The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

OPINION

THE CONGRESS IN DISARRAY
Opportunity to capture centre-stage lost
by Praful Bidwai
THERE could be no better occasion for the Indian National Congress to seize the political initiative and make a forward thrust than today. There is growing and tangible popular disillusionment with the ruling National Democratic Alliance. The coalition’s fulcrum, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is in the grip of the worst internal strike in its history. Its top leader — and its sole market asset or unique selling proposition — remains afflicted by a range of ailments.

MIDDLE

“Mera Bharat hai mahaan!”
by J. L. Gupta
DOORDARSHAN Sports, the national channel, had annexed the Olympics. Even before the inauguration. It had won the “marketing” rights. And what a good performance. Poor “picture”. Bad transmission. With nothing more to brag about.

REALPOLITIK

by P. Raman
Diplomacy vs trade bargain
SOON after opting for the triple remedy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh combine had initiated a certain consequential measures. The most significant among them was aimed at reorienting the foreign service. Manmohan Singh argued that hereafter ‘business diplomacy’ would replace foreign relations strategy based on ‘leadership-friendship’ concepts.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Hapless growers

DESPITE the grand announcement made by Union Minister for Food Shanta Kumar in Chandigarh on September 7 to launch paddy procurement in Punjab and Haryana on September 21, there is no proper arrangement so far to lift the crop arrivals, piling up in the mandis. A survey conducted by The Tribune shows that hapless farmers at many places in Punjab have resorted to a distress sale of their produce. The beneficiaries of the government apathy are private millers, as it always happens in such a situation. Farmers in general are not in a position to wait endlessly for the representatives of the state procurement agencies or of the Food Corporation of India to buy their produce at the minimum support price of Rs 540 a quintal with a moisture content not more than 18 per cent. Thus they are suffering a loss between Rs 150 and Rs 200 a quintal by disposing of their paddy to private millers. At certain places where government procurement officials have been sighted, they have refused to undertake the task on the plea that at this stage the moisture content is much higher than that officially allowed---18 per cent. In such a situation, the farmers' anger is obvious. What a paradox! They produce more and more only to suffer at the end!

A report from Ferozepore says that the farmers have formed a Joint Action Committee to launch an agitation to expose the Punjab government's unhelpful attitude. Perhaps they have come to realise that the government remains unmoved, specially when farmers' interests are threatened, so long as they do not resort to an agitational approach. And the farmers are not unjustified. Their representatives had been pleading with the government for a long time that procurement must begin immediately after September 15 whereas the initial official plan was to launch it on October 1. Delayed procurement means a considerable loss to the growers, but the government is the least worried about it. Finally, it was agreed that official agencies would begin this work on September 21 after a massive rally was held in Chandigarh by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, the Punjab Kisan Union, the Punjab Kisan Sabha and the Kirti Kisan Union. But now it appears that what Mr Shanta Kumar had said after a meeting with the Punjab and Haryana Chief Ministers was meant only to pacify the agitated farmers. The government is likely to go about paddy procurement according to its undeclared plan. Of course, it has two major problems to overcome, which might be coming in the way of this task. It has yet to make adequate storage arrangement without which speedy procurement is unthinkable. Then the government does not seem to have gathered courage to bear the loss it will have to at the 18 per cent moisture content. A few days' delay may lead to a substantial reduction in paddy moisture. But what about the underhand deals that are made between officials and millers? The latter can make millions of rupees if they are helped by the procurement staff with their delaying tactics. The Punjab government cannot afford this kind of treatment being meted out to the farmers when the Akali Dal candidate finds himself in a very tight position in Sunam where a byelection is to be held on September 29. It must act fast to save the situation from taking an ugly turn as it too will suffer along with the kisans.

Poverty in retreat!

