his Cabinet.

"We are living in austere times, so there must be no suggestion of luxury, or regal living.

 

"Bourbons are out then," said David Miliband.

"And Rich Tea, obviously," murmured Alistair Darling.

"Ritz Crackers are a no-no," chuckled Lord Mandelson, "Ritz is a byword for luxury."

 

 "There are Penguins, of course," said Harriet Harman.

"That would be a mistake," said Ed Miliband, "it might provoke all sorts of awkward questions about global warming."

"Shortbread?"

"Too Scottish."

 

"What about HobNobs?" asked Shaun Woodward.

"You're too bloody posh, you," bellowed John Prescott who'd been brought in to make sure old-fashioned working-class values were represented.

"Only toffs hobnob and then only southern toffs. My old dad never hobnobbed in his life. I have a weakness for TUC biscuits myself. All crumbly and salty they are."

"TUC, John? I don't think that would be wise," said Mandy, "Not with the postal strike and all that. The Tory press would love it."

Hilary Benn suggested: "How about ginger biscuits Gordon? They're traditional and classless – a little old-fashioned but economical and democratic."

"Yes, Prince Charles makes a delightful dark chocolate ginger biscuit. A little pricy for the average person I suppose, but absolutely lovely," said Shaun.

"Shut your plutocratic cakehole, Woodward," bellowed Prescott.

"Colleagues," said Gordon mournfully, "I can see the virtue of the standard ginger biscuit. It embodies fine British values, but ginger reminds me of Hazel Blears. So no."

"And Neil Kinnock," said Alastair Campbell, "and I'm not sure that's a great idea with an election coming."

"I've always been partial to a Madeleine myself," said Ben Bradshaw, remembering for a moment that he's the culture minister.

"It is literature's most famous biscuit, the key to Proust's great novel A La Recherche du Temps Perdu as I'm sure we in this room all know."

"No we bloody don't," bellowed Prescott.

"Cream crackers would be a popular choice," chipped in Yvette Cooper.

"No, no," wailed the Attorney General Baroness Scotland, "far too crumbly. They go all over the carpet and it's the devil's own business to get a decent cleaner nowadays."

"There is of course the Garibaldi," purred Mandelson, "named after a hero, a British favourite but with an exotic name."

"With respect, I think it sounds too European, Peter," said Brown.

"And too much like bloody Berlusconi," yelled Prescott with a guffaw.

"Jammy Dodgers were our treat when we were kids," said Alan Johnson, who had stayed silent thus far, lest anyone should think he was trying to take over.

"Oh Alan," whispered Mandelson, "I don't think the conjunction of Prime Minister and Jammy Dodger is a very good idea."

"What about pink wafers?" piped Harriet Harman.

"Thank you Harriet," said Gordon, "but a bit too girlish I think."

"In my opinion you can't beat a Jaffa cake," said Jack Straw.

"OK," said Miliband, "but Jaffa's in Israel so it's a sensitive issue."

"In any case," said Darling, "a Jaffa cake is not a biscuit, it's a cake and therefore does not attract VAT. It's a
cake because unlike a biscuit, when it gets old it goes hard."

"Like Gordon," said someone.

"I don't think," mumbled another.

"Well," said Gordon, "thank you all for your time and do please convey my thanks to the dozens of civil servants who have been involved in this important exercise, and the consultative bodies and quangos.

"However, I have decided to take the advice of my wife Sarah and avoid controversy. I shall simple say 'biscuits with chocolate on' and I shall of course add that I am trying to give them up."

 

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DAILY EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

BULLYING AND BAD TEMPER ARE TYPICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT

BY MACER HALL

 

IT has been whispered around Westminster for years but yesterday the allegation was made on the record from one of Labour's most senior backbench MPs. Ed Balls is a bully.

 

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families cannot stand criticism and yearns to be surrounded by cowed  acolytes who can be ruthlessly bossed about.

That was the scathing verdict of Barry Sheerman, the veteran chairman of the Commons education select commit- tee. "Most of us know that Ed Balls is a bit of a bully and he likes his own way," said Mr Sheerman in an extraordinary BBC breakfast time radio interview.

"He doesn't like strong independent-minded people who stand up to him."

It is a description that many in Whitehall will recognise. As Gordon Brown's unofficial head prefect, Mr Balls has long been seen as a Westminster version of Flashman from Tom Brown's Schooldays.

The pugnacious Cabinet Minister is known for prowling the cloisters to deliver the political equivalents of thrashings and toastings over hot coals.

For a seasoned committee chairman such as Mr Sheerman to make such a public personal rebuke of a Cabinet minister is extraordinary.

This is surely an indication of the simmering dislike of ambitious Mr Balls that now exists in some quarters of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The irony of the accusation will not be lost on parents of school-age children.

Mr Balls's Schools department constantly spews out anti-bullying initiatives and charters despite spiralling indiscipline and violence in many of Britain's failing class- rooms. Yet another crackdown on so-called "cyber bullying" was launched yesterday.

The unseemly spat between Mr Balls and Mr Sheerman erupted over the appointment of Government's new children's welfare watchdog.

Mr Balls wanted Maggie Atkinson, current director of children's services in Gateshead, to be Children's Commissioner.

Mr Sheerman's committee interviewed her and concluded she lacked "determination to assert the independence of the role". But Mr Balls, in his characteristically blustering style, handed her the job anyway.

It is an episode that says everything about this Labour Government's desire for a bloated and supine quangocracy to  do its bidding. Ministers want watchdogs without teeth who ignore their many failures and will not challenge their diktats.

Mr Balls's behaviour lays bare the Government's arrogant disdain for Parliament. Select committees have been treated with outright contempt by Labour, pale shadows of the powerful Congressional committees that hold the executive to account in the US.

As the row intensified yesterday, Mr Balls angrily rejected the bullying accusations.

 

"Sometimes in my job you have to make tough decisions," he said, insisting he was "sensitive" and understanding.

Dragged to the Commons to answer questions from the opposition over the row, he spluttered: "This should not be
about politics, partisanship or personality." He insisted Ms Atkinson was a fiercely inde- pendent champion of children's rights and defied anyone to dis- agree with him, but opponents questioned whether she was
too close to the Government.

"The right thing to do is the right thing," Mr Balls chuntered in a display of verbal confusion almost worthy of John Prescott. Mr Balls's pleading pro- voked angry jeers from MPs, particularly given his reputation as one of the most fiercely partisan figures in the Cabinet.

He is well known for delivering furious tirades at any opponents who cross him. And he has been frequently accused of undermining Cabinet col- leagues through anonymous briefings, although he has furiously denied those allegations.

When it comes to the dark arts of politics, Mr Balls has learned studiously from his master and mentor, Gordon Brown. The Prime Minister's menacing behaviour towards anyone from his former bitter rival Tony Blair even down to the most junior Downing Street secretarial staff is well known. Reports of smashed computers and thrown mobile phones in violent tantrums with staff have become legendary.

Yet for all the belligerence and bullying, the overriding image of the regime of Brown and Balls is one of staggering impotence. While the Schools Secretary strives to impose his will on the education establishment, his deluge of bullying orders and meddling initiatives has achieved little or been ignored.

Figures released last week showed that fewer than half of all teenagers who sat GCSE exams achieved the Government's target of five grades of C or better. Separate statistics show that 50 pupils are sus- pended every day for classroom attacks.

Such damning data suggests Mr Balls's robust approach to "tough decisions" is having little effect.   Indeed, it is Labour's record of failure that appears to be fostering the culture of bullying spreading throughout Whitehall. The more the Government's bureaucratic policies flop, the more ministers rant and rail at their hapless under- lings and each other. The Schools Secretary is even understood to have bitterly fallen out with the Prime Minister as both of their political prospects plunge.

Mr Balls has admitted his desire to become Labour leader but his dream seems to be increasingly in danger of being dashed by his growing unpopularity within Labour ranks. Mr Sheerman's rebuke yesterday is being seen as yet another blow to his hopes of getting to the top. Beyond Westminster, tales of bullying and squabbling within a disintegrating Government are unlikely to bother voters who are crying out for ministers to get a firm grip of the immigration system, spiralling Treasury debt, disintegrating law and order and crumbling public services.

Rather, it is the Government's feeble incompetence that seems certain to guaran- tee a humiliating exit for  Mr Brown, Mr Balls and  their gang.

 

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

LEE'S ASIA DIPLOMACY

 

Arriving in Hanoi yesterday, President Lee Myung-bak started his six-day Asian tour, which will be an important diplomatic exercise for him to give practical meaning to his "new Asia initiative." After visits to Vietnam and Cambodia, the president will attend a series of summit meetings with East Asian leaders in Thailand.

 

First revealed to a meeting of Korean mission chiefs in Asia in March, Lee's new Asia initiative - which pursues stronger engagement with smaller Asian neighbors - was largely seen at home and abroad as yet another piece of rhetoric contrived by the president's diplomatic aides. Yet, President Lee has evangelized it with increasing enthusiasm at various summit-level opportunities. He spoke much of this Asia policy on his visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in May, at the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit on Jeju Island in June and on other diplomatic occasions. The doctrine on the basic concept of strategic cooperation, which covers not only economic but security, energy and cultural spheres, now has sustainable development as another mode of cooperation.

 

Under Lee's new initiative, Korea will help other Asian countries assert themselves more strongly in the reconstruction of world order following the global economic crisis. The plain philosophy in this diplomatic drive is that Seoul will be raising its international standing while playing the role of a development model for Asian neighbors striving to achieve socioeconomic advancement. Korea's recently gained status of being the host of next year's G20 summit gives it new confidence to help and lead the nations in Southeast Asia. Korea's diplomatic focus will shift from the politically important Northeast Asia to this new target region. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said that Korea would speak for the emerging nations of Asia at the G20 and invited Vietnam, the next chair of ASEAN, to the Seoul G20 summit.

 

China is too big and Japan is too advanced. In between the two Asian giants, Korea stands proudly as a nation that has achieved economic development and democratization simultaneously despite facing perennial security threats since a devastating war. For Vietnam and Cambodia, both of which have experienced wars in more recent years, Korea's development experiences are a valuable guide. Other nations with rich natural and human resources await rapid expansion of Korea's investment and trade.

 

Korea is already engaged with Asia - the region accounts for 48 percent of its total international trade, 53 percent of its overseas investment and 47 percent of its overseas development aid. Entering free trade agreements with all nations of Asia, which is home to 52 percent of the world's population and a fifth of world GDP, is the ultimate goal of Korea. As a small but dynamic nation, which has existed in a volatile rivalry with the divided half to the north, Korea has been eyeing a leadership role in international society. East Asia is an area in which Korea can make regional contributions, but there may be some competition with Chinese and Japanese versions of Asia initiatives.

The East Asian forums are adding more and more technical agenda, such as climate change, the H1N1 flu, natural disaster management, human resources development and the sensitive issues of food security and development of bio-energy. Without offering dependable financial as well as technological help, regional cooperation will be a hollow slogan and trust will be lost quickly and irrevocably no matter how much emphasis is given to the new Asia initiative.

 

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

PRESIDENTIAL PANEL

 

The Presidential Council on Nation Branding is reported to be working on designing a new government emblem to replace the present one based on "mugunghwa," the rose of Sharon. The new logo is to be used commonly for all government ministries and agencies.

 

The nation branding council is one of about 400 special government panels, some created by special legislation and others without such statutory backing. Soon after its inauguration, the Lee administration decided to close about 270 special commissions as the number of such bodies had increased to over 570 under the previous administration. As a result, 164 have been abolished or merged with others and 100 are awaiting a legislative decision on their fate.

 

Drawing our attention is that 46 special commissions were newly established by the present administration. They include five "blue-ribbon" commissions in charge of regional development, planning for the future, nation branding, increasing national competitiveness, and green growth. The nation branding panel, for example, has 34 appointed members, 13 ex-officio members of the level of minister, 42 expert advisors, and 36 members of an international advisory group in addition to a 35-man secretariat including four bureau directors under a ministerial-level chairman.

 

The Presidential Council on National Competitiveness discussed ways to activate the franchise industry and ease various restrictions on market entry in its latest monthly meeting in the presence of President Lee. The previous meeting considered how to improve the competitiveness of Korea's liquor in the global market. A revision of the Hangeul Romanization system was on the agenda at an earlier meeting.

 

Few can deny that all these are worthy tasks that deserve governmental efforts. And it is true that ordinary bureaucrats need to be stimulated by creative and innovative ideas from the outside. But it is also a serious problem that so much manpower is put into so many special commissions. With some engaged in designing an integrated government emblem and another working on a new Hangeul transliteration system, these commissions could lead to uncontrolled redundancies in administration.

 

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

INDONESIA ANOTHER BRIC IN THE WALL?

NOURIEL ROUBINI

 

NEW YORK - Conventional wisdom rarely survives a good stress test, and few tests have been as stressful as that which the global economy has endured over the past 24 months. A healthy season of reappraisal has dawned, shining a new light on boom-time notions like the value of opaque markets, the untouchable status of the American consumer, or the wisdom of deregulation.

 

One piece of bubble wisdom that has escaped relatively unscathed, however, is the assumption that the "BRIC" countries - Brazil, Russia, India, and China - will increasingly call the economic tune in years to come. The BRIC notion, coined in a 2003 Goldman Sachs report, is not all bad: at 75 percent correct, it scores a good deal better than most economic prognostications of the day.

 

Yet the economic crisis that began in 2008 exposed one of the four as an impostor. Set the vital statistics of the BRIC economies side-by-side and it becomes painfully obvious that, in the words of the old Sesame Street game, "One of these things is not like the other."

 

The weakness of the Russian economy and its highly leveraged banks and corporations, in particular, which was masked in recent years by the windfall brought by spiking oil and gas prices, burst into full view as the global economy tumbled. Saddled with a rust-belt infrastructure, Russia further disqualifies itself with dysfunctional and revanchist politics and a demographic trend in near-terminal decline.

 

Even with the modest recovery in commodity prices over the past six months, Russia's energy sector has experienced declining production in recent years, due in part to fears among foreign investors of expropriation. Russia's sovereign wealth fund, integral in propping up an increasingly re-centralized economy, is being depleted fast. If negative trends continue, Russia's reserve fund could eventually be exhausted.

 

Russia's fall back to earth, meanwhile, spawned a kind of parlor game among academics, foreign-policy wonks, and educated investors, aimed at replacing the country in the club of major emerging-market economies. A variety of acronyms has been suggested, from the cutesy BRICET (adding Eastern Europe and Turkey) to BRICKETs (the former plus South Korea) and - an even greater stretch - BRIMC, which shoehorns Mexico into the mix.

 

In all of these revisions, Russia survives, despite the writing on its economic wall. While Russia retains the world's largest (if somewhat aging) arsenal of nuclear weapons, as well as a permanent seat (and thus veto power) on the U.N. Security Council, it is more sick than BRIC.

 

Purely from the standpoint of economic potential and fundamentals, the case is far stronger for South Korea, a sophisticated economic power whose primary liability is the danger that the regime of its evil twin to the north will collapse and inundate it with hungry refugees.

 

The same is true of Turkey, with its robust banking sector, thriving domestic market, growing importance to Middle East and energy politics, NATO membership, European Union membership bid, and ties to ethnic cousins across Central Asia.

 

Perhaps the most compelling case of all is that of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim state, with a rapidly expanding middle class, relatively stable democratic politics, and an economy that has been a star performer in Asia despite the global recession. From an American perspective, Indonesia is an attractive alternative to Russia, which recently has vied with Venezuela for leadership of the "America in decline" cheering section.

 

Indonesia, moreover, has shown resilience not only economically, but also as a nation. In spite of its diverse ethnic makeup and far-flung island territory, the country has made a quick transition from military dictatorship and has recovered from myriad challenges and setbacks, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the tsunami in 2004, the emergence of radical Islam, and domestic unrest. While Indonesia's per capita GDP remains low, it is a country's potential that matters in economic affairs, and here Indonesia shines.

 

Indonesia depends less on exports than its Asian peers (let alone Russia), and its asset markets (timber, palm oil, and coal, in particular) have attracted major foreign investment. The government in Jakarta, meanwhile, has taken a strong stand against corruption and moved to address structural problems. Even demographic trends favor Indonesia, which, with 230 million people, is already the fourth largest country in the world by population - a full Germany (80-plus million) larger than Russia.

 

But catchy ideas die hard, and Russia has moved to cement the current concept of the BRICs into an irreversible reality. The ossification of the BRICs into a de facto global institution move forward dramatically in June, when the four countries' leaders met (in Russia, of course) for the first "BRIC summit."

 

That meeting produced a notable broadside against the United States, as each member declared its desire to unseat the dollar as the global reserve currency. A few months earlier, the four were moved to issue a joint communique ahead of the G20 summit in April noting their shared determination to change the rules of the global economic system.

 

In the private sector, BRIC index funds have proliferated, though Goldman Sachs has radically hedged its own BRIC bet by introducing a second term - the "Next 11," or N-11 - to the debate. This grouping adds Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, and Vietnam to the economic radar, and, together with the four BRIC countries, probably comprises a more logical and defensible "first tier" of emerging economies.

 

Russia sniffs at the idea of demotion, and American officials appear to have decided to steer clear of the semantic debate. Still, it should surprise no one that Russia lobbied hard for the Yekaterinburg BRIC summit, and footed the bill for much of it as well. Why risk exposure too soon?

 

Nouriel Roubini is chairman of RGE Monitor (www.rgemonitor.com) and a professor at the Stern School of Business, New York University. - Ed.

 

(Project Syndicate)

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

IS THERE NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN?

KIM SEONG-KON

 

Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" (2005) depicts the changing times when the old must learn to admit their prime is over. The protagonist of the novel, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, is a conscientious man who is constantly haunted by his memories of World War II; he had left his men to die in the battlefield, and yet he was decorated with a Bronze Star after the war. Now working as a law-enforcement officer, he tries very hard to make up for his past mistake by restoring justice.

 

Bell comes to investigate the brutal murders committed by Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic assassin hired to retrieve money that was stolen during a drug crime gone awry. Investigating the case, Bell gradually realizes that the atrocity of the multiple murders is part of a modern culture he will never comprehend, although he is living in it. He is appalled to find that the heartless murderer kills for no reason. Bell tries to figure out how to cope with this gruesome reality but cannot bring himself to understand. Finally, he comes to terms with the fact that he is an obsolete, old-fashioned man on the verge of extinction. He realizes that there is no country for old men now.

 

Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" (1954), a precursor of the zombie genre, also follows the story of a man who realizes that he is no longer the norm in a changed society. The novel depicts a bleak city devastated by a disastrous pandemic that has turned the entire population into vampire-like zombies. Robert Neville is the sole survivor of the deadly disease. He kills the carnivorous zombies during the day, but hides from zombie hordes that come out of hiding every night.

 

One day, during his daily excursions in the city, Neville encounters a woman named Ruth who he believes is uninfected and brings her to his shelter. Neville learns from Ruth that some of the infected have developed the ability to endure daylight for a few hours and that Ruth is one of them. Genetic mutation has created an entirely new race and Neville has been unknowingly killing the new species along with the deadly species. In the eyes of the new race, therefore, Neville is nothing but a menacing predator and scourge that must be eliminated.

 

Finally, the new species comes to capture Neville and shuts him in a prison. To begin a new civilization, Neville must be executed. Neville has always believed that the annihilation of the infected is imperative for the survival of the humankind. Now he realizes he must be destroyed for the survival of the new race. He foresees the ironic future, in which infected people are normal and he is merely a brutal murderer and abnormal deviant. Neville acknowledges defeat at last and commits suicide, silently whispering, "I am legend." He used to believe the infected were threats from which he should protect the present reality. However, he now realizes that he is the one who is fading-away as a legend, while the new race has become a reality.

 

One way to interpret "I Am Legend" is as a product of the 1950s, an age of McCarthyism and conservatism. If so, the novel may also delineate the frustration and fear of conservatives who believe they are morally righteous but are hopelessly outnumbered and overpowered by the ideologically ill and contagious radicals. Another way to read the novel is to interpret it as a depressing depiction of the destiny of a few conscientious intellectuals who strive to protect humanity from a horde of barbarous masses to no avail.

 

We all naively believe we will remain young and prevail forever. Soon, however, we come to realize that our glorious days are over and that we are an obsolete species to be extinct. We always think of ourselves as non-infected, normal people in an insane world. In a world in which everybody is infected, however, infection becomes normal and the non-infected are abnormal. And when we come to admit this fact, we are ready to depart the world like Neville, silently crying out, "I am legend."

 

Yesterday I entered the graduate students' office to announce something. To my surprise, no students bothered to get up to greet me. So we talked while I was standing and they were comfortably idling on their chairs. When I was a student, I immediately got up when one of my professors came in. I was also appalled by a junior professor's attitude a few days ago when she raised her voice at a faculty meeting to object to an agenda that would relieve senior professors from certain departmental obligations. When I was a junior professor, I did not dare say anything at a faculty meeting. Now everybody seems to be infected by the virus of socialist egalitarian ideology. Perhaps I am an obsolete, extinct species, unable to cope with rapid and radical social change. So these days, I often feel I am legend already and there is no country for old men.

 

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Seoul National University Press. - Ed.

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

A QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY

 

Any report on alleged war crimes is going to be controversial. An investigation that focuses on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians will be even more sensitive. Thus the uproar surrounding the Goldstone report, an investigation into the behavior of the Israeli Army and Hamas militants during the war in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago, was to be expected. But charges that the effort has been politicized obscure the key question of accountability. There must be limits to conflicts — even when waged by terrorists, freedom fighters, or other "political" groups.

 

The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict was chartered by the U.N. Human Rights Council in April to look into the behavior of the Israeli military and Hamas militants during the bloody conflict they waged in December 2008 and January 2009. Israel launched its forces into Gaza to root out militants who were using the territory to launch rocket attacks against its territory. Almost 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the three-week conflict.

 

Four jurists were named to the mission, which was chaired by Mr. Richard Goldstone, a respected former South African judge who was once lead prosecutor in war crimes investigations in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Rather than looking at the entire three-week war, the group investigated 36 incidents during the conflict that it considered representative. In a 575-page document, it concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its efforts to rid the Gaza Strip of the rockets that Palestinians had fired at Israel. It charged Palestinian militants — including Hamas, the group that now controls the Gaza Strip — of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror via rocket attacks on southern Israel.

 

The 47-member Human Rights Council endorsed the report with a tally of 25 for, 6 against; the remainder either abstained or did not vote. The report also recommends that the U.N. Security Council demand that both sides show within six months that they are carrying out independent investigations into the allegations. If they fail to make that showing, the report argues that the matter should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Reportedly, the chief prosecutor at the ICC is considering whether the court has jurisdiction to prosecute alleged war crimes in Gaza, independent of any UNSC referral.

 

Since the United States is a permanent member of the UNSC with a veto, and has made it clear that it considers the investigation biased and an obstacle to efforts to restart peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, the UNSC referral is unlikely. The U.S. was one of the "no" votes in the Human Rights Council, arguing that the report was biased by focusing on Israel and included discussions of issues that went beyond its mandate.

 

Israel refused to cooperate with the mission and has rejected the report, calling it "one-sided" and "unjust." Israeli officials argue that it ignores their country's right of self-defense, years of rocket attacks on its territories, and the militants' use of civilians as human shields. The entire effort, Israel charged, is part of a long-standing effort to delegitimize that state and deflect attention from human rights abuses elsewhere in the world.

 

The most important objection to the report is political, but it is not the charge that the process has been politicized. Rather, the chief political concern is that the report could derail peace negotiations. The accusations against Israel, allege U.S. and Israeli officials, make it harder for Tel Aviv to negotiate. Even some Palestinians see the merit of that position. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, originally agreed to delay action on the Goldstone Report on those grounds, but the ensuing uproar among Palestinians forced him to reverse course.

 

Politicization of this dispute is inevitable — notwithstanding the fact that the report itself identified abuses by both sides. But political overtones must not be allowed to obscure the larger issue, which is the need for accountability among militaries when they fight. The Goldstone recommendations are designed to encourage both governments to take up that task themselves: That is the purpose of the six-month period before referring the issue to the ICC. As Mr. Goldstone explained, "A culture of impunity in the region has existed far too long. The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point; the ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence."

 

This concern should transcend politics, and Israel should see that this is an issue upon which it can reclaim the moral high ground, a vantage point it has abandoned. By demanding that its soldiers and leaders hew to international law, it can demand that its adversaries do the same. Pleading the exigencies of conflict — a loophole that has been closed by the laws of war — only encourages its enemies to exploit the same opportunity. That does not serve Israel's national interest, nor does it promote peace.

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

ANOTHER TWIST AND SHOUT FROM NORTH KOREA

BY TOM PLATE

 

LOS ANGELES — Like the baby that hurls its rattle out of the crib to grab attention, North Korea has never been known for a subtle diplomatic style. Right now, though, it appears to have abandoned, temporarily at least, the crude infantile approach for a more adult turn.

 

Yes, once again, we are being manipulated. But this particular manipulation might just lead to something more hopeful than the usual. The latest twist in the ditsy diplomatic schizophrenia known as the foreign policy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has come in the form of an official apology.

 

It's hard to believe but the North Korean government actually said it was sorry about something — and said it very much in public. The apology came in the wake of a presumably inadvertent flood-control error. Water from a North Korean dam was released last month that flowed downstream like a mini-tsunami. In a flash it wound up drowning a half-dozen South Koreans along the Imjin River.

 

After weeks of obnoxious silence, Pyongyang officially decided to say it was sorry. "It was regrettable that unintended human tragedies occurred," said an official of the Communist government.

 

North Korea has rarely managed to convert stupidity into opportunity. This time may prove the exception. This otherwise inept government may realize its tantrum routines have crossed the checkpoint of diminishing returns.

 

Note that just a few months ago, it played adult nice-nice with former President Bill Clinton and allowed him to leave with two scared and exhausted American journalists in tow. They had been jailed for months. Their release made everyone happy.

 

So did the apology. But note that the unusual (if tepid) expression of regret followed shortly upon the departure of China's soft-spoken but powerful Wen Jiabao. This was no coincidence. The Chinese premier had spent a few days sitting down, drinking lots of tea and having long chats with Maximum Leader Kim Jong Il, among others. The two sides had plenty to talk about.

 

For its part, Beijing is keen to restart the stalled six-party talks that it founded. They involve, besides itself and the two Koreas, Moscow and Tokyo, as well as Washington.

 

North Korea can go only so far in annoying its historic ally. The Chinese, wisely, sent the wily Wen, who is Beijing's No. 2. They know better than to bother expecting significant action from Pyongyang unless the conversation is held at the highest level.

 

This — let us recall — was the secret of the success of Bill Clinton's Pyongyang mission. Had the U.S. not sent someone as prominent as a former U.S. president to negotiate for the release of the two journalists, the happy outcome may never have come to pass. Pyongyang was pleased with the visit and would love to have more — with either of the two Clintons, or with both, for that matter.

 

North Korea desperately wants to hook up with Washington. Things cannot go on like this much longer. It aims for official diplomatic respect (formal recognition) and a fistful of dollars as part of a developing "Grand Bargain," as we have called it, with the U.S.

 

Pyongyang would prefer to negotiate solely with Washington, but America's two main allies in East Asia have every good reason to be kept in the loop. Japan has serious, domestically corrosive issues with North Korea, and of course South Korea has to share the same tense peninsula. Both repeatedly remind American diplomats Stephen Bosworth and Kurt Campbell that they have major interests in the negotiations, too.

 

To be sure, Seoul and Tokyo should not be taken for granted in the slightest way. Japan, with its new government, is preparing to reduce its contribution to the effort in Afghanistan. This is a potential rebuff to the U.S. South Korea just signed a trade-opening agreement with the European Union that could be viewed also as a rebuke to the U.S. Congress for not yet passing the one negotiated by Seoul and Washington back in 2007.

 

A touch of forward progress may have come from Seoul. In a recent speech in New York sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, the Korea Society and the Asia Society, President Lee Myung Bak proposed the long-awaited Grand Bargain in explicit terms: If North Korea were to execute irreversible denuclearization, it would receive a rock-solid security guarantee against any military hostility and huge dollops of international aid.

 

If such a Grand Bargain materializes, North Korea would have to be infantile to reject it. But who knows what twist or turn is next?

 

Syndicated columnist Tom Plate is writing a series of books on major Asian political figures. An archive of recent columns is at: www.pacificperspectives.blogspot.com. © 2009 Pacific Perspectives Media Center

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

FADING TRUST IN THE POLITICAL CLASS

BY DAVID HOWELL

 

LONDON — The world is clearly passing through a crisis of political legitimacy. People in growing numbers do not trust their governments or their governing classes. In many cases they despise them.

 

Survey after survey shows that in many societies throughout the advanced world there is now a widespread lack of belief or confidence among ordinary people in the right of political leaders and the governing class to make decisions on their behalf.

 

For example, in the European Union the semi-official Eurobarometer survey shows that more than 80 percent of the voters do not trust political parties and more than two-thirds distrust their national governments. A recent wider survey of 18 advanced countries found that 63 percent of those questioned believed their government consisted of politicians and officials who looked after their own interests. Even more questioned whether their politicians acted for the benefit of the people.

 

As transparency has increased and the Web has opened wide the workings of government and politicians to the public gaze, the old belief and faith that governments somehow possessed superior wisdom and represented the true will of the people has evaporated.

 

The United Kingdom is currently showing signs of these symptoms in an especially virulent form, with the British public now convinced that members of Parliament are abusing their expenses and misusing taxpayers' money to feather their own nests. This belief, fanned by the media, now threatens to spread from outrage against individual named incumbents into a general pattern of outright contempt that could have major consequences not just for political parties but for the entire Westminster system.

 

Although the problem may be very acute in the U.K., and focused on the expenses issue, it is in fact part of a much broader trend. Distrust is international and aimed at both rulers and political institutions almost everywhere, whether national, international or supra-national.

 

In country after country, including Japan, studies confirm that the public see their political rulers not as heroes but as a source of unworkable laws and regulations, jargon-laden verbiage, coverups, incompetence and worse. This sentiment does not necessarily translate into a mass withdrawal by voters and the public from the political system or into despairing apathy and disengagement.

 

Although it is true that voter participation in the recent EU parliamentary elections was abysmally low, generally political interest and involvement is higher than ever, with evidence of the motive being to punish and strike out against the established political classes, their alleged remoteness and their cozy structural habitats.

 

A surge of new networks, ideas, activities and organizations is filling the public space, largely empowered and enabled by the global information network that now instantly and continuously links hundreds of millions across the world. Networks like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and many others, now create links between interests, lobbies and protest movements that are replacing traditional hierarchies of governance.

 

This gives a valuable clue as to what is really going on. Power, influence and the protection and promotion of national interest and concerns are no longer the sole preserve of conventional diplomatic channels and traditional government- to-government interfaces. Those methods are no longer trusted, or even needed in the Internet age.

 

Yet what this globalized and transnational networking system also does is create its opposite — a powerful and almost furious longing for clearer national identity and better protected cultural diversity. It seems that people young and old yearn more than ever to belong, to have a clear definition from inspirational leaders of the role, purposes and priorities of the local communities and societies they inhabit. They want to know where they stand, what the focus of their loyalties should be, and how their particular community or nation fits into and connects with the wider world system.

 

Opinion pollsters and election strategists tell us that domestic issues come much higher up in the agenda than broader questions of overseas relations and international strategies. But this is misleading. The experts are posing the wrong question. A country's positioning in the world and its international connections give its citizens' lives meaning. They tell people what to be proud of, what common causes bind them together, why it is worthwhile to be a nation and what contribution that nation can make to the new global order.

 

These are not abstruse "foreign" matters or the preserve of the chattering classes or commentators. Domestic and foreign issues have fused. They are central to daily and family life and the hopes and feelings that sustain existence and give it meaning.

 

As the British watch their precious, ancient and once respected parliamentary system of government sink into discredit, their search becomes one for something better, more open and more respected — a clearer sense of national direction and a clearer definition of what it means to be British in this complex and dangerous age.

 

That "better something" can only be a new kind of leadership that boldly articulates national priorities, recognizes the severe new limits on what national governments can achieve at home and overseas, is absolutely free of any taint of corruption, and is honest with the people as to what benefits the modern state can deliver.

 

Somehow the Westminster Parliament and the British political leadership must renew themselves along these lines. It is going to be a long hard struggle.

 

David Howell is a former British Cabinet minister and former chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. He is now a member of the House of Lords (www.lordhowell.com).

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

CONFLICTING STRATEGIES ISLAMICIZING MALAYSIA

BY MAZNAH MOHAMAD

 

SINGAPORE — In Malaysia's current political climate, it is no longer possible to distinguish Islamic radicals from Islamic moderates. Despite official boasting about the country's diverse population and commitment to pluralism, Islam and the government have essentially merged.

 

For two decades, the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) government invested enormous public resources in building up a network of Islamic institutions. The government's initial intention was to deflect radical demands for an extreme version of Islamic governance. Over time, however, the effort to outdo its critics led UMNO to over-Islamicize the state.

 

UMNO's program has put Shariah law, Shariah courts and an extensive Islamic bureaucracy in place — a collective effort that has taken on a life of its own. The number of Islamic laws instituted has quadrupled in just over 10 years. After Iran or Saudi Arabia, Malaysia's Shariah court system is probably the most extensive in the Muslim world, and the accompanying bureaucracy is not only big but has more bite than the national parliament.

 

Islamic laws in Malaysia are based on religious doctrine but are codified and passed as statutes by state parliaments. Not much debate attends their enactment, because a fear of heresy keeps most critics from questioning anything deemed Islamic.

 

While UMNO still trumpets its Islamic advocacy, the party is facing difficult choices, particularly as it wishes to maintain foreign investment in an increasingly polarized environment.

 

For example, Minister of Home Affairs Hishamuddin Hussein recently held a press conference to support Muslims who demonstrated against the construction of a Hindu temple in their neighborhood. The protesters paraded a severed, bloodied cow's head in the street, then spat and stomped on it. This was an offense to Malaysia's Hindus, who consider the cow a sacred animal.

 

Just a week earlier, a young mother by the name of Kartika was sentenced by Malaysia's Shariah court to six lashes by cane and fined $1,500 after she was caught drinking beer at a hotel. Although the sentence is still in limbo, Hussein publicized his acceptance of the punishment by inviting the official floggers to his office to demonstrate how an Islamic caning would be carried out. They used a chair as a mock target, leaving him satisfied that Islamic caning can be appropriately used as a punishment for women.

 

Ironically, Hussein is far from an Islamic hardliner. The son of Malaysia's third prime minister and a cousin of the current prime minister, he is widely considered modern, moderate and cosmopolitan.

 

A true hardliner is Nik Aziz, the chief minister of Kelantan state, who is also the spiritual leader of Malaysia's largest Islamic party, PAS, which now controls two state governments. Aziz, however, opposed the anti-Hindu protest, even calling a group of anti-Muslim protesters in the United Kingdom more civilized in their approach.

 

Hence, it is no longer accurate to think of the PAS as a fundamentalist party and UMNO as moderate. Party strategies are leading them in unexpected directions. UMNO's more radical turn is being matched by PAS attempts at moderation. PAS is aiming for the most unlikely of voters: non-Muslims, who account for 40 percent of Malaysia's population and are increasingly alienated from UMNO.

 

UMNO, meanwhile, is intent on dividing the opposition coalition, of which the PAS is a member. The coalition is currently led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and has picked up political momentum from real gains in last year's general election.

 

Concerned by its losses, UMNO has staked a claim to the defense of Islam in Malaysia. The "cow head" protest, which was led by UMNO members, quickly fueled racially charged manipulation of public sentiment. The formula is simple: Portray Islam as being threatened by infidels, and then have UMNO ride to the rescue of the besieged Muslim community.

 

The caning of Kartika, on the other hand, is not an example of political manipulation, and for this reason is perhaps even more worrisome. Her sentence was roundly supported by modernist Muslim intellectuals, who insisted that the punishment was justly applied and cannot be questioned because it has divine sanction. These are not politicians, but former idealists who are happy that their goals of Islamicizing the state are being realized. Most are anti-UMNO and support PAS.

 

As a result, UMNO finds itself squeezed between an Islamic lobby that presses for greater "Talibanization" of the country and the rising voices of international critics, who cannot be ignored, because the party needs both radical supporters and foreign investors to stay in power.

 

Balancing these two constituencies is becoming increasingly difficult for UMNO. Islamic politics has now taken on a life of its own. But the opposition will also be forced to figure out the role of religion in Malaysia, if ever they get an opportunity to form a government. As a young Islamic radical, Anwar Ibrahim used to ask: How does one Islamicize government? Now he has to figure out how one governs it.

 

Maznah Mohamad is visiting senior research fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. © 2009 Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

AN ASSERTIVE INAUGURAL SPEECH

 

The strong, popular mandate he gained in the last election and the controlling grand coalition he has built at the parliament was, by and large, reflected in the inaugural speech President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered after he was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday.

 

He aroused optimism by pointing out Indonesia's sterling economic performance amid the global economic slump and financial crisis, proudly saying that "our economic growth this year could be the third-highest in the world" (after China and India).

 

But he warned the people of the enormous challenges ahead due to the fragile recovery of the world economy and volatile global financial and commodity markets.

 

Yudhoyono said he and his team had formulated working programs for the first 100 days, as well as one — and five-year plans for his administration, all designed to bring about prosperity and justice, through high, inclusive (equitable) growth, and to further nurture democracy.

 

He talked about the importance of good governance, including a strong anticorruption drive, as well as the vital need for determination or resoluteness, maintenance of unity and solidarity as well as "our national dignity and identity".  

 

As the leader of the world's third-largest democracy, the fourth-most populous country and the largest Southeast Asian economy with the world's largest Muslim population, Yudhoyono also had a few words for the international community.

 

The President, who appeared confident, reiterated Indonesia's active and independent foreign policy designed to bring about peace and justice through multilateral organizations and build up an ASEAN community.

 

Indonesia, he asserted, will pursue a friendly and mo-derate nationalism to allow for an "all-direction foreign policy" whereby the country has a million friends and no enemies.

 

He maintained a tradition of  political decency by thanking his competitors in the July presidential election – the Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto pair and the Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto duo – for their contribution to the development of democracy in the country.

 

However, his inaugural speech was too brief to reveal the key components of his 100-day action program that the nation is keenly anticipating.

 

We may have to wait until the first session of his new Cabinet slated for Thursday – to get details on the key points of his working agenda for the first 100 days, one - and five-year plans of his administration.

 

But Yudhoyono's mention of our enormous challenges early in his address is reassuring because that awareness could prevent complacency. The problems we are grappling with are undoubtedly complex.

 

Indonesia did quite well in weathering the global economic and financial crisis, but this achievement should be attributed more to luck rather than to the strength of our economic competitiveness: we are simply fortunate that our dependence on exports is still small (20 percent), our financial institutions were not exposed to the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, and that our private consumption has been unusually vigorous due to the legislative and presidential elections and our population is large (230 million).  

 

Even though we are already classified as a middle income country with a per capita income of around
US$2,300, more than 15 percent of the population still lives in absolute poverty and almost 40 percent live on less than $2 per day. Unemployment, though declining, is still relatively high at 8 percent. Yet more worrisome, underemployment is estimated at more than 35 percent of the 130 million labor force.

 

Moreover, Indonesia still has an image problem, being infamous as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

 

Yudhoyono therefore must fully utilize his strong political mandate to push through vital reform measures to bring about breakthrough improvements in the investment climate and basic infrastructure, otherwise the pace of new direct investment will remain slow and so will the rate of job creation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

MR. PRESIDENT, NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL, PLEASE!

USMAN HAMID

 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, may I sincerely congratulate you on your re-election. My fellow countrymen and women have put their trust in you as the elected President for the upcoming five years.

 

In the campaign period, you made various promises particularly on the supremacy of law and human rights. I fully share your belief that human rights should always be the essence of the development of humankind, now and in the future. In the first decade of reformasi, we were all confronted with impunity on past human rights violations committed by the previous regime.

 

This second decade is bringing us new challenges: the free market economy is faced by global financial crises. Internationally and at home, the protection of human rights is under threat.

 

The main foundation of human rights is justice. The principle of justice, according to John Rawls, is rights and liberties. In his distinguished work, A Theory of Justice, Rawls discussed the classical problems in modern political theory, i.e. issues about the basis for civil liberty, the boundaries of political obligations, and of justice in the economic system as well as inequalities between members of society. In addressing these issues, Rawls held to the main principle in his political theories that the civil and political rights of the individual must not be violated.

 

The first principle of Rawl's concept of justice believes that each person is to have an equal right to the total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. This is usually referred to as the principle of equal liberty, which is required to guarantee basic liberties: freedom of thought, conscience, speech, and assembly; the right to vote and hold public office, the right to hold personal property, and the right to protection from arbitrary arrest.

 

Mr. President, you have improved conditions in Aceh with the Helsinki peace accords and people now can live in liberty. You have kept Indonesia's diplomatic stance friendly to human rights via the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

 

However, for the last five years, some principles of human rights have been eroded by regulations or policies discriminating against the constitutional rights of the people, such as the erosion or negation of freedom of worship in the case of the Ahmadiyah, discrimination against women in some provinces, imposition of the death penalty and degrading punishments, restrictions on the work of human rights activists and of vulnerable groups such as LGBTI (on sexual freedom) or the pursuit peaceful expression in Papua.

 

The vital role of civil society should be noted in the next administration in order to strengthen justice and to ensure a well-balanced approach between the implementation of your constitutional mandate, the maintenance of the integrity of national laws and respect for the diversity of nationhood. Past injustice is the root cause of disrespect for civil rights and liberties.

 

This means that we still must come to terms with the past. Your administration has declared its commitment to resolve cases of gross human rights violations, but so far it was not successful. In your second and last term, you and Boediono have to take firm actions and measures to prosecute the existing cases of international crimes.

 

For instance, will the ratification of the Rome Statute continue to be postponed? Concerning the recent parliament's proposal for the establishment of an ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal on the enforced disappearance of activists in 1997-1998, will you approve this?

 

Will you take into account the other three recommendations from the parliament such as to discover the fate and the whereabouts of the disappeared, to provide victims (or their relatives) with reparations and to ratify the newly adopted UN Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

 

You promised to resolve the murder case of human rights defender Munir and you should not fail to deliver this in your next term. As you said, this is "a test of our history".

 

The second principle of justice allows social and economic inequalities as long as they are to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged. This principle also demands fair equality of opportunity for all. Such equality does not only mean equality in work opportunities but also in opportunities for living. Citizens similarly endowed and motivated should have the same opportunities regardless of their social class.

 

Let me highlight some issues related to justice in the existing economic system.

 

Mr. President, your promise on the revitalization of agrarian policies has not been fulfilled. Indonesia's unfinished agrarian reform has continued to result in human rights violations, such as violence against and criminalization of poor farmers in Blora, Semarang and Cilacap, in Central Java, and Sulawesi and forced evictions in Riau, Sumatra.

 

The issuing of large numbers of licenses by central and regional/local governments, for example for HPH (forest concessions), HTI (industrial forest concessions), mining and oil & gas licenses, and also for commercial-scale fishing and plantations, that these have resulted in strains between local people, companies and the government, and even in human rights violations. Up to 2008, according to WALHI, there have been around 576 palm plantation conflicts. These trends have led to poverty, lost income, loss of houses and properties as well as impaired living quality of local people.

 

We urgently need the National Committee for Agrarian Renewal (KNPA) to be established. It should have the full mandate to prepare a legal basis and the institutional authority to implement genuine agrarian reform.

 

Further strategic measure should be taken as mandated in the People's Consultative Asselmbly (MPR) Decree No. 9/2001 on agrarian reform and natural resources management providing the people, including women, with access to and control of the natural resources management, energy and food sovereignty.

 

In the case of the mudflow in Porong, Sidoarjo, your administration has been criticized for being indecisive with law enforcers in not confiscating Lapindo's assets in order to ensure the payment of indemnities and fulfillment of the basic rights of Lapindo victims, particularly women and children who have been ignored, and to immediately carry out the steps for the closing of the mud blowout and to protect the environment.

 

In this case, affected communities should have unconditional access to a bridging fund in respect of PT Lapindo obligations to restore all lands and buildings.

 

Mr President, a number of states place Indonesia as the leading country in ASEAN on human rights. However, we have not been able to protect our migrant workers' rights. Your Manpower Minister has failed to seriously protect our workers particularly women migrant workers working overseas in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Tens of thousands of migrant women are vulnerable to violence and discrimination.

 

There should be a solid policy framework to fully respect, address and implement the rights of migrant workers, who are contributing so much to Indonesia's gross national development. Relevant ministries and embassies in both sending and receiving countries should coordinate and share responsibilities in order to provide an integrated service center to protect migrants, including shelter facilities.

 

It will be essential that Indonesia ratifies the UN Convention on Migrant Workers and puts the rights of migrants firmly on the agenda of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR). At a national level your good offices can inspire all responsible for adopting a Legal Aid Bill which will respect and implement legal aid to all people, including those who are less fortunate, having less or no access to existing justice channels.

 

In conclusion, in a human rights-based approach to development, many challenges lay ahead. Civil society organizations are very willing to engage in and take forward a human rights dialogue with your administration. The people of Indonesia need a firm position in support of fairness and justice. Therefore, your administration must have people with outstanding professional and moral integrity.

 

The writer is coordinator for the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO'S FIRST TERM SAVED THE ECONOMY FROM ROUGH WATERS (PART 2

WINARNO ZAIN

 

In fiscal policy, Yudhoyono's administration never wavered from its commitment to exercise a prudent and disciplined fiscal policy. Budget deficits have been maintained at 0.5-1.5 percent of GDP, well below international standards.

 

Aggressive tax collection, accompanied by tax reforms, has yielded substantial growth in tax revenue. This year's tax revenue is projected at Rp 652 trillion, more than double the tax revenue in 2004.

 

Subsidies, the hottest spot in the government budget reached Rp 275 trillion in 2009, or 28 percent of government revenue. By adjusting domestic fuel prices to international market prices, subsidies could be cut to 15 percent of government revenue. This means, a sizable amount of money could be freed that could be allocated for urgent expenditure in social welfare and infrastructure projects.

 

The cornerstone of the economic program of Yudhoyono's presidency is to reduce unemployment. As economic growth continued to be strong until 2008, the unemployment rate also fell. After unemployment reached 11.2 percent in 2005, it started to decline and fell to 8.4 percent in 2008. The growing economy provided more employment than the growth of the working age population.

 

Even after the economy was hit by the financial crisis in early 2009, employment was still growing, even though most of the growth came from informal sectors and low-paying trade and service sectors. The mass lay-offs feared at the start of the crisis did not materialize. The concern that Indonesia would experience a "jobless growth", like in other countries, has eased.

 

The poverty level during SBY first tenure shows a declining trend. After reaching a peak of 17.8 percent in 2006, it declined to 15.4 percent in 2008, the lowest in Indonesian history. Between 2006 and 2008, around 4 million more people were lifted out of poverty. Various programs designed by the government to alleviate poverty were responsible for this decline.

 

These programs include directly targeted cash transfers, community empowerment programs and, of course, policy that keeps food prices at affordable levels for the poor. The decline in poverty was generally broad-based, as the decline took place both in rural and urban areas, and even in some poor regions.

 

The decline took place even as food prices jumped 16 percent between April 2006 and April 2007, which means that if there had been no increase in food prices, the decline in poverty would have been greater. Viewed in relation to the eight goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), poverty alleviation (as measured by the percentage of people living on US$1/day) is one of Indonesian successes.

 

However it should be noted that large numbers of people are still vulnerable to economic shock that could push them into poverty, because their income levels are still near the poverty line.

 

Another area where Yudhoyono's economic performance was moderately successful was in rice production. Blessed with favorable weather, rice production was more than enough to feed the Indonesian people. There had even been talk of exporting surplus production. These successes were achieved despite the poor condition of irrigation systems and other agricultural infrastructure all over the country, a result of budget constraints and neglect since the crisis in the 1990s.

 

During the first two years of Yudhoyono's administration, rice production barely increased, raising concern that Indonesia would face a food crisis in the face of escalating global food prices. After stagnating, rice production escalated in the next two years, at 5 percent per annum, making the overall increase in rice production 3 percent per annum slightly above the rate of population growth. This was made possible because the government managed to expand cultivated areas by 4 percent between 2004-2008.

 

As economic recovery all over the world looks better than expected, there is a growing optimism that Indonesian economic growth will be higher than previously forecasted. The President's next administration should use this momentum by continuing reforms to ensure higher growth in 2010 and beyond. Speeding up construction of infrastructure, budgetary and regulatory reforms should remain priorities.

 

The risk for the Indonesian economic recovery will be determined by the sustainability of the recovery in developed countries. If consumer spending in developed countries remains weak, there is a risk that global recovery would not be sustained.

 

This would reduce demand for Indonesian exports Also, the continuing strength of the rupiah would adversely affect exports. Bank Indonesia should be able to determine at what point the appreciation of the rupiah starts to be detrimental for Indonesian exports.

 

Otherwise, it is expected that the main driver of Indonesian economic growth is the continuing buoyant consumer demand. The challenge for the government is to devise a right mix of monetary and fiscal policies that would be supportive for higher purchasing power.

 

The writer is an economist.

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

GREEN SHOOTS OF DEMOCRACY APPEAR ACROSS ASIA

AJAY CHHIBBER

 

The seeds of democracy have been sown in much of Asia and green shoots can be seen across the region. Today there are democratically elected Governments in all eight South Asia countries and many in Southeast Asia.

 

The region stands at a cross-road. Some are young democracies like Bhutan and the Maldives, others like Afghanistan, Nepal and Timor-Leste are emerging from decades of conflict, and some have opted for democracy over military rule, like Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These countries have a choice. They can deepen the roots of democracy or slip back into old ways.

 

Democracy is a continuous process that does not end with elections. Free and fair elections are but a first step. They go hand in hand with efforts to provide opportunities for people's voices to be heard and to participate in decisions that affect their everyday lives; for the rule of law to be applied equally and to ensure access to justice for all; and for greater accountability and inclusiveness.

 

Asia has the promise of democracy but also the challenge of poverty - one third of the world's poor live in Asia. Natural disasters also strike with unfailing regularity across Asia. In the past couple of weeks the region has faced a spate of disasters with devastating impacts - earthquakes in Bhutan, Indonesia, Samoa and Tonga, followed by a tsunami in Samoa and Tonga, a typhoon and floods in the Philippines, and floods in India. The region also faces several other daunting challenges - the global economic downturn, climate change and high levels of inequality.

 

Experience has shown that if governments are not responsive to the needs of the people they will turn against them. We witnessed, for example, the dramatic downfall of the Soeharto regime in Indonesia following the financial crisis of 1997. Similarly, widespread corruption, which can have devastating consequences for the poorest, has prepared the ground for military forces to overthrow elected governments in the name of the people in some Asian countries - for example in Thailand in 2006 and in Bangladesh in 2007. Afghanistan too is at risk, where allegations of corruption - whether substantiated or not - provide additional fuel for the continued insurgency of the Taliban.

 

Corruption can undermine the efforts of governments to deliver services to the people. Electoral democracies are not fulfilling their promise, if the government is mired in corruption. Anti-corruption policies are an essential ingredient of any attempt to deepen democracy - actions that are not biased towards attacking political opponents or catching only the small fish.

 

But prevention is better than cure. An open and transparent environment, with laws and regulations in place, that guarantee people's access to information and to seek redress, so that the public can hold their leaders accountable are even more important.

 

Deepening democracy is the answer to a more effective and responsive government. All the main democratic institutions - the government, the parliament and judiciary - need to meet the people's needs in order to deepen democracy. Defining the roles and responsibilities of all levels of government, bringing the governing institutions as close as possible to the people - through decentralization and devolution of power - to make them accountable to the people, are vital.

 

But the delivery of services may be compromised unless the rule of law is strictly applied with effective, independent and honest judges upholding the rights of their fellow-citizens and members of parliament providing adequate oversight over the government's functioning.

 

In some Asian countries the judiciary has played a remarkable role in defending the rights of its citizens, for example in Pakistan, where the lawyers and judges took to the streets, or in India, where the judiciary is renowned for upholding economic, social and cultural rights. In other countries more effort is still needed to ensure the full independence of the judiciary. The same can be said about the institution of parliament, which needs to be strong to provide an adequate counter-balance to the executive.

 

Democracy in Asia also faces the challenge of inclusion, which calls upon countries to apply the basic principles of democracy to all regions, social groups and sectors. Representation of the poor, women, marginal castes and ethnic communities, protection of minorities, and bringing government to the poor remain problematic.

 

Another challenge is to deepen democracy and to take it beyond the elites. In many countries political processes are largely for the elite. The challenge is to take public policy making to the people whose very lives are affected by these policy decisions.

 

As Mahatma Gandhi said "In a true democracy every man or woman is taught to think for himself or herself. The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without, it must come from within."

 

Bhutan, one of the youngest democracies in the world has taken a bold step in bringing together its South Asian neighbors and countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam to learn from each others' experiences and to spread the seeds of democracy wider.

 

Over 100 representatives from a dozen Asian countries were in Paro, Bhutan last week along with scholars, experts and civil society leaders and the dialogue on deepening democracy was vibrant and stimulating. The United Nations Development Program had joined hands with the Government of Bhutan to enrich the dialogue on democracy by bringing experts, scholars, and civil society partners from the region and beyond.

 

The experience in Asia demonstrates that democracy is a quest and a struggle. Because the type of democracy a nation chooses to develop depends on its history and circumstances, countries will necessarily be "differently democratic". But democracy is about more than a single decision to hold elections. It requires a deeper process of political development to embed democratic values and culture in all parts of society - a process never formally completed.

 

Asia, with its long and rich tradition, is well-positioned to take on its own path. It is also home to four of the world's largest democracies: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. A clear consensus for democracy is emerging across Asia with democratically elected governments in all South Asian countries and most of Southeast Asia. The question now is: How will they be sustained and strengthened for the ultimate benefit of the people?

 

Either democracy will thrive and deliver benefits for the people in terms of human development, or it will wane and wither with the neglect of its people. The question now is: what path will Asia take? The decision is up to the governments and the people of Asia. While the seeds of democracy have taken root they must now be nurtured to survive, grow and flourish.

 

The writer is Assistant UN Secretary General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

PSSST! WANNA BUY A USED PARTY?

JULIA SURYAKUSUMA

 

If you were a huge football fan, would you think of buying a football club? Well, 32-year-old UAE businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim obviously did. In fact, in May this year he bought the Portsmouth Football Club from its previous owner, Franco-Russian businessman Alexandre Gaydamak.

 

But then in August, just five months later, he gave up all but 10 percent, selling the rest to Ali al-Faraj, another Arab (property developer), who now has the majority holding.

 

Portsmouth football club is called "The Blues" because of its blue coat of arms, and its nickname Pompey, not sure why. Not sure either why these Arabs went for the Blues - but the fact that Pompey's coat of arms also includes the Muslim star and crescent symbol might be a big part of it, as would the fact that Pompey is a member of the Premiere League, the world's most-watched sporting league - and the world's most lucrative league as well, with combined club revenues of GBP1.9 billion (US$3.15 billion) in 2007-2008.

 

But until the Arabian knights turned up, Portsmouth F.C.'s financial future was bleak, to say the least. In fact, the Premiere League has the power to step in and redirect money drawn from television rights to key creditors. With their funding tap shut off, the club couldn't even pay its GBP1.8 million monthly wage bill: bankruptcy was looming.

 

The problem now is who will rescue the "rescuers"? Al-Fahim's ownership lasted only 60 days (so much for the fit-and-proper test for prospective owners!). And al Faraj? Well, Pompey's fans actually know almost nothing about him, neither how much money he's got, nor where it comes from.

 

I've never been a footy fan, but I found the political-economy of Portsmouth F.C. fascinating. You see, I couldn't help but think how similar Pompey's sad situation was to that of Golkar, the former ruling party of Soeharto's New Order (1966-1998).

 

Like Pompey, Golkar is in decline - no doubt about that. After all, it won only 14.45 percent of votes in the legislative elections this April, compared to 21 percent in 2004 and more than 60 percent during the New Order (as high as 74.51 percent in 1997, in fact, with 76.47 percent of seats in the legislature - oh, no, no, the elections weren't rigged, don't be ridiculous!).

 

Just a few weeks ago - Oct. 4 to 7, to be precise - Golkar held its national congress to elect a new leader, in Pekanbaru, Riau, one of the richest provinces in Indonesia. It's appropriate then that the richest man in Indonesian was elected party chairman there.

 

Correction: Aburizal Bakrie (Ical) used to be the richest businessman in Indonesia; now his business empire is reportedly on the brink of collapse. He's openly admitted that "due to the global financial crisis", he's "left now with an asset of less than 10 percent *of the previous value*". The share price of PT Bumi Resources, Bakrie's most valuable company, once as high Rp 8,500, has plummeted to just Rp 1,000 per share. So perhaps it's even more appropriate that the has-been-richest man in Indonesia is now the head of the has-been-most-powerful party in the country!

 

But no matter, Ical was still rich enough to be the highest bidder for the party in Riau. With two business tycoons as the strongest contenders - Ical and Surya Paloh (owner of the daily Media Indonesia and Metro TV) - is it surprising the elections were conducted openly as if the party was being auctioned? Money politics? Naah! "Party development and consolidation", Ical called it as he offered Rp 1 trillion (yes, 12 zeros, more than US$100,000,000) to grassroots supporters.

 

But wait, Ical is a businessman. Why is he putting so much money and effort into a party that is so obviously in decline? What's in it for him?

 

Hard to say, really. In a poll conducted by the daily Kompas between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, three sets of questions were asked about performance, role and image of the party. Answers to all were generally negative, but the most damning responses were reserved for the question about whether Golkar set a good example of political behavior and poverty eradication (!). And when asked who should be the next Golkar chairman, the punters gave Surya 42.7 percent, while Aburizal had to settle for a paltry 28.5 percent.

 

Not surprising, I suppose. While Surya was not above handing out *candy' too, his view of Golkar was at least honest, admitting it's seen as corrupt, complacent and immoral, receives few donations, and is lazy in attracting new members. When you get this low, he said, it's an impetus to rise - otherwise never mind 14 percent, Golkar might even sink to zip!

 

Surely Ical must be aware of all this. So what's he after? A coalition in government with the ruling Democrats, I reckon. That would offer some protection for what's left of his family "empire", wouldn't it? . except that taking over Golkar these days is surely a bit like climbing on a boat riddled with holes to save oneself from drowning.

 

First, Golkar is already well and truly on the downhill slide. Second, the successes of coalition governments are typically attributed to the leader of the coalition, that is, SBY and his Democrat Party. Look at Jusuf Kalla, for example - he contributed greatly to the peace process in Aceh, but who got the credit? SBY! So entering a coalition with the ruling party could turn out to be a lose-lose situation for Golkar - and for Ical to be involved with a party well past its use-by date.

 

Ah well, you never know who might be in the market for a used, loser party: maybe Ical should be placing a call to the mysterious al-Faraj?

 

The writer (www.juliasuryakusuma.com) is the author of Julia's Jihad.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

CHINESE IVY LEAGUE?

 

Good for itself that the newborn nine-college alliance, dubbed C9, has shied away from comparing itself to the Ivy League in the United States. Though some anxious to see "world-class" colleges on Chinese soil are already referring to it as the Chinese version of the Ivy League, a lot is to be done for the C9 to even be a look-alike.

 

The authorities might be eager to have their own institutions of higher learning on the list of the world's most prestigious schools. The so-called Project 985 has the specific aim of creating "world class" Chinese colleges. Nine candidates were singled out to receive special State sponsorship in that race. Now they are in alliance. And C9 members are frank about their goal being to become "world class".

 

That mission can be easy and difficult. Difficult, because we all know how far higher education in this country has lagged behind over the past decades. And easy, because there is no definite yardstick out there.

The inherent ambiguity in the label "world class" aside, there is plenty waiting to be addressed for the C9 to really work. We are not sure how far the C9 can go in the real world. But the blueprint does promise some meaningful breakthroughs in the current regime - the idea of mutual complementarity and resource-sharing in particular.

The schools agreed on mutual credit recognition, student exchanges, training of teaching staff, jointly sponsoring summer schools and more. Which, once executed as expected, will surely broaden the horizon and thus prospects for students of the member schools. That is the main reason why we hope the C9 can ultimately honor its promises. Allowing students to take full advantage of the strengths of nine schools is otherwise impossible at this point.

 

One of the recent changes in the landscape of Chinese higher education is the emergence of ultra-large campuses. In order to make competitive schools stronger, or help lesser schools survive, many colleges have been merged. Yet in many cases, the unification remains superficial in the absence of genuine integration of resources and even management philosophies. The C9, however, aspires for inter-campus integration. For that alone the alliance merits endorsement. How the C9 works that out should be exemplary for other schools.

 

So it does not matter whether the C9 will someday qualify for being called a Chinese-edition Ivy League, or when it becomes "world class." Instead of those useless games with labels and words, we would rather see down-to-earth efforts to improve the way our colleges are run, and to make sure our students learn what higher education is supposed to deliver.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

AUTO SUGGESTION

 

The great fanfare with which Chinese automakers yesterday celebrated their production of the 10 millionth vehicle this year surely speaks volumes about their pride and joy.

 

Only about half a century after its first vehicle rolled off the production line, China now becomes the third country in the world to boast an annual auto output of more than 10 million.

 

For Chinese automakers and policymakers, this symbolic event represents a remarkable feat of industrial development.

 

However, for numerous Chinese consumers who are eager to have their own cars, the country's huge auto manufacturing capacity makes up only part of the situation to realize their auto dream.

 

If the tremendous potential of the domestic auto market is to be fully tapped, both Chinese automakers and policymakers need to try harder to help foster a domestic automobile culture that is both environmental friendly and consumer centered.

 

The fact that Chinese consumers have bought more new cars in the first three quarters of this year than the whole of last year bears full testimony to the growth potential of the domestic auto market.

 

With a penetration rate of cars still accounting for only a fraction of that in many developed countries, it is almost certain that China's auto output can rise further to make the industry a key growth engine for the national economy. Since enthusiastic Chinese car buyers can take automakers by surprise even in such a year of global downturn, it seems that one should better not venture to predict China's peak annual production figure.

 

Yet, in the mean time, Chinese automakers should not take the surging domestic demand as a guarantee of their future success.

 

If they want to excel not only in size but also in strength, they must make their growing manufacturing capacity a stepping stone to develop new models that can better meet the need to save energy and protect the environment.

 

In the foreseeable future, it may be not the number of cars produced but the amount of energy saved and emissions reduced that will define an automaker's competitiveness. Chinese automakers should definitely do their best to win the race to go green.

 

For that to happen, Chinese policymakers have to do more than simply cutting sales tax to boost domestic demand for new cars. The far more important tasks for the government at least include not only increasing subsidies for green vehicles but also redesigning urban traffic systems.

 

Poor traffic systems have stood out as an increasingly serious problem, especially in some big cities. Policymakers can no longer focus on encouraging auto production and sales while leaving more and more drivers to negotiate the roads at their own inconvenience. The gap between urban traffic management and unchecked increase in the number of cars needs to be narrowed as soon as possible

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

PARTLY EFFECTIVE IS NOT FAILURE IN HIV PREVENTION

 

Vaccine researchers don't often find themselves at the center of public controversies. But a storm has erupted over last month's announcement that an experimental AIDS vaccine tested in Thailand proved modestly effective. It was billed as a major scientific advance - the long-awaited hard evidence that it is possible to inoculate people against AIDS. But now the trial has been called into question in a way that is overblown and possibly destructive.

 

At a recent biotech conference, I asked a major industry scientist what he thought of the Thai trial announcement, and, although no additional data had been presented, he replied simply: "I don't believe it." Unfortunately, such pessimism may be hard to dispel and may ultimately thwart other efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine.

 

Even before this controversy erupted, it had been an effort to maintain sufficient support for AIDS vaccine research and development. In 2008, private and public spending on this vital mission declined by 10 percent from the previous year.

 

A few fanatical AIDS activists have even called for ending the US government's considerable support for AIDS vaccine research, and spending the money instead on AIDS treatment. Patient care is vital, of course, but it alone can only mitigate, not end, the pandemic.

 

This is why it is essential to clear things up.

 

The Thai study was the largest AIDS vaccine trial yet, following 16,402 volunteers for six years. It was a collaborative effort by, among others, the US military, the National Institutes of Health and the Thai Health Ministry. (The nonprofit organization I head conducts vaccine research and development but was not involved and has no commercial interest in the candidates tested.) The trial partners initially announced that the vaccine combination reduced the risk of infection by 31.2 percent in a statistically significant analysis.

 

A few days later, the trial collaborators began to brief researchers privately about additional data, including a second type of analysis that indicated the vaccine regimen had been slightly less effective than the first analysis suggested. The second analysis was not statistically significant, meaning that chance, rather than the protective effect of the vaccine candidate, might explain why fewer volunteers in the vaccinated group than in the placebo group were infected with HIV.

 

Some researchers questioned why both analyses weren't announced at the same time - which certainly would have been preferable - and suggested to reporters that the second analysis called the first one into doubt.

 

The trial sponsors say they thought the complexities of the second analysis and all additional data were best explored in a peer-reviewed paper in a scientific journal and at a presentation at the AIDS Vaccine Conference in Paris this week.

 

But with news outlets reporting that the trial results may be a fluke, there is a risk that they will be forever tainted, whatever the final analyses show. What's more, the stain of dubiousness may remain on all AIDS vaccine research and development.

 

That would be a shame. Although the candidate duo tested in the Thai trial did not prove to be a vaccine ready for the market, it may provide an unprecedented opportunity to learn how an AIDS vaccine can work. A comparison of blood samples from volunteers could indicate what specific immune responses the combination may have activated to provide protection. If so, this knowledge could help scientists improve upon the more promising candidates that have emerged since the trial candidates were designed a decade ago, and determine which ones are most likely to work.

 

This illustrates why the controversy over statistical significance is exaggerated. Whether you consider the first or second analysis, the observed effect of the Thai candidates was either just above or below the level of statistical significance. Statisticians will tell you it is possible to observe an effect and have reason to think it's real even if it's not statistically significant. And if you think it's real, you ought to examine it carefully.

 

Even if the Thai vaccine regimen turns out, on examination, to have had no real benefit, researchers will still learn from the trial, as they do from every study.

 

Moreover, other noteworthy advances featured at a Paris conference this week will offer fresh hope for an AIDS vaccine.

 

Years of investment and dogged science are providing leads for solving one of today's most pressing research challenges. Some 7,400 new HIV infections are reported daily across the world. Clearly we need better methods of preventing the spread of HIV, and no public health intervention is more powerful or cost-effective against infectious disease than a vaccine.

 

The author is president and chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The New York Times Syndicate

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

ISSUES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH MODEL

 

China should look at the emerging global economic rebalancing in the context of an unprecedented world economic recession and expedite adjustment of its economic structure and transformation of its long-controversial growth model.

 

The G20 Pittsburgh summit in late September was of symbolic significance given that it has opened the adjustment of the staggering global economic order and prompted major countries to profoundly reflect on the global recession and work together for a sustainable and balanced development of the world economy. The onus to promote a balanced world economy is not on any one nation. All should take common responsibilities in this process and carry out unblocked coordination of their stances instead of being manipulated by any single superpower.

 

As a responsible and fast-growing country, China has neither shirked its obligations in global economic development nor abandoned its right to safeguard its national interest. For the sake of the steady development of the global economy as well as for the benefit of its own economic security, the country should accelerate transformation of its long-established economic growth model as an imminent problem yet to be addressed.

 

The United States attributed the outbreak of the global financial crisis to the world's economic imbalance, which, it said, had largely resulted from the rapid development of such emerging economies as China and Brazil, in the aftermath of the outbreak of the crisis. It has therefore called for global economic rebalancing to pull the world out of recession. China has its own understanding about the causes of the crisis but it also believes it unavoidable for the world economy to be rebalanced in the post-crisis era.

 

China's misgivings toward Washington's "crisis responsibility" are understandable given that the country's fast-growing and export-driven economy is likely to be most affected in the forthcoming global rebalancing campaign. At the Pittsburgh summit, participating nations reaffirmed their explicit support for free trade and opposition to protectionism. However, practices indicate that, in the absence of forcible and binding rules and regulations, the US and European countries would easily eat their words according to domestic political and economic demands, and turn to protectionism as the main means to protect their less competitive homeland industries and drive employment growth.

 

Following the US imposition of intolerably high tariffs on China's tires, similar cases against Chinese products in steel, textile and other fields are expected to follow in succession. As the world's largest exporter, China feels ever-growing pressure from the uncontrolled protectionist behavior of its major trading partners.

 

The imbalance in the world economy has been used by the US as an important excuse to force China into concessions on some of its macroeconomic and monetary polices. Also, the US is moving towards contracting its consumption demand, as is indicated by its declining credit and monetary supply. Washington has also cut down its import and current account deficits by nearly half from the same period last year. In addition, US household savings have kept growing at a double-digit rate in the past months. The quantitative easing monetary policy adopted by the Federal Reserve doesn't mean an expansive credit policy. When US President Barack Obama said that the US should not continue to be in the position in which China, Germany and other large exporters sell their products to the US while the US has nothing to sell, his stance was crystal clear: The US will strive to develop itself into a producer from a consumer.

 

In this context, China should not be over-optimistic about the US and European economies turning better or get motivated to slow down its steps toward economic structural adjustment. Whether Western countries can sustain their initial economic growth would be largely decided by whether they can really activate their slackened domestic demand. The terrible balance sheet and the rising aging population in Western countries will likely offset the positive effects of their short-term stimulus packages.

 

Since its major trading partners also strive to become manufacturers, China should try to change its past excessive dependence on the mushrooming global trade and develop itself into a self-reliant and internally-driven economy. The days for an export-fueled rapid growth may be gone forever.

 

To check overcapacity, the Chinese government has chosen to inject a lot of liquidity into the market, contributing a lot to its recovery. However, the investment spree in this short period has also created enormous potential risks of a more imbalanced structure.

 

It is expected that the Chinese government will be courageous enough to face the impact of the contracted external demand and global rebalancing on its economy. Premier Wen Jiabao has made it clear that the country would make it a top priority to push for economic structural adjustment and focus on spurring domestic demand and consumption. At the last three cabinet executive meetings, the same message has been sent out: The country would strive to push for its economic structural adjustment, including curbing overcapacity, developing a low-carbon economic model and supporting the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

 

Compared with other major economies, China enjoys a broader market and more advantages for industrial upgrading. The debts of the Chinese government, its enterprises, citizens and financial bodies are still at a comparatively secure level.

 

We have good reasons to believe the world's third largest economy will surely go through the ongoing global economic rebalancing and gain larger development if it can take hold of the chances produced by the change of the global economic order, expedite reform of some rigid and outdated political and economic institutions, optimize its currently unreasonable wealth distribution structure and tap domestic demand.

 

The author is a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

RUSSIA'S GEORGIA PROBLEM ONE YEAR ON

BY FYODOR LUKYANOV

 

The long-awaited report on the 2008 Russia-Georgia war prepared by a European Union commission did not create a sensation. It was written in true European political style, purposefully avoiding sharp conclusions or extremes and taking a balanced approach. What conclusion can be drawn following its publication?

 

First, Moscow's decision to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains irreversible for the foreseeable future. An about-face on that position would cause so much harm to Russia's prestige that Moscow has no choice but to support those two regions at whatever financial and political cost it might entail.

 

For the time being, however, those costs are not very high. Today's leading global players do not have the resources to bring much pressure against Russia. This became particularly clear when the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly did not support the motion to deny voting rights to the Russian delegation. Of course, Georgia will continue to use every means at its disposal — the United Nations, the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization — to influence affairs, but it is unlikely that Tbilisi will be able to cause serious political damage to Moscow.

 

One area where Russia can expect some headaches is from within Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In both regions, we can expect a growing desire to act independently of Moscow. In addition, their corrupt and ineffective leadership could lead to widespread displeasure among the people, and Moscow would have to step in and try to restore faith in the two governments.

 

Second, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has lost any prospects for significant international support. After losing the war with Russia, he has tried to restore his legitimacy by arguing that the military operation in South Ossetia was necessary to repel a Russian invasion. But the EU commission report, despite its broad criticisms of Russia's actions, did not support that version of events. As long as Saakashvili remains in office, he can expect to receive only symbolic economic and political support from the West.

 

Third, the international organizations called on to settle the conflict have proven ineffective. The OSCE is unlikely to regain its reputation of being an effective intermediary. The organization could neither prevent nor halt the war. There is a chance that the OSCE will play some role in the so-called "Corfu Process," which was initiated to discuss the Russian idea of forming a new architecture for European security. But no clear-cut idea of that process yet exists. In addition, the United Nations should be the leading international force, but its activity is fettered by the requirement that all decisions be reached through a consensus among member states. That is unrealistic. Moscow and Tbilisi are incapable of speaking to each other about anything. Finally, the EU, a relatively new player in the region, is taking the lead in the South Caucasus area.

 

Because the EU commission's report was intentionally written so as to distance itself from events in the Caucasus, it can claim to be a neutral intermediary. Thanks to efforts by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to resolve the crisis one year ago, the EU gained a diplomatic foothold in the region that it does not want to lose. By maintaining peace between Georgia and its neighbors, the EU will reap political dividends and greater international status.

 

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has been less active in the former Soviet republics. This does not mean that the South Caucasus is no longer a priority for the United States. More likely, Washington has not fully formulated its Iran policy. Iran is a key factor in the region because any radical change in the country will have serious repercussions for the Caspian Sea area, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

 

The changes brought on by the Russia-Georgia war opened up new possibilities for Turkey, and all sides are willing for Ankara to play a new role in the Caucasus. Europe and the United States are on friendly terms with Turkey, and Russia always prefers that regional powers resolve problems in their own region without bringing in outside forces. That is especially true now, when Russian-Turkish relations are improving. But the question is how far do Turkish ambitions extend? The developing relationship between Ankara and Yerevan, as well as the course Turkey will pursue with Abkhazia — a people with whom the Turks are ethnically and historically close — will determine the limits of Russia's tolerance.

 

The 2008 war shook up the entire post-Soviet territory. Political and diplomatic activity surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has clearly entered a new phase. Too many major interests cannot be fulfilled as a result of the Karabakh deadlock. But it is becoming more probable that Karabakh will have a status in some way separate from Azerbaijan, and that the compromise will consist of discussing the fates of neighboring regions, but not that of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

 

Events in Moldova, where a pro-European coalition has come to power, also offer food for thought. The idea of Transdnestr joining Russia is hardly a priority for the younger citizens of the breakaway region since they are less nostalgic of the Soviet Union and ties with Moscow than the older population. In general, the large splits within Moldava are blocking chances for closer relations with Europe.

 

Despite the flare-up in the information war this August, the one-year anniversary of the Russia-Georgia conflict showed that the situation in the conflict zone is fairly stable. Russia's unilateral recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia created a political problem that Moscow will have to deal with for years to come, but at the same time it has also precluded the possibility of renewed military activity in the near future.

 

Although the Russia-Georgia war allowed pent-up tensions to vent, it did not resolve a single problem that had created those tensions in the first place.

 

Fyodor Lukyanov is editor of Russia in Global Affairs.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

THE DRAGON AND THE AMOEBA

BY YULIA LATYNINA

 

At a meeting in New York in September, President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a wide-ranging cooperation agreement through 2018. It calls for Russia to become a raw-materials appendage of China. Russia will provide China with raw materials such as coal, iron, gold and manganese, and China-based factories will process it all.

 

In reality, though, this is only a preliminary agreement because the Kremlin has a compulsive fear of China. Russians love conspiracy theories, and they avidly read the apocalyptic prophecies of Alexander Khramchikhin about how China will one day dismember Russia.

 

The problem is that such prophecies are self-fulfilling. Oedipus is a good example. His greatest fear was that he would murder his father and sleep with his mother, and that is exactly what ultimately happened.

 

Beijing follows two basic rules when buying raw materials from abroad. First, it buys primarily from states and not from private companies. Second, when buying from African dictators, it does not give them lectures on human rights but often pays off the dictator along with the rights to the mineral deposits.

 

In other words, China is behaving just as the 18th- and 19th-century Europeans behaved toward Beijing. China is following the example of Europe during its heyday of military triumphs and expansion. Today, China is the only colonial power left in the world.

 

An influx of foreign capital is an advantage for `a strong country and a disadvantage for a weak one. At the same time, the desire of the weak country to keep foreigners out is not an obstacle in this case. It is just the opposite.

 

For example, consider China's recent history. At the beginning of the 20th century, China was de facto occupied by the world's major powers: Britain, the United States, France and Russia.

 

This was not because the Chinese government had good relations with foreigners. On the contrary, Empress Dowager Cixi had extremely bad relations with foreigners during most of her reign from 1861 to 1908. The problem was that China was a failed state at the time. Cixi was primarily concerned with establishing the legitimacy of her rule. In addition, the officials serving her also hated foreigners, although the bureaucrats were more than willing to take bribes from them.

 

Russian regions bordering China are threatened with the same fate under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Chinese provinces bordering Russia suffered under Empress Cixi. Russia has the same weak bureaucrats who hate foreigners and take bribes from them. Russia also has a large number of poor people who hate foreigners. If they had the chance, they would wage a pogrom against them, even knowing that the result would mean a harsh retaliation from the foreign government and perhaps even foreign occupation of the country.

 

Russia is doomed as long as the Kremlin continues its current course. Fortunately, nothing lasts forever, as Empress Cixi showed. Although Cixi's reign ended, China remained.

 

One day, Putin too will be out of office. Hopefully, he will replaced by a leader who is truly interested in running the country's affairs and not only his personal offshore accounts. Russia is too great a country to die like an amoeba.

 

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.

 

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