EDITORIAL 20.11.09

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Editorial

month november 20, edition 000355, collected & managed by durgesh kumar mishra, published by – manish manjul

 

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

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THE PIONEER

1. GUILTY MEN OF 26/11
2. JUNKET TO COPENHAGEN
3. GIVE THEM THEIR RIGHT - JS RAJPUT
4. THE ENEMY AMONG US - RUDRONEEL GHOSH
5. A QUIET PUSH FOR PEACE - KALYANI SHANKAR
6. THE POWER OF ONE - ANURADHA DUTT
7. US IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE - B RAMAN
8. TIME TO SIMPLIFY CAPITAL MARKET - VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

MAIL TODAY

1. SMART TERRORIST AND NAÏVE CELEBS
2. A NEEDED DIRECTION
3. RESTORING HER HONOUR
4. OBAMA'S BEIJING KOWTOW - BY MANOJ JOSHI
5. THERE IS HOPE YET FOR PAKISTAN - BY NAJAM SETHI
6. PAK ARMYMEN HELD FOR HEADLEY LINKS
7. DAVID'S DAD A PAK DIPLOMAT
8. BEN KINGSLEY TO GET Z- LEVEL SECURITY IN INDIA - BY AMAN SHARMA IN NEW DELHI

TIMES OF INDIA

1. AGENDA IN AMERICA
2. CLEAR THE AIR
3. INVEST IN THE FUTURE - SHANTHA SINHA & KARIN HULSH
4. 'WE MAKE GREAT IDEAS AVAILABLE TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE'
5. DA VINCI KODA - JUG SURAIYA 
6. MEN OF LETTERS - K V KRISHNAN

HINDUSTAN TIMES

1. GUILT-EDGED EXCUSE
2. FAMILY DOES NOT MATTER
3. LEFT OUT IN THE COLD - SUMIT MITRA
4. IT'S TIME FOR ACTION - ROSE BRAZ

INDIAN EXPRESS

1. CAPITAL IDEA
2. LET THEM TALK
3. WEATHER WARRIORS
4. SEASONING THE STOCK - ILA PATNAIK
5. BIG B'S LATE STYLE - SHUBHRA GUPTA
6. MUMBAI'S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS - Y P RAJESH
7. FROM KABUL TO KASHMIR
8. IN THE DRAGON'S LAIR
9. MULAYAM-KALYAN HONEYMOON: RIP - SEEMA CHISHTI

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

1. MANAGERS WITHOUT BORDERS
2. SWEET NOTHINGS
3. WHY OUR CANE FARMERS ARE RAISING CAIN - YOGINDER K ALAGH
4. THE INGENUITY OF A BUSINESS SCHOOL CV - K VAIDYA NATHAN
5. DROP THE DABBA - SANDIP DAS
6. REPORT CARD

THE HINDU

1. BATTING FOR INDIA
2. MAKING SENSE OF INFLATION FIGURES
3. ANOTHER TRYST: IMAGINING INDIA & RUSSIA - ALEXANDER KADAKIN
4. TALENT ATTRACTS TALENT - INDER VERMA
5. APEC INTERPLAY OF CHARM AND POWER  - P.S. SURYANARAYANA
6. CLIMATE DEAL DITHERING THREATENS GREEN TECH INVESTMENT  - DAMIAN CARRINGTON
7. KARZAI SOUNDS FIRM IN SPEECH - JON BOONE

THE ASIAN AGE

1. SUGARCANE ROW: RESOLVE QUICKLY
2. WHAT AFTER 'WHAT NEXT?' - SHEKHAR BHATIA
3. VICTIMSPEAK - ROBIN SHARMA
4. A DAY OF RECKONING FOR THE MARXISTS - BALBIR K. PUNJ

DNA

1. FIVE-AND-HALF YARDS OF PURE MISCHIEF
2. MADHU JAIN  
3. URBAN BLIGHT
4. THE RAHUL RIDDLE
5. BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - ASHA KASBEKAR 
6. REACHING THE GOALS
7. LEVEL OF CORRUPTION

THE TRIBUNE

1. WHIFF OF FRESH AIR
2. CAUGHT IN UMBILICAL CORD
3. CHINESE STAMP ON PAK BOMB
4. OCEAN RIVALRY IN TOP GEAR - BY KAMLENDRA KANWAR
5. MIND YOUR LANGUAGE? NAY, YOUR MINDSET! - BY JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER
6. PRIVATE ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS REQUIRE A REGULATOR - BY BADAL MUKHERJI
7. CHINA ISN'T EASILY WON OVER BY OBAMA - BY BARBARA DEMICK
8. 'GM CROPS HAVE A ROLE IN PREVENTING WORLD HUNGER' - BY RACHEL SHIELDS

THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

1. FISCAL DISCIPLINE
2. QUAKE PREDICTION
3. IS ISRAEL BENT ON NUKE MADNESS? - VIJAYANTA SHARMA PATHAK
4. ILLS OF PRESENT INDIAN SOCIETY - GAURI RAM KALITA

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

1. PLAY IT RIGHT, SAM
2. LET BANKS DECIDE
3. SUFFERING FOOLS
4. STRUCTURED COORDINATION OF REGULATORS - G N BAJPAI
5. OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE - RADHIKA KAPOOR

DECCAN CHRONICAL

1. SUGARCANE ROW: RESOLVE QUICKLY
2. A DAY OF RECKONING FOR THE MARXISTS  - BY BALBIR K. PUNJ
3. US MUST PUT 9/11 SUSPECTS ON OPEN TRIAL  - BY STEVEN SIMON
4. PRIVATISING ATMOSPHERE - BY VANDANA SHIVA
5. VICTIMSPEAK - BY ROBIN SHARMA
6. THE BEST KITCHEN THAT SERVES NONE - BY KENNETH CHANG

the statesman

1. JARGON OVERLOAD
2. LET OR HINDRANCE
3. STARS AND STRESSES
4. TO SING OR NOT TO SING - MADHAVI DIVAN

THE TELEGRAPH

1. AIR FRESHENER
2. LATE LAMENTED
3. THE SPLIT REALITY - ASHOK MITRA
4. MONSTERS ON THE PROWL  - MALVIKA SINGH

DECCAN HERALD

1. CHINA AS MEDDLER
2. SHOCKING APATHY
3. WHITHER IDEA OF INDIA? – BY KULDIP NAYAR
4. OBAMA GAINED LITTLE FROM CHINA VISIT - BY TIMOTHY GARTON ASH, THE GUARDIAN
5. THE DAILY GRUMBLE - BY PADMA GANAPATI

THE JERUSALEM POST

1. SHABBES! SHABBES!

HAARETZ

2. LEADERSHIP NEEDED
3. SIX COMMENTS ON THE SITUATION - BY YOEL MARCUS
4. THE DISCOVERY OF NO-TOMORROW  - BY DORON ROSENBLUM
5. AN OFFICER AND AN EDUCATOR - BY YOSSI SARID
6. THE NUCLEUS OF TRUTH - BY ELIA LEIBOWITZ
7. NOT SERIOUS - THIS TIME - BY DANIEL LEVY
8. SKIN-IN-THE-GAME COMMITMENTS - BY SARAH KASS
9. THE DEMOTION OF CREDIBILITY - BY NOAM WIENER AND YOAV SIVAN
10. A CRYING SHAME  - BY RUTH LANDE WASSERMAN

THE NEW YORK TIMES

1. THE CONTROVERSY OVER MAMMOGRAMS
2. IRAQ'S ELECTION LAW MORASS
3. A GIFT TO CREDIT CARD COMPANIES
4. WHAT GEITHNER GOT RIGHT - BY DAVID BROOKS
5. THE BIG SQUANDER - BY PAUL KRUGMAN
6. ADDICTED TO MAMMOGRAMS - BY ROBERT ARONOWITZ
7. THE WET SIDE OF THE MOON - BY WILLIAM S. MARSHALL

I.THE NEWS

1. ROTTEN TO THE CORE
2. TYING THE KNOT
3. TICKET TO RIDE
4. THE CHARGE OF THE MINUS-ONE BRIGADE - AYAZ AMIR
5. BEHIND OUR STAGNANT POLITICS - DR MUZAFFAR IQBAL
6. NO ALTERNATIVES - DR MASOODA BANO
7. WORLD CLASS CITIES - AHMAD RAFAY ALAM
8. HOW TO ROB A BANK - SHAFQAT MAHMOOD
9. SIDE-EFFECT - HARRIS KHALIQUE

PAKISTAN OBSERVER

1. MOST RIDICULOUS IDEA OF CHANGING COUNTRY'S NAME
2. OBAMA'S PLAN FOR AFGHAN EXIT
3. CHINA & US WILL MANAGE SA: OBAMA - M D NALAPAT
4. INDIA HANDS OVER 7TH DOSSIER TO PAK - SULTAN M HALI
5. HAJJ: A SIGNIFICANT PILLAR OF ISLAM - ATIF NOOR KHAN
6. GROWING TENSION BETWEEN CHINA & INDIA - COL GHULAM SARWAR (R)
7. A HAPPY TERROR STORY..! - ROBERT CLEMENTS

THE INDEPENDENT

1. HISTORIC VERDICT
2. SMOKING AND SPITTING TOWNSHIP...!
3. NOVEMBER 19, 2009: APOTHEOSIS OF A NATION - WALI-UR REHMAN
4. POOR COORDINATION, BANE OF BANGLADESH MISSIONS ABROAD - M. SERAJUL ISLAM
5. THE KING IS IN HIS ALTOGETHER - DR TERRY LACEY

THE HIMALAYAN

1. RACE IS ON
2. FUEL OUTRAGE
3. GLOBAL RECESSION IMPACT ON NEPALESE EXPORT - MILAN DEV BHATTARAI
4. BUBBLES ARE BOUND TO BURST - EAK PRASAD DUWADI
5. LAMICHHANE, FIRST NEPALI WITH DISABLITY TO GET PHD - JAYARAM GAUTAM

THE AUSTRALIAN

1. MORE GREAT MOMENTS IN RUDDSPEAK
2. WHEN KRISHNA MET TRISHNA

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

1. ASIC BUNGLED THE BASICS
2. WORKERS OF NSW, DIVIDE
3. RAISING THE LEGAL AGE WON'T STOP BAD DRINKING HABITS
4. NATION LOSES WHEN CORPORATE WATCHDOG FAILS SO BADLY

THE GURDIAN

1. PUBLIC FINANCES: BROKE BUT NOT BUST YET
2. IN PRAISE OF… TELLING THE TRUTH
3. EUROPEAN UNION: FADING PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS

THE KOREA HERALD

1. OBAMA VISIT
2. NOT BOLD ENOUGH
3. NAVAL BUILD-UP IN NORTHEAST ASIA WORRISOME  - SALIM OSMAN
4. THE SWINE FLU BLUES AND HOPES OF HEALTHIER WORLD  - M.K. THOMPSON

THE JAPAN TIMES

1. EXPANDING PEACEKEEPING ROLE
2. SOLID FOUNDATION FOR U.S., CHINA
3. THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE WILL TO DESTROY A WALL - BY DOMINIQUE MOISI
4. DRAWING OUT NORTH KOREA - BY JOHN DELURY

THE JAKARTA POST

1. PUNITIVELY TAXING SMOKERS
2. `SUKUK' SUCCESS STORIES IN INDONESIA AND BEYOND – ALI RAMA
3. EXPRESSING 'CHINESE ISLAM' - CHOIRUL MAHFUD
4. A DYSFUNCTIONAL PRESIDENCY
5. PROBLEMS IN SETTING PRIORITIES - UMAR JUORO

CHINA DAILY

1. A TALE OF TWO ECONOMIES
2. A DIPLOMA SCAM
3. WAITING FOR THE INDISPENSABLE CHINA-EU AXIS TO EMERGE

THE MOSCOW TIMES

1. GETTING STEAMED UP ABOUT MEDVEDEV - BY MICHELE A. BERDY
2. LICENSED TO KILL  - BY JAMISON FIRESTONE

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THE PIONEER

EDIT DESK

GUILTY MEN OF 26/11

WHO CLEARED PHONEY BULLET-PROOF JACKETS?

Ayear after the devastating fidayeen attack on multiple targets in Mumbai on November 26, certain discomfiting questions remain unanswered. For instance, did Mumbai Police have the wherewithal to deal with the situation as it unfolded rapidly? There is no doubt that the policemen who were on duty and those who were summoned to tackle the terrorists showed exemplary courage, disregarding the threat to their lives. This is best demonstrated by the bravery of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who led from the front, and his two colleagues, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar — all three died while taking on the jihadis. In hindsight, perhaps they should have waited for additional forces to back them up, but this and other issues related to Standard Operating Procedures are open to subjective interpretation. What, however, should draw attention is the indisputable fact that the bullet-proof jackets provided to policemen who went into battle that night were of sub-standard quality. Karkare, who was wearing one of the jackets, received fatal gunshots in his chest, which is ample evidence of the protective gear's inefficacy. Predictably, the bullet-proof jacket worn by Karkare has gone 'missing', as has the file dealing with the procurement of 110 similar jackets. Persistent queries under the Right to Information Act have revealed startling details: This particular lot of jackets was initially rejected as it did not meet the criteria set by the Government, but was later purchased from the same supplier. Obviously palms were greased to convert rejection into approval. This is abominable, not least because it amounts to wilfully endangering the lives of policemen; more importantly, it compromises national security. The people of this country have the right to know who cleared the purchase of these bullet-proof jackets and why: Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, owes an explanation.

It would, however, be unfair to blame either Mr Deshmukh or the Maharashtra Government alone for being so utterly callous about the quality of equipment with which the police, the first respondents in any crisis situation, are expected to deal with terrorists, insurgents and other violent criminals. Rare is the State Government which has bothered to ensure that the police are well-trained, well-equipped and provided with necessary amenities so that they feel sufficiently motivated to fulfil their responsibilities with pride and diligence. It is a shame that policemen who have been deployed to guard Taj Mahal Palace have had to set up camp under the arches of Gateway of India because those in authority couldn't care less about their living quarters. The pathetic condition of police stations and barracks across the country bears testimony to the plight of our policemen, as do their decrepit weapons and equipment. Senior police officers are spared the hardship and danger that come with field duty; it is the men who suffer the most and they do so silently as protest would be construed as indiscipline that merits punishment. The brave among them ignore their vulnerability and many die a hero's death. Others just mark attendance and shirk their responsibility, for which we really cannot blame them. If the situation has to change, it must begin with changing the mindset of our politicians and their babus. And that will be possible only when those guilty of crimes like procuring sub-standard bullet-proof vests and equipment that malfunctions or weapons that fail to work are punished. We could begin with the guilty men of Maharashtra.

 

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THE PIONEER

JUNKET TO COPENHAGEN

CLIMATE SUMMIT IS MEANINGLESS

The much-awaited climate summit in Copenhagen next month that was supposed to see a legally binding global carbon reduction treaty being inked to replace the Kyoto Protocol, is shaping up to be a dud. Given the present state of circumstances, it is highly unlikely that a treaty of the nature that was expected will actually be cobbled together. The Obama Administration has been candid about this. It has also made it clear that unless the carbon-capping legislation pending in the US Congress is passed, it will not be able to commit itself to any legally-binding climate treaty. On the other hand, developing countries such as India and China have refused to accept any binding carbon reduction targets which they say will impede growth and development. It is widely accepted that climate change-related phenomena are largely the creation of the developed countries that have for long released tonnes of greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere to fuel their industrial growth. And it is this industrial growth that can be attributed to their present economic strength. Being responsible for the problem in the first place, it is unfair on the part of the developed countries to make others pay and thus impede their development. It has been justly argued that developing countries should be allowed to set their own carbon reduction targets and be helped by the developed world in this endeavour through technology transfer and financial assistance.

Given that differences over a comprehensive climate deal persist barely 20 days before the Copenhagen summit, it is illogical to try and force a deal come what may. In fact, summit host Denmark has come up with a plan to make the entire process two-tier: The meeting in Copenhagen should focus only on generating a common political consensus among the developed and developing countries about carbon reduction, leaving the evolution of a detailed treaty for another planned summit in Mexico City next year. This makes a lot of sense. In all probability the US too will be ready to bring something constructive to the table by then. Also, if the Danish plan is followed, the Copenhagen meet can be looked at as an ideal springboard for the forging of a climate deal next year. One thing that is certain is that a global effort is needed to fight climate change, individual measures simply won't do. Unless we can conjure up the kind of understanding that is needed on the issue, summits like the one in Copenhagen will be nothing more than tea and scone parties. Hence, it would be prudent for world leaders to either follow the Danish plan or completely put off the Copenhagen conference to meet on a later date with something that has their endorsement.

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            THE PIONEER

COLUMN

GIVE THEM THEIR RIGHT

JS RAJPUT

For six decades since independence, India has waited to provide universal elementary education of acceptable quality for its young. Now that the Right to Education Act is in place, it is but natural that expectations will soar high once again. Here is a chance to achieve the illusive dream of giving every child his/her legitimate due at the right time by way of quality education. We cannot deny the fact that the nation requires high quality professionals at different levels, the seeds for which are sown in primary schools.

In 1993, the Supreme Court of India ruled in the Unnikrishnan case that right to education was a fundamental right as it was implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution which deals with right to life. But it was only in 2004 that the 86th Constitution Amendment was enacted and the country had to then wait till 2009 when the Right to Education Act was formalised.

Should it have taken 16 year after the Supreme Court judgement of 1993 for the Right to Education Act? Does it not indicate the lack of seriousness on the part of those who matter? The country is now reconciled to the slackness that has marked Government's attitude for six decades towards implementing the constitutional mandate of providing free and compulsory education to all children till they attain 14 years of age.

The Right to Education Act is practically limited to children in the six to 14 years age group. Further, it does not talk of quality education and no one within the 'system' has been made responsible for it. While parents are accountable, the 'system' is nowhere near being placed at par with them. The Act has not generated any enthusiasm in either the 'system' or among its targeted beneficiaries.

Huge amounts of funds are needed to implement the Act and achieve its goals. According to one estimate, it would cost the Government Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Exactly how the Union Government plans to mobilise resources for this task is yet to become clear. Nor does anybody know how the State Governments plan to deal with the new situation.

What is known is the stand of the State Governments which they have clearly enunciated. They do not have the resources to maintain the present infrastructure, which includes maintenance of schools and salaries for teachers. To implement the Right to Education Act, we need 10,00,000 additional teachers. Where are the potential teachers? Even if they were to be available, which State Government is willing to recruit them?

The harsh fact is that several lakhs of existing jobs in schools are lying vacant. This equally applies to States like Maharashtra and Delhi which are perceived to be favoured by the Union Government. The crisis is further accentuated by a couple of lakhs of para-teachers appointed on nominal remuneration and who are all the time concerned about the security of their jobs.

It is widely known that the para-teachers got their low remuneration quasi-jobs by pulling the right strings and many of them are believed to have even paid money to 'get into the system' in the hope of regular employment at some time or the other. This huge group remains a demoralised lot. It would be a folly to expect para-teachers to contribute effectively in fulfilling the expectations that must inherently arise with the implementation of the Right to Education Act.

The elementary education sector has three major categories of schools. Most of these — above 80 per cent — are managed by State Governments and bodies that receive and utilise public funds. The next category is that of schools which receive grants from State Governments but are privately managed. In states like Uttar Pradesh, a large number of schools belong to this category. The third group comprises 'public schools' that do not receive any grants from State Governments or the Union Government and have their own management.

Government schools enjoyed a formidable reputation till the 1960s. But they no longer evoke admiration. The unaided public schools are the preferred destination for those whose parents can afford that privilege by way of paying huge sums of money as 'donations' and fees. These schools are never short of those queuing up before their main gates and bigwigs of every sector can be seen jostling for a foothold within the premises.

The State Governments are always on the lookout to issue circulars and directives to these schools on admissions, timing of classes, bussing, fee structure, teachers' salaries, admissions, reservations and any other possible aspect their Babus can think of. Public schools hardly ever care to follow these in actual practice. Let's not forget that those who issue circulars also have recommendations to make to schools for admissions!

How does the 'system' instil confidence among the people that the Right to Education Act will really become effective? Present indications are rather disappointing. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has repeatedly defaulted in providing winter clothes to children in time and then decided to make payments in cash. But even this is not being done on time! Children are being paid in cash for what was supposed to have been provided to them — Rs 125 for a jersey; Rs 70 for a pair of shoes and Rs 20 for a pair of socks!

In Noida, voluntary organisations running the Mid-Day Meal Scheme are on the verge of giving up as it is impossible to manage the programme in view of the galloping inflation that has impacted the cost of food and food products. The approved amounts are Rs 2.10 for children in primary schools and Rs 2.40 for those in Classes 6 to 8. It is baffling how children can possibly get a nutritious meal for such small amounts of money.

The rigidity and lack of sensitivity that paralyse our 'system' can be seen everywhere when it comes to education — particularly in the elementary education sector which requires an empathetic approach. It would just be a reiteration of well-known facts if one were to give details of the prevailing pathetic condition of infrastructure, non-availability of teachers, the irregular manner in which schools function and the non-availability of books and reading material.

The Right to Education Act can be deemed to have been implemented only when people begin to observe visible improvements in the existing schools and their functioning. This is the first step to move ahead towards effective universalisation of elementary education, which can no longer be allowed to remain elusive to many children.

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THE PIONEER

COLUMN

THE ENEMY AMONG US

RUDRONEEL GHOSH

As the David Coleman Headley-Tahawwur Hussain Rana mystery unfolds with each passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that the two men were part of something big. A terrorist outfit, like any other organisation, has an elaborate hierarchy. The top of the pyramid is occupied by the leaders — people like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, etc. They provide guidance and ideological support to the terror group as a whole. At the bottom of the pyramid are the expendable footsoldiers such as Ajmal Amir Kasab. They are extremely motivated and trained but other than that do not have access to or knowledge about the terror group's higher echelons. Simply put, they are nothing more than cannon fodder. But in between the two extremes are the people who form the backbone of the terrorist organisation — the advisers, planners, financiers and scouts.

It is perhaps because of the image created by the media that we associate terrorists with someone like Kasab — a gun-totting, ruthless fidayeen — and not David Headley — a suave, sophisticated, English-speaking, charming person. But given what they do for their bosses, perhaps they are more sinister than the former. In fact, they are the most critical cog in the terror machinery.

So far investigations have revealed that Headley and Rana were responsible for scouting terror targets, laying the groundwork for possible terror strikes, and most probably charged with identifying and recruiting potential jihadis. It is also clear that Headley had access to important or influential people in society and used his charm to win them over. Even the man who ironed his clothes at the apartment where he stayed in Mumbai during one of his several visits found Headley to be charming and polite. Film director Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul and his friend Vilas Pandurang Varak, who met Headley regularly, claim that they never suspected that he could be a Lashkar operative.

Given these revelations it is time we re-adjusted our perceptions about who is a terrorist. Perhaps we knew all along that people like Kasab had handlers and masterminds behind them. But we could never put a face to those people. With the arrest of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, we finally have a face. The enemy wears a façade that resembles us more than we can imagine. He is smart, technologically savvy, affable, and operates among us. That is scary.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

A QUIET PUSH FOR PEACE

THE UPA GOVERNMENT IS SILENTLY TRYING TO REVIVE TALKS WITH SEPARATISTS IN KASHMIR VALLEY IN THE HOPE A SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND TO A LONG-FESTERING PROBLEM. THE INITIAL RESPONSE HAS BEEN GOOD. BUT WILL HURRIYAT'S RECALCITRANT LEADERS AGREE TO MOVE FORWARD FROM THEIR ENTRENCHED POSITION?

KALYANI SHANKAR

Is the 'quiet diplomacy' to resolve the Kashmir problem working? Apparently, the PMO and the Ministry of Home Affairs are engaged in sounding out the various players and bring them to the table to resume negotiations. Secret meetings with the All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders are said to have taken place with the Centre now depending more on front door diplomacy rather than backchannel talks. Jammu & Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, PMO and the Home Ministry are working in tandem to get the players active.

The signals emanating from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram show that something is cooking on the Kashmir front. For instance, Mr Singh said during his recent visit to Jammu & Kashmir that he favoured "pragmatic political solutions to the Kashmir problem". Union Home Minister P Chidambaram admitted in Srinagar recently that the Union Government was working "on quiet diplomacy" in Jammu & Kashmir.

Many Kashmir-watchers point out that as a result some good signals are emanating from the Valley with the recalcitrant players softening their stand on talks. Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhatt not only shared a platform with the ruling National Conference and the PDP at a seminar organised by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, but also invited them to join a cross-party discussion on Jammu & Kashmir. But Hurriyat leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq do not support Mr Bhatt's position that they should share a table. They do not want to include the PDP and the NC until they shun power and concentrate on resolving the 'Kashmir issue'. In fact, most of the political parties in the State are positioning themselves to suit their interests.

Ms Mehbooba Mufti was recently in New Delhi and took a softer stand. She said things were normal in the State and the Centre should go for de-militarisation. She wanted all the players to sit and find a solution. She refrained from criticising Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in her various interactions with the media.

Why are these leaders changing their tune? As far as Hurriyat is concerned, its leaders have to show that they are doing 'something'. Resuming negotiations will keep their supporters from clamouring for action. The Hurriyat's supporters are said to have reached the end of their patience with their leaders who are seen as having failed to do anything for them. With a stable Government at the Centre and in the State, they feel shaky and compelled to show that they are relevant.

For the PDP also it is a similar problem. With a stable Government at the State and the party nowhere at the Centre, Ms Mehbooba Mufti also has to keep her flock together for the next four-and-a-half years. What better way to show her people that the PDP remains an important player in the resolution of the 'Kashmir issue'? She is talking of a joint council and joint responsibility. The PDP has launched a mass support programme to promote its 'self-rule' concept. She has been talking about demilitarisation of the State, opening of the Line of Control for free movement of people from both sides and an elected body consisting of representatives of all regions, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The PDP wants Syed Ali Shah Geelani to be included in the negotiations.

For the Centre this is a good time to restart negotiations, as the climate is peaceful and ripe for a forward movement. Pakistan is in a terrible mess but the Pakistani Government would not mind some movement in peace talks. Although the Pakistanis would not want things to go out of their hands, they would not stop the Hurriyat from talking to the Government.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had talked of a four-point formula two years ago: Resumption of dialogue at the highest level, agreement on the centrality of Kashmir, rejection of all formulas not acceptable to both sides, and a discussion on an actual solution.

What should be the Government's strategy? It should go about its task of finding a solution to the 'Kashmir issue' quietly. The Home Minister is supervising this strategy. The second is to get the players on the table. The third is to let them talk and find out what they want. The final step would be to sit down for actual negotiations. If the Government succeeds even 60 per cent in this endeavour, it will produce some results.

All the stake-holders, including the Government, should talk with an open mind for an effective solution. Before that the atmosphere in the State should be made favorable for negotiations and the people of Jammu & Kashmir should have confidence in the State Government as well as the Union Government. The people of this strife-torn State are looking forward to peace.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

THE POWER OF ONE

A SCHOOL RUN BY AN NGO OFFERS LESSONS TO OTHERS

ANURADHA DUTT

Even if the state has not done enough over the past six decades after independence to light the lamp of knowledge and education for the country's unwashed masses, in all parts there have been people and groups, engaged in illumining their lives. To cite an example of individual initiative, VIDYA, an NGO which works to empower people from a deprived background by providing quality education to slum children up to the secondary level, even preparing some for the IITs and the like; and arranging vocational opportunities for adults, triumphantly celebrated its 25th anniversary last week. The occasion was doubly joyous for the NGO as the venue for the function was its new school, spread over five acres, in an upmarket colony of Gurgaon. The school, while possessing the features that typify elitist privately run schools for the privileged, is meant entirely for the disadvantaged. After passing out, its students, fluent in English — a language which facilitates upward mobility — and confident of facing the world, are bound to be chary of returning to the slums and urban villages from where they came. The education they received will then become their passage to a better, more dignified life, and by extension, for their kin and associates.

The NGO's chairperson, Ms Rashmi Mishra, recalls how, 25 years ago, the enterprise originated in the back verandah of her house on the IIT Delhi campus, when she undertook to teach five girls, daughters of labourers. The initiative gradually expanded to encompass other people, including volunteers, donors, corporate houses and a growing target group. VIDYA today benefits deprived communities in Delhi, Mumbai and Haryana. Its greatest contribution is that it gives a real chance to children in their formative years and with impressionable minds, to shed social baggage and embark on the journey of life after sound schooling. Compare this with the shoddy services provided by State-run schools, with their students either dropping out or graduating to poorly-paying jobs, or, in the worst eventuality, taking to a life of crime. It is a vicious cycle, perpetuated by sub-standard education.

While recent Government efforts to reform the education system are commendable, its insistence on doing it alone is a throwback to the past. It took over six decades for the Indian Parliament to pass a Bill in early August, which gives effect to the constitutional promise of universal and compulsory education for children up to 14 years.

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 aims to make India a knowledge hub in a period of 15-20 years, according to Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sabil. It was preceded by the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, which provided for free and compulsory education for children in the 6-14 age group as a fundamental right. Under this amendment, a new Article 21A, was inserted, to the effect that the State shall try to provide compulsory and free education to the targeted group in such a manner as the state may, by law, determine.

The new law would not only provide quality education for all school children — presumably lacking the means to attend private schools — but ensure that it would be free. The States and Centre would need to share the responsibility and expense. An important proposal is that no child will be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education. Other recommendations include curriculum, consistent with the Constitution; upgradation of teaching standards; and simplifying admission procedures. States are expected to provide neighbourhood school within three years.

Even if the contents of the Act seem radical, placing full responsibility for implementation of the law upon the Centre and State Governments reflects the old mindset, which gave rise to the 'Mai-baap sarkar' in the years preceding economic liberalisation. That is, the Government was supposed to discharge parental duties towards citizens, whose own faculties for enterprise and innovation were thereby rarely put to use. The State was the supreme authority, framing policies and implementing them. Such excessive State control, in fact, is blamed for thwarting India's growth, and the failure to achieve the constitutional goal of providing elementary education to all. The mass of the people, in turn, became completely dependent on the system, never trying to aspire more than necessary. This really boiled down to subsistence-level requirements, especially in the vast, unlettered backwaters.

However, the process of economic reforms initiated in 1991 led to individual initiative thriving. More VIDYAS are needed, rather than State-sponsored schooling, if India's children are to get a fair deal.

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THE PIONEER

OPED

US IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE

OBAMA'S PROJECTION OF CHINA AS A TRUSTWORTHY PARTNER IN TACKLING LONG-STANDING ISSUES IN SOUTH ASIA SHOWS A SHOCKING LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY: BEIJING'S POLICIES ARE TO BLAME FOR MUCH OF THE TROUBLE

B RAMAN

The failure of American President Barack Obama to understand the distrust of China in large sections of the Indian civil society has landed the US in a situation in which the considerable goodwill between India and the US created during the Administration of his predecessor, Mr George W Bush, stands in danger of being diluted by his unthinking words and actions.

The distrust of China in the Indian civil society is much deeper than even the distrust of Pakistan. Even today, despite Pakistan's continued use of terrorism against India, there is some goodwill for the people of Pakistan in many sections of our civil society. As against this, outside the traditional Communist and other Leftist circles, one would hardly find any section which trusts China — its Government as well as its people.

The Indian distrust of China arises mainly from three factors. First, the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Second, China's role in giving Pakistan a military nuclear and missile capability for use against India. Third, the Chinese blockage of the pre-26/11 efforts in the Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council to declare the Jamaat-ud-Dawa'h, the parent organisation of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, as a terrorist organisation and its subsequent opposition for a similar declaration against the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The dubious Chinese stand on the issue of Pakistani use of terrorism against India is viewed by many in India as amounting to collusion.

The Indian suspicions of China have been magnified in recent years by Beijing's 'Look South policy'. China is not a South Asian power, but it has sought to create for itself a large South Asian presence by developing a military supply relationship with the countries of the region, by helping India's neighbours in the development of their infrastructure of strategic importance such as ports and by supporting the Maoists of Nepal.

At a time when concerns in India over the increasing Chinese strategic presence and influence in India's neigbourhood have been increasing, it is an amazingly shocking act of insensitivity on the part of Mr Obama and his policy advisers to project China as a benign power with a benevolent role in South Asia — whether for promoting understanding between India and Pakistan or for influencing developments in other countries of the region.

It is politically naïve on the part of Mr Obama to expect that Indian political and public opinion will accept any role for China in South Asia in matters which impact on India's core interests. Mr Bush's China policy had favourable vibrations in India by highlighting the threats that are likely to be posed by its military modernisation made possible by its economic power. A convergence of concerns over China between Washington, DC, and New Delhi laid the foundation for the strategic relationship between the countries.

 

Mr Obama's projection of China as a trustworthy partner of the US in jointly tackling long-standing contentious issues in South Asia shows a shocking ignorance of the fact that China was one of the causes of the persistence of these issues. Its effort has always been not to promote mutual understanding and harmony in South Asia, but to keep India isolated by keeping alive the old distrusts and animosities and creating new ones.

At a time when Indian public opinion was looking forward to fruitful results from the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US, reports from Beijing on Mr Obama's visit to China would strengthen the impression that Mr Obama is not India's cup of tea.

The writer is director of the Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai.

 

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THE PIONEER

OPED

TIME TO SIMPLIFY CAPITAL MARKET

DIFFERENT REGULATORY MODES AND VARYING NATIONAL REGULATIONS RENDER IT COMPLEX

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

 

It is obvious that globally the nature of financial instruments and capital markets is today far more integrated than it was ever in the history of financial transactions. In fact, the different regulatory modes and varying national regulations render the understanding of the integration at the operational level complex.

Very often like the flow of water, these financial transactions take their own direction. Consider a borrower in any state in the US. He takes a loan that gets securitised. Similarly, a series of loans get securitised and then sold to another bank in another city. At the same time, there is a housing loan pool being created in another city; yet another pool of loan in space heating equipment is being created elsewhere. Consider a situation where all this goes to a special purpose vehicle which bank X has created and then in turn it creates a Collaterised Debt Obligation. That bank or that SPV then sells the CDO to a bank in another country, say Tokyo, or anywhere else. The Tokyo bank can create another SPV and ask other institutions to subscribe. Assuming that there are aging persons in France who are putting their retirement savings in a pension fund which is now investing in the same CDO which originated may be in a housing loan pool or a space heating equipment pool. Simultaneously, other things could be happening which are affecting banks X, Y, Z or any other permutation and combination. They create another SPV which invests in the hedge fund and that invests in the CDO.

It may be useful to remind ourselves that the total number of CDOs in the global market is about 1.45 quadrillion. A quadrillion is 1,000 trillion.

This cycle of CDOs as special purpose vehicles is fully legal. Indeed, if there are regulations which cover such activity, I have not quite understood where they originate, how they operate or who their controlling force is. It originates somewhere, the loan or the CDO is transferred to somebody else which in turn can get compromised and indeed come back to the originator. If this is coupled with the possibility of default, the extent and ripple effect of catastrophe can well be apprehended. The rating agencies compound the likelihood of this happening by assuming that 100 per cent payment will come.

It is obvious that the assumption that there is normal probability distribution in the market is severely in doubt. However, the assumption of a normal probability distribution curve leads to a lot of errors in investment decision. There has been serious research on this and the name of mathematician Mandelbrot comes easily to mind. What can be the plight of models which emerge in such an environment?

The role of rating agencies itself needs to be evaluated, because the working model which they set out can be severely flawed. When this is coupled with the very likely possibility of conflict of interest, it would be useful to remind ourselves that at a rough estimate approximately 45 per cent revenue of the rating agencies come from the exercise of CDO rating. The issuer, who is getting represented, is also paying for the rating effort!

One has to be of average intelligence to master the art and provide services to the CDO users. If someone wants to issue a CDO, he can go to this person's company, pay them a fee and they will then tell you the model.

The role of a regulator is non-existent in such a situation. In 1999, the US did away with the Stigler Act which led to the creation of investment banking function by the commercial bank. It made very easy, the art of making money on perceived scientific methods, playing upon the innocents' gullibility.

Several problems have come from such an unregulated entity. There are issuers who are able to by pass the regulator because the regulator is not competent to discuss all issues. It is amazing how issues of pay packages, composition packages are paid heaps of attention but the larger and the bigger concerns touching upon investment, go by default. While being in people's attention they do not come within the fold of accountability in a strict sense of the word.

The Indian corporate world, the financial sector and the process of governance need to come to the grips with these issues before the Indian capital market gets engulfed in the fault lines of default and more.

gautamvinay@hotmail.com

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MAIL TODAY

 COMMENT

SMART TERRORIST AND NAÏVE CELEBS

 

THE manner in which Daoud Gilani aka David Coleman Headley operated in India suggests that he was one smart conman, or a skilled covert operative who had been trained to pull wool over the eyes of counter- intelligence personnel. The clever device of taking an Anglo name to slip under the radar of the immigration authorities suggests that he was on the pay of a foreign power and worked for its intelligence agency.

 

His behaviour in Mumbai, too, was not that of an innocent traveler or someone trying to set up a genuine business. Like a good intelligence operative, he understood quickly the value of camouflage, and what better than to parade around with someone from the celebrity set, where chance acquaintances are routinely passed off as life- long friends. And like a good agent he also knew where to easily find such people — an upmarket gym.

 

As it is, anyone who knows young urban Indians knows that they are gregarious people and are always ready to open themselves to foreigners. Mr Headley understood this well and exploited it to the hilt.

 

This is the trap that young Rahul Bhatt fell for and as of now all we know is that he was an innocent dupe of a fiendishly clever operator. His additional weakness was, probably in common with many of the celeb set, a degree of naivete.

 

In the coming days, no doubt, we will hear more of Mr Headley's friends. There are reports of some women being involved too. In all likelihood, they are likely to be women from the many escort services available in the country. It is important for the police to separate fact from fiction and ensure that the dupes are not harassed with those who are actually guilty of willfully concealing knowledge of his activities.

 

 

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MAIL TODAY

COMMENT

A NEEDED DIRECTION

 

THE new set of ambient air quality standards notified by the environment ministry is a good step to improve the quality of air we breathe in our cities and towns.

 

The standards have brought two new deadly pollutants — fine particulate matter and ozone — within the ambit of regulation.

 

Both of these pollutants are important from the public health point of view.

 

Area classification based on land- use has been done away with so that industrial areas have to conform to the same standards as residential areas. All these are well meaning measures and have been pending approval for a long time.

 

But these new standards are not going to improve air quality in our cities overnight or even over the next few years. These are ambient air quality standards, meaning that the air we breathe must meet these standards. But these can't be met unless we have stringent procedures to implement them — for all major sources of air pollution such as industries, automobiles and others.

 

This means that you can't blame one source for bad ambient air quality.

 

There may be a situation when all industries in an area may be meeting emission standards set for them, but the quality of ambient air in the area does not meet the standard because of some other source of pollution. There is need therefore for a holistic approach to tackle pollution as well as the political will to raise the bar whenever required.

 

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MAIL TODAY

COMMENT

RESTORING HER HONOUR

 

BY upholding the decision of the metropolitan magistrate asking an Indian army officer to pay alimony to Sabra Ahmadzai, an Afghan woman whom he deserted after 15 days of marriage, the higher court has done credit to the judicial system in India.

 

It sends out the message that considerations like nationality are of no relevance when courts are asked to deliver justice to an aggrieved party, that too a woman. Holding Major Chandrashekhar Pant liable was specially important given that he was representing this country in Afghanistan in 2006 when he tricked the unsuspecting woman into marrying him.

 

We only wish the Indian Army appreciated this simple fact. It upholds honour above everything else in theory but has chosen to allow the army officer to continue in service despite clinching evidence that he is unfit to do so. This reinforces the common perception that the armed forces persist with a feudal attitude when it comes to the rights of women.

 

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MAIL TODAY

COLUMN

OBAMA'S BEIJING KOWTOW

BY MANOJ JOSHI

 

THE UNSPOKEN fears that India had of the Obama Administration seem to be coming true.

 

President Obama's visit to China and the various statements in relation to the South Asian region that have emerged from the visit point to the fact that the pendulum of American interests is once again shifting away from New Delhi to Beijing.

 

As Obama noted in his joint press statement on Wednesday: " President Hu and I also discussed our mutual interest in security and stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

And neither country can or should be used as a base for terrorism, and we agreed to cooperate more on meeting this goal, including bringing about more stable, peaceful relations in all of South Asia." Had the president stopped at the first sentence, it would have been acceptable, but to talk of cooperation in bringing " stable, peaceful relations in all of South Asia" is ominous.

 

Incidentally in his portion of the remarks, his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao spoke of the need to uphold " peace and stability" and " to respect and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns." As he spelt them out, they related to the Korean peninsula, the Middle East and Gulf region, Iran. Impliedly, they were linked to Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.

 

There was no hint of any concern with South Asia.

 

So what has persuaded the US that China can play a role in promoting South Asian peace? Are they not aware of the history, and indeed the contemporary dynamics of the region? In early 1992, the George HW Bush

 

Administration proposed a five- power system to control nuclear proliferation in South Asia — the US, China and Russia would oversee a non- nuclear pact between India and Pakistan.

 

That proposal, too foundered on the realities of the regional dynamics whose major element was Beijing's policy of checking New Delhi.

 

COMPULSIONS

It would appear that Obama is keen to draw out Beijing to play a larger role in global affairs. His aim is to seek Beijing's increasing heft in world affairs — and its special ties with Pakistan — to get quick resolutions into the emerging quagmire of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the potential one in Iran. So, Mr Obama seems to have offered up South Asia as a bait of sorts to Beijing.

 

This is significant because the Chinese believe that it was only in the administration of his predecessor George W Bush that India was brought out as a kind of potential trump to check China's rise. What Mr Obama seems to be telling Beijing is that the US does not consider South Asia ( read India) as any kind of a counter- weight to China, and is willing to calibrate its own policies in the region with Beijing.

The background of Obama's compulsions are obvious. In a recent appearance on the Jim Lehrer show , Niall Fergusson put it this way: Chimerica had now become a single economy.

The driver of the world economy in the period 1998- 2007, was Chinese exports to the US and the US imports from China.

The Chinese intervention in international currency markets by keeping the Chinese currency weak has actually helped finance a part of the US deficit.

 

" CHINA HAS BECOME THE BANKER TO THE UNITED

States. And its policy of reserve accumulation has provided nearly $ 2 trillion worth of effectively cheap, if not free, credit to the United States." The New York Times recently elucidated the consequences of this somewhat more bluntly. The American- Chinese relations offered a a 10: 10 deal where China gets 10 per cent growth and the US gets 10 per cent unemployment.

 

In other words, the seemingly symbiotic relationship is actually a parasitical one — China is using the US to ride to world power status.

 

Instead of altering these adverse terms of trade, or even attempting to do so, Mr Obama seems to be actually encouraging China. And why? Either he does not care, or he feels that in the short time that he needs results — in Afghanistan and Iran — Beijing's cooperation or neutrality towards US is more important than putting the US economy and its security policy on a sustainable and stable path.

 

It is true that the US and China have a number of common interests — stability in North- east Asia, Persian Gulf and the need for a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue. But there is no indication that they trust each other enough to evolve a common policy to move forward in any of those areas deemed important by them. Yet, Obama seems to be convinced that the enormity of the economic links that the two countries have with each other can translate into common political goals.

 

In the case of South Asia, he is thinking for the short term and in the process ignoring our interests. Chinese policy in the region is based on the single aim of checking India. This goes back to the early 1960s when it began to cultivate Pakistan and teach India a lesson. In pursuit of this policy, Beijing has done a lot, including the unthinkable: It actually provided Pakistan the design and material to make atom bombs, and actually tested one for them in 1990. The Chinese efforts to befriend Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have had a similar goal. And the one country that it has been systematically hostile to is India.

 

BALANCE

The reason for this is that, like it or not, the only country in Asia which can offer a counter- weight to China is India. As of today Indian economic growth and military power cannot match that of China, yet both are proceeding at a respectable rate.

 

Indian economic growth which has been around 7- 8 per cent recently has come despite its hopeless infrastructure and lack of reforms. With more focused efforts, and a little help from its demographic profile, India could well match, and even exceed China in the 2020s.

United States policy had a trajectory similar to the Chinese in the region. In its own way, it, too, sought to check New Delhi's desire to be an independent actor on the world stage. So, its policy was to maintain good relations with India, even while cultivating Pakistan as its primary strategic partner.

 

The DNA of that policy is still evident. It was only

 

with the Bush Administration that US policy shifted decisively towards befriending India.

 

But with the Obama Administration veering towards Beijing, this policy is going to remain a work in progress for a little bit longer.

 

INTERESTS

Obama's Beijing kowtow is unlikely to succeed.

 

Given the depth of its commitment to Pakistan, China is incapable of playing an honest broker in the South Asian region, even assuming that it wants to. More important, New Delhi is not entirely without options or friends who are thinking for the longer term.

 

Countries in the periphery of China are worrying about the consequences of the Sino- American love fest. As of today, China's military modernisation does not offer a threat to the US. But it does pose a potential threat to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. Their real worry is not so much with China's military modernisation, or even its pace or scale, but the opacity of Chinese strategic thinking.

 

So next week when Manmohan Singh visits the US, don't be taken in by the verbiage that comes out of Washington, or the glitter of the state banquet billed as a singular honour for the Indian prime minister.

 

The US is in hock to China and it has a leader who has shown that he does not quite know how to deal with it. While it is in our interest to have good, and even close, relations with the US, we need to be clear that a country of India's size and varied interests has no option but to have strategic autonomy in matters of security and foreign policy.

 

manoj.joshi@mailtoday.in

 

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MAIL TODAY

THE LAHORE LOG

THERE IS HOPE YET FOR PAKISTAN

BY NAJAM SETHI

 

THREE interesting developments took place in Pakistan's murky political environment this week.

 

President Asif Zardari presided over a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the ruling PPP which blasted the government for its incompetence and bad governance but also rallied behind its besieged leader and authorised a cabinet shuffle; Mian Nawaz Sharif gave a TV interview in which he made some significant comments on how to move forward and save democracy from conspirators; and Transparency International published its annual report which indicts Pakistan as the 42nd most corrupt country in the world, up from 47th position last year, but holds out the promise of improvement next year.

 

Clearly, Mr Zardari is making a lastditch effort to close ranks. That is why he allowed his party stalwarts to air their grievances and vent their frustration.

 

The CEC meeting is also a signal that he is the leader of the party and it is he who calls the shots and not the prime minister who is there on sufferance.

 

At the same time, however, he has used the CEC platform to " authorise" the prime minister to reshuffle the cabinet to improve performance and defray criticism.

 

This exercise is meant to silence dissenters in the ranks and bring them into the cabinet loop, thereby deflecting the " minus- one" conspirators inside and outside the party ( that is why Aitzaz Ahsan was still kept out of the CEC, which empowered the chairman to consider his case for reinstatement). The proposed cabinet reshuffle may also serve another discreet purpose: corrupt cronies may lose their jobs, thereby allaying some of the disquiet in the establishment.

 

INDEED, coupled with this retreat, Mr Zardari has also indicated a hardening of the government's position on dealing with India and the United States. This is in line with the tactical thinking of the military establishment that has been annoyed by the PPP government's " soft line" vis- à- vis both foreign powers and undue haste in conceding their demands. India's refusal to open unconditional talks for conflict resolution with Pakistan has now been met with a reassertion of Pakistan's maximalist position by both the prime minister and foreign minister on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

 

Much the same approach is now manifest in the Pakistan government's position on Af- Pak affairs: Islamabad says that it is one of the main " principals" in the great game and the US should take its interests into consideration while reviewing options on how to sort out Afghanistan. This is a far cry from Pakistan's earlier position during the Musharraf regime that it supported the US war on terror but was not an active player in its resolution. Indeed, the military has leaned on the PPP government to argue forcefully for bringing India into the Af- Pak equation because India's footprint looms large in Afghanistan and is inimical to Pakistan's geo- strategic interests.

 

This new approach should reduce some of the tensions between the PPP regime and the estranged military that is rumoured to be one of the authors of the " minus- one" formula. There is also some talk of Mr Zardari choosing a new Attorney General to suit the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. That is why the job was first offered to Aitzaz Ahsan and may now go to an uncontroversial and competent lawyer acceptable to the superior judiciary as well as the military.

All these steps are being taken to diffuse the political crisis by scratching the backs of hostile elements in the establishment.

 

Mr Sharif's meeting with the prime minister last week, followed by a revealing interview to Pakistan's biggest TV network for maximum effect, is in the same vein. It seeks to bury the minus- one, minus- two or minus- three formulas without abandoning the goal of the PMLN which is to get rid of the 17th amendment and pave the way for Mr Sharif's return to power sooner rather than later as a third term prime minister of Pakistan.

 

Mr Sharif says he doesn't want a mid- term election, which is meant to reassure Mr Zardari.

 

Mr Sharif's foray into legal waters — Mr Zardari is protected by the constitution from being targeted by any NRO or criminal proceeding — is aimed at assuring his longevity as president; and his criticism of the army's public displeasure with the Kerry- Lugar Bill is meant to signal his firm opposition to any military intervention at the expense of the democratic system.

 

In fact, Mr Sharif's constant refrain that all will be well if the Charter of Democracy is enforced by parliament signals his unease with the current activist judiciary because the COD envisages the ouster of all PCO judges regardless of which PCO oath they took. This is one point on which both Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari should agree.

 

THE CLARITY of mind shown by Mr. Sharif over how the military mishandled the Kerry- Lugar Bill is heartening. It was after the ISPR released GHQ's view of it that the media storm broke, regaling the nation with the endless advantages of " ghairat" over the core interests of the state, to clinch an argument no one in their right minds could understand.

 

Mr Sharif's decision to save democracy rather than the mystique of " ghairat" now sets the stage for a normal unfolding of the democratic process in Pakistan.

 

The third development relates to the Transparency International report.

 

While one section of the media is bent on interpreting its opinion as an indictment of Mr Zardari, the report is sufficiently " balanced" to deflect the popular damnation. It attributes the rise in corruption to the increase in terrorism and poverty which in turn is attributed to malgovernance during eras of military rule. It also holds out a promise of improvement by next year because the judiciary is now independent and the media is free to pursue corrupt individuals and practices as watchdogs.

 

The undoing of the NRO is a measure of the good direction in which the country is headed, according to TI. This should be cause for cheer rather than despair in the presidency. So all may not be lost yet. There is some fight and hope still left in the presidency. That is why Mr Zardari has claimed that the political obituaries being written about him by a coterie of media persons may be premature.

 

But for this to be borne out, Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif will have to cross the Rubicon together. Singly they will fail.

 

Together they may be able to thwart the conspirators against democracy.

 

The writer is the editor of The Friday Times ( Lahore)

 

MONI MOHSIN

YOU tau know na, how the police has taken out an add in the papers telling us all to be aware of suicide bombers. They say we should watch out for people who look a bit fattish in their top halfs and are distracted and loudly saying Arabic prayers and respiring heavily. So yesterday when Janoo had gone out and I was at home watching a re- run of Kyonke Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi , the bearer came and said that a Kashmiri shawl wallah had come and wanted to show me his stuff. I got all excited thinking maybe I can buy a new double coloured shatoosh to saarho Mulloo with for the shaadi season.

 

Thinking it was my old shawlwallah, Abrar, I told the bearer to put him in the drawing.

 

When I walked in it wasn't Abrar at all but a thin sa young sa man, who I'd never seen before, in a shulloo kurta and wispy si beard and a white cap on his head. Uss se bhi worst, he was wearing a puffy sa leather ka jacket. And sub se worst, he had this suitcase lying beside him. I swear I thought I heard it ticking. My one colour went and second colour came. He said his name was Imtiaz and that he was from Kashmir and he'd heard from the shawl wallahs ki grape wine that I was a collector of shawls.

And then he reached inside his pocket and took out a key and bent towards his suitcase. Bus then I lost it. I told him, I said that I didn't have any money and I hated shawls anyway and I'd never bought a shawl in my life and he mustn't please for God's sake open the suitcase and who'd given him my address and I was a God fearing Muslim and I had a young son and what would become of him and please have some pity. He looked at me as if I was completely crack.

 

But I didn't care and by this time I think so he was more afraid of me than I was of him and he picked up his suitcase and ran. When he was gone I called all the servants, bearer, cook, driver, maids, sweeper, guards shards everyone and shouted at them for letting people into the house that they didn't know when haalaats were so bad and why were they such stuppids and just now only I'd foiled a suicide bomber all by myself. So they also looked at me as if I was a crack but I damn care.

 

Stuppids jaisay! Later that evening Mulloo called and said " Guess what? I've just bought the most tabahi six yards ka double coloured shatoosh from this shweetoo sha shawl wallah called Imitiaz. And such good prices he gives! Wait till you see it. You tau will just die!"

 

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MAIL TODAY

PAK ARMYMEN HELD FOR HEADLEY LINKS

PTI

 

SOME serving and exmilitary officers are among five persons arrested in Pakistan in connection with a Lashkar- e- Tayyeba ( LeT) plot to carry out a major terror attack in India.

 

The five had used US terror suspect David Coleman Headley for their plans, a media report said on Thursday. Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other people in connection with the LeT plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials, the New York Times ( NYT ) reported.

 

The paper quoted an official, who has been briefed on the investigation, as saying those arrested remain in custody.

 

But it was unclear what role they played in the expanding plot. Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, who were arrested last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI) are accused of plotting terror attacks on behest of LeT against India and a Danish newspaper.

 

The arrests of Headley and Rana has led to arrests in Pakistan and implicated a former Pakistani military officer as a co- conspirator, the paper quoted officials as saying.

 

US intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan's enemies, including targets in India, it said.

 

Headley and Rana were accused in the FBI complaints of reporting to Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer who has become a militant commander associated with both al- Qaeda and LeT. The case is one of the first criminal cases in which the federal authorities seem to have directly linked terrorism suspects in the US to a former Pakistani military officer, though they have long suspected connections between extremists and many members of the Pakistani military, the paper said.

 

A spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Washington, however, declined to comment on the arrests, citing the continuing inquiry. The officials, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing a continuing inquiry, said that the FBI investigation has widened further in part because of the wealth of information supplied by Headley, the paper said.

 

The officials declined to name the other Pakistani military officer — who held the rank of colonel or brigadier general before leaving the army recently — in the case, the NYT said. Complaints against Headley and Rana described the officer as associated with Kashmiri, as well as with LeT.

 

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MAIL TODAY

DAVID'S DAD A PAK DIPLOMAT

MAIL TODAY

 

US DAILY The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday reported that terror suspect David Coleman Headley is the son of a known Pakistani diplomat.

 

The daily said Headley, born as Daood Gilani, went to a military school in Pakistan and in 1977, was taken away to Philadelphia at the age of 16 by his mother, Serrill Headley, who died in 2008.

 

The report says Serrill had split with her husband and ran a nightclub in Philadelphia called the Khyber Pass Pub and restaurant. In Philadelphia, David suffered a culture shock. Raised as a Muslim, he had trouble adjusting to the idea that his mother ran a bar.

 

" He studied accounting, possibly at a community college in the Philadelphia region," says the newspaper. The report also adds that David, under his birth name of Gilani, was convicted on federal charges in Brooklyn of smuggling heroin into the country in 1997 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

 

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MAIL TODAY

BEN KINGSLEY TO GET Z- LEVEL SECURITY IN INDIA

BY AMAN SHARMA IN NEW DELHI

 

SBRITISH actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who is attending the 40th International Film Festival in Goa, will be provided Z- level security by the government.

 

The decision came after the Centre was informed about a Lashkar- e- Tayyeba ( LeT) threat to the film festival being held in Goa from November 23. Kingsley's security will include paramilitary commandos and a bulletproof vehicle.

 

The National Security Guards' regional hub in Mumbai has been put on alert.

 

Kingsley is the guest of honour at the 11- day festival. The home ministry has also issued an advisory to the Goa government regarding the LeT threat and is sending three additional paramilitary companies. Commandos will also guard other important foreign personalities attending the event.

 

A team of ministry and Intelligence Bureau officials is also being sent from Delhi on Friday to take stock of the security.

 

A three- tier security ring will be thrown around all film fest venues, said ministry officials. The officials added that the security alert mentioned involvement of LeT's terror module in Mangalore in the plot to target Goa.

 

The ministry has asked the Goa Police to deploy high- speed interceptor boats.

 

The Coast Guard has been put on alert.

 

The state government has also been asked to alert the foreign registration office to keep a track of foreign nationals visiting Goa.

 

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MAIL TODAY

RAISINA TATTLE

OFFICIAL'S CLOUT

 

AT 24 AKBAR Road, resentment is brewing against an official who runs the transport wing of the All India Congress Committee ( AICC).

 

Dozens of AICC workers who live on the premises of the Congress headquarters find it disgusting that children of this official get free pick- up and drop from their school at the expense of the party. The official has considerable clout as he had served as driver to late Kamlapati Tripathi. Perhaps this is a factor forcing the otherwise penny- pinching AICC treasurer Motilal Vora to look the other way.

Heard on street

WHO SAYS Delhi has lost its sense of humour? As a swarm of protesting farmers descended on the streets of central Delhi, clogging the arteries that ferry the people who feed on the end product of the cane that yields sugar, a man in a sedan with a bluetooth device on his ear tried to swerve his car around from a traffic red light that refused to turn green.

 

Just then, someone asked from behind: what's ahead? " Kisan jam," pat came the reply.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

< in live to continues boy School Doon the but ministry, transport surface industry and commerce globetrotting profile, high- from grounded been have may Nath KAMAL>

 

His birthday on November 18 was celebrated in a grand manner. The ' neta' got himself photographed in a black business suit, instead of the trademark kurta pyjama . Posters portraying him in business- style were plastered all over Delhi, Bhopal and Chhindwara, his constituency.

 

REAL OR FAKE?

A MINISTER in South Block is being subjected to intense scrutiny. Somehow officials of this ageing minister are of the impression that the healthy crop on his head is not real.

 

The flamboyant minister perhaps has no idea, but officials facing him or sitting behind him at meetings keep looking at his hair, trying to figure out if it is a wig or " excellent maintenance" at the age of 74.

 

INTERNAL FIGHT

A SENIOR Union minister expressed his reservation about a colleague washing dirty linen in public. The Prime Minister heard the remarks, but there's a stoic silence as both ministers belong to the Congress. Then again, hint has been dropped that the " core committee" was being briefed about this complaint.

Picking on PM

 

THE BJP has found a tool to pin down the Prime Minister. The party says Manmohan Singh's decision to go on a 10- day foreign tour when the winter session is on is tantamount to showing disrespect to Parliament.

 

Parliamentary etiquette demands that the PM should plan his foreign visits in a manner that it does not clash with a Parliament session, Sushma Swaraj said. The PM will leave for the US on November 21.

 

From Washington, he will leave for Port- of- Spain on November 26 to attend a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He will return to New Delhi on November 30.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

AGENDA IN AMERICA

 

Yesterday in these columns we cautioned against any hyper reaction to the references to India and Pakistan in the joint US-China declaration issued at the end of President Barack Obama's talks with Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart. At the same time, we made it amply clear that India cannot, and will not, brook any outside interference in the resolution of outstanding issues between the two South Asian neighbours. The statement of the ministry of external affairs on Wednesday voiced this concern in a tone that cannot be faulted. This is equally true of the Congress party spokesman's remarks.

Such a mix of firmness and sobriety stands in sharp contrast to the feelings of anger and consternation articulated by a number of influential strategic and foreign policy experts. Sections of the media too have given vent to their sense of outrage. This only encourages us to reiterate our position. New Delhi must avoid high decibel emotionalism in its dealings with the US and China. It must focus instead on matters of vital interest and concern to India. And it must do so with a discreet but steely resolve.

That resolve will be put to test during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's parleys with President Obama in Washington next week. The discussions must address first and foremost India's apprehensions about US policies in our part of the world. It is incumbent on Obama to convince his Indian interlocutor that the joint declaration does not give China, even tangentially, a monitoring role in South Asian affairs. The only purposeful role it can play is to leverage the considerable clout it enjoys in Islamabad to goad Pakistan to cripple and then swiftly eliminate root and branch all terror outfits operating on its soil. That calls for the severance of any and every link between the military establishment and the outfits, bringing to book as expeditiously as possible the culprits of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and an undertaking that India and Pakistan will be left alone to carry forward the efforts now underway at various levels to find a durable solution to the Kashmir issue.

This is admittedly a tall order given China's dubious complicities with Pakistan. But unless Obama lays India's concerns to rest, talks on strengthening their bilateral cooperation in a host of other areas would be of little avail. The latest statements coming out of Washington go some way to assuage India. But these are clearly not enough. More needs to be said along these lines and more needs to be done to take New Delhi's sensitivities into account. Otherwise Obama's oratorical flourishes during the prime minister's visit are certain to grate on Indian ears.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

COMMENT

CLEAR THE AIR

 

The government's announcement of a revised set of emission and pollution standards applicable across the country deserves a cautious welcome. The new framework does not distinguish between residential and commercial areas, like the previous one, dating back to 15 years, did. Also, for the first time, six pollutants that were not measured earlier including ozone gas, arsenic, nickel and benzene will be added to the watch list. Clearly, the government wants us to breathe easy. But noble intentions alone will not ensure fresh air.

The government has not explained just how it proposes to implement this ambitious project. Without a well-oiled mechanism of monitoring and enforcement, the best of regulations are useless. The sorry state of traffic management in our cities is a case in point. According to the country's pollution watchdog Central Pollution Control Board almost 88 per cent of the 110 cities monitored in the country do not even meet the existing norms. One crucial reason why this is so is because India's Environment Protection Act does not provide for strict penalties to be imposed on defaulters. This allows industries and individuals to get away lightly, unlike offenders in Europe and America where punitive measures are in place.

But to be able to pin blame and impose fines, the government must first have enough evidence. Which is where credible and accurate monitoring of pollution levels comes in. But here too, we are woefully crippled. The government must invest substantially in developing continuous monitoring stations in our major cities. The central government must also get cracking on bringing state and local governments on board and push through necessary legislation to give teeth to the new rules.

Here, it could borrow from the models adopted in the US and UK, which foster cooperation between various levels and branches of government and empower local bodies to take action. In the US, which has a federal set-up like us, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) works with federal, state and tribal governments to ensure compliance and enforcement. In the UK, the environment agency and department of environment, food and rural affairs issue guidelines and give muscle to local bodies. India should work speedily to set up a national environment regulator, which would take a holistic view of various environment challenges, like the US EPA. This agency should spell out specific targets and the means to achieve them. Otherwise, the new norms will serve no purpose other than the feel-good of having them on our statute books.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

TOP ARTICLE

INVEST IN THE FUTURE

SHANTHA SINHA & KARIN HULSH

 

A child growing up in India today can aspire to be an astronaut sending rockets into space, a cricket batting legend, a government minister, a Bollywood film star or a teacher set to inspire a new generation of children. As the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) today, India has a lot to be proud of in the strides being made for its children. Home to one-fifth of the world's children, India ratified the CRC in 1992, embracing standards in health care, education and legal, civil and social services.

What difference has the convention made to India? Fewer children under five die as the national mortality rate fell from 117 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 72 in 2007. More children have access to improved drinking water, rising from 62 per cent in 1992-93 to 88 per cent in 2005-06. More girls go to primary school as attendance rates for girls aged between 6 and10 increased from 61 to 81 per cent over the same period. When 12-year-old Rekha Kalindi, from a remote village in the Purulia district of West Bengal, stood up against child marriage she was relying on knowledge gained while attending the National Child Labour Project school run by the government's labour department to rehabilitate working children and help mainstream them in the education system.

The passage of the Education Bill in Parliament this year, and the prohibition of Child Labour and Child Marriage Acts are prime examples of how the Indian government is championing the rights of the children. Progress has been made towards identifying and legally addressing child protection violations and targeting essential services to marginalised groups and disabled children. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights was established by the government in March 2007 and now five state commissions have been added. This year's roll-out of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, a programme focusing on transforming legislative commitments into action for child protection, is truly a cause for celebration.

True, many challenges remain. One million newborns die each year during the first month of their lives, another million die between 29 days and five years. These statistics call for ensuring that every child has access to the basic right to survival. Society must save the large number of lives snuffed out within the first few days of life. UNICEF, along with other aid agencies, is closely working with the government to encourage women to have institutional deliveries and ensure both mother and baby receive critical post-natal care for at least 72 hours.

Eliminating malnourishment should be our top priority as it directly contributes to child mortality, school drop-out rates, gender equality and poverty reduction. Almost 55 million children under five in India are underweight for their age. Children who are chronically undernourished before their second birthday are likely to have diminished cognitive and physical development for the rest of their lives. As adults, they are less productive and earn less than their healthy peers and the cycle of undernutrition and poverty repeats itself, generation after generation.

During the South Asian conference on sanitation last year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that sanitation should be a birthright. Eighty-eight per cent of all diarrhoea-caused deaths in children under five are related to poor water quality, hygiene and sanitation. More than half of India's population, or 665 million people, practise open defecation. Though India has been able to double the total number of people using improved toilets, from 19 to 38 per cent between 1990 and 2006, further acceleration is needed.

The CRC provides clear parameters on how schools can be child-friendly and now we must make concerted efforts to ensure that every child attends and stays in school. The Right to Education Act is a powerful way forward, placing the obligation on the state that all children receive at least eight years of schooling. But today millions of India's children are not attending school. Child labour also remains a major area of concern, especially among teenagers in the 14 -18 age bracket who do not have access to education and continue to work in hazardous occupations.

Widespread and entrenched exploitation, gender discrimination and caste bias in India cannot be wished away overnight. The recent global fuel, food and economic crises will certainly affect the country's social progress, possibly slowing or even stalling recent gains in child survival and education.

We are all aware that rights can be declared and policies formulated, but unless the life of the child in the family and community is improved, all our efforts are meaningless. As common citizens we must pledge not to accept work from children, not tolerate child marriage and ensure all children, especially girls, go to school. India's children are its future. The rights spelled out in the convention must become a reality for each and every child in this nation.

Sinha is chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and Hulshof is representative, UNICEF India.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

Q&A

'WE MAKE GREAT IDEAS AVAILABLE TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE'

 

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference, an annual four-day residential conclave devoted to "ideas worth spreading", which concluded in Mysore recently, was held for the first time in India. Chris Anderson, curator of TED, spoke to Sudeshna Chatterjee:

What has taken you so long to reach India?

Apart from one experimental event in Japan 15 years ago, TED has been for most of its history a closed event held annually in California. In 2001, its ownership transferred from its founder into my non-profit foundation (The Sapling Foundation) and we gradually started bringing in a more global roster of speakers. The big shift came in 2006 when we started releasing talks on the Web and discovered that there was a vast global audience excited by this type of content.

But isn't the Rs 1 lakh entry fee exorbitant in a country like India?

Yes, a lakh is a lot, although it's one-third the price we charge in California. No one is making a profit at TED. It's run from a foundation and the fees don't cover the large costs of putting on an event as ambitious as TED. This conference was subsidised by the foundation because we so badly wanted to come to India. Despite the high price it sold out. We also included 100 fellows, selected from 1,000 applicants, all of whose costs we covered, and a number of discounted educational and non-profit passes. We also streamed four of the sessions on the Web to anyone for free, and will be releasing all the best talks on our website, ted.com, in the coming months.

There will be numerous self-organised events held across India in the coming months under the programme we call TEDx. These will be publicised in due course, and people can find them on http://ted.com/tedx. Typically they will be one-day events held in various cities or universities and targeting a few hundred local knowledge-seekers.

Can you talk about some of the interesting ideas that came up at the Mysore conference?

Pranav Mistry is developing SixthSense, which is a wearable prototype that augments the physical world around us with digital information. Shaffi Mather's corruption-busting business idea, where he proposes to set up anti-bribe BPOs across India and which will take a fee from the client is both brilliant and courageous. Shashi Tharoor's views on soft power have been articulated before, but perhaps never in so compelling a way. The philosophy behind TED is ideas have a unique ability to shape the future. By making great ideas available to millions of people on ted.com, we're helping to accelerate this process. There was the special moment when attendees responded to Sunitha Krishnan's searing talk on her fight against sex trafficking by committing more than $100,000 in donations on the spot, and by promising jobs for the young women she is rehabilitating.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

DA VINCI KODA

JUG SURAIYA 

 

We sometimes think: why are we so greedy for land and property, why are we motivated by political desires? Sometimes it's hard to love like this. We should not detest the diseased. We should try to rid the disease because all living creatures are connected with one another. If we cannot love the violent, cruel-hearted, hateful and the envious, then we cannot love anyone.

 

Just as iron is naturally attracted to a magnet, the soul of every living being is naturally attracted to God, who is like a supreme magnet. Then why do so many engage in ungodly activities? Just as a piece of iron covered by dust or rust is not attracted to a magnet, the soul covered by lust, greed, envy, pride, anger and illusion is not attracted to God.

 

So, people are diseased, but we should love the one who is suffering from this disease. People are ruining their lives because their pure consciousness is obscured by illusion and ignorance. When it is night, it is difficult to see what is what, who is who, where we are. Ignorance means you do not know. Ignorance is due to darkness, but as soon as the sun rises, everything is revealed as it is. Similarly, when the light within us is allowed to shine, all ignorance is dispelled.

 

The sun of knowledge, God, is within all of us. Then why are we in darkness? Simply because we cannot perceive His presence. When there are dark clouds, you cannot see the sun. So the cloud of ignorance, which is the root disease which creates all the symptoms in the form of unwanted activities and thoughts, is covering the pure light of the Divine within us.

 

Yoga is a means to dissipate this cloud and allow the sun of love, the sun of peace, the pure light of the divine presence of the Lord within our hearts to shine and give light to everyone. The supreme occupation of all humanity is to give light to the world, not to contribute to the darkness. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

 

It is the duty of each one of us it is the highest expression of love to purify our own hearts. If you do not have something, how can you give it to others? You can only give what you have. What we need is not more technology, not more scientific research. This world doesn't need more food. There's plenty of food, but it's being dumped in the ocean or buried under the ground. What we need is love. If we do not have love, what can we give? We will simply remain a part of the problem.

 

Therefore, purification of the heart is the divine responsibility of each one of us. When our hearts are pure like the sun, love will emanate in all directions for everyone. Does the sun discriminate that this is a dragonfly, this is a dog, this is a Native American, this is an Indian, this is a businessman, and this is the president of the United States? No.

 

The pure heart shines love all around in the same way as the sun. When we purify our hearts, we transcend all boundaries of sectarianism, all boundaries of selfishness, and we can be the true servant, well-wisher and friend of every living being.

 

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TIMES OF INDIA

POSTAL PHENOMENON

MEN OF LETTERS

K V KRISHNAN

 

We Indians are sentimental packrats capable of seeking out storage space in the most unassuming of places. No points for guessing attics, cupboards, or that empty void under the cot. I am talking of double-ovens in swanky kitchens that are stuffed with oversized pots and pans or used rags. I draw creative inspiration from that lady whose backyard in the winter months turns into a vast freezer for dal and rasmalai even as the cold Arctic breeze blows through the Chicago skyline. I launched into an adventure that i had been putting off all these years one fine morning, spurred into action by an Encyclopedia Britannica volume (Geomorphic - Immunity) that came crashing down on my head. I badly needed to clear my clutter from bookshelves, attic and several suitcases that hadn't been opened for decades. Cleaning up meant throwing away tomes of thesauri and travel books and also disposing of hundreds of letters and memorabilia over 40 years old. My mouldy book collection was an easy thing to toss out. However, when it came to old letters, what started with a careful review of each piece of paper soon turned into a sentimentally prolonged job. I came to realise half a day into this activity that one had sifted through a mere 50 odd letters from relatives and friends and just ended up tucking away most of this nostalgic collection back into its folders.

I decided to throw sentiment to the winds and consign everything into the raddiwallah's lot with mounting exasperation, compounded by a hurting back. I had loaded bundles of letters upon his scale in exchange for 20 meager rupees by the end of the day, but had a lot more valuable real estate back home. A week later, to my utter consternation, a press posse showed up at my humble Bangalore residence brandishing a published article and insisting i pose for a picture. I had found fame and fortune at long last, or so it seemed! Alas, this newfound glory was but short-lived. I pieced together what must have happened. Turns out among those papers in the raddiwallah's lot, one letter still tucked in its envelope had somehow found its way into a postbox. A conscientious postman had inadvertently delivered this 30-year-old letter to my previous address, creating misleading history. This was more excitement than the current resident of that apartment could digest. He had called up the local newspaper to report this amazing incident.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

GUILT-EDGED EXCUSE

 

Managing one's reputation is a tricky business — a slip can put you back by a thousand paces. So when the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs found that the company hasn't been doing well at all on this front, it launched a charm offensive. Ahead of the Christmas season, it gallantly played Santa Claus and opened its goody-bag a little. Out came a nicely packaged apology for "participating in wrong things" and a promissory note of $500 million — about 3 per cent of the $16.7 billion it has so far set aside to pay its employees this year — to help small businesses recover from the recession. And that was not all: the bank roped in its largest shareholder, the billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett to guide this reputation-recovery process.

 

But if small entrepreneurs — the nuts and bolts of an economy — are hoping that tidy cheques will land at their doorstep by the next reindeer mail, they are in for a surprise. Hard cash will be hard to come by. Instead, Goldman will spend $200 million on education and training programmes (read: fancy corporate gyan), while another $300 million would be spent for projects that come under Goldman's corporate social responsibility schemes. Also, no invitations are coming for Mr Buffett's famous and expensive mentoring dinners; he says he will give advice from the "35,000-feet level".

 

All this leaves us a bit confused. Goldman Sachs says that it's sorry and wants to spend but will not pay cash — something that small businesses actually need desperately to tide over the credit crunch. So how far would this $500 million notional cash and a crisp apology go? Frankly, not too far. Meanwhile, small entrepreneurs can look skywards for some advice. Don't forget: at 35,000 ft sits Mr Buffett.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

FAMILY DOES NOT MATTER

 

Ratan Tata is merely returning the compliment when he says the corporate empire he heads could have an expatriate boss after he steps down in 2012. Indra Nooyi at Pepsi and Vikram Pandit at Citibank are among a growing tribe of Indians steering Fortune 500 companies. Mr Tata was responsible for much of India Inc's appetite for cross-border acquisitions: in just under a decade he bought out Tetley, Corus, Jaguar-Land Rover and sundry other firms. He today runs a conglomerate that does two-thirds of its $70 billion business on foreign shores. Alan Rosling and Raymond Bickson have headed key divisions within the group like power and hotels, so it should come as little surprise if Bombay House is run by a foreigner.

 

When it happens, it will be a coming-of-age event in India's corporate history. Our business tycoons share with most of their Asian peers an undue fondness for family and friends. Ratan Tata himself had to bring to heel a posse of professional managers in the sprawling Tata group after his uncle JRD Tata anointed him successor in 1991. The satrapies have since been dissolved and the group has acquired a tighter corporate identity. The Tatas are ahead of the Indian pack in aligning corporate governance with global practices and the group's cultural milieu is not too daunting for the global manager. Carlos Ghosn at Nissan and Howard Stringer at Sony are proof that profit speaks the same language across continents.

 

Capability, and not nationality, will be the true test for succession planners in Bombay House. When he does hang them up, Ratan Tata will be taking off boots too big to fill. The 71-year-old came into his inheritance late, but persevered to dispel initial misgivings about being able to shoulder JRD's legacy. His drive to put India Inc on the international stage will be difficult to replicate, as will his quest for billions at the bottom of the pyramid. The Nano and the Jaguar link up in Mr Tata's vision for new markets. Managing India's first multinational requires a marriage of frugality and expansiveness that is hard to come by. In a society where business houses seldom outlive the third generation, the House of Tata has kept growing during most of its 141-year existence. Odds are it will make yet another right choice in 2012.

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

LEFT OUT IN THE COLD

SUMIT MITRA

 

Three years ago, by merely speculating that the CPI(M) and its Left Front allies might some day be out of power in West Bengal, one could get labelled as a head case. But now a similar diagnosis seems justified for those who expect the CPI(M) to remain in power after the next assembly election — be it in 2011, when it is due, or early next year, if somebody delivers the Left Front government — now in its death throes — the much-needed coup de grâce.

 

For the CPI(M) and its cohorts, capturing three-quarters of the 294-seat assembly was taken as read. So tightly did the CPI(M) hold its grip on the state that in the 2006 assembly election, Trinamool Congress — the largest opposition party — was unable to put up agents in thousands of booths. But things got wobbly since that very year, when Trinamool under Mamata Banerjee mobilised a finely-crafted alliance of the peasantry and urban civil society. It torpedoed every new project by which Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sought to taste the joys of the 'capitalist road'— be it Tata Motors' Nano project at Singur, close to Kolkata, or a proposed chemical hub at Nandigram near Haldia. The CPI(M)'s electoral reverses, which began with the subsequent panchayat elections and polling in some municipalities, assumed cyclonic dimensions in the Lok Sabha elections this year. It reduced the Front's tally to 15 (out of 42), the lowest since its formation. That the sky will not clear soon is evident from its stunning rout in the November 7 assembly by-elections. The CPI(M) has lost all the seven seats it contested. And the Trinamool has won all the seven where it had put up candidates.

 

In the past, the CPI(M) had proved its skill of surviving in political hibernation. In the 1972 poll, which brought the Congress to power and made Siddhartha Shankar Ray the chief minister, it won only 14 seats and stayed away from the assembly for five years in disgust. Then, it was back in the assembly with 177 seats of its own and 233 of the Front. Can the CPI(M) do it again?

 

The answer is no. In the 70s, history was on the CPI(M)'s side. Now everything is ranged against it. In the 70s, Indira Gandhi's garibi hatao call had proved more aimed at winning elections (the 1971 massive mandate) than actual removal of poverty. In fact, the poverty ratio kept worsening till as late as 1978. Besides, after the 1969 Congress split, the 'Indira Congress' became synonymous with political corruption and thuggery, a phenomenon poignantly presented by Satyajit Ray in his film Jana Aranya ('The Middle Man'). In 1977, therefore, the CPI(M) loomed on the horizon as both the victim and the saviour.

 

Being in power for over three decades, the party today finds its role thoroughly reversed. It began doctoring elections since the 80s, when, oddly, its candidates — particularly in lower Bengal — were winning with more than twice their earlier margins. Stories abounded of polling officers, who owed their jobs to the CPI(M), respectfully allowing the party's 'envoys' to stuff ballots into the boxes, or of party leaders holding kangaroo courts to 'try' those who had dared to canvass for the opposition.

 

From the 90s, terror became all-pervasive. It was something that had not happened in Bengal perhaps since the invasion of the plundering 'bargi' horsemen from Nagpur in the 18th century. And the party bent over backwards to hide the skeletons in its cupboard. In Delhi, its well-scrubbed faces, like Brinda Karat and Sitaram Yechury, and the voluble Nilotpal Basu, regularly appeared on television talk shows and kept up an impression that democracy was unharmed in Bengal, and that their party indeed enjoyed the people's confidence. The reality was absolutely different.

 

It was fear alone that held the key until Mamata Banerjee's agitation at Singur and Nandigram — when the CPI(M) found, to its dismay, that terror wasn't working any longer. Nor will it work in future, as nobody can terrorise people twice (that's why communists and fascists shun democracy). There is little chance, therefore, of the CPI(M) re-emerging from the opposition benches as the messiah of the poor.

 

Parties survive in the opposition when they have fixed constituencies and flexible beliefs. These conditions enabled Tony Blair to steer the British Labour Party out of the wilderness from 1979 to 1997. In India, caste and regional affiliations have offered to the smaller parties, like the Rashtriya Janata Dal or the Shiv Sena, an insurance in bad times. But the CPI(M) has only favour-seekers and no followers. When it has no favours to give it will be condemned to a very lonely political retirement.

 

Can it hit the jungles, like its revolutionary cousins, the Maoists? Unfortunately it can't, as many of its leaders have got used to air-conditioned comfort and regular foreign jaunts. Nor will Bengal under the CPI(M) rule from 1977 to 2011 command too many pages in future history books, as it achieved so little.

 

Sumit Mitra is a Kolkata-based writerThe views expressed by the author are personal

 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

IT'S TIME FOR ACTION

ROSE BRAZ

 

In the US, the legal and policy response to global warming lags far behind the urgency of the problem as articulated by scientists and borne out in the real world. In the past five years, this mismatch has reached frightening proportions, with Arctic sea ice and glaciers rapidly retreating, rising and acidifying seas, stronger storms, more frequent and intense droughts and heat waves, looming species extinction and the climate related-deaths of 300,000 people each year.

 

Leading scientists warn that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have likely already exceeded safe levels. They must, therefore, be reduced in the next few decades to no more than 350 parts per million from today's 385 parts per million to avoid triggering catastrophic, and irreversible, changes on the planet. Instead, emissions continue to grow and the world is on a pace to exceed even the worst-case scenarios modelled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The need for action could not be more urgent.

 

Nevertheless, our federal government has still yet to finalise, much less implement, any meaningful domestic greenhouse gas reduction plan. The great irony of US inaction is that we have the strongest and most successful domestic environmental laws in the world, and no modification of these laws is necessary to use them to address greenhouse gas emissions. Foremost among these laws is the Clean Air Act.

 

Earlier this year, President Obama made clear his desire to go to the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen in December with new climate legislation passed by the US Congress in hand.  With each passing day, however, the prospect of the US Congress passing a new law to curb global warming before the Copenhagen talks grows more remote. Even more worrisome is the fact that the bills currently under consideration in the US are simply not strong enough to avoid climate catastrophe. The hopeful news, however, is that even if December arrives without action from the US Congress, the Obama administration can and should still negotiate a strong agreement there, based on the requirements of existing US environmental law, including most prominently the Clean Air Act.

 

The Clean Air Act is unequivocally the US's strongest existing tool to fight carbon pollution.  Passed in 1970 in response to growing environmental awareness, the Clean Air Act provides a number of successful strategies to reduce air pollution. Perhaps most significantly, we know the Clean Air Act works. It's directly responsible for saving lives, improving health, and decreasing hospitalisations and lost school and workdays. As per the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2010, the Act will save 23,000 lives and prevent 1.7 million asthma attacks, 4.1 million lost workdays, and over 68,000 hospitalisations and emergency room visits.

 

The Clean Air Act saves money and protects our economy. In its first two decades alone, the Act provided benefits, including decreased healthcare costs and reduced lost work time, worth $22.2 trillion. These benefits are 42 times greater than the estimated costs of regulation. Similar results can be expected when EPA starts using the Clean Air Act's successful programmes to reduce greenhouse pollution.

 

Moreover, in the wake of the critically important 2007 US Supreme Court case Massachusetts vs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it's now clear that the EPA is required to reduce greenhouse pollution under the Clean Air Act.

 

While the Obama administration's pace in implementing the Clean Air Act has been far slower than ideal, he is at least moving in the right direction. Greenhouse pollution reductions, achievable under the Clean Air Act, can provide steep reductions in US emissions regardless of Congressional action, and can also complement any new laws such as a cap-and-trade system or carbon tax that Congress may enact in the future. President Obama, therefore, already has the domestic legal and regulatory tools he needs to quickly and effectively reduce greenhouse emissions in the US and can rely on those tools in Copenhagen to negotiate and sign a strong agreement. The urgency of the climate crisis requires the bold and swift leadership he promised, not continued inaction due to challenges both real and imagined.

 

New climate legislation or not, President Obama possesses the power to make a binding international commitment to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions. Failing to act urgently and strongly is not an option. The US is out of excuses.

 

Rose Braz is with the Center for Biological Diversity, Tuscan, ArizonaThe views expressed by the author are personal

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

CAPITAL IDEA

 

North Block hopes it has found a lever to increase bank lending — money will come in (capital infusion in state-owned banks) if money goes out (loans to business). Yearly bank credit growth, taking the early October 2008 to early October 2009 period, is an appallingly low, 9.65 per cent. This, in an economy that's posting among the healthiest post-crisis growth rates, but is also growing at nearly 300 basis points less than what it can. Low bank lending is making the recovery less robust and the near future gloomier than it need be. Even the RBI has frowned on low bank lending. But that has not worked. Neither have the RBI's low policy rates. One implication of that of course is that policy rates should have been lowered further. The other implication is that something has broken down in the relationship between the RBI's policy rates and bank lending rates. Compare with recent history, similarly low RBI policy rates have produced far lower bank lending rates earlier. The level of government borrowing is not a sufficient explanation because even after gorging themselves on government securities banks could have lent more to business than they have.

 

Banks are obviously being excessively risk averse, even months after the post-Lehman shock. Why? The absolutely fundamental reason is that there isn't much competition in banking. A country of India's size does not even have close to 100 biggish banks. There are very few foreign banks. The sector is dominated by a few state-owned banks. In such a situation, once risk aversion takes hold as a decision paradigm and that paradigm gives you respectable profits, the pressure to go after higher returns that comes from commercial lending on a large scale is muted.

 

To that extent linking capital infusion to higher lending makes a lot of sense; it tries to get around the structural problem of low competition. But, note that capital reserve levels of many of India's major state-owned banks are already quite comfortable. Will they trade comfortable capital reserves for impressive ones if the price is business lending on a large scale, especially to thousands of smaller firms that do not have access to global finance? It is hard to say. Plus, if early next year the RBI starts hardening its monetary policy — that will be the wrong decision but it may be taken — banks will have a beautiful excuse to not lend more.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

LET THEM TALK

 

During the last days of the 14th Lok Sabha, its speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, drew a dispiriting profile of the House. In a term of five years it had managed just 322 sittings. By his reckoning, 423 hours had been lost to "disruptions and adjournments due to disorderly scenes". Lists were compiled of the MPs who failed to participate in a single debate, and those who did not ask any question during Question Hour. As Parliament convenes for the Winter Session, can it mend expectations that, as proceedings get underway, nothing will really have changed?

 

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Hamid Ansari has offered a suggestion to break the mould. He recommends that political parties restrict whips to only those bills and motions that could impact the survival of the Central government — that is, to money bills and confidence motions. It is, by the current parliamentary practice, a radical proposal. But political parties should find it worth their while to work towards a consensus on this. Anti-defection provisions, by which an MP can lose her membership of the House for defying a party whip, have given inordinate power to the party bosses. And, by extension, to the executive. As long as the government of the day commands adequate numbers in the two Houses, it can carry through the legislative business of its choice. Even the requisite give-and-take amongst coalition partners takes place outside of Parliament, and blocks of MPs have no choice but to line up as ordered. With voting outcomes pre-decided, there is little incentive for an MP to explore the nuances of a bill or motion. The same goes for opposition MPs, who must abide by their whips. The loss to Parliament is not just the hollowing out of debate. It also disallows the legislature from freeing itself from the executive, from asserting the stature that would come from articulating cross-party understanding on key issues of the day — indeed, even from reflecting a deeper disagreement on an issue that may go beyond the party lines.

 

The purpose of the anti-defection legislation, which has been incrementally strengthened, was to avert the corrupt and destabilising effects of horse-trading. Yet, experience shows that it has also helped smother genuine debate. Ansari's recommendation should be seriously considered.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

WEATHER WARRIORS

 

Inevitably, expectations from Copenhagen have been tamped down by now. Climate action will not come from one dramatic global compact next month. And India has decided to be big about the matter, offering to submit a national communication on climate action every two years, which could become the basis for negotiating with the world and bargaining for technological or financial payback. It has decided to make targeted reductions in energy intensity (though this is a purely internal commitment). This means setting specific performance targets in industry, energy, transport, agriculture, buildings, and forestry for the period between 2020 and 2030 — numbers it can be held to, nationally.

 

After all, unfairness apart, India and its neighbourhood are also vulnerable in the worst ways to climate change — shifts in rainfall pattern will bring more droughts and deluges, and we are expected to experience median temperature spikes much more than Western Europe, according to the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

 

From a nothing-doing attitude towards emissions caps, India graduated to a pledge that we would never exceed the developed world emissions in per capita terms (which means nothing, given India's numbers and the energy gluttony of the West). In recent months, India has also acknowledged the perils of a more than 2 degree Celsius rise, announced one of the most ambitious solar plans in the world, decided to set fuel efficiency standards, a green building code, and committed to a changed energy mix. To an outsider's eye, this fits on with India's shift from a global gadfly role to a sense of responsibility and stewardship. For India, it is a much-needed map of a low-carbon path to growth.

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

COLUMN

SEASONING THE STOCK

ILA PATNAIK

 

The sale of shares of up to 60 public sector enterprises by the Central government will have many advantages. Not only will the money raised bring down the fiscal deficit, there will be additional benefits arising from partial privatisation. Though the objective of the government seems to be primarily to bring its deficit under control, the disinvestment, especially of PSUs that are not yet listed on the stock exchange, could improve performance, corporate governance and investment by these companies. Selling 10 per cent will lay down the foundations for price discovery and make the market ready for further sales of shares.

 

In India, there is a widespread belief that privatisation, or disinvestment, is a means for the government to raise resources. However, the key insight in the impact of disinvestment lies in the impact of privatisation upon GDP growth. Privatisation is important not so much because it brings some resources into the exchequer. It is important because it puts assets and workers in better hands. Both theoretical and empirical research literatures show positive benefits in terms of better output from the same resources when the labour and capital was put under the control of a private manager. Considering the large share of assets and workers in India in the hands of government as the owner and manager, India could raise GDP growth simply through privatisation, where the same labour and capital would yield better output through superior management.

 

However, while privatisation is the best policy path to obtain better GDP growth, achieving privatisation requires leadership and political will. Valuation of loss-making public sector enterprises is difficult and it is easy for the political opposition to criticise anything that is done under this agenda. The process of selling companies to a single buyer can make the political leadership vulnerable to accusations of corruption and favouritism. Processes of choosing the best management in terms of experience in the relevant industry can mean creating or supporting private monopolies in those sectors. In contrast, the public sale of shares of public sector companies does not pose these hurdles. It constitutes a low-hanging fruit and is politically much easier. This option is politically easier largely because the control of the firm stays with the government; politicians and bureaucrats continue to steal from the firm, employees do not feel insecure at the prospect of a new management coming in and the low-quality top management teams of the PSU stay in place. All that is changed is that a small percentage of shares is sold off to the public. It looks like a win-win situation because the government is raising money to spend more on its favourite programmes without losing control over the company.

 

However, despite all the above difficulties, the sale of some shares, while retaining management control with the government, does have benefits. This is seen in evidence available not only from other countries, but also from India. Between 1991 and 2000, the Central government partially privatised around 45 public sector enterprises. These enterprises were listed on stock exchanges but majority ownership and management remained with the government. A study of the impact of partial privatisation ("Partial privatisation and firm performance", Nandini Gupta, Journal of Finance, 2005) finds that both the levels and the growth rates of profitability, labour productivity, and investment spending improved significantly following partial privatisation. Gupta found that the decrease in government ownership increased sales, profits, and the average product of labour and returns to labour. In addition, investment spending on research and development and expenditures on fixed assets rose significantly following an increase in the private share of a firm's equity.

 

This evidence gives us hope that going beyond resource raising for the government, the Indian economy will gain through better utilisation of the labour and capital in the PSUs, when compared with the pre-listing state. The listing of unlisted PSUs seems to create market pressure on the management. The company's stock price becomes an instrument through which the market gives daily feedback on the performance of the company.

 

If a disinvestment transaction is structured so that employees get some shares, then it creates a new incentive structure. Compensation structures in the public sector are notorious for giving employees no incentive to cater to the interests of the firm. However, if even some employees have shares in the firm post-listing, then their wealth maximisation makes them interested in the affairs of the firm.

 

While this evidence for the early listings of the 1991-2000 period is optimistic, there is a role of caution, given the weaker state of the remaining PSUs. Many PSUs are all but dead as businesses; all that is there by way of value is assets such as real estate. Listing might not improve their performance; what is really required is true privatisation. The sale of assets of PSUs is going to be as controversial as the privatisation undertaken by Arun Shourie under the NDA government. It could come under similar attack as the possibility of corruption can be extremely large. Until governance structures and transparency in the functioning of the government in India are far better than those which exist today, the best option may be to leave some of these difficult decisions alone.

 

Finally, the ministry of finance has suggested that all listed companies should have a minimum 25 per cent of shares held by the broad public. While many PSUs may, at first, have only 10 per cent of the shares sold off to the public, this is the right stepping stone to immediately undertake. Within a few months, the market will have got a good sense of the price of these companies. Once the stock is "seasoned" in this fashion, it will be easy to follow through with the sale of another 15 per cent of shares, so as to get to the 25 per cent requirement which is to be applied to all listed companies.

 

The writer is professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi

 

express@expressindia.com

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

BIG B'S LATE STYLE

SHUBHRA GUPTA

 

When you think of Amitabh Bachchan today, what is the first thing you see? It is the parcel. And the packaging. A Harlequin jacket. A Pied Piper's hat. A long ostrich feather trailing the headgear. Zircon, zari, zardozi. All accoutrements. All embellishments. The actor who has been our steadfast screen companion for four prolific decades has been buried under this ever-burgeoning mound.

 

For several of those years, his light shone the brightest, spilling out from the characters he brought to crackling life with a gesture, a throwaway phrase, a line — all of those things became part of movie lore, of audience speak. Of late, though, he has been toplining films in severely overwrought-but-underwhelming parts. Where has the real, essential Amitabh gone?

 

The answer is startlingly simple. He's got lost in costumery, puffery, jiggery-pokery. Recall the roles he's played most recently. In his latest exposition, Aladin, his genie is shiny and genial. In Bhootnath, his ghost is grimy and bad-tempered. Some time back, he even played the Almighty in God Tussi Great Ho, without an ounce of irony. All these films were rejected outright.

 

When Amitabh fakes it, the film tanks. When he's flesh and blood — he's been a "haad maas ka insaan" in two of the biggest weepies recently, Baghbaan and Baabul, with the first demanding more mopping — the box office floweth over. He happily toys with his wife's choli (Hema's comely choli being eminently toy-able), is thrown out of the house by his greedy offspring, and gets rescued by his golden-hearted adopted son. We like.

 

Why has that man disappeared? One reason could be the excessive reverence that all the young directors he's working with these days profess to possess. If you are bowing and scraping up to his door, via the good offices of son and cronies, overcome by the fact of the great legend signing your first film, will you have the courage to write him a part that lives, breathes, and perhaps, has warts?

 

Cast back to the time, and very far back that was indeed, when Amitabh was not bigger than his films. In the first few he did, mostly flops, he was part of the cast, an ultra-tall cog in the wheel. The holy trinity of Zanjeer, Deewar and Sholay changed all that. The films that made Amitabh the Big B were also responsible for stopping all the directors he worked with, with the honourable exception of Hrishikesh Mukherji, from being able to cast Amitabh as an Average Joe.

 

The rest, starting with Yash Chopra, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, all got terribly busy cranking out films which opened when Amitabh strode on to the screen, and closed when he died, taking his time about it, in Nirupa Roy's arms. His spectacular success was the death of the actor: the star became the superstar, vanished for a few years on a self-imposed sabbatical, came back as a corporation to recoup loss and face, took a beating in five comeback films, and then emerged, as a colossus, on prime time TV.

 

Amitabh was back like he'd never left, only bigger, because the big screen was waiting to grab him. And there he's been since, surrounded by young wet-behind-ears acolytes, all of whom claim to have grown up on his movies. Where are the directors who will offer him a role he's still waiting to do? In what could-have-been a defining part, Rituparno Ghosh allowed him to orate his way through The Last Lear. It was tailor-made, and he ruined it by coming over all exaggeratedly thespian.

 

The last time Amitabh did anything halfway life-like was Viruddh. He does not declaim, or wear glittery sherwanis. He sits in a rocking chair, takes the medicine his wife dishes out to him, and goes after his son's killers to the best of his middle-class, middle-aged ability. We like.

 

R. Balki gave him a gorgeous part in Cheeni Kum. The opinionated chef who thinks he's the cat's meow falling for a woman half his age. He gets into a tussle about "pulao" and "biryani". He peers out from the kitchen to see if he can catch a glimpse of the woman he's starting to yearn after. He runs around the park, huffing and puffing, in order to convince his beloved that he's, ahem, man enough for her. If only the director had not turned the film into a hideously dull battle between two egoistic old men, Cheeni Kum would have been an unutterably sweet rom com. But he flubbed it, and we lost a fabulous opportunity to see Amitabh romance a real woman, and you can't get more real than Tabu, can you?

 

In a couple of weeks, Balki will be back with Amitabh in a never-before guise — bald head, dorky glasses, and jerky gait. Will he be able to overcome the makeup, and give us the pure, unadult-erated actor in Paa?

 

Come on, do. Blow us away, Mr Bachchan. Play it as sweetly as you used to. It's been a while.

 

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

MUMBAI'S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Y P RAJESH

 

Until less than a fortnight ago, the run-up to the first anniversary of the 26/11 nightmare was moving along predictable lines. Authorities in Mumbai were planning memorial events and a show of the police's new might, think-tanks were organising security conferences, some of the places targeted by the ten Lashkar-e-Toiba men were gearing for sombre ceremonies to remember the dead, and the media was busy revisiting families of victims and survivors. And then came the names of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana, the two alleged Lashkar men arrested by the FBI in the US in connection with plots to launch attacks in Denmark and India. The speculation that has since ensued has also been on predictable lines. The headlines have all but linked the two men with the conspiracy and planning of 26/11 although there has hardly been anything substantial in the public domain to connect them.

 

The timing is perhaps just a coincidence but the episode is moving in the direction of raising fresh questions about the kind of local help the ten Lashkar gunmen had. This has been one of the more enduring mysteries about the attack despite Mumbai Police arresting alleged Indian Lashkar operatives Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed and accusing them of preparing the ground for the raid by drawing maps, taking photographs and making videos for their Lashkar bosses to plan 26/11.

 

Some investigators continue to argue how it would still be impossible for the attackers to find the Jewish centre of Nariman House in an obscure lane in south Mumbai unless they were physically guided there after arriving by boat from Karachi. Others have toyed with the theory that at least one of the ten men had made a trip to Mumbai at least once before and this was probably the group leader Abu Ismail, Ajmal Kasab's accomplice, who was killed in the shootout on Marine Drive. But there is no unanimity on the possibilities, and conspiracy theorists continue to have a field day. The names of Headley and Rana have only made the story murkier and remind us that we still do not know everything we ought to, about a key aspect of 26/11.

 

That though, is not the only element of 26/11 awaiting closure. Besides being unprecedented in its scale and nature, this assault on Mumbai was also historic for the amount of incontrovertible evidence it gave investigators to trace its origin, with the prize catch of Kasab sitting right on top of that mountain. Pakistan, after a bit of waffling, was faced with no option but to accept that its nationals were involved in the attack and even went as far as arresting six Lashkar members. But the shape of events since then, including the action against Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed, gives little room for hope that the brains behind 26/11 will be brought to justice, even if it is on Pakistani soil, while the trial in India is fast moving towards its logical end.

 

There is one line that politicians, bureaucrats and police officers in Mumbai are in total agreement with, in their assessment of 26/11 and the initial counter-offensive by local police: "it was an act of aggression, like war, it is not fair to believe our policemen were trained or equipped to repulse it." Looking back at the first few hours of 26/11, and the omissions and commissions on the ground exposed by this newspaper earlier this year, that assessment may not be too off the mark. But attempting to justify that inability of the police in a city long used to terror attacks and gangland violence is doomed to go nowhere. Much has been done over the last year to bolster the armoury of Mumbai police, create a new anti-terror force and bring a unit of the elite National Security Guard to the city even though much more needs to be done by the government's own admission, with only half the estimated cost of Rs 200 crore spent so far.

 

While India is not exactly known for its ability to assign blame for lapses in the system that result in grave tragedies and hold people responsible, 26/11 was unprecedented as it claimed the jobs of the then-Union home minister, the state chief minister and his deputy who was also the state home minister. A part of that can be credited to the outrage 26/11 triggered, when parliamentary elections were only a few months away. The argument gets bolstered as two of the three politicians have since been more than rehabilitated. But the mea culpa has remained restricted to the political class. Barring the promotion and transfer of the-then Mumbai Police chief, and that too with no specific 26/11 links made, officials at the central and state level have largely remained untouched. This is particularly true for the intelligence agencies who, as it was found, had specific information in the days before the Lashkar boat reached Mumbai but could do little to stop the carnage.

 

26/11 deserved an inquiry commission on the lines of the US commission that probed 9/11 and went on to blame the FBI and the CIA for intelligence failures. Particularly since the failures in India involved central and state, civilian and military agencies. But all that Mumbai got was a state-level exploratory trip by two retired officials who had to rely on police officers volunteering information, and even those findings were buried. Recently, a senior Mumbai police officer sought to draw another parallel between 26/11 and 9/11. The 9/11 commission, he told this writer, had concluded that the attacks on the Twin Towers were due to the "failure of imagination". Security agencies there did not consider passenger planes could be used as missiles. In the same manner, Indian agencies failed to imagine an urban guerrilla attack at multiple locations by gunmen who came by sea, he said. India needs to draw one more parallel between 9/11 and 26/11. It needs to ensure that it has the security architecture in place to prevent another major terror strike just as the US has ensured that there has not been another attack after September 11. One year after 26/11, it is safe to say that it is still a work that needs to make a lot of progress.

 

yp.rajesh@expressindia.com

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

FROM KABUL TO KASHMIR

 

By all rights, the United States and India should be bound together by the shared tragedies of 9/11 and last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai. India's size, economic-growth trajectory, and rising power as a stable, secular democracy in a dangerous part of the world ought to make it a key US partner. Instead, Washington's single-minded focus on India's much smaller unstable neighbor, Pakistan, in carrying out the war on terror has increasingly strained its relations with New Delhi. To India's dismay, the US has looked the other way while much of the $10.5 billion in military hardware and cash subsidies provided to the Pakistan Army for use against the Taliban has been diverted to building up arms capabilities targeted at India. Equally disturbing is that Washington has given only perfunctory support to India in pushing Pakistan to prosecute the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.

 

The principal argument advanced to justify this focus is that the US needs the cooperation of Pakistani generals to counter Al -Qaeda and the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. But, far from helping, Islamabad is giving covert aid to the Taliban. It also has yet to provide the intelligence needed to root out Al Qaeda — a point driven home in October when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, referring to Al Qaeda, told an audience in Pakistan that it was "hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to."

 

To complicate matters further, many Pakistani leaders now argue that their country needs a strong Taliban in Afghanistan to offset the rising Indian influence there. The price for cutting its ties with the Taliban, Islamabad says, is a "grand bargain" in which India lowers its profile in Kabul and settles the Kashmir issue. This position is of a piece with the longstanding desire in Islamabad to make Afghanistan a satellite state that will provide "defence in depth" against New Delhi. In an interview with me in 1988, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq declared that "we have earned the right as a frontline state against the Russians to have a friendly regime in Kabul, a regime to our liking." Two decades later, a Pakistani general told the visiting US Director of Intelligence Mike McConnell that "we must support the Taliban so that there is a government friendly to Pakistan in Kabul. Otherwise, India will reign." More recently, the spokesman for the Pakistan armed forces criticised the "overinvolvement of Indians in Afghanistan," specifically warning against any Indian aid in training the Afghan Army.

 

Most US officials have ignored Pakistan's attack on the Indian presence in Kabul. But Gen. Stanley McChrystal echoed the Pakistani refrain in his assessment of the prospects in Afghanistan, stating that "increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India." This was a bombshell in New Delhi, and the Obama administration should make clear that it is not opposed to more Indian influence in Kabul. The US goal should be a sovereign Afghanistan, not the creation of an anti-Indian Pakistani satellite state. To this end, the US and NATO should encourage India and other regional powers to play a greater role in shaping Afghanistan's future and in setting the terms for a gradual US-NATO withdrawal. So far, Indian assistance to Kabul has consisted of just $1.2 billion in economic aid and police training, but it could offer a valuable addition to the currently ineffectual US-NATO effort to train the Afghan Army.

 

As President Obama has observed, the Kashmir issue "is obviously a tar pit, diplomatically." That is because it is not a territorial issue. In Indian eyes, the retention of a Muslim-majority Kashmir is necessary to preserve India's character as a secular state in which 160 million Muslims coexist uneasily with a Hindu majority. By the same token, Pakistan gives Kashmir top priority to vindicate its creation as an Islamic state.

 

To be sure, significant progress was made during former president Pervez Musharraf's regime in exploring the terms for a thaw in Kashmir. But no proposal for a "grand bargain" would have any chance of success unless Islamabad prosecutes the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and destroys the Islamist paramilitary forces that threaten India and Pakistan. This is extremely unlikely, given the grip of Islamist sympathisers on the Pakistan Army. So while the US should continue to give large-scale development aid to Pakistan, the focus of its attention in South Asia should shift to India — one of the few bright spots on the US global horizon.

 

The writer is director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a senior scholar of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

 

Newsweek

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

IN THE DRAGON'S LAIR

Obama's China trip has been sharply criticised by most US newspapers as being unnecessarily deferential and obtaining no real concessions. A cross-section of responses:

 

USA Today's November 17 editorial was headlined: "Obama goes to China, brings home a T-shirt". The editorial went on to say that: "creating a climate of collaboration is a worthy goal, but Obama was deferential to the point of looking weak." It added that "the risk is that Obama's manner could leave a dangerous perception among other tough actors around the world."

 

• The New York Times, in a news report on November 17, held that "China Holds Firm on Major Issues in Obama's Visit" The article said: "White House officials acknowledged that they did not get what they wanted from Mr Hu on Iran but said that Mr Obama's method would yield more in the long term... Mr Obama did not appear to move the Chinese on currency issues, either."

 

• In a news report on November 18, Washington Post wrote: "Listening to President Obama and his Chinese counterpart this week, it was hard to tell who was Hu". Criticising his lack of openness, it said that "Obama's reluctance to be challenged in public is more problematic. It sends a message to the world that contradicts his claim to the Chinese students that he is a better leader because he is forced 'to hear opinions that I don't want to hear.' "

 

• Time magazine, in a news report on November 19, was critical of Obama's entire Asia visit. In particular, of Obama "bobbing forward in gratitude before his tour guide at the Courtyard of Loyal Obedience in the Forbidden City". "China offered no concessions on key issues like trade imbalances and human rights. (In fact, its authoritarian government prepped for Obama's arrival by detaining still more dissidents)."

 

• The Weekly Standard, representing the broad spectrum of conservative opinion, was particularly critical. In a column on November 19, Executive Editor Fred Barnes wrote: "Has a president ever been less successful on a trip overseas than President Obama has on his eight-day excursion to Asia? I've been covering presidents since Gerald Ford and I can't think of one... Imagine the embarrassment of being lectured by the Chinese about being protectionist." Pointing to criticism of Obama's China visit, he pointed out that "For Obama, the honeymoon with the press may be over."

 

• Even some campus magazines took notice. The Pitt News, the daily student paper of the University of Pittsburg, in an editorial said that: "The United States has waning clout overseas, and, both domestically and internationally, Obama has been deflated on issue after issue — but never worse than this week in China... These are the acts of a president who knows the United States does not have much leverage left. Yet for all these concessions, Obama did not get any tangible results from his talk with Jintao."

 

• One of the few contrasting notes were struck by the Los Angeles Times. In an editorial on November 17, it disagreed with "conservatives at home" who "believe Obama is ceding too much to China." The editorial went on to say that "Obama is right to acknowledge China's might... The United States can acknowledge China's economic and political clout in a multipolar world without sacrificing its own leadership role in the region... Obama is right to acknowledge China's might."

 

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INDIAN EXPRESS

OPED

MULAYAM-KALYAN HONEYMOON: RIP

SEEMA CHISHTI

 

Former wrestler and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav distancing himself from Kalyan Singh has not impressed the Urdu world. In an editorial on Kalyan Singh's subsequent fulminations against Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Sahara (Nov 17) writes: "It is difficult to say as to what extent Kalyan Singh damaged the BJP (as claimed by him). But there is no doubt about the fact that he has inflicted immense damage on Mulayam Singh... "

 

In an editorial entitled, 'End of Mulayam-Kalyan honeymoon', Delhi-based Hamara Samaj (Nov 16) writes that Mulayam Singh's distancing himself from Kalyan Singh has been a bit too late. "It is not child's play (gudiya gudde ka khel ) wherein one could bring any discredited (budnaam) leader into his group and throw him out at will... Mulayam Singh and his party would have to pay for his actions."

 

Kolkata and Delhi-based daily, Akhbar-e-Mashriq , in its editorial (Nov 16) comments that "Mulayam Singh Yadav had tried to use Kalyan Singh as the fifth wheel of a vehicle. But instead of adding speed to the vehicle the fifth wheel proved to be immobile and at least one of the earlier four wheels (Muslims) started moving out of its place."

 

Delhi-based daily Jadeed Khabar (Nov 16), makes a significant point: "Mulayam's friendship with Kalyan Singh, not alienated Muslim voters, it also weakened his grip onYadav-dominated areas like Firozabad, Bhartana and Etawah."

 

War of words

The unruly behaviour of the MNS MLAs during Abu Asim Azmi's oath-taking in the Maharashtra Assembly has been described "a slap in the face of the nation" and "a matter not of Hindi-Marathi but of the nation's integrity", and "a challenge to the authority of the Indian Constitution".

 

Hyderabad-based Rahnuma-e-Deccan, in its editorial (Nov 5) says: "Whether it is Bal Thackeray or any other Thackeray, if he is given the freedom to try to challenge and destroy India's unity and integrity and openly violate the Indian Constitution, the Constitution will have to be activated and such elements will forced to give up such a line of action . If they show disobedience, they should be punished through constitutional means."

 

Akhbar-e-Mashriq (Nov 11) finds "considerable merit" in BJP's allegation that "Congress has committed the sin of promoting Raj Thackeray to suppress BJP and Shiv Sena... If it (Congress) does not rein in Raj Thackeray, he will emerge in the future as Bhindranwale and will destroy his benefactor."

 

Obama's grandmother

According to the lead story in Hindustan Express (Nov 6) US President Barack Obama's paternal grandmother Sarah Obama will be among the millions who will perform Haj in Saudi Arabia next week. The paper says; "87-year- old Sarah Obama does not have the resources to undertake the journey despite the desire to do it...Barack Obama has chosen not to associate himself with such a pilgrimage. So Dr. Sulaiman, a real estate giant with business links in Pakistan, has come to Sarah's rescue by providing the resources. According to the paper, Sarah will be going along with her son, Syed Obama, the uncle of the US President."

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

MANAGERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Ratan Tata usually gets to headlines by talking sense. As he is chairman of one of India's largest and most venerable corporate groups, any movement on the question of his succession is bound to grab attention. Tata indicated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that while it may be easier for the company to engage an Indian candidate, it would be open to hiring an expatriate for the job. Simultaneously, he addressed the other big-ticket issue of having acquired Corus and Jaguar, and whether the global economic meltdown had engendered a rethinking on those acquisitions. These are not unconnected concerns. At bottom, it's a matter of management capabilities. Does a company have professional managers of international rank, or not? Tata says he does; they have quietly and successfully negotiated the company's debt through a difficult period. The availability of the best of capital and labour helped. In fact, without such access, Tata could never have gotten into a situation where 65% of its revenues come from overseas. Parochialists fear such a state, and globalisers embrace it. Indeed, parochialists are missing a bigger point: the Indian market is becoming large enough for MNCs to consider India as one of the top two or three markets. Expats coming to India now come with key responsibilities and, as someone said, in the not too distant future most major global companies will be headquartered in either China or India.

 

Pause here and rebut the MNS position again, taking advantage of what the Mumbai-based Tata said. MNS wants to keep Maharashtra jobs for Maharashtrians—just look at the data showing how free movement of labour has been integral to building the economy of Maharashtra. Expand this argument, and to go back to Tata's comments, and note that an astounding 25% of publicly traded companies in the US that were started with venture capital between 1990-2007 had an immigrant founder. We know that a quarter of Silicon Valley companies were started by Indian and Chinese people. In short, there is evidence aplenty that free movement of labour and capital is good for wealth creation across developing and developed countries. Yet, here we are. The US has a hopelessly antiquated immigration system wherein H-1B visa allocations for skilled workers are so few that they usually run out on the first day itself. Indians suffer from the US dictate, but haven't gotten around to evolving a coherent policy of their own—witness the Chinese workers' issue. At one point, India used to complain about its brain drain and then Americans started running scared about their job losses. But tales of the future will be made up of much more complex patterns of geographical mobility—Tata's successor is likely to have lived his career across both developed and developing countries. Whatever may be the birthplace marked on his passport.

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

EDITORIAL

SWEET NOTHINGS

The UPA-II government has finally come up against a united and belligerent Opposition, which forced an early adjournment of the first day of the winter session of Parliament, protesting against the government's Sugarcane Control (Amendment) Order, 2009, ordinance. As things stand now, the government will find it difficult to convert the ordinance into law, especially since it doesn't have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha. But the issue is about more than just cobbling together the necessary numbers. The Opposition indeed does have a point: there is a serious problem with the ordinance as it stands now. Unfortunately, the Opposition doesn't seem to have the right solution to the problem. The problem quite clearly is the fixing of a fair & remunerative price (FRP) by the Centre through the ordinance. The FRP is lower than what the state-adjusted prices (SAP) were for sugar procurement before this ordinance was promulgated. In UP, a state adversely affected by the FRP, the SAP for sugar is around Rs 160 per quintal. The FRP is just under Rs 130 per quintal. Predictably, sugarcane farmers are outraged at what they view as a policy that will favour millers. Of course, states like deploying the SAP as a tool of political patronage. As long as the financial burden was borne by the Centre, it was easy for states to hike SAP. Now the Centre has stated that any (cost) addition to the FRP must be borne by the state.

 

The fundamental problem, of course, lies in the arbitrary manner in which governments, at the Centre and in states, have been pricing sugar procurement for decades. It is hard to know, in the absence of a properly functioning market mechanism, what the right price is. Note here that the Opposition is not making a demand for a complete decontrol of sugar. It would rather sugarcane farmers be paid much more than FRP, perhaps even the Rs 250 per quintal that some farmer groups are demanding. That will only compound the problem as the price of sugar for consumers—many of who are very poor—is already very high. If the government and Opposition are serious about finding a satisfactory solution to the problem, which eschews narrow political concerns and is perceived to be neutral and credible, then they must abandon trying to fix prices in the sugar industry, from farm to the mill and beyond. If farmers say they will get a better price selling directly to millers—through the market mechanism—then they should be allowed to do so. At least that way there will be proper price discovery and neither farmers nor millers will have ground to complain. Most of all, sugar will have the depoliticisation it desperately needs.

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

WHY OUR CANE FARMERS ARE RAISING CAIN

YOGINDER K ALAGH

I was told last month that we are reforming the sugar industry, and our description of the sugar cobweb in the early 1980s in APC and BICP reports was appreciated. A rainfall failure year, however, is not quite the ideal backdrop for successful reform. Asked to write on the sugar conundrum, I am sceptical. We were doing rather badly throughout the decade with cane production below levels reached in the last decade, but 2006-07 was a bumper and so we relaxed.

 

In the last sugar cycle, in the early part of the decade, we had made the point to continue to protect the sugar industry at 60%, plus tariff rates—the envy of poor cotton producers who felt cheated since they were introducing the big technology breakthroughs with so-called illegal BT cotton seeds and got no protection—but government eventually allowed free import of raw sugar for mills. After all we are a globalised economy and must take the downside sportingly, so anticyclical trade would be the way out. In a trading economy, courtesy the Brazilians, Mauritians and others with plenty of land and subsidies, we would import all the sugar we want and in good years, export. Now refined sugar is imported at zero tariffs, but that is only for some parastatals and in small quantities.

 

Problems of course in this great country are embedded in history. I got involved in sugar after Chaudhari Charan Singhji had decontrolled sugar telling his Jat friends in the last peak to grow cane on his head. The agricultural cobweb was the first lesson in econometrics and I knew that decontrol would lead to a cycle. In an eighteen month crop in the larger producing region in UP, the farmer would go by last year's high price, overproduce and there would be a crash. But the cycle wouldn't work out right in our equations and APC (now CACP) charts for the future. So much for econometrics. Turns out that the farmer doesn't make money only out of selling cane to the factory but made gur with the rest, and his return was what the mills gave him and what he made from gur. In that work on the cane cycle and later in BICP we were to argue that policy must use the market and show how the cycle could be countered. Instead of playing the market we are protecting farmers stuck to each mill and also the mill. The cost of processing would go down by 25% if crushing capacity went above 2,400 tonnes a day. We suggested giving it all up in three years.

 

The empire hit back, which is alright, but continues to do so. There is still a minimum support price of cane, which is Rs 81 per quintal at a basic recovery rate of 9% or Rs 92 at the average recovery rate. Raw sugar import is on OGL but it is licensed against advanced licensing. We must be the only country in the world to do open general licence import but against advanced licensing. What a web we spin. I had read that the Mahajan Committee and the Tuteja Committee had repeated what I had said first in 1982 and then somewhat loudly in 1984—get rid of the one-to-one connection between farmers, mills and pricing. But the states still declare an L factor which, if I remember right, is the realisation divided by unit cost of production for each sugar cane zone, and profit-sharing is done accordingly. The proposals for rationalisation are stuck in legal hassles because the L factor is always delayed.

 

Of course, the government is absolutely right in saying that state-advised prices, politically determined, are wrong and make the sector sick. But instead the policymakers want 'fair prices' and that too in a bad year. It's like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. There is still the 1982 APC report and many others. Gur is no longer important, but byproducts are, and trade should be another cushion to take the slack. Sugar the world over is now an energy industry and is a part of agro-energy industrial complexes. Leave aside 10% ethanol; we are stuck at trying 5%. The Alagh Committee on the WTO said use tariffs. The Cabinet paid a special compliment by announcing that it had rejected it, which it hardly ever does in a PIB announcement. More importantly, the CACP and Abhijt Sen still say to work a flexible tariff and then walk away. Of course it has to be a relative tariff with other competing crops. Give powerful financial incentives to go to optimal size in factories and recycle to save costs, which will also be environmentally benign because you save energy and pollutants. Go into tissue culture. If you encourage them to compete they might start producing refined sugar rather than plantation sugar, which has little export market. Free them to trade even if they want to sell raw sugar.

 

Phase the reform, starting slowly for it is a bad year and don't give the policy a bad name to kill it. Show UP how to grow horticulture crops the way the cane belt diversified in Nashik and Nagar. If they don't know, send Nabard chief Sarangi there, for as a young Collector he did it in Nashik, implementing our agro-climatic plan. You don't get grapes wine and onions in a water guzzling sugarcane region, for export without a vision. Incidentally you can also diversify into knowledge. My IT NGO at Rahata in the Pravara sugar factory complex got the IT HRD Maharashtra Technology Award 2009 of the Industries Department of the Government of Maharashtra on Rajiv Gandhi's birthday. Alright, do the full reform next year, but set the date to compete with the Brazilians for cheap, plentiful sugar.

 

The author is a former Union minister

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

THE INGENUITY OF A BUSINESS SCHOOL CV

K VAIDYA NATHAN

 

"Please don't misconstrue my past seventeen jobs as 'job-hopping'. I have never quit a job."

 

Well, it is unlikely that you would find such naivety and candor in corporate resumes. More likely, there would be a fair amount of embellishment to showcase career achievements in the best possible light. And nobody does this more ingeniously than students in B-schools. Recently, as the IIMs had their summer placements, I thought of going for a quick jog along the memory lane.

 

I remember my experience being on either side of the interview table—both as a student and as an interviewer. After a couple of years into my job as an investment banker at JPMorgan Hong Kong, I was asked by the HR folks to scrutinise and short-list some applicants from my alma mater, IIM Ahmedabad. They normally seek the expertise of an alumnus because to them all resumes from IIMs look the same. Invariably, a large proportion of the resumes contain descriptions like topper, ranker, this scholarship getter, that competition winner, etc. The HR guys overseas do not have a good sense of the education environment in India, or at least they did not have it a few years back. So they would have no clue if a city top ranker from Khudra Patti is the same as a fifth ranker from a top-notch school in Delhi. Similarly, they do not have the faintest of idea of, say, what an NTSE scholarship would mean; or if it is better than a state-level scholarship.

 

Top-notch B-schools in India are so swamped by students from top universities in India that shortlisting often becomes a process of exclusion rather than inclusion. A common process to eliminate is to try to look for clues on excessive massaging the candidate has done to the resume. Invariably, all students massage their resumes—some more, some less. For instance, nobody would state that he was sitting on the bench of a software company for 10 out of the 12 months he worked there as a graduate trainee, even if that's what he actually did. Likewise, although his work may have had nothing to do with finance, a candidate would state that he had worked on some financial package that the company was building. Curiously, most of the resumes of engineers with work experience in Infosys avow that they had something to do with Finacle-Infosys' award winning product for Bank Treasury. Now, it doesn't take a Heisenberg to figure out that you certainly cannot take all that is stated in the resume at face value. I have done it as a student. I have made mention of projects that I did, seem a lot more impactful than it was anywhere close to, or made some remote publication in electrical engineering seem noteworthy.

 

However, cooking up non-existent awards, or trying too hard to sell oneself is objectionable even if it doesn't get detected. Currently, if such ingenuity does get caught, the punishment is hardly anything that would make it a deterrent. At best, it entails some social stigma. For instance, a couple of years back, an undergrad student at Yale University, Aleksey Vayner, claimed to have run a hedge fund 'Vayner Capital Management'. He submitted a resume to a couple of investment banks that included a line about his Web site. That Web site turned out to feature a pretty self-aggrandising video of himself. He also claimed to have written a book, Women's Silent Tears: A Unique Gendered Perspective on the Holocaust. His resume soon became the talk of the town, or rather the street. The name—which sounds like 'Vainer'—was just too perfect!

 

Sure, everybody wants to impress and get hired, but there is a thin line between trying to make an impression and stretching facts too far. I am told that the placement offices at B-schools these days have some kind of a regulation to make sure that students do not overstretch their credentials. I think it is a good practice. Also, HR associations, placement consultants, job sites like naukri.com and B-schools could come together to make people, especially students who are starting their careers, aware that such practices are unacceptable. It would eventually benefit all concerned, and more importantly, provide the right guidance to students who are starting their corporate trek.

 

In a competitive environment like that of B-schools where all students have pretty high-grade credentials, there is a tendency to gain every possible inch. The perspective is somewhere lost that a summer internship does not define a career. However, one can't totally blame the young students because at that age, you don't have the benefit of hindsight. Here, past students through alumni associations can be very effective in communicating to students that a bad summer placement or even a not-so-great campus job doesn't mean the end of the world. A career is more akin to a marathon than a 100-metre race. Not being truthful may make one a fleeting champion, but it could also end the Ben Johnson way.

 

The author, formerly with JP MorganChase's Global Capital Markets, Singapore, is currently CEO, Quantum Phinance

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

COLUMN

DROP THE DABBA

SANDIP DAS

 

A recent series of raids conducted by the commodity markets regulator—Forward Markets Commission (FMC)—in several centres across the country confirmed that dabba trading (illegal trade done outside the exchange platform) not only exists, but is in fact flourishing.

 

Dabba trading—an Indianised version of the American bucket shop operations of the 1920s—is usually done outside the exchange platform by many brokers or agents who pocket their clients' trades (buying or selling orders) through all cash transaction, making their clients believe they only charge a small brokerage commission—thus saving on transaction costs incurred in the commodity exchanges.

 

In layman's language, a dabba trader usually takes the reference price from one of the government recognised electronic exchanges and lets its clients trade in kachcha chitti (a sort of verbal contract). The downside of such an informal, illegal trade is that if the buyer or seller defaults, then clients do not have any recourse and lose their investment.

 

Analysts say that one of the biggest markets for dabba trading is of guar seed, whose volume on the dabba platform is almost 20 times more than on the official platform. Jeera comes second with an estimated 7-8 times more volume than that generated on the commodity exchanges. The volume of dabba trade in pepper and other agriculture commodities is almost 4-5 times the legal trade.

 

Officials say that though there are many more commodities that are traded through this illegal route, FMC has no official data on the matter. Last year, after a dabba trading racket in mentha oil was busted at Chandausi district of UP, FMC and the national commodity bourses did undertake investor awareness programmes to stop gullible investors from falling into this trap. However, given the regulator's limited powers, chances of any large-scale crackdown on such trades is remote.

 

In the end, futures trading, which is already viewed with suspicion because of suspected speculative activity, gets a bad name. Empowering FMC by clearing the long-pending amendments to the Forward Contract Regulation Act could provide an answer.

 

sandip.das@expressindia.com

 

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FINANCIAL EXPRESS

REPORT CARD

This paper* analyses the challenge of food security in South Asia:

 

Though Saarc countries have established a food bank to meet the needs of food security in the region, it has not been operational even during times of crisis. This is despite the felt need of member nations to evolve mechanisms to make the Saarc Food Security Reserve operational.

 

It is against this background that this study has been undertaken. Conducted in collaboration with think-tanks from South Asian countries, it aims to identify issues relating to food security, the policy initiatives taken to tackle these issues and evaluate these policies, and suggest measures to overcome identified constraints in order to improve the food security situation in the region. Regional initiatives such as the Saarc Food Bank or the build up of national buffer stocks are important for stabilising the prices of food grains during times of crisis. But in the long run, South Asian countries will have to aim for a steady, sustained rise in production through the development or acquisition of new technology to raise food production and utilisation. A focus on improving farm productivity to ensure greater global competitiveness and creating non-farm employment opportunities will help farmers overcome the challenge posed by declining productivity, increased pressure on land and fluctuating prices of agricultural commodities.

 

 Surabhi Mittal, Deepti Sethi; Food Security in South Asia: Issues & Opportunities; September 2009, Working Paper No 240, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations

 

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

BATTING FOR INDIA

 

Nobody expects professional cricketers to be heroic outside the playing field. They have too much of a job coping with the demands and stresses of the game, including the ever-present risk of injury, to be asked to handle the challenges and complications of politics. Thirty-six-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, who is widely regarded as cricket's greatest batsman after Don Bradman and has had to handle greater pressure than any other player under the sun, must be commended for making a stand against linguistic and ethnic chauvinism, and for the idea of India, in volatile Mumbai. The occasion was an interaction with the media to mark his 20 years in international cricket, and Tendulkar had this to say in response to a question: "Mumbai belongs to India, that's how I look at it. And I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian." A motherhood-and-apple-pie kind of statement, you would think. But this is Mumbai, where Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena, and now its offshoot, nephew Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, have been menacing anyone dissenting from their brand of linguistic chauvinism. So in an open letter published in the Sena's mouthpiece, Saamna, the ageing, cricket-loving founder of the Sena rebuked the cricket icon for taking "a cheeky single" and getting "run-out" on "the pitch of the Marathi psyche." Anyone mistaking this for banter needs to be reminded of the vicious track record of the Sena and the MNS, of their anti-constitutional intolerance, of their toughs unleashing violence against all manner of targets.

 

At one level, the Sena supremo's response spotlights his party's undiminished linguistic parochialism, which manifests itself in assailing the very idea of India. But there is also a more calculating side to Mr. Thackeray's broadside. Having performed poorly in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections (so poorly, in fact, that he felt moved to criticise his Marathi manoos for betraying his party), he has been in search of opportunities to go on the offensive. The MNS's cannibalisation of the Sena's electoral base has only made matters worse. With Mr. Raj Thackeray's political agenda modelled closely on the Shiv Sena's anti-'outsider' campaign of the 1960s, the two regional parties are locked in chauvinist competition to stoke the economic and socio-cultural anxieties of the Marathi electorate, especially in Mumbai. The MNS recently stole the show for the most outrageous behaviour by physically attacking, in the Assembly chamber, a Samajwadi Party MLA for taking his oath in Hindi rather than Marathi. Sachin Tendulkar, by making his stand, unwittingly offered himself as a target in this battle for political space. The bright side of this affair is the manner in which public opinion everywhere has come out batting for India.

 

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THE HINDU

EDITORIAL

MAKING SENSE OF INFLATION FIGURES

 

The decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to change the periodicity of releasing the inflation data has been implemented from this month. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation figures are made available monthly, instead of weekly. However, the data on the prices of primary articles and commodities are to be released every week. It might be too early to evaluate the new arrangement fully but the first set of data does provide for greater transparency in one area of great common interest. The official agencies found it very difficult to reconcile the very low official WPI figures released at weekly intervals with the soaring prices of food and articles of mass consumption. The explanation that this is a statistical aberration arising out of the base effect — that the figures represent the price trends over the corresponding period last year — has not allayed the widespread scepticism over official statistics. The release of the weekly figures on November 5 showing inflation in the wholesale prices of primary articles at 8.94 per cent and food items up by 13.94 per cent has given a measure of credibility to the government statistics. For policy makers too there has been a further confirmation that the present rise in prices is driven largely by supply side factors that may not be amenable to standard monetary responses such as a hike in interest rate.

 

The decision to switch to a monthly release of WPI data is clearly prompted by a desire to move towards the international practice of relying on a representative consumer price index for policy purposes. Secondly, it is more practical to capture the changes in the prices of manufactured goods over a month than over a week. Thirdly, the weekly release leads to volatility in the financial markets. However, while the RBI has for long argued for developing a harmonious inflation index, the weekly release of the WPI index, in vogue since 1942, has had certain merits. It could give a true picture of the economy at short intervals, a significant pointer in a situation where several lead indicators such as unemployment rate and capacity utilisation are absent. It should be clear in a few months whether the new system would be of greater help in guiding policy, market sentiment, and public perception. If it is not, the government needs to be open to re-launching improved weekly WPI figures.

 

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THE HINDU

LEADER PAGE ARTICLES

ANOTHER TRYST: IMAGINING INDIA & RUSSIA

THE TIME HAS COME TO IMPLEMENT THE MOST DARING PLANS. SO DEAR TO US ARE THE FLAVOURS, SOUNDS, AND STORIES OF THE PAST. HOWEVER, WHILE CHERISHING THEM, WE SHOULD NOT MISS THE WONDERFUL CHANCE OF TAKING OUR RELATIONS FORWARD, TO A HIGHER PLATEAU.

ALEXANDER KADAKIN

 

I arrived from Stockholm via Moscow a few days ago. It was already dark when I stepped off the plane at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport. As I looked up to the sky, the stars seemed to be falling to the earth, throwing celestial light on to the part of the world to which I have been emotionally and professionally attached most of my life. I tuned my ears and nose to the sounds and smells of the place, eagerly selecting the familiar ones. Are they the same as they were five years ago, when I finished my previous ambassadorial tenure here? Is this country the same today as it was some 38 years ago, when I first stepped on its soil and immediately felt at home?

 

It seemed that the sounds of the capital's nocturnal symphony have not changed a bit over the years, bringing back nostalgic memories. Later in the daytime I saw those very scenes which I was craving for in other cities around the globe: I was longing for the bewitching haze of agarbatti, the luring aromatic spices and a sharp note of Dettol, that epitome of Indian sanitation. As it turned out, I felt deprived without the street mêlée, when I could not hear either the blasting car horns or shouts of the street vendors, or unpretentious and naïve Bollywood songs blaring from sidewalk dukans and magnetic Sufi qawwalis from melancholic dargahs. In a nutshell I missed all that mirch–masala whose absence would make the rest of the world seem insipid and drab if you ever happened to visit India even once.

 

But the stigmata of the 21st century were all too evident and impossible to ignore. Computer monitors and iPod screens flickering here and there like candles in the wind, high–speed metro trains synonymous with any modern metropolis all over the world, vertical ultra–modernistic, futuristic constructions – all this was infusing into the windmills of my mind certain fresh emotional overtones, adding kind of technogenic luster to the bright Indian kaleidoscope. It was easy to get evidence that Imagining India, a European, Orientalist perception of India summed up by Ronald Inden, is rather different from Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani and his "idea of a renewed nation."

 

As far as my personal perception goes, it would be no exaggeration to say that India has entered my life as a second homeland. It has become my karma–bhumi, because I worked here for so many years, my gnyana–bhumi, because I have learnt a lot here, my tapa–bhumi (especially in the hot season), but most importantly — my prem — and maitri–bhumi, because I have given a half of my heart to India, because I personally and the new Russia, which I have the honour to represent as Ambassador for the second time, have millions of good friends here.

 

"Russian–Indian friendship has withstood the test of time" is a long overused, ritualistic mantra at official meetings, and my memory retains the phrase from student textbooks – Rus aur Bharat ki maitri samay ki kasauti se khadi utari hai. Yes, unlike some other partners, we do want to see India stronger, since it is in our national interest. However, mere expressions of friendship and affection are meaningless if they are not sustained by purposeful and creative efforts of both sides, keen to nurture, develop and strengthen the ties. As time went by, we grew accustomed to the maxim that our countries would stay friends, allies and partners forever, and have decided that we have already done our best for that.

 

At some stage, we started to take it for granted. It resembles a common delusion of a happy couple who, once the family has been created, at a certain moment decide that love is a self-perpetual feeling. Alas, nothing in this dynamic world lasts forever. In order to remain where we are and to safeguard what has been achieved, we must keep moving on. Complacency pushes even loving spouses and staunch allies into the arms of new, strong, and attractive partners. The earthly assumption is that the old ones will always remain there as a fallback option.

 

Similar things happen in some families when old photos, instead of touching one's heart, cause irritation: "I could have found a better match," "What do I need it for?" In such free straying towards new alluring horizons there comes a temptation at times to sneer at 'bhai–bhai' slogans or even Bokaro and Bhilai, Soviet antibiotics of Rishikesh, and the joint manned space mission. And yet, the irony of real facts is that without Bhilai and Bokaro steel, Rishikesh antibiotics, Bangalore's modest electronic lab, and India's 'Aryabhata' of that era, there would have been neither the Indian auto industry, nor the remarkable pharmaceutics, nor the Chandrayaan module or the Kudankulam nuclear power station.

 

Let us be in no doubt: in this strikingly new world, which smells and sounds different, our two countries are in greater need of each other. Our common past — however touching and romantic its narrative sounds, as if sung by Raj Kapur's personages — is not the only bond uniting our two countries. Together we face the pressing new challenges of the dramatic present and so far hazy future. We are so much alike; so similar are the problems we encounter. Both you and us try to establish and maintain cohesion in multi–confessional and multi–ethnic societies.

 

We are anxious to strike a balance between loyalty to the cultural heritage and, as Mahatma Gandhi pointed out, to throw open the windows of mind for fresh breezes of new ideas to blow in. We seek to put scientific and technological progress at the service of society rather than of individual corporations; to overcome the financial crisis and counter cross–border terrorism, separatism, chauvinism, violence and social vices; to create beauty inside ourselves and around us, as directed by India's best Russian friend — Nicolas Roerich. Each of us has our own experience, both positive and negative, which could be of use to the other. Finally, there is a desire to share these experiences and discuss them.

 

We can and should serve each other not only as sources of goods, arms, and energy but also as a treasure-chest of ideas. It might sound abhorrent, even sacrilegious, coming from a diplomat, but I must insist: we should not allow our hardened bureaucrats to feather their nests at the expense of our partnership by ritually getting together, uttering cliché phrases, holding round tables and other protocol shindigs and ceremonies, which hardly have anything to do with our public and social milieu or ever seem relevant to our peoples.

 

I wish that our economic cooperation were measured not only in trade statistics figures, but in real projects — enterprises, ventures, roads, banks, hotels, and joint scientific researches. I wish there was greater contact between our professionals from all other fields — both technical and humanitarian. I wish that our cultural interaction would imply not only sitar playing and bharatanatyam or the circus and ballet, which we seem obsessed with, but many other genres. I wish that our journalists would remember Russia and India not only at the time of summits, natural disasters or — God forbid! — terrorist attacks. Finally, I wish that charter flights and tourist buses would carry not only Russian tourists to Goa or Agra, but also Indians — to Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Suzdal, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and Lake Baikal.

 

Undoubtedly, the time has come to write Imagining both India and Russia and implement the most daring plans. So dear to us are the flavours, sounds, and stories of the past. However, while cherishing them, we should not miss the wonderful chance of taking our relations forward, to a higher plateau. I personally pray and work for it. It is my karma in yet another incarnation as Ambassador to India.

 

(Alexander Kadakin, an India veteran, is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of India. This is his second ambassadorial assignment in India, the first covering 1999-2004 when the bilateral relationship was revitalised and set out on a new path. In addition to Russian, Mr. Kadakin is proficient in English, Hindi, Urdu, French, and Romanian. A prolific writer, he has authored several books and translated from English and Hindi.)

 

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THE HINDU

TALENT ATTRACTS TALENT

INDIA NEEDS MORE SCIENCE HUBS. IT IS THEIR INHABITANTS WHO WILL DETERMINE THE ACHIEVEMENTS WHICH WILL MAKE LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIETY.

INDER VERMA

 

A little over three decades ago, my parents visited my wife and me in the United States, for the first time. I distinctly remember my mother's hurt looks when she saw me loading the dishwasher or mowing the lawn or just taking out the garbage. She wondered why, after all my education, affluence and opportunities back home, would I come to the West and voluntarily live like this? Why, indeed, do so many of the best Indian science minds migrate to the West, especially to the United States to pursue a professional career, leaving behind the comforts of home, family and the security of a guaranteed job?

 

The great majority of Indian scientists emigrate to the West not just because of attractive salaries or creature comforts. It is the excitement of being where things are happening, to be among the best and the brightest that leads us there. Scientists congregate where other scientists are, to share ideas, technology and entertain collaborations. Not surprisingly great institutions often have large numbers of very talented and highly recognized leaders in their fields. The density of talent definitely matters in attracting talent!

 

India has a proud history of scientific research and achievement. Since independence, there has been a concerted effort to create credible scientific research infrastructure and institutions, although this effort has not kept pace with rapidly evolving scientific goals. Sometimes, however, we are prone to a form of regionalism, born out a misplaced sense of need to equalise distribution of everything, regardless of reason or resources, across all regions of the country. Thus, if a new scientific discipline or area of research is to be promoted, the scientific leadership is often under pressure to locate it at new places where probably there are no existing scientific higher educational institutions, let alone established and successful ones.

 

Bright young researchers looking for venues for setting up their laboratories are less likely to join such institutions because of a lack of critical mass of resident talent. They will much rather go to established institutions, even at lower salaries, fewer resources and much personal inconvenience, because they would prefer to be in an exciting environment where the best science can be done and where they can use the most productive years of their career. My belief is that, in India, we should first build and strengthen great institutions at a few places as select centres of higher learning — the best will gravitate to these places. Once a high density of talent and excellence is achieved, these places will both produce and incubate the best scientists who will populate new centres of excellence.

 

Great institutions serve two other important functions. They prove that international bench marks of quality can be met in India and teach us how to best build new institutions faster and better. In biological sciences, India has perhaps half-a-dozen institutions of international calibre, a number that has remained essentially constant for the last 10-15 years. When an idea of a new institution emerges, it is best to start it near or in an established scientific centre. I therefore applaud the idea of starting the new Stem Cell Institute at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, because the existing cadre of talent will be the magnet and best selling point to attract the next generation of young scientists working in the field of stem cell biology. One of the roles of established and tenured faculty is to be good mentors and invest some of their time in helping to build the careers of their young colleagues. I remember Jonas Salk, founder of The Salk Institute in this regard, who often reminded us to be "good ancestors."

 

Building great scientific institutions take a long time and keeping them at the leading edge needs constant vigilance and the avoiding of complacency. One possible problem with the idea of first building few great institutions is that we may inadvertently promote in-breeding, so to speak. After all, these institutions will most likely produce the best talent and this talent will, in turn, prefer to go to the best institutions which are, more often than not, their own home institutions. While, I am a firm believer of cross-pollination of talent, it may not always be viable till the country has many more top-class institutions.

 

Hiring new faculty should be the top priority of every institution and here the vast pool of excellent scientists of Indian origin working abroad can be a boon, both as scouts and arbiters of good judgment. Robust, independent and dynamic external advisory councils who play an active and critical role in hiring new faculty are important for top institutions. In my own institution, the advisory board (called non-resident fellows) has a veto in all senior appointments, all promotions and tenure decisions.

 

Also, in India, seniority often trumps innovation or achievements. The rule seems to favor time on job rather than achievement, which is no incentive to take that extra risk needed to undertake cutting edge science. The first love of a scientist is discovery, that rare "ah-ha" moment when things fall in place, the hypothesis is confirmed or a new technique is devised. The second joy of a scientist is to see the progress and success of their students and the third is recognition of their achievements, especially by peers in the form of prizes or advancement of career. So, it is important for the establishment in India to find ways to recognise and reward initiative and innovation in research.

 

The idea of scientific hubs is not novel and there is ample proof of its success in attracting talent, entrepreneurs and innovators. It is a proven model the world over. For example, it is no coincidence that highest number of biotech industry in USA is concentrated in San Francisco, San Diego and Boston, all three of which have highest concentration of top-rated institutions in the world. At the end of the day, governments may provide all the bricks and mortar to build institutions; it is its inhabitants, however, who will determine the achievements which will make lasting contributions to society.

 

(The author is the jury head of the Infosys Prize for Life Sciences. The Infosys Prize is awarded annually by the Infosys Science Foundation to recognise outstanding contributions / achievements of research in India, to elevate the prestige of scientific research and inspire young Indians to choose a vocation in the same.)

 

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THE HINDU

APEC INTERPLAY OF CHARM AND POWER

AMERICA'S CHARM OFFENSIVE AND CHINESE POWER WILL BE KEY FACTORS IN DETERMINING THE FUTURE SHAPE OF THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION.

P.S. SURYANARAYANA

 

United States President Barack Obama was on a charm offensive in Singapore on November 14 and 15 to win friends and influence the Asia-Pacific states. The importance of being Mr. Obama, a leader widely believed to have broken the mould of American politics, was expected to be of some help. However, the real extent of his success may become clear only when he completes his current East Asian tour in a few days' time.

 

He left Singapore after meeting his counterparts in the forum of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in just the concluding brainstorming session. For the earlier sessions, he deputed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He did so, because he felt compelled to delay his departure from the U.S. following a killing-spree at a military base at home. There was nothing amiss about Mr. Obama's move on grounds of politics and protocol. In 1998, the then U.S. President Bill Clinton deputed Vice-President Al Gore to participate in the entire APEC Summit in Kuala Lumpur. The White House was at that time distracted by some actions of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

 

For whatever reason, Vice-President Joseph Biden was not asked to represent the U.S., for whatever period, at the just-concluded two-day APEC Summit. Instead, Mr. Obama asked Ms Clinton, his rival in the presidential primaries not long ago, to stand in for him on the first day of the meeting.

 

Mr. Obama's choice clearly conveyed to the collective APEC forum a message in soft diplomacy: no dissonance in the citadel of American power. However, this year's APEC Summit brought into sharp focus China's growing power rather than America's current clout and reserve capacities. Power quotients, as evident during the latest APEC Summit, reflect the relative strengths of individual economies and their respective political-security bases.

 

The subtle reality of Chinese power was widely acknowledged in the open discussions of the APEC chief executive officers (CEOs) in Singapore this time. The APEC CEO Summit is invariably held under the overall process of annual meetings of 21 Asia-Pacific leaders. APEC is a forum of individual economies and not independent states. Unlike the meeting of political leaders of economies that was held in camera as always, the APEC CEO Summit afforded opportunities for open discussions. Several leaders, including Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, addressed the APEC CEO Summit.

 

Two aspects of Chinese power were addressed, directly and indirectly within a framework of perceptions that Beijing can stay the course of an upward graph. The rise of China as an economic powerhouse and its responses to the current global situation were seen in the context of Beijing's robust political confidence.

 

Addressing the APEC CEOs, Mr. Hu presented proposals for stabilising global recovery which, in his view, was fragile at this stage. His proposals flowed from a sense of self-confidence that China could continue to weather the global crisis. The nucleus of his blueprint for worldwide recovery was the call for "a fair, just, inclusive, and well-managed international financial system."

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was mindful of China's power. Asked by this correspondent to comment on Mr. Hu's ideas, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said the IMF had already begun "a big shift." In his view, "the beneficiary will be partly in Asia, namely China." Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who briefed the APEC leaders, did not of course classify this "shift" as a step towards a new balance of economic power in the IMF. However, such a perception was implicit in his comment.

 

World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who also briefed the APEC leaders, was cognisant of Chinese power in his answer to a question from this journalist. Mr. Zoellick was the original proponent of the idea that China should play the role of "a responsible stakeholder" in the international system. In his view, China and India are doing some good for the current and potential global recovery by keeping their respective economies ticking and growing. It is, therefore, possible to infer from his answer that he tends to see China as a responsible stakeholder in the global economic domain.

 

STRATEGIC COINCIDENCE

In the international political arena, Mr. Obama has in fact begun to see China as a responsible stake0holder. Without using this judgmental phrase in his Asia Pacific policy speech in Tokyo on November 14, Mr. Obama went on a charm offensive to woo China. He affirmed that Washington "does not seek to contain China." It was like a strategic coincidence that he said this at about the same time as Mr. Hu's presentation at the APEC CEO Summit in Singapore.

 

Mr. Obama said: "We welcome China's effort to play a greater role on the world stage – a role in which their growing economy is joined by growing responsibility. China's partnership has proved critical in our effort to jumpstart [global] economic recovery. China has promoted security and stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, it is now committed to the global non-proliferation regime, and [is] supporting the pursuit of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. … The rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations."

 

At the same time, any deeper U.S.-China relationship would not weaken America's current bilateral alliances with other key powers, Mr. Obama said. In fact, the U.S. and Japan had now reaffirmed their alliance and "agreed to deepen it," he emphasised. Significantly, Mr. Hatoyama confirmed this while speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore APEC Summit.

 

This new understanding between the U.S. and Japan is, in part, the result of Mr. Obama's charm offensive towards Tokyo. After all, Mr. Hatoyama was emphatic, before his recent poll victory, that he would seek to transform the longstanding Japan-U.S. alliance. He wanted a "close and equal alliance." The latest accord in principle has the potential effect of reinforcing the closeness of the alliance. And, it now remains to be seen how Japan will move to bring about a greater equality in this equation. Tokyo and Washington do not, of course, see their alliance as some kind of a black hole, as in the outer space terminology, for Japan in global affairs. And, Mr. Obama himself has now recalled how former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower had portrayed the alliance when it was fashioned. It was seen as "indestructible partnership" based on "equality and mutual understanding", Mr. Obama now recounted.

 

Mr. Obama did not mention India at all in his Asia Pacific policy speech in Tokyo. What is more, India may face a new challenge in the Nuclear Suppliers Group as a result of his recent talks in Tokyo. Significant is his accord with Mr. Hatoyama on November 13 to explore ways to create a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation. On the wider Asia Pacific stage, new ideas have been floated for regional integration. These are Japan's idea of an East Asian Community and Australia's initiative for an Asia Pacific Community. America's charm offensive and Chinese power will be key factors in determining the future shape of the Asia Pacific region.

 

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THE HINDU

CLIMATE DEAL DITHERING THREATENS GREEN TECH INVESTMENT

DAMIAN CARRINGTON

 

Without urgent progress which will stimulate funding for renewables, nations could be locked into high-carbon energy and transport technologies for decades, inflating another unsustainable economic bubble, say experts.

 

Achim Steiner, the head of the U.N. environment programme, said: "Far more worrying [than formally ratifying a treaty] is that every month we delay we send a ambiguous signal into the world economy, the markets, investors and R&D." The markets had not yet had that strong signal, said economist (Lord) Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics. "That's what we can give in Copenhagen with a strong political agreement. If we get nothing then it would be very damaging to confidence." He said: "Could we make a huge step forward in Copenhagen? Yes. Will we certainly do it? No."

 

All participants have accepted that it is impossible to seal a legally binding climate treaty at next month's summit. The question now is whether leaders will be able to set firm "politically binding" targets for carbon emission reductions and the funding that rich nations need to provide for poorer nations to cope with global warming and develop green technologies.

 

"Delinking GDP from emissions is premised on the fact that developed countries will assist developing countries," said Steiner. He said the funding figures on the negotiating table were "exploratory" and "not transformative and on a magnitude that would send a major signal to the market" on clean technologies. The EU has adopted Gordon Brown's figure of $100bn a year by 2020, but Stern said: "This is right at the bottom end of enough and will not be credible unless there is $50bn by 2015."

 

The danger of uncertainty over clean technology investments was an immediate problem, according to Steiner: "Many countries have to make decisions right now where they are going to invest in, say, coal-fired power stations or renewable energy sources which have a premium up front, and these decisions are being influenced certainly by uncertainty on a price on carbon."

 

"Take a country like South Africa, which is planning on investing billions in new energy infrastructure over the next 10-15 years — you can't put those decisions off ad nauseam," he added. There was a "real risk" that countries, especially developing ones, would invest in existing "off-the-shelf" technologies that would lock in high carbon emissions for 20-30 years, he said.

 

"Furthermore, a delay in investment is obviously the worst piece of news you can have in terms of getting out of a recession."

 

Stern argued that Copenhagen was the moment to begin the transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy, which would be cleaner, quieter and more secure. "We could by wise investment and policies now set the world on a course where we would see arguably the most dynamic period of technologically driven growth in economic history - probably bigger than the railways or electricity."

 

"We might see Asia leading the charge on this new technology and China is certainly seeing this as the big growth story of the next 2-3 decades." The risks of missing the opportunity were great, Stern added: "Let's set ourselves on a path of growth that has a real future and not just high carbon growth and a new bubble, because high carbon growth will kill itself, firstly on the high price of hydrocarbon [fuels], and secondly on the extremely hostile physical environment it creates."

 

Business-as-usual scenarios created a 50% chance of a 5{+0}C temperature rise by the next century, Stern said: "We haven't been there for 300m years. It would redraw shores, patterns of rivers, where deserts are, most of the reasons why we live and work where we do. There would be huge migrations and conflicts that would be global, prolonged and severe."

 

Stern acknowledged that electricity prices would go up by 20-30%, but said that would be "a very reasonable price to pay" for the reduction in climate risk such green energy would deliver, given appropriate price protection for poorer consumers.

 

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THE HINDU

KARZAI SOUNDS FIRM IN SPEECH

THE AFGHAN PRESIDENT DOES ENOUGH TO APPEASE THE U.S. AND ITS ALLIES BUT TAKES A DIG AT BRITISH PRESENCE IN THE COUNTRY.

JON BOONE

 

In dwelling on the need to combat corruption, to talk to the Taliban and to transfer control of policing Afghanistan from foreign troops to the country's own security institutions, Hamid Karzai did enough to appease the U.S. and its allies, who regarded his inauguration speech as a key test of the newly reappointed President.

 

U.S. officials say Mr. Karzai has been given six months to clean up his government, with the clock starting from the inauguration. But there were several reminders, including a subtle dig at the much disliked British presence in the country, that Mr. Karzai remains a man who does not like to be pushed around.

 

The U.K., the second-biggest troop contributor, did not warrant a mention as Mr. Karzai name-checked the many other countries risking lives and spending vast amounts of money propping up a weak government. Leaving the U.K. off such a list is a trick he has pulled before, much to the fury of British generals.

 

Mr. Karzai made a point of praising the Independent Election Commission, the Afghan-led body that ran the August 20 election that turned into such a disaster for the country. He called for the further "Afghanisation" of the country's electoral institutions. A bill currently before Parliament will see the removal from the election watchdog of foreigners, whose insistence on an investigation of millions of doubtful ballots infuriated Mr. Karzai. The absence of such international commissioners could crush any hopes for the forthcoming parliamentary, district and mayoral elections Mr. Karzai mentioned in his speech.

 

Afghanisation will be far more welcome among the international community in areas such as security, where Mr. Karzai promised that by the end of his term in office the Afghan army and police will have taken lead responsibility everywhere in the country.

 

He devoted a substantial portion of time to tackling corruption but there was no bold initiative, rather a repeat of measures already in place. He promised to strengthen the High Office of Oversight (HOO), a toothless body set up last year in response to the last round of international clamour for something to be done. Mr. Karzai pledged that all Ministers, Governors and senior officials would have to declare their assets. Public servants on meagre official salaries will have to explain their Kabul mansions and luxury cars. But the requirement to declare assets has been compulsory for years and the deputy head of HOO, which is in charge of collecting the written declarations, complains that it has been impossible to get anyone from Mr. Karzai's own office to fill them in.

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

 EDITORIAL

SUGARCANE ROW: RESOLVE QUICKLY

 

It was prudent of the government to have stepped back on Thursday and offer assurances of modifying the ordinance on the price of sugarcane that led Uttar Pradesh's farmers to mount a massive dharna before Parliament House in New Delhi on the opening day of the Winter Session. The issue has united the Opposition and even induced sections of the ruling United Progressive Alliance — notably the DMK and the Trinamul Congress — to extend solidarity to the farmers. The country is reeling under a price shock as kitchen essentials have gone out of the reach of most people. This can be an ingredient for an explosive political situation, particularly while Parliament is in session. To alienate the farming community as well at such a time would make the government look uncaring.

 

The crux of the matter is the October ordinance which fixed the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane at Rs 130 per quintal. The FRP replaces the statutory minimum price (SMP), which was Rs 110 last year. Over and above the SMP, the Uttar Pradesh government was wont to declare a state advised price (SAP), which was higher than the SMP. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka also paid their farmers a price above the SMP. The SMP rose to Rs 165 this year. But farmers in Uttar Pradesh — the country's largest cane producer — are demanding Rs 280 per quintal. If this demand is met, the retail price of sugar will climb above Rs 40 per kg. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has been accused of favouring the big sugar mill owners through the controversial ordinance, under which state governments cannot declare their above-SMP deal for farmers. However, the ordinance does not stop the mills from offering farmers a higher price if they are able to absorb the difference between the FRP and whatever they agree to pay. However, the UP farmers' demand for Rs 280 per quintal is unthinkable for the state's sugar mills.

 

Since crushing is yet to begin in UP, the Union government might just have some leeway in getting the mills to offer a deal that could be close to the SMP of Rs 165 that the UP government was to offer this year. Moderating the effect of the ordinance, the Centre could also raise the FRP. If the demand of the UP farmers were to be met in its entirety, the acreage under cane will increase. This will create a glut which will make prices fall. At that stage, there isn't any government support. The other outcome of a substantially higher price to cane growers will be a further snowballing in the price of retail sugar, although the price of cane isn't always the only reason for the upward movement of the retail price. The government needs to be realistic as well as deft in its negotiations with the Opposition parties so that the matter is resolved as soon as possible. Otherwise we may expect to arrive at a season of political mobilisations early in the career of UPA-II.

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

OPED

WHAT AFTER 'WHAT NEXT?'

SHEKHAR BHATIA

 

"What do a Boeing 777 and a Bar-tailed Godwit have in common?"

 

The question was asked by Dr Steven Chu, the US energy secretary, during a talk he gave at IIT-Delhi last week. A US-born Chinese-American, Steven Chu is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. He believes that climate change and energy are the defining challenges of our time and has spent many years in pursuit of alternative energy. Chu calls himself "a bit of an energy-efficiency nut", and firmly believes that if we paint the roofs of our buildings white and roads in a light colour, it will have the same effect on slowing down global warming as taking all the cars in the world off the roads for 11 years.

 

When you see a man of his calibre at the helm, you feel reassured. I also wanted to hear his talk.

 

The Boeing and the Bar-tailed Godwit, he said, "can fly about 11,000 kilometres without refuelling." The Godwit, a migratory bird, flies non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand. "When a 777 takes off for a long distance flight, 45 per cent of its weight is jet fuel. When a Bar-tailed Godwit takes off, roughly 55 per cent of its weight is body fat".

 

I divide the climate change debate into two parts: One is the story so far, and two, what next. We've seen the first in Al Gore's fascinating documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. It's a doomsday scenario, and it urges us to do something. We know the threat is real: that the earth is getting warmer, weather conditions are getting more extreme and erratic, glaciers are melting, ice sheets are breaking up and sea levels are rising.

 

If global warming goes on at the current rate, said Dr Chu, the low-lying areas of Bangladesh would be submerged in the next 10 years and "this might lead to about 10 million Bangladeshis moving into India". That's one crore refugees in 10 years.

 

Himalayan glaciers, he said, are receding faster than in any other part of the world. According to an assessment report of the Inter-Government Panel on Climate Change, in about two decades from now, by 2035 when India is projected to become an economic superpower, the last of the Himalayan glaciers will have disappeared. The report also predicts more severe floods and droughts.

 

We know that this crisis is man-made and if we carry on regardless the result would be disastrous. So why do I get the impression that people are indifferent to this issue, that they appear to be bored with it?

 

One reason could be that it hasn't hit us as yet. That we will act only when we feel the heat, when we are forced to change our lifestyle.

 

Another reason could be that as we go to the "what next" stage, the debate is becoming more complex and getting caught in jargon that we don't understand. As we move towards the negotiating table in Copenhagen, where do-or-die decisions will — or will not — be made concerning the future of the planet, the debate has shifted from science to politics and economics.

 

Everyone agrees that the level of greenhouse gas emissions needs to be brought down; the question is how, and by how much. Developing countries will blame the developed ones for the mess, and each will tell the other, "You first". But how do you expect the US to take the lead when back home there are people who even now do not believe that climate change is real? According to the latest Pew opinion poll, the number of Americans "who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising is down from 71 per cent to 57 per cent" over the year.

 

Dr Chu did not go into the issues of the Copenhagen conference. His talk was more about the energy and climate challenge. Refrigerators, air-conditioners, dishwashers and washing machines, television sets and fans, he said, account for 60 per cent of residential energy consumption. If we make these appliances more energy efficient we will automatically reduce our energy consumption.

 

The more energy we consume, the more fossil fuels we'll burn. India imports over two-thirds of its oil requirements. Soon it will be the third biggest energy consumer after US and China. India's demand for oil will be 10 times its domestic supply; the demand for coal will exceed domestic supply by 60 per cent.

 

The more oil and coal we burn the more carbon dioxide — the chief greenhouse gas — we will produce. If the emissions continue unchecked, the planet will heat up further.

 

And so it's crucial that there is some kind of agreement at Copenhagen. If all countries do not agree on reduction of emission levels, there is no "Plan B". At stake is not only our quality of life: there will be floods, drought and serious shortages. In case of countries like the Maldives, it's a question of survival.

 

As Dr Chu said, "This is not about us. This is about our children and grandchildren".

 

Shekhar Bhatia can be contacted at shekhar.bhatia@gmail.com

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

OPED

VICTIMSPEAK

ROBIN SHARMA

 

Back to a theme I shared with readers in The Greatness Guide. Words shape the way you feel. They influence the way you proceed reality. And they can either take you closer to your mountain-top or draw you nearer to the valley. Use world-class words and you'll get to your world-class life.

 

I was sitting in Starbucks in Manhattan. The guy in front of me ordered a "chai latte". The barista said she was out of "chai". He looked wounded. Seriously. I wish you could have seen his face. Like he just got an arrow through the heart. His reply? Classic victimspeak: "How could you do this to me?" I waited for his smile. It never came.

 

No matter where life sends us, we are responsible for the way we respond. We truly are. We can own our reaction. We can choose what we do with the situation. We can be bitter, or show up better. Tons of choices — at all times. Starting with our words. Choose them well. Leaders do.

 

 Excerpted from The Greatness Guide 2by Robin Sharma. Published by JaicoPublishing House, jaicopub@vsnl.com

 

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THE ASIAN AGE

COLUMN

A DAY OF RECKONING FOR THE MARXISTS

BALBIR K. PUNJ

 

After reading reports about the discussion that took place in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo following the Left's defeat in October, close on the heels of its poor show in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it seems that the CPI(M) is refusing to accept the reality.

 

The party leadership seems convinced that the wipe-out it faced in two of its three states of influence (West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura) in the October bypolls was due to peripheral reasons, and not a fallout of the irrelevance of Communism in a fast-changing world.

 

The CPI(M) in West Bengal is challenged by the Trinamul Congress (TMC) and Mamata Banerjee on the one hand and armed Maoists on the other. Also, it is well known that small landholders and farmers of West Bengal perceive a threat to their land and livelihood in chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's rapid industrialisation programme.

 

It was farmers' support on a massive scale, symbolised by what happened in Singur, that enabled Ms Banerjee to resist the onslaught of the Marxist cadres who had kept the countryside under their grip for a long time.

 

The armed Maoists on the other side are seeing the Marxists weakening in the face of this shift of the countryside's loyalty, from the CPI(M) to the TMC, and are striking using their armed cadres to telling effect.

 

Between Ms Banerjee and Maoist leader Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji, the Marxists found their red shirt stolen and were made victims of their own age-old slogan of proletarian revolution.

 

The Communists have also lost the support of the urban middle class on which they were banking heavily.

 

MR BHATTACHARJEE confessed to the mistake the Left made of driving out entrepreneurs and enterprise from West Bengal even as the people of Bengal watched projects after projects going to states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

 

In Kerala — the other pocket of Left's influence — a similar story is being played out. The Marxists, who are leading the ruling Left Front, have been routed in all the three byelections to the state Assembly, repeating what happened to them in the 2009 general elections.

 

More galling was the bypoll in Kannur where Marxist renegade P.K. Abdullakutty, a former Marxist member of Parliament, won as a Congress candidate defeating the Marxists in the land of the birth of Communism. Kannur was the native place of several Communist leaders, including A.K. Gopalan. This is a place where the Marxists had imposed their diktat using armed cadres, and where a murder every day and that too in broad daylight is a common occurrence.

 

Mr Abdullakutty's victory in Kannur is to be read in the background of key defeats for the Marxists in several local body elections, in some of which their own dissidents have scored over the official party candidates.

 

The Kerala pattern of downfall for the Communists closely follows what is happening to the comrades in West Bengal.

 

THIS YEAR marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that signalled the end of Communism in Europe, including the former Soviet Union. The symbolism of the doubly fortified Wall, that prevented many people from reaching out to their brethren, falling down one fine evening has been played out in a plethora of articles on the 20th anniversary of the event.

 

When the then US President Ronald Reagan stood in West Berlin in 1987 and challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to pull down the Wall, most people dismissed it as a mere Cold War rhetoric. Two years later, the Wall did fall. East Berliners virtually brought down the Wall as a demonstration of their pent-up anger. The Berlin Wall was the Communist prison that was sought to be sold to them as a utopia.

 

It was a similar imprisonment of lies that the Marxist government in West Bengal sought to feed the people of West Bengal.

 

Historically, West Bengal was at the top of India's industrialisation. The Tata Steel Co, Imperial Tobacco Company (now ITC), Garden Reach Workshop, Dunlop, Braithwaite & Co, several engineering firms and jute companies had their headquarters in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

 

While the industrial climate was vitiated by gheraos, educational institutions were debased by politics. Communist cadres sat over school principals and commanded them how to run their schools. The unionised teachers played truant from their spot of duty. Most industries fell sick.

 

In the 32 years of the Left Front rule, West Bengal's ranking in human development index among Indian states has slipped and is now just above Bihar.

 

This is no surprise. The impoverishment of the people under Communist dispensation was one of the main reasons why overnight the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern Europe collapsed without a shot being fired.

 

The Indian Communists were seeking to mislead people by claiming that in the Soviet Union food was the cheapest and food prices had remained constant for decades. The fact was that food was quite scarce and people had to queue for even ordinary items like eggs. With shop fronts empty, wages became worthless wads of notes. "They pretended to pay and we pretended to work", was the joke that was going round in the Communist heaven.

 

After 75 years under the Communist network of lies, the Russian people liberated themselves in 1991, and the people of Eastern Europe even earlier. The time it seems has now come for the people of West Bengal to do a "Berlin Wall" on their 32 year rulers.

 

If the Left Front is ousted from power, as it is most likely to happen in 2011 or even earlier, for the Indian Communists it would be political nemesis catching up with them.

 

Balbir K. Punj can be contacted at punjbk@gmail.com

 

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DNA

EDITORIAL

FIVE-AND-HALF YARDS OF PURE MISCHIEF

MADHU JAIN  

 

Just the other day my sister was walking down the stairs in Cottage Industries in New Delhi. Walking up were two middle-aged women who had NRI written all over them: comfortable walking shoes, big hand bags, yesteryear's kurtis and an expression of bemused confusion. The two stopped when they saw her. Sorry, make that saw her wine-coloured tussar silk sari. They didn't quite say: "Oh, my God you are wearing a sari!!" but did use words to that effect. The two were visiting from Europe and were shocked by the absence of saris on the streets of Delhi.

 

It was almost as if they had perchance happened upon the Holy Grail: "Can we feel the silk," asked one of them. I imagine my sister, Nina Puri, mustn't have been too surprised by their eager-beaver interest in what she was wearing. A fortnight earlier coming out of the British Library in London, she encountered a similar reaction to her sari from a young Brit-desi. Obviously, saris are getting to be a rare species of apparel, even in the diaspora. There are times when you can't spot even one in the desi shopping heaven, Oxford Street.

The sari isn't quite going the kimono way. But it seems to keep changing its status. I use the word status the way millions now use it on Facebook — the latest public confessional — to describe their state of being at that precise moment. The versatile drape — "five and a half yards of pure mischief" as fashion designer Suneet Varma once memorably described this unstitched apparel sari to me —  has been leading something of a see-saw existence.

Until fairly recently the sari had been banished to the realm of behenji-dom. It even began to be pushed to the sidelines in Bollywood, beginning with the millennium. If at all the Katrina Kaif, Dipika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra wore saris, they were more like costumes, basically wedding wear. For younger women a sari reeked of convention; it was the antithesis of modernity — so not with-it and difficult to wear.
For a growing number of older women the sari became the antithesis of freedom; it chained them to the past. Not only did they feel more emancipated in pants and dresses, they also saw themselves as more cosmopolitan in western attire. The "status" of a sari has changed yet again. Ever since Hollywood actresses and international celebrities have been flirting with saris (Madonna, Elizabeth Hurley, Posh Beckham, Goldie Hawn, Gisele Bundchen and most recently Jessica Simpson) have worn them with elan, the sari has reclaimed its "cool" status in the rule books of our fashionistas. Certainly, the fact that Gianni Versace and Galliano had adapted the sari was not lost on them.

The sari is also being sexed-up in the homeland, for the Bright Young Things. Actually, it's the blouse that has undergone the more radical metamorphosis. "An accessory of differentiation", as the ever-quotable Varma describes it, the sari blouse allows a woman to express her personality: bold, coy or orthodox. And yes, flaunt her oomph factor.

So, in came the designer halter necks, Chinese collar blouses, corset blouses, embroidered or lace blouses, blouses encrusted with crystals or pearls, off-shoulder blouses. Backless blouses started escorting the sari. And then came the ultimate show stopper — the absent blouse. The photograph of Gisele Bundchen in a green sari, unaccompanied by a blouse recently graced the cover of a fashion magazine.

I suppose it is back to the future. Before the Victorians imposed their moral code in India, women in many communities didn't wear blouses. As for the sexy sari: can anything better Raj Kapoor's iconic wet sari scenes or Smita Patil frolicking in the rain with Amitabh Bachchan in Namak Halal?

As for aunties like me, the sari is forever: it reveals but it can also conceal as much as you want.

 

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DNA

EDITORIAL

URBAN BLIGHT

 

The Bombay high court has given the state government of Maharashtra a reality check. It has succinctly pointed out that Mumbai will take another 100 years to improve rather than the 2014 date being put forth by the government. The past few years have seen a mad scramble for any number of infrastructure projects in Mumbai, with flyovers, railways, freeways, sea links, skywalks and more jostling for both space and attention. Barely is one completed when another one starts, making the whole city look like a gigantic construction site.

In some sense, this can be said to be true of the whole country. From small towns to big cities, there is a veritable explosion of building, which is perhaps the most telling example of India's march to progress. But when compared to Mumbai's rate of growth, the story gets decidedly shaky. In the national capital for instance, infrastructure growth has been sustained and systematic. So has it been in cities like Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, for instance. Kolkata is also catching up.

It is true that Mumbai has some unique problems given its geography and its linear nature. But it is also true that the city is spreading out north and eastwards, making a holistic view of its growth essential. But the state government, while okaying a vast number of ambitious projects, appears to be working on a piecemeal basis, lurching from demand to demand. Effective town planning, for centuries the hallmark of urban growth, appears conspicuous by its absence.

The high court was responding to a public interest litigation filed with regard to the increasing vehicular pollution from traffic congestion in the city. The one sure answer to this is: better public transport systems. This is accepted worldwide and reiterated this week by a former mayor of Bogota who is with the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy in New York. All big cities across the world do not see more flyovers as a way of decreasing traffic; they aim to get people out of their cars into trains and buses. But our trains and buses are already bursting at the seams and the new economy — the slowdown notwithstanding — means that people are buying cars at a pretty fast clip.

The high court has put up a mirror for the state government to look at. The state government has to look to mass transportation, not more roads, and projects have to move faster and finish on time. Now is that another Mumbai tall story?

 

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DNA

COLUMN

THE RAHUL RIDDLE

 

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's quip in Vijayawada that he should not be counted upon as the future prime minister is delightfully ambiguous. He did not say that he does not want to be the prime minister, nor did he say that he would not become one. He was careful and modest enough to say that the eventuality should not be presumed. The future is open-ended and it is possible for anyone to be prime minister, he said. That is good politics as well as good manners. There is something in this for Y Jaganmohan Reddy, the young Andhra Congress MP and son of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who has been making loud claims to the office of chief minister after his father's tragic death.

It is quite possible that the young Gandhi is not too keen to lead the country, at least not yet because he understands the enormity of the task. He is realistic enough to realise that this country needs an experienced hand at the helm. His admiration for Manmohan Singh is genuine. But that said, it cannot be ignored that the Congress party wants the young Gandhi to be prime minister whether he wants to or not. It is party president Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul and daughter Priyanka who stand between the party and Singh. If the party had its way, it would replace Singh and anoint Rahul as PM.

The relationship between the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress party is a case of pathological dependency. It is comparable to the relationship between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP's dependence on the RSS is morbid too. As one cannot blame the RSS entirely for the BJP's refusal to stand on its own feet, it is not fair to castigate the Nehru-Gandhi family for the perverse refusal of the Congress party to behave in a manner befitting an old and distinguished national party. PV Narasimha Rao once defined the relationship between the party and the Nehru-Gandhis as that of an extended family. In the two major parties in the country, the 'parivar' factor has a weight all its own.

The Nehru-Gandhis are good for the Congress party going by its recent revival of its sagging political fortune under the family's leadership. But what is good for the Congress is not necessarily so for the country. The billion-strong country has a need and even a right to expect new leaders, not scions of entrenched political families.

 

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DNA

BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

ASHA KASBEKAR 

 

Although the recent MAMI film festival came in for a lot of criticism over the management of the event, there can be no denying that it provided a magnificent platform for Marathi film-makers. On offer was an interesting array of films from first-time, as well as seasoned, directors that covered a wide variety of genres. Nevertheless, there was one perceptible query underlying all these disparate films and that was — what does it mean to be a man or a woman in present-day India?

In Renuka Shahane's Rita, based on a novel by her mother Shanta Gokhale, the eponymous Rita, after years of selfless service to her family and her lover, decides to move away from them both and assert her financial and sexual independence.

Sachin Kundalkar's Gandha takes a different tack to explore the issue of femininity. Presenting three short films (in the manner of Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Four Women, made in 2007), he strings together the lives and aspirations of three women of different ages. The first is a light-hearted comedy, where the young heroine, achieves the rosy concatenation of a romance into an arranged marriage. This is sharply contrasted by a modern tragedy (and homage to Spanish director Pedro Almodovar) where an AIDS sufferer is abandoned by his wife. In the third short film, Kundalkar beautifully encapsulates the emotions of an educated woman whose own infertility is poignantly encircled by a profusion of symbols of fertility, whether it is the birth of a second child to her co-habiting sister-in-law or the constant rain that falls outside her window.

'Women's issues' have preoccupied Marathi films for a long time now. However, as established patterns of patriarchy are put under stress by social, economic, and technological changes in India, the new challenge that arises with these transformations is how to be a 'man' in this new and changing world.

In Umesh Kulkarni's Vihir,  a 'coming of age' tale explored with great sensitivity, the sudden death of his cousin,  plunges Nachiket into a search for who he is and what his life is about, before he accedes to adulthood. Interrogations on being and nothingness, on life and death, are difficult to bring to the screen, and Kulkarni's lyrical treatment is reminiscent of Korean director, Kim Ki-Duk's, 3 Iron (made in 2005), another contemplation on love, life, and death.

Veteran directors Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar's Ek Cup Chya is a delightful film that is both funny and touching, about an ordinary man's fight against the Kafkaesque workings of an indifferent, and casually cruel, bureaucracy. When bus conductor, Kashinath Sawant, wrongly receives an electricity bill for tens of thousands of rupees, his attempts to right the error draw him into a bureaucratic maze. His electricity is cut off, putting his family's life into great hardship, in particular his son, who is studying for important school-leaving exams.  As he staggers, in vain, from pillar to post, he begins to doubt his own competence to be a father, husband, and provider for his family.

But perhaps no other film addresses the issue of masculinity with as much directness as Ravi Jadhav's Natarang. When a landowner mechanises the irrigation to his fields, Guna, a dirt-poor landless farmer decides that he and his unemployed fellow workers should chance their luck by becoming stage performers. He forms a Tamasha troupe, but with no one willing to take on the character of the 'nachya', the very masculine and virile Guna, transforms himself into a female impersonator.

In Jadhav's Natarang, homosexuality, transvestism, gender-bending impersonations, and male gang rape — the latter as swift and brutal retribution when Guna inadvertently gets involved in rural politics — all investigate deep-rooted male sexual anxieties with unabashed frankness. In complete contrast, Prakash Mokashi's ill-judged and deeply annoying Harishchandrachi Factory, takes the 'father' of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke,  and reduces him to a caricature of a well-meaning buffoon. It is unclear whether Mokashi still has a lot to learn about film-making or whether he was making a sophisticated, ironical post-modern joke — either way, the film is a disaster, making its choice as candidate for the Academy Awards (the 'Oscars') a very puzzling one. Whatever the failings of the organisers of the MAMI film festival, at least they had the good sense to avoid it!

All in all, while Bollywood lurches blindly from one eyewateringly extravagant project to another in search of that elusive magical formula that will make a killing at the box office, Marathi cinema, like the more responsible and mature sibling, is quietly, but confidently, showing that the way to the future for Indian cinema lies not in the loft conversions of NRIs in New York or elsewhere, but in the real hopes and anxieties of its viewing public right here.

 

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DNA

REACHING THE GOALS

 

What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence. The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.

 

Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they cultivated their persons and rectified their hearts by being sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their persons were cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was madetranquil and happy.

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything. It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.

From The Great Learning by Confucius, translated by James Legge

 

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DNA

LEVEL OF CORRUPTION

 

As compared to last year, Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2009 has seen Pakistan slip five places. These findings will only deepen the already widespread belief that corruption is rampant at all levels of the government and its civilian state institutions. It is little wonder that the citizenry's confidence in the government is being rapidly eroded. At all levels in all manner of public-sector departments, from land records and tax to customs and motor vehicle ownership or licensing, corrupt practices have become disturbingly common. Sections of the law-enforcement apparatus, such as the police and the lower judiciary, are notorious for taking or demanding bribes. In public-sector health units, where services and basic medicines are supposed to be provided either free of cost or at heavily subsidised rates, citizens find themselves forced to pay through the nose or forego treatment.

Such loss of faith translates to a lack of support for the government's policies, at a time when the country is in the midst of an economic and security crisis. But there is also another angle to be considered: Pakistan's massive military budget does not come under the purview of TI's corruption monitors. As a result, next to no information is available about any possible irregularities in defence spending, which is now set to increase by some 20 per cent. Citizens contrast this information vacuum with reports of massive corruption in civilian state institutions and representatives. The 'clean' look thus acquired by the military can be dangerous to a budding democracy that is already on shaky ground. To prevent further loss of public confidence, it is imperative to root out corruption at all levels. —Dawn (Pakistan)

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

WHIFF OF FRESH AIR

NEW STANDARDS CAN HELP US BREATHE BETTER

 

WITH pollution levels across cities in the country rising alarmingly, air quality is a matter of deep concern in India. While the new air quality standards announced by Union Environment Minster Jairam Ramesh which are on a par with European Union standards may have taken time in coming, they are welcome, being a reflection of the need felt to raise the bar. The high points of the revised norms like inclusion of new pollutants and removal of distinction between industrial and residential parameters are steps in the right direction. The revised and stringent norms may not bring about an overnight change but they can go some way in ensuring that India breathes better.

 

India cannot afford to lose its battle against air pollution for the sake of its people and their health. Air pollution in India is reported to cause 5,27,700 deaths a year. While the ill-effects of air pollution on those suffering from respiratory problems are well known, studies have found that high levels of air pollution can damage heart and blood vessels too. In Delhi, while the change to compressed natural gas in public buses has led to a decrease in carbon monoxide levels, sulphur and nitrogen dioxide levels have gone up because of an increase in the number of private diesel vehicles. According to the Central Pollution Control Board's ambient air quality report for 2008, in 88 per cent of the 110 Indian cities monitored, suspended particulate matter is in excess of permissible limits.

 

Monitoring standards by themselves can achieve little and have to be enforced with rigour. Merely acknowledging that enforcement of new norms would be a challenge is not enough and the Environment Ministry must rise to the challenge. Early passage of the National Green Tribunal Bill, strict penalties on the "polluters pay" principle and fast development of an efficient public transport system are the need of the hour. It is heartening that under the new rules citizens can now demand better air quality. However, people should not only have the right to demand clean air, they must get it too. Trying to seek comfort in arguments that Delhi releases 12 times less carbon than Washington and that Indian cities produce lesser greenhouse gases than cities abroad can only prove to be self-defeating.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

CAUGHT IN UMBILICAL CORD

BJP DOESN'T KNOW WHICH WAY TO MOVE

 

WHETHER BJP president Rajnath Singh resigns early as originally stipulated or decides to postpone the inevitable so as to "not jeopardise the party's prospects" in the Jharkhand Assembly elections to be completed on December 18 is not crucial. What matters is that the party is still clueless which way it should go to put the recent election debacles behind it. For public consumption, it is the master of its own affairs. But the RSS hand in running the show is not quite as invisible as it wants everyone to believe. In fact, the RSS shadow has become even longer following the shrinking influence of the BJP. It is quite likely that the post of the party chief will go to saffron loyalist Nitin Gadkari whenever Rajnath Singh calls it a day. How that will impact the functioning of the party is not hidden from anybody.

 

There is indeed an alarming vacuum in the upper echelons and the insiders do not really know how to fill it. The present chief's tenure has been anything but inspiring. But none of its front-ranking leaders – M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar – is strong enough to emerge a clear-cut winner on his or her own steam. They rather cancel each other out. That has given the RSS a pretext to take the reins in its own hands behind the curtain.

 

Fiftytwo-year-old Gadkari, who has headed the BJP in Maharashtra for five years, has the support of the RSS, which may go out of its way to back its nominee, public statements to the contrary notwithstanding. But the four Delhi-based leaders may join hands against him in a bitter turf battle. Signs of things to come are visible in the statement of Sushma Swaraj some days ago that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani would continue in that post for the full term of five years, which is till the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014. That is diametrically opposite to the stand of two successive Sarsanghachalaks of the RSS, K S Sudarshan and Mohan Bhagwat, that the party is in need of a generational change. The BJP will have to tackle the infighting first before dreaming of becoming a fighting force itself.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

CHINESE STAMP ON PAK BOMB

THE NEXUS IS STRONG AND FUNCTIONING

 

THOSE who doubted Chinese complicity in Pakistan's nuclear weapon programme should revise their opinion, at least now. The Washington Post's disclosure quoting Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan about Beijing supplying the necessary design and enriched uranium to Islamabad to make two nuclear bombs in 1982 provides fresh proof of China's act of nuclear proliferation to help its "all-weather" friend. The proof is incontrovertible as it is contained in an 11-page note Khan prepared for Pakistan's intelligence agencies after he was put under house arrest in 2004 during the Pervez Musharraf regime. The note found its way to an old acquaintance of Khan, a Western journalist, and then to the Washington Post scribe, who gave a detailed account of China's dangerous role in Pakistan quickly realising its nuclear ambitions. It is surprising how the US thinks China can be allowed a monitoring role in South Asian affairs.

 

Ever since the signing of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal Pakistan has been trying for a similar agreement with China after the US said "no" to Islamabad in view of its well-known nuclear proliferation activities. Pakistan has not succeeded so far, but it is hopeful of clinching a "civilian" nuclear deal with China any time in the future. As Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated a few days back, nuclear cooperation between the two countries was an "ongoing process". He indicated that if an accord on the lines of the Indo-US nuclear deal was not on the cards today, it might be there tomorrow. In the meantime, China has agreed to assist Pakistan to build two new nuclear reactors --- Chashma-I and Chashma-II. This is one of the achievements of Pakistan President Asif Zardari's recent visit to Beijing.

 

It is time China's nuclear proliferation activities were exposed. China has been no less guilty of indulging in this dangerous game than Pakistan. If China had not provided 50 kg of weapon-grade enriched uranium to Pakistan in 1982, as part of a secret agreement reached in 1976 between the two countries, Islamabad could not be in a position to help North Korea, Iran and Libya to embark on a nuclear weapon programme. Libya has abandoned the race for the ultimate weapon, but the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran continue to pose a serious problem.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

OCEAN RIVALRY IN TOP GEAR

INDIA WAKES UP TO CHINESE CHALLENGE

BY KAMLENDRA KANWAR

 

IT is happy augury that in recent times India has shed its reticence on exercising greater influence in the Indian Ocean littoral states, commensurate with its size and stature.

 

The Chinese have been working systematically for years in their quest for maritime supremacy but India traditionally fought shy of it fearing that China would take it amiss.

 

It is a measure of the new self-confidence of this country that it is now factoring in the maritime angle in a major way in its foreign policy choices.

 

With the Chinese already well-entrenched in strategic terms, India, as a late entrant, has now much work to do to stamp its authority and influence on the region.

 

For decades the world relied on the powerful US Navy to protect this vital sea-lane. But now India and China, with their enhanced economic clout, are moving to expand their control of the waterway.

 

China has given massive aid to Indian Ocean nations, signing friendship pacts, building ports in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka, and even setting up a listening post on one of Myanmar's islands near the strategic Strait of Malacca.

 

The Chinese involvement in Myanmar is particularly significant. Since the late-1980s, China has built naval facilities, radars and signal-intelligence posts all along the Myanmarese coast and in Coco Islands, which lie barely 18 km north of India's Andaman Islands.

 

There was a strong suspicion in India at one stage that Chinese military personnel were stationed in Myanmar and were using these facilities to collect sensitive information on India.

 

Mercifully, India swung into action in the early 1990s by wooing the Myanmar Government for military cooperation. The Myanmar navy sent its warship to Port Blair on a goodwill trip. The Myanmarese also offered to show Indian naval officials the "suspicious" sites to try to convince them that they were not working with China against Indian interests.

 

In April 2008, India and Myanmar signed the Kaladan river transportation agreement that involves India's upgradation of Myanmar's Sittwe port. It has also made a proposal to build a deep-water port in Dawei.3.

 

Yet, there can be little doubt that Myanmar continues to be a strong base for the Chinese navy. Rivalry between China and India has also emerged over exploration rights and access to Myanmar's energy resources.

 

The increased naval cooperation between Pakistan and China in recent years and the development of the Gwadar naval base are of growing strategic concern for India. From Gwadar the Chinese can keep tabs on Indian activity in the Arabian Sea and monitor future US-India or US-Japan naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

 

As for Sri Lanka, on its southern coast 10 miles from one of the world's busiest shipping routes, China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects China's supplies of Saudi oil. After Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China showered aid, arms and diplomatic support on Sri Lanka in its war against the Tamil Tigers culminating in the virtual annihilation of that outfit.

 

Bangladesh, with the help of China, test-launched its first C-802A anti-ship missile from a frigate in the Bay of Bengal in May last year. Commissioned in 1989, the 1,500-ton F-18 Osman is a Chinese-built Jianghu-class frigate. This is Dhaka's first C-802 missile test launch. China has an intimate relationship with Bangladesh's military. Much of its army, navy and air force consists of Chinese hardware.

 

It is small wonder then that a 2004 Pentagon report had called Beijing's effort to expand its presence in the region as China's "string of pearls."

 

Expressing concern in a speech earlier this year that naval forces operating out of ports established by the Chinese could "take control over the world energy jugular," India's then naval chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, had warned that "each pearl in the string was a link in a chain of the Chinese maritime presence."

 

The fears are not misplaced considering that India imports 70 per cent of its oil needs through the sea route. Many Indian Ocean littorals like Mozambique, South Africa, Indonesia and Australia export coal to India. Others like Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa export natural gas to this country.

 

Add to this our other maritime interests: almost 5 million Indians work in the Gulf and West Asia and the significance of the remittances they send home cannot be underestimated.

 

The Indian Ocean is, therefore, vital to India's interests and the country can ill afford to let China have its way. India has to cover its flanks so that it is able to defend itself from a potentially-devastating blockade of the sea route under Chinese auspices.

 

Evidence of a more pro-active Indian policy in the Indian Ocean littoral states is the manifest quest for stronger ties with Myanmar, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Oman, among others.

 

The recent visit of Defence Minister AK Antony to the Maldives was designed to enhance Indian influence vis-a-vis China. India agreed to set up a network of 26 radars across the Maldives' 26 atolls, which will be linked to the Indian coastal command. In addition, India will also establish an air force station from where Dornier aircraft will carry out surveillance flights. The station will host Indian military helicopters too.

 

India has also furthered its interests in the Indian Ocean Rim, which includes the islands of Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles and Madagascar and the rim states of South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique through economic sops like tax exemption treaty with Mauritius, and military inroads.

 

Another Indian response to China's presence in the area has been the setting up of the integrated Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair in 2001. That it caused anxieties in Beijing with regard to the security of its energy shipments is understandable. When in 2002 Indian Navy sea and air units under the command commenced coordinated patrols with the Indonesian Navy along the maritime boundary, it caused Chinese eyebrows to rise.

 

In 2005, India began conducting similar patrols with Thailand in the Andaman Sea. All this has discouraged the tendency to take India for granted which was the case before this country began strengthening its defences and reaching out to Indian Ocean littoral states.

 

India's plans in the Andamans include building naval bases, aircraft facilities, networked radar stations and even fixed underwater sensors at various locations of the island-chain.

 

That Chinese naval analyst Zhang Ming recently proclaimed that the Islands of Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago could be used as a "metal chain" to block Chinese access to the Straits of Malacca is indicative of Chinese fears that India will no longer take things lying down.

 

The Indian Ocean's strategic importance as the most important oil and trade shipping route of the world will increase still further in the coming decades when the galloping energy needs of India and China will account for more than half the growth of the world's energy consumption.

 

From the Indian stand-point, such augmentation of Indian naval capability is imperative to deter China and to ensure that its maritime interests are not jeopardized.

 

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THE TRIBUNE

COLUMN

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE? NAY, YOUR MINDSET!

BY JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER

 

HAVING an argumentative son on hands can be a challenging affair. Peeved with a situation in his college which had emerged from a divisive debate over the remarks a gentleman had made while twittering (alluding to a controversy over the words "Cattle Class" and "in solidarity with Holy Cows"), he confronted me.

 

While in argument with me, he questioned as to why in English language, there is often an allegory to animals and their behaviour to describe a situation. He wanted me to deliver, what sagacious elements would term as "Pearls of Wisdom".

 

While I fumbled for an answer, he went on to say, "Everybody in the college is running around like "Headless Chickens", and there are only a few options, either to "Bury one's head in the sand like an ostrich", and "let sleeping dogs lie" or take "the bull by its horns", and if on a latter course, then to attempt to educate them by gifting them with a book of phrases which idea no one would question, for no one "looks a gift horse in the mouth", but still it may not serve the purpose as some one may not read it, for you can "take a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink it".

 

As if in a monologue, he continued to say: "Everybody is `horsing around' and howling like a `pack of wolves' and that something had to be done to tackle the moderates who are `as mild as a lamb' and others whose `bark is more vicious than the bite'".

 

"Try making them aware", I suggested helpfully. "Yes", he said, "Awareness works for all and `what is good for the goose is good for the gander'", and it will help both categories.

 

"But if English is creating a problem, try conversing in

 

Hindi", I suggested. "You don't understand, there are a few, who, while always conversing in English, have lost their flair for Hindi", he said.

 

"You know `Kaua Chala Hans Ki Chaal' or you can say, `Dhobi Ka......... Na Ghar Ka Na Ghat Ka', and it may be akin to `Bhains Ke Aage Been Bajana', and trailed of by saying in Hindi too.........", I told him: "Son, be it Hindi or English or any other language, they are all packed with beautiful phrases, and it is only the tongue which utters them at an inopportune moment, which converts them into loose cannons, and then these phrases become akin to `Bandar Ke Haath Mein Bandook', which can fire in any direction, including more often than not, one's own foot; and all that `wry humour is lost to a parochial mindset', leaving behind a taste of `rancid pickle', in one's mouth.

 

The writer is Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

PRIVATE ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS REQUIRE A REGULATOR

BY BADAL MUKHERJI

 

EVEN as the drama on the deemed universities story is played out and the finger of suspicion points to the previous HRD ministry for overriding recommendations from a UGC committee, the need to have in place a suitable regulatory structure for private institutions of higher learning is once more highlighted. The casualness with which the UGC and HRD have handled this question so far underlines how cynical those institutions are towards higher education.

 

An NBER working paper dated April 2009, titled "The Governance and Performance of Research Universities: Evidence from Europe and the US," written by Philippe Aghion, M. Dewatripont, Caroline Hoxby, A. Mas-Colell and Andre Sapir, is setting the pace, given the stature of the authors.

 

It takes off from Shanghai Jiao Tong University's "Academic Ranking of the World Universities". And that's

exactly where my problems begin.

 

The Shanghai rankings use six variables to construct the index: number of Nobel Laureates amongst alumni (10% weight) and faculty (20% weight), annual number of articles published by the faculty in two journals, Nature and Science (20% weight), annual number of articles published by the faculty that figure in Science and Social Science Citation Indices (20% weight), the number of highly cited articles (20%) and finally, all the above indicators divided by the faculty size (10%). Aghion et.al. use the index on a large sample survey.

 

Apart from the unavoidable arbitrariness of the weights, there are serious problems both in terms of the variables included and variables not included. First, Nobel Laureates. All Indian Nobel Laureates reside in the USA (must be many Chinese too) even although the work cited may have been done in India.

 

It is not clear as to how the Shanghai index will deal with Andreu Mas-Colell should he get a Nobel prize: American or Spaniard?

 

Secondly, there is something peculiar with the search amongst "Research Universities", which would falsely suggest the existence of "Non-research universities". The "output" of the former is defined to be research papers, patents etc. What would be the "output" of the latter?

 

The item excluded is what the HRD Minister, Mr Sibal's real worry will be: students in a "teaching university". Students hardly figure in the NBER report. Also, what should be a primary concern for Mr Sibal, cost of higher education to students, does not feature at all in the NBER report.

 

Written in 2008 and published in 2009, the report was most possibly drafted when the US economy was heading towards recession but the extent and severity were yet to be fully realised.

 

It is evident today that unregulated banks, finance companies and manufacturers like GM have marched the US economy into a major crisis. Hence, the conclusions of the NBER paper supporting privatisation sound rather hollow, additionally because the resources available in the hands of the institutes in question too play no role in the paper.

 

The Indian School of Business at Hyderabad (ISB) often mentioned as the epitome of greatness was set up with an endowment of Rs 400 crore. No wonder it figures high on the list of business schools in India.

Here is a short table of endowments of nine major US universities; it should be kept in mind that this does not include the value of land, buildings and other assets. For MIT, for example, it does not include the Lincoln Lab.

University      

 

Endowment in US $ billions

 

Brown                  2.74

Columbia              7.14

Cornell                 5.38

Harvard              36.55

M.I.T.                10.07

North Western      7.24

Princeton           16.35

Stanford            17.20

Chicago              6.63

 

Poor ISB! The correlation between these numbers and the Shanghai rankings will be near perfect. I did not bother to calculate. With the Shanghai rankings so strongly correlated with the wealth of the universities, it would appear that the only reason to pay homage to them is that they are made in China.

 

The NBER report, thus, in its exclusion of variables of major concern to us, is irrelevant.

 

So, let us turn to the real problem, here and now. Mr Sibal's first task would be to get an accurate and reliable estimate of cost per student to the UGC at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels of the UGC-supported institutions. That must set the benchmark towards setting fees in privately run institutions rather than wild demands made by such institutions.

 

There is an additional pitfall here. Many of us had campaigned for easier student loan from banks till we realised that tuition fees are raised unilaterally by the private institutions on the basis of the knowledge of availability of bank loans.

 

The problem, thus, is quite complex but also quite important. The private institutions must be allowed to function but at the same time, they must be regulated very well. After the drama of Obama, practically nationalising Citibank and GM, a call to simply privatise education based on the NBER report is quite dangerous.

 

A concluding note on the UGC. The magnitude of the UGC's subsidy is enormous but at the same time without government-run schools and colleges and without the UGC's help, lakhs of students will never reach higher education, nor would they ever have.

 

To what extent if at all to reduce this subsidy and what to replace it with will be the first problem to solve for Mr Sibal.

 

The inequity of a flat Rs. 20.00 per month fee paid in Delhi University by students driving Skodas is intolerable. If all hospitals can price discriminate between OPD, general ward and private ward, then why not colleges and universities? The tuition fee a student pays in colleges and universities has to be the last school tuition paid plus a heavy mark up to be decided department by department. Part of the price discrimination scheme would have to involve scholarships to needy and meritorious students.

 

Apart from setting norms for tuition fees in private institutions, the main duty for the UGC is to prevent financial and academic abuses, to carefully guard the interest of the learner.

 

Accepting money without corresponding facilities and running so-called "academic" institutions with under-qualified teachers are two most common and most serious offences. But a student without a degree in hand is in a most vulnerable position. She cannot fight a four-year-long court case, for example. That is where Mr Sibal's expertise is most required.

 

The writer is a Professor of Economics at TERI University

 

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THE TRIBUNE

OPED

CHINA ISN'T EASILY WON OVER BY OBAMA

BY BARBARA DEMICK

 

WHEN it came to China, U.S. President Barack Obama's famous powers of persuasion failed to persuade.

 

Although he came bearing a long shopping list that included Chinese support for tougher sanctions on Iran and more flexibility on currency exchange rates, Obama was met with polite, but stony, silences.

 

Not only did the president come away without any definable concessions, but the Chinese appeared to be digging in their heels.

 

Tuesday, just hours after Obama stood side by side with President Hu Jintao in the Great Hall of the People, praising China's commitments to "move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time," a senior Chinese official called a news conference across town to issue a rebuttal.

 

"We maintained a stable yuan during the financial crisis, which not only helped the global economy but also the stability of the world's financial markets," said deputy foreign minister He Yafei, adding that it was too soon to talk about a change of strategy.

 

The Chinese official also slapped down Obama's call for more Internet freedom, saying that "we need to ensure that online communications do not affect our national security."

 

Perhaps most disappointing was China's failure to budge in its opposition to tougher sanctions on Iran. With China's extensive oil interests influencing its policies toward Tehran, the country increasingly is seen as an obstacle to reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions. Obama had hoped China would at least fall in step with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who publicly criticized Iran's intransigence during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit over the weekend in Singapore.

 

"I would not say that we got an answer today from the Chinese, nor did we expect one," said Jeffrey Bader, director of East Asia Affairs on the National Security Council, briefing U.S. journalists after the meeting between the presidents Tuesday. He conceded that the Chinese were less worried about Iran's nuclear program than North Korea's.

 

During the news conference at the Great Hall of the People, where the presidents each read statements outlining the highlights of the meetings as they perceived them, Hu conspicuously omitted mention of sanctions against Iran, acknowledging only that there were differences on some issues.

 

After the ritual handshake and posing for photographs, the leaders left the podium – refusing to answer questions from the media.

 

It was in keeping with the character of a presidential visit notable for its formality and lack of spontaneity. Every aspect of Obama's visit was carefully scripted, with the Chinese government taking pains to make sure nothing was left to chance. Obama did not meet with Chinese journalists, lawyers, human-rights advocates, environmentalists or any ordinary Chinese, and an expected meeting with Hu Shuli, who recently resigned as editor of China's leading business magazine, did not materialize.

 

During Obama's "town hall" meeting in Shanghai on Monday, the 50 students selected to attend were mostly officers of the Communist Youth League. Wary that Obama might say something provocative, the Chinese government refused White House requests that the event be broadcast live on nationwide television. Instead, it was broadcast only on Shanghai television.

 

Coverage of Obama's visit was also subdued, with noticeably fewer stories in the Chinese newspapers and shorter television reports than during other presidential visits.

 

Obama's limited results in part reflect the profound shift in U.S.-Sino relations and global politics.

 

"It used to be the U.S. could go around and say, `Do this and do that,' because they had so much leverage," said Dali Yang, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago. "Today, the U.S. can't do that."

 

Ding Xinghao, president of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said Obama did not seem to connect with the Chinese as well as former President Bill Clinton had. He recalled a 1998 nationally televised question-and-answer session that Clinton held with students at Beijing University. "That was an amazing event. ... Clinton looked the students in the eye and answered very hard questions," Ding said. "Obama's performance in Shanghai was significant, but for me it couldn't compare."

 

Then again, Ding noted, the novelty of a U.S. presidential visit has worn off.

 

It was difficult to find anybody in Beijing who would express any real enthusiasm for Obama's visit. Even at a shop selling Obama souvenirs, the reaction was ho-hum.

 

"Obama coming here doesn't have anything to do with us. He's the president of the United States. We're Chinese," said Yang Xiuying, a clerk at a Beijing crafts store selling dolls of Obama dressed as Superman.

 

 By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

 

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THE TRIBUNE

'GM CROPS HAVE A ROLE IN PREVENTING WORLD HUNGER'

BY RACHEL SHIELDS

 

GM crops have a role to play in preventing mass starvation across the world caused by a combination of climate change and rapid population growth, a scientist has said.

 

Professor Robert Watson, the chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), called for UK trials of GM foods, arguing that the government needs to be more open with the public about the risks and benefits of genetically modified foods.

 

"Over the next 20 to 50 years, the population is going to increase from 6.5 to 9 billion. There will be more extreme weather, more demand for food, meat, and water, a changing climate: it is a very challenging situation, which, if we don't deal with it, could become a nightmare scenario," said Professor Watson. "We have to look at all the technologies, policies and practices, all forms of bio-tech, including GM."

 

"We need to have trials in the UK, and to make them open and transparent," Professor Watson added. "We'd have to protect them, to stop them getting trashed. There are a whole range of situations in which science can play a very important role. We'll need seeds which are more temperature- and pest-tolerant."

 

The suggestion that the government should resume trials of GM crops, which halted in 2008, has generated criticism from environmental campaigners who point out that the growth of herbicide-resistant GM crops in countries such as Argentina and the US has seen dramatic increases in pesticide use and created pesticide-resistant "super-weeds".

 

"If the government does make the mistake of approving new field trials, then they should prepare themselves for the response of local communities, who will be worried about the risks that these crops pose," said Clare Oxborrow, senior food campaigner at Friends of the Earth. "The issues that applied a few years ago still apply. The risks of contamination have not been addressed; nor have any health and safety concerns."

 

A 2008 trial by Leeds University, in which potatoes were genetically modified to resist a parasitic worm, provoked anger from local residents and was destroyed by environmentalists. In addition to environmental fears about loss of bio-diversity and harm to other crops, consumers are also concerned about the possible health risks posed by GM food.

 

The chief scientist's comments add weight to the claims of the Royal Society which last month argued that GM crops will prove important in preventing future food shortages. The controversial report called for a 10-year research programme, in which £200m a year would be spent on science that improves crops and sustainable crop management – including research into GM crops.

 

However, Professor Watson emphasised that GM foods could only play one part in solving a world food crisis, stressing that improving farming in developing countries is also vital. He recommends ending farming subsidies in developed countries, which would make the price of food produced in developing nations more competitive.

 

By arrangement with The Independent

 

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THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

 

FISCAL DISCIPLINE

 

Happily, the government has at last arrived at a principled decision where by not only the profit making unlisted PSUs have to get listed on the bourses, but also the already listed profit-making State owned PSUs have to go for least 10 per cent of divestment. This is certainly a positive step, particularly at a time when the government is faced with an unprecedented 16-year high of fiscal deficit to the extent of 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on account of Centre alone. The Government of India has been pumping into the economy increasing doses of purchasing power by way of repeated fiscal stimulus packages, increasing monetary steps including Reserve Bank of India's key rate cuts, accelerated public spending in national rural employment guarantee programme, Bharat Nirman and its flagship projects, farmers' loan waiver of Rs 71,000 crore, job creating infrastructure programmes, large subsidies on public distribution, health care, public utility services, social security, salary hikes etc even before the full fledged Union Budget with its spending programme of Rs 10.21 lakh crore was announced in last July. This was, of course, necessary to counter the on-going recessionary trend of demand deficiency due to the onslaught of global financial crisis since September, 2008. To finance such a huge scale of spendings, enough resources were not available from budgetary sources. The Central Tax resources will estimatedly remain below Rs 4.75 lakh crore and, together with non-tax revenue, the total anticipated collection in current fiscal may not be more than Rs 6.14 lakh crore, leaving, thereby a resource gap of Rs 4.14 lakh crore or an uncovered deficit of 6.8 per cent of GDP in 2009-10. If we take into account the resource gap of both Centre and the States, the quantum comes to around Rs 5.5 lakh crore or 11 per cent of GDP.

This is highly perturbing. To meet the gap, the Centre decided to sell Rs 2.4 trillion worth of bonds in the first half of the year, the total for the fiscal being Rs 3.6 trillion. This would have inflatationary consequences. The increased sale of government bond has been one of the reasons why the market rate of interest is sticking to inelasticity at a time when a low interest rate-regime is crucial for a big push to economic growth of the country. Fiscal deficit of such a high order could also tell upon India's international image on credit rating. The sooner the government returns to the bindings of FRBM Act, the better it is. Thus, to avoid further load of public debt, to avoid inflation going beyond a limit, to ease pressure on interest rate structure, to achieve a fiscal discipline and to ensure the growth process of economy, the decision to divest PSUs without being restricted within a narrow confine is certainly a politically bold and economically progressive step.

 

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THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

QUAKE PREDICTION

 

Top scientists associated with remote sensing application believe that it is now possible to predict occurrence of earthquakes with reasonable precision – thanks to the rapid advancements taking place in geospatial technologies. The recent Wencham earthquake was predicted four weeks before its occurrence, and according to the scientists, it would be increasingly possible to foretell quakes with greater precision in the days to come. These are significant developments, and bear lots of possibilities for a quake-vulnerable region like the North-East. It is the unpredictable nature of earthquakes that invariably hampers preparedness. Now, if a quake can be predicted within a few weeks before occurrence, disaster preparedness is bound to get a big boost. With prior knowledge and adequate preparation, loss of lives and property can be minimized.

Present trends in geospatial technology are making it more precise, faster in processing, more automated and more practical. The technologies, however, are costly and hence the need for greater international and regional cooperation if the benefits were to reach the vulnerable populations across the world. The governments in the North-East ought to give a serious thought about harnessing the potential of the expanding technologies vis-à-vis quake prediction. The region's location on the highly seismic Zone-V makes it all the more imperative that we seek international cooperation for cost-effective disaster management. Disaster management has assumed unprecedented importance these days with the realization that the destructive impact of quakes or floods can be mitigated to a great extent if the necessary preparedness is there. While it is impossible to prevent the occurrence of earthquakes or tsunamis or even floods, the resultant loss can be reduced substantially if we take the correct steps before, during and after the calamity. Unfortunately, such a crucial area has not been addressed in the urgency it deserves in a State like Assam. We need to put in place an integrated mitigation mechanism involving proper training and greater coordination among different agencies for ensuring timely and effective response to disasters. Introduction of quake-resistant technologies in constructions should be made mandatory and strictly enforced. Forget about natural disasters, our handling of man-made disasters or accidents exposes how little prepared we are in meeting such situations. A single incident of fire in any of the congested areas of the city is enough to prove our incompetence in handling emergency. It is also questionable how many of the buildings that have spurted in the city following the real estate boom adhere to strict fire-safety norms. Checking the city's haphazard growth will also be critical to restricting the impact of any disaster.

 

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THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

IS ISRAEL BENT ON NUKE MADNESS?

VIJAYANTA SHARMA PATHAK

 

When former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert extended the current chief of Mossad, he'd put an integral groundwork for an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations. United States intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran has made enough nuclear fuel to make a nuclear weapon. The White House says : " Iran has deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb. A second Israeli Cabinet meeting on October 7 this year surveyed Israel's military homeland department readiness to face a missile onslaught on the Jewish nation from Iran, Syria, Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas in Gaza . A former Israeli defense minister told US and British media first week of October this year that Israel would have to attack Iran's nuclear installations if the US failed to rein in Iran. Sixty one and tenth chief of the Mossad, world's most effective spy agency, Meir Dagan's name looms large over the public domain and entire Jewish nation as a whole to carry out a repeat of Operation Opera that destroyed Iraq's Osirak reactor on September 7, 1981. Iran had been pursuing the bomb with a vengeance and the Israel who have fought more than a thusand years of warfare, a bomb with Iran was an extential threat to 60-year-old Jewish nation of Israel..

Mossad chief for a near-record eighth year tenure, Dagan has proved his ability and mettle in a variety of counterterror operations. The highly-successful intelligence coup leading to the demolition of Syria's North Korea-sponsored plutonium reactor was one of the most complex and difficult operation ever performed by the Mossad. Israeli raiders needed from the Mossad precise data on the facility's inner and outer defenses to lift evidence of a working nuclear collaboration between Syria, Iran and North Korea. The intelligence had to include air defense systems in place across Syria and location of materials and equipment by the Israeli team assigned to undertake the operation. Apart from their brief, the Mossad also additionally procured the number of personnel of the three nations working on the reactor. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made the Israeli operation public in April 2008 seven months later. Agents photographed various stages of progress and collected evidence of use of North Korean equipment. The Mossad left no clues or leads that was especially the hallmark of Dagan.

Surrounded by Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya, who broke their commitment to the non- proliferation treaty Israel is faced with a complex geopolitical reality. Iranian president Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe out the Jewish nation from the face of the earth. Chinese and Russian objections against sanctions on Iran isolates Israel especially if the US decides to go along with them. As the Iranian nuclear deadline of February 2010 to make the nuclear bomb draws closer. Israeli government and its military leaders find themselves pushed into a blind alley. Counterterror experts say Israel would be forced to decide in isolation if, how and when to respond to Iran's open threat to annihilate Israel. While US President Barack Obama waited more than nine months only to hear Iran's flat refused to compromise on its nuclear program, Israel looks up to Meir dagan to bail out the nation from the existential threat that it faces. The Jewish nation looks up to Meir Dagan to rise up to the Mossad motto: "Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety".

Perched atop the waving stern of an immigrant ship on a stormy night on 1950, a five- year-old Holocaust survivor closed his eyes and prayed to safely reach the shores of Israel. Born in Russia the kid was Meir Huberman, later renamed Meir Dagan. He has relentlessly defended the Jewish nation for nearly half-a-century. Son of Russian refugees Meir Dagan in 2002 became the chief of one of the world's most dreaded secret services Mossad. Despite diplomatic risks for Israel Meir Dagan had managed to restore the Mossad's reputation for carrying out daredevil operations. Some of them bordered or went beyond madness. The Mossad under Meir Dagan has revolutionized the Mossad's organization, intelligence and operations. The Syrian operation that destroyed Syria's highly-secretive plutonium reactor is looked upon as an intelligence marvel that pushed familiar boundaries of intelligence-gathering capability. Israeli fighter bombers took off form Tel Aviv, shot across the length and breath of Syria without being challenged. The Israeli bombers bombed Syria's entire nuclear arsenal. Syrian raider that was state-of-art Russian technology got no wind of the entire operation. The Mossad somehow caught the Syrians off gaurd. Other Mossad operations Meir Dagan launched were dangerous missions in Damascus, Beirut and other Arab world capitalsA massive Israeli operation had got under way when Meir Dagan shuffled the Mossad's priorities and designated Iran as 'top priority for 2005,' while Israel conducted crossborder operations across the border in Iraq and set up signal intelligence (SIGINT) bases to north of Iraq. The Mossad focused on monitoring Iran's increasing ties to Syria and Hizballah on the strategic front. Extensive records of breach of American nuclear security surfaced and these arrested were Israelis, not Iranians, if any. This campaign, counterterror experts say is aimed at preparing the groundwork and people for events pointing at Arab-Jehadis as triggering the attack. A possible ensuing nuclear attack has all the hallmarks of a false- flag operation. False-flag operations are covert military actions so orchestrated as to slap the blame on an enemy entity. Israel in recent times had been pulled up by the US for breach of nuclear security by Israeli agents.

Mossad critics say the 9/11 attacks on America were pulled of by Israeli agents along with Arabs, jehadis and Muslims. Hijackers themselves were hijacked allegedly by Mossad agents who look control of the aircraft that hit the Twin Towers and Pentagon using the Global Hawk technology. The technology enables remote take-off, flying and landing by remote control from the ground. Mossad agents allegedly stayed around the same area as the 'hijackers' did. Israeli art students barged into corridors of power even as several agents were held for breach of nuclear security at submarine and nuclear bases. The official line was that Mossad operatives were monitoring the hijackers in collaboration with the US. Israel is said to have believed that an attack on the US would so infuriate public opinion that the Jewish nation would be permitted to cleanse their state of Arab terrorists. The cleansing was explained as expulsion of Arab terrorists and even Christians from the Palestine area. Jane's information group said Israeli agents tried to penetrate both the Justice and state Departments, adding they may have also been al-Qaeda terrorists. A counterintelligence probe concluded that two of the men were Mossad operatives.

Appointed by Prime Minister Arief Sharon in 2002 as the Mossad chief, Meir Dagan's first four years were dedicated to terrorism rather than monitoring. Iran's nuclear activities or the Muslim nation's increasing ties to Syria and Hizballah. Between 2005 and 2007, the Mossad has been credited with hits against top Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islamic operatives in Syria and Lebanon. Meir Dagan demonstrated his skill early on when the Mossad eliminated one of the largest running and most dangerous enemies of both the US and Israel: the chief of Hizballa's special security apparatus, Imad Mugniyeh, in Damascus. Meir Dagan's agents followed similar methods beginning 2005-06 of planting explosives on the head rests of vehicles or beneath the driver's seat of automobiles driven by Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islami operatives. Neither Hizballa nor Syrian intelligence could forestall the liquidation operations or get hold of the Mossad's crack teams.

The intelligence operation to force Iran to abort its nuclear program would undoubtedly lend traction to the Mossad's efforts for its most formidable mission ever. According to Der Spiegel, a German daily, the Mossad's plan is now ready and has been handed over to the Israeli Air Force (IAF) that would carry out the strikes. The nearly 4,000-km round-trip to Iran and back home would be far more complicated than Israel's destruction of the Osirak reactor in Iraq on June 7, 1981. Known as Operation Opera, and less popularly as Operation Babylon Israel's destruction of the reactor is one of the most dangerous missions in modern world history. One of the first instances of what's today known as precision strike, the attack was considered a "great success" despite political convolutions that followed. The raid was a sequel to a sense of desperation that had gripped Israel. The high-risk gamble was preceded by intense debates and election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minster in 1977. The Mossad chief was strongly against the operation.

The Mossad bought time additionally by sabotaging reactor cores in France itself. A number of Iraqi nuclear officials and scientists were allegedly assassinated by the Mossad. When Mossad informed the Prime Minster in October 1980 that the Osirak reactor would be operational by June 1981. Begin decided to go ahead. The holocaust played an integral role in Begin's decision. The Israelis had no idea about Iraqi defenses. Israeli pilots couldn't refuel. In 1979, the Israelis found they could carry one-ton bombs in their newly-acquired F-16As at a low altitude. Israelis fixed external fuel tanks to 16 F-16As and F-15s. On D-Day 16 fighter bombers took off from on Israeli air base and immediately swooped down to to 240 feet to avoid radar detection. The fighters flew right above Jordanian King Hussein's yacht and the king urgently tried to alert Iraq but failed. Crossing Iraqi airspace unchallenged along with other F-15s, a pair of F-15s broke formation to divert attention and act as a backup support.The F-16s rose into the skies perpendicularly to 2,000 meter and swung down towards the Osirak reactor at 35 degree alignment. Eight F16s relesed the bombs at 1,000 meter in pairs at intervals of five seconds each. All F-16s but two of them, however, failed to explode. When Iraqi defenses opened fire with artillery shells, the bomber fighters had already risen to 12,2000 meter and headed home. French researcher Damien Chaussepied was actually a Mossad agent who had placed indicator lights to guide the bombers into Osirak.

Israel today faces the same problem with Iran as it did with Iraq 1981. The intelligence operation to cripple Iran's main nuclear facilities would be carried out with the full understanding that that a nuclear bomb with Iran would be the most dangerous threat to Israel since its birth in 1948, and rest of the world as well.

 

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THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

ILLS OF PRESENT INDIAN SOCIETY

GAURI RAM KALITA

 

The humanity that India represents today is a product of a civilization 12,000 years or more old. The spirit of tolerance and assimilation is the hallmark of this civilization. Never has the question of communal harmony and social integration raised in such a wide range of emotions as of today. Fear, suspicion and hatred are the fuel which feeds the flame of communal disharmony and conflict. Lasting harmony between heterogenous communities can only come through a recognition of the oneness of mankind, a realization that differences that divide us along ethnic and religious lines have no foundation. The diversity created by God has infinite value, while distinctions imposed by man have no substance. Consider the flowers in a garden. Though different in kind, colour, form and shape, yet, this diversity increases their charm and adds to their beauty. It is indeed a conscious forging of unity in diversity.

We are in the midst of 62 years of Independence. We had pledged to make India a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual republic, guaranteeing to all citizens, justice, social, economic and political, besides liberty, equality and fraternity. It pains us to note that the dream of a welfare state is yet to come true. The economic progress has been hindered by ills such as selfishness, nepotism, bribery, oppression and exploitation. Social harmony has been adversely affected by narrowmindedness, religious bias, casteism, perverted view of nationalism and fascist-tendencies. Values like love and affection, tolerance, mutual-trust and confidence and co-existence are on the wane.

This appalling situation has reached such an extent that those interested in India's future remain helpless. The call of the hour is that those who cherish a plural polity, equality and justice should study the situation sincerely and seriously, frame a positive and strong course of action and activate themselves to save the country from the dangerous path of fascism in all its manifestations.

The people of India comprising legal luminaries renowned journalists, social activists intellectuals and peace-loving countrymen from various places of the country - to launch a countrywide campaign to contain the rising fascist forces and to arouse a sense of tolerance and co-existence among the citizens. And the need of hour is to promote harmony and cordial relations between different communities living in India and all Indians be regarded as brothers and sisters with no differentiation of caste, creed, community, race or religion. To achieve this goal, we will have to prepare a team of workers with missionary zeal self-sacrifice and selfless service.

The head of the ruling Assam Congress, Tarun Gogoi should not forget that harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay. I am confident that all right thinking members of the party who cherish the ideals of secularism, democracy, national unity and economic progress will one day get united to fight against the communal forces. The situation is developing fast in the country where parochial forces and the people with a narrow outlook, who are now playing a dangerous game, will disrupt national unity. Corruption can rightly be said to be the root of all evils in India. It is an unsatiable and evergrowing greed for political power which has ultimately resulted in corruption spreading to all segments of Indian society like malignant cancer. Corruption has tarnished the fair name and noble image of the nation abroad and has completely nullified all our efforts to usher in a socialist society with equitable distribution of economic wealth and political power. In short, widespread, deeprooted and ever increasing corruption is the sole obstacle on the path of India's progress and prosperity.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

PLAY IT RIGHT, SAM

 

There has been much excitement in the media and among some policy wonks over an alleged American attempt to appoint Beijing as a cop on the Indo-Pak beat. US officials have been quick to deny such intent. And a spokesman of India's ministry of external affairs has clarified that India does not see any role for a third country in its relations with Pakistan. There the matter should end.

India gains nothing by seeing ghosts of empire where these do not haunt. Nor does India lose anything by quietly asserting its exorcist capabilities, should any venturesome spook be tempted to waft this way. Traditional US-baiters are quick to see in the Sino-US joint statement — issued in Beijing after President Obama's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao — an attempt to make China a co-arbiter, along with the US, of peace in South Asia.

Now, the reality of an activist US role in Afghanistan and Pakistan leaves little room for any pious sentiment that South Asian peace should be left to South Asians. However, does the US need to make China also a partner to promote peace in the region and support "the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan"? Given the hard reality of Chinese proliferation of nuclear material and missile technology to Pakistan and the equally hard and equally well-known Indian resolve to keep third parties out of Indo-Pak relations, the above-quoted formulation in the Sino-US joint statement lends itself to a far more benign interpretation, from an Indian perspective, than Beijing being invited to supervise Indo-Pak ties. The joint statement could well mean a commitment on Beijing's part to not aid any hostile move by Islamabad against India.

Pak military chief General Kayani's reference to India as an adventurous, hostile neighbour might appear comical given the history of inimical initiatives from either side, but reflects the basic nature of politics in that country, founded in opposition to India and sustained on that basis. Beijing has exploited this neurosis to keep India tied down in a hyphenated relationship with Pakistan, instead of sharing the world stage with it as an emerging world power. The Obama-Hu statement also lends itself to a reading that says Beijing would now change tack. Which way we play it is for us to choose. Let us not choose neurosis.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

LET BANKS DECIDE

 

It's on-again time for public sector bank (PSBs) mergers in India. Over the years, the government, rather than banks themselves, has periodically urged mergers among PSBs. Only to retract in the face of fierce opposition from banks and their powerful unions.

 

As a result, bank mergers have been part of the on-again-off-again syndrome that characterises much of decision-making in India. According to news reports, the government is turning the heat on PSBs to look for 'strategic fits' keeping in mind geographical and business synergies. Ironically, this urge to merge comes just when there is rethinking, globally, on whether the 'too-big-to-fail' compulsion that forces governments to rescue banks with tax-payer money militates against large banks.

Small banks can be allowed to sink without posing systemic risks that make it impossible to stand by and allow a large bank to go under — an argument that acquires compelling force as the global economy struggles to find its feet in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Bros.

True, some PSBs are small and could reap economies of scale by merging. Nor can arm-twisting by employees who fear retrenchment when staff is rationalised after a merger be an argument against mergers. At the same time, mergers must be board-driven, based on commercial considerations, not bureaucratic fancy.

Internationally, bank mergers, barring the shotgun ones engineered by regulators in the context of financial crisis, have been driven by commercial considerations, by perceived synergies that deliver greater value to the shareholders of both banks or, in the case of a takeover, to shareholders of the acquiring bank. In contrast, mergers between India's PSBs, whether New Bank of India's takeover by Punjab National Bank (PNB) in the early 1990s or the aborted (fortunately) merger of IFCI, again, with the same hapless PNB, have been driven by the bureaucratic urge to meddle. That needs to change. Commercial sense alone must dictate bank mergers.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

 

SUFFERING FOOLS

 

A 22-year-old British woman has bravely gone public about a condition that most parents tend to dismiss as childish tantrum: a fear of vegetables. As the ailment even has a name, lachanophobia, it has opened up new areas of investigation and treatment, as also additions to already-oversized dictionaries.

Etymologically new, it was coined by fusing two convenient Greek words: lachano, meaning anything grown in a garden, and phobia, or fear. It also lends itself to more specific suffixes to facilitate treatment. After all, though anti-anxiety medication and behavioural therapy are generally prescribed, treatment for lachanophobia mykosis (fear of mushrooms) would probably differ from lachanophobia lycopersicum (fear of tomatoes).

Of course, if the poor victim does not suffer from lachanophobia or carnophobia (fear of meats) but from the cibophobia or fear of eating, any treatment would be too late unless detected in the early stages. Still, it is presumably a boon that serendipitous advances in medicine and lexicography have led to the identification of diseases in this genre from the fairly common ablutophobia or fear of bathing, to the generationally-differentiated logizomechanophobia or fear of computers, to the relatively rare zemmiphobia or fear of the great mole rat, an African rodent. Some conditions even require two names, like pentheraphobia or novercaphobia, which is fear of mother-in-laws.

Given that most advances in medicine are made in the advanced economies, it is not surprising that new treatments, from anxiety clinics to self-help books, are also seen proliferating there. Given India's generally dismal state of diagnostic facilities, it is not surprising that illnesses such as lachanophobia, which are more manifest among children and disappear as they grow older, do not make headlines. In fact, most cases do not even make it to hospitals at all. The west could perhaps take note that there are far cheaper and more effective ways to deal with lachanophobes in the early stages of the disease — just ask any experienced parent.

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

STRUCTURED COORDINATION OF REGULATORS

G N BAJPAI

 

One of the common identified causes of the global economic crisis from which the world is yet limping out is the inefficacy of regulatory design — a permissive regulatory regime based on excessive reliance on the private sector, leading to ineffective oversight. Apparently, this permissive approach was prompted by a yearning to promote creativity. Ineffective oversight was, inter alia, rooted in the underpinning belief that markets are a better regulator, which was further compounded by the multiplicity of regulators and inefficacious coordination amongst them.

There is a rethink on the regulatory design. In fact, there is now a coordinated and concerted attempt among regulators in all geographical jurisdictions not only to revisit and reengineer but comprehensively revamp the regulatory approaches, frameworks and processes. Knee-jerk reactions in some countries are also perceptible. Actually, some jurisdictions want to further burden already overburdened central banks with the responsibility of regulating financial institutions even beyond pure banking.

Even though unbridled creativity, which did prosper in quite a few geographies, has been one of the banes of the financial mess, shackling of creativity can torpedo and even choke the process of further economic development and growth. It is, hence, important that regulatory tightening does not suffocate the process of economic growth.

Having been a regulator, it is my view that regulations should be potent enough for orderly development of the market and prevention of misconduct. This is achieved by laying down ground rules, managing compliance, solving problems and controlling risks: structural, systemic and operational. Regulations should facilitate rather than be prejudicial to development.

Rapidity and profundity of changes in the environmental ethos do dictate that the regulations should be dynamic, forward-looking and collaborative. It is not possible to shoot a moving target from a static gun position. Though each regulator, in his anxiety to comprehensively and assiduously regulate, eventually tends to tread on the turf of other regulators, he still leaves regulatory gaps with ample scope for misconduct in the absence of coordination among regulators. This is being termed as regulatory arbitrage. Regulatory gaps have been an area of serious concern.

The financial services sector, as it has evolved, particularly during the last decade, often makes it difficult to decipher when the jurisdiction one regulator ends and that of the other begins.

And this is more pronounced in the case of institutions that have become umbrella organisations and undertake various lines of business — banking, insurance, asset management, pension, broking-equity (cash and future) and commodities trading (spot & future) — which are regulated by three or four different financial regulators. India visualised this issue some time towards the end of 2003 and the high-level committee (HLC) — an informal body comprising the RBI governor, Sebi chairman, Irda chairman and the finance secretary — was created as a sub-efficient mechanism to monitor the functioning of such systemically-important financial institutions (Sifi). Even though the process continues, there is still enough room for improving the intensity and depth of coordination.

In various geographies, different forms of regulatory frameworks have been tried. These are separate regulator for each segment of the financial market, middle path where regulation of some of the segments is aggregated and that of others left to separate regulators, and a consolidated regulator like the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of the UK. Yet another set of regulatory structures has been in the shape of driver of regulations: government, independent regulators and/or a mix of both. While the merits of each of regulatory framework can be debated, the fact is that the global financial mess occurred under all regulatory frameworks.

The design of the next-generation regulatory framework has been engaging the attention of G20. However, there is near consensus that extraordinary tightening of regulation will impede economic growth and, hence, should not be pursued. The deeper coordination of regulation among different sets of regulators has, therefore, become eminently essential.

The current coordination among financial regulators in India is more informal than formal, and certainly not legislatively structured. There is an urgent need to legislate a coordinating structure where all the regulators formally sit to coordinate and ensure that the action of one regulator is in consonance with that of other regulators, and together leave no regulatory gaps or opportunities for regulatory arbitrage.

To be effective, the coordinating structure has to be outlined through legislation that must cover the role, responsibility and accountability of the regulators represented in the coordinating body. The legislation should also attempt to delineate the boundaries of each regulator and vest in the coordinating body the authority to decide the regulation of the disputed space in case of doubt.

The law should also outline the mechanism of coordination, which should include frequency of meetings, the presiding officer, members and procedure that goes into designing the broad architecture of the processes for the smooth functioning of such a body. This body should be answerable to Parliament.

The suggestions made above might appear to be for a unified regulator, but that is not the intention. Whereas individual regulators will continue to regulate their respective jurisdictions, the coordinating body will make sure that the regulators function in tandem and do not work at cross-purposes. The proposed structure should become a clearing house where disagreements on various areas can be sorted out. This is important, particularly in the Indian context, because our markets are still developing. Some segments necessary for faster economic development — such as a debt market — have been mired in disagreements over regulatory jurisdiction and the desired coordination mechanism.

The coordinating body can also be made to look at new initiatives to develop national markets, to achieve faster growth and emancipation of millions of Indians.

(The author is former chairman of SEBI)

 

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THE ECONOMIC TIMES

EDITORIAL

OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE

RADHIKA KAPOOR

 

GDP is an attempt to measure what is going on in our society, which is market production. It is what I call GDP fetishism to think that success in that part is success for the economy and society," says Joseph Stiglitz, chair of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

In 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy — dissatisfied with the available tools of economic assessment and concerned about the increasing gap between the information contained in aggregate GDP data and what counts for common people's well-being — created the commission, chaired by Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen. The commission, which submitted its report on September 15, 2009, has highlighted the urgent need to broaden the coverage of statistics in the light of the recent crisis.

The authors argue that "those attempting to guide the economy and our societies are like pilots trying to steer a course without a reliable compass". The single-minded fixation of policymakers on increasing GDP, which they mistook for economic well-being, entailed many wrong decisions. GDP was measured using market prices and, given the bubbles in the prices of assets, it sent out misleading signals. What we measured was wrong and, therefore, what we did was wrong.

The main message of this report is that the time has come for our measurement system to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people's well-being and sustainability. But that does not in any way undermine the importance of GDP and production measures. In fact, the commission recognises that there is no single measure that can encompass everything and, instead, proposes various dashboards of indicators that allow people to construct different composite indices.

The report looks at three issues in developing alternative metrics. The first identifies the limits of GDP as an indicator of economic performance and social progress, including problems with its measurement. GDP takes no account of depreciation and non-market activities, it ignores distribution issues and doesn't adequately capture improvements in the quality of goods and services. The commission repeats the old demand of finding an appropriate measure to estimate the environmental cost of production.

The report favours looking at income and consumption trends along with production. It emphasises the need to track households' income, consumption and wealth rather than economy-wide trends. It gives prominence to measures of wealth as they are central to sustainability. Besides, it recommends looking at the entire distribution of income, consumption and wealth, and not just the mean, to get a better sense of inequality.

Conventional measures of GDP attribute better economic performance to a harder-working and unhappier society as compared to a society that chooses to limit its consumption of material goods and enjoys more leisure. In its second section, the report turns its focus on improving measures of 'quality of life' or 'well-being'. This is a multi-dimensional concept that incorporates both subjective and objective measures. The commission recommends steps to improve measures of people's health, happiness, education, personal activities and their environmental concerns. It focuses on getting reliable measures of social connections, political voice and insecurity that determine life satisfaction. However, these subjective notions are tricky to measure and the commission doesn't come up with any one indicator that can capture all these aspects. Here, the report seems to be more appraisal-oriented than prescriptive.

The final issue the report raises is that of sustainability. Economic activity is sustainable if future generations can be as well off as the current one. Their well-being, in turn, depends on the stock of capital — physical, natural and human — that we pass on to them. Finding a single measure to assess sustainability is again a complex issue. The commission proposes a stock approach to measuring sustainability by creating a monetary index of sustainability. Such an approach suffers from the absence of markets on which valuation of assets could be based. The report argues that environmental aspects of sustainability deserve a separate follow-up. However, the difficulty comes in turning these general principles into new means of measurement.

Overall, the commission raises more questions than it answers. GDP has been lambasted for years but we have still not found a globally-acceptable alternative to it that would provide correct insights on societal well-being to the common man and economists. The commission proposes various dashboards of indicators but it does not come up with a quick and easy way to tabulate a new measure of well-being. However, the report is timely in the light of the recent financial crisis. Maybe this time policymakers will realise the heavy price paid for their 'GDP fetishism' and broaden metrics to look beyond measures of market production. With the political weight of Sarkozy behind this report and leading academics at the helm, the task will be a bit simpler this time round.

 

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                                                                                                               DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

SUGARCANE ROW: RESOLVE QUICKLY

 

It was prudent of the government to have stepped back on Thursday and offer assurances of modifying the ordinance on the price of sugarcane that led Uttar Pradesh's farmers to mount a massive dharna before Parliament House in New Delhi on the opening day of the Winter Session. The issue has united the Opposition and even induced sections of the ruling United Progressive Alliance — notably the DMK and the Trinamul Congress — to extend solidarity to the farmers. The country is reeling under a price shock as kitchen essentials have gone out of the reach of most people. This can be an ingredient for an explosive political situation, particularly while Parliament is in session. To alienate the farming community as well at such a time would make the government look uncaring. The crux of the matter is the October ordinance which fixed the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane at Rs 130 per quintal. The FRP replaces the statutory minimum price (SMP), which was Rs 110 last year. Over and above the SMP, the Uttar Pradesh government was wont to declare a state advised price (SAP), which was higher than the SMP. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka also paid their farmers a price above the SMP. The SMP rose to Rs 165 this year. But farmers in Uttar Pradesh — the country's largest cane producer — are demanding Rs 280 per quintal. If this demand is met, the retail price of sugar will climb above Rs 40 per kg. The Union agriculture minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, has been accused of favouring the big sugar mill owners through the controversial ordinance, under which state governments cannot declare their above-SMP deal for farmers. However, the ordinance does not stop the mills from offering farmers a higher price if they are able to absorb the difference between the FRP and whatever they agree to pay. However, the UP farmers' demand for Rs 280 per quintal is unthinkable for the state's sugar mills. Since crushing is yet to begin in UP, the Union government might just have some leeway in getting the mills to offer a deal that could be close to the SMP of Rs 165 that the UP government was to offer this year. Moderating the effect of the ordinance, the Centre could also raise the FRP. If the demand of the UP farmers were to be met in its entirety, the acreage under cane will increase. This will create a glut which will make prices fall. At that stage, there isn't any government support. The other outcome of a substantially higher price to cane growers will be a further snowballing in the price of retail sugar, although the price of cane isn't always the only reason for the upward movement of the retail price. The government needs to be realistic as well as deft in its negotiations with the Opposition parties so that the matter is resolved as soon as possible. Otherwise we may expect to arrive at a season of political mobilisations early in the career of UPA-II.

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

A DAY OF RECKONING FOR THE MARXISTS

BY BALBIR K. PUNJ

 

After reading reports about the discussion that took place in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo following the Left's defeat in October, close on the heels of its poor show in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it seems that the CPI(M) is refusing to accept the reality.

The party leadership seems convinced that the wipe-out it faced in two of its three states of influence (West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura) in the October bypolls was due to peripheral reasons, and not a fallout of the irrelevance of Communism in a fast-changing world.

The CPI(M) in West Bengal is challenged by the Trinamul Congress (TMC) and Ms Mamata Banerjee on the one hand and armed Maoists on the other. Also, it is well known that small landholders and farmers of West Bengal perceive a threat to their land and livelihood in the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's rapid industrialisation programme.
It was farmers' support on a massive scale, symbolised by what happened in Singur, that enabled Ms Banerjee to resist the onslaught of the Marxist cadres who had kept the countryside under their grip for a long time.
The armed Maoists on the other side are seeing the Marxists weakening in the face of this shift of the countryside's loyalty, from the CPI(M) to the TMC, and are striking using their armed cadres to telling effect.
Between Ms Banerjee and Maoist leader Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji, the Marxists found their red shirt stolen and were made victims of their own age-old slogan of proletarian revolution.
The Communists have also lost the support of the urban middle class on which they were banking heavily.

 

MR BHATTACHARJEE confessed to the mistake the Left made of driving out entrepreneurs and enterprise from West Bengal even as the people of Bengal watched projects after projects going to states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

In Kerala — the other pocket of Left's influence — a similar story is being played out. The Marxists, who are leading the ruling Left Front, have been routed in all the three byelections to the state Assembly, repeating what happened to them in the 2009 general elections.

More galling was the bypoll in Kannur where Marxist renegade P.K. Abdullakutty, a former Marxist member of Parliament, won as a Congress candidate defeating the Marxists in the land of the birth of Communism. Kannur was the native place of several Communist leaders, including Mr A.K. Gopalan. This is a place where the Marxists had imposed their diktat using armed cadres, and where a murder every day and that too in broad daylight is a common occurrence.

Mr Abdullakutty's victory in Kannur is to be read in the background of key defeats for the Marxists in several local body elections, in some of which their own dissidents have scored over the official party candidates.
The Kerala pattern of downfall for the Communists closely follows what is happening to the comrades in West Bengal.

 

THIS YEAR marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that signalled the end of Communism in Europe, including the former Soviet Union. The symbolism of the doubly fortified Wall, that prevented many people from reaching out to their brethren, falling down one fine evening has been played out in a plethora of articles on the 20th anniversary of the event.

When the then US President Ronald Reagan stood in West Berlin in 1987 and challenged Soviet leader Mr Mikhail Gorbachev to pull down the Wall, most people dismissed it as a mere Cold War rhetoric. Two years later, the Wall did fall. East Berliners virtually brought down the Wall as a demonstration of their pent-up anger. The Berlin Wall was the Communist prison that was sought to be sold to them as a utopia.
It was a similar imprisonment of lies that the Marxist government in West Bengal sought to feed the people of West Bengal.

Historically, West Bengal was at the top of India's industrialisation. The Tata Steel Co, Imperial Tobacco Company (now ITC), Garden Reach Workshop, Dunlop, Braithwaite & Co, several engineering firms and jute companies had their headquarters in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

While the industrial climate was vitiated by gheraos, educational institutions were debased by politics. Communist cadres sat over school principals and commanded them how to run their schools. The unionised teachers played truant from their spot of duty. Most industries fell sick.

In the 32 years of the Left Front rule, West Bengal's ranking in human development index among Indian states has slipped and is now just above Bihar.

This is no surprise. The impoverishment of the people under Communist dispensation was one of the main reasons why overnight the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern Europe collapsed without a shot being fired.
The Indian Communists were seeking to mislead people by claiming that in the Soviet Union food was the cheapest and food prices had remained constant for decades. The fact was that food was quite scarce and people had to queue for even ordinary items like eggs. With shop fronts empty, wages became worthless wads of notes. "They pretended to pay and we pretended to work", was the joke that was going round in the Communist heaven.

After 75 years under the Communist network of lies, the Russian people liberated themselves in 1991, and the people of Eastern Europe even earlier. The time it seems has now come for the people of West Bengal to do a "Berlin Wall" on their 32 year rulers.

If the Left Front is ousted from power, as it is most likely to happen in 2011 or even earlier, for the Indian Communists it would be political nemesis catching up with them.

 

Balbir K. Punj can be contacted at punjbk@gmail.com [1]

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

EDITORIAL

US MUST PUT 9/11 SUSPECTS ON OPEN TRIAL

BY STEVEN SIMON

 

The Justice department's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken.

 

First, let's dispose of the straw men. Mr John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of "treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue" — as though "law enforcement" is an epithet. In truth, the White House's counter-terrorism team is composed largely of the same professionals who battled terrorists under President Mr George W. Bush. They are generally in sync with the White House's insistence on a strategy that uses law enforcement where appropriate and military force in places, like Afghanistan, where conspirators can't be arrested by federal agents driving Fords.

Others complain that Mohammed might take advantage of quirks of the criminal justice system and go free.

 

That's highly unlikely. First, he has already confessed to the crime; and, given the zero acquittal rate for terrorists in New York previously, any anxiety about a "not guilty" verdict seems unwarranted.
Mr John Yoo, a former Bush administration lawyer, argues that the trial would be an "intelligence bonanza" for our enemies. Also unlikely. Our prosecutors are certain that there is enough unclassified evidence to make their case. Moreover, the most prized intelligence is recent, specific and actionable. Al Qaeda today is most concerned with discovering when and where the next drone missile attack will take place in Pakistan, information not likely to be disclosed during a trial about a conspiracy hatched more than a decade ago.
Which brings us to the idea that allowing Mohammed to take the stand will give him a soapbox. The truth is, if the trial provides a propaganda platform for anybody, it will be for our side.

First, federal courts do not permit TV cameras in the courtroom, so the opportunity for "real time" jihadist propagandising won't exist. And while defendants and their lawyers can question witnesses, they cannot make speeches; judges are kings in this domain and can quash irrelevant oratory. Some point out that in
earlier terrorism trials, like those of the plotters of the 1993 World Trade Centre attack, the defendants did ramble at length. True, but does anyone who fears a circus now remember a single word from those earlier
trials?

The real propaganda event is likely to unfold very differently. Instead of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed making his case, we will see the full measure of the horror of 9/11 outlined to the world in a way that only methodical trials can accomplish. Historically, the public exposure of state-sponsored mass murder or terrorism through a transparent judicial process has strengthened the forces of good and undercut the extremists. The Nuremberg trials were a classic case. And nothing more effectively alerted the world to the danger of genocide than Israel's prosecution in 1961 of Adolf Eichmann, the bureaucrat who engineered the Holocaust.

In the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alternatives — indefinite incarceration without trial, or a military tribunal closed to the public followed by execution — are far more likely to inspire militant recruits. And highlighting the transparency in our judicial process would strengthen America's reputation just as cracks are beginning to appear in the jihadist base. A growing number of radical Muslim clerics and theoreticians have reversed course in recent years.

For example, three of Saudi Arabia's most influential radical clerics — Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, Ali al-Khudair and Ahmed al-Khalidi (once described by Osama bin Laden as "our most prominent supporter") — have disowned bin Laden. Another, Salman al-Awda, has excoriated him, asking, "How many innocents have you killed?"

Mr Abu Basir al-Tartusi, an influential Jordan-born cleric living in London, now uses the Islamic concept of "covenant" between Muslims and their hosts to condemn jihadist bombings in Britain. In Qatar, the high-profile televangelist Yusuf al-Qaradhawi has advanced a "jurisprudence of jihad" that forbids the killing of most civilians. And from his prison cell in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif — the founder of the Egyptian insurgent group that produced Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri — has declared that the jihad against the West must be abandoned.

To be sure, some of these men's arguments don't go far enough to please Western ears. But they are shaping opinion. Polling since 2001 has shown that in most Muslim-majority countries, tolerance for terrorism and support for Al Qaeda is gradually eroding. It is strongly in our interest to reinforce these trends by underscoring the terrorists' killings of civilians and our own commitment to the rule of law.

An open trial will also provide a catalyst for reflection among Americans on both 9/11 and its aftermath. The years before the attacks have been thoroughly hashed out through the report of the 9/11 commission and by memoirs and histories. The eight years since, a time of unremitting warfare, has had no similar opportunity for taking stock. Regrettably, no trial can provide closure for the traumas of that day. But a judgment in New York, where the greatest suffering was inflicted, will remind us both of the narrow viciousness of the terrorists' cause and of the enduring strength of our own values.

 

Steven Simon is afellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of The Age of Sacred Terror and The Next Attack

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

PRIVATISING ATMOSPHERE

BY VANDANA SHIVA

 

The UNITED Nations climate change conference at Copenhagen next month is meant to further the goals of a global environmental treaty — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In 1988, a resolution of the UN General Assembly considered the climate change matter as a "common concern for mankind", and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change was created. On May 9, 1992, the UNFCCC was adopted in New York and opened for signing in June 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio. It came into effect on March 21, 1994.

The goal of the Convention, according to Article 2, is to "stabilise the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that prevents all dangerous anthropogenic disturbance of the climate system". Since the historic polluters were the rich, industrialised countries, the Convention required that by 2000 they stabilise their greenhouse gas emissions at their 1990 level.

Under the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto on December 11, 1997. The Kyoto Protocol set binding targets on industrialised countries for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to an average of five per cent against the 1990 levels over a five year period, 2008 to 2012.

However, in 2007, America's greenhouse gas levels were 16 per cent higher than their 1990 levels. The much-announced Waxman Markey "American Clean Energy and Security Act" commits the US to 17 per cent emissions reduction below 2005 levels by 2020. However, this is a mere four per cent below their 1990 levels.
Further, the emissions trading or offsets, in fact, are a mechanism to not reduce emissions at all. As the Breakthrough Institute in United States, "a small think tank with big ideas", states "If fully utilised, the emissions 'offset' in the American Clean Energy and Security Act would allow continued business as usual growth in the US greenhouse gas emissions until 2030, leading one to wonder: where's the 'cap' in the 'cap and trade'".

The Kyoto Protocol allows industrialised countries to trade their allocation of carbon emissions among themselves (Article 17). It also allows an investor in an industrialised country (industry or government) to invest in an eligible carbon mitigation project in a developing country and be credited with Certified Emission Reduction Units that can be used by investors to meet their obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is referred to as the Clean Development Mechanism under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol gave 38 industrialised countries, that were the worst historical polluters, emissions rights. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme rewarded 11,428 industrial installations with carbon dioxide emissions rights. Through emissions trading, Larry Lohmann, the co-author of Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatisation and Power, observes, "Rights to the earth's carbon cycling capacity are gravitating into the hands of those who have the most power to appropriate them and the most financial interest to do so". That such schemes are more about privatising the atmosphere than preventing climate change is made clear by the fact that emissions rights given away in the Kyoto Protocol were several times higher than the levels needed to prevent a two-degree-celsius rise in global temperatures.

Just as patents generate super profits for pharmaceutical and seed corporations, emissions rights generate super profits for polluters. The Emissions Trading Scheme granted allowances of 10 per cent more than 2005 emission levels; this translated to 150 million tonnes of surplus carbon credits which, with the 2005 average price of $7.23 per ton, translates to over $1 billion of free money.
The UK's allocations for the British industry added up to 736 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over three years, which implied no reduction commitments. Since no restrictions are being put on northern industrial polluters, they will continue to pollute and there will be no reduction in CO2 emissions.

Market solutions in the form of emissions trading are thus doing the opposite of the environmental principle that the polluter should pay. Through emissions, trading private polluters are getting more rights and more control over the atmosphere which rightfully belongs to all life on the planet. Emissions trading "solutions" pay the polluter.

Carbon trading is based on inequality because it privatised the commons. It is also based on inequality because it uses the resources of poorer people and poorer regions as "offsets". It is considered to be 50 to 200 times cheaper to plant trees in poorer countries to absorb CO2 than reducing it at source. The Stern Review states, "Emissions trading schemes can deliver least cost emissions reductions by allowing reductions to occur wherever they are cheapest". In other words, the burden of "clean up" falls on the poor. In a market calculus, this might appear efficient. In an ecological calculus, it would be far more effective to reduce emissions at source. And in an energy justice perspective, it is perverse to burden the poor twice — first with the externality of impacts of CO2 pollution in the form of climate disasters and then with the burden of remediating the pollution of the rich and powerful.

It is because of this failure of the rich countries to cut back on emissions that the global climate negotiations are not moving forward. When secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited India in April 2009 and tried to apply pressure on India to cut back on emissions, Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh responded: "Even with eight-nine per cent GDP annual growth for the next decade or two, our per capita emissions will be well below developed country averages. There is simply no case for the pressure we face to reduce emissions".
When Ms Clinton stated that the per capital argument "loses force as developing countries rapidly become the biggest emitters", Mr Ramesh replied that India's position on per capita emissions is "not a debating strategy" because it is enshrined in international agreements. "We look upon you suspiciously because you have not fulfilled what developed countries pledged to fulfilled", he said candidly. The failure of the rich countries to fulfill their climate obligations has created a "crisis of credibility".

The US is leading the dismantling of the UNFCCC. At the Bangkok negotiations, the lead negotiator of the US said: "We are not going to be part of an agreement that we cannot meet. We say a new agreement has to be signed by all countries. We cannot be stuck with an agreement that is 20 years old. We want action from all countries". The proposal of the US is to get out of the legally-binding UNFCC, to set targets nationally which could be noted down in a new international agreement, without it being legally binding internationally and without a people compliance mechanism.

Copenhagen is supposed to evolve new commitments for Annexure I countries for the post-Kyoto period. The science of climate change tells us the five per cent reduction commitments of Kyoto are too small, 80 to 90 per cent reduction is needed to keep air pollution at 350ppm and temperature increase within 2°C to avoid catastrophic climate change. Instead of taking on their legally-binding commitments and deepening cuts, the rich countries want to abandon UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

The press release of October 9, 2009, from the G-77 and China categorically stated: "This is simply unacceptable. It would betray the trust of the world public that is demanding a major step forward and not a major step backwards, in developed countries commitments and actions. We will also consider the Copenhagen COP meeting to be a disastrous failure if there is no outcome for the commitments period of the Kyoto Protocol".

The UNFCCC is the only international agreement we have in the context of climate change. The challenge at Copenhagen is to prevent its dismantling. The global environmental movement needs to throw its weight behind the countries of the South who are trying their best to uphold the climate treaty.

 

 Dr Vandana Shiva is the executive director of the Navdanya Trust

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

VICTIMSPEAK

BY ROBIN SHARMA

 

Back to a theme I shared with readers in The Greatness Guide. Words shape the way you feel. They influence the way you proceed reality. And they can either take you closer to your mountain-top or draw you nearer to the valley. Use world-class words and you'll get to your world-class life.

I was sitting in Starbucks in Manhattan. The guy in front of me ordered a "chai latte". The barista said she was out of "chai". He looked wounded. Seriously. I wish you could have seen his face. Like he just got an arrow through the heart. His reply? Classic victimspeak: "How could you do this to me?" I waited for his smile. It never came.

No matter where life sends us, we are responsible for the way we respond. We truly are. We can own our reaction. We can choose what we do with the situation. We can be bitter, or show up better. Tons of choices — at all times. Starting with our words. Choose them well. Leaders do.

Excerpted from The Greatness Guide 2by Robin Sharma. Published by Jaico

Publishing House, jaicopub@vsnl.com [1]

 

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DECCAN CHRONICAL

OPED

THE BEST KITCHEN THAT SERVES NONE

BY KENNETH CHANG

 

Inside a nondescript warehouse on a nondescript street of this Seattle suburb is a research laboratory that looks like it came out of a James Bond movie — had Q the gadget master been a food connoisseur.

Here Nathan Myhrvold, a former chief technology officer at Microsoft, and his company, Intellectual Ventures, pursue an eclectic array of speculative and potentially world-changing ideas — inventing a new battery, taming hurricanes, defeating disease. And here, along with the laser designed to shoot mosquitoes out of the air (a high-speed camera counts the rate of wing-flapping to ensure that innocent insects are not vaporised), is the best-equipped restaurant kitchen anywhere that never serves any customers.

Myhrvold exuded a Willy Wonka enthusiasm as he talked of the foods that came out of his industrial food dehydrator. "Raw lobster tail, freeze dried, is amazing", he said. At another machine, rose petals spun inside a glass globe. "This is basically a still", he said.

Around the corner, he pointed to two machines side by side. "Here's our ice cream machine, and here's our ultrasonic welder", he said. Had he used the welder as a cooking appliance? "Not yet", he said, earnestly," but we're going to try it out". After all, an autoclave designed to sterilise lab equipment has proven culinarily productive — "It's basically the pressure cooker from hell", Myhrvold said — as has a 100-tonne hydraulic press, for beef jerky.

All of this high-tech kitchen tinkering feeds another of Myhrvold's projects: a cookbook. The book intends to be the authoritative reference for chefs wishing to employ so-called molecular gastronomy — adapting food industry technologies to restaurant cooking.

Myhrvold, who once presided over Microsoft Windows, did not undertake this endeavour as a lonely intellectual pursuit. He hired 15 people, including five professional chefs, a photographer, an art director and writers and editors, to create it.

Myhrvold has long pursued a renaissance man portfolio of interests. While still at Microsoft, he showed that sauropod dinosaurs might have been able to accelerate the tips of their tails to supersonic speeds, like cracking a whip. More recently, he has been proselytising among paleontologists, urging them to hunt for fossilised dinosaur vomit.

Every month or so, the cookbook team gathers in a conference room to review their progress. Originally planned as a 300-page discussion of sous vide, an increasingly popular restaurant technique of cooking food in vacuum-sealed bags in warm water baths, the book has swelled to 1,500 pages that will also cover microbiology, food safety, the physics of heat transfer on the stove and in the oven, formulas for turning fruit and vegetable juices into gels, and more.

"And they're big pages", Myhrvold said. Because he is self-publishing the book, Myhrvold does not have to convince a publisher or anyone else that such a huge book aimed primarily at a narrow audience of restaurant chefs makes economic sense.

At least some chefs are taking interest. "I think there are parts of it that are definitely new to me", said Wylie Dufresne, the chef and owner of WD-50 in Manhattan, who visited the kitchen laboratory. "It's a cookbook that's going to be in its own category".

In September, Myhrvold and three of the other chefs gave a presentation at the Starchefs International Chefs Congress, an annual Manhattan trade show for restaurant professionals. They demonstrated how to encrust a pork loin within what was essentially a large crispy pork rind, how to make stewed prunes look like coal and how to make a "constructed cream." The conclusions have often been backed up by careful scientific exploration. But Myhrvold said: "There's no way it could penetrate. The molecules are too big". He said double-blind taste tests proved that the same tasty results could be achieved by steaming and then rubbing some of the fat on the outside.

By arrangement with the Spectator

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

JARGON OVERLOAD

BUT LITTLE ELSE OF NOTE

FUNNY isn't it how the jargon flows when issues pertaining to defence strategy are under focus. Maybe members of the parliamentary consultative committee of the ministry of defence were in the loop when the minister waxed eloquent at the maiden meeting of the new panel, most others would write off AK Antony's address as more style than substance. Sure there was no confusion over the objective of making the Indian Air Force a "dominant aerospace power" (even if few are convinced that action in that direction is underway) but it would be difficult to digest his assertion that "we also need to conceptualise and build asymmetric capabilities against superior forces". Similarly there would appear to be a mismatch between his listing steps that include significant enhancement of the strategic reach of IAF and integrating potent capabilities in terms of space-based assets and air defence, surveillance, modern aircraft and advanced weapon systems with the example he cited ~ the induction of the Hawk. For so protracted was the process to acquire that AJT that it would have been more appropriate for him to refer to it to bolster his case that "the gestation period for induction of new equipment is long and, therefore, there must be clarity in our strategic assessments and projection of requirements." Likewise, his observation that "we need to hasten our procurements to prevent voids in defence preparedness" would not gel with frequent changes in procurement policy and the increasing red tape ~ ostensibly to ensure "clean deals" ~ that throttle the system. It is significant that when mentioning that "the evaluation process for the selection of 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft is on" he offered no time-frame, even as the squadron strength of the IAF is depleting.

It is not the air force alone that is suffering: the army has yet to set about filling a 25-year-old deficiency in medium artillery, and the navy is having to make a show of the INS Viraat's return to service when she ought to have been ceremoniously retired. And even as the dithering over the cost of the Gorshkov continues, preparations are being made to receive the aircraft meant to operate from that carrier ~ surely a threat to stall the MiG-29K purchase could have been used as leverage for the platform's pricing. Of course the minister got away with his tall-talk: most MPs care little for non-political dimensions of defence preparedness.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

LET OR HINDRANCE

ATTACK ONE TRAIN, RIDE ANOTHER

THE customary trumpeting of Tuesday's arrest in Kolkata of three Bangladeshis ~ suspected to be the linkmen of HuJi and LeT ~ scarcely conceals the inexcusable shortcomings of the security apparatus. It is now established that the three, trained in Pakistan and involved in the 2005 attacks on the Special Task Force office in Hyderabad and the Shramjeevi Express, had had a free run in Bengal since April this year. Murshidabad district, that skirts the border with Bangladesh, was for the past eight months home to these terrorists who have been on the run for as long as four years. If they hadn't crossed over to their base in Bangladesh it was precisely because of the border alert on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. Yet neither the Intelligence network nor the district administrations along the border had the faintest clue about their movements. No less ignorant was the Kolkata Police till the alert was sounded by the Central authorities. In the event, the Lalgola Express transported the three terrorists to Kolkata en route to Malda ~ another district where Bangladeshis are predominant ~ till they were intercepted at the bus terminus along the waterfront. And the seizure list ~ counterfeit currency, forged identity documents and maps ~ confirms the dangerously pathetic level of railway security. Ironically enough, Lalgola Express had conveyed the culprits who had triggered an explosion in another train four years ago.

The other unnerving reality that has been confirmed by the arrests is that Kolkata serves as the corridor for terrorists in transit either to Bangladesh or northwards to J&K. Yet another sinister trend, now confirmed, is the floating of counterfeit currency by Islamist militants to destabilise the Indian economy. If fake currency totalling Rs 30 lakh has been seized, there must be a fair amount of illegality in circulation. While maps of important locations in Kolkata can be bought off the shelf, it is cause for alarm that forged identity documents have also been recovered. Part of the blame must be shared by the union home ministry which has issued citizenship cards to both the genuine and the fake in the states bordering Bangladesh. Having thrown in the towel in the face of the illegal migration, a vicious circle in forgery was only to be anticipated. And as it now turns, the activists of HuJI and LeT have thrown their hat into the ring.

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

STARS AND STRESSES

MORE BLOOMERS FROM THE CM

Politicians are known to be passionately attached to astrologers who dictate every action from the timing of a swearing-in ceremony to the signing of vital documents. Those among them who also swear by Marx and Engels manage to keep their convictions a secret except for a rebel like the late Subhas Chakraborty who defiantly justified his spiritual leanings when detected at a temple in Birbhum. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would not have slipped into another bloomer had he not targeted, quite needlessly, a section of professionals who had lately moved from pavements with their baggage of parrots and fortune cards to air-conditioned chambers fitted with laptops. The chief minister is one of the millions of non-believers who have nothing to lose from the popular practice of reaching out to the stars. It has launched a flourishing business in decorative scrolls and precious stones that may contribute to the claims of an industrial leap in Bengal. If, on the other hand, he had consciously spoken in jest about soothsayers at the science exhibition where he was otherwise expected to emphasise the merits of astronomy, he may have left the place with a gentle smile that would have cleared the confusion among children who had organised the show. Neither would it have upset those who have thrived on the mad rush to find a supernatural way out of despair. The trouble is that someone who loves films and may idolise Chaplin for that one scene in which he picks up a flag on the run is not known for his humour. That is why the mess he made of the two disciplines in his inaugural speech was ascribed to the agonising fallout of recent elections. While his critics may suggest just the kind of divine intervention he frowns upon, his sympathisers cite the tensions of rushing from a Left Front meeting where he was besieged by adversaries within his flock to a ritual that should have reinforced his mantra for a new Bengal. Sadly, the dangerous turns in the public mood have been compounded by lapses in tact or memory. Either way, he has been at the receiving end. He may yet decide that the poems and plays that sustained him during his defiant withdrawal from Jyoti Basu's cabinet are a safer proposition.

 

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THE STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

TO SING OR NOT TO SING

VANDE MATARAM IS IDENTIFIED WITH FREEDOM STRUGGLE, NOT RELIGION

MADHAVI DIVAN

TO sing or not to sing Vande Mataram is the question. Those who object to singing the national song may take comfort. They have a legal right not to sing the national song, if they so choose. The fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of our Constitution is a multi-hued, multifaceted notion. It is the right to speak, to sing and to express oneself in many other ways, even by choosing to remain silent. Indeed, the very converse of speech ~ silence or the right not to sing the national anthem or song if one's religion so dictates is a right within the ambit of Article 19 (1)(a). 

The Supreme Court has held that "the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India includes, by necessary implication, freedom not to listen and/or remain silent. A citizen has a right to leisure, right to sleep, right not to hear and right to remain silent." (In re: Noise Pollution (V) (2005) 5 SCC 733) In a case concerning Jehovah's Witnesses, Bijoe Emmanuel v State of Kerala (1986) 3 SCC 615, a child was expelled from a school in Kerala for refusing to sing the national anthem. He contended that his religious beliefs precluded him from doing so. The Supreme Court came to his rescue by upholding his right to practise his religion under Article 25 of the Constitution even if that meant that he did not participate in the singing of the national anthem.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

THE court noted that not only in India but the world over and quite irrespective of nationality, Jehovah's Witnesses did not sing the national anthem of any country. The court felt that no matter how alien these practices may appear to others, the sincerity of their beliefs were beyond question and the refusal to sing the national anthem was not out of any perversity on their part. The Supreme Court emphasised that there was no provision of law which could compel an individual to sing the national anthem or to salute the flag.
The right to express oneself differently is a legal right that should be available to any citizen in a secular democracy. Even otherwise, one can hardly extract patriotism out of a citizen by compelling him to sing the national anthem or the national song. The act of singing a patriotic song, quite literally, only amounts to paying lip service and by itself is unlikely to kindle or enhance love or commitment for one's country. Nor does it hold any guarantee of translating into loyal service to the motherland. Conversely, love for one's country is unlikely to be lessened or diluted because one is unwilling to 'bow' to it, worship it or equate it with God. Those who believe, and rightly so, that religion must not be worn on one's sleeve must be equally willing to accept that patriotism too need not be on exhibition.

But having said all this, the implications of refusing to sing the national song cannot be judged on the touchstone of legal rights alone.

THE ETERNAL DEBATE

THE resolution by the Darul Uloom against singing the national song is ill-timed, ill-advised and only serves to compound problems for vast sections of the Muslim community who might regard this as a non- issue. The objection to the song only feeds the eternal debate on which comes first, religion or country.
Those who object to the singing of Vande Mataram, a song identified with the freedom struggle rather than with any religion, may consider a less literal and doctrinaire meaning. A R Rahman interpreted Vande Mataram as "Ma Tujhe Salaam" ~ 'Mother, I salute you'. Surely, a salutation to the motherland (and not worship) is reasonable? Or is the objection to the personification of the homeland as 'Mother', that is, in the female form?
In order to claim protection under the fundamental right to practise and profess religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution, one would have to show that the practice in question is fundamental to or an essential aspect of religion. It would have to be shown then, that Islam prohibits saluting the motherland. This would be rather far-fetched and only compound problems for the community.

Undoubtedly, there are conflicts and dilemmas which any religious or cultural minority faces when it needs to co-exist in a secular or multicultural society. Conforming is never easy but then again, nor does it pay to stand out like a sore thumb.

 

The writer is an advocate and the author of Facets of Media Law

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

AIR FRESHENER

 

It has been 15 years since the last time pollution standards were set. But India has at last changed the rules determining air quality. The maximum permissible level for each pollutant on the earlier list of pollutants has been lowered, while six others that had not even been considered so far have been added. This can only be excellent news. If followed, the rules could immeasurably improve the air quality in cities. The chief and overwhelming benefit of such a change should be the dramatic lessening of respiratory diseases, which have been growing at an alarming rate in recent years. As important as the general lowering of permissible limits is the fact that the new rules fix the same standards for residential and industrial areas, with no relaxation for the latter as had been allowed earlier. These standards are equal to the European ones, the Union minister for environment has said. Evidently they are higher than air pollution standards in the United States of America.

 

It is good to have a benchmark, and perhaps it is this that should be welcomed first. But ensuring adherence to these rules in this one-billion-strong country with wildly different lifestyles, economic standards and civic cultures takes the issue on to a different plane altogether. The government is focusing on cleaner auto-emission and fuel efficiency standards that are to evolve within the next two years. Arranging for cleaner fuel or getting automobile manufacturers to produce the right kind of cars is not likely to be a simple matter, but even that is only a small part of the process. A part of it will depend on mindset; as the Centre for Science and Environment has pointed out, people should be encouraged to use public transport instead of cars. But even that will mean replanning transport systems and no-car zones within and outside cities, so that people have enough of the right kind of public transport to travel in dignity to the places they want to go to. The changeover into cleaner ambient air would involve individual awareness and willingness as well as investment and action on the part of governments, municipal corporations and corporate organizations, together with owners of factories, and of small- and middle-scale industries. It can be done of course, even if it takes time. But without time frames and possible penalties for violation, cleaner air is yet a little difficult to imagine.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

LATE LAMENTED

 

Making excuses is an art. There comes a point when one begins to believe passionately in the fictions one has created to one's advantage. So, the various reasons given by employees at the Writers' Buildings for regularly coming to work late or leaving work early sound like deeply held convictions. It becomes difficult to see them as what they are — lame, wretched excuses for being unwilling to work. Arriving late or leaving early on the very day of freshly enforced punctuality regulations, most employees spoke to journalists with an admirable clarity of motive and purpose. For some, the reasons are existential: claustrophobia in the Metro, having to buy fish, traffic jams. For others, political: a sense of justice in defying employers who are sitting on arrears, promotions and benefits, or who themselves come late in spite of their office cars. And some happen to be naturally nonchalant, full of the bravado of defiance. They are free spirits resisting the mechanization of their lives, like the hero of Modern Times. This spirit of freedom remains unvanquished in history. Once a decade or so, there is a punctuality drive, but it always comes to nothing: time loses, traditions wins. This is the great tradition of radicalism and intransigence, of the human spirit holding out against the brute and levelling power of professionalism. It has given to the culture and politics of eastern India a unique and cherished character. Some call it Bengaliness.

 

Faced with this gloriously entrenched and enduring quality, Bengal's talking heads seem to be in a stupor of helplessness. The finance minister, supposed to be in charge of the new enforcements, hides behind the present continuous and future tenses. He 'is focusing' on the gaps in the system; they 'are thinking' about preparing directives. Only time, according to him, can sort out this problem of time. The thing to do is to watch for a week, to mull and see how it all goes. In the upper strata of the Writers' Buildings, this is called "monitoring attendance". "But who will monitor the monitors?" the babus below promptly ask. The timelessness of this languor has greatly enriched Bengali fiction, cinema, photography, and the dying art of adda (for which Unesco must urgently do something). Yet, it has had a devastating effect on the politics and economics of the state. But ruins and devastation are nobler than politics and economics. And the ship sails on.

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

THE SPLIT REALITY

ADIVASIS, SALVA JUDM AND THE STATE: WHO IS PROVOKING WHOM?

CUTTING CORNERS - ASHOK MITRA

 

Some news is considered more worth publicizing than some other news. This is part of an essential discipline, for otherwise we will remain perennially buried under an avalanche of data, information and gossip. The wheat, never mind the change of metaphor, has to be separated from the chaff. The media perform this task. Occasionally the government of the land helps the media to do the choosing: the authorities have their own views on what is printable and what is not.

 

The prime minister had recently convened a conference of chief ministers to discuss the ways and means for implementing the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, passed by Parliament in 2006. The Union ministers of state for environment and forests as well as for tribal affairs were in attendance. Most of the chief ministers, however, stayed away; they obviously had more important matters to deal with on the day. The only exception was the chief minister of Orissa.

 

The absence of chief ministers did not deter the prime minister from unburdening himself. There has been, he said, a systemic failure in giving the nation's adivasis a stake in the breathtaking economic progress the country is experiencing. On the other hand, the development process has actually led to an encroachment on both the living space and the means of livelihood of the tribal population. Such alienation of the adivasis from the national mainstream has persisted over decades. But enough ought to be enough, the social and economic exploitation of the tribal communities could not be tolerated any longer. The 2006 act, the prime minister told his listeners, embodies the government's resolve to reverse the trend. The nation's energy and resources must be fully mobilized to make effective the provisions of the act. The Union and state governments have to move together in the matter, and it would be necessary to 'factor in' the different nuances of tribals living in different parts of the country.

 

The prime minister drew attention to the need to improve rules and procedures to ensure prompt and adequate compensation to tribal people displaced from their habitat because of on-going development projects. That apart, the tribal people, he emphasized, must also directly benefit from these projects. Mere monetary compensation for land taken over and provision of alternative sources of income could hardly be the end of the matter. Preservation of traditional culture is of equal importance. The act, the prime minister asserted, addresses itself to these problems. He urged the chief ministers to post committed and competent officers in tribal areas who could cope with the challenge of the responsibilities assigned to them and interact with the tribal communities with tact, understanding and friendliness. At the same time, he urged the adivasis to eschew acts of violence; sustained economic activity is not possible under the shadow of the gun.

 

The media spared no efforts to give wide coverage to the contents of the prime minister's speech. It was of tremendous significance in the context of aggravated Maoist violence in the country's tribal hinterland. The prime minister, it was generally recognized, had spoken with great restraint as well as great civilization.

 

But the media happen to be choosy too, and the authorities encourage them to be choosy. While the prime minister's address, oozing noble intentions, received saturation coverage, a veil of silence has descended on the findings of a certain official committee. The committee on state agrarian relations and unfinished tasks of land reform was set up in January last year under the chairmanship of the then Union minister for rural development under the auspices of his ministry. The committee submitted its report in March this year to the present Union minister for rural development, and is now available as an official publication. Chapter IV of the report has a couple of concluding paragraphs, which are being quoted in full.

 

"A civil-war-like situation has gripped the southern districts of Bastar, Dantewada and Bijapur in Chattishgarh. The contestants are the armed squads of tribal men and women of the erstwhile Peoples War Group now known as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the one side and the armed tribal fighters of the Salva Judm created and encouraged by the government and supported with the firepower and organization of the central police forces. This open declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as per the script. The drama being scripted by Tata Steel and Essar Steel who wanted 7 villages or thereabouts, each to mine the richest lode of iron ore available in India. There was initial resistance to land acquisition and displacement from the tribals. The state withdrew its plans under fierce resistance. An argument put forward was 'you don't play foul with the Murias', it's a matter of life and death and Murias don't fear death. A new approach was necessary if the rich lodes of iron ore are to be mined. The new approach came about with the Salva Judm, euphemistically meaning 'peace hunt'. Ironically the Salva Judm was led by Mahendra Karma, elected on a Congress ticket and the Leader of the Opposition and supported wholeheartedly by the BJP led government. The Salva Judm was headed and peopled by the Murias, some of them erstwhile cadre and local leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Behind them are the traders, contractors and miners waiting for a successful result of their strategy.

 

"The first financiers of the Salva Judm were the Tata and the Essar groups in the quest for 'peace'. The first onslaught of the Salva Judm was on Muria villagers who still owed allegiance to the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It turned out to be an open war between brothers. 640 villages as per official statistics were laid bare, burnt to the ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of the state. 350,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada district are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters killed, and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by the Salva Judm. Others continue to hide in the forest or have migrated to the nearby tribal tracts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. 640 villages are empty. Villages sitting on tons of iron ore are effectively de-peopled and available for the highest bidder. The latest information that is being circulated is that both Essar Steel and Tata Steel are willing to take over the empty landscape and manage the mines."

 

One is suddenly made aware of the two-level reality defining our nation. At one level, we have the gushing rate of GDP growth, the ever-expanding list of Indian billionaires, perfunctory talk of making the growth process inclusive, and the prime minister's stentorious declaration to put an end to tribal exploitation alongside advice to the adivasis to abjure violence. The other level is the state of things depicted in the paragraphs reproduced from the report submitted to the Union minister for urban development. It is not a report prepared by some civil liberty zealots. It is a formal official report which narrates in lurid detail what is happening on the ground notwithstanding the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dweller (Recognition of Rights) Act and in total contradiction of the prime minister's honey-soaked words.

 

It would be outrageous for the authorities to pretend innocence about the gruesome occurrences in the 640 villages in the district of Dantewada. Officers must have known, ruling politicians must have known too. A few officers and influential politicians must have also colluded with the perpetrators of the grisly acts of massacre and pillage that took place there. No development activity is possible, according to the prime minister, under the shadow of the gun. Will he, please, identify the wielders of the guns in this instance? Or will he repudiate the findings of a committee set up by his own government?

 

A goody-goody piece of legislation passed in New Delhi cannot override ground reality. There is, beside, an issue of semantics as well: what is violence and what is counter-violence? A small news item last week mentioned that a guesthouse run by an industrial group in the forests of Orissa was attacked by a group of tribals. This particular industrial group is one of the major financiers of the Salva Judm in Chattisgarh. Who provoked whom?

 

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THE TELEGRAPH

EDITORIAL

MONSTERS ON THE PROWL

BONA FIDE - MALVIKA SINGH

 

Three rather unfortunate declamations that made news and stood out like sore fingers over the last few days were those by an air marshal, who made the most reactionary and insensitive statement about women; by Barack Obama, who suggested that China should intervene in Indo-Pak problems; and the international declaration that Delhi roads are a death-trap. Each of these revelations illustrates intellectual immaturity, and the absence of wherewithal to address realities.

 

First, the strange and bizarre assertion by a senior serving officer of the Indian air force. God help us if we have air marshals whose intelligence leaves much to be desired and who voice thoughts that need to be flung into a dustbin. The defence minister should have sealed the man's mouth, and moved towards ordering his premature retirement, because a faulty intellect is more dangerous than most other deficiencies, particularly in the forces that are mandated to defend all citizens regardless of caste, creed, faith and gender. The man should also be hauled up for defying, in spirit, the Constitution of India.

 

Women will get pregnant, said he, conveniently forgetting that it is usually because of the demands of a man. Therefore, he said, there shouldn't be women fighter pilots in the IAF. He forgot to add that male fighter pilots may also develop prostrate problems, have collapsed lungs, stones in their wretched kidneys, cirrhosis of the liver with excessive drinking in the mess, and, of course, detached retinas! My heart goes out to the women in his family after his insult to motherhood, to the strength of Durga, the Rani of Jhansi, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and to billions of women across this planet who nurture life and are the embodiment of culture.

 

COOKIE CRUMBLES

Obama seems to get swallowed up, every now and then, in his own rhetoric, spelt out for him by the Robert Blakes of the state department who, too, are stuck in a time warp, unable to accept the changed realities of this world. The United States of America is a declining power, and it is clear that shifts are happening that have begun to dilute its hold on the world, which still grapples with all its errors of political judgment committed over the decades — from Vietnam to Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban, and more — creating monsters that have destroyed a large chunk of mankind.

 

The US has been responsible for all the treacherous and poisonous 'wars' post World War II, and, alas, for no peace. Its 'clout' seems such a mirage, considering the fact that it has not been able to wield influence on Burma and have Aung San Suu Kyi released. Because it is financially in a throttling bind, with China manipulating it, the US is stuck. It does not have the intellect required to make the correct political judgments expected of a non-partisan world power. Having damaged the Indian subcontinent with amoral mechanisms, intended at playing up one country against the other, the US is heading into a situation where it will have to face its worst ever political crisis as the cookie begins to crumble. India will emerge stronger when it can combat the US politically. The cycle is changing.

 

And finally, the horror of the Delhi roads, where privately operated Blueline buses kill citizens — men, women and children — with abandon. The killer drivers get away because they are 'poor', and not 'rich' like the men responsible for the comparatively occasional accidents of fancy salon cars running over people sleeping on the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. The time has come to put the bus drivers who kill people because they are speeding, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs, into jail till they prove themselves 'not guilty', as is expected of the well-heeled. Where is the electronic press?

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

CHINA AS MEDDLER

''CHINA-PAK NEXUS HAS HARMED INDIA.''

 

The reference to relations between India and Pakistan and the acceptance of a role for China in South Asia in the joint statement issued during US President Barack Obama's visit to China cannot be dismissed as routine diplomatic verbiage. They have implications for India and New Delhi cannot but be concerned and disappointed with them. India has done well to reject the possible suggestion of a monitoring role for China in the region as this cannot be in India's interests. This is the second time India is referred to in a US-China statement after 1998. If the then reference to India's nuclear tests was unnecessary, the present mention is more significant, because there is no specific reason for it. India has always rejected any third country role in its relations with Pakistan and there cannot be any compromise on this.

Promise of China's co-operation with the US in resolving North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues is seen as having prompted the US to mention Indo-Pak ties in the statement. But China even otherwise has reasons to look for a dominant role in the region and acceptance by the world, especially the US, of that status. The division of the world into areas of influence is an old international practice. India cannot accept the grant of any such position for China in its neighbourhood. A bigger role for China in Pakistan and Afghanistan is not in India's interests. The nexus between China and Pakistan has historically harmed India. Even the US interests in those two countries will not be served well by legitimising a bigger role for China in them. China and Pakistan do not see Afghan President Karzai as a friend, but would the US accept it?

There have been persisting doubts about the Obama administration's policy on India and its outlook on New Delhi's relations with others. Some of these doubts like those about the US position on Kashmir and the position on India's nuclear status have often been clarified but they tend to surface again and again. They do not provide a stable and reliable framework for relations between India and the US. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting the US next week. He should convey India's concerns and unhappiness over unhelpful US policies in the region. He should get a clearer picture of the shape of India-US relations in future, in themselves, and with respect to other countries.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

SHOCKING APATHY

''WORLD LEADERS HAVE FAILED HUNGRY PEOPLE.''

 

The international community's lackadaisical attitude towards solving the problem of world hunger, which was on display at the World Hunger Summit in Rome is shocking. The final declaration of the summit called for urgent action to improve food security but it failed to set a timetable to eradicate hunger. There were hopes that the rich countries would commit to enhancing their annual contributions in agricultural aid from $7.9 billion to $44 billion and that this would find clear mention in the final declaration. But this was not to be. The declaration merely spoke of their willingness to substantially increase their share of  development assistance to agriculture and food security. Clearly, those in a position to make a difference have failed to step forward. What is all the more distressing is that many world leaders failed to show up at the summit. But for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who played host to the meeting, no other leader from the G-8 found the time to attend the summit.

 

The number of hungry people in the world saw a sharp surge this year, crossing the billion mark. This means that a sixth of the world's population is hungry. Hunger has been blamed on the food crisis which in turn has been attributed to the global economic crisis, high food and fuel prices, and drought and conflict. To address their domestic food shortages several rich countries are engaging in predatory acquisition of farmland in poor African countries. This has worsened the food crisis in Africa, contributing to an increase in the number of hungry people. At the Rome summit, several African leaders called for a halt to these land grabs. The world must pay attention to this problem.

India, which is home to 27 per cent of the world's hungry, should have been at the forefront of the Rome summit, demanding global action in the war against hunger. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not think the summit was important enough to merit his presence. He sent his agriculture minister instead. The Rome summit held out an opportunity for the world to sit together to draw up an action plan to tackle hunger. That opportunity has been lost. But it is still not too late. Hunger must be made history and it is not impossible. Rhetoric must be replaced by robust action.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

WHITHER IDEA OF INDIA?

THE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE 'OUTSIDERS' SHOULD SHUT UP THE SHIV SENA AND ITS ILK THAT CLAIM NON-MARATAS ARE A BURDEN ON MUMBAI.

BY KULDIP NAYAR

It is happening too often and it is too vicious. Parochialism is rearing its ugly head in Mumbai too frequently. The Shiv Sena is threatening to throw out 'outsiders' from the city and the rest of Maharashtra. Self-centred party chief Bal Thackery has created a ruckus once again, this time dragging into controversy Sachin Tendulkar, the world's best batsman, who said after the 20th year of playing cricket that he was proud to be a Maharashtrian but he was Indian first. How should this remark irritate anybody? Still the shrill voice is coming from Mumbai.

I think it is time that Mumbai be made a Union Territory. Industrially and commercially, it is the hub of India's financial activity. Delhi is a Union Territory because it is the centre of the country's political activity. Why should Mumbai, which is India's financial capital, have a different status from that of Delhi?

People from the various part of the country have settled in Mumbai making large investments and contributing their labour and entrepreneurship for decades to make Mumbai what it is today. More money has come from others, not the Maharashtrians. Even population-wise, my impression is that the non-Maharashtrians are slightly more.

If nothing else, the contributions by 'outsiders' should shut up the Shiv Sena and its ilk, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, that they are a burden on Mumbai or that the jobs in the state should be given to the Maharashtrians alone. This pernicious thesis, the son-of-the-soil articulation, was advanced by many states, including Maharashtra, before the Fazal Ali States Reorganisation Commission in 1955. It firmly rejected the various claims and held: "It is the Union of India that is the basis of our nationality." In its report, the Commission said that "it (Bombay) has acquired its present commanding position by the joint endeavour of the different language groups."

The proposal that Bombay should be constituted as a separate unit was first mooted by the Dar Commission when the Constituent Assembly was debating in 1949 the formation of linguistic states. The then ruling Congress party accepted the proposal for the reorganisation of states.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took fancy to the idea of keeping Bombay apart. He pushed it when Maharashtra and Gujarat were agitating against the Commission's recommendation to integrate them into one, bi-lingual state. Nehru presented before the Cabinet a proposal to have three units: Maharashtra, Gujarat and the city of Bombay. The then Finance Minister C D Deshmukh, agreed to the formula in the Cabinet. But he changed his stand following the furore in Maharashtra and submitted his resignation from the government. Bombay was made part of Maharashtra.

LINGUISTIC STATES

Nevertheless, the linguistic states have not been of much help to the country. They are increasingly becoming 'islands of chauvinism.' The son-of-the-soil thesis is having precedence. This was the danger to which Nehru drew attention to after new boundaries were drawn on the basis of language. The BJP-run Madhya Pradesh is the latest one to announce that it does not want the Bihari labour.

Unfortunately, the manner in which certain administrations have conducted their affairs has partly contributed to the growth of parochial sentiments. The rulers have an eye on elections, not realising that the idea of India gets defeated if people have the domicile considerations at top. The prosperity of some states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka has raised questions in UP, Bihar and Orissa, the economically backward areas, that they were not getting their due. Relations between the Centre and the states have got strained on this count and they get aggravated when the states are hit by flood or scarcity.

In the late fifties, the southern states generally felt that they were not getting their share. There were agitations and public rallies. Nehru was quick to convene a meeting National Integration Council to discuss the different grievances and points of view. The Council appointed many committees to give their recommendations on how to bring about national integration.

Before they could submit the reports, China attacked India in 1962. All committees made just one comment: The Chinese invasion had united the entire country. Indeed, this was true because all dissenting voices died in no time. Even the Chinese were surprised because their assessment before hostilities was that India was disintegrating.

The country had another jolt in the eighties. The Akalis in Punjab revolted. The state was in the midst of militancy for about a decade. The Sikhs themselves turned against the militants who had made their life hell. Punjab is today one of the peaceful states.

No doubt, the basis of nationality is the Union of India. The states are but the limbs of the Union. Yet the limbs must be healthy and strong. Some states have too many poor people concentrated in their territory. Yet what keeps India together is its diversity. By dividing the country into linguistic spheres or by injuring the rights of those who are in a minority, the parochial elements are posing a danger to the very idea of India. It is better that organisations like the Shiv Sena understand this.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

OBAMA GAINED LITTLE FROM CHINA VISIT

OBAMA SEEMS TO HAVE GOT VERY LITTLE, WHETHER ON IRAN, AFGHANISTAN OR THE EXCHANGE RATE.

BY TIMOTHY GARTON ASH, THE GUARDIAN

 

To mark the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Barack Obama goes to Beijing. Europe is so then, China so now. And as global power shifts east, even the most powerful and eloquent leader of our time wrestles with the dilemmas of engagement.

Before going to China, Obama made two major concessions: not meeting the Dalai Lama (unlike his predecessors in the White House), and describing China as a 'strategic partner,' a label much desired by the leadership in Beijing. In the short term he seems to have got very little in return, whether on Iran, Afghanistan or the exchange rate of the renminbi.

The contrast between Bill Clinton's freewheeling, open, mutually critical press conference with Jiang Zemin in 1998, and the frigid presentation of contrasting statements by Obama and Hu Jintao – with no journalists' questions allowed – is a measure of the distance travelled by China over America's wasted decade. Poised to become the world's second biggest economy in 2010, and holding some $1 trillion of US debt, China increasingly feels able to set its own terms.

How this relationship plays out over the next 20 years will, of course, depend mainly on the realities of economic, military and political power. China is on the up, but its own system has many internal weaknesses. Diplomatically, the US will have significant possibilities of balancing Chinese power by relationships with Europe.

Mutual respect

Yet beyond the hard power relations, there is an almost philosophical question about how we in the west engage with China. The first approach, which China's rulers like, is to say this: you have your traditions, your civilisation, your culture, your values; and we have ours. In a world of very diverse sovereign great powers, the only basis for international order is mutual respect.

I think China's current rulers would be happy to settle for that. Unlike in the Maoist period, and unlike some in the US and Europe today, they are not missionary universalists. They do not claim that their Chinese model, evolved by trial and error, is necessarily good for anyone else.  China's commitment to non-interference in other states' affairs is not entirely consistent. Like the US, China has a twin-track view of sovereignty: our own sovereignty is absolute, other people's is relative. Thus, for example, China has gone to extraordinary lengths to dissuade western leaders, including Obama, from meeting the Dalai Lama in their own capitals. However, with the exception of what it regards as matters of vital national interest, China is not (yet) trying to tell other people how to run their own countries.

The other approach, is to start the search for a genuinely universal universalism, in a dialogue with China and other non-western emerging powers. This could not be a purely western-defined universalism, with the implication that all the essential universal truths were discovered in the west some time between, say, 1650 and 1800, and all other countries simply have to follow suit.

Rather, it would be a universalism that says something like this: we hold these truths to be self-evident, but maybe you'd like to suggest some other ones. We say life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; perhaps you'd like to make the case for harmony, security or trans-generational community.

This is not a 'dialogue among civilisations,' a term that seems to imply that my values are determined by the 'civilisation' of my birth or religion. It is certainly not a trade-off between 'western values' and 'Asian values.' It is an invitation to a genuine conversation about what all human beings have in common, and how they should best organise and live their lives.

The answers given in the west during and since what we call the Enlightenment seem to me the best anyone has found so far. Yet even a brief immersion in the Confucian and Buddhist traditions suggests that there are things we could learn from them – and that there is a good deal of common ground.

My limited experience of young Chinese, including members of the Communist party, suggests that they are very open to such a conversation. But here's the catch. In order to have it, they must be exposed to our ideas, and to the evidence that supports those ideas, and we must be exposed to theirs.

One of the good things to come out of Obama's visit was an agreement to expand people-to-people contacts, including students travelling in both directions; but they will still remain a small minority. The rest of the exposure will have to happen through various media, and above all through the internet. So the free flow of information cannot be dismissed as simply a western value, contested in the east. It is a precondition for having this conversation at all.

 

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DECCAN HERALD

EDITORIAL

THE DAILY GRUMBLE

THE COOK CHOSE HER OWN TIMINGS AND IT WASN'T EASY TO KEEP TO HER SCHEDULES.

BY PADMA GANAPATI

 

There's no salt in the sambar.' 'Why is the palya so spicy?' 'The rasam is so sour it sets my teeth on edge.' 'Aren't there vegetables other than gourds and squashes in the market?' 'And can't we have some variety?' Such comments are commonplace in a family with a discerning palate and a critical attitude. With food prices escalating by the hour, one must be grateful for three square meals (and more) a day. At least, that's what I believe. But my lofty principles go largely unshared.

Fed up with this daily grumble and on the recommendation of a friend who said I'd be helping a needy person, I engaged a lady to do the cooking. Not to have to listen to my culinary shortcomings everyday was something to rejoice about. The flip side, I soon realised, was that it tied me down, especially as the lady in question rarely arrived at the fixed time. If it suited her, she would arrive early. If inconvenient, she would be late. So either she caught me unawares or kept me waiting. It wasn't easy for me to reschedule at short notice or no notice. Frailty is a comon failing so I just grinned and bore it.

By the time lady fair showed up, I had to decide the menu and have the vegetables ready. Some days, very little cooking would be needed. But because she was coming, I had to find enough work for her to do. (Also she would feel victimised when allotted her normal quota! It would have been easier to give her an off day but then it would set a precedent.) And to avoid waste, I had to find ways and means of disposing the cooked stuff.

To give the lady her due, her range and expertise were amazing. My admiration was a bit forced and tinged with resentment for an outsider taking full control of my fiefdom, as it were. I am no gourmet cook and complicated recipes with a metre-long  list of ingredients put me off.

But I am enamoured of my own cooking, even if others aren't. I specialise in simple, easy-to-cook, wholesome food for which I give myself the credit simply because no one else does. It wasn't before long that I began to chafe at the bit. The ways of Providence are strange. A family member's inadvertent remark about the lady's culinary skill (apparently, it was a bad meal day for her) so piqued her that she upped and left. So I have been reinstated and now, I call all the shots!

 

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THE JERUSALEM POST

EDITORIAL

SHABBES! SHABBES!

 

Sometimes it seems as if there's an evil mastermind out there determined to make Jewish tradition, observance and ritual seem repellent, retrograde, even ridiculous to as many unaffiliated and secular Jews as possible while making even the traditionally observant cringe with embarrassment.

 

What better way to heighten alienation from all things Jewish than to rebrand Judaism as the sole province of a scowling ultra-Orthodox minority - and to do so in Jerusalem before the entire world. Last Shabbat, hundreds of "fervently Orthodox Jews" spent the afternoon rioting outside the Intel computer chip fabrication plant in Jerusalem, "desecrating the Sabbath in order to save it."

 

Hassidim and mitnagdim, comrades-in-arms, scuffled with reporters and cameramen whom they had lured to their demonstration and roughed up a haredi vice-mayor of Jerusalem whose zealousness was called into question.

 

The next day, Intel discovered that someone had broken into the company's chapel, smashed windows, broken furniture and left prayer books strewn about.

 

At issue were fears that Intel would induce, not obligate, Jewish employees to work on Shabbat. The company believes that the waiver it has long held to operate on Shabbat remains valid at its Jerusalem factory in Har Hotzvim, a hi-tech compound near an expanding haredi district. Intel says that for both technical and business reasons, the factory's fabrication work must carry on 24/7. The company's computer chips are a major Israeli export.

 

Clearly, Israel needs Intel more than it needs its benighted opponents.

 

THE ASSAULT on Intel has been instigated primarily by the virulently anti-Zionist Eda Haredit. This week, comparatively moderate Hassidic, Lithuanian and Sephardic ultra-Orthodox leaders have been negotiating with the company, offering to muzzle their acolytes in return for a verifiable Intel commitment to employ only non-Jews to work the Shabbat shifts.

 

Even if an agreement can be reached by sundown Friday, the Eda Haredit is still intent on sending its soldiers into the streets after Saturday morning services to howl, "Shabbes, Shabbes!" and seek violent confrontation.

 

For a living, the Eda Haredit provides kosher certification for vendors, stores, hotels and restaurants. Its imprimatur is ubiquitous - so in a sense, consumers who patronize establishments beholden to the Eda are funding its "Shabbes" activities.

 

The Intel riots were only the latest acts of intimidation by haredi extremists against the ideal of a Jerusalem that is tolerant, pluralistic, tradition-friendly and Zionist.

 

It doesn't take much to provoke haredi unrest: rumors of an autopsy; the arrest of an abusive mother - or a murderous father; the opening of a free parking garage; vehicular traffic on a boulevard haredim call their own.

 

By flamboyantly running amok in Israel's capital, the extremists perpetuate the sense of Jerusalem as unlivable, ungovernable and unreasonable.

 

WEDNESDAY SAW another manifestation of haredi bullying as "fervently Orthodox Jews" became enraged when a female medical student in the women's section of the Western Wall compound donned a tallit and held a Torah scroll.

 

Among the ultra-Orthodox, these activities are the preserve of men. Her actions also contravened a court-mediated policy that, for all intents and purposes, has converted the Kotel into an Orthodox shrine. The Wall reverts back to the nation on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hazikaron and for occasional military ceremonies.

 

The medical student is a member of Women of the Wall, which meets on Rosh Hodesh at Robinson's Arch, an enclave close to the Western Wall where women's - even egalitarian - services are tolerated. But this time, the Women of the Wall unwisely decided to push the envelope and moved their services to the Kotel's segregated women's section, where their un-Orthodoxy infuriated those who "tremble before God." The rabbi of the Wall, a government employee, denounced the defilement of his turf. So police whisked away the prayer shawl-wearing, Torah scroll-carrying woman before a riot could ensue.

 

While we sympathize with the desire to make the Western Wall prayer area a spiritually inviting place for all Jews, seeking confrontation with the entrenched Orthodox establishment is an exercise in futility.

 

Only when the political system is reformed so that religious zealots lose their disproportionate influence can this particular wrong be righted. Of course, when deliverance comes, Zionist decisors of Halacha, animated by the desire to harmonize tradition with the practical needs of running a modern Jewish state, will have taken charge of the spiritual direction of the country.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

LEADERSHIP NEEDED

 

The insolent defiance of the hesder yeshiva soldiers who announced that they would not evacuate outposts the government has decided to dismantle, and the audacity of those on the right who blame this behavior on the government for using the IDF in carrying out the decision to evacuate settlements from the Gaza Strip, reflect the breakdown of state authority in Israeli society and the disturbing phenomenon of a government that opts not to govern.

It would have been preferable had the army not been used in evacuating the settlements from Gaza and northern Samaria. It would have been preferable for the settlers to carry out the government decision and leave alone, without having made it necessary to use force against them. But the government is authorized to decide on the use of the army, if it believes this is necessary to ensure that the decision is carried out and its authority applied. This is certainly the situation in the territories, where the army is sovereign and not the civil authority.

But Ariel Sharon's decision to evacuate the Gaza Strip settlements was an unusual event. For decades, on many important issues, Gush Emunim ruled over the government, instead of the government ruling the country, and got Israel mixed up in an unnecessary and damaging settlement enterprise in the territories. In the disengagement plan the government took back the reins of power.

 

Not surprisingly, and in view of the possibility that force would be used by the government, Gush Emunim accepted the decision, and the settlements were evacuated under protest but without a violent mutiny. Statements and threats from the right since have only become more extreme, trying to deter the government from further evacuations of settlements and outposts.

Stripping the state of its governing authority is particularly glaring in the settlements, but is also evident elsewhere. The demonstrations by the Haredim in Jerusalem ended with a strange compromise between Intel's management and the rabbis, stipulating who may work on Shabbat at the company's Jerusalem factory. This agreement reflects the government's unwillingness to exercise its responsibility to govern.

Accepting a situation of illegal demonstrations and threats on workers, instead of firmly dispersing the demonstrations and taking harsh measures against its organizers and participants, only encourages the Haredim to continue using their power to take over running the capital's affairs. The permits issued by the state to operate the factory on Shabbat have proved invalid, and are being replaced by work permits issued by the rabbis.

The justice minister, who is trying to divide the existing authorities of the attorney general between the state prosecutor and a legal adviser to the government, should busy himself with enforcing the law and battling crime. These have been highlighted by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman as key problems that should be resolved.

The law enforcement authorities have registered impressive successes in recent years, in the existing structure, and what is necessary for stepping up the fight against crime is the determination that exists today, and means. It is not the weakening of law enforcement that is necessary to bolster the rule of law, but the government's determination to exercise its authority and govern, and not allow interested parties to essentially strip it of power. For this we need a leadership that must also be seen.

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

SIX COMMENTS ON THE SITUATION

BY YOEL MARCUS

 

1. This isn't based on authoritative information or knowledgeable sources. But my sense is that the silence that has prevailed recently about Gilad Shalit indicates that a prisoner exchange is on the brink of being concluded, and his release is close. Very close.

2. People who saw the footage of a clumsy Benjamin Netanyahu slipping off the ladder leading from a gunship down to a rubber dinghy while visiting a naval base this week must have gasped. He looked as if he were going to fall into the sea, but he was saved by a crewman. All's well that ends well.

But anyone following the news that day learned that there are different ways of falling down. The decision to announce the construction of 900 apartments in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood was akin to falling on one's head, politically.

Quite rightly, the White House issued a statement rapping Israel for this slap in the face to American efforts to arrange a successful dialogue between the sides. Bibi can claim 10 times over that "there's no crisis with the United States," but what will he say to the White House's expression of dismay at the Israeli government's move? Bibi may be a comeback artist, but at his age, people don't change, and there's nothing that can be done about it.

 

3. Do you know why couples don't make out in Dizengoff Square in broad daylight? Because a hundred passersby would stand around and give them advice. That's more or less what the cabinet looks like, with its 37 ministers and deputy ministers and its chaotic administration. It either makes or doesn't make confused decisions that have made us the whole world's lepers, the object of boycotts and condemnations.

Looking back, or more accurately, looking forward, the obvious solution would be for the prime minister to appoint a supreme advisor, a kind of Henry Kissinger - an intellectual, but a smart one, a historian independent of the political system.

You'll say he already has Uzi Arad. But with all due respect, Arad is a quarrelsome type, far from the above description. Reading Kissinger's memoirs, especially the section about the management of the Yom Kippur War crisis and how he led Israel first to refrain from defeating the Egyptian Third Army and then onto a track toward peace, one can only regret that we don't have anyone like him here. Not because such a figure isn't available, but because Bibi thinks that he is unique, and second to no one.

We managed to get Stanley Fischer to come be governor of the Bank of Israel, and now economists all over the world are praising him for his handling of the Israeli aspect of the global crisis. There are enough Jewish brains in Israel and abroad from whom a wise and authoritative counselor could be enlisted - someone whose authority Bibi would accept not only about what should be done, but mainly about what should not be done.

4. In 10 weeks' time, Menachem Mazuz will end his term as attorney general. He began it with inexplicable leniency for the Sharons in the Greek island affair, but during the second half of his term, he became the terror of the political leadership. Unlike his predecessor, Elyakim Rubinstein, who was wont to quote tiresomely from the Jewish sources but displayed unforgivable leniency toward important politicians, Mazuz acted slowly but relentlessly. Former president Moshe Katsav summoned the attorney general to complain that a former secretary was blackmailing him, but Mazuz didn't swallow the tale. He set standards that his successor will find it difficult not to uphold.

Nevertheless, Mazuz should try to leave a clean desk. Ten weeks is not a long time, but it is long enough to at least decide on the Avigdor Lieberman case. With a cloud of corruption hanging over his head, it is a disgrace to the country that he travels around the world as its foreign minister, even though he doesn't really handle the state's foreign affairs.

5. Jordan didn't manage to do it in two wars, but a few hundred ultra-Orthodox rioters are taking over Jerusalem. It is inconceivable that every Saturday, they should bring the city to a standstill with their violence, or that they should dictate to an international corporation like Intel that it must not operate on Shabbat, thereby increasing unemployment and driving other firms away. Just before the plant decided to close, a solution appeared to be in the offing: A few dozen non-Jews (or shabbos goyim in Yiddish) would work on Saturday. But in the next stage, we may well see Interior Minister Eli Yishai demanding that these foreign workers be thrown out, too.

But these goings-on in Jerusalem pale into insignificance when compared to the scandalous attempts by some of the ultra-Orthodox and their rabbis to buy Israel Defense Forces soldiers in order to create a climate of refusal to evacuate settlements.

The IDF's top brass today is less political than it has ever been before, and one third of our crack combat forces wear skullcaps. It is vital that these rabbis be arrested and prosecuted for trying to bribe and incite soldiers to mutiny and to make our very best troops into traitors.

6. After the farce of the abortive attempt to pass the biometric database bill, the chief of staff has now ordered all officers to undergo lie detector tests before they are promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, with an eye to stopping leaks to the media. I move that they start doing these tests on top politicians, because that's where the leakers - as well as the criminals, liars and schlemiels - really abound.

 

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

THE DISCOVERY OF NO-TOMORROW

BY DORON ROSENBLUM

 

Recent polls indicating that what bothers Israelis most today is street violence can be interpreted in two complementary ways. One, ostensibly positive, says that the relative quiet on the security front has redirected both our aggressive energies and media coverage to the criminal one, as in most normal countries. The second interpretation doesn't contradict the first, but gives it a painful twist. Other polls, which show increasing support for the right-wing camp, lead one to conclude that the Palestinian problem is not the public's chief worry nowadays simply because it's not being expressed violently right now. The moment the Palestinians revert to using violence, they'll also return to the top of the Israeli agenda. That's what we learn from bitter experience, and it's a lesson that unfortunately they too have not forgotten.

Furthermore, as past surveys have shown, Israeli public opinion and the Israeli leadership paradoxically tend to support far-reaching, even panicky, concessions precisely when violence rages on the various fronts, as happened at the height of the terror attacks in the Sharon era. We tend to toughen our stand and turn to the right when there is no urgent need or clear and present emergency demanding a change in the status quo.

This may be man's nature everywhere, but Israeli society evidently breaks world records in adapting to both good and bad. Just as it adapts rapidly - though more in panic and hysteria than in deftness - to the emergencies, terror attacks and wars that mostly take it completely by surprise, so does it loll backwards in what seems like everlasting tranquility when, for a moment, a month, or a year, things ease up. Then, on that very day, the day-trippers are back in the Galilee, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange soars and the color returns to the cheeks of the military analysts speaking calmly about the next round. Very quickly forgotten are the panic and the helplessness, the mad rush to the bomb shelters that aren't there, the wartime TV programming, the existential terror, the IDF's doltishness, the confusion and scrambling in the political leadership, the frenzied attempts to grab hold of any diplomatic straw - from unilateral withdrawal to a cease-fire at terms that do nothing but help bring about the next round - just to scrape up a little peace and quiet.

 

It's only thanks to these wondrous talents for repression and forgetting reality that it's possible to understand the current public satisfaction with the Netanyahu government. And the same goes for understanding the behavior of the prime minister, who drinks up that satisfaction with all his might. How else can we comprehend his principled procrastination, his delaying and dithering at any price and in all spheres? Like many of his predecessors, Netanyahu also knows only too well that time is not on our side - but how nice it is when we seem to have managed to stop it! At that suspended moment, the public is happy, the polls are flattering, and the government can complacently busy itself with alcohol and influenza, as if it were Sweden.

But, perhaps more than any of his predecessors, Netanyahu knows what happens to the region, the country, the polls and mainly to himself when stopped time starts up again. The sky falls in, as do the rockets, the public gets angry and turns its back immediately. The right, the left, the army, the media, world diplomacy all pull in different directions and hubris gives way to pouring perspiration. So it's no wonder that Israel and its government, like Faust in his time, tell each moment of peace and quiet, even when - especially when - it lacks any foundation how beautiful it is, begging it not to pass.

A recently published book arousing much interest is philosopher Daniel Shabtai Milo's "The Discovery of Tomorrow," in which he discusses the secret of the success (and perhaps the misfortune) of the evolution of mankind over all other creatures in nature - namely, his ability to internalize an awareness of the existence of the future: To understand the inevitability of tomorrow, to prepare for it, to plan, to use it, or to be wary of it.

From this purely evolutionary point of view arises yet another reason to be worried about the future of Israel, a state which - at least in the past several decades - has split itself away from humankind, perhaps out of Zen enlightenment, perhaps merely out of a crippling fear and coalition considerations, and has seen its leaders seize upon the discovery of the notion of no-tomorrow.

Its essence: Despite all of the warnings and alarms, despite the logic - strategic, diplomatic, and simple demographic - the catastrophes at the gate can be foreseen only after they take our intelligence services by surprise.

Till then, in the words of the Hebrew prayer, has kategor, let the accusers be silent.

 

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

AN OFFICER AND AN EDUCATOR

BY YOSSI SARID

The celebrities are on their way out, now that the school year has begun, and the army officers are coming instead. They have been invited to the schools "in order to educate Israel's teachers," as Or Kashti reported in Haaretz this week.

The impression is that the teachers are less erudite than all those who instruct them, and there is no one who cannot be called in to replace them for a while and teach them wisdom. What is there about our army that prepares officers to serve as teachers to the teachers? Their superiority is apparently self-evident. How can they even be compared?

Nevertheless, why should 270 commanders lord it over 150,000 principals and teachers? Perhaps thanks to their achievements, which are well known to all and require no proof? But when push comes to shove, it is not quite clear which of them is more successful and which the greater failure. Over the past three years, the Israel Defense Forces has waged two wars. In Lebanon it sowed the wind, and in Gaza it reaped the Goldstone report.

But perhaps the army has the right to patronize because it has uprooted violence from its midst, as opposed to the education system, which still has not managed to do so? Here, once again, reality intrudes and spoils the picture: Hazing has not disappeared, and abuse is alive and well and being photographed. Have we not seen the recent kickings and beatings, the fresh bruises that get passed on from one generation to the next?

Or perhaps it is thanks to the discipline the commanders manage to impose on their subordinates, whereas teachers lack that ability? For quite a few bad years now, the IDF has been trying to overcome an internal rebellion, by the enemy on the right that is threatening to bring the house down on top of us all. It has promised a thousand times to get rid of those hesder yeshivas whose heads are plotting to take over the army once it subordinates itself to rabbinic authority. But the supreme command keeps backing down. It is afraid of a confrontation. So it permits the seed of calamity to be fruitful and multiply.

Or perhaps it is thanks to the values that are inculcated in all army courses, from basic training through officers' training, but are neglected in classrooms, from first grade through 12th? Yet the IDF has recently made a considerable contribution to the culture of lying that is annihilating many good things. The uniform can be stained with more than a few spots, but you will nevertheless still be an officer to us, whether a brigadier general or a chief military chaplain: All are candidates for promotion.

Or perhaps it is thanks to the officers' intellectual superiority over the teachers, which, for some reason, they are shy of displaying to all the way they display their weapons? Or perhaps to their modest way of life, which makes it possible for those of high rank to join delegations and stay in extremely luxurious hotels? Or perhaps to their salaries, which are double or triple those of the teachers? Or perhaps to their retirement plan, which allows them to leave at age 42 on generous terms, while teachers have to stay behind in class until a not-so-pleasant old age?

The purpose of Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar's "educational plan" has not been made sufficiently clear. "To encourage enlistment in combat units in the army" is a slogan. Do they not tell us with every new cohort of conscripts that motivation has reached a record high, that the spirit of volunteerism is stronger than ever, that demand for places in combat units exceeds supply? Perhaps they are simply taking the name of security in vain once again?

I have a revolutionary proposal. Let every system - whether defense or education - fulfill its own duties and correct its own mistakes by itself, without superiors and inferiors. Only if every one does his own job and tends to his own stables will the foals, who will later become horses, stop escaping from us.

 

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 HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

THE NUCLEUS OF TRUTH

BY ELIA LEIBOWITZ

 

Israeli bitterness over the Goldstone report has a great deal of justification. Immeasurably greater crimes than those the report claims to have discovered during Operation Cast Lead have been, and are still being, committed by other states and other groups worldwide, yet they attract scarcely any international condemnation. There may also be some truth to the Israeli claim that the measures the Israel Defense Forces took to minimize harm to civilians were unprecedented in the world's military annals.

 

Moreover, there seems to be truth to the contention that the Palestinians deliberately used elderly people, women and children as human shields to carry out murderous acts on the other side's elderly, women and children. One example is the launching of rockets at concentrations of Israeli civilians from within, or near, concentrations of Palestinian civilians.

Indeed, the existence of institutionalized Palestinian cruelty toward their own women and children was proven in the second intifada. It was documented in the blood of Jewish children that was spilled and mixed with the blood of Palestinian "martyrs" who blew themselves up in coffee shops, markets and many other places in various parts of Israel.

 

But even a document born in sin and created in hypocrisy, and whose publication indeed encourages global terror, can include words of truth among its pages. Take, for example, page 521 of the Goldstone report, where paragraph 1674 states: "The Mission is of the view that Israel's military operation in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 and its impact cannot be understood and assessed in isolation from developments prior and subsequent to it. The operation fits into a continuum of policies aimed at pursuing Israel's political objectives with regard to Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole. Many such policies are based on or result in violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."

Even IDF spokesmen and Israeli cabinet ministers do not deny that during the military operation in the Gaza Strip, many human rights were violated, included the right to life, as were basic humanitarian laws. Granted, Israel contends that these violations were either unavoidable or committed by mistake, and that responsibility for most of them rests with the Palestinians themselves. Yet no one denies - and in view of the television coverage, no one can deny - that basic humanitarian laws were indeed violated by Israel during those rash, bitter weeks.

The saying "We shall never forgive the Arabs for forcing us to kill their sons" is often attributed to the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. I have not found reliable documentation to support the theory that Golda in fact ever made such a statement, either orally or in writing. But whether or not it was actually said, this sentence expresses the beliefs and sentiments of many Israelis very well. It is certainly a central motif in the anti-Goldstone campaign that Israel's government is currently waging.

But for all the hypocrisy in the report, Richard Goldstone took the bull by the horns: The 42-year-old occupation of land inhabited by millions of civilians who refuse to accept the yoke of the occupier makes it a necessity, almost a law of nature, for the occupying army to violate humanitarian laws.

The Gemara, in Tractate Kiddushin, asks whether the thief is the mouse that stole the cheese or the hole in which he hides it. That, in miniature, is the social and legal question of where responsibility lies for a criminal act. Does it fall on the one who commits the crime, or does the guilt perhaps rest with the conditions and circumstances that make it possible and worthwhile to commit the crime, in which case the main culprit is the person responsible for the existence of these conditions?

The Goldstone report hits on the truth about the source and reasons for the violations of humanitarian law that took place during Operation Cast Lead. It was not the mouse - in other words, the army - that was the chief sinner. The violation of human rights stems from the black hole known as "the occupation," which makes these violations unavoidable. Responsibility thus lies with the successive Israeli governments that, as the report correctly stated, adopted policies "aimed at pursuing Israel's political objectives with regard to Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole." And "many such policies are based on or result in violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."

Israel's government continues to feed this black hole instead of moving away from it and getting its citizens away. And it is thereby failing to save Israel - not only from the ongoing and unforgivable harm it is doing to human rights, but also from a huge threat to its very existence as a Jewish, democratic state.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

 

NOT SERIOUS - THIS TIME

BY DANIEL LEVY

 

Is the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leadership, which is currently proposing to seek United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 border, about to shake up the Israeli-Palestinian paralysis in a game-changing way? The answer for now would appear to be "no." Both U.S. and EU officials were quick to distance themselves from the idea and label it premature. For their part, the Israelis took umbrage at this hint of Palestinian unilateralism. In case anyone failed to notice how much irony was dripping from this indignation, days later Israel indulged in yet another unilateral act of its own: advancing plans for the expansion of Gilo in East Jerusalem.

By mid-week, some Palestinian leaders were busy retreating to a more minimalist version of the "statehood now" plan. The option of a unilateral declaration of independence was more a reflection of frustration and desperation than it was a profound development in Palestinian strategic planning capacity or political smarts. It seems that talk of the move was both tentative and ill-conceived.

No plan was revealed that would address the obvious questions arising from such a strategy. Would the Palestinians maintain the Palestinian Authority in this scenario, given its overwhelming dependence on Israel? What would be the status of the mission of U.S. General Keith Dayton to train the Palestinian security forces in this new context? What would happen with taxes and border crossings, and how would the PLO advance its struggle internationally?

 

The list of questions goes on, but the paucity of answers from the PLO leadership suggests that it has yet to seriously consider a strategic alternative to its 16-year dependence on negotiations with Israel. In fact, the entire episode looked like another example of the PLO trying to leverage its weakness rather than rediscover or create new strengths.

Despite all this, the Palestinian flirtation with a new approach does have some significance. It is part of a new fluidity and questioning of assumptions that have entered the Israeli-Palestinian arena. Palestinian civil society, for instance, has long ceased to rely on its leadership's strategies for achieving de-occupation. Inside the territories, nonviolent resistance, notably to the separation barrier, continues to gather adherents and momentum. Outside, the campaigns for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel are growing to dimensions that should make Israel's leaders sit up and take notice.

Hamas leaders are stepping up efforts to break their international isolation and slowly absorbing the implication for their future actions of the Goldstone Report's accusation against them of war crimes. Overall, there is an increasingly pervasive new sense of uncertainty in the region. Opposite this, Israel's leadership demonstrates an impressive capacity for tactical maneuvering, but is as bereft as the PLO of a strategic outlook.

At this stage, it is unclear whether any new strategic direction will come from the Obama administration; so far it has kept both sides guessing. The sharpness of U.S. criticism of President Mahmoud Abbas for not returning to negotiations was unexpected, given American investment in his leadership. The White House's admonition of Israel for advancing the approval process of a new neighborhood in Gilo was highly unusual, too.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's seeming addiction to poking American presidents in the eye seems to be souring relations with the Obama administration even more quickly than happened with President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s (an unwise predeliction that directly triggered Netanyahu's fall from political power at the time).

So it is still Washington rather than Ramallah that is likely to shape the next phase of any peace effort. After 10 months of the Obama team's efforts to pursue essentially the same old peace process (albeit with greater vigor), the collapse of that edifice is increasingly visible. A half-baked declaration from Ramallah is unlikely to chart a fresh path forward. Instead, Washington should be reviewing the reasons why that worn-out peace process architecture cannot deliver, and embracing a course correction.

For all the talk of resuming direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, no one really expects them to bring about a breakthrough. If the aim is to resolve the 1967 issues (borders - including those of Jerusalem; settlements, two states and security), then the focus needs to be on an agreement between the international community and Israel on the details and conditions for de-occupation, and between the international community and the Palestinians on the transition to Palestinian assumption of sovereign responsibilities (international oversight of security, for instance). If the aim is to resolve the 1948 issues (Israel's creation, the refugee narrative, and ending all other outstanding claims), then American or Quartet mediators will need to pursue a far broader, bolder and more inclusive conversation than the technical fix approach that has previously held sway.

Either way, U.S. or Quartet-led back-to-back negotiations with the Israelis, on the one hand, and Palestinians, on the other, are more likely to produce results than putting the current Israeli and Palestinian leaderships in a room together. But absent such American initiative, we should not be too flabbergasted if next time around, a Palestinian declaration of political reorientation is actually matched by a strategy and a plan, or if it reshapes the conversation.

Daniel Levy, a senior fellow at the New America and Century Foundations, was previously an adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

SKIN-IN-THE-GAME COMMITMENTS

BY SARAH KASS

 

Who can forget December 11, 2008? On the day Bernie Madoff was arrested, millions if not billions of (Jewish) philanthropic dollars went up in smoke. Since then, surviving Jewish philanthropists have rearranged their investment strategies and surviving Jewish nonprofits have rearranged their donor bases. As we approach the first anniversary of that day, we remember the devastation and think about how it has changed us. It is possible that December 11, 2008, launched the transformation of the Jewish third sector.

Imagine you are in synagogue and the Torah reading has just ended. As the magbiyah lifts the Torah aloft, you and your fellow congregants stand, holding your right pinkies in the direction of the raised Torah; each of you is, as it were, putting your skin in the game. Indeed tradition has it that if the magbiyah drops the Torah, all those present - holding it up, symbolically - are required to fast. The beneficiaries are the benefactors.

Outside the Torah service, Jewish organizations behave differently. Benefactors and beneficiaries are typically like meat and dairy dishes, never to be mixed. As a consequence, nonprofit leaders serve two bosses. With one (helping) hand they devote themselves to righting wrongs, feeding the hungry, inspiring the young, strengthening communities; with the other (upturned) palm they strive to keep their benefactors well cared for, well fed and on board. If the true focus of an organization is reflected in how its leader spends time and energy, then nonprofits are more often more about benefactors than beneficiaries. Lofty grant proposals notwithstanding, the unspoken assumption of the nonprofit manager is that the benefactors are big and powerful and the beneficiaries small and weak.

 

What would it take to say that December 11, 2008 was the day we began to build organizations the same way we hold up the Torah, so that beneficiaries are benefactors and benefactors are beneficiaries?

First, we need to rewrite the core story of our communal work. Instead of thinking of nonprofits as spending benefactors' wealth to repair beneficiaries' impoverishment, could we speak about building a shared future? Instead of thinking of our organizations as service providers, or even membership organizations, might we learn to describe them as skin-in-the-game organizations, where beneficiaries and benefactors alike are accountable for success?

Second, we have to rethink organizational structure. Instead of insisting that board seats are for people with big money, could we imagine seating on our boards people with big social networks? Could the power of the people we are serving power our organizations? Could deep pockets be measured in terms of numbers of Facebook friends?

Third, we have to re-imagine the communal work itself. Today, organizations attend to the people they currently serve. People they served previously are names in a database, perhaps waiting to become solicited alumni. Community today; commodity tomorrow. What if every person served was regarded as a lifetime participant? What if programs were conceived as open-source platforms, in which consumers (participants) could become producers (providers of ideas, outreach, time, friends or money)? What if organizations were built to be "prosumer" movements?

Fourth, it would mean changing which instrument has strings. Presently, foundations are infamous for giving grants with strings attached, and nonprofits are famous for taking them. What if grants came with strings for the benefactor? What would happen if nonprofits told funders: "We will accept your $100,000 check after you work with us to bring a thousand $100 donors to our table." Or what if nonprofits told donors their gifts came with participation requirements: "In order for us to spend your money, we look forward to you spending time with us."

Fifth, we would need a new yardstick for measuring success. How many participants remain engaged? How many participants engaged how many people to become new participants? How many participants created new ways of participating? Were beneficiaries benefactors? Who had skin in the game? Would the organization hold up, if someone, heaven forbid, made off with the biggest donors' money?

Sixth, we would need to change our body language. Rather than the helping hand or the upturned palm, could our organizational leaders' hands beckon us all to follow? When we stand in synagogue, our pinkies held aloft, yes, we watch the Torah. But we also marvel at the person who is holding it up. What would it mean for nonprofit leaders to comport themselves as the movers and shakers of our Jewish future? Imagine the gesture that says, "Come with us, and together we will all go to a better place!"

From its beginning, the wealth of the Jewish people has always come from its human resourcefulness rather than from its material resources. We have no ever-flowing Nile; instead, we pray for rain. We bow to a Sabbath Queen, not to a golden calf. As we approach December 11, 2009, perhaps we can understand the loss of so many big donors as an opportunity to remember what we really value, and as an invitation to look to our people's spiritual and creative wealth rather than merely to our big bank accounts to do God's work.

Sarah Kass is director of strategy and evaluation at the Avi Chai Foundation. This piece is based on a recent talk at the PresenTense Institute.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

THE DEMOTION OF CREDIBILITY

BY NOAM WIENER AND YOAV SIVAN

 

The commander must serve as a model and as an example," said the military judges in the appeal of Moshe (Chico) Tamir, of the demotion to which a lower court had sentenced him. But what kind of example were the military appeals court judges setting for Israel's soldiers and civilians when they annulled that sentence last week, and restored Tamir to the rank of brigadier general?

The military court had found Tamir, former commander of the Israel Defense Forces Gaza Division, guilty of allowing his son, who did not have a driver's license, to operate a military vehicle and then, after he collided with another vehicle, of submitting a fabricated report on the accident to the military authorities. In it, Tamir omitted the fact that the boy had been driving, and subsequently, to avoid having to deal with insurance procedures, he paid for the damage out of his own pocket.

Tamir said in his defense that he had had to choose between the army and his son. One could argue that his duty as a father required him to teach his child a lesson in responsibility and honesty, especially given that his son was a minor and would in any event not have had to face a stiff penalty. Moreover, the teenager had not absconded with the vehicle in the dead of night. Such a hypothetical reckless act would have confronted Tamir with a tough moral test, for which it would have been easier to understand and sympathize with his conduct, even if not to condone it.

 

But Tamir knew full well that his son was driving; in fact, he had permitted him to do so, thereby committing an offense himself. He therefore did not have to balance between "sacrificing" his son and doing his duty by the army. No, this was a more prosaic decision: namely, of choosing between serving his own personal benefit by lying, and obeying the law, by telling the truth.

The question isn't about Tamir's responsibility as a parent, but rather about his responsibility as an IDF officer. "I take full responsibility for this," he said. But Tamir's defense counsel defined as a "scandalous demand" the possibility that he accept responsibility and pay for his actions by being demoted. This would have been the way for the army and the officer to acknowledge the gravity of his conduct. For a brigadier general, demotion is certainly no easy matter, but we all learned in the army that "if you screw up, you pay for it."

Indeed, a demotion would have been an appropriate punishment, reflecting the extent to which Tamir's deeds impinged on his credibility as an officer. In the IDF's officer training course, failing to tell the truth is the prime reason for expulsion, and the commanders make this clear to the cadets on their very first day there. Must we now assume that the importance of this requirement diminishes with seniority and tenure?

By his peers' testimony, Tamir is a highly esteemed officer with proven abilities. Nevertheless, he has failed the test of credibility. Despite the impressive rhetoric in its judgment about the importance of the IDF's values, the military court of appeals has in effect determined that after an officer has served a certain number of years, credibility is no longer key and that those who lie need not be held responsible.

The judges were right when they declared that "the moral strength of military officers is what guarantees the confidence of the nation in the IDF."

Credibility, however, has a strange nature. When it is impinged upon in one place, the stain spreads to other places. This is why maintaining credibility is so vital to the functioning of the entire system.

How will Tamir demand from his subordinates that they conform to standards that he himself has failed to maintain? How will military authorities be able to convey the gravity of a lapse in credibility to cadets in the officers course now, without their actions being perceived as a cheap exercise in sarcasm? What message is Israel expressing when the military justice system of which it is so proud relegates the value of credibility to a secondary status?

Every IDF officer can quote David Ben-Gurion's dictum: "Every [Israeli] mother can be certain that she has placed the fate of her children in the hands of commanders who are worthy of their role." But Tamir's judges would have benefited from a trip to Training Base 1, the site of the officers school, where the quote is inscribed in full, including the less well-known condition: "... if the commanders inspire confidence, love and loyalty." This constitutes a warning that the public's trust in the military is not self-evident.

In three years, Tamir's son will enlist in the army and perhaps he too will go to officers school. It may not be appropriate here to discuss what the Israeli mother should feel about the way Tamir behaved as a father, but the way he behaved as an officer is of concern to us all.

Noam Wiener is a lawyer now writing a doctorate in jurisprudence at the University of Michigan. Israeli journalist Yoav Sivan is a student at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Both served as officers in the IDF.

 

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HAARETZ

EDITORIAL

A CRYING SHAME

BY RUTH LANDE WASSERMAN

 

It was almost a year ago that I first visited Lod.

I did not simply drive past it, as I had done many times before, on my way to Ben-Gurion airport. This time, I drove through its neighborhoods, and walked the streets of the Old City, Ramat Eshkol and Ganei Aviv.

I cried.

 

I cried for those living in the Harakevet neighborhood, an unrecognized Bedouin community, most of which lacks a regular supply of electricity and water, or sewerage infrastructure.

I cried for the Jewish and Arab children here who have been born to drug addicts, many of whom have a reasonable chance of becoming addicts themselves.

I cried when I saw the anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled in Russian on the walls of a synagogue that serves the city's Russian-immigrant inhabitants.

I met young pupils from Tichon Hamada'im (the High School of Science) - Arabs and Jews from Lod, Ramle and surrounding communities - who should be among this city's next generation of leaders. I cried because I know that today, most of those potential leaders, when they finish school, leave and never return to Lod.

I cried for all of us Israeli citizens, for our apparent apathy toward a city of 75,000 inhabitants, situated here in the very heart of the country, just a 15-minute drive from cosmopolitan Tel Aviv.

Lod is a city that has enjoyed continuous human habitation for nearly 8,000 years, where pottery shards dating back to the Neolithic period have been unearthed, thus making it older than Jerusalem. One of the world's largest and best-preserved Roman-era mosaic floors was also recently uncovered here.

The Old City's "Peace Triangle" boasts a synagogue, a church traditionally considered to be the burial place of St. George, the Dragon Slayer, and a Mamluk-era mosque. They stand back to back, serving as a reminder of Lod's multicultural past and suggesting the possibility of future coexistence.

Its Ottoman-era oil presses made Lod the best-known oil-producing center along the coastal plain at one time. They stopped operating in 1948, and today serve only as artifacts attesting to the commercial prosperity this city once enjoyed. All it would take to turn them into a thriving tourist attraction is to clean up the sandy, littered path that leads to them from the Old City.

The World Monuments Fund recently added the Old City of Lod to its "Watch List" of monuments at risk. By doing so, it has recognized the historical value of this site, inhabited at different times by Canaanites, Israelites and scholars of the Mishnaic period, including Rabbi Judah Hanasi, the Mishna's principal editor. During the Roman era, Lod was a central crossroads in the province of Palestine, and was renamed Diospolis, the City of God. It was conquered by Byzantines, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans, and the Muslims made Lod their first capital in Palestine after they conquered the territory in the 7th century. The British, too, recognized the centrality of its location during the Mandate period, and established here the largest railway station between Cairo and Damascus, as well as Lydda airfield, which today is Ben-Gurion International Airport.

The Lod Community Foundation, an independent, nonprofit organization, was created a year ago with the goal of serving as a platform for all of those agencies and individuals - whether local, national or foreign - who have a stake in developing different aspects of life in the city.

As its first order of business, the foundation recruited leaders of Lod's various ethnic communities - Ethiopians, Russians, native Israelis, Arab Christians and Muslims, and others - to meet and explore ways in which the city can once more become a source of pride for its inhabitants and for Israel, rather than a shameful backyard. Together, these leaders are establishing the town's first-ever visitors center, organizing a program, with the help of the British Council, to offer free English lessons for both children and adults, planting thousands of trees around town, and creating a strategic plan for the future infrastructure and legal recognition of the Bedouin neighborhood, among other projects.

To mark its official launch, the foundation also invited members of the business world and of local and state governments, as well as religious leaders, journalists, foreign diplomats and, most significantly, the men, women and children of the city, to an event in Lod two days ago.

The event marked the culmination of a year-long process of offering "ownership" of Lod to representatives of the different communities, who were - and continue to be - ready to develop their city. Simultaneously, we hope it sparked awareness among the more than 500 invited guests as to what can and must be done to help turn Lod back into a city that one does not simply pass by on the way to and from the airport, but a destination to visit and explore.

 

Ruth Lande Wasserman, a doctoral student at Oxford University in Middle Eastern studies, is a former adviser to Israeli President Shimon Peres. She is a resident of Lod and a founder of the Lod Community Foundation.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE CONTROVERSY OVER MAMMOGRAMS

 

An expert panel's recommendation that mammography screening to detect breast cancer be scaled back has caused consternation among women and doctors and prompted some attempts to connect the results to the debate over health care.

 

It is important to keep the findings and recommendations in perspective. They are guidance for women and doctors. The decision about whether to be screened is properly left to each woman — to determine with the help of her doctor what risks and benefits she is most comfortable accepting.

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The new recommendation came from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, a government-appointed group of 16 outside experts created 25 years ago to advise the Department of Health and Human Services on the effectiveness of various screening techniques. Half are women. The panel's mission and expertise are medical, to determine whether mammograms do more good than harm for women of various ages.

Its most controversial recommendations — in conflict with recommendations from the American Cancer Society and other medical groups — were that women in their 40s should not routinely have mammograms and that women between ages 50 and 74 should have mammograms every two years instead of annually. That recommendation was based on an analysis showing that every-other-year screenings could provide 80 percent of the benefits of annual screening while cutting the risks almost in half.

 

These recommendations have shocked many people, but the American College of Physicians made similar recommendations two years ago and the National Breast Cancer Coalition, an advocacy group for patients, has been saying for years that mammography screening has been oversold, has significant limitations and can cause harm. It urges women to make their own decisions based on the best available facts.

 

In suggesting that women in their 40s not get screened (unless they are at high risk for breast cancer), the panel argued that the harms of mammograms for those women appear to outweigh the benefits.

 

Screening turns up lots of tiny abnormalities that are either not cancer or are slow-growing cancers that would never progress to the point of killing a woman and might not even become known to her. If a suspicious abnormality is found, women usually get another mammogram or imaging test to better identify it and often a biopsy to determine if it is cancerous. If it is, most women have it treated with surgery, radiation, hormone therapy or chemotherapy, all of which carry risks for the patient.

 

The scientific argument is that it is not worth taking such risks for the large number of women whose cancers grow too slowly to kill them. But it is difficult, in practice, to apply that kind of scientific analysis to the immediate questions confronting a woman and her doctor when a mammogram turns up an abnormality. The only real solution will come when researchers find a way to distinguish the dangerous, aggressive tumors that need to be excised from the more languorous ones that do not.

 

The task force acknowledges that mammography saves lives among women in their 40s. But it estimates that more than 1,900 women have to be screened for a decade to save a single life. Among women in their 50s, when breast cancer is more common, only about 1,300 women have to be screened; among women in their 60s, only 377.

The panel concluded that the benefits outweighed the risks among those over 50, but not in the younger group. It found insufficient evidence to determine whether digital mammography or magnetic resonance imaging, two newer and more costly technologies, are any better than standard film mammography.

 

The panel also cites the anxiety and distress that many women experience when a mammogram finds something suspicious. Many women find that argument condescending. Women in their 40s are perfectly capable of managing anxiety and deciding for themselves whether the uncertainty that follows the detection of an abnormality in their breast is worth enduring to know whether they have cancer or not.

 

Opponents of the health care reform bills moving through Congress have seized on the new recommendations as evidence that the government is seeking to put bureaucrats between you and your doctor or that it would ration care by denying coverage for some mammograms that are now covered.

 

There is virtually no chance that any insurers, either public or private, will deny coverage to anyone based on these recommendations. Government and industry officials have said that explicitly and, in fact, every state but Utah requires private insurers to pay for mammograms for women starting in their 40s.

 

There is nothing in the reform bills that would change the current Medicare laws, which require that annual mammograms be included among the preventive services covered, an important benefit for more than a million women in their 40s who get Medicare coverage because they are disabled or suffering from end-stage kidney disease.

 

•

The only part of the reform bills that could affect mammography would only make them more accessible. Under the legislation, the secretary of health and human services might be given authority to waive Medicare co-payments for prevention services that rank highly in the opinion of this task force. Since the task force gave a low grade to screening women in their 40s, the secretary could not waive cost-sharing for them.

 

There is nothing wrong with a healthy public debate about mammography within the medical community and among women who must decide when and how often to get screened. It should not be injected into the partisan debate over health care reform.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

IRAQ'S ELECTION LAW MORASS

 

Iraqis have quickly learned to play hardball politics. That was evident on Wednesday when one of Iraq's two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, who is a Sunni, vetoed an important election law at the last minute. He demanded a change that would allocate more parliamentary seats for Iraqi Sunnis living abroad.

 

It is unquestionably better for Iraq's political leaders to wage their battles through legislative maneuvering than in the streets. But their repeated delays in completing the election law (there have been nearly a dozen attempts) threatens their fragile constitutional system as well as the American military withdrawal. And it could provoke new violence. The law must be finalized as soon as possible.

 

The Constitution requires the election by the end of January. Election officials had said that the law needed to be done by Oct. 15 to allow enough time to prepare for the voting. Even though Iraq's Parliament overshot that deadline when it approved compromise legislation, the election was expected to take place between Jan. 18 and Jan. 23.

 

But the Presidency Council (composed of the president, a Kurd, and two vice presidents, a Sunni and a Shiite) has the final say. And Mr. Hashimi chose to exercise his veto power and put in doubt Iraq's second national election, a critical test of whether democracy can endure as the United States withdraws its troops.

 

It was a new reminder that while violence in Iraq has significantly declined over the last couple of years, underlying ethnic tensions remain raw and unresolved.

 

Sunnis, who ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, have felt marginalized since he was deposed in 2003, and two groups that suffered under Saddam — Kurds and Shiites, which are the majority — became politically dominant. So it was not surprising, perhaps, that Mr. Hashimi would try to enhance the voting power of his ethnic bloc. The problem is that Kurds are also demanding a larger share of parliamentary seats and the hard-fought compromise law is fast unraveling.

 

American officials were instrumental in the last compromise and need to put the same kind of effort into resolving this impasse. The military withdrawal must stay on track, and Iraqis must learn how to forge reliable compromises. Endless battles like this one over the election law can cripple the democratic system they are trying to build and harm their own interests.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

EDITORIAL

A GIFT TO CREDIT CARD COMPANIES

 

Congress left consumers extremely vulnerable when it gave the credit card industry as long as 15 months to end the deceptive predatory practices outlawed in the spring in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. The credit card industry, which clearly wants to make a killing in the Christmas season, used this unnecessarily long grace period to intensify its predations, doubling interest rates on people who pay on time and driving up rates by an industry wide average of about 20 percent.

 

These ravages seemed not to have registered with Senator Thad Cochran, a Republican of Mississippi, who represents the nation's poorest and most economically vulnerable state. On Wednesday, Mr. Cochran blocked a vote on a bill introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat of Connecticut, that would have immediately frozen credit card interest rates and fees.

 

Mr. Cochran said through his office that he objected to the bill on behalf of unknown Republican colleagues who had their own objections. But it is difficult not to see his maneuver in yet another act of obeisance by Senate Republicans to the banking and credit card industries.

 

The same was true of Congress's decision in May to delay implementation of the original credit card reform bill. Had the act gone into effect immediately, credit card issuers would have been forced to end many of the practices that have trapped millions of Americans in debt that they had no hope of repaying.

 

Arbitrary increases like the ones that appear to have become even more common since the spring would have been immediately outlawed. So would the practice of penalizing customers who are late paying an unrelated bill — known as universal default — and the rip-off in which companies charge cardholders new interest on debts that they have paid a month or two earlier. And the companies would have been forced to end the outrageous practice of burdening teenagers with credit cards without first judging their ability to pay the bills or getting a signature from a responsible adult.

 

The Dodd bill appears to be off the table for the moment. But a stronger bill that would move up the effective date of the credit card law to Dec. 1 has already passed the House. The Senate version has been introduced by Mark Udall, a Democrat of Colorado. With December almost upon us, the measure should long since have become law.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

WHAT GEITHNER GOT RIGHT

BY DAVID BROOKS

 

It's amazing to go back and read what people were saying about Timothy Geithner in the spring. Many people said he looked terrified as the Treasury secretary, like Bambi in the headlights. The New Republic ran an essay called "The Geithner Disaster." Portfolio magazine ran a brutal, zeitgeist-capturing profile that concluded by comparing Geithner to Robert Redford's hollow man character in "The Candidate."

 

The criticism of his plan to stabilize the financial system came from all directions. House Republicans called it radical. Many liberal economists thought the plan was the product of hapless, zombie thinking and argued that only full bank nationalization would end the crisis. The Wall Street Journal asked 49 economists to grade Geithner. They gave him an F.

 

Well, the evidence of the past eight months suggests that Geithner was mostly right and his critics were mostly wrong. The financial sector is in much better shape than it was then. TARP money is being repaid, and the debate now is what to do with the billions that were never needed. It now seems clear that nationalization would have been an unnecessary mistake — potentially expensive and dangerously disruptive.

 

The course of events has vindicated the administration's handling of its first big challenge. Obama could have

flinched when the torrent of criticism was at its peak. But the president's support for Geithner never wavered. Geithner never lost confidence in his policy. Rahm Emanuel mobilized to improve the presentation of the policy. The political team worked hard to deflect criticism from Geithner onto themselves.

 

In retrospect, their performance during this trial was impressive.

 

Events also vindicate Geithner's basic policy instincts. The criticism back then was that Geithner was neither

bold nor visionary. He was too cautious, too much the insider and bureaucrat.

 

But this prudence was the key to his effectiveness. In interviews and testimony, Geithner uses the word "balance" a lot. He talks about finding the right balance point between competing priorities. He also talks like a historian who sees common tendencies in certain contexts, not a philosopher who seeks clear general principles that apply across contexts.

 

This mentality makes it hard for him to project bold conviction, but it makes him flexible in the face of specific problems. When financial confidence is cratering, Geithner concluded, government should generally be as aggressive as possible, as early as possible. At the same time, it should try not to do things that the market does better, like set prices or run companies.

 

Geithner's path was a middling one, but it helped the country muddle toward recovery.

 

If you wanted to step back and define Geithner's philosophy, you'd probably say that he starts with a set of fairly conservative instincts about the role of government, which put him on the centrist edge of the Democratic Party.

 

In an interview on Wednesday, for example, I asked Geithner what government could do to help promote innovation. Usually when I ask leaders that, they reel off some cool technologies that government should promote — windmills, nanotechnology, etc. Often they sound like children trying to play at being entrepreneurs. Geithner didn't do that. He said that government's limited job was to get the underlying incentives right so the market could figure out what innovations work best. That suggests a pretty constrained view of government's role.

 

On the other hand, you would also have to say that Geithner, like many top members of the Obama economic team, is extremely context-sensitive. He's less defined by any preset political doctrine than by the situation he happens to find himself in.

 

In the next few months, Geithner will be confronted with a cross-cutting set of pressures. First, the need to reduce the deficits, which is uppermost on his mind. Second, the rising populism in Congress, which has to be battled sometimes and appeased sometimes by an administration that hopes to get things passed. Third, intense public cynicism about government, which means that every debate is washed in negativity.

 

Most important, there's the jobs situation. If job growth returns, that will be a sign that the recovery is normal and Geithner and the administration can return to a more moderate path. If employment does not rebound or the economy double dips, that will be a sign of systemic problems. Geithner and his colleagues will probably adopt a much more activist posture and have to throw their lot in with the left.

 

I hate to rely on the most overused categories in punditry, but they really do apply here. Some administrations are staffed by hedgehogs, who are guided by a few core principles. But this one is staffed by foxes, who respond flexibly to situations. In the administration's first big test, that sort of pragmatism paid off.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

THE BIG SQUANDER

BY PAUL KRUGMAN

 

Earlier this week, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a k a, the bank bailout fund, released his report on the 2008 rescue of the American International Group, the insurer. The gist of the report is that government officials made no serious attempt to extract concessions from bankers, even though these bankers received huge benefits from the rescue. And more than money was lost. By making what was in effect a multibillion-dollar gift to Wall Street, policy makers undermined their own credibility — and put the broader economy at risk.

 

For the A.I.G. rescue was part of a pattern: Throughout the financial crisis key officials — most notably Timothy Geithner, who was president of the New York Fed in 2008 and is now Treasury secretary — have shied away from doing anything that might rattle Wall Street. And the bitter paradox is that this play-it-safe approach has ended up undermining prospects for economic recovery. For the job of fixing the broken economy is far from done — yet finishing the job has become nearly impossible now that the public has lost faith in the government's efforts, viewing them as little more than handouts to the people who got us into this mess.

 

About the A.I.G. affair: During the bubble years, many financial companies created the illusion of financial soundness by buying credit-default swaps from A.I.G. — basically, insurance policies in which A.I.G. promised to make up the difference if borrowers defaulted on their debts. It was an illusion because the insurer didn't have remotely enough money to make good on its promises if things went bad. And sure enough, things went bad.

 

So why protect bankers from the consequences of their errors? Well, by the time A.I.G.'s hollowness became apparent, the world financial system was on the edge of collapse and officials judged — probably correctly — that letting A.I.G. go bankrupt would push the financial system over that edge. So A.I.G. was effectively nationalized; its promises became taxpayer liabilities.

 

But was there any way to limit those liabilities? After all, banks would have suffered huge losses if A.I.G. had been allowed to fail. So it seemed only fair for them to bear part of the cost of the bailout, which they could have done by accepting a "haircut" on the amounts A.I.G. owed them. Indeed, the government asked them to do just that. But they said no — and that was the end of the story. Taxpayers not only ended up honoring foolish promises made by other people, they ended up doing so at 100 cents on the dollar.

 

Could things have been different? Some commentators argue that government officials had no way to force the

banks to accept a haircut — either they let A.I.G. go bankrupt, which they weren't ready to do, or they had to honor its contracts as written.

 

But this seems like a naïve view of how Wall Street works. Major financial firms are a small club, with a shared interest in sustaining the system; ever since the days of J.P. Morgan, it has been common in times of crisis to call on the big players to forgo short-term profits for the industry's common good. Back in 1998, it was a consortium of private bankers — not the government — that put up the funds to rescue the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management.

 

Furthermore, big financial firms have a long-term relationship, both with the government and with each other, and can pay a price if they act selfishly in times of crisis. Bear Stearns, the investment bank, earned itself a lot of ill will by refusing to participate in that 1998 rescue, and it's widely believed that this ill will played a major factor in the demise of Bear Stearns itself, 10 years later.

 

So officials could have called on bankers to offer a better deal, for their own sake, and simultaneously threatened to name and shame those who balked. It was their choice not to do that, just as it was their choice not to push for more control over bailed-out banks in early 2009.

 

And, as I said, these seemingly safe choices have now placed the economy in grave danger.

 

For the economy is still in deep trouble and needs much more government help. Unemployment is in double-digits; we desperately need more government spending on job creation. Banks are still weak, and credit is still tight; we desperately need more government aid to the financial sector. But try to talk to an ordinary voter about this, and the response you're likely to get is: "No way. All they'll do is hand out more money to Wall Street."

 

So here's the real tragedy of the botched bailout: Government officials, perhaps influenced by spending too much time with bankers, forgot that if you want to govern effectively you have retain the trust of the people. And by treating the financial industry — which got us into this mess in the first place — with kid gloves, they have squandered that trust.

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

ADDICTED TO MAMMOGRAMS

BY ROBERT ARONOWITZ

PHILADELPHIA

 

THE United States Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation this week that women begin regular breast cancer screening at age 50 rather than 40 is really nothing new. It's almost identical to the position the group held in the 1990s.

 

Nor is the controversy that has flared since the announcement something new. It's the same debate that's gone on in medicine since 1971, when the very first large-scale, randomized trial of screening mammography found that it saved the lives only of women aged 50 or older. Despite the evidence, doctors continued to screen women in their 40s.

 

Again in 1977, after an official of the National Cancer Institute voiced concern that women in their 40s were getting too much radiation from unnecessary screening, the National Institutes of Health held a consensus conference on mammography, which concluded that most women should wait until they're 50 to have regular screenings.

 

Why do we keep coming around to the same advice — but never comfortably follow it? The answer is far older than mammography itself. It dates to the late 19th century, when society was becoming increasingly disappointed, pessimistic and fearful over the lack of medical progress against cancer. Doctors had come to understand the germ theory of infectious disease and had witnessed the decline of epidemic illnesses like cholera. But their efforts against cancer had gone nowhere.

 

In the 1870s, a new view of the disease came to be developed. Cancer had been thought of as a constitutional disorder, present throughout the body. But some doctors now posited that it begins as a local growth and remains so for some time before spreading via the blood and lymph systems (what came to be understood as metastasis).

 

Even though this new consensus was more asserted than definitively proved by experimental evidence or clinical observation, it soon became dogma, and helped change the way doctors treated cancer. Until this time, cancer surgery had been performed only rarely and reluctantly. After all, why remove a tumor, in a painful and dangerous operation, when the entire body is diseased?

 

The new model gave doctors reason to take advantage of newly developing general anesthesia and antiseptic techniques to do more, and more extensive, cancer surgery. At the turn of the 20th century, William Halsted, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins, promoted a new approach against breast cancer: a technically complicated removal of the affected breast, the lymph nodes in the armpit and the muscles attached to the breast and chest wall.

 

Doctors widely embraced Halsted's strategy. But they seem to have paid little attention to his clinical observations, which indicated that while the operation prevented local recurrence of breast tumors, it did not save lives. As Halsted himself became aware, breast cancer patients die of metastatic, not local, disease.

 

By 1913, the surgeons and gynecologists who started the American Society for the Control of Cancer (later the American Cancer Society) had begun an anti-cancer campaign that, among other things, advised women to see their doctors "without delay" if they had a breast lump. Their message promoted the idea that if cancer was detected early enough, surgery could cure it.

This claim, like the cancer theory it was built on, was based on intuition and wishful thinking and the desire to do something for patients, not on detailed evidence that patients were more likely to survive if their cancer was caught early and cut out. But it did create a culture of fear around breast cancer, and led the public to believe that tumors needed to be discovered at the earliest possible moment.

 

The "do not delay" campaign reached its heyday in the 1940s, when through lectures, newspaper articles, posters and public health films, doctors exhorted people to survey their bodies for cancer warning signs like breast lumps, irregular bleeding and persistent hoarseness. This campaign generated greater fear, which led to more demand for some means to gain a sense of control over cancer — typically satisfied by more surveillance and treatment.

 

During the 1930s and '40s, more and more cancer was being diagnosed. The rising numbers led to even greater pressure to define early stages of cancer and find more cases as early as possible. Meanwhile, the apparent improved cancer survival rates — a result of more people receiving diagnoses, many for cancers that were not lethal — seemed to prove the effectiveness of the "do not delay" campaign, as well as radical cancer surgery.

By the 1950s, some skeptics were pointing out that despite all the apparent progress, mortality rates for breast cancer had hardly budged. And they continued not to budge; from 1950 to 1990, there were about 28 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 people. But calls for earlier diagnosis only increased, especially after screening mammography was introduced in the 1960s.

 

When the 1971 evidence came along that mammograms were of very limited benefit to women under 50, it ran up against the logic of the early-detection model and the entrenched cycles of fear and control. Detecting cancer in women under 50 should work, according to the model; indeed, younger women are the ones most likely to have the localized cancers that have "not yet" metastasized. And many doctors and women understandably objected, as they do today, to giving up the one means they had to exercise some control over cancer.

 

Critics of this week's recommendations have poked holes in the Preventive Services Task Force's data analysis, have warned against basing present practice guidelines on the older imaging technology used in the studies, and have called for still more studies to be done. They generally sidestep the question of whether the very small numbers of lives potentially saved by screening younger women outweigh the health, psychological and financial costs of overdiagnosis.

 

You need to screen 1,900 women in their 40s for 10 years in order to prevent one death from breast cancer, and in the process you will have generated more than 1,000 false-positive screens and all the overtreatment they entail. This doesn't make sense. We could do more research and hold more consensus conferences. I suspect it would confirm the data we already have. But history suggests it would never be enough to convince many people that we are screening too much.

 

Robert Aronowitz, an internist and a professor of the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of "Unnatural History: Breast Cancer and American Society."

 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

OPED

THE WET SIDE OF THE MOON

BY WILLIAM S. MARSHALL

MOFFETT FIELD, CALIF.

 

PICTURE a habitat atop a hill in warm sunlight on the edge of a crater near the south pole of the Moon. There are metal ores in the rocks nearby and water ice in the shadows of the crater below. Solar arrays are set up on the regolith that covers the Moon's surface. Humans live in sealed, cave-like lava tubes, protected from solar flares and sustained by large surface greenhouses. Imagine the Moon as the first self-sustainable human settlement away from Earth and a high-speed transportation hub for the solar system.

 

We can finally begin to think seriously about establishing such a self-sufficient home on the Moon because last week, NASA announced that it had discovered large quantities of water there.

 

While we have known for decades that the Moon had all the raw chemicals necessary for sustaining life, we believed they were trapped in rocks and thus difficult to extract. The discovery of plentiful lunar water is of tremendous importance to humanity and our long-term survival.

 

There have been 73 missions, manned and unmanned, to the Moon, and understanding its chemical composition, particularly finding water, has always been a priority. So why haven't we seen significant amounts of water until now?

 

The answer lies in the Moon's rotation. Unlike Earth, which rotates on a significant tilt to the Sun, the Moon is barely tilted at all. At the poles, some hills remain in permanent sunlight while some troughs are always in shadow. When water lands in sunny spots, perhaps carried by comets or asteroids, the water transforms directly into gas; if it lands in shadow, the water freezes and can remain indefinitely. The lack of light explains why spectrometers — instruments that can be used for remote water detection but rely on reflected light to do so — never picked up on the water.

 

This changed last month, when NASA shot a satellite into a permanently shadowed region on the Moon's surface, throwing a plume of material containing water up out of the shadow.

 

From the perspective of human space exploration, that water is the most important scientific discovery since the '60s. We can drink it, grow food with it and breathe it — by separating the oxygen from the hydrogen through a process called electrolysis. These elements can even be used to fuel rocket engines. (Discovering water on Mars was not quite as significant because the major hurdle to establishing permanent settlements there is the eight-month journey.)

 

Creating a permanent lunar habitat is important primarily for our species' survival. Humanity needs more than one home because, with all our eggs in one basket, we are at risk of low-probability but high-consequence catastrophes like asteroid strikes, nuclear war or bioterrorism.

 

But it would also lead to valuable technological and other advancements. Consider the side-effects of the Apollo program: it drove the development of small computers, doubled the number of doctoral students in science and math in about a decade and marked a new stage in relations between the Americans and Soviets.

 

Imagine what we could learn from living on the Moon permanently. On its far side, shielded from the Earth's radio noise, there is a quiet zone perfect for radio astronomy — which allows us to see objects we can't from Earth. Out of necessity we could develop bacteria to extract resources directly from the regolith — a useful technology for Earth as well. And an international venture could open a new era of global cooperation.

 

Almost as surprising as NASA's announcement is the lack of attention it has received. Thirty years ago, a development like this would have been heralded as one of humanity's greatest discoveries. Perhaps the indifference is partly because of the disappointment of astronomers, amateur and professional, who tried to watch NASA's October blast through their telescopes, but couldn't see the plume. Or perhaps it's a symptom of our age, that the problems that bedevil us on Earth limit our interest in other worlds — just when we need them (and the inspiration they offer) most.

 

William S. Marshall is a staff scientist with the Universities Space Research Association based at the NASA Ames Research Center.

 

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 I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

ROTTEN TO THE CORE

 

As if the news that we had dropped a further five places down the Transparency International corruption scale were not enough, there comes the (not unexpected) revelation of the writing off of billions of rupees as a consequence of the promulgation of the NRO. A report in this newspaper suggests that the figure could be as much as Rs1,000 billion, a number so incomprehensibly large that it beggars the imagination. The National Reconciliation Ordinance effectively cancelled the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (itself flawed and of doubtful provenance but something is better than nothing) and opened the gate for hundreds – perhaps several thousands – engaged in graft and corruption to walk away from their crimes. Those who did the walking were not the poor or needy; they were the rich and powerful, the movers and shakers at the top end of our society. In many cases there is powerful evidence of wrongdoing, much of it by politicians and the workers of political parties across the entire spectrum of our political entities and institutions. Whatever evidence there was has disappeared and will never be presented. A stratum of criminality at the heart of politics and governance once again escapes the rule of law.

The determination to resist any form of accountability is embedded at every level of governance and has become a defining national characteristic. Small wonder that the world sees us as something of a basket case, seemingly teetering on failed-statehood and forever in denial of our many flaws. They have only to read through the back issues of our newspapers for the last twenty years or so (which is as far back as archives go online) to see the rot at the core of the state, the venality that elsewhere would have brought down individuals if not entire governments. Unless and until there is a change in the culture of corruption we seem doomed to wallow very publicly in our own filth – and there is neither sign of nor incentive for change. Our rulers invest heavily in the status quo and perhaps have little real interest in educating or empowering the majority, because by doing so they may be in a position to challenge that artificial equilibrium. The iniquitous NRO was, according to some legal eagles, itself unconstitutional and discriminatory, a law applicable only to a tiny section of the population and not a law for all men and women everywhere. How many schools could have been built for Rs1,000 billion? Hospitals? Roads? Rural water supply systems? Vocational training centres? Until a majority decides to stand up and say 'Enough', NRO beneficiaries are going to be laughing as they dance towards their banks.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

TYING THE KNOT

 

Marriage is big business. Across the country hundreds of 'lawns' and 'marriage halls' have sprung up over the last decade as brides, grooms and their respective families seek ever more lavish celebration of their nuptials. They are often built with scant attention to where those visiting and celebrating might park their cars or the noise that they generate into the wee hours and the effect it might have on those intent on a good night's sleep. Given our national propensity for never being on time for anything if we can possibly help it, weddings have got later and later and halls and lawns are booking festivities at midnight and beyond.

Now the provincial government has stepped in to complicate things. To the considerable irritation of those in the marriage business, the Punjab Assembly has passed a resolution under which marriage ceremonies will not be allowed after 10 pm. Sindh is a bit more relaxed and allows ceremonies to take place up until midnight, and the hall and lawn owners say that Punjab should follow suit. The decision affects a range of peripheral businesses – decorators and caterers and the like – and is going to impact on about 400 marriage halls and lawns. The chances of it being effectively implemented or complied with by the wedding industry are roughly at par with a politician making and keeping a promise. With the wedding season now upon us this is perhaps not the best time to place limitations around a national obsession and we can but hope that the Punjab Assembly members have an outbreak of common sense. We still won't get our sleep or find places to park our own vehicles, but the brides and grooms will be happy – which, when all is said and done, is what really matters.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

TICKET TO RIDE

The traffic wardens of Lahore have apparently decided to extend their remit to the fining of those unlucky road users who fail to respond appropriately to their politely worded request for a lift. It seems that the wardens do not have their own transport and that they often travel on public buses and vans, either granting themselves an exemption from paying the fare or being given a free ride in the hope of the friendly and terribly polite traffic warden turning a blind eye the next time the bus/van runs a red light. They also have taken to hitching a lift with motorcyclists travelling solo – which in all likelihood will give rise to a rash of dummy passengers on the backs of motorbikes in an effort to discourage traffic wardens from requesting – very politely – a lift. There are reports that not only is the obliging citizen required to carry the traffic warden who is a model of mannerly conduct, but even more helpfully to take the wardens who have chest-fulls of merit-badges awarded for civility to wherever it is that they want to go!

Levity aside there is a serious issue regarding security. There have been anecdotal reports in recent weeks of suicide bombers hijacking cars and then using them to deliver themselves to their targets. The bombers are reported to be wearing police uniforms and pretend to be seeking a lift. Many motorists give lifts to police who stand at the roadside as a matter of courtesy – but the terrorist is infinitely adaptable and it is no longer safe to assume that the person wearing the uniform is doing so legitimately. It is no great stretch of imagination to have a terrorist wear the uniform of a traffic warden. Whilst we might sympathise with the plight of the traffic wardens without their own transport; it does not give them licence to extort money via a fine for those who fail to accede to their requests for a lift. For the ordinary road user they have a right to determine who travels in their vehicle and its destination – and they have the right of refusal without penalty because they might find themselves the unwitting carrier of a cargo of death and destruction.

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

THE CHARGE OF THE MINUS-ONE BRIGADE

AYAZ AMIR

A week is indeed a long time in politics. Just last week the get-Zardari campaign was in full swing. Media gladiators — now very much the media's vanguard — and assorted weather prophets were convinced (they had certainly convinced themselves) that he had to go. Indeed, that his departure was inevitable. They only differed about the timing.

Their first self-imposed deadline was September. When that passed — President Zardari, spending most of that month on a never-ending series of foreign visits — the deadline shifted to October. Then it was November, then December, some optimists being so specific as to propose Dec 7 as D-Day. But just in a few days all this feverish speculation, some of it accompanied by near-foaming at the mouth, has suddenly died down, all because of two developments:

(1) The note of defiance struck by Zardari at a meeting of the PPP Central Executive at which he declared that no matter what his enemies said, the PPP would not succumb to pressure and would continue its "forward march"; and(2) Nawaz Sharif's clear affirmation, leaving nothing to doubt, that if there were any threats to the democratic system he would stand in the way.

Nothing has fundamentally changed. We could do with a more effective government at the centre, and it would be in everyone's interests if fewer skeletons rattled in Mr Zardari's many cupboards. But the dark clouds massed on the horizon have receded, revealing an open sky.

And media gladiators have gone silent. Which doesn't mean their gloomy prognostications will cease: that's hoping for too much. But having received a rude shock in the form of the two aforementioned developments, it will be some time before they can work up vitriolic anger to the levels we saw in recent days.

True, they can no more abide Zardari now than they did before. But their hopes have been dashed and before the outline of things becomes clearer, perforce they have to rein in their enthusiasm.

 

The PPP's defiance has played its part in this process. But the man of the hour is Nawaz Sharif, whose clear stance against any extra-constitutional move has been the decisive factor in halting the headlong charge of the minus-one brigade.

Once upon a time his detractors — of whom there was never a shortage — dubbed him as the quintessential man of confrontation. And to think that now he is the principal bulwark of the present democratic order. Which I suppose only goes to show the extent to which his political outlook has matured.

Zardari alone would be vulnerable — was vulnerable — to the array of forces ranged against him. Much as he and his camp may hate the thought, it is Nawaz Sharif who is holding him up — not, it goes without saying, for Zardari's person but for democracy's sake. Having gone through the mill and learning from bitter experience, Nawaz Sharif, more than most politicians, is not only aware but feels it in his bones that once extra-constitutional moves are afoot there is no knowing how and where they will end.

Minus-one, then, remains confined to not one number but acquires wider and wider dimensions. So it has been always in our history, not once but four times, each successive intervention leaving behind a richer crop of disaster than the one before. Why should it be any different this time?

But we remain slow learners. Even though the memory of Musharraf remains alive and fresh, here we were seeing a fresh army of enthusiasts hoping for some kind of miracle that, in their eyes, would cleanse the presidential stables. How precisely this was to be achieved they weren't quite sure, but they were convinced that it would somehow happen.

Would Triple One Brigade move? No, no, that wasn't an option. So what, then? Oh, bereft of all support, Zardari just couldn't go on. His position was untenable. It was in his best interest if he stepped down himself; otherwise, he would be made to quit. But how? Oh, it would happen. This was mumbo-jumbo, more an articulation of belief and faith than any attempt at political analysis.

But it had Islamabad in its grip even if there was something completely surrealistic about these angry mutterings. The party was solidly behind Zardari, all too aware that even if his name was mired in controversy, as the keeper of the Bhutto flame he was the unlikely cement holding the party together. It was all calm and peaceful in the National Assembly, with not the slightest hint of discord. So, coming down to the technicalities of it, how would the get-Zardari operation proceed?

One expected scenario, of course, was that the NRO would be the bomb to explode in Zardari's face. But sensing the mood in the National Assembly — which would have erupted in revolt if there had been an attempt to force the law down its throat — the Presidency, for once, acted sensibly, choosing discretion over valour and withdrawing the bill. This had a double effect. It rescued Zardari from the pit into which he was walking and it seriously confounded his enemies, who were hoping he would hang himself with this rope.

In a sense, therefore, if the tabling of the NRO in the National Assembly was the high watermark of Zardari's troubles, the decision to withdraw it — under pressure, let us not forget — may be the starting point from where the pressure on him begins to ease. We shouldn't find this mystifying. Zardari's fortunes had hit rock bottom. From there the only way forward was up.

I think the political class as a whole and the media need to go through a refresher course in politics after the debacle of the minus-one brigade. Do we believe in democracy or not? If we do, we must abide by democracy's rules. Zardari is elected president of the Republic and if his transgressions are so great that they are considered a threat to the country, there is a procedure under the Constitution for presidential impeachment.

That is the only choice anyone has, and if there are objections to it, then the only alternatives are: (1) the Iskander Mirza formula, whereby a group of generals, pistols in holsters, tramp up to the Presidency and demand and obtain Zardari's resignation; or (2) the march of the Triple One Brigade. In either event we will end up with another general on horseback riding the nation's back. Haven't we had enough of such experiments? Have we forgotten Musharraf so soon and the disasters he brought in his train?

The Republicans hated Clinton and tried to impeach him. When the numbers in Congress did not support them they had no choice but to put aside their hatchets. If Zardari is impeachable — meaning that Parliament turns against him — that's another matter. Barring that, time and history should take their course.

But the nation won't survive Zardari, anguished voices proclaim. Please, let us have done with this self-serving argument used time and again to justify coups and adventurism.

When Bhutto was in power, the rightwing parties up in arms against him said the same thing. Bhutto for them was evil personified and his elimination — not just political but physical — they considered more pressing than the survival of democracy. The same argument was deployed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, first against Benazir Bhutto in 1990, then Nawaz Sharif in 1993. Farooq Leghari invoked it against Benazir Bhutto in 1996, Musharraf against Nawaz Sharif in 1999. High time we overcame this passion for listening to the same old broken records.

Which doesn't mean things shouldn't change. Zardari would be doing everyone a favour — it would also be in his enlightened self-interest — if he learnt to check his horses and exercise some control over his itching fingers. If the nation is to regard him with patience — and this will test all the nation's fortitude — he should also learn to show some consideration to the nation's feelings.

There are enough skeletons in his cupboard. Having risen to the Presidency — a dizzying ascent not even Macbeth's witches could have foretold — there's no need why he should be adding to this collection.

Email: winlust@yahoo.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

BEHIND OUR STAGNANT POLITICS

DR MUZAFFAR IQBAL

The nauseating, recurring, often false, and certainly vacuous statements of Pakistani politicians on issues of deep and catastrophic proportions, their empty rhetoric, their mutual mistrust, their unending U-turns, and their lack of transparency have, once again, cooked a political soup that stinks. Every new day comes with newspapers filled with the same soup. Behind this unending and recurring process is a dilemma that Pakistani politicians are incapable of even acknowledging, let alone addressing: they are myopic inhabitants of a pond without any inflow of fresh water. This stagnant political theatre was set up at the time of Pakistan's emergence on the world scene, and it has never changed.

Pakistan now has the so-called two main political parties, both of which are actually one-man parties, because in each case the man at the top has such a strangling hold on all aspects of his party that these entities are neither "political" nor "parties" in any real sense. They are merely personifications of one man's myopic vision, personal goals, and limited mental and intellectual horizon.

In addition, there are the "religious parties," of which only the Jamaat-e-Islami deserves mention, for all other "religious parties" are neither religious nor parties. The problem with the Jamaat is its lack of any solid Islamic base in terms of its policies and "principles of politicking." It left its rightful course way back in the early 1950s when Maulana Maudoodi abandoned his own clearly articulated (and publicly announced) course of action. He did this out of personal volition and in the process lost some dear friends. But, most of all, he brought the Jamaat to a cul de sac from which it has never emerged.

Had he followed his well-reasoned course of action, Pakistan would be an entirely different polity today. And the sad and traumatic aspect of this betrayal of the highest principles articulated by Maudoodi himself is that the Jamaat is unwilling to accept the fact that its founder committed a blunder, thus it continues to remain in the political wilderness without any hope of ever emerging from its wasteland.

This leaves the regional parties, or the parties which only have appeal within certain geographical regions of the country; the ANP and the MQM being the two obvious contenders. While the ANP has a history of grassroots political processes, there is no denying the fact that it, too, suffers from the same person-centred approach to its politics, just as the MQM does.

Thus, apart from the Jamaat-e-Islami, all political parties are, in fact, parties of their leaders. And this includes Imran Khan's outfit, which has attempted to set up a real political process by including in its ranks independent, thinking minds, but which remains, by and large "Imran Khan's Party."

There is, however, much more to this person-centred politics. It is not the political parties alone which are responsible for this phenomenon: the Pakistani nation, as such, is person-centred. As children we were asked the rhetorical question: who made Pakistan? And given the answer: the Quaid-e-Azam.

Obviously, there is something deep in the psyche of Pakistani people which makes it impossible, at this stage at least, for any political party to emerge on the basis of a political process that will ensure continuous inflow of fresh water in the form of leadership, ideas, strategies, plans, and vision for the country. Pakistanis share this hero-worship with other nations of the region, but the Indian political scene has moved forward tremendously since the days of the cult of Gandhi and Nehru. The cult of the hero or heroine is still there to some extent, but Indira Gandhi was the last leader to reap any political dividends from that cult. In Bangladesh, the process is still more or less like Pakistan, with the daughter and wife of the two past heroes dominating politics.

The cult of hero-worship in Pakistan is, mercifully, about to die. After Benazir Bhutto, there is no Bhutto cult left; Zardari's is a one-time show thrust upon the nation through extraordinary circumstances. But large areas of Punjab, rural and urban Sindh, major portion of the NWFP, and Balochistan remain entrenched in the hero-worship mode. They say education is a cure for this, but the kind of education Pakistanis are receiving holds little promise of salvation.

In the absence of any real political process at the grassroots level, there is no possibility of Pakistan's political stability. What is needed is a thorough reorganisation of the political landscape, and this cannot happen without a certain degree of maturity in the mental makeup of Pakistani people in terms of their attitude towards "heroes." This maturity cannot come without conscious efforts made to change people's attitudes.

These efforts cannot be made without a group of people realising the need for political training and a different level of consciousness. And, therefore, the circular argument leads to the need of a new intellectual force to emerge in the country with the sole goal of taking a majority of Pakistanis out of their hero-worship mode. This undoing of the cult of the hero will, in turn, sow the seeds for the emergence of a genuine polity, rooted in principles and dealing with issues of enduring importance.

This is a generational task: at least one whole generation has to go through this political training, but this training needs certain principles. From where can one draw these principles? From the sources which have always guided Islamic polity, one would imagine. And this brings us back to the process which Maulana Maudoodi abandoned in the 1950s. Is there anyone who can revive that process?

The writer is a freelance columnist. Email: quantumnotes@gmail.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

NO ALTERNATIVES

DR MASOODA BANO

The current political environment in Pakistan is offering more of the same. Arguably, it is good to have the political alliance among major parties continue in some form or the other as it helps sustain the democratic system. However, the failure of the PPP government to initiate any real process of reform is making the continuation of the same system not necessarily good news.

The problem is that while PPP is failing to initiate new policies and development programmes, the opposition, the PML-N included, is also failing to provide an alternative perspective or a way forward. It is true that things in Pakistan are challenging from any perspective. It is not easy for a government to move on day-to-day reforms when it is so bogged down in responding to acts of militancy. However, when the government starts to use the threat of the militancy as an excuse not to deliver on the other fronts, then things get particularly hopeless for the country.

The recent meeting of the PPP senior leadership has reportedly recorded some positive developments. The senior party leaders reportedly were self-reflective and critical of the performance of the party. It has been reported that President Zardari recorded a definite change in style, and unlike the past was allowing all members to have their say. Some party members also argued that they should not be scared of being in the opposition if undertaking some reforms leads to such threats.

There was also a call by some members to reinstate Aitzaz Ahsan's membership in the party's senior committee. These are positive developments. If Mr Zardari feels enough pressure now to listen to the voices of concern within his own party, that is good news. However, the problem is that despite these self-reflections, the PPP is still failing to establish a government, which is committed to ground-level reforms.

In this context, apart from the glaring problems of electricity and gas supplies, inflation, inaccessibility of basic food items, what is most worrying is the continued neglect of the education sector. A democratic government, which is actually committed to reforms, cannot ignore the education sector because of the political and economic benefits associated with it. Education is critical for economic growth, but it is also important for building a civic culture, which is resistant to military interventions. The military governments have deliberately neglected the education sector because an educated public aware of its rights is less likely to support military regimes.

However, the tragedy in case of Pakistan is that due to the continued hold of the feudal families on the political system, the elected governments are even less committed to education. Thus, the Pakistani state education sector today is in a state of chaos. Things are getting worse than better, both in terms of ensuring access to education and delivering quality education. A real test of a government's commitment to reform in Pakistan is its approach to the education sector. Sadly, the PPP government is showing utter neglect of this sector. There is not even much serious talk of investment in the sector, forget actual implementation of dynamic reform programmes.

In all this, the further disturbing aspect is that it is not just the PPP but the whole political elite which seems to lacking a vision for the future. The PML-N took some very commendable stances before and after the elections last year. The party's commitment to reinstatement of the judge and independence of the judiciary is indeed appreciated. However, Nawaz Sharif has also disappointed the public by having gone very quiet after that.

He and his party have failed to provide an alternative vision of what the government should be doing right now. To keep supporting the PPP government when it is failing to deliver much is not too significant in itself unless the public can see that the PML-N is using its power as an opposition party to influence the existing system to undertake the right reforms. It is not just the PPP but even the PML-N leadership and those of other parties that are failing to show a commitment to reforms of fundamental sectors such as education. Pakistan is desperate for a visionary and committed leadership. The sad news is that no one is coming forward to provide that.

The writer is a research fellow at the Oxford University. Email: mb294@hotmail. Com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

WORLD CLASS CITIES

AHMAD RAFAY ALAM

It's difficult to describe what Arif Hasan does. He's an architect and planner, based in Karachi, for sure. But he's also a teacher, writer, social researcher and a thinker (rare in this country). I could go on to describe his experiences, qualifications, awards and so on, but then I wouldn't have space to write anything else. Suffice it to say that when Arif Sahib spent some time at a workshop at the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore earlier this week and delivered an open lecture on the concept and repercussions of the world class city (based on a paper delivered at a symposia held in Istanbul last month), I jumped at the opportunity to hear from a man who is, quite literally, the foremost expert in his field. I was lucky enough to have been offered an invite to the event and come out significantly more edified that I had gone in.

The phrase 'world class city' is used to describe a metropolis that has an international airport, transport routes to other cities and regions, motorways, five-star hotels, shopping malls and lots of high-rises. It's also a way of thinking about cities; about wanting them to take a certain shape and direction in preference over others. It's about how city managers arrange their priorities when it comes to planning for the future of a city. And, according to Arif Hasan, as a development model, it is not just a massive conspiracy, it is also a failure.

Anyone who has lived in any of Pakistan's large cities will immediately recognise what a world class city is. It is the reason why signal-free corridors exist in Karachi and why Lahore's precious Canal Bank Road will be butchered to make a highway through the city. It is the reason why governments make announcements that do away the beachfront, whole islands and thousands of acres of arable land so that 'foreign developers' can evict numerous small land-holders and construct five-star homes for the relatively small upper and middle class. It is this mindset that convinced the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) of the need to spend millions of rupees on the world's second highest water fountain.

Developments like these are often pitched as a magnet for important foreign investment. In some cases, the development of world class cities takes place under the control of just the companies that are attracted by the opportunity of investing in a developing country like Pakistan.

So, what's wrong with the model?

 

According to Arif Hasan, the world, before the introduction of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the liberalisation of international trade, was totally different. The ability of goods, services and money to move freely through international borders limited the potential of the smuggling trade that existed before. These huge sums of black-market money needed an outlet and this was found, very conveniently, in the totally unregulated property market of this country. The money injected into this market caused property prices to sky-rocket and added to the property speculation business. I've often marvelled at the fact that, in this Islamic republic, you need a qualified doctor for a toothache, a chartered accountant for your taxes, a registered advocate for your legal matters and even a licensed stock broker to buy stock in a company. But there is no qualification for "property developers" who routinely handle multi-million-rupee transactions.

Speculation drives property prices up and flushes the poor out. Unable to pay sky-rocketing rent or perhaps desirous of benefitting from the windfall rise in property prices, the poor residents of a city are coerced from their habitats. The land they leave behind is then ripe for developing a world class city.

The shape of the world class city doesn't depend entirely on local property speculation. The sums of money that define the property universe here aren't a drop in the water compared to the type of money it takes to actually change the physical appearance of a place. Arif Hasan points out an unholy alliance between international financial institutions – the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation – props up the model and gives it the life support it needs. When a city centre needs to be redeveloped, who does the city district government look towards? Certainly not its tax-base.

When Lahore, we are told, needs a new multi-lane highway through the city, who will the province of Punjab look at to foot the bill? And thus project-based development, funded by international financial institutions, become part of the urban planning paradigm of our cities.

Projects per se aren't bad. But note that, firstly, a lot of the foreign-aid money that comes in to give our world class cities the infrastructure they 'need' goes back in the form of consultancy fees. Then there's the corruption and graft we're so good at (we recently improved our TI ranking by five places).

What's left is actually then used to construct vast roads, high-rises and things the displaced and majority poor don't need, can't afford and do not have access to.

Secondly, because of the amount of oil in this particular machine, internationally-funded projects have replaced urban planning and development. Instead of a coherent strategy, local, provincial and federal government agencies look for the quickest way they can fund a particular "development project". Thus, our cities — and a majority of Pakistanis will live in urban areas in the next 10 years — grow haphazardly, without a plan and certainly not with people in mind. No sir, our cities are built as tourist havens and magnets for investment.

I recently sat in a government committee discussing aspects of Lahore's development. I was surprised at the casual yet confident naiveté of some of the other members of the committee, some of whom were senior government functionaries. Their desire to build a world class city had blinded them to the reality of our country and that of Lahore. One actually had the gumption to suggest parking would become impossible if two new five-star hotels were to open in Lahore, totally blind to the fact that no J.W. Marriott would invest in a country racked by suicide bombers; no tourist would visit a place where school children have to be ferried to class behind bunkers and snipers; no high-end consumer retail shop would open a stone's throw away from a slum. Usually I find such naiveté entertaining (it is rare to find such innocence), but at that point, I found it repulsive coming from the mouth of the senior government officer in question.

The latest world class city initiative to seize the imagination of the chief minister of Lahore is the widening of the Lahore Canal Road for Rs3.15 billion. Never mind that this sum represents 10 per cent of all the money the Government of Punjab spent on health, public health and education in 2008-2009. Never mind the fact that less than 20 per cent of Lahore's eight million people have access to a car; that, for such a population there are fewer than 1,000 buses (the phrase 'public transport' does injustice to the type of humiliation this service actually is). What I find amazing is that, while the government is hell-bent on having a security picket every kilometre on account of the 'security situation' (another farce, by the way), it wants to build a multi-billion-rupee get-away route in and out of the city. World class city, indeed.

The writer is an advocate of the high court and a member of the adjunct faculty at LUMS. He has an interest in urban planning. Email: ralam@nexlinx.net.pk

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

HOW TO ROB A BANK

SHAFQAT MAHMOOD

The arrest of Sheikh Afzal and his son from Malaysia has come as a welcome relief to the Bank of Punjab (BoP) officials. The father and the son are principle accused in the Harris Steel scam, in which nine billion rupees were lent to the company without proper scrutiny and any real security.

The only reason that the long arm of the law became long enough to get them was the Supreme Court. The honourable chief justice and other judges on the bench refused to entertain any manipulative plea by the massively well-paid lawyers.

This is what an independent and clean judiciary can achieve. We have learnt from the press that during the tenure of the infamous Dogar court, known lawyers were doing 'sauday baazi' in this case and assuring the clients that they can get a positive decision from the judges. Mercifully, that has changed with the revival of the real judiciary.

Was this BoP fraud perpetrated because of negligence and incompetence on the part of the then bank management or was there more to it? In particular, did the political masters of the time have any role in sponsoring or abetting this fraud? This becomes relevant because the Punjab government is the principle share holder of BoP and the chief secretary of the province was then the chairman of its board of directors.

It is hard to say, and certainly impossible to prove in a court of law, but whispers are that one Moonis, the talented son of the then Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, was of a generous temperament. He was well known in Lahore at that time for being kind to anyone who made him happy.

But even if there was political facilitation, why did the bank management including the board cave in so easily? One reason in such situations always is that the managers want to hang on to plush and perhaps lucrative jobs. The political masters understand this and manipulate it to their advantage.

The absconder Hamesh Khan allowed himself to be manipulated not because he was naive. Baby-faced he may have been but he was no dummy. He also had his hand in the till. Money was being dished out as if there was no tomorrow. People, whose businesses could not carry a loan of Rs100 million, were given the amount. Others with no business experience became industrialists. Obviously, these guys had little or no intention of paying the money back.

Incidentally, I have come to the conclusion that only a fool in this country borrows in lacs or even a measly crore or two. The trick is to borrow billions. If you are a small defaulter, the bank will kill you, sell your property, and throw you and your family out of the small house you own. If you owe money in billions, it will come to you with an obsequious smile and beg you humbly and kindly to return its money.

The Bank of Punjab had a board of directors and it was supposed to perform a proper oversight role. But, that was compromised because some of the directors themselves were the biggest recipients of loans from the bank. In other words, they were interested parties and despite an obvious conflict between their oversight role and business interests, they continued to be part of the board.

More importantly, they were allowed by the principle shareholder, the Punjab government, to continue as board members despite getting huge amounts, and I mean billions, for their businesses. Most of these are now non-performing and the bank is scrambling to get them to give at least some of it back.

One reason why the Punjab government became so kind was that the directors were doing business with the chief minister and his family. The modus operandi followed was interesting. The Chaudhrys wanted to sell their sugar mills and wanted cash. They found buyers among some major groups and very conveniently, the BoP extended a loan to them for the entire amount. Also, interestingly, some of these groups were represented on the bank's board.

In other words, the bank channelled money to its 'controller' via a third party. To make it more interesting, the third party was also on the board of the bank and thus is lending money to itself. Everyone was happy; the buyer, the seller, but the bank had an ugly frown on its face because the money was gone and it had little chance of ever getting it back. This was, of course, happening in front of the other directors but they either could not or had no interest in raising the red flag.

Another very kind act done by Hamesh and his gang to the bank was that they were happy to take on liabilities of other banks to make their old or new customers happy. This was done through a simple stratagem. Suppose you are a business house and you have borrowed money from five banks. Since they are private, they are tough in wanting their money back and don't give any concessions.

So you approach the Punjab Bank to bless you and relieve you of your misery. The BoP very kindly gives all the money you owe to other banks and gives you nice, easy terms to pay it back. This is not an unusual business practice provided there is due diligence.

Not in the Punjab Bank, however. It was showering all and sundry with its munificence, many of them well-known pillars of Lahore and Punjab. Its directory of defaulters now looks like a guest list at a governor house ball. No wonder the elite liked Musharraf and his henchmen in Punjab. They all had such a generous temperament.

In the case of state-owned banks, this proclivity of excessive 'generosity' becomes lethal because so much cash is involved. Even now, another well-known bank, almost a national institution, is being used and misused by the political masters. The man in charge has been getting extension upon extension and he is not burning the midnight oil because of a deep desire for public service.

Some say that this bank's scandal, when it erupts, will dwarf anything seen before in the banking sector. The saga of bank officials running hither and thither or hiding somewhere abroad will be repeated. The only ray of hope is that if the long arm of the law wants to, it can reach far and wide and abroad. If Hamesh is brought back it would be a salutary lesson to all and sundry in the banking business.

The simple fact is that the state has no business owning banks. It is just too tempting for its owners, the political masters, to misuse the power it brings. It is time that all such entities are sold off. These are not the best of times and the temptation is to hold on for a better deal. But, the longer the wait, the greater the chance of misuse.

Email: shafqatmd@gmail.com

 

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I. THE NEWS

EDITORIAL

SIDE-EFFECT

HARRIS KHALIQUE

It was some conference in Kathmandu many years ago where I first spent time with Indians. I had neither been to India before nor to the UK or North America where one would meet so many. My only interaction until then was limited to meeting a few people who visited Pakistan to meet their relatives. They were generally unassuming Muslim Indians who would come here to attend a niece's wedding or to offer condolences on an uncle's death. After spending a couple of days together in Kathmandu, Indians and Pakistanis became friendly. I must say that the Pakistani contingent was far more informed about India than they knew about us. It seems to be the case still, partly because of Bollywood and partly because of our Indo-centrism in politics and foreign affairs. While sitting in a café almost every evening in Kathmandu's famous tourist market, Thamel, Indian colleagues would debate about India-Pakistan relations, Kashmir and the need for peace. There was only one wish they all had in common, irrespective of whichever part of India they came from – the wish to visit Lahore.

In later years, I had the chance to become friends with many Indians while visiting India, the UK or other South Asian countries. I found the same desire for seeing and experiencing Lahore among most of them. For those coming from this part of the subcontinent who themselves or their parents had migrated during partition, the city lives and thrives in their imagination. For others, it is a city they fancy after hearing a lot about it from their seniors or reading about its history and culture. In subsequent years, some were able to visit and enjoy the ambience of Lahore but most couldn't.

It is not just limited to Indians. When people from other parts of the world visit Lahore, they develop a liking for its architecture, gardens, culture and food. Punjabis anywhere in the world see it as their cultural capital while writers from any part of South Asia or those in the diaspora see it as one of the bastions of Urdu literature. Lahoris enjoy a unique pride and even those who have just migrated to the city, start being boisterous about their Lahori identity in no time.

But for most, even those who wrote their fond memories or now write about the history and culture of the city, Lahore is about the festival of Basant, the fort, the mosques, historic buildings from Mughal and British periods, The Mall, canal, parks, savoury dishes, fashion, models, film stars, artists, singers, concerts, shopping areas and affluent women and men exhibiting snazzy clothes and eating sumptuous food.

Sami Ahuja, the accomplished story-teller, takes us to a different Lahore in his latest collection of short stories, "Roonumai Mein Zam Honay Ka Mujrim." He brings back the city that belongs not to the kings, princes, viceroys and governors, but the city that belongs to their subjects. In 14 stories, 12 about the residents who live by the 12 gates, one about Tibbi and one about Mori, Ahuja artfully renders the suffering of the working class, the poor and the oppressed, who were a majority in the past and who remain a majority now. Some of Ahuja's earlier work is not only laced with historic metaphors but at times his language is not within the reach of an untrained reader of Urdu literature. The latest book is more accessible and confirms that Sami Ahuja loves real people of Lahore more than the ornate Sheesh Mahal. Recommended reading.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk .org

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

MOST RIDICULOUS IDEA OF CHANGING COUNTRY'S NAME

 

THOUGH a political party which was reported to be in league with two other parties has denied making the sinister move but circumstantial evidence suggests that the idea of changing the name of the country from 'Islamic' to 'Peoples' Republic of Pakistan was mooted during ongoing deliberations of the Constitutional Reforms Committee. The ridiculous proposal was, however, said to have been shot down by other members of the Committee, whose parties have deep attachment with the country.

According to reports, the idea was floated by the ANP and two other parties – PPP and MQM — welcomed the suggestion by their coalition partner. ANP member of the Committee Haji Adeel has denied having proposed the change of name but his denial becomes irrelevant in the wake of confirmation by MQM Deputy Convener and Federal Minister Dr Farooq Sattar. He told reporters on Wednesday that MQM along with PPP members of the Committee supported the idea of renaming Islamic Republic of Pakistan as Peoples Republic of Pakistan. The apparently flopped move exposes credentials of the three parties and also shows to what extent they can go to appease their Indian friends and Western masters and harming the core interests of the country. These and similar other elements have also been entertaining in the past the idea of the so-called co-federation with India. The dirty minds who conceived this filthy notion are living in fool's paradise and we feel sorry for their mental health. This is because they have overlooked the fundamental reality that people of Pakistan would never ever allow any move to change the nomenclature of the State. It would prove to be a death knell for any party or for that matter the Government which will make any movement towards the dangerous course. People of Pakistan, irrespective of their political affiliation, will rise against such parties and the Government and they will see re-play of the pre-partition scenes when Muslims of South Asia offered every sacrifice to carve out a separate homeland. Islam is not only the distinct but fundamental identity of Pakistan, which has served as a unifying force and kept the country afloat. Therefore, those who want to deprive the country of this identity are in fact dreaming for inflicting damage to Pakistan to advance their own nefarious designs and agendas. But people of Pakistan are determined to safeguard their identity and resist the wicked plans of these elements. The mentally deranged elements have also forgotten that apart from the Muslims who happened to be within the geographical boundaries of the would-be Pakistan, Muslims of other areas who chose to remain in India also struggled for creation of a separate State for Muslims and offered equal sacrifices. It was because of the united struggle of the Muslims of South Asia under the charismatic leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that a new State emerged on the basis of ideology. Apart from the Objectives Resolution, the unanimously adopted 1973 Constitution also conceived Islamic identity for the country and this reflected the consensus of the mainstream parties. We wonder that at a time when there is consensus that the 1973 Constitution should be restored in its original form striking down frivolous amendments introduced by vested interests, some elements and parties are thinking on the lines of floating ideas that could trigger turmoil in the country. We badly need unity and cohesion and the move is fraught with serious consequences for the very identity and survival of the country. It is regrettable that a handful of people are still working on their filthy agenda of turning this overwhelmingly Muslim State into a secular one. But we will warn them that this cannot happen, as people of Pakistan are ready to defend the core interests of the country at any cost.. We fear that if these political parties did not come out with explanations within the next 24 hours then all segments of the society will come out on roads and on the occasion of Friday the mosques would become centres for the launch of PNA-type agitation. We are also sure that other political parties and leaders of the public opinion would renounce this thinking.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

OBAMA'S PLAN FOR AFGHAN EXIT

 

PRESIDENT Obama has given an indication that his long awaited new Afghan strategy would include an exit strategy to avoid a multi year occupation that won't serve the interests of the United States. In an interview with CNN Obama appeared to have a clear time frame in his mind when he stated that he would like the next US President to have a clean slate.

As fighting turned deadliest in Afghanistan with more and more body bags going back, President Obama and British Prime Minister Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the U.S., Britain and their allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out. Keeping the public eye on an exit strategy, rather than on how many new troops would be deployed, the subject of much of the US public debate so far, could also help the US leader sell his strategy at home. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who faces significant, growing UK public opposition to the war has also called for an international conference next year that he wants to come up with a process for transferring district-by-district the full control to Afghan Government and set a clear schedule for doing so beginning as early as next year. This shift in thinking of Obama and Brown has reportedly unnerved some US and foreign officials, who believe that such a planning would encourage the Taliban to wait till withdrawal of foreign forces and then take over the Government. The exit strategy would exacerbate fears in the region including Pakistan which suffered the most and still suffering as the Americans left Afghanistan after Soviet withdrawal while it was in turmoil and there was no Government. It is therefore important that while there should be an exit strategy on fast track, the concerns of Pakistan must also be kept in view. As proposed by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the Taliban may not only be persuaded to sit in the Parliament but also encouraged to become part of the broad based Government in Kabul before the withdrawal of occupation forces, though it would be a difficult task. Leaving behind a de-stabilized Afghanistan would be a repeat of past mistakes and have dangerous consequences not only for the region but also the entire world.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

CHINA & US WILL MANAGE SA: OBAMA

M D NALAPAT

In a world that loathes him, former US President George W Bush has millions of admirers in India, a country that was placed at the core of US interests and strategy by his administration. Although 9/11 diluted the operational significance of such a geopolitical vision, in that it forced Washington back towards the traditional policy of relying on Pakistan, this did not prevent Bush from ensuring the breakout of India from the web of restrictions that had been placed on the country since its 1974 nuclear test. Despite opposition from China, New Zealand and several European countries that sought till the final hours of the vote to block the deal, the IAEA approved an India-specific safeguards agreement on August 1,2008 that allowed each of its member-states to trade with India in nuclear technology and materials. Soon afterwards,on September 6,the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group removed restrictions on trade with India,even though the country was not a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. This was possible only because of US pressure,which forced countries such as Austria (which implicitly believe that only countries in Europe or with European-origin ethnic majorities should be given the right to develop potentially deadly technologies) and Switzerland to withdraw their veto. Incidentally,Germany played a very helpful role in getting India the exemption,as did France and the UK. Apart from the Europeanist powers,the country most dismayed by the India-US nuclear agreement was China. The reason is clear.The only other country in Asia with the population and potential to pose a challenge to its primacy in the continent is India,and hence it is in Beijing's interest to prevent Delhi from accessing technology that can boost both its industries as well as its defense capability. The potential for the rise of India to cast a shadow over the rise of China was the unstated reason behind the Bush administration's warmth towards the world's most populous democracy. Unless an economic or a regime collapse occurs,China is on track to overtake the US in Purchasing Power Parity terms within the next 15 years,and to move rapidly ahead thereafter. Such a growth would pull in countries such as South Korea and Japan into a Sinic alliance with the PRC at the core that could challenge Western primacy across the globe. In such a scenario, it is essential for Western countries led by the US to forge an alliance with India,a country that has western-style institutions, more than two hundred million people who speak the English language and a civilisation that is related to the European. By the more than two million Indian-Americans, per capita the most affluent ethnic group in the US. By the hundreds of thousands of technology linkages, many in the software and service sectors. Now that the Obama administration is on track to ensure universal health care for all citizens,despite opposition from powerful insurance and medical lobbies, it will become inevitable for a lot of medical processes to get outsourced,mainly to India. The reason for this is the country's growing pool of medical professionals and technicians,who are making up for the miserable infrastructure and limits on connectivity caused by an incompetent and corrupt governmental system.

Nearly 300,000 students leave India each year for education abroad,at a cost of an estimated $17 billion. Setting up international campuses in India would reduce such an outgo of foreign exchange,besides force Indian universities to improve. Sadly,Barack Obama seems to be following in the footfalls of Colin Powell,who in his writings seemed to forget that India existed. Since he took the oath of office this year, there has been silent but insistent pressure on India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty,even though some Indian scientists led by K Santhanam argue that further tests are needed for India to improve its trigger mechanisms and the intensity of its nuclear payload. They - and many others - also say that the country's stock of fissile material is nowhere near the volume needed to produce the three hundred nuclear weapons that India needs as a credible minimum deterrent against any comer armed with similar weapons. Some officials in the Obama administration are also - wisely,in private - making an argument that never fails to annoy Indian interlocuters,which is that Indian adherence to restrictive treaties " is necessary to make Pakistan do the same". Delhi has long been allergic to any linkage with Pakistan,seeing itself as linked instead to China,and such arguments remind many in India of Bill Clinton and his obessesion with de-nuclearizing India. Of course,when even a small country with a tiny economy such as North Korea can defy the US, the ability to pressure India is low, even though the Manmohan Singh government is the most deferential to US concerns of any that has held office since 1947.

It is not only in the nuclear (and missile) field that the new US administration is treating India as though it were in a much lower class than China, but on climate change. Although per capita emissions in India are nearly twenty times lower than those for the world's biggest per capita polluter,Australia, the Obama administration is informally nudging India towards caps on emissions that would - according to Chamber of Commerce sources - raise business costs by 8%.Abd this in the absence of any commitment from the US to lower its total pollution as well as its very high per capita emissions. On issues relating to the WTO as well,the Obama administration is seeking concessions from India that it is not demanding of itself or its rich partners in Europe. The difference between India and the rich countries is the difference between a man who takes a 1200-calorie meal of six "rotis" and "dal" being told to limit himself to just four "rotis",while those who consume a 5000-calorie nine-course meal agree to limit themselves to "just" 4500 calories. There is a huge difference between taking away 300 calories from a man taking in only 1200 calories and taking away 500 calories from a 5000-calorie diet, but this is being ignored by the Obama administration. Fortunately for relations between the US and India,this is no longer dependent on governments on both sides, but on people-to-people and business links,that are multiplying daily. For President Obama has on November 17 deeply annoyed the Indian establishment by asking President Hu Jintao in Beijing to join him in managing "all of South Asia", shorthand for India.This immediately after he asked the PRC President for help in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instructed his officials not to react strongly to this public announcement, so as to avoid a controversy just before his state visit to the US on November 24 (the first by any world leader since Obama was sworn in), he too must be seething at such an attempt to involve China directly in crucial matters relating to India.

Interestingly, a similar offer was made by President William J Clinton in 2008,when he asked then PRC President Jiang Zemin to join him in "managing South Asia". Although the Obama administration seems clueless about the chemistry in South Asia,the Chinese side is much more alive to the dangers involved in accepting such an offer,one made without any consultation with India (and presumably Pakistan and Afghanistan as well). President Hu and other Chinese leaders have wisely ignored this suggestion by Obama, although they would of course welcome intelligence information on India.Perhaps President Obama will give them information on India,the way President Nixon gave Premier Zhou substantial data on the then USSR. After all, if China is to jointly manage South Asia together with the US,it follows that Beijing should be given access to the same information available to Washington,a situation unlikely to be welcomed by Delhi.

Like Pakistanis,Indians are prone to flattery,and the ecstasy of being the first Head of Government to be given the privilege of a state visit by the Obama administration may ensure that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh walks an extra ten miles to accomodate the US on Climate Change,the WTO and nuclear issues. However, he is unlikely to surrender even an inch to President Obama's decision to involve China in the "management" of South Asia. Before Obama messes up governmental relations with India even more than he has already done, hopefully, US diplomats will google on their computers and thereby understand that neither India nor Pakistan nor Afghanistan will allow themselves to be dicatated to by a foreign power,or even by a pair of superpowers. As a senior official told this columnist,"It would seem that to Barack Obama,India is just a bigger version of Iraq.Well,we will show him the difference". As will Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

INDIA HANDS OVER 7TH DOSSIER TO PAK

SULTAN M HALI

Indian joint secretary in-charge of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, Y.K. Sinha has given to Pakistan a seventh dossier that reportedly contains additional evidence linking Pakistan-based terrorists to the Mumbai attacks last November, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. The dossier was handed over to Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner to India Riffat Masood, said the report quoting official sources. The seventh dossier reflects India's "mounting unhappiness" with Pakistan's lack of "concrete action" against Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, who allegedly plotted the Mumbai attacks, said the report. Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi are expected to meet in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, on Nov. 28, on the sidelines of a Commonwealth nations' summit.

India may be reflecting its "mounting unhappiness" at Pakistan's lack of "concrete action" but if Alex James' Op-Ed: 'Karkare was killed by Hindutva terrorists who staged Mumbai attacks' is to be believed, It is Pakistan, who should be unhappy with India's lack of cooperation. India has been stalling resumption of peace talks with the plea that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack must be first brought to justice.

Alex James states that, the Mumbai Blasts were the worst episode in the Indian history of terrorism. The democratic people of India were of the opinion that the matter would be investigated thoroughly and the culprits would be penalized. In the beginning there was noticed a great hustle and bustle with reference to the investigations but then at once it all stopped after coming to a dead end. The statement of the Indian naval chief, questioning the expertise of the Indian marines put a full stop to the story. He had very boldly stated that the terrorists involved in the Mumbai Blasts could not have entered the Indian soil if the Indian marines were vigilant and alert. His statement was inwardly pointing towards the supporters of the terrorists who were there to help out the terrorists in the garb of mariners.

After this statement the government of India turned all its cannons towards Pakistan blaming that the terrorists belonged to Pakistan. The Pakistan government bore this blame with patience and provided all possible help and support to the Indian government regarding the investigations. Luckily it was found that the terrorists involved in this heinous activity were purely non-state actors and they had nothing to do with Pakistan. Most of the analysts point towards the Hindutva Philosophy behind these blasts, which is nurturing the Hindu extremist organizations conspiring against the Muslims whether they are in India or outside India. To achieve their heinous desires these organizations don't spare even the innocent Hindus who have nothing to do with extremism. The killing of the former Maharashtra ATS chief Haimant Karkare during the Mumbai blasts episode is also one of such activities of the Hindu extremists. Recently a new book came to surface with the title, "Who Killed Karkare?" The writer S. M. Mushrif, a former IG Police of Maharashtra has pointed out the presence of a nationwide network of Hindutva terror which has its roots spread up to Nepal and Israel is out to destroy India and to remold it into same kind of Afghanistan under the Taliban. The writer has reconstructed a fearsome picture out of former Maharashtra ATS chief Haimant Karkare's charge sheet against alleged Hindutva terrorists like Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur and others.

The charge sheet pointed towards an astonishing nationwide conspiracy with international support to destabilize the constitutional order of the secular democratic Indian state and replace it by a Hindutva state run according to a new Constitution. The conspirators were planning for a massive bloodshed, using bomb attacks on religious places to trigger an anti-Muslim holocaust.

According to the reports, Haimant Karkare, the former ATS chief, was one of the few honest and diligent officers. He was well aware of the forces which were eager to destabilize India. He did a lot of research in this context and exposed a number of retired and serving army and intelligence officers involved in the conspiracy against the democratic secular India. He succeeded in unearthing a heinous plot to assassinate 70 high profile Hindus and put the blame on Muslims. This would have led to a bloodbath of the Muslims. Karkare paid dearly with his life for his diligence. Lieutenant Colonel Prohit had planned and executed the heinous crime of the Samjhota Express blasts, in which initially India had blamed Pakistan. Karkare had exposed Colonel Prohit's role in the crime, since it was he who provided the RDX used in the blasts. After Colonel Prohit's complicity was proved, it was essential for the handlers of Prohit to eliminate Karkare. Very soon after his killing, K P Raghuvanshi, a police officer of ill repute and known leaning towards hardliner Hindus replaced Karkare. Even Karkare's widow was suspicious of the way her gallant husband was conveniently targeted and killed. She refused to receive One Crore Rupees cash award from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. If the Indians are serious in solving the Mumbai attacks case, they need to look inwards.

Without the logistic support by Indian Coast Guard, intelligence and Marine forces, the "terrorists" could not have made the landfall at Mumbai, brought in tons of explosives and weapons, moved about in so called alien territory with ease and caused the havoc that they did. Indian complicity in the Mumbai attacks and distortion of facts can be gauged from the factor that the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), after three years probe, has announced that it has found no evidence against the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case of 2006. It may be remembered that Haimant Karkare had found hard evidence of Lieutenant Colonel Prohit and his accomplices' Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others about their role in the heinous crime. Pakistan has even presented proof of India funding Tehreek-e-Taliban (Pakistan) and the Baluchistan insurgency. India finds it convenient to refute the charges and blame Pakistan for non complicity in the Mumbai attacks probe.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

HAJJ: A SIGNIFICANT PILLAR OF ISLAM

ATIF NOOR KHAN

The significance of Hajj as a pillar of Islam is quite evident from the reward this act of worship brings to its performer. As has been reported from the Messenger of Allah, the person performing the Hajj is forgiven and purified as if he/she is a newborn baby. Although its importance and formalities are generally known and talked about, its essence, spirit, and impact on a performer's behavior and personality are not generally understood or remembered. The point we should ponder over is why Allah and His Messenger granted Hajj so much importance. What is the most significant aspect of this worship? Is it performance of certain rites and rituals, the special dress worn, and visitation of certain places that make it the most rewarding act of worship? Or, like other acts or worship in Islam, is it the changes that Hajj makes in the performer's personality, attitude, and outlook that are the essence of Hajj?

The other point to reflect upon is what is so special about the Hajj that it is expected to produce some significant changes in the personality, attitude, and outlook of a person? Is there anything magical in the rites and rituals of the Hajj that produces the changes, or is it the constant conscious effort on the part of the performer to inculcate in himself/herself the spirit of those rites and rituals which brings about the desired changes? The reality is that unless a person performs every step of the Hajj immersed in and imbued with the spirit that each action represents, he/she will not fully realize the promised benefits of Hajj. This process of consciously soaking in the spirit of Hajj starts with the intention. As soon as you make an intention to perform Hajj, you should start reflecting on the lifestyle of Ibrahim, Isma'il, and Hajar. Allah has presented them as a model Muslim family. Hajj is, in fact, an intensive training in full, holistic, wholehearted, willing, and enthusiastic obedience and submission to Allah. This training is provided by making the believer simulate acts of love, dedication, and obedience performed by Ibrahim and his family. Hajj, in reality, is walking in the footsteps of that family, simulating the extraordinary acts of devotion they performed for the love of Allah. This provides a Muslim proper perspective as to how devoted and submissive to Allah a Muslim should be. So as soon as you decide to perform Hajj, you should start reviewing your lifestyle vis-a-vis the life style of Ibrahim and his family and see if you submit to Allah without reservation or hesitation as they did. Are you willing to sacrifice your most precious and cherished possessions, habits, preferences, and desires for the sake of Allah as Ibrahim did? Can you obey Allah without asking questions or without understanding why Allah wants us to do certain things? Can you jump into dangers and difficulties willingly and enthusiastically for the sake of Islam as Ibrahim did? Is pleasure of Allah and supremacy of Islam the most important goals in your life? Do the commands of Allah, the needs of the Ummah, and the call of Islam take precedence in your life over all your interests, needs, and aspirations? If the answer to any of these questions is not a resounding yes, you should start identifying where you need improvement and how you are going to get there. When you start for Hajj from your home, think of it as the beginning of a transformation process and not just a trip to sacred places. Start with a sincere repentance with a firm intention to change yourself to the desired level of commitment to Islam. Form specific mental images about how your attitude, personality, and outlook will be changing from your current state towards the Ibrahimic style and level as you proceed from home towards Al-Haram (Makkah). As you move through various stages in your journey, see your paradigm shifting with each step. When you remove your clothes and take a shower to put ihram on, visualize ridding yourself of all the old habits and behavior patterns that are not the best from the Islamic point of view and cleansing yourself from intentions and attitudes that are un-Islamic in nature and practice. When you put your ihram on, think of a new birth and a new beginning, start of a new life more like that of Ibrahim and Isma'il.

While performing each rite of Hajj, keep in your mind the spirit of the rite and the act of Ibrahim that it simulates and feel the transformation of your attitude and personality accordingly. For example, when you arrive in Makkah and cool your eyes with the sight of the Holy Ka'bah and pray to Allah to increase its status and its sanctity, remember the purpose for which it was built. Remind yourself of how it was going to be the center of the Islamic movement to bring the whole of humanity to the worship of Allah. Dedicate yourself to that cause as Ibrahim and his family did. When performing Tawaf (circumambulation) , feel the passionate, ardent love of Allah making you go round in humility in front of His greatness, also thinking at the same time that all your life in this world will be Allah-centered, revolving around Him, His love and His pleasure. When running between Safa and Marwah, see yourself running and striving throughout your life for the religion of Allah to establish it as the supreme, dominant way of life, while hoping that Allah accepts your efforts and rewards you with the success of the Islamic mission in this world and with His pleasure in the Hereafter, while at the same time being concerned that you may not be doing enough to achieve your goals or to earn Allah's pleasure and mercy.

Standing in Arafat, you should feel the majestic presence of Allah in Whose audience you are standing as a humble slave. Preserve that feeling of Allah's presence in your consciousness throughout your remaining life. Your sacrifice should indicate your readiness, willingness, and enthusiasm to sacrifice your most cherished possessions for the sake of Allah. And throwing pebbles (rami) at Jamarat (satan's pillar of temptation) should signify that whatever little means you have, you are going to devote all you have in opposing and rejecting all the un-Islamic theories and sins and secular lifestyle that the devils of the world try to preach among Muslims or impose on them. It is this kind of Hajj that makes you pure and sin-free as if you are a newborn baby. If Hajj is not performed with that kind of spirit, its intended benefits will not be realized. An example from our predecessors will illustrate this point. A person who had just come back from Hajj came to visit Al-Junaid Al-Baghdaadi.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

GROWING TENSION BETWEEN CHINA & INDIA

COL GHULAM SARWAR (R)

Writing in the "Newsweek" on "Sino-India Conflict", Jeremy-Kahan tells us that cold war between India and China has been raging on for decades. This cold war primarily relates to 4,057 kilometer Indo-China border. Recently, stories about new Chinese incursion into India have been circulated with full vigour. To place matters for their proper perspective, we see that China claims over 90,000 square kilometers of Indian territory. Incidentally most of these claims are tied up with Tibet. As Beijing now claims Tibet as part of China, by extension it now claims parts of India that are historically seen as Tibetan. China's claims have thus led to bitterness between these two countries during recent months.

Incidentally, last year anti-China unrest was witnessed in Tibet and as a result, progress towards settling the border dispute had taken dangerous turn. So far flames Tibetans were shown beating up the Chinese shopkeepers in Lhasa and other Tibetan cities. These provocative acts of coercion had created immense domestic pressure on Beijing to crash down on the miscreants. The Communist Party leadership was greatly alarmed at this Tibetan unrest and they were genuinely worried that the wave of unrest might as well envelope other ethnic minorities like Uighurs and Mongolians in Inner-Mongolia.

The implications of the dispute between India and China are ominous. And it is feared that the growing hostility might turn into a flash point leading to nuclear-armed neighbours turning the India-China border dispute into an issue of concern to far more than the two parties involved. To stem these risky developments, the United States and Europe as well as rest of Asia must act fast to arrest this malady. Presently a conflict involving India and China could result in a nuclear holocaust. And it could also suck the West, either as an ally in the defence of Asian democracy or as a mediator, trying to separate the contending sides. Further Jerry Kahan brings out that Beijing appears increasingly agitated about the safe haven India provides to the Dalai Lama and to a large number of Tibetan exiles, including a large number of militant supporters of Tibetan independence. These younger Tibetans are growing impatient with the Dalai Lama's approach, indicating a willingness to accept Chinese sovereignty in return for true autonomy and commitment to non-violence.

In case, these groups decide to use India as a base for armed conflict against China and they might also seek to gain possession of important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries that lie in Indian territory close to the border. Already Beijing has launched a diplomatic offensive aimed at undercutting Indian sovereignty over the areas, which the China claim particularly the north-east state of Arunchal Pradesh.

Mr Kahan further tells us that to many Indians, China is an expansionist power bent or thwarting India's rise as a serious challenge to Beijing influence in Asia. They are haunted by memories of India's 1962 war with China, in which China had launched a massive invasion, totally routing the India's forces unilaterally. They are fearful of China's expanding naval presence in the Indian Ocean, which would serve as a noose to strangle India. Here, Shirk suggests that New Delhi should pursue ways to open the border to commerce and communication drawing itself closer to China. To him, China is now opening ties to Taiwan, as part of an effort to win the hearts and minds of its people.

Based on this analogy, he hopes that China may eventually pursue a more tolerant approach towards Tibet and other minority regions. It is a matter of satisfaction that despite all the reports of border incursions both India and China are serious about lowering the volume of tension. To set things right China's military officials had invited Indian generals from all such regional commands to visit China and contribute towards developing confidence building measures. Indian officials have also pleaded with news organizations to tone down reporters on border incursions. Indian National Security Advisor Mr. Narayanam warned that "the beating of the war rums might become a self-fulfilling prophecy leading to an unwarranted incident or accident with China." Sum total of this exercise is that extreme caution should be exercised in promoting Indo-China relations.

 

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PAKISTAN OBSERVER

EDITORIAL

A HAPPY TERROR STORY..!

ROBERT CLEMENTS

And as the country sadly remembers the month of November last year, when the terrorists struck Mumbai, here's a story to warm your hearts: Constable Bala Bhatkar lay on his tummy in front of the burning Taj.

He watched smoke coming out of the turrets. He heard the sound of gunfire from inside, and return fire from the forces who had stormed into the heritage building, then felt a shadow next to him and a girl's voice ask, "Constable would you like a cup of tea?" Bala did not look up, his eyes did not leave the old building he had been told to watch, "Shoot if you see a suspicious movement!" his superior had instructed, and his keen eyes followed even the shadow of the smoke reflected against the walls.

"No!" he said without looking up and heard a voice snigger, "There are security inside wiping out the terrorists, who does this policeman think he is, trying to act so big!"

He wasn't trying to act big, he was just doing his duty, "But those words brought memories back to him, thoughts of home, "Bala wants to be a policeman!""Policeman?" his friends had asked, "Why? To act like a big shot? To make money?" "No," said Bala again as he sat with his friends outside their school in Ratnagiri, "To guard people, to care for the old, to prevent helpless women and children from bullies and other law breakers!"

His father had laughed at him, "Bala stop dreaming!" "I'm not dreaming I want to be a policeman!" "You'll become corrupt and crooked!" "Oh no!" said Bala his eyes flashing, "I won't, I'll be an honest cop!""An honest cop!" shouted his father and all his friends in the room laughed with him. It had been tough; being selected, then going through training school and being posted in the big city. The gunshot sounded loud and clear and he felt the bullet near him, then a movement at the window, a flash of light; he fired and fired again, and from the old building heard a scream. "He's shot him!" shouted the girl who'd offered him the cup of tea. "He's shot him!""You're a hero!" shouted the reporters and TV crew who were all over, "You've helped in injuring a terrorist! What's your name?" "Constable Bala Bhatkar!" In the town of Ratnagiri, a stunned father looked at his son on TV, "He's a hero!" he whispered, "My son's a hero!" "Dad!" said his son, when they met later, "If I had lifted my eyes from the Taj to drink that cup of tea, I would never have got that shot!"

"Have you lifted your eyes from your dream of being an honest cop?" asked one of the town elders. "And miss becoming the inspector general of police?" laughed Bala as everybody laughed with him, "No I will not lift my eyes from my goal!" This time nobody laughed.

 

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

HISTORIC VERDICT

JUSTICE DELAYED BUT NOT DENIED

After 34 years of uncertainties, manipulation and agonising delay, the legal process of the Bangabandhu Murder Case has come to an end. Evidently in this case justice has been delayed but not denied. But then it was not an easy thing to achieve. Immediately after the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his family and many of his relatives in the early morning of 15th August 1975, there was nobody to protest the killings. Even the police refused to register a criminal case. The people who usurped state power rewarded the killers with prized diplomatic jobs. Not only that they were also given legal protection under the notorious Indemnity Act. But gradually the pendulum started moving away from the assassins and towards justice. And now it has come full circle.

It is a great moment for the nation. The curtain has been drawn over the collective guilt that had engulfed it since the dark day of 15th August 1975. Although we will never get back the great leader who had led us to independence and freedom but at least we will have the consolation of seeing justice done to the perpetrators of this horrendous crime.

 The atmosphere after the killing of the great leader was very different from now. Martial law was imposed on the country soon after and a few months later in November Bangabandhu's lieutenants, Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam,  Mansur Ali and A H M Kamruzzaman were also gunned down in prison by the same people who engineered the earlier killings. Evidently the only objective was to make the nation leaderless. For the next couple of decades or so military rule followed and attempts were made to sweep the issue of Bangabandhu's killing under the carpet.

It was not until the return of Awami League to power in 1996 that the murder case could be registered. Legal proceedings started and five of the twelve convicts Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan were arrested, while others absconded. It is important that the government undertake all measures for the return of the convicts for the sake of justice.
There may be tacit support for the convicts in small right-wing circles but nobody expresses it openly. The government, that was in the saddle following the tragic killings, not only rehabilated the killers but unabashedly tried to change the course of history. Most of the killers not only got immunity under them but also enjoyed all kinds of privileges.

During the five years of the Four Party Alliance government (2001-2006) the appeal against the verdict was not disposed of. On several occasions, judges felt embarrassed in dealing with the case. Therefore, no hearing could be held. The then law minister, defended the delay by saying that there were not enough judges to deal with the matter. This was a clever ploy to defer the case, ad infinitum.

 

End of agony

But then justice finally caught up with the culprits. When the Awami League-led grand alliance government was swept to power in the December 2008 general elections, it immediately took steps to complete the remaining tasks of the legal process.

The government has now to deal with the political fallouts of the decision. Anticipating a backlash, a three-tier security system has been put in place. And Key Important Persons (KIPs) including the remaining members of the Bangabandhu family who survived the carnage and prosecution lawyers have been provided with special security.

The curtain on the most politically sensitive case in the country has finally fallen - setting at rest all speculations. There is now no legal restraints to the execution of the verdict. Review and mercy petitions are only procedural. Therefore, the capital punishment awarded by the trial court will be carried out anytime soon.

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

BOB'S BANTER

SMOKING AND SPITTING TOWNSHIP...!

 

My friend a multi-millionaire whose spiralling career read like a rags to riches story spat red paan into a corner of his plush sitting room. He looked at me angrily. "It's ridiculous that the government is stopping people from spitting and smoking in public places! Spitting and smoking are fundamental rights right? My father smoked wherever he wanted, my grandfather was known to be the best spitter in his village; even the British were afraid of him because he had a reputation of spitting them in the eye! How can they ban a national pastime?" I watched as he opened a packet of cigarettes and lit one. He pulled onto the tobacco then started wheezing, then coughing loudly. I got up to help him but he waved me off, "Nothing like a good coughing spree to ease the lungs!" he said looking at me with blood shot eyes! "There's a fine of five hundred rupees if you are caught outside!" I said. "So I have told my bank to send me only five hundred rupee bundles so I can smoke, spit and pay at the same time," he said as he spat into the corner of his sitting room. "They might put you in jail!" I said. "I am sure smoking is permitted in jail!", he replied. "It's a public place!" I reminded him. "Then I will have to indulge myself using my own resources!" he said, "I didn't spend my life making money to be told at the end of it I couldn't do what I wanted, have a look at these plans my architect has drawn up." he showed. "Why it's a mini township!" I exclaimed, "It's even got an auditorium!" He pointed out, "Where smoking and spitting are allowed!" I exclaimed again, "Restaurants and a five star hotel!" He said, "Where cigarettes will be distributed free!"

"An amusement centre!"

"Where we will hold spitting contests!" he said. "Even a private beach!" I exclaimed, "With cigarette vending machines mounted on lifeboats," 'Smoke while you Float!" he said with a grin. "When are you starting the project?" I asked. "When I come out of hospital!" said my millionaire friend as he went into another bout of coughing. "Hospital? What for?"

"Cancer! Just a bit of bother. It's got my throat and lungs, but once I'm out no government will fine me, no jail hold me for doing what I most love doing, it's my fundamental right! My honest to goodness privilege, my…"
"Doctor!" I shouted as he collapsed on the floor in a fit of coughing, then watched as paramedics carried him out and his blueprint for the 'smoking and spitting township' rolled to the corner of his paan marked room.
bobsbanter@gmail.com

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

 

NOVEMBER 19, 2009: APOTHEOSIS OF A NATION

WALI-UR REHMAN

 

The verdict has been given by the Supreme Court. After 34 years. Better late than never. The nation is relieved. Bangabandhu was a kind-hearted man-but he never compromised with principles; he faced the bullets like the colossus that he was. Mahatma Gandhi was killed on January 30, 1948. Nathuram Godse was hanged on November 15, 1948. Mrs Indira Gandhi was murdered on October 31, 1984; her murderers were executed on January 06, 1989. But we had to wait for long 34 years. For Montesquieu, justice is the greatest virtue: justice has been brought to the murderers. So what, even if the nation had to wait for 34 years? The nation can now move over to a new beginning. We can renew our pledge to rebuild the nation on what Chief Justice Coke said, "under the rule of law and justice." 

History of Human civilisation is replete with conspiracies, murders; but none can find a similar murder having been perpetrated anytime anywhere in the world. Sheikh Mujib was killed with his entire family, save two members Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana. They were in Europe. With Sheikh Moni and Abdur Rob Serniabat and four leaders murdered in government custody, the bloody 1975 events brought the nation to the brink.
To Lord Acton human nature is dark. Like Gibbon he looked back on history as the register of human folly, crime and misfortune; and therefore he believed in "ancient restraint." Today also, it is a time for restraint not happiness, for introspection not jubilation; celebration yes, celebrate the victory of the rule of law, celebrate to rekindle the spirit of the war of liberation; as a nation of heroes we should unite as we did on the paddy fields of Bengal, hand in hand and move to rebuild the nation, without vengeance, without hatred, as Bangabandhu would have wanted us to do.

Following the assassination of the Father of the Nation, the post-75 government promulgated an ordinance on 26 September, 1975, which indemnified the murderers. Following that the murderers were rewarded by diplomatic assignments abroad. Zulfiker Ali Bhutto, then Pakistan's prime minister went to Saudi Arabia after August 15. On his return to Islamabad, he happily extended his hand of friendship to General Ziaur Rahman. He assured him the perpetrators' rehabilitation. Colonel Gaddafi wanted an Islamic bomb! Bhutto promised him the bomb in exchange of something - shelter for the perpetrators. Gaddafi provided the funds both to Zulfi for the Islamic bomb and assisted the Pakistani scientist AQK with resources in quest of the holy grail! Gaddafi took the murderers and gave them temporary shelter in Benghazi. 

A Commission of Enquiry was set up in the House of Commons to study the Report of Nobel Laureate Sir Sean McBride, Secretary General of Amnesty International. General Ziaur Rahman assured the Amnesty Secretary General that investigation will be made and those involved in the events of August 15, 1975, will be brought to justice. Not being satisfied with the development in Dhaka, the Enquiry Commission sent Mr Jeffrey Thomas QC, MP, to Bangladesh Mission in London, but he was refused visa! The Commission consisted of Sir Thomas Williams, QC MP, Mr Sean McBride, Sir Jeffrey Thomas QC MP and Mr Aubrey Rose. 

Nihil vidantum est durable – nothing illegal is durable; when Sheikh Hasina  came to power in June 1996, the Indemnity Ordinance was repealed on November 10, 1996. And the trial process commenced. The ordinance was void under articles 7 (2) and 26 (2) of the Constitution, which provide that any law inconsistent with the Constitution is void and that the State shall not make any law inconsistent with any provisions guaranteeing fundamental rights. The Trial Court adjudged the perpetrators guilty and ordered them hanged.
After BNP came to power in 2001, under one pretext or the other, Begum Zia and her happy Law Minister did not allow the Appellate Division to complete the process! A sense of impunity prevailed the country because the perpetrators could get away with murder and wrongdoing. Bangladesh was declared as the most corrupt country for consecutive four years! As the Pakistan Ambassador in Washington DC, Hussein Haqqani in his book "Between the Mosque and Military" suggested, the ISI was aiming towards Pakistanaisation of Bangladesh.

After coming to power again in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tried to reestablish the rule of law. She attempted to finish the unfinished job - the trial of Bangabandhu murder. The five Appellate Division Judges worked 29 days non- stop and brought the case to its finale. The November 19 judgement brought the undemocratic chapter of Bangladesh to a close.

November 19, 2009 is thus a red letter day in Bangladesh. On this day, while we remember that justice has been done, we would also call upon the government, particularly prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to revisit what Lord Acton said and enforce 'ancient restraint' and rule under laws and move towards our golden jubilee celebration with Bangladesh becoming a middle income country, thus fulfilling the dreams of Bangabandhu.

 

(The writer is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London. Email:
swali.heritage@yahoo.com)

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

POOR COORDINATION, BANE OF BANGLADESH MISSIONS ABROAD

M. SERAJUL ISLAM

 

A timely subject was covered in The Independent – it is edition of November 18th captioned "poor conditions bane of missions abroad." Recently the Foreign Minister while speaking to a group of Labour Attaches of Bangladesh Embassies who were brought to Dhaka on a sponsored trip by an international organisation said that she was sad and frustrated at the lack of coordination in our Embassies that was adversely affecting the country's manpower export.

The report in The Independent placed the blame on both the career diplomats and other officers in the embassy for the serious lack of coordination. It quoted the Foreign Secretary extensively. The Foreign Secretary said categorically and correctly that so far the Ambassador is concerned, the legal position is absolutely clear; that he/she is the unquestioned authority in the embassy. It is as the Foreign Secretary has said embedded in the Rules of Business (RoB) that is the only source from which Ministries/attached offices, etcetera of the government derive their powers and responsibilities. He did not see the need to frame new rules "to harmonise work in the mission" as the RoB unambiguously gives the Ambassador that power that is not being exercised. He said that soon the Foreign Ministry would ask all Ministries to instruct their officers in the Embassy through the Ambassador. The Foreign Secretary appeared convinced that once this is done, the problem of coordination will vanish.

The Foreign Secretary did not have to fall back on the RoB to underscore the universally acknowledged role of the Ambassador. In every government, the Ambassador holds a position that has no parallel. In the embassy, the Ambassador has unchallenged authority and an officer can only in a fit of insanity think of holding a position or even an opinion that could run contrary to his/her Ambassador because the job demands it. It is only in the Bangladesh case that it has managed to make coordination a problem in its Embassy where the Ambassador cannot always be sure that his/her authority would not be challenged.

The Independent report also held the attitude of the career diplomats in the embassy responsible for the "poor coordination "in the embassy. It reported that a Press Minister in a High Commission complained that when the High Commissioner was away, he was not made the acting High Commissioner as the seniormost official during a highest level state visit and that another officer of junior rank of the diplomatic wing was given that position instead. For someone not conversant with details of the working of an embassy, this may seem queer because normally in all offices, such matters are dealt by seniority. However, in this instance, it would have been the queerest thing that could have happened if the Bangladesh High Commission had made its Press Minister the Acting High Commissioner during a high level state visit.  The host country's Foreign Ministry would have fallen flat on its face if that had happened for in normal diplomatic practice that would have been most unusual and undiplomatic!

In the period after independence, the Foreign Ministry played a historic role in establishing Bangladesh as an independent nation after its brutal war of independence. In fact, the Ministry enjoyed the confidence and the blessing of Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who in those days knew many of the officers by their first names and held some of them in great affection. Foreign Secretary Enayet Karim was one of them. AKH Morshed and Abul Ahsan, both toppers in their respective CSS examinations,  at that time Directors-General in the Foreign Ministry, were frequently called by him for consultation and discussion on foreign affairs issues that were at that period very critical , like for example the issues of  recognition, membership at the UN and the OIC. Both became the Foreign Secretary later. After the change of government in August 1975, the Foreign Ministry started to lose its position in the government. The erstwhile CSP officers took the lead in taking away from the Foreign Ministry a lot of its powers under the RoB. In the name of foreign aid; foreign trade, the rest of the civil bureaucracy took away one by one many of the major functions of the Foreign Ministry. The deterioration began when the External Resources Division, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Labour started appointing the Economic Ministers, Commercial Counsellors and Labour attaches respectively where earlier such officers were first deputed to the Foreign Ministry that issued them their appointment letters. Later the Education Ministry started doing the same while appointing the Education Attaches. By the time President Ershad emerged, the Foreign Ministry was very much cornered and when the President's lack of confidence on the Foreign Ministry became well known, the goose was more than well cooked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Secretary's confidence on the RoB is thus misplaced because while keeping it in place, the other Ministries have succeeded in bringing the Embassy partially under their control by posting  and controlling their officers posted in the Embassy. He did not take into consideration the reasons why the problem exists in the first place. Even the official car that most of these officers are given are, by office order of their Ministries, kept outside the authority and control of the Embassy and the Ambassador. These facts would suggest a very unhealthy environment in the Embassy. In fact, however, that is not the case because the officers of the other wings in the Embassy more often than not, show better sense of not taking the fighting in the country between the Foreign Ministries and the other Ministries into the Embassy. The Ambassador by his seniority and personality also manages a working environment despite the prescription for disaster brewed for the Embassy from home.

The problem created in the Embassy is the direct consequence of the conflict that has existed in the country between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the other Ministries; a conflict that came to surface after 1975.  Before that, the RoB was there but was not required to be quoted to give the Foreign Ministry its authority. After 1975, that authority waned, the RoB notwithstanding. As Foreign Minister, Anisul Islam Mahmud was close to resolving it by placing all work of the government that related to dealing with foreign governments/organisations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had a summary ready for this purpose but did not last in the Ministry long enough to get the President's signature on it. The BNP in its 1991-96 tenure also looked into this problem and the Morshed Khan Committee came out with a Report to deal with it. In The Independent report, former Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury mentioned that the Committee's recommendations would be useful to deal with the problem of coordination although it is a mystery why the BNP government in its 2001-2006 tenure, when Morshed Khan was the Foreign Minister, did not even take a look at the Committee's Report.

In the present context where globalisation has brought nations into much greater interaction, the role of a country's Foreign Ministry and the Embassy have assumed tremendous importance. In case of Bangladesh, its seven million expatriates make the role of the Embassy even more significant. Therefore it is urgently necessary to restore the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the role it had played immediately after independence ; a role that  Foreign Ministries all over the world play today as they have played in modern times where diplomacy has become a major instrument for the betterment of the fate of nations. Only in Bangladesh have we created a situation where coordination in an Embassy has become an issue. Realistically, the Foreign Secretary's optimism that the coordination problem would be resolved by requesting the Ministries to instruct their officers through the Ambassador is very optimistic for such a request will not even be taken seriously by the other Ministries. The Foreign Ministry would need the Prime Minister and the PMO behind the request for a realistic chance of result, which is another story.

 

(The writer is a former Ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan. His email address is serajul7@gmail.com)

 

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THE INDEPENDENT

EDITORIAL

THE KING IS IN HIS ALTOGETHER

DR TERRY LACEY

 

Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler writing from Inter Press Service Jerusalem in The Jakarta Post (01.10.09) confirmed that "It is unlikely that Obama will be free to act decisively on Israel-Palestine until he has dealt successfully with the Iran nuclear issue."

This means that the nakedness of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is covered by the fig leaf provided by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Danny Kaye used to sing the song about a children´s story with a grown-up message, that although grown-ups pretend when they have to, children can see when "The King is in his altogether" - when the King is naked because he is wearing no clothes. But his courtiers dare not face the truth.

Mary Robinson writing from project Syndicate New York on the report of Judge Richard Goldstone on alleged human rights violations in the recent Gaza war, now to be presented to UN Human Rights Council, also said in The Jakarta Post that both the Israelis and the Palestinians share a secret fear - for some a belief - that each has no intention of accepting the others right to a country of their own.

Yet both sides seem to prop each other up in a tight embrace, like quarrelsome but inseparable lovers, to maintain an impossible status quo, which is also impossible to change. 

They claim not to be married, so they cannot divorce. But they are still married and have one household economy, and are potentially inseparable. It looks like they live in separate houses with all their fences and walls.

But they contemplate to stay in one house eventually, (through confederation, a common market, or even a unitary state) by declining every other practical alternative until there remain no other option.

See let us see what they do, and not always listen to what they say.

Meanwhile, despite the appalling continuation of the Gaza blockade backed by Israel, Egypt and the West, Hamas has reportedly made progress, despite the clampdown it faces in the West Bank, in coming up with a possible model for a deal. Firstly they agree to a long truce. Secondly they agree to potentially join a unity government.

Thirdly they say they would be bound by a final political decision of all Palestinians, following a negotiation they did not necessarily lead, so that if the people voted for a deal, then Hamas would accept it and work within it.

This is what we hear from Gaza and Damascus. If its true, why is there still a blockade instead of an internal Palestinian agreement, and why do Israel and the West still punish the people of Gaza for their political loyalties to their elected government? These positions mean that the right to armed struggle would be superseded by acceptance of a peace agreement. Why should Hamas give up the one before securing the other? Did we ask the IRA to do the same thing?

This would avoid the Irish civil war scenario whereby the supporters of de Valera reneged on the attainable deal negotiated by Michael Collins the leader of their military wing, leading to a dreadful civil war and the subsequent permanent political division between those who accepted the Treaty (Fine Gael) and those who opposed it (Fianna Fail).    

So Hamas is no longer quite the monster it was. It is not fundamentalist as is presented in the West. Its secular support is a reaction to its opposition to corruption, its honest and efficient provision of social services and its steadfast opposition to occupation. It remains to be seen if the clampdown on Hamas in the West Bank led by an unelected Palestinian government has reduced political support for Hamas or not. Probably less than is hoped. 

I once asked a PFLP activist and peace rejectionist many years ago why he wanted me to help him get a Jerusalem ID (and therefore the right to be an Israeli) for him and his young wife, apart from an Israeli mortgage and weekends on the beach at Tel Aviv or in Tiberias. "Because I would rather be in their opposition than our jail" came the answer. So did that mean he wanted to be a Palestinian, or an Israeli, or both and have freedom?

 

(The writer, a development economist in Jakarta writes on modernisation in the Muslim world, investment and trade relations with the EU and Islamic banking).

 

[© Copyright Cooperation for Development (Europe) www.c4d-info.org]

 

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THE HIMALAYAN 

EDITORIAL

RACE IS ON

Now for the seventh time the constitution drafting schedule has been amended, but without in any way impacting on the May 28, 2010 deadline for the completion of the statute drafting process. The present leeway has come about as five of the CA committees have yet to submit their proposals. It just goes to clearly depict that the bitter rivalries among the three major parties remain the cause for the almost lackluster performance of the statute drafting works. With around six months remaining for the task to be completed, the track record is not encouraging despite some claiming that seriously burning the midnight lamp can lead to the designated finish line. Though the CA ought not to be disturbed theoretically by what happens in the Legislature Parliament, but in reality that is happening and is very disconcerting. At this juncture, it may be a moot question whether it was a pragmatic decision to allow the CA to take the role of the parliament as well. Of course, the earlier decision cannot be challenged, but it can still be pondered over, with a realization that the present inter-party squabbles are the inevitable outcome in trying to assert supremacy over one another instead of toeing the line of consensus that started all the way from the CPA to the Interim Constitution provisions.

And, as usual the House business has been hampered for the past six months, with a small respite for the presentation of the budget estimates for the fiscal year 2009/10. However, the parleys between the leaders of the three major parties have been given continuity but the stereotype result is always "inconclusive". Their gathering has but become a routine affair doing nothing in the overall context to give a passage to the political impasse. That the top leaders are serious can be seen when once in a while they come up with reassuring statements that the problem is at the corner of being resolved. Maybe, the Singapore dash by UCPN (M) Chairman has portent of a breakthrough because of the obvious fact that he had met and conferred with NC President Girija Prasad Koirala undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital. That some "middle path" solution has come up raises hopes for the stalemate ending, and the urgency in the air is all because today happens to be the last day of the ultimatum given by the Maoists before they start their "aggressive" third phase of their movement.

The frenetic pace of the meets of the big three party leaders has also focused on the resolution motion that the Maoists want entered in the House for discussion. However, as agreed earlier, the UCPN (M) had agreed to settle for a consensual resolution motion, and all the three major parties have agreed to further review the proposed one.

Going by the initiatives taken, the said motion is to be readied for presentation today. Whatever that may be, the fact remains that there is something cooking as per the reports making the rounds for some recipe to get the House moving and the deadlock consigned to the ashes. Even now, if only petty party interests were assigned to the back burner, the country could well be on the recovery path. As usual, the leaders can spring surprises.

 

 

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THE HIMALAYAN 

EDITORIAL

FUEL OUTRAGE

Once again there is a shortage of fuel in the capital valley with most of the petrol pumps dry. What more the price of diesel and kerosene has been hiked by Rs. 3 per liter and these fuel now cost Rs. 58 per liter. The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) explains that the raise in the price was necessary because of the frequent road blocks and the strike of pump workers in the eastern region which has led to the scarcity of fuel supply. This, according to the NOC officials, had necessitated hiking the fuel price. However, consumers have already become desperate with the perennial shortage of supply in fuel. This can be blamed on the management of NOC which has failed to ensure that there is an adequate stock of supply of fuel in the country.

NOC is blamed in certain quarters for being responsible for creating the artificial scarcity. These accusations may hold some water for there is no fire without smoke. A thorough probe ought to be carried out and those behind the "artificial" shortages must not be left off the hook. In the meantime, the concerned should always be prepared for contingencies to ensure there is adequate fuel.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN 

EDITORIAL

GLOBAL RECESSION IMPACT ON NEPALESE EXPORT

MILAN DEV BHATTARAI

Every economy moves in a cycle. In some period, it grows and prospers, pushing output and employment opportunities up and consumption rises. At the same time, price will also rise. But it cannot go that way for long. After certain period, economic factors move in opposite direction. Consumption decreases, output reduces and some people will find it difficult to get employment. The cycle moves in downward direction and economy will not be able to produce as per its potential. Such condition is described as economic recession which may turn worse and may create depression. It may start in one country, but it will transmit to others as the world is economically highly integrated.  The larger the economy hit by recession, the greater will be its impact to the global business as evident by the recent global recession.  During late 2007 and early 2008, there were financial crisis in USA, which was transmitted globally during 2008. It has now created impact in all the continents of the earth. Currently, the world is facing the worst recession after the great depression of late thirties when output of many countries declined by a quarter.

Whatever the causes of slowdown of any economy, its effect is obvious. There will be reduction in consumption. Slow down of economy keep people away from employment opportunities. The risk of being unemployed also increases. Hence many people will reduce consumption to save money for rainy days. Such shrinkage in consumption brings trade down. In the current recession also, it followed the same course. Recession started to hit trade during later part of the year 2008, when trade went down by 6% volume. The process of recession is expected to bring down global trade down by 9% in 2009 as per the WTO. The developed economy will see as high as 10% decline in export, whereas developing countries are expected to see the fall in export by 2% — 3% as per the estimation of WTO.

Recession has been talked about loudly in Nepal as well. It was predicted by many economists that there would decline in export, fall in remittance that might create crisis in the balance of payment situation of Nepal as well.

None of these predictions came true. The remittance increased and crossed the expectation of the Central Bank reaching Rs. 209 billion in the fiscal year 2008/09. Such increasing inflow of remittance pushed the balance of payment surplus by 22% creating Rs. 37.73 billion surplus. Total trade increased with rising import of 28.2% during the fiscal year 2065/66. Exports also grew by 13.5% during fiscal year 2065/66.

Such growth in export during the global recession might create confusion among the policy makers. It might appear that our export sector is thriving. And the growth during global recession might be taken as strong export sector running efficiently. Unfortunately this is not the case. First of all, Nepalese currency was devaluated with US$ by 12.2% during the fiscal year, which significantly contributed to the apparent export growth. But basically, our export sector is very small when compared to the national economy.

Why are Nepalese exports so limited in terms of products and market? The first and foremost point to note is that the export market is not an easy one. It is dynamic and competitive. Nepalese entrepreneurs need more exposure and support to move in this direction. Furthermore due to landlocked nature of Nepal, shipping costs go up. It is estimated that transport cost alone adds more than 15% to the total cost of our products in the global market. It does not include extra shipment time required, as goods have to move to Calcutta from different points of Nepal. Now the time has come to modify the myopic vision. Export should not be ignored but prioritized. Proper export policies should be adopted. There are long lists to look for export promotion by a nation. But the following two major causes are adequate to shift the paradigm about export in real terms.

First of all export promotion will support to establish the manufacturing sector, which plays significant role in any economy. Currently share of manufacturing sector in GDP of Nepal is about 7%, the lowest figure among SARRC countries. It is essential for any economy to be healthy to have proper share of manufacturing sector.  This sector builds sustainability of the economy and raises the cushion against external economic shocks. Equally important, export promotion will support develop dynamic entrepreneurs, as the export market is vibrant. Exposures to external competition strengthen the abilities of  entrepreneurs to tackle various business challenges. Growth of such entrepreneurs will then create bunches of business people who can change our economy. Such entrepreneurs will shift their thought from rental motive towards development activities.

Both these benefits associated with export promotion are fundamental for the growth of the economy. But the role of the government policies is most decisive. The government should play a pivotal role to direct business towards export market as the private sector is always guided by the policies of the state.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN 

EDITORIAL

BUBBLES ARE BOUND TO BURST

EAK PRASAD DUWADI

Be it students or administrators, everyone used to praise me for engaging learners satisfactorily in the class; and I was very self-motivated. In fact, I was started imagining myself to be one of the best teachers in the world. Was I a snob?

Well, I have been teaching English as Foreign Language at reputed schools and colleges in Nepal for
more than five years. Besides having degrees, I possess dozens of ELT workshops certificates.

Whichever class I go to,  learners see me off with broad smiles. Not only they produced what I asked in class but also did every assignment promptly. So I used to feel proud and maintain my learner-friendly status.

However, some time back I had gone for a month long rigorous training along with four other trainees. Besides, theoretical perspectives and language games, we were required to go to real schools along with lesson plans and materials.

It was my first teaching practice of that training. It was also an opportune time to prove one's worth as
a teacher. The instructor and peers would observe the class so as to give feedbacks later. I was so confident that I thought I was the best teacher in the world. I entered the classroom of Grade 10, and started my lesson that had to do with grammar (direct/indirect questions).

As a warm up, I drew some pictures for context setting, and displayed a chart. To my surprise, before I had finished half of the lesson plan, the bell rang, and it was time to wrap up. I felt so guilty that I nearly burst into tears. My ego got dismantled as fragile pane. What I realized was that I was having a vicious circle of self scorn. I was not a perfect teacher as I still had to learn hundreds of methods and countless exposures. It laid bare the threads the fabric of superiority that I had cultivated. Above all I had never thought about timing which is very important. Returning to school, my peers and instructor reflected on my strengths and weaknesses.

I found the first was insignificant in comparison to the second. Obviously, the trainer asked for 'Repetition'. Although very bitter, I accepted their remarks and promised to do better from another day. It was but another lesson learnt: learning and familiarisation continues all throughout life; and no one is perfect.

 

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THE HIMALAYAN 

EDITORIAL

LAMICHHANE, FIRST NEPALI WITH DISABLITY TO GET PHD

JAYARAM GAUTAM

 

KATHMANDU: Kamal Lamichhane, a visually impaired person, who hails from Jutpani of Chitwan, is all set to be conferred with Doctor of Philosophy on March 24. He will be the first disabled Nepali to be decorated with PhD.

In an online interview, he informed that University of Tokyo, Japan, was going to award him the degree.

He completed the masters degree at Japanese city of Tsukuba before moving to Tokyo University for the PhD. He has been studying in Japan since April 2007. He did his graduation from Sanothimi Campus, Bhaktapur.

Kamal Lamichhane's PhD thesis is related to disability from the point of view of economy. He has researched how education makes persons with disabilities economically independent and socially included. Lamichhane was born to Goma Lamichhane and late Bhanubhakta Lamichhane as their fifth child. His parents didn't send him to school until he was at 12 as they had little knowledge about the power of education.

A famous Nepali saying 'morning shows the day' came true for him. Despite facing a series of hurdles, he has succeeded in unveiling the curtain of darkness. He proudly said, "Academically, I was always among the top ten students in school and college. In exams, I was compelled to skip some picture-based questions which used to take a toll on my score."

The visually impaired do not usually study languages due to the general lack of necessary materials, and at university Lamichhane was the first such person to graduate in the subject, securing the highest score overall in the country. He completed his school education from Adarsha Secondary School, Bhaktapur.

After his PhD, he thinks his second phase of life begins when he will use all his knowledge and expertise to help others with disabilities. He noticed that Nepali students with disabilities have to face several problems when studying abroad.

They have to spend their time to adjust themselves while doing research, they need financial support, it is still hard to get information on studies abroad and the chosen universities have no adequate support system for those with disabilities.

Then there are several practical hurdles for persons with disabilities: inaccessible roads, the walking distance from students' living place to the university and campus. "Those who are visually impaired cannot access all educational materials, including journals, unless they are made available in text format in a database," he explains. Persons with disabilities are vying to do PhD from TU. "I am very sad to note that our university has neither any department that deals specifically with disability studies, nor a professor with a background in disability studies. In such situation internationally such degree may not be recognised," he rues. "TU should be well-equipped with adequate resources and good faculties on disability studies so that ultimately we can do research on disability issues in our own motherland,"  adds Lamichhane.

When asked about the rights of persons with disabilities in the new constitution, he said, "The new constitution should address the concerns of persons with disabilities. The constitution should clearly mention that persons with disabilities would be included in all forms of the nation's activities."

President of the Federation of the Disabled Birendra Raj Pokharel is glad that Lamichhane will be awarded PhD. "It is a good news for the Nepalis with disabilities," he said. "This will go a long way in helping to enhance the condition of Nepali disabled," he added.

 

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THE AUSTRALIAN

EDITORIAL

MORE GREAT MOMENTS IN RUDDSPEAK

 

THE PM plays Oceanic Viking Deal or No Deal again.

Kevin Rudd on Wednesday:

 

THE Leader of the Opposition asks about the processes which apply to the individuals currently on board the vessel. Can I draw his attention first of all to the correspondence from the secretary of the Department of Immigration dated 16 November, which describes the non-extraordinary nature of the procedures which apply here.

Craig Emerson and George Brandis on Sky News Agenda yesterday:

Emerson: This is not a typical situation. It was a rescue at sea, not in Australian waters. There has been an attempt by the Coalition to describe this as part of the normal arrival of asylum-seekers in Australia. It's not, it was a rescue at sea. So it's a very unusual situation.

Kieren Gilbert: Why can't the government say this is a special circumstance?

Emerson: Well, we have said that this is a rescue at sea. That is different from the regular way that asylum-seekers who arrive by boat get themselves into Australian territorial waters and are then transferred to Christmas Island. It is unusual in those circumstances.

Brandis: Either it's an extraordinary situation or it's a non-extraordinary situation. Which is it? ?

Emerson: It is a rescue at sea.

Chris Evans on Radio National Breakfast yesterday:

WE didn't make an offer. What we made was an agreement with the Indonesian government. Once that was finalised we put that in writing, codified it, and showed it to those on the boat.

Winston Smith is lectured by his friend Syme in George Orwell's 1984:

"YOU haven't a real appreciation of Newspeak Winston," he said almost sadly. "In your heart you'd prefer to speak Oldspeak with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year? Don't you realise the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Has it ever occurred to you Winston that by the year 2050, at the very latest, there won't be a single human being alive who could understand the conversation we are having now?"

Malcolm Turnbull yesterday:

THE Prime Minister's claim that there was no special deal has been comprehensively, universally disbelieved. But I am afraid to say the disbelief extends past that centre-right newspaper which the Prime Minister is so unhappy with at the moment. Tony Wright in The Age, Annabel Crabb in The Sydney Morning Herald -- not many people would say that was a right-wing newspaper. Even in his own town, Dennis Atkins wrote in The Courier-Mail "the consensus view that the Rudd government provided a special deal is now stronger than the much-trumpeted world scientific agreement on the causes behind climate change". The disbelief extends even to the ABC. Barrie Cassidy:"just to say there's no special deal is silly."

Phew what a scorcher! The PM in Question Time yesterday:

ADELAIDE has experienced the first spring heatwave ever since its records began in 1887. I presume that the climate change sceptics up the back and the absolute deniers in the centre over there, would say all of these are merely unhappy coincidences in the data and you can choose to embrace what the science says or simply deny what it says and therefore take no action.

Penny Wong in the Senate yesterday:

THE key issue when one looks at climate is to look at trends rather than the weather over a short period.

Saving the planet, one scalp at a time. Julia Gillard yesterday:

APPRENTICES are doing work on the frontline of tackling climate change and today they demonstrated the green skills transforming Australia's workplaces. They learned basic skills in solar energy, green plumbing, organic hairdressing.

 

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THE AUSTRALIAN

EDITORIAL

WHEN KRISHNA MET TRISHNA

Two lives, 20 doctors and an uplifting story of hope.

 

THE 32-hour marathon surgery to separate conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna may not seize the record for the longest yet performed in Australia - Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital says several previous operations have passed the 30-hour threshold - but it was unusually complex and has seized the public imagination in a way medical procedures rarely do.

 

The implications of the successful separation for the Bangladeshi orphans are as profound, and yet also as simple, as life-changing surgery can ever be. Once roused from their induced comas, the twins, who have been together for every moment of their near three-year lives, will soon be able to set eyes on each other directly for the first time without the need for a mirror.

 

There are many difficulties ahead, but so far the only tears have been ones of joy and relief. Asked if there were tears in the theatre, one member of the 20-strong operating team revealed she cried only after she had got into her car to go home.

 

We hear a lot about the health system's problems, but the determination shown by the hospital, the medical team, the Children's First Foundation that first brought the pair to Australia and, of course, the tiny patients themselves shows what can be done when we have the will to succeed.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

ASIC BUNGLED THE BASICS

THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Australia's corporate watchdog, has come in for frequent criticism in the past over its performance, but rarely has there been a critique as devastating as that offered by Justice Robert Austin's judgment in the One.Tel case. In throwing out ASIC's case against Jodee Rich, the judge has by implication questioned the organisation's basic competence in conducting litigation.

 

The judgment does not imply that ASIC was wrong in investigating One.Tel for possible breaches of Australia's corporations law - that is its job. The issue is its approach. ASIC did not establish successfully the basic premise on which such a case could be based: that One.Tel's financial condition was in dire straits in early 2001. ASIC contended that One.Tel needed $306 million to survive in May that year. But the judge found that a $132 million capital raising, underwritten by PBL and News Ltd, One.Tel's major backers, and then abandoned 12 days later on May 29, might have been enough to keep the company running another six months. Especially damning, though, was the judge's finding that the documents ASIC submitted in support of its case were too unreliable to form the basis for financial findings. Witnesses who might support or elucidate those documents were not called.

 

The subsidiary question - whether One.Tel's precarious financial condition was due to management's breaches of companies legislation and its duty to keep directors informed - then became almost irrelevant.

 

That summary vastly oversimplifies the complexity of the arguments, of course. The case has been running since 2001, and included 232 days of court hearings. It cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and will cost millions more in costs. Above all, it was complex, to the point where the judge was moved to comment: ''I wonder whether that is beyond the bounds of reasonable scope of civil litigation.''

 

ASIC may argue that it has changed chairmen twice since the litigation was begun, and that other staff have also changed. Even so, the organisation ought to function effectively despite changes of personnel. That is what bureaucracies do.

 

The commission may yet appeal against the outcome of the case, and it may take issue with the tenor of the judge's comments to defend the way it ran a difficult case. But whatever the decision, and whatever the outcome, the commission still owes taxpayers, and corporate Australia, a full account of what went wrong. Failure itself is not the issue: all court cases brought by regulators carry the risk of failure. The public simply needs reassurance that the defects in the prosecution of the One.Tel case as revealed in the judgment were not due to wider shortcomings in the commission itself.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

WORKERS OF NSW, DIVIDE

 

THE State Government has decided to follow the example of Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania and split the governance of NSW's workforce. From January half a million privately employed workers in NSW will come under Canberra's Fair Work Act, while state public servants and council employees will continue to be covered by NSW employment law. The Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, claims the decision ends uncertainty, complexity and inefficiency. If so, that will be worthwhile, but it could have done more.

 

NSW was right not to rush. The State Government has won important commitments from the Federal Government, including support for a national equal-pay test case for the low-paid female-dominated community services sector. To minimise alienation among employers, employees and their legal representatives, it has ensured that seven members of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission will be appointed to the Fair Work Australia tribunal. Canberra has also agreed to open regional Fair Work offices. And the transition will be gradual, with national and state officials to work together for 3½ years, and share offices.

 

In NSW wages and other direct costs of employment are about 50 per cent of budget expenditure. It is not surprising both sides of politics wish to retain control of public-sector wage setting - though control has not kept wage rises to budget targets. But the industrial relations system that will emerge from the change preserves the ALP's link to its political power base - the state public sector unions - to the detriment of effective management in the state bureaucracy. There will be no change to the present system under which state public sector unions can undermine departmental decisions they do not like by going behind managers' backs through ALP channels to the minister. That disempowerment of managers has produced the present managerial malaise across the state public sector, and motivated elaborate attempts to sideline the unions. (The enthusiasm for metros, not heavy rail, is one example; the desire to sell Sydney Ferries another.) A full transfer of industrial relations to the Commonwealth might have circumvented the problem.

 

More broadly, the incomplete transfer does nothing to simplify the messy distribution of power between the Commonwealth and the states. Under the agreement, amendments to the Fair Work Act can survive one state's objection only if they are supported by a two-thirds majority of other states. More, not less, squabbling and politicking can be expected, along with a fresh thicket of constitutional entanglements.

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

RAISING THE LEGAL AGE WON'T STOP BAD DRINKING HABITS

 

ANOTHER school year is ending, at least for year 12s, while another schoolies week beckons. And along with it there is the usual risk of alcohol-fuelled mayhem ending in regret or remorse, and sometimes in tragedy. Though some like to think of it as a rite of passage, schoolies is hardly an entry to the world of adulthood - and it is anything but an opportunity to acquire a mature attitude to the use and abuse of alcohol.

 

In an attempt to sever the association between leaving school and beginning to drink, the executive director of Sydney University's Brain and Mind Research Institute, Ian Hickie, has proposed that the legal drinking age be raised by one year, to 19. Professor Hickie, who is especially worried by the binge drinking indulged in during schoolies, can mount a strong scientific case for the change, since there is increasing evidence that the brains of young people are particularly susceptible to damage caused by alcohol abuse. Whether a change in the law is the best remedy, however, may be doubted.

 

Schoolies has the character that it does partly because under-age drinking is already too common. Raising the drinking age by a year, or even reverting to the previous age of 21, is unlikely to deter those who have become accustomed to flouting the law. If under-age drinking - and binge drinking at any age - are to be effectively discouraged, it is social, not legal, censure that is required. And, as parents who try to help their teenage children resist peer pressures to drink will know, the battle is not easy.

 

The example and advice of parents, however, remain the best means of inculcating a responsible use of alcohol. Without them young people will learn from their peers, with results that schoolies week displays only too well.

 

Source: The Age

 

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

EDITORIAL

NATION LOSES WHEN CORPORATE WATCHDOG FAILS SO BADLY

 

FOR the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the decade is ending as it began. A humiliating failure in a long-running and expensive case against One.Tel founder Jodee Rich and finance director Mark Silberman has revived the same questions as ASIC's failure in the notorious Yannon affair involving Coles Myer and several prominent business figures. In January 2000, the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions declined to lay any charges after a four-year ASIC investigation, prompting The Age to question whether the watchdog had the competence and clout to tackle corporate misconduct.

 

In 2001, telecommunications company One.Tel collapsed, triggering an ASIC investigation and eight-year civil case in the NSW Supreme Court at a cost of millions of public dollars. Justice Robert Austin's 3105-page judgment is an indictment of ASIC's failure ''to prove any aspect of its pleaded case against either defendant'' and of its conduct of the case at almost every turn. He criticised decisions on which directors to pursue, the sweeping nature and complexity of ASIC's case - ''I wonder whether that is beyond the bounds of reasonable scope of civil litigation'' - and its selection of witnesses.

 

ASIC's case fell over because it could not even establish the basis for its claim that the board and the market were misled. ASIC had been unable to prove the ''true financial circumstances'' of One.Tel in the months before administrators were called in, the judge said. The documents it submitted were ''wholly or in part too unreliable to form the basis for financial findings'' and ASIC had not called witnesses to give evidence that might have overcome those deficiencies.

 

Justice Austin questioned ''whether ASIC should ever bring civil proceedings seeking to prove so many things over such a period of time as in this case'', which took up 232 hearing days, followed by a 27-month wait for the judgment. He drew a comparison with an ASIC success earlier this year in its case against the directors of James Hardie, which ran for 44 hearing days, after two years' investigation, and focused on whether they had approved a misleading media release.

 

In the One.Tel case, ASIC chose to bring proceedings against the non-executive chairman and three of the four executive directors, prompting the judge to question why other directors were excluded. (Former managing director Brad Keeling and former chairman John Greaves may now wonder whether they should have agreed to pre-trial settlements and the resulting penalties.)

 

Justice Austin also found that former One.Tel directors Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer were unconvincing

witnesses for ASIC. In nine days of evidence Mr Packer said he could not recall or remember 1951 times, while Mr Murdoch did so 881 times. They had claimed to have been ''profoundly misled'' to justify withdrawing financial support by their family companies, which the judge said may ''may well have'' ensured One.Tel's collapse. The outcome of this case further exposes both men to action by liquidators on behalf of creditors.

 

As for ASIC, one case alone, as badly handled as it was, would not cast doubt on its future. Regrettably, though, its record in such big cases has been patchy. It has had successes, including the criminal prosecutions of key figures in the HIH collapse and the civil case against Steve Vizard, who made it easy for the regulator by signing an agreed statement of facts. Even then, in the latter case, questions were asked about the failure to pursue criminal charges and the judge doubled the penalty sought by ASIC.

 

Of course, corporate crime involving issues of deception, disclosure and negligence - as opposed to plain incompetence, which is not a crime - is notoriously complex and wealthy defendants muster the best possible legal defences. The laws under which ASIC operates, and the resources made available to it, do require regular review by government to ensure the regulator can achieve its purpose. In recent years, ASIC appears to have opted for softer targets and civil actions, in which the burden of proof is lower. It has also adopted a shotgun approach - which reached its nadir in the One.Tel case - in the apparent hope that at least some targets would be hit. It missed the lot and that approach stands discredited.

 

ASIC chairman Tony d'Aloisio said the case ''provided important guidance to ASIC on how to run similar matters in the future'', but it has been a long and costly lesson. With the regulator now tackling collapses arising from the global financial crisis, the public must hope ASIC fully absorbs Justice Austin's critique. Any further humiliations and public confidence in the corporate watchdog may never recover, putting in doubt the future of an unreconstructed ASIC.

 

Source: The Age

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THE GURDIAN

EDITORIAL

PUBLIC FINANCES: BROKE BUT NOT BUST YET

 

With the biggest deficit ever for the month, the Red October headlines are easy to write. Interpreting yesterday's public finance figures is, however, more difficult. What really matters is the medium term, and – as the last two years of turbulence have shown – all we can safely say about this is that it is a known unknown.

 

It may be impossible to postpone the tough fiscal choices for ever, but – despite the miserable new data – Britain is not quite bust yet. The deterioration has been rapid, but the cumulative debt burden remains smaller than throughout the 1950s and 60s. Besides, the accounts of the government are not the same as those of the nation, and even as HMG plunged into the red, many recession-wary households and firms have been restoring their balance sheets. The term "national debt" is something of a misnomer, since extra public borrowing is a largely automatic corollary of private thrift – tax receipts fall as shoppers retrench, and the welfare bill rises to safeguard the workers that firms deem they can no longer afford.

 

Tory rhetoric about the cupboard being bare is thus wide of the mark, insofar as it applies to the nation in its entirety. Nor is it correct – yet – in relation to the government itself. Yesterday's figures showed that despite the ballooning of the deficit, the cost of financing it is actually lower than at this time last year. Low interest rates, and a dearth of other safe havens for capital, mean the state can raise cash on the cheap. The all-important question is how long these benign circumstances can last.

 

As soon as the City gets jittery about a default it will demand higher interest, thereby making the debt harder to fund, and setting in train a truly vicious spiral. Because the moment of crisis is triggered by the turning of animal spirits, there is no precise way to gauge how far off it is. Many Treasury bonds are held by foreigners, which thickens the plot, because the right moment for them to sell depends on the outlook for sterling as much as on the government's bank balance. Then there is the great fug of fog surrounding the bonds that the Bank of England has bought with the cash magicked out of the air under quantitative easing. The Bank could hold the debt through to maturity, which would effectively cancel it out; or it could move to sell rapidly, potentially flooding the market with gilts in a way that could undermine the government's ability to raise extra funds.

 

Many scary scenarios could yet play out, but we do not know how likely these are. The one thing that can be said with some confidence is that it is better to live with horrible risks than the certainty of a crushed economy. And that would flow inescapably from a panicked scramble to hastily rebalance the books.

 

 

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THE GURDIAN

EDITORIAL

IN PRAISE OF… TELLING THE TRUTH

 

Corrections and clarifications. In a leading article about Thierry Henry (In praise of... Thierry Henry, 17 May 2006, page 32) we correctly stated that Arsenal's then captain "created goals", but due to an editing error we neglected to say that he did so "in unconventional ways". After France's match with Ireland on Wednesday, in which the French striker twice handled the ball, leading to an outrageous goal that robbed the Irish of a World Cup place, Henry belatedly put his hand up to putting his hand up, but said it was not for him to second-guess the ref. Roger Federer or Tiger Woods might fess up to mistakes, but footballers are not expected to – although they very rarely do. Robbie Fowler once contested a penalty awarded in his favour after the Arsenal goalie David Seaman appeared to trip him up. No, Fowler protested, Seaman had not touched him. The penalty stood and Fowler converted it. No happy ending after all. But surely a foul so blatant that half of Europe has seen it makes the case for introducing a refereeing equivalent of the third umpire. Rugby and ice hockey both have something similar, and Wimbledon's Hawk-Eye is another equivalent. The technology exists and is proven. It would not interrupt the flow of the game any more than it already is by players protesting against decisions, and it would end the era in which football is simply not cricket. Just think of the glory Henry could have gained by confessing when it still mattered, although possibly not with the French president, who was in the stands.

 

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THE GURDIAN

EDITORIAL

EUROPEAN UNION: FADING PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS

 

Who do you call when you want to call Europe? After five years of wrangling designed to deal with the Henry Kissinger question, the EU last night failed to provide a satisfactory answer. The first ever president of the European council is to be the haiku-writing Belgian prime minister, Herman Van Rompuy, who is still little known in his own country, let alone the wider world. And the continent's pioneering high-representative on foreign policy is the able but unknown Labour baroness, Catherine Ashton, who is as unelected as she is obscure. Neither will stop the traffic even in Brussels, never mind in Beijing. Talk of President Blair has bitten the dust, but so too has any hope of Europe forcing the planet to pay it fresh attention.

 

That ultimately disappointed hope is what sunk the EU into a prolonged bout of introspection from which it has only just emerged. The 2004 draft constitution was all about creating identifiable leadership, until the people of the Netherlands and France scuppered the plan. But the ambition of providing Europe's half-billion people with a new voice lived on through the Treaty of Lisbon, which limped through near-death in Ireland and eastern resentment to be signed and sealed this month.

 

At last, the European council could be galvanised by a dynamic leader instead of drifting with an endlessly-rotating chair; and at last Brussels would be able to enter discussion on the Middle East, Africa and the environment with a figure able to look Washington's secretary of state in the eye. Or, at least, that was the theory. But while Tony Blair's divisive and doomed candidacy for the first of these posts created a terrific distraction, Europe quietly returned to its old ways. A Franco-German stitch-up in favour of an obscure Belgian is exactly how things traditionally worked – it is as if the Swedes, the Poles and the rest had never joined the club. There was no puff of white smoke, but the secretive manner in which 27 proud democracies reached the decision made the Vatican look almost transparent.

 

President Blair would have brought the requisite stardust. But – as we have argued before – his disastrous decision to invade Iraq, and thus divide Europe, was a sin sufficiently serious to rule him out of the running. Besides, the rest of continent was always going to struggle to swallow a British presidency, as London has remained semi-detached, shunning both the Euro and the Schengen Agreement, and is forever drawing obstructive red lines. But there is no reason why Nowhere Man needed to be the only alternative to the great warrior of Baghdad. Spain's long-time prime minister Felipe González, to take one example, remains a substantial figure on the world stage who might have done the job with panache. While it is true that he did not leave public office entirely untainted, the real reason he was not seriously considered had more to do with the partisan leanings of the regimes in Paris and Berlin.

 

The failure of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to transcend parochial politics for the good of the continent is a disappointment, but it might just help to soothe the poisonous European debate in the UK. By passing over the chance to enshrine powerful central leadership, France and Germany have implicitly signalled they are content to continue with a Europe of nation states. It may not fulfil its diplomatic potential, but with an economy that compares with America's it cannot be ignored. From pollution to Palestine, it can be a force for good, and with federalist dreams fading from view, the Eurosceptically-inclined Conservatives will have no excuse not to play their full part should they take power next year.

 

The continent last night took a step away the top table, missing a valuable chance to halt the slide towards a G2 world, dominated by the twin poles of Washington and Beijing. Nonetheless, the EU will continue to matter, even as President Hu sits down with President Who?

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

OBAMA VISIT

 

President Lee Myung-bak was right when he welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama at the Blue House by saying that Obama had "saved the best for last," in reference to Korea being the final leg of his Asian tour.

 

Obama's visit to Asia, his first since assuming office, included stops at Tokyo, Singapore - where he attended the APEC meeting - China and Korea. The summit meetings in Tokyo and China were relatively tough for Obama, who was hit with the reality of strained relations with Japan and the growing power of China. In Korea, Obama got what he wanted: A hint from Lee that his administration can look into the U.S. demand for a more open Korean auto market.

 

This is an about-face from the government's previous position that it will not renegotiate the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, signed more than two years ago, which has yet to be ratified by the National Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

 

"If there is a problem in the auto sector, I think we can have an opportunity to talk about this issue again. We are ready to do it," said Lee during a joint press conference with Obama after the summit meeting.

 

Prior to his arrival in Seoul, Obama said in a television interview that he would talk to Lee about "certain sectors of the economy that aren't dealt with as effectively" in the free trade agreement. The U.S. automakers and some lawmakers have called for greater access to the Korean automobile market before progress on the FTA ratification can be made.

 

U.S. carmakers want greater access to the Korean market, claiming a huge imbalance in trade. Official figures

show 700,000 Korean cars exported to the United States and 5,000 American cars imported into Korea in 2007. However, these figures do not take into account more than 125,000 vehicles made by a General Motors subsidiary in Korea, while including automobiles made by a Hyundai plant in Alabama.

 

Lee noted that the trade between Korea and the United States was balanced and Obama said that the Americans' tendency to lump together all of Asia when discussing trade imbalance is a problem that he will have to address.

 

The two leaders stressed the importance of the FTA, not only its economic ramifications, but its significance as a symbol of the strength of the alliance. "We agreed to redouble our efforts to move the agreement forward," Lee said.

 

Korea's announcement that it would dispatch civilian workers and soldiers and police to protect them must have been another piece of welcome news for Obama. The U.S. president said that he welcomed Lee's decision to dispatch a Provincial Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan.

 

On North Korea, Obama announced that his special envoy to North Korea would visit Pyongyang on Dec. 8 to start bilateral talks. North Korea had extended an invitation to Stephen Bosworth in the summer and has been demanding bilateral talks with the United States before it would return to the six-party talks aimed at North Korean denuclearization.

 

The two leaders saw eye-to-eye on the need to strike a "grand bargain" with the North, said Lee. The grand bargain, proposed by Lee in September and initially met with a less-than-enthusiastic response in Washington, aims to strike a comprehensive one-shot deal with North Korea on nuclear disarmament of the communist state.

 

Obama reiterated that he and Lee "are in full agreement on a common approach going forward," a statement aimed at allaying concern in the South that the upcoming bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang may leave Seoul in the lurch.

 

Lee has given Obama the sign that Korea is willing to resolve issues related to the FTA to secure its ratification,

at political cost to his administration. Obama should return the favor by taking a more aggressive position on the free trade deal.

 

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

NOT BOLD ENOUGH

 

Probably beginning next year, primary, middle and high schools will be able to select their principals from among qualified applicants, instead of accepting those appointed in a preset order of seniority. This change should be welcomed as a first step toward replacing seniority with meritocracy in schools.

 

For the change in the selection process, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has decided to submit revision bills to relevant laws to the National Assembly next year. The proposed legislation follows a pilot project that has been conducted at 392 special schools since September 2007.

 

The proposed legislation will allow principals selected from among the applicants to apply for the post again after a four-year term. At the end of the term, they will be allowed to return to the positions they previously held. Each school management committee may choose to hold on to the current system or apply for the new selection process to the metropolitan or provincial office of education.

 

The change will undoubtedly encourage competition among schools and thus help provide better education. Nonetheless, it is a retreat from the 2006 proposal to open the posts of principal to management experts as well as all those licensed to teach at schools.

 

But under pressure from special interest groups, the ministry limited the qualifications to those who had taught at primary or secondary schools for 15 years or longer when it launched a pilot project in 2007. The qualifications are further restricted this time. That is the reason why the new selection process is criticized for being new only in color, not in substance.

 

It is management skills that are more required of a principal than teaching experience. The relevant laws should be revised later on, if not this time, in the

 

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

NAVAL BUILD-UP IN NORTHEAST ASIA WORRISOME

SALIM OSMAN

 

A naval arms race that could have catastrophic consequences is developing in Asia-Pacific waters, a military expert warned at a conference here yesterday.

 

The naval build-up in Northeast Asia has exceeded basic modernization with the addition of new capabilities such as submarines, destroyers, large amphibious ships and long range missiles, experts said.

 

Professor Desmond Ball of the Australian National University warned that the build-up could lead to a calamity if it becomes a full-fledged arms race.

 

"There's no arms control regime in Asia that might constrain these acquisitions," he said.

 

He and other experts spoke at a conference on New Challenges to Asia Pacific Security organized by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific.

 

Ball said that, since 2000, nearly all countries in the region badly hit by the 1997 financial crisis had increased their defense spending again.

 

In Korea, for instance, it rose 6.2 percent in 2001 and then to 9.9 percent by 2007.

 

"This has resulted, in rough terms, in doubling its defense capability since around 2000 beyond the level considered adequate for modernization in the 1990s," he said. He believes that China now spends more on defense than any country in the world except the United States.

 

China has bought large numbers of frigates and destroyers from Russia and plans to acquire aircraft carriers as well.

 

Analyst Sam Bateman of the University of Wollongong in Australia said: "China is usually seen as the trigger for a naval arms race, potentially shifting the military balance in Asia, although China strongly denies the claims."

 

Its naval force expansion may explain the acquisition of new missile destroyers by Korea and Japan, he said in an article distributed at the conference

 

"While most navies, including the Chinese navy, stress that their capabilities are being developed for defensive purposes, it is often difficult to differentiate offensive from defensive capabilities," he said.

 

Chinese analyst Zhang Junshe of the Naval Research Institute said that his country was merely making modest improvements to its maritime defense capability and that its navy "was still lagging behind other countries."

 

"We don't think the modernization of the navy by countries in the region constitutes an arms race," he added.

 

Analyst Kwa Chong Guan of Nanyang Technological University suggested in response to the arms race there "should be more trust, more confidence building and more transparency."

 

The head of external programs at NTU's Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, he warned: "The consequence of the navy's build-up is the increasing probability of accidents and incidents at sea."

 

(Asia News Network)

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THE KOREA HERALD

EDITORIAL

THE SWINE FLU BLUES AND HOPES OF HEALTHIER WORLD

M.K. THOMPSON

 

The 2009 H1N1 flu has been grabbing headlines for months. In April, Mexico City came to a standstill as schools and businesses were shut down and transportation hubs were put under quarantine to prevent the spread of infection. In May, hundreds of people were detained in Japan, China and Hong Kong after sick travelers were identified on airplanes and in hotels. On June11, the World Health Organization officially declared H1N1 to be a global pandemic.

 

This is the third global flu pandemic of the century, following the 1918-19 Spanish flu and the 1968-69 Hong Kong flu. Timing and technology have made all of the difference.

 

The Spanish flu got its name because at the time it was possible to obtain extensive and reliable media coverage of the outbreak in Spain. Many other countries intentionally limited public distribution of information about the pandemic to prevent panic and maintain morale for the World War I. In comparison, information today is increasingly difficult to control. The internet, satellite technology, cell phones and international journalism keep the world updated with startling speed. Perhaps we are updated a little too fast. So far, the H1N1 swine flu has infected far fewer people and caused far fewer fatalities than either of the previous pandemics. But it has almost certainly frightened more.

 

Medical technology has had a huge impact on the treatment of the flu. Antiviral drugs can provide a tremendous benefit to high risk and severely ill patients, but the two antiviral medicines that are most commonly recommended to combat H1N1 weren't developed until the 1990s. Advances in antibiotics have been helpful as well. In 1918, many of the deaths were the result of bacterial pneumonia infections that took advantage of their victims' weakened states. Today, we are much better at treating pneumonia and other complications, which has certainly helped to keep the fatalities this year in the thousands instead of the millions.

 

Technology to detect and prevent the spread of disease has improved substantially over the past 50 years. Dermal contact digital thermometers allow diligent airport quarantine officials to take the temperature of each arriving passenger quickly and accurately. Infrared cameras are being used to ensnare wily pathogens that get past the initial screeners. And neat little ultraviolet spray hand sanitizer machines have appeared everywhere that people are likely to be (cafeterias, tourist attractions, etc.) to minimize person-to-person transmission. Of course, travel in general has also increased substantially, which increases the need for such measures.

 

In many schools, students who are suspected of having the H1N1 virus or who are confirmed carriers are being immediately quarantined and sent home until they recover. In some cases, their roommates or classmates are also being quarantined as an extra precaution. The news that someone has been quarantined can be delivered in seconds via cell phone, text message, instant message or e-mail without the need to expose anyone else to the pathogen. In less than an hour, the same students can be home and emailing their teachers or professors to notify them of their absence. News travels fast.

 

The U.S. Center for Disease Control has said that most infections were mild and that recovery was fairly quick. And clearly some of the individuals who have endured quarantine over the past six months haven't been sick. For them, the internet has been a blessing.

 

Most colleges and universities today are making prodigious use of the internet and information technology. My students can read lecture notes, submit homework assignments and collaborate with each other via the internet. They are so well connected that they can still participate in team design projects while they are away as long as they are feeling well enough to do so. These students are, of course, excused from all of their course work until they return. But catching up is hard after falling behind and there is no need to lose ground as long as they can get online.

 

The internet has made self-imposed quarantine easier too. Today, working from home is well understood, socially acceptable and increasingly common. As a result, it is relatively simple for ailing employees to telecommute for a few days if their job does not require their physical presence. This results in relatively little loss of personal productivity while protecting the health and well-being of their colleagues. Supervisors can grant permission for an online commute in minutes.

 

Humanity is actively engaged in an epidemiological arms race. Humans evolve. Diseases mutate. Technology advances. Time marches on.

 

It may never be possible to eradicate disease. We may never be able to prevent t it from jumping species or crossing international borders. But we will continue to inform, study, screen, quarantine, track, treat and develop technology - all in the hopes of a healthier world.

 

Mary Kathryn Thompson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She can be reached at mkthompson@an.kaist.ac.kr - Ed.

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

EXPANDING PEACEKEEPING ROLE

 

To rectify Japan's impractical limits on joining U.N. peacekeeping operations (PKO), Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has called for a review of Japan's five-point principle on PKO participation.

 

The principle, incorporated in the 1992 PKO law, states that PKO participation should be contingent on: (1) existence of a ceasefire agreement between parties to a conflict, (2) agreement by the parties concerned, including the country where a PKO is carried out, on Japan's participation, (3) the strictly neutral stance of the PKO being carried out, (4) immediate withdrawal if any of these conditions is not met, and (5) the rule that weapons will be used only in self-defense.

 

As of the end of September, only 39 Japanese people were engaged in PKOs, compared with South Korea's 400 and China's 2,147, though Japan's financial contribution to the U.N. PKO budget is the second largest (19.6 percent) after the United States (25.9 percent). Mr. Okada said the government will study whether the law that includes the principle is hindering Japan's PKO participation or whether it is a case of the Self-Defense Forces and the police being reluctant to participate.

 

Recently, the nature of conflicts and the roles of PKOs have changed. In some conflicts, it is unclear who the directly concerned parties are. Some PKOs are organized to stabilize social and political situations unrelated to military conflict. These situations were not foreseen when the PKO law was enacted.

 

Japan has already relaxed the rule on the use of weapons to enable defense of not only Japanese PKO members but also U.N. workers and PKO members from other countries being in the same place as Japanese members. The SDF can now take part in activities such as supervising a ceasefire, disarming parties to a conflict, going on patrol and collecting abandoned weapons.

 

The government should seek ways to expand Japan's PKO participation consistent with the spirit of the war-renouncing Constitution and the Democratic Party of Japan's principle of Japan having autonomous judgment and democratic control. It also should focus on PKOs in which Japan's ability can be best utilized.

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

SOLID FOUNDATION FOR U.S., CHINA

 

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao held a summit in Beijing earlier this week and agreed to push cooperation on such issues as the fight against global warming, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons. The two leaders refrained from locking horns on such issues as Taiwan and human rights.

 

Their joint statement not only testifies to the desire of the United Sates and China to seek coexistence in the 21st century but also shows that their bilateral relationship can exercise a large influence in international politics. China, with the largest population and the second-biggest military budget in the world, will become the world's No. 2 economy soon, surpassing Japan.

 

The statement in part said, "The United States and China have an increasingly broad base of cooperation and share increasingly important common responsibilities on many major issues concerning global stability and prosperity. The two countries should further strengthen coordination and cooperation, work together to tackle challenges, and promote world peace, security and prosperity."

 

As Mr. Obama said, the U.S. and China are not without difficulty in some areas, including bilateral trade and the currency issue. The two leaders avoided specifics in their joint statement. China agreed to expand domestic demand and raise consumer spending's share of gross domestic product growth, while the U.S. agreed to increase national savings and reduce the federal budget deficit. They also agreed to fight protectionism.

 

Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu agreed to work together for a successful outcome at next month's U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The U.S. and China account for some 40 percent of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. But China is not ready to set an emissions reduction target. Japan and the U.S. could cooperate toward encouraging China to make a stronger commitment. It is clear that the U.S. and China alone cannot solve every major global issue. Japan can play a positive role without antagonizing them.

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE WILL TO DESTROY A WALL

BY DOMINIQUE MOISI

 

PARIS — Walls designed to keep people in or out — whether they are in Berlin, Nicosia, Israel or Korea — are always the product of fear: East German leaders' fear of a mass exodus by their citizens seeking freedom and dignity; Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders' fear of continued war; Israelis' fear of terrorism; or the North Korean leadership's fear of "abandonment" by their martyred people.

 

To freeze a fragile status quo, to consolidate one's position or to remain separate from others perceived as temptations or threats (or both) — such have always been the goals of politicians who build walls.

 

Why is there such a difference between the fate of Berlin — now a capital city where the progress of the present is slowly covering the many scars of the past — and the fate of Nicosia, where time has been frozen, or that of Israel, whose "security wall" is expanding like a fresh scar, not to mention the North Korean regime's unlikely consolidation behind its walls of paranoia and oppression?

 

To understand these different situations, one must consider the will of people — to destroy their walls in the case of East Germany, to expand them in the case of Israel, and to freeze them in the case of Cyprus and the government of North Korea. Of course, the qualities — or lack of them — of the respective leaders are also an important factor.

 

The Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989 much more rapidly than most West Germans would have dreamed (or dreaded). They had underestimated the strength of "German national feeling" in the East. And they grossly overestimated the Soviet Union's ability and will to keep its empire at all costs. Above all, Mikhail Gorbachev will remain the man who had the vision and the courage not to oppose the course of history. He may not have fully understood what was happening before his eyes and the forces that he had unleashed, but his restraint constitutes true greatness.

 

The miracle of today's reunified Berlin is a challenge — even a provocation — to all walls. It is proof that in a globally interdependent world, walls are unnatural and artificial — and thus doomed. Yet the truth is far more complex, for walls are a multilayered reality, and it is always dangerous to rewrite history in a Manichean manner, while confusing the realities of the past with those of the present.

 

Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus, is the perfect antithesis to Berlin, and as such the best illustration of what happens when history does freeze. There, empty windows filled with sandbags continue to face each other defiantly, symbols of a past that has not passed for decades.

 

Of course, crossing the Green Line that separates the Greek and Turkish parts of the city is nothing like crossing Berlin's infamous Checkpoint Charlie was. It is no longer a traumatic experience, just a bureaucratic hassle.

 

East Germans wanted to unify the German state for the sake of the unity of their nation: "We are one people" was their motto. Are Greek Cypriots seriously interested in reunifying their island? Do they wish to extend to the Turkish Northern Cyprus the evident benefits that they derive from membership in the European Union, which came in 2004? Most likely, they do not.

 

As for Turkey's government, its official priority remains its own entry into the EU. It cannot say loud and clear that it is not seriously interested in the fate of Cyprus, but that is probably not far from the truth. In any case, the two sides have wasted so many opportunities in the past decades — owing in part to leaders characterized by what might best be described as "competitive mediocrity" — that it is difficult to see a miracle in the horizon.

 

Israel is closer to Nicosia than to Berlin, not only in geographic but also in political terms, because successive Israeli and Palestinian leaders have likewise failed to demonstrate qualities of vision and imagination. A wall is a bad international symbol, especially at the time when the fall of the Berlin Wall is being commemorated. It is also a symbol of futility, because it does not constitute a viable long-term solution.

 

But the situation is unfortunately more complex. As time goes by, Israelis and Palestinians increasingly want to divorce each other. And Israel, contrary to North Korea — a regime doomed to disappear into a single Korea united by freedom and capitalism — is here to stay.

 

Israel's wall constitutes a sad but probably inevitable component of its security. What must be discussed is the security wall's unnecessary and aggressive geography, accompanied by the provocation of further Israeli settlements on the West Bank, not the principle that stands behind it. After all, security alternatives that would have prevented further bloodshed at the time of the Second Intifada did not exist.

 

Ultimately, "walls" represent the realities that lay behind their construction — realities that, unfortunately, later generations may be unable or unwilling to change.

 

Dominique Moisi is a visiting professor at Harvard University and the author of "The Geopolitics of Emotion." © 2009 Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)

 

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THE JAPAN TIMES

EDITORIAL

DRAWING OUT NORTH KOREA

BY JOHN DELURY

 

SEOUL — Negotiations over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula look set to resume. Sadly, they are unlikely to end soon. Talk of a "grand bargain" remains just that — talk.

 

Trust between North Korea and the United States, South Korea and Japan is almost nonexistent. While all leaders — including North Korea's Kim Jong Il — remain committed to denuclearization in public, none appears ready to risk much in terms of domestic politics to achieve it.

 

So the best the world can currently hope for is revived dialogue, an agreement to freeze the North's Yongbyon nuclear plant, and perhaps a moratorium on further missile and nuclear tests.

 

To speed the process, a new long-term strategy aimed at the underlying factors at work in North Korea — and in relations with its rulers — is needed. Simply put, the U.S. and other powers need to pursue constructive economic engagement with North Korea to help the regime achieve "strength and prosperity" through economic transition and integration with the global economy.

 

Constructive economic engagement will benefit ordinary North Koreans, who have suffered as much as any people on Earth since the Cold War's end. The root cause of North Korea's economic difficulties is its isolation from the forces of globalization, from which East Asia in particular has profited.

 

In the late 1990s, as China and Vietnam were posting rapid GDP growth, North Korea was ravaged by one of the worst famines in modern history. Today, North Korea is a de-industrializing, near- subsistent economy. The best hope for most North Koreans is the subterranean market economy that fills the gaps in the state's planned economy and public distribution system. Trade with China is keeping those market forces supplied with goods and business opportunities across the border.

 

Rather than pressure China to shut down the cross-border flow of fuel and food in order to "teach Pyongyang a lesson," the U.S. and its allies must find ways to support North Korea's economic integration with the region.

 

More effective than freezing accounts and barring travel by officials with ties to the missile and nuclear programs would be to work with North Korea's younger technocrats, banking and financial officials, and economic advisers to improve their expertise in managing North Korea's economic transition.

 

Of course, economic engagement will not solve the nuclear conundrum in the short term. Nothing will. The Korean Peninsula will most likely achieve "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" only when North Korea is already moving in the direction of economic growth and integration.

 

North Korea's regime will require demonstrable evidence that a secure, prosperous, nonnuclear development model is available to it before it abandons its nuclear program. So, as nuclear talks proceed, the U.S. and its partners should help North Korea lay the foundations for a new political economy based on international commerce, investment and cooperation, as an alternative to the current model predicated on a hostile security environment.

 

We should think of North Korea's economic transition process as a prerequisite for full denuclearization, rather than simply holding out the promise of a big assistance package as a quid pro quo.

Of course, some of the big-ticket items in an economic engagement policy will remain contingent on progress in security arrangements and peninsular denuclearization. But North Korea and the international community can already take some substantive steps.

 

These include opening diplomatic and official channels in order to improve mutual understanding and the general climate for exchanges; promoting U.S.-North Korea economic dialogues and workshops; encouraging U.S. universities, research institutes, and nongovernmental organizations with expertise in economic transition and development to initiate and develop contacts with North Korean counterparts; and permitting the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to increase North Korean participation, with the ultimate goal of membership.

 

During the recent visit of a high-level North Korean delegation to the U.S., there were encouraging signals that its rulers would welcome increased economic contacts, including with international financial institutions.

 

Moreover, North Korea is actively courting foreign investment. The United Nations Development Program recently reopened its office in Pyongyang, another positive sign of the regime's readiness to work toward common development goals.

 

Of course, new sources of growth in North Korea could threaten vested interests, leading to institutional rivalries, factional tension or a conservative backlash. And the regime will not want the process of economic opening to get too far ahead of security agreements and political normalization. After all, the main lesson that North Korean leaders take from China's success is that security (Mao Zedong's rapprochement with the U.S.) precedes economic transition (Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening policy).

 

Constructive economic engagement will be a tough sell outside North Korea. In the U.S., North Korea is seen mostly through the prism of nuclear nonproliferation, and the new administration is wary of being tricked into giving its rulers anything without getting fissile material in return.

 

In South Korea, President Lee Myung Bak's political base wants to roll back, not reinvigorate, the Sunshine Policy, and there is a widespread (though by no means universal) weariness with engagement.

 

In Japan, fear of North Korea's nuclear threat and anger over the abduction of Japanese citizens generates powerful political pressure against engagement. China is the one place that quietly implements a constructive economic engagement approach.

 

Instead of pressing Beijing to cut off North Korea, the U.S. and its allies should further develop their own efforts to draw North Korea out of its insularity.

 

John Delury is associate director of the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations and teaches at Columbia University. He is also director of the Asia Society/University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation's task force report "North Korea Inside Out: The Case for Economic Engagement." © 2009 Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

PUNITIVELY TAXING SMOKERS

 

The average rise of only 15 percent in excise taxes the government will slap on tobacco products starting next year takes into consideration only fiscal revenues and the old facts that the cigarette industry is a major employer,  a big source of tax receipts and livelihood for hundreds of thousands of farmers.

 

The tobacco excise tax policy completely ignores the urgent need for tobacco control to minimize health hazards inflicted by smokers on themselves and the people around them.

 

Little wonder cigarette prices here remain the lowest in Asia. A pack of Marlboro, for example, costs only about Rp 10,000 (US$1), as against the equivalent of Rp 60,000 in the United States.

 

Worse still, as Indonesia is one of only two countries in Asia – North Korea is the other – that have not yet ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, our country has become a paradise for tobacco producers where cigarette companies are virtually free to market and advertise.         

 

Look at how such international companies as Philip Morris International of the US and BAT, faced with severely tough marketing regulations in the developed world, had been willing to pay premium prices to acquire control of PT Sampoerna and PT Bentoel, two of the four biggest cigarette producers, in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

 

In the absence of a comprehensive regulatory framework on tobacco marketing and promotion, the taxing power is now the most effective tool available to decrease the number of smokers or at least curb its growth.

 

Hence, the government should have raised the excise taxes by a much higher rate to make tobacco prices punitively high.

 

The excise tax law allows excise taxes on tobacco products to be as high as 275 percent of their factory prices or 57 percent of their retail prices.

 

Raising tobacco excise taxes is politically and commercially an easy way of increasing fiscal revenues because the estimated 70-80 million addicted smokers in the country, who consume about 250-270 billion cigarettes a year, are not likely to organize street protests.

 

The government should no longer be held captive to the perception that strictly controlling tobacco marketing would adversely harm the economy.

 

Certainly, it is obviously impossible to completely and immediately ban smoking, given the estimated  seven million people directly employed in the industry, the 600,000 farmers living on tobacco growing and the significant sum of fiscal revenue – Rp 56 trillion next year – the government will raise from tobacco excise taxes.

 

This is all the more reason the government should devise a long-term, comprehensive  tobacco consumption and marketing regulation to allow time for tobacco farmers to diversify into other crops and the government to seek alternative sources of revenue to replace tobacco.

While the enactment of a law on tobacco control could jump-start a nationwide campaign against smoking, there is actually not a single law now that prohibits the government from issuing and enforcing regulations on tobacco control through severe restrictions on sales, advertisements on buildings and places where people can light up.             

 

The government should ally with anti-tobacco NGOs to launch a nationwide antismoking campaign to make people understand the full extent of the grave health hazards caused by smoking and to create a conducive public-opinion environment against smoking.

 

Tobacco control is not discriminative treatment of a legal industrial product but is all about health protection.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

`SUKUK' SUCCESS STORIES IN INDONESIA AND BEYOND

ALI RAMA

 

Today, the Islamic financial system has evolved significantly to become more dynamic and competitive in the global financial system. In the last five years, the Islamic financial system has recorded dramatic growth and has a presence in more than 75 countries in both Muslim and non-Muslim dominated communities.

 

The more significant development of Islamic finance is the development of the sukuk (bond) market. Beginning modestly in 2000 with three sukuk issuers collectively worth US$336 million, this figure doubling in 2008 to exceed $75 billion, and it is expected to surpass $100 billion in the next few years.

 

Issuance of sukuk - both in domestic and foreign currencies - has been quite common in some countries. The most active issuers of sukuk in the past year include Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait and Bahrain.

 

Based on the data of Standard and Poor's Rating 2009, Malaysia accounted for 45.03 percent of the total sukuk issuance in 2009. Meanwhile Indonesia has fewer than Saudi Arabia with 16.05 percent and 22.03 percent respectively.

 

Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world and the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has the potential to become the largest indigenous Islamic financial market and, in particular, the largest Islamic debt capital market in the world.

 

In 2008, the House of Representatives (DPR) passed the law No. 9/2008 on State Sharia Securities (SBSN) and the then government issued SBSN using the sukuk ijarah scheme for the first time. The sukuk law enables sukuk schemes as an alternative source of financing for the government and corporations. The government could use such schemes as instruments to seek sovereign debt from domestic or international market, especially the rich Gulf countries that are reaping windfall profits from the soaring oil prices.

 

Currently, the billions of US dollars that come from Middle East have begun to leave the US and UE stock markets to seek new target investments that are based on sharia schemes. Indonesian government and domestic company can take this opportunity by issuing sukuk schemes.

 

The success story of the issuance of SBSN for the first time in 2008, which experienced oversubscription and reached Rp 8 trillion ($874 million) proved that sukuk schemes are in huge demand with both domestic and foreign investors.

 

This first SBSN issuance used the sukuk ijarah sale and leaseback scheme in which one party solely acts, or through its representative, sells or leases its benefit right of an asset to the other party based on an agreed price and period, without the transfer of asset ownership. In this case the government will sell the beneficial title of the assets to a special purposes vehicle (SPV) and then SPV will issue sukuk to investors.

 

The government has already issued sukuk three times, which were collectively worth Rp 4.699 billion (August, 2008), with ritel (retail) sukuk worth Rp 5.559 billion (February, 2009) and global sukuk worth $650 million (April, 2009). Furthermore, some Indonesian corporations also have already used sukuk as source of financing with about 20 sukuk schemes.

 

Sukuk has considerable potential to grow in Indonesia as an investment and financing instrument. Indonesia will become a destination target for the excessive capital from Middle Eastern countries. As it is well-known, Indonesia is one of the few countries around the world that has managed to endure the current global financial crisis relatively well. Indonesia still survives with its more than 6 percent of annual economic growth in 2008, while the world experienced a significant decline of economic growth and some countries now have negative economic growth.

 

It means Indonesia has good fundamental economy that can become a selling point to attract global capital through the issuance of sovereign sukuk schemes.

 

The issuance of sukuk schemes in the future is predicted to increase more, especially as seen from the demand of domestic and foreign investors of its issuance. By utilizing the success stories of retail sukuk and global sukuk, Indonesian corporations should focus on issuing sukuk schemes for financing rather than conventional bonds.

 

Another reason for the bright future of sukuk in Indonesia is that there are many infrastructure projects across the country that could be financed by sukuk schemes.

 

Diversification of sukuk is also an important thing, like sukuk istishna, which can finance those projects, and also a few regions in the country that experienced serious damage from serial earthquakes.

 

The government needs to boost its action to maximize the potential of sukuk in order to absorb more capital from both domestic and foreign investors. Thus, sukuk in Indonesia will be more dominant in bond markets and increase its contribution to the national economy as well as the Malaysian government, which issued sovereign bonds (sukuk) with 45.03 percent profit in 2009, significantly improving its economy.

 

The writer is the Secretary General of ISEFID (Islamic Economics Forum for Indonesian Development) and currently studying a Master of Economics at International Islamic University Malaysia.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

EXPRESSING 'CHINESE ISLAM'

CHOIRUL MAHFUD

 

In the post-Soeharto era, Chinese Indonesians are enjoying new freedom to express their culture. Before, Chinese Indonesians experienced discrimination under the New Order regime, and their culture was oppressed.

 

From the 1960s, the regime implemented assimilationist policies to deal with what it saw as "the Chinese problem". Under these policies, the use of Chinese characters in publications and advertisements was banned. The one exception was the newspaper Harian Indonesia, which was published in Mandarin and Indonesian, but it was kept under government control.

 

Moreover, Chinese language schools were closed. Chinese sociopolitical organizations and public Chinese cultural events, such as Chinese New Year celebrations, were banned. The government also encouraged the Chinese to change their names to sound more Indonesian.

 

In the reform movement era, Chinese culture is in revival and the Chinese are forging new identities. Nowadays, there is no longer an official "Chinese problem", and much of the legislated discrimination against ethnic Chinese has been removed.

 

President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid who ruled this country from October 1999 to July 2001 permitted public celebrations of Chinese New Year and the use of Chinese characters and allowed many schools to teach Mandarin. Wahid even claimed to have some Chinese ancestry himself.

 

His successor, President Megawati Soekarnoputri declared Chinese New Year to be a public holiday from 2003. The Barongsai (Lion Dance) has become symbolic of the newfound freedom for Chinese cultural expression.

There is also a Chinese-Islamic phenomenon and the role of the Chinese Muslim Association of Indonesia (Persatuan Islam Tionghoa Indonesia-PITI) is crucial to this new role.

 

In Surabaya, the PITI is making the most of the newfound freedom to express Chinese culture in the reform movement era. Like other Chinese, PITI members are adopting the new tactic of "ethnic promotion", through the work of their organization.

 

The PITI's position is unique. It promotes the message that "Chineseness" is compatible with Islam. The organization believes it is important for all to hear this message in order to break down the barriers between Chinese Muslims and other Muslims in Indonesia, and to make the Muslim faith more accessible to non-Muslim Chinese.

 

The PITI uses the resurgence of Chinese culture to its advantage in its outreach activities among Chinese Indonesians. It endeavors to maintain good relationships with the rest of Indonesian society, including fellow Muslims and fellow Chinese. In fact, fostering these relationships is a central part of the PITI's aim to function as a bridge between Muslims and Chinese in Indonesia.

 

One way the PITI in Surabaya expresses "Islamic Chineseness" is through its mosque, the first mosque in Indonesia with Chinese architecture. The Muhammad Cheng Hoo Mosque is a clear statement that Islam and Chineseness are compatible. Since its dedication in 2003, the mosque has become a tourist attraction. The mosque is well setup to receive visitors and "to share information about the history of Admiral Cheng Hoo, the mosque's architecture and the development of syiar at the Cheng Hoo Mosque".

 

A handbook about the mosque is available in four languages, Indonesian, English, Mandarin and Arabic. According to the handbook, the mosque's architecture, resembling a Chinese temple, is intended to display the Chinese Muslim identity and to commemorate the Chinese people's ancestors, the majority of whom were Buddhist.

 

The handbook tells the story of the mosque's origins, emphasizing Cheng Ho's good character and how he respected followers of other religions, lived peacefully with others and helped the poor. Cheng Ho is portrayed as a role model.

 

Until now, the Indonesian Chinese Muslim community is actively negotiating a place for itself in Indonesia's multiethnic, multi-religious society.

 

It is also fostering its relationships with fellow Chinese and fellow Muslims and enhancing its role as a bridge between communities.

 

The Chinese Muslim community is also making the most of the new climate of openness and the public re-emergence of Chinese culture to present Islam as peaceful, tolerant and compatible with "Chineseness".


The writer is a lecturer at Muhammadiyah University in Surabaya, currently researching Indonesian Chinese.

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

A DYSFUNCTIONAL PRESIDENCY

 

At quite a number of places and in meetings that I have been attending lately, I met a variety of people who shared the same sense of bewilderment which was (and still is) bothering me. They were bewildered: why does President appear to be reluctant and indecisive in his handling of the ongoing dispute between the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, on the one hand, and the Corruption Eradication Commission (the Indonesia acronym is KPK), on the other.

 

Although he has acquired the image of a leader who scrupulously moves along the corridors of prescribed law, lately however, he is perceived as a confused leader who, somehow, has pushed himself in a tight corner. The President should present himself in the eyes of the public as a strong and resolute leader who achieved a convincing political victory in the recent presidential election. Instead, he appears to be clumsy in his actions, awkwardly moving around in a shrinking space.

 

One wonders whether this is the same President that only recently managed to acquire a solid base of legitimacy by capturing nearly 61 percent of the popular vote. Furthermore, does he not enjoy the assured support of the Partai Demokrat that has emerged from the recent parliamentary election a victorious party 300 percent stronger (in terms of the number of parliamentary seats captured) compared with its 2004 election score?

 

Why is it then that given the impressive political trust bestowed upon him, such an unexpected situation has emerged: a dysfunctional Presidency. What could be the alarming consequences of this situation?

 

Eep Saefulloh Fatah

Jakarta

The writer is a political scientist. This is an excerpt, translated from his column in the Kompas daily, Jakarta)

 

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THE JAKARTA POST

EDITORIAL

PROBLEMS IN SETTING PRIORITIES

UMAR JUORO

 

Only one month after the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration for its second term, serious problems have sprung up, and so far no credible answers have been given. The most serious problem is the high-level conflict between the National Police (Polri) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

 

The presidential fact-finding team has recommended the President to stop the legal proceedings against the two KPK deputies Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto who were framed by the police and take measures against those who abused their power at the police and Attorney General's Office.

 

However, the National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji are continuing to process the corruption allegations against Chandra and Bibit, arguing that they have enough evidence.

 

Meanwhile, the President has warned the public not to push him into handling the controversy.
This high-profile case is a direct test of the credibility of the President in fighting corruption. This is much more important as Transparency International announced that corruption remains rampant in Indonesia or has worsened.

 

His achievement in eradicating corruption brought Yudhoyono a landslide victory in the July presidential election.

 

Another serious problem that upsets a lot of people is the frequent electricity blackouts that have reached the capital city Jakarta.

 

The breakdown of a transformer in the power station in Cawang, East Jakarta, has made businessmen and local residents furious. Despite the promises of PLN (the national electricity company) and the Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Radjasa to overcome the problem by the end of the month, there is doubt whether this will be the case.

 

Not only is PLN having problems with its cash flow, the complexity of the power problems in the country is getting worse.

 

Meanwhile, economic ministers are still busy setting their priorities. During the recent National Summit the President delivered his keynote speech.

 

All key ministers also delivered their speeches. But up to now, it is still unclear what the government's 100-day program actually is.

 

Certainly, there is a lot of confusion between the 100-day program and the annual and five-year programs. Disregarding what the 100-day program is all about, clearly the two cases above are directly confronting the administration to solve the issues in the short term as well as on a continuous basis.

 

Not to mention the other existing problems, such as the seasonal flooding in the capital city and many areas of the country.

The cases show how costly indecisiveness can be. The procrastination on infrastructure development, not to confront the problem directly, has turned out to be extremely costly. SBY's first five-year administration was supposed to be able to handle the power generation problem, because it was more manageable compared to other infrastructure development that were hampered by structural issues,  such as land acquisition for road projects.

 

In the SBY's administration's second term, the electricity law that was just passed by the parliament allows local government to provide their own power generation and its electricity distribution no longer depends on PLN.

 

It opens up a quick way to solve the power shortage. Private, both national and foreign investors are still quite interested in power projects. It is up to the administration to speed up the process and get things done.

 

On the issue of a declining will to fight corruption, again President SBY seems very reluctant to take tough measures, even in areas under his control like the police and the Attorney General's Office.
This just creates further political speculation that erodes the President's credibility, and even his popularity that he is so concerned about.

 

The House of Representatives (DPR) members are pushing for an investigation into the bailout of the now-defunct Bank Century. The devastating impact of the Bank Century inquiry is the rising distrust among foreign investors, the business community in general, and even in the whole population.

 

On the other hand, if the President shows his decisiveness it will strengthen the view that he will be more decisive in his second term and get more things done. Certainly if he could appoint more appropriate people in the important government posts, this would strengthen optimism in our future, not only for the continuation of reform but also the progress of the country.

 

It is clear the President should rely to more reliable, capable and reform-minded ministers at strategic ministries, and too at the police and Attorney General's Office.

 

Otherwise, he will have to take care of most things himself and further reveal his basic attitude of indecisiveness. Being surrounded by capable people in important ministerial posts, in the police, and in the Attorney General's Office will not only make the job of president a lot easier but also get more results.

 

No matter how good the 100-day programs and medium-term development policies are on paper, with the current composition of ministers and the condition of bureaucracy, the police and the Attorney General's Office, not much can be expected.

 

The policies and programs should be in line with the capability of the administration to execute them, implement them and get good result. Otherwise it will simply create further frustration.

 
The writer is the chairman of CIDES (Center for Information and Development Studies, and a senior fellow at the Habibie Center.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

A TALE OF TWO ECONOMIES

 

China's need to cut its dependence on exports for growth is as urgent as the newly found US determination to pursue export-led growth.

 

However, if the two economies are to shift rapidly away from their current growth patterns, which look increasingly unsustainable as some say, they must work more closely together to find a way out. Their success will be crucial to rebalancing the world economy and sustaining the global recovery.

 

On Wednesday, Premier Wen Jiabao assured visiting US President Barack Obama in Beijing that China does not pursue a trade surplus. This represents a sort of response to the announcement that the US president made a few days earlier in Japan that his country is shifting its economy to export-led growth.

 

Bilateral trade volume between China and the United States has increased greatly since the two countries established diplomatic ties 30 years ago. Meanwhile, China's ballooning trade surplus with the US has also highlighted the growing imbalance that had Chinese overproduction feeding US over-consumption for many years.

 

Now, the worst global economic crisis in decades has forced China, the largest developing economy, and the US, the world's biggest economy, to decisively change their growth patterns for the benefit of both countries and the world economy.

 

Given the tremendous potential of Chinese consumers and the obvious competitiveness of US companies in a number of sectors, a more balanced bilateral trade is fully possible and desirable as well.

 

Wen expressed hope that the United States lifts its policy of restricting hi-tech products exports to China and increases their proportion in US exports to China.

 

This is a realistic approach for the two countries to better balance bilateral trade.

 

As a fast-growing developing economy, China's comparative advantage of inexpensive and relatively skilled labor force will definitely enable it to continue to excel in manufacturing. Hence, China's change of growth pattern does not necessarily involve a decline of Chinese exports. Instead, the major task for the Chinese government is to substantially cut down import duties to fuel a domestic consumption boom with more and better choices.

 

As a debt-laden economy, the US can no longer expect to spend its way out of the crisis. It is necessary for the country to expand exports to narrow its trade deficit.

 

Yet, pursuing export-led growth does not mean the US government should support all US exporters regardless of their international competitiveness.

 

Many hi-tech US companies have a sharp competitive edge. And the vast Chinese market can help them not only survive but thrive in the current economic slowdown.

 

It is high time for the two countries to strengthen cooperation for more balanced bilateral trade and a lasting global recovery.

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

A DIPLOMA SCAM

 

It is weird that some 12,000 primary and middle school teachers were awarded diplomas of higher learning by taking distance education courses for two years, but the Ministry of Education does not recognize their diplomas.

 

Hubei Education College in Hubei province, with the authorization of the provincial education commission, provided remote higher education to primary and middle school teachers and awarded diplomas in 2002 and 2003. Some 12,000 teachers took the courses by paying 4,000 yuan ($588) each as tuition fee and were awarded the diplomas.

 

However, when one of the diploma holders applied for another job in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, his diploma did not pass online verification of the Ministry of Education. The diploma was declared fake by the Information Consultation and Employment Guidance Center attached to the ministry. The college does not have the mandate to offer distance education, according to the center.

 

It is even weirder that the college had permission from the provincial education commission that allowed it to offer distance education courses in higher education on a trial basis.

 

How could this be? The provincial education commission should have known whether the college had the mandate to offer such courses and issue diplomas. Authorities from the college reported the matter to the commission two months ago but are yet to receive an answer.

 

One thing is for sure: The country's higher education top authorities have not recognized the college's diplomas. Even if the provincial education department had the discretion to authorize the colleges under its jurisdiction to offer such courses, students should have been told that the diplomas would not be recognized outside the province.

 

If the teachers were told so at the time, many would not have taken the courses. They wanted the diploma in the hope that they could move to a better job or for better pay. No one would have spent 4,000 yuan for a useless diploma.

 

It may quite probably have been a scam involving corruption. The teachers have been advised by officials from the ministry to report the matter to the public security bureau.

 

It should not be difficult to find out why the local provincial education commission allowed the college to launch the program and where the 48 million yuan tuition fee has been spent.

 

A thorough investigation is needed. It is not just that the more than 10,000 teachers need a clear account of what

exactly happened, those who masterminded the scheme and benefited from it should not get away with it.

 

 

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CHINA DAILY

EDITORIAL

WAITING FOR THE INDISPENSABLE CHINA-EU AXIS TO EMERGE

 

The Sino-European Union (EU) partnership is going through an important reflection period. The past two turbulent years were difficult, but the positive thing is that mutual expectations might finally become more realistic.

 

As it stands, the Sino-EU partnership is not strategic, but it has vast strategic potential. The challenge will be to work out a pragmatic consensus on how to gradually turn joint strategic interests into more result-driven cooperation. This process will inevitably have to be commensurate with the two partners' internal transformation.

 

After a period of difficulties over issues such as Tibet, climate change and alleged economic protectionism, the two sides are now figuring out how best to position themselves. China is executing an important review of its major relationships and one of the questions is whether the EU will still be counted among one of them. There is growing momentum for synergies with the US, leading to speculation about a new trans Pacific axis.

 

But for China, maintaining good relations with the other powers, too, will remain crucial. For Europe, the adoption of the Lisbon reform treaty could halt its descent into strategic redundancy and instigate the EU to assure protagonists like China that it indeed has the ambition to develop solid strategic partnerships.

 

The next year will thus be one of relation therapy. The EU and China need to define for themselves what they consider to be the main interests driving their partnership. For the EU, especially, it is a matter of finding a remedy against the kind of diplomatic schizophrenia in which shortsighted policies of the member states counteracted the proselytizing European Commission.

 

It would be a good start to evaluate the effectiveness of the current instruments for engaging China. More efforts should be made to bring member states around the table to deduce a common denominator from their often divergent national interests. If the EU wants to constructively engage China, it will have to engage itself collectively first.

 

Simultaneously, China and the EU have to agree on which interests they will build the pillars of their strategic partnership. One of the main setbacks in the EU-China partnership has always been its obsession with dialogues without a common view on how the new world order actually binds them together.

 

Obviously, the global economic crisis has confirmed the necessity to reshape our economies. Both sides face an important challenge to combat unemployment, to improve social welfare and to be more efficient in using scarce natural resources.

 

Increased investment in innovation, a secure climate for creative development and a dynamic services sector will be vital for developing new and sustainable sources for growth. This is an individual responsibility, but it can only be successful in a climate of trust and reciprocal openness.

 

Both sides face similar social challenges: an ageing population, a heterogeneous ethnic society, growing urban complexes and substantial internal economic differences. They have a common interest in enhancing social equality and welfare. While facing different economic limitations, both sides aim to make their development inclusive and harmonious. Rather than lecturing each other, this creates the opportunity to exchange lessons learned. The emphasis should not be on differences per se, but on commitment and progress.

China and Europe both are regional powers with broad global interests. As a result of the rising global engagements and increasing economic interests abroad, the EU and China are geopolitically more proximate than ever before. Hence, they have an important joint interest to promote stability and sustainable development in those regions that they share in their extended neighborhoods.

 

This is particularly the case of the Middle East, Africa, and South-Central Asia. We have to ensure that these regions do not develop into a belt of insecurity that endangers our development.

 

There is a strong need to work together to enhance security, to guarantee that our policies benefit lasting stability and development, to invest in the safety of our energy supplies, to limit the impact of environmental hazards, to support effective governance, tackle non-traditional security threats, and enhance maritime security.

 

Growing interests are expected to create the need to exert influence, but it should be cooperative and aim at sharing the costs of maintaining security.

 

We are moving with increasing pace toward a multipolar world order. In this order the major powers will have to balance between meeting increasing international expectations and persistent strong internal needs. Multipolarity will make global governance much more complex and is by no means a guarantee for multilateralism.

 

To be effective, multilateral organizations need to reflect the emerging new international order. But effective multilateralism also implies that all parties are committed to overcoming diverging expectations and trying to reach a pragmatic consensus on how to make foreign policies complementary and mutually supportive. The EU and China could be in the vanguard here as well.

 

As the unipolar phase of the world passes into history, the EU and China have shown that they are not anxious

to slide into another era of great power rivalry.

 

Such contests would severely weaken the two sides' chances of achieving internal sustainable development. In spite of all the frictions and misunderstandings, both sides need each other if they are to develop an alternative for harsh international anarchy.

 

Successful bilateral cooperation will be crucial for promoting global peaceful development. It will also give them the scope to strengthen their internal unity, which will be important for boosting positive power vis--vis others. If China and the EU are serious about changing the nature of great power politics, a strategic axis between them, built on mutual benefit and understanding, will be indispensable.

 

Jonathan Holslag and Gustaaf Geeraerts are head of research and director of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies.

 

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

GETTING STEAMED UP ABOUT MEDVEDEV

BY MICHELE A. BERDY

 

If you've ever gone to a Russian banya, you know that when the steaming is serious, silence reigns. But the no-talking rule is more relaxed in health clubs, which gives us the Steam Room Barometer of Public Opinion. When the sweat-covered, mouth-breathing, marble-skinned denizens of the top bench in the steam room talk about something, that topic is really hot. This week, the nearly naked guys in felt hats were talking about President Dmitry Medvedev's address to the nation seriously, substantively and quoting from memory. I was impressed.

 

Unfortunately, none of them was talking about what interested me the most: one little phrase that has given translators trouble. Regarding foreign policy, Medvedev said: "Нам нечего, как принято говорить, 'надувать щёки'" (literally, we shouldn't "puff out our cheeks," as they say). Huh?

 

In Russian, English and probably every other language under the sun, physical gestures and facial expressions — sometimes metaphorical, sometimes actual — are used to convey emotional states. When English speakers use the same or similar expressions to convey the same emotions, translation is easy. Он почесал затылок (He scratched his head; he was puzzled, at a loss, amazed). Он навострил уши (He pricked up his ears; he paid close attention to what was being said).

 

Americans puff out their cheeks and expel air as a sign of exasperation, denoted by the words "whew" or "phew." They also pout. In Russian, this is надувать губы (literally, to puff out one's lips). That's pretty much our cheek-puffing repertoire. In the interest of scholarship, I sat in front of a mirror and puffed out my cheeks, hoping to see some profound emotion. Instead, I saw a ridiculous middle-aged woman doing a chipmunk imitation. Surely that's not what Medvedev had in mind.

 

Then I asked a young Russian friend to demonstrate puffed-out cheeks. It was magic. Instantly, a tall, gangly kid turned into a fat, self-important bureaucrat. Got it. Надувать щёки is pose of proud self-importance. In English, we'd probably say: We shouldn't be so high and mighty. If we were to convey this by a physical gesture, we might say: We shouldn't puff out our chests. Or: We shouldn't be puffed up. Or maybe even: We shouldn't swagger.

 

Надувать щёки is not, as the otherwise brilliant Kremlin translators would have it, "to be full of hot air." Sure, someone with a swelled head might also run off at the mouth without saying anything of value — which is what "to be full of hot air" means. But Medvedev wasn't calling on officials to cut the crap. He was telling them to stop playing the big shot.

This is clear in the sentence that follows: Мы заинтересованы в притоке в страну капиталов, новых технологий и передовых идей (We want to see capital, new technologies and cutting-edge ideas coming into the country). The West, he asserted, is interested in the same thing: Знаем, что и наши партнёры рассчитывают на сближение с Россией для реализации своих приоритетных задач (We know that our partners are counting on better relations with Russia in order to achieve their priority goals). In other words: We want it and they want it, but our unwarranted pride is getting in the way.No wonder this was the hot topic in the steam room. Let's hope it's not just hot air.

Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.

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THE MOSCOW TIMES

EDITORIAL

LICENSED TO KILL

BY JAMISON FIRESTONE

 

In the summer of 1993, I set up a law firm in Moscow with an American friend, Terry Duncan. All of the lawyers were Russians. They were the brightest of the bright. Young Russian lawyers from the best schools who believed in Russia, the rule of law and the future of their country. We shared a common vision: Russia was the place to be. History was being made, and we were at the center of it. Law mattered, Russia had a bright future, and lawyers and law were central to that future.

 

One of those young men who shared this vision and passion was Sergei Magnitsky, who worked with me for more than 10 years. I believe that he was killed in prison by corrupt law enforcement officers.

 

There are those who would question my use of the word killed. Some would call it an overreaction. It is not.

 

Magnitsky testified against a group of Interior Ministry officers who we believe stole more than 5 billion rubles from the Russian treasury. One month later, those same officers arrested Magnitsky on completely false charges that made no legal sense. They held him in prison in horrible conditions. When Magnitsky's health deteriorated, they denied him access to doctors, medicine and a routine but critical operation. He died Monday evening.

 

Magnitsky did not die by chance. He died because corrupt Interior Ministry officers killed him: They knowingly imprisoned an innocent man, destroyed his health and denied him access to medical treatment. Maybe the ministry just wanted to put pressure on him. But when detained people are tortured, they sometimes die, and in this case the people applying the pressure become killers.

 

Magnitsky's story is all the more terrible because it is now routine. Let's be honest, the so-called law enforcement agencies are detested by everyone and respected by no one. Corrupt officers routinely open criminal cases against the innocent, imprison people, kill people and steal with impunity. They are not above the law: They are the law. They are in effect licensed to kill.

 

One of the most interesting things about reading the articles and Internet blogs about Magnitsky's death is how universal this opinion is. Nobody believes the Interior Ministry, and everyone understands that Magnitsky was effectively killed, and that he is just another of the many victims of the country's abuse of police powers.

 

"Russian law" has become an oxymoron.

 

When is this crime carried out by law enforcement agencies going to stop? When are we going to take back this country from the gang of criminals in uniform that has decided that it is the law?

 

Although I support President Dmitry Medvedev's statements about fighting legal nihilism and corruption, he should publicly acknowledge that law enforcement agencies and the courts are now the main forces that threaten the ordinary citizens of this country.

 

Medvedev asks Russians not to give up hope and fall into legal nihilism, and then he allows a bunch of bandits in uniforms to rule over us. Corrupt officers steal and kill, and the government does nothing. Occasionally a statement is made about how the president or prime minister cannot interfere with law enforcement agencies, but law enforcement agencies are now Russia's largest problem. They are the enforcers of the new mafia. If Medvedev is not prepared to interfere, who will? The few who try to interfere, like Magnitsky, die.

 

I write this article with a profound sadness that goes deeper than losing a friend. I have watched the profession of law in Russia descend into something that is absolutely meaningless. What is the use of being a lawyer when there is no law? I have watched countless young idealistic lawyers learn through experience that in a growing number of situations there really is no law in Russia. I have watched law enforcement agencies and courts increasingly become agents of thieves and chase into exile, imprison and kill many of the people whom Russia needs most. This is the real face of the "dictatorship of the law."

 

I do not think that there is anything shocking in what I am now saying other than the fact that I am saying it openly. And that in itself says a lot about the state of Russian law. Truthfully, I am afraid while writing this article. In today's Russia, such an article can be deemed "suicidal." My friends would say it is an invitation to be charged with a crime or for the government to deport me. Maybe they are correct, but if they are, then Medvedev has failed miserably.

 

I have spent this week after Magnitsky's death speaking with friends and clients and with scores of people whom I had never met before. All of us are stunned. We detest the people who did this to Magnitsky and who routinely do this to others. We are angered and outraged by a system that stands by silently and allows this to continue. We are confused as to why Medvedev who says all the right things does absolutely nothing.

 

These are not the words of a dissident. These are the words of someone who is fighting for rule of law, whose Russian and foreign friends have died for this country and of a patriot who loves this country. It's time to revoke law enforcement agencies' license to steal and kill and to end Russia's dictatorship of the law.

 

Jamison Firestone is an attorney and managing partner of Firestone Duncan, which has offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

 

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