MR ARUN SHOURIE was never slow in going to town with his exposes as the “father of investigative journalism”. He has not given up the habit. As Union Minister of State for Planning he has with him figures which show a sharp reduction in the number of people below the poverty line. He is in a hurry to release the figures. Some members of the Planning Commission and the National Sample Survey Organisation legitimately feel that the data needs to be analysed thoroughly before the “good news” is made public by the public-spirited Minister. His decision to make the “poverty reduction” announcement within the week has prompted a section of the media to jump the gun and start a hurried debate on the impact of the policy of liberalisation on bringing down the poverty line. Although the NSSO, which conducted the survey, has yet to tie up a lot many loose ends for the data to make sense, the pro-liberalisation lobby has already dispatched letters of congratulations to Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr P, Chidambaram and Mr Yashwant Sinha for the sharp reduction in poverty figures. But the figures which Mr Shourie is keen to make public are almost unbelievable to be true. Yes, there is global evidence of the capitalist approach being more effective in combating poverty than of those who believed that the objective of common good can only be achieved through treading the path of socialism. As of today, Karl Marx is indeed in retreat and Adam Smith is having a field day by winning more and more converts to his economic model of development.

When Dr Manmohan Singh ushered in the current and on-going phase of economic reforms, he was dubbed as an agent of the capitalists. Half-baked figures were produced to show that the level of poverty, both rural and urban, had gone up because of the good doctor’s bad prescription for reviving the Indian economy. But 10 years down the line, even his bitter critics have begun to acknowledge is contribution to sustainable economic reforms. Statistics show India taking giant strides in the direction of becoming a global economic power. However, even the giant economic strides, which the country has undoubtedly taken in the past decade, would not satisfactorily explain how the poverty line went down sharply by an impressive margin of 10 per cent in only the last six years of the phase of liberalisation. To the naked eye urban India does appear to have acquired the trappings of having arrived. But has it carried with it the vast and increasing number of poor in its giant march towards economic upliftment? The NSS figures say it has. What is more astounding is the fact that in the rural areas too only 27 per cent of the population, as against the earlier 37 per cent, is now below the poverty line. But the data which has been leaked through a section of the media is likely to add to the confusion rather than clear the misgivings of the anti-liberalisation lobby. Part of the confusion can be traced to the fact that the sample results for the period January to June this year have yet to be analysed. It would take the NSS another four months to give a more accurate profile of the number of those actually living below the poverty line. Orissa is among the states which continue to report starvation deaths, perhaps due to faulty distribution and not the shortage of food. However, more rural families have been forced to sell their children merely to survive in post-liberal India than before. It indicates the continued lack of purchasing power in most rural households below the poverty line. The NSS has, of course, its own methodology for determining the scale of poverty in the country. But does it take into account the sharp increase in the poverty-related crimes, specially in pockets where the rich have become vulgar rich and the poor have been forced to make their presence felt through a parallel rise in the number of jhuggi-jhonpri clusters? It is evident that the figures in their present unanalysed form need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Mr Shourie should have waited for the NSS to finish its job before deciding to share the “good news” by having it leaked to a section of the media.

RIB-tickler II

IN its eagerness to shore up the sagging rupee against the dollar, the RBI will raise a foreign exchange loan through the bond route. Patterned on the Resurgent India Bond (RIB) of 1998, the new one will be sold by banks in three currencies — the dollar, pound-sterling and the yen — with a maturity of five years. The proposal has attracted flak on two counts. Its coupon (interest) rate of 8.5 per cent is very high. In the USA long-term bank loan is available at 6 per cent, making it tempting to borrow and invest in these bonds and earn at least 2.5 per cent a year. In banking term this is called leveraging. The second objection is the exchange rate risk and the government underwriting the whole exercise. If the rupee loses value against, say, the dollar, it will take more rupees to redeem the bond. This may lead to a big loss considering that the Indian currency has been depreciating at about 5 per cent a year. Thus interest and servicing charges will work out to more than 13 per cent, a prohibitively high rate by any standard.

What is more, there is no immediate need to float a costly loan, what it indeed is. The foreign exchange reserve is depleting but is still a healthy $35 billion or thereabouts. Trade deficit is well below 2 per cent of the GDP; in dollar terms it was $3.7 billion in the first four months of the financial year compared to $3.1 billion last year. True, this year oil import alone will cost about $20 billion, double that of last year but with remittances and other dollar earnings flowing in steadily, there is no particular urgency to resort to RIB-II. The RBI has justified its go-ahead to the State Bank of India, which is issuing the bond, on the ground that credit to industry has been brisk this year, exhausting the funds available with banks. But it is not a convincing argument. The hope is that the bond will bring in anything up to $4 billion and only half of this will be retained by the banks and that will come to less than Rs 10,000 crore. The RBI can achieve the same end by cutting cash reserve ratio. Obviously the undeclared policy is to increase the foreign exchange reserve not only to meet the higher import bill but also improve the psychology of the currency market and stabilise the exchange rate at around Rs 46.50 to a dollar.

Initial response from the NRIs, who alone are entitled to buy RIBs, has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. The promised high return is only one reason. More importantly, there is the desire to park surplus funds in India. Critics of the new scheme point out that if the second motivation is valid, a new edition of the RIB with a variable rate of interest in tune with the American deposit rate can still bring in funds. They base their case on an earlier experience. In the wake of a crippling foreign exchange crisis in 1991, the RBI launched its foreign currency non-resident account and soon found that it was exorbitantly costly. So it replaced it with FCNR-B, a corrected version. Still it appealed to NRIs who invested about $10 billion in the account. The first RIB in 1998 brought in $4.7 billion and will mature in 2003. Earlier India Development Bonds hit the market in 1991 at the height of the forex crisis.

THE CONGRESS IN DISARRAY
Opportunity to capture centre-stage lost
by Praful Bidwai

THERE could be no better occasion for the Indian National Congress to seize the political initiative and make a forward thrust than today. There is growing and tangible popular disillusionment with the ruling National Democratic Alliance. The coalition’s fulcrum, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is in the grip of the worst internal strike in its history. Its top leader — and its sole market asset or unique selling proposition — remains afflicted by a range of ailments. The BJP’s allies, directionless and fractious, are busy pursuing severely parochial agendas as the coalition lurches from one crisis to another.

Only the pampered upper crust of the Indian elite, which has had a great time and enjoyed an unparalleled consumption boom under the NDA’s sleazy policies, experiences the “feel-good” factor. But sullen disappointment or anger is building up among most other social strata. Over 1.1 million cane-growing peasant families of Uttar Pradesh have just seen sugar mills cruelly shut down. Returns from cereal farming everywhere have plummeted to abysmal levels. Farmers face ruin. But “surplus” stocks rot in state godowns as millions go hungry. OGL imports are ruining small producers.

Urban lower middle class and working class people are suddenly being asked to pay 70 per cent more for food and fuel. Health and primary education services are breaking down. Misgovernance is rampant. A classic description of ancient Rome — “a government controlled by wealth, a ruling class numb to the repetitions of political scandal, a public diverted by chariot races and gladiatorial shows” (what else is Kaun Banega Crorepati?) — applies strongly to the state of the Indian nation today.

This cries out for a powerful political response, one that not merely puts the government on the mat, but also fights for alternative policies and creative solutions. Even more, it calls for serious political mobilisation and campaigning in the streets. However, the Congress’s response has been supine and passive, or confused, half-hearted and contradictory —in all cases, inadequate. It is as if the party had even lost its gut-level political instincts. What else can explain its failure to take on the NDA on such varied issues as Mr Vajpayee’s outrageous swayamsevak speech (which mocks at official policy), the Jethmalani resignation, obscene increases in food prices, attacks on the minorities, and rank communalisation of cultural and educational institutions?

And why else is the Congress so schizophrenic in West Bengal, where the NDA is out to wreak vengeance upon the Left Front, towards which the Congress should be well-disposed? Rather than defend the LF against vicious attacks and concocted charges levelled by Ms Mamata Banerjee, and isolate the Trinamool Congress — a threat to the Congress directly, as well as through its alliance with the BJP — the party has entered into a de facto quasi-alliance with it! It can be no one’s case that the LF’s record is unblemished or that Mr Jyoti Basu’s administration could not be more responsive to popular concerns. But the Left Front’s performance is vastly superior — in land reforms, primary education, food and employment security, panchayati raj and women’s empowerment —to that of most other parties. The LF is incomparably better than the Trinamool Congress could ever be with its base of mastaans and racketeers.

The Congress is being suicidal in pursuing its quasi-mahajot with Trinamool. A tragic irony, its MLA is Trinamool’s Calcutta mayor! Worse, the party’s central leadership has failed to rein its recalcitrant state unit. And to its eternal shame, it is itself lending tacit support to Trinamool’s reckless campaign for the dismissal of the state government. The Congress shouldn’t even be toying with such an idea if it has political sense, leave alone a political conscience. Toppling the LF government on trumped-up charges is unconstitutional. It means destroying a bulwark against lumpen politics, and opening the door to criminalised communalism in West Bengal. Besides, in any early assembly election, the Congress doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

Similarly, the Congress has demonstrated rather blunted political instincts by not seizing upon Mr Vajpayee’s brazen identification with the RSS-VHP during the US visit. It, of course, criticised his swayamsevak statement. But it didn’t attempt real political mobilisation on this issue. Issues such as these, or for that matter, the Sangh Parivar’s infiltration of research institutions, demand street-level action. And that the Congress shows little stomach for. Even on the question of unconscionable increases in PDS food prices, bus fares and electricity rates, it has failed to mobilise the constituency of the poor.

The top leadership of the party must be squarely held responsible for these failure, silences, indecisiveness and other shortcomings. More than two years after the nuclear tests, it has no excuse not to have clear policies on the issue. It is being thoroughly disingenuous in advocating a commitment to the Rajiv Gandhi disarmament plan of 1988 and, in the same breath, opposing the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty — for purely sectarian reasons.

On economic policy, the Congress seemed to be leaning leftwards after five years of the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh flirtation with neo-liberalism. But now it has, irrationally, appointed as many as 11 committees to go into various economic issues, some of them overlapping — all under the overall charge of Mr Pranab Mukherjee, a person devoid of the capacity for honest self-reflection. Such prevarication, just when the NDA is unleashing dogmatic neo-liberalism full-blast, and when livelihoods are threatened, speaks of bad leadership.

That is a direct reflection both upon Mrs Sonia Gandhi and on the decadent political culture that thrives in the Congress. Two and a half years after she took over as party president, Mrs Gandhi has proved unable to provide a cohesive leadership which can revitalise the party. Truth to tell, she has become a prisoner not even of a coterie, but of a few crafty individuals like Mr Vincent George who control access to her, and who have tendered disastrously wrong advice to her — as was exemplified in her handling of the toppling of the first NDA government, her amateurish responses to the Kashmir situation at critical junctures, or her hesitation in raising the issue of persecution of Christians. That alone explains the replacement of Mr Salman Khursheed as UPCC President by a non-entity like Mr Shriprakash Jaiswal, who is close to Mr George.

The intriguers and courtiers who surrounded her — it was a depressing sign of Congress sycophancy that highly respected elderly leaders queued up to congratulate her on becoming a grandmother! — have driven away relatively capable leaders such as Mr Ahmed Patel, Mr A.K. Antony and Mr Madhavrao Scindia. Mrs Gandhi stays where she is by default, because the Congress is not self-confident or democratic enough to think of an alternative to her, especially a collective one. It is easiest for it to fall back upon the Gandhi-Nehru family as the least unacceptable option.

This spells serious trouble. Historically, the Congress has enjoyed broad acceptance and credibility partly because of its unique flexibility in balancing the conflicting demands and agendas of different classes and social groups; partly because it has a “natural” pan-Indian presence and perspective; and not least because it has a modern developmentalist vision of the future. The first function was classically premised upon on a core coalition of classes within its support-base. That coalition broke down when the Dalits and Muslims moved away from the party. They are yet to return to it in big enough numbers.

The Congress’s second advantage stands weakened. Its primary membership has shrunk by more than a third (from 45.8 million in July, 1997). The fall has been especially steep, up to 60 per cent, in UP, Bihar, Gujarat and Kerala. True, this is not an authentic index of the size of the party base or participation; it also reflects low enthusiasm or interest on the part of cadres. But the numbers don’t speak of great organisational vigour on either count. The Congress still has a long way to go in rebuilding its base and recovering its all-India presence, which has been eroded by regional parties.

That depends in no small measure upon the “vision” factor. The Congress is no longer seen as representing a progressive modernist vision that appeals to the broad masses. True, it is not narrow-minded, communal, obscurantist, jingoistic or shamelessly pro-rich. But it hasn’t demarcated itself sharply from the BJP either. It has failed to summon up an anti-elitist, people-oriented, forward-looking and modern vision.

Unless it corrects course, the Congress risks losing some of its recent gains — gains in popular support, morale, mobilising ability, even votes. Indeed, it could get marginalised even as the BJP’s stock falls and the people look for alternatives. This does not bode well for democracy. If the alternative to the BJP don’t come from the Centre-Left, it could come from the extreme Right.

“Mera Bharat hai mahaan!”
by J. L. Gupta

DOORDARSHAN Sports, the national channel, had annexed the Olympics. Even before the inauguration. It had won the “marketing” rights. And what a good performance. Poor “picture”. Bad transmission. With nothing more to brag about.

But every dark cloud has a silver lining. There are virtually no commercial breaks. No unwanted interruptions for advertisements. Only announcements and requests to contact. With virtually no visible effect. And we watch our sportsmen perform as well as the sports channel. Day after day. Till the tired eyes can see no more and the calm sleep overtakes.

In the morning, we wait for the paper. Not to have a peep into the bedroom of the big boss. Not even to read the insipid stories of crime and criminals. Nor about sex and scandals. But we wait for the morning “messiah” in the fond hope of getting some good news. Of something good that might have been missed. A pleasant surprise. Of India getting a gold. At the Sydney Olympics.

Small, unheard of countries are winning. Even Croatia. Despite all the problems. Not India. Not this nation of a billion people. And what do we see? A thousand million. A lone Karnam Malleswari. One billion. One bronze. At least so far. And we are happy. As if we are on the top of the world.

What a fall my countrymen!

Despite an incorrigible optimism, no one was waiting for a miracle. Yet there appeared to be some rare rays of hope. In different disciplines. And then, “India beat Argentina.” With a comfortable margin. Some hope. The next match, we drew with Australia. Soon we fell to Korea. Only to again raise a hope by beating Spain. By the smallest margin. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had won the first match. Would they get past the Australian Woodies? No! They lost in straight sets. Champion shuttler Pullela Gopichand “worked his way” into the men’s singles third round — he had a first round bye — by scoring a hard-earned win over Ukraine’s”... And then, he was finished “in just under an hour”... Later in the day, the 23 year Jitender gave the Indian camp something to cheer by pulverising Donald Grant Orr of Canada into submission in his opening bout. A Beenamol holds “anmol” promise. There the story seems to end.

And then we have — “a pathetic show”. The youngest shooter at the Olympics “performed well but failed to qualify.” A bright medal hope — struggled and finished sixth.” Another one was “eliminated in the heats”. Mostly the challenge ends in “losing qualifying round matches”. In judo we failed to make it to the medals bracket. Another report says in bold letters — “Rowers finish at bottom”.

What a pity! This nation cannot produce one individual who may be unbeatable. To be the best in the world. Why? What do we lack? What is wrong? Where have we faulted?

We used to complain of lack of infrastructure. Of basic facilities. Of even equipment. Another excuse was — “the country offers no future for a sportsman”. All these alibis are no more available. The sportsmen are making money. And then, we have a Maharaja’s palace for the Sports Authority of India. With vast grounds. All else that one may ask for. Yet, what has it achieved? In so many years of its existence? With all the men and materials that it has acquired? Pretty little to mention. Not one man or woman who may be a world-beater.

We have innumerable associations and federations. The number is growing like the population of this country. Men and women in positions of authority are managing all these. Irrespective of the fact that the individual may not have even a nodding familiarity with the particular game or sport. Why? What is the real reason? Is it to ensure an easy flow of men and money?

Truly speaking, each one of the organisations is running an empire. With its own rules and regulations. Organising its own tournaments. Collecting good sums of money from the advertisers and spectators. Enough to help the “boss” make comfortable trips to different cities and continents of the world. At the end we provide a poor spectacle. Of ourselves. As a people. As a nation. With no sign of remorse or shame. As if we have no conscience. We lack the killer’s instinct. We have no sense of individual or national pride.

How long shall this continue? Will the things ever change?

The words of a friend come to mind. “Hum sab hain beimaan. Phir bhi mera Bharat hai mahaan.” (We are all dishonest. Yet, my India is great.) Long live India!

Realpolitik
by P. Raman
Diplomacy vs trade bargain

SOON after opting for the triple remedy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh combine had initiated a certain consequential measures. The most significant among them was aimed at reorienting the foreign service. Manmohan Singh argued that hereafter ‘business diplomacy’ would replace foreign relations strategy based on ‘leadership-friendship’ concepts. This was based on the theory of supremacy of the power of trade and the end of cold war diplomacy.

Accordingly, the diplomatic staff was called to Delhi in batches and given reorientation classes. The Indian missions were told to concentrate more on collecting and collating investment and trade information and help entrepreneurs back home. It was at a time when Rao was despatching official teams led by the Cabinet Secretary to woo the foreign investors in the West. While it is a matter of conjecture as to what extent the Indian mission abroad could undertake the new task. Atal Behari Vajpayee’s two-week-long US sojourn has revived the issue of the very concept of business diplomacy.

Sadly, we are still far behind in using business diplomacy as a subtle tool either in favour of business or diplomacy. The Vajpayee Government began with the notion that the real strength of a country rested on its membership of the nuclear club. When the West retaliated with its sanctions and bans, a panicked establishment pushed the country to the other extreme. To get out of the isolation we went on capitulating through secret diplomacy which now proves to be nothing but a series of economic concessions to the USA.

Thus the initial enthusiasm for dictating terms from what was thought a position of strength and subsequent policy of subjugation have led us to situation where trading economic interests became the only way to buy political and diplomatic favour. This saga of surrender comes in sharp contrast to the aggressive business bargain put up by others — both developing and developed countries — to get the best out of situation. Often the tussles go on for years amidst threats of retaliation. Bargaining for better concession within the free trade norms is never taken as a challenge to pax Americana.

In this era of legitimate trade bargains, they do not usually lead to muddy the diplomatic relationship or international ties. On the other, mature nations use the power of the market and investment to gain more political concessions. But our record in the trade bargain has been rather pathetic. Media may opt to gloss over such unpleasant facts but the truth has a tendency to reveal itself at the most inopportune time. Earlier this year, the Vajpayee Government had announced the decision to allow free import of about 1,300 items a year ahead of the WTO deadline. This has played havoc with a large number of small units and agricultural products. Largescale dumpings have badly hurt the growers of edible oils, tea, rubber, apples etc.

This costly concession has been simply a trade-off for Bill Clinton’s India visit. Since then demands for surrender became bolder and more direct. Often even the envoys openly insist on decision favouring their MNCs. This reached the peak on the eve of Vajpayee’s US visit. Understandably, no Minister dared to question the absurdity of such external meddling. Some time back Pawan Hans had floated a tender for the purchase of two helicopters. This was to be a forerunner to purchases worth Rs 500 crore to reinforce the Pawan Hans fleet. Only two firms — Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter — were left in the fray. Pawan Hans had invited Eurocopter for price fixation and had prepared a memorandum of agreement in its favour.

At this stage, the US and Canadian missions began pressurising the airlines in favour of Bell. The former even linked the US Exim credit facility announced during the Clinton visit as part of the pressure tactics. The US envoy’s letter to the Minister of Civil Aviation dated June 16 said: “Awarding the contract to Bell would send a message to several US firms seeking to do more business in Indian aviation sector.” Having known the highly pro-US mood of the Vajpayee establishment, a hapless Sharad Yