Billowing economic blues
Hopes of an early turnaround in the global economic situation will meet the same fate that those of a celestial extravaganza did early this week. A reputed multinational think-tank has done some crystal gazing and come to this depressing assessment.

HUDCO dreams houses
IF wishes were houses, HUDCO would build them. As far as selling the dream of low-cost, eco-friendly housing is concerned, few can match the marketing skills of Mr V. Suresh, Chairman and Managing Director of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

Army at a time of changing values
by Rakesh Datta
WITH the deterioration in moral, ethical, professional and social values in society, the obvious question that comes to mind is: how long can we keep the defence forces immune to such developments.

Politics only follows expediency
By M.S.N. Menon
THEY say the universe is based on some mathematical principle. Man has tried to construct his own life on the basis of logical principles, thus imitating the universe.

POLITICS OF NON-PERFORMANCE
By Hari Jaisingh
Whither India? This question surfaces whenever the drift in the polity acquires dangerous overtones or the country comes under a long spell of non-governance.

Nobel thoughts
By Rajnish Wattas
NOW that the Nobel Prize has swung the Indian way, here is another contender, unknown to the Royal Swedish Academy, awaiting invitation to shake hands with King Charles XVI Gustav at Stockholm. The “Nobel” claimant has finally decided to shed off his false nobility, and declare his self-nominated candidature.

75 Years Ago

Hindu-Muslim relations at Meerut
Work on Conciliation Board
MEERUT: The Joint Committee of the leading Hindus and Mohammedans, that has been mainly responsible for bringing about a compromise, was busy holding meetings last week trying to devise methods to keep the peace.

Billowing economic blues

Hopes of an early turnaround in the global economic situation will meet the same fate that those of a celestial extravaganza did early this week. A reputed multinational think-tank has done some crystal gazing and come to this depressing assessment. On virtually the other side of the globe, many countries met at the summit level but failed to initiate collective steps to inject dynamism into their sluggish or recession-ravaged economies. Even minor initiatives proved elusive. The reference here is to the half-yearly analysis of the Paris-based OECD, grouping 29 highly industrialised countries. Its reports are highly rated for their cautious approach and thoroughness. The other event was the APEC forum meeting in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which failed to come up with any measure to lift the misery quotient of the broken economies of Thailand and Indonesia, both members. The only positive gesture was the offer of $10 billion to be equally shared by Japan and the USA, to help the needy. Someone dismissed this as “too little and too late”. The Paris and Kuala Lumpur shows underline the complexity of the economic crisis and the inherent inability of a group of countries to mutually help and mitigate the effects of the ballooning unemployment, slowdown in production and raging inflation. All this in those countries that witnessed and benefited from development at breakneck speed.

The OECD report spreads pessimism thick and wide. The countries with battered economies have to slug it out for at least one more year before expecting relief. Thailand and Indonesia, the two worst victims of sudden capital flight in the middle of last year, were told in May last that with the stabilisation of their currencies and stock market behaviour, it was only a matter of months before they resumed their stalled onward march. Not any more. Capital is very shy and the speculator crowd is wary of putting their money there. Even the mighty USA will have to be content with lethargic growth, while Japan will be lucky if the inherent risks do not explode in the wrong way.

The same mood of helplessness dominated the APEC summit, which ended on Wednesday. Some closed their eyes to the harsh reality and hawked a grand import duty reduction proposal. Japan, the most zealous protectionist, shot it down by refusing to open its farming and fisheries sectors. In the end a six-point declaration was released which talked vaguely of collective action. But Malaysia, the lone ranger in the matter of currency controls in the midst of World Bank-IMF demand for greater deregulation, managed to wrest two endorsements. One, it has the right to take the necessary steps to protect its economy (like currency control) and, two, hedge funds from the USA should be forced to be more transparent. It is these funds which triggered the panic which ultimately laid waste the economy of several countries. But the Kuala Lumpur show was saved from being utterly lacklustre by an Al Gore sideshow. He is the US Vice-President and he tried to imitate his boss and fell flat. Mr Gore zeroed in on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed the way his boss does on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. That was supporting street level democracy and the host country lambasted it as disgusting and outrageous. Mr Gore was obviously a victim of the American macho tradition, the later-day democratic cowboy who shoots verbal bullets before asking questions. Or perhaps he was thinking of Indonesia where veteran leader Suharto had to go once the USA made extremely unfriendly noises. But Mr Mahathir is no Suharto and Mr Gore is no Bill Clinton. All that was diverting, but hardly edifying. It all showed in the final outcome as well.

HUDCO dreams houses

IF wishes were houses, HUDCO would build them. As far as selling the dream of low-cost, eco-friendly housing is concerned, few can match the marketing skills of Mr V. Suresh, Chairman and Managing Director of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation. True to his style of functioning, he visited the HUDCO stall at the Indian International Trade Fair in Delhi to share with the media his plans for promoting mega housing projects. In his book the housing shortage can be overcome by involving HUDCO’s network of 557 building centres spread over the country. The strategy involves “lab-to-land” transfer of technology, promoting the use of alternative building materials and training construction workers to use the new technologies. HUDCO has even launched an impressive ad campaign for promoting eco-friendly housing with an invitation to no one in particular to “join the movement”. What the ad does not say is that the invitation to “join the movement” is for institutions and not for individuals. Why waste public money on a campaign which is of no relevance to individual house-builders? The fact of the matter is that the housing industry is passing through a phase of recession. The prohibitive cost of construction has forced most people to put on hold their dream of acquiring an affordable shelter. HUDCO can, indeed, play a major role in meeting the housing shortage by marginalising the hold of the profit driven private building sector through offering affordable and eco-friendly shelters to the masses. All that the public sector housing corporation needs to do is to change its priority from funding group housing to offering direct technical assistance to individual house-builders. For an individual acquiring a plot of land is easy, but building a house is difficult. Architects, builders and contractors in the private sector do not encourage individuals to use HUDCO approved materials and technologies because of the low margin of profit in building such units.

Mr Suresh is perhaps, not familiar with the level of awareness among the people of the new building technologies being used across the globe. However, an individual who wants to build a totally self-sufficient unit would be discouraged from installing solar panels for meeting his energy needs, building an underground facility for trapping rain water and installing a mini bio-mass plant for meeting his fuel needs. Why? Is it to be presumed that the official talk about encouraging people to opt for non-conventional and eco-friendly sources of energy is not to be taken seriously? If the answer is in the affirmative, why spend public money on projects which are of little use to the average citizen? HUDCO too is a white elephant as far as individual house-builders are concerned. Along with chasing the rupee by encouraging mega housing projects, Mr Suresh should also learn to appreciate the value of the humble paisa of individuals. HUDCO need not give house building loans to them. But if it receives requests from individuals for providing them the paid services of architects and construction workers (familiar with HUDCO-approved technologies) and low-cost eco-friendly building materials, it should not reject them. Can Mr Suresh give an assurance that HUDCO would provide the building materials on display at the exhibition in Delhi through its network of building centres to individuals wanting to build low-cost eco-friendly shelters in a remote area of Punjab? If the answer is in the negative, HUDCO should withdraw the invitation to “join the movement” for eco-friendly housing and also stop making claims about “lab-to-land” transfer of state-of-the-art building technology. It should stop “dreaming houses” which it cannot offer to everyone.

By Hari Jaisingh
POLITICS OF NON-PERFORMANCE
Government failures are man-made

Whither India? This question surfaces whenever the drift in the polity acquires dangerous overtones or the country comes under a long spell of non-governance.

It will, of course, be unfair to totally debunk the Vajpayee government as a non-performer. It has taken a number of policy decisions, howsoever belatedly and selectively. But in the most critical areas of governance sheer adhocism has come to be the rule.

Notwithstanding its certain dazzling and fleeting moments of success as seen at Pokhran, it is a fact that the central politico-administrative leadership does not have a tight grip over the problems that the country is faced with. Policies announced from time to time are either muddled or lopsided. Equally confused are the priorities. A sense of direction in running the affairs of the nation is missing. Everything seems to be piecemeal and disjointed.

Amidst the growing gap between promise and performance at all levels of governance, there hardly seems to be any realisation in the ruling elite that lofty words are a poor substitute for solid action.

I am not talking in general terms to criticise the coalition government headed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. A number of examples can be cited to underline its failures on the various fronts. This exercise will surely have to be done objectively so that we get to know how and where things have been going on to the disadvantage of the common man.

It needs to be conceded that Mr Vajpayee is the tallest of all leaders in the country today. He is well-meaning and has the ability to win and retain the people's confidence by sincere intentions and oratory. But he seems to be lacking the killer instinct to take the country forward. He is no doubt beset with several problems and compulsions, both within his party and vis-a-vis his allies. In fact, as Prime Minister he has neither been able to control his party nor the allies to make his government function collectively and decisively so that the country is put on the right track.

It is no secret that there are factions within the BJP itself which seem to be working at cross-purposes. Notwithstanding the denials, several knowledgeable persons even speak of the differences between Mr Vajpayee and Mr L.K. Advani. Besides, RSS leaders have grave reservations on certain aspects of the government's policies and programmes. These revolve round the wider question of management of the economy, the policy of liberalisation and swadeshi as well as several sensitive issues of domestic and foreign policy.

In the circumstances, confusing signals are but natural. In fact, Mr Vajpayee, unfortunately, is seen as a prisoner of circumstances. If the country's top leader allows the creation of an image of helplessness around him, this cannot be conducive to the building of a positive image about the government.

Perhaps Mr Vajpayee is well aware of the limitations under which he has to function. Left to himself he will not like to accept the situation and is said to have told his close friends that he will soon assert himself in critical areas of public importance. We are not sure when and how this will happen.

In the absence of a viable coalition culture of homogeneous functioning at the Centre, the weakness in the system is all the more glaring. It should have been possible for the leadership to take the lead in evolving coordinated policies and programmes at all levels. But this has not been done in a systematic way. Instead, it has preferred to indulge in the policy of appeasement to placate one disgruntled leader or the other in the coalition. That is the reason why the AIADMK supremo, Ms Jayalalitha, has successfully blackmailed the Vajpayee government into submission on matters of her interest.

We do not fully know the poll promises held out by the BJP leaders to Ms Jayalalitha. But the fact is that every time she raises an issue and makes her demands, one emissary or the other is rushed to Chennai to placate her. This is not the way the nation's affairs are conducted. The leadership should have the ability to understand and manage political sensitivities in a subtle manner and evolve the right response before exposing itself to public ridicule. But who cares? The BJP leaders lack both experience in governance and maturity. They tend to view the varied problems of the country through set angularities without properly examining them on the touchstone of common sense.

Even in the simple matter of unprecedented price rise, the government seems to be lacking guts and has failed to tackle the problem effectively. It even failed to anticipate the failure of the onion and potato crops. It seems to have been constantly guided by the small-time shopkeeper's mentality.

A nation of India's size and complexity can hardly be run like a neighbourhood grocery shop. When Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee belatedly raised the issue of price rise and threatened to pull out of the coalition arrangement, Mr George Fernandes was sent to Calcutta to pacify her. Ms Mamata Banerjee was only seeking a meeting of the Coordination Committee to tackle the onion crisis and the problem of a backbreaking increase in the prices of essential commodities.

Looking at the nature and dimension of the crisis, which has affected millions of countrymen, the government's response has been half-hearted. This is another example which puts Mr Vajpayee's government in poor light in the eyes of the general public.

Handling national affairs is a serious business. The inability of the present government to curb the skyrocketing of the prices of essential commodities is indeed its biggest failure. Not that there is a sudden all-round shortage of essential goods and vegetables. But an atmosphere of panic has been created among the consumers. This shows poor management both of politics and economics even in areas directly affecting the common man.

It is a fluid situation that is exploited by all and sundry to make hay while the sun shines. In any case, the current price rise is unwarranted. Production is, of course, never uniform. It keeps fluctuating. But what about the rise by 10 times in the prices of essential commodities? This is unprecedented. This is the result of manipulation, and the government should have come down heavily on the mischief-makers. But even in the case of the mustard oil scandal not one culprit was caught or punished. Why?

The Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security says that the BJP regime has deliberately recast its food distribution policy to favour traders at the cost of the consumers. The BJP leadership is probably overlooking the fact that the consumers too are voters. And it is also a fact that the BJP's vote share is still only about 20 per cent!

The basic problem with the Indian situation has been the politicisation of the economy. A politicised economy not only generates irrationality but also produces fragmented results. What is more, a deep schism appears to have hit the economy, dividing it into two mutually exclusive and unrelated segments.

True, the Vajpayee government has occasionally tried to revive the confidence of the people in the country's economic growth. The Prime Minister's recent economic package does contain a few bold proposals. But the country's harsh economic realities cannot be tackled through half-baked measures, especially when the political will to push through hard options is missing. In fact, problems of economic growth in our country are perceived rather narrowly. That is why official performance inevitably falls short of popular expectations.

Indeed, the inability of those at the helm to think clearly and sharply constitutes a major national failure. Equally glaring is the incapacity to convert savings into investments and improve yields from the investments already made.

As it is, the government's control over its finances remains as tenuous as before. The fiscal deficit continues to be as problematic as before. Equally disturbing are the mounting public debt and unproductive expenditure.

The country cannot come out of the present economic rot painlessly. For, every set of policies creates its vested interests. The low growth syndrome has existed so far because a variety of political and economic interests have converged. This syndrome can change only by forging a new consensus.

It is, of course, reassuring that in his recent pronouncements Prime Minister Vajpayee seems to have sought from the captains of industry a consensual response to the challenge of sustaining industrial growth of 10 to 12 per cent and export growth of 15 to 20 per cent. Today industrial output is hardly growing at 5 per cent. Even exports are languishing with a negative growth of around 8 per cent.

True, the policy regime of the BJP-led government is not to blame solely for the on-going mess. Besides external factors, the fact is that the country's political system itself has been caught up in the vagaries of coalition government since 1996 with a disastrous fallout in various sectors.

Is there a way out of the messy situation? Why not? It is for the people to apply the correctives and reject those who try to rule this country as their fiefdom in collaboration with the growing ranks of criminals.

India cannot be allowed to become a country of extreme permissiveness, of lawlessness and of organised loot and violence. Most of our failures and problems are man-made. They have nothing to do with divine intervention or wrath. It is time we gave these matters a deep thought.

Army at a time of changing values
by Rakesh Datta

WITH the deterioration in moral, ethical, professional and social values in society, the obvious question that comes to mind is: how long can we keep the defence forces immune to such developments. Or what is it that prevents the forces from getting affected by changing social values? It may be pointed out that there is a closer relationship between the military and society. In fact, both are complementary to each other. Rather the military evolves from society.

A closer look at the history of armies shows that there was great military renaissance during the 15th and 16th centuries. This brought about social acceptability of the military as its important segment. Later on, the end of the French Revolution resulted in the beginning of the days of the masses, armies in the Western world, marking a larger interplay of the military and society.

The army was considered a powerful instrument of state policy along with its role in nation-building and as a politically unifying force. With the transition to a professionalised/standing army in most of the Western countries, including the USA, there came an obligation to serve in the armed forces for a specific period. This legitimised the role of the military in society and allowed a healthy growth of the relationship between the two.

The current phase of demobilisation in the British army due to the post-Cold War situation is perceived as a threat to the existence of good society. While assigning a new role to the British forces, public appreciation of the immense contribution made by the forces in the past to the national wellbeing is recorded. In the USA, Republicans even attacked Mr Clinton when contesting for Presidency for holding contrary views during the Vietnam war.

In contrast, the British who were responsible for raising the Indian Army had reared it as a separate composite culture confined to cantonments only. The interest was more vested because they never wanted defence personnel to be influenced by political ideas and the freedom movement. Instead, they used the army for suppressing such revolutionary activities.

As such, when free India, under compelling circumstances, had to retain the defence forces to protect its territorial integrity it could not shed completely its anathema to the army. However, while the wars with China and Pakistan resulted into a positive transformation of the social orientation towards the military, a long period of 27 years of no war is negating the whole process of cordiality. Of late, the army is detailed for less significant roles like aid to civil authority or providing relief during a natural disaster, whereas its persisting war-like engagements in Siachen, Kashmir and Assam are underplayed as political will lacking to resolve the issues involved. Engineering non-military actions by the military is lending a basis to the developing crisis of legitimacy of the army vis-a-vis society. On the other hand, the army justifies the long peace due to its having acquired a deterrent potential, thereby keeping adversaries at bay.

In this context, there is a continuous need to build a consensus on national security. It will be prudent to undertake an assessment of the changing values which have injured the country’s social, moral and political fabric, and may be on their way to permeating among the defence forces.

The resultant graph from the findings of a study carried out by this writer on ex-servicemen shows economics, rather than patriotism, as a major reason for joining the armed forces. It is an alarming trend when corruption and materialism are dominating society on which subsists our military.

While addressing his troops and their families during the 1971 war, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber, then Commanding Officer, Gorkha Regiment, had said, “I am taking your sons, brothers, husbands and sons-in-law. I don’t promise that I will bring all of them back. But I promise you that I will not put them to any danger unless I have exposed myself to that first.” What an example of extreme camaraderie. It was not an emotional appeal alone. Its roots lay in the values, traditions and the superior quality of purpose that blossomed into a force.

Nobel thoughts
By Rajnish Wattas

NOW that the Nobel Prize has swung the Indian way, here is another contender, unknown to the Royal Swedish Academy, awaiting invitation to shake hands with King Charles XVI Gustav at Stockholm. The “Nobel” claimant has finally decided to shed off his false nobility, and declare his self-nominated candidature.

In fact, here is a unique phenomenon who can be considered not for one but all categories of the prize. It’s a one-man dynamite of talent which the late Alfred Nobel would have been most delighted to ignite. Here is my claim to fame:

NP [Nobel Prize] for Economics: As the original father of “welfare economics”, I have been doling out hard-earned money for fancy education of my children and their mother’s “basic” health care at the beautician. And have yet kept famine at bay and provided for at least one onion and a potato a day for the family.

NP for Peace: As the father of two brats, I have shown exemplary courage as a trouble-shooter. Even in the midst of most violent conditions, such as chappals flying all around as a vibrant demonstration of brother-sister love, I have acted with perfect aplomb. As an apostle of peace, I have diffused the situation by calmly collecting all the flying footwear and restoring them to their respective positions.

NP for Medicine: As a die-hard hypochondriac, prone to self-medication by way of popping pills at the slightest sneeze, I have made innumerable chemists laugh all the way to the bank. Even if laughter has not proved to be the best medicine in my own case, I have served its cause admirably by making many doctors happy. They have been able to serve me hefty bills for merely administering strong doses of tight “Cheer up boy” gung-ho back slaps.

NP for Physics: As an absent-minded professor, I have often run out of the bathroom — a la Archimedes — without clothes; thereby proving the principle that the amount of water displaced during bathing is directly proportionate to the shortage of towels in the house. This, in turn, is inversely proportionate to the number of urgent phone calls you get while bathing. Moreover, I am the original father of the “black hole” theory, now propounded by astronomers. This was discovered as early as my high school days — when as a back-bencher every thing seemed to me to vanish into a black hole during the physics class. And it was later confirmed by a white-hole obtained in the examination results.

NP for Chemistry: As one who can mix all types of ingredients to concoct ingenious cocktails, without blowing up the bar or the stomach, and yet survive another day to drink urea-mixed milk and eat mustard oil pakoras, I have turned a discipline of bio-chemistry on its head.

NP for Literature: As a freelance writer with the highest score of unpublished middles and rejection slips, I should be considered as the most persevering creator of unread masterpieces, beyond the comprehension of mundane newspaper editors. The only place where my literary talent would get its due would be the Royal Swedish Academy.

In the meantime, there are no prizes for guessing whose name shall not figure in the next year’s list.

Politics only follows expediency
By M.S.N. Menon

THEY say the universe is based on some mathematical principle. Man has tried to construct his own life on the basis of logical principles, thus imitating the universe. Yet, politics, which regulates the greater part of human life, follows no logic. More often, it follows expediency.

One example: the BJP supports both globalisation and swadeshi. Globalisation reduces both sovereignty and choice. Swadeshi expands both. And yet the BJP claims that it is a “nationalist” party!

The BJP does not see the contradiction. The concept of swadeshi is new to the BJP. A party which once voted for free enterprise and was yoked to the Swatantra Party cannot be a real votary of swadeshi. Yet it has of late become a mantra with the BJP leaders. But do they realise that the concept came from a larger philosophic and social vision?

The swadeshi movement in India assumed a spiritual and political character. It became a movement for the liberation of the spiritual energy of the nation. To Gokhale, swadeshi meant an all-embracing love of India. To him, it was both patriotic and economic. Malaviya wanted the political and economic policies of India to be in conformity with the philosophy of Hinduism.

It was Gandhiji who raised swadeshi to its spiritual and temporal heights. To him swadeshi had two dimensions — Dharma and Artha. In his advice to the All-India Swadeshi League, Gandhiji quotes the Gita: “It is best to die performing one’s own duty or swadharma. Paradharma or others’ duty is fraught with dangers. What the Gita says with regard to swadharma equally applies to swadeshi, for swadeshi is swadharma applied to one’s immediate environment.” I have not come across a more profound definition of swadeshi.

What Gandhiji wanted to convey was this: a man grows according to his own dharma (that is swadharma) and his economic needs are satisfied by his environment. In any other order of things, there is great danger. (Gandhiji was not against foreign goods.) But he was opposed to Indians copying the life and thought of the West because they are based on a different dharma.

Gandhiji did not like “modern civilisation” because what inspired it was an ever-expanding desire for material things. He believed that it is not conducive to the moral growth of man. Ananda Coomaraswamy says: “Civilisation consists not in multiplying our desires and the means of gratifying them, but in the refinement of their quality.”

The pursuit of a material civilisation can be justified only if it leads to the ultimate understanding of the universe. For example, our explorations of the atom or the galaxies are initial steps in that direction. These are byproducts of our quest for material things.

As in so many other matters, independent India did not even bother to examine the relevance of swadeshi to India’s life. It went all out for paradharma. A man gets transformed only through work, through his involvement in activities, not so much by education. Yet Indian planners failed to utilise the planning process to involve our people and bring about the transformations. They entrusted the job to an unwilling and hostile bureaucracy. Did the BJP see an opportunity to advance its own ideals in the concept of swadeshi? Did it realise that swadeshi is an ally of nationalism? It did not. It was then more interested in the American model! And had it not been for its support to economic reform and globalisation (to the Rao regime), we would not have got involved in them.

The structural reforms have failed in most countries. And globalisation has created a series of crisis. The BJP has reason for a change of heart. But it is already too late. Globalisation has already gone too far in most of the countries.

The world is changing faster than ever before. The agricultural economy has given way to industrial economy and the industrial economy is changing over to an information economy. How well is India placed in this? Not badly. We have the manpower, but no organisational support. The Planning Commission is the right organisation to promote the change. But it is not geared to the task. Information, computer and telecommunication are the core inputs of the future economy. What we need is not World Bank reforms or massive infusion of foreign capital. We need intelligent management.

But there is another type of economy which plays havoc with the life of millions. John Maynard Keynes called it “Casino economy”, the economy of speculators. More than $ 500 billion flow through the world’s major foreign exchange markets every day. Only 10 per cent of it has to do with world trade. The rest goes into speculation. It is this “hot money” which shapes the fortunes of the western world. It is characterised by crisis. Wall Street and Washington want that this hot money should be given total freedom to move about as it pleases.

Other dangers have appeared. For example, cultural, social and political integration. Everywhere the nation states are facing a crisis of identity. In fact, the nation state, as Peter Drucker says, is no more viable. Only associations of states can survive. India is a member of SAARC. Can the BJP follow its policy of swadeshi in such an association? It cannot. What is more tragic to the BJP is the fact that in such an association, there is no scope for even nationalism.

America pursues the objective of a monoculture in the world. And it has nearly succeeded. The French and Canadians have openly rebelled against the commercial culture of America. America controls much of the entertainment world — films, radio, TV, music, magazines, packaged foods, theme parks etc. All these, which are born in the market, spread a fantasy around the world. Thus it is truly said that America has made its dream its number one export.

This is the unfinished business of colonialism — what Macaulay and others set out to achieve. And it has been easy for America because colonialism has already created a colonial mentality in most of the developing countries.

Can the BJP resist this global onslaught? It is not enough to mouth platitudes, and worse to follow contradictory policies. I mean welcoming economic globalisation and opposing cultural invasion.

There is naturally a backlash. It has taken different forms — from a closing of the windows to terrorism. Nationalism is emerging in many countries. Even in America and Japan. Isn’t it strange that in the age of globalisation, ethnicity has become the most emotive factor in the world? This is because the nation state can no more deliver what it promises. And in an inter-dependent global economy, the promises of the nation states are hollow. The party manifestos are frauds. And promises of politicians are worse.

The BJP is largely an urban party. The urban people are largely uprooted. They are internal exiles. They have no commitment to uphold India’s traditional values. They love “phoren”. With such human asset, can we take the BJP seriously when it talks of swadeshi and nationalism?

75 YEARS AGO
Hindu-Muslim relations at Meerut
Work on Conciliation Board

MEERUT: The Joint Committee of the leading Hindus and Mohammedans, that has been mainly responsible for bringing about a compromise, was busy holding meetings last week trying to devise methods to keep the peace.

Leading Mohammedans issued a manifesto condemning the actions of those who created the trouble at an inter-caste dinner held by the Hindus sometime back, which incident is said to be the apparent starting point of communal differences.

An Arbitration Committee has been appointed to settle future differences arising between the communities, and much spade work has been done. Notwithstanding these efforts, communal peace appears still far as strained relations are visible to an appreciable extent. The boycott of shops still continues, wherever possible. The Hindus had opened a new vegetable market, which still retains all signs of being a permanent one.

Karari Riot cases

ALLAHABAD: The trial of the accused in Karari riots commenced today before Mr Yorke, Sessions Judge of Allahabad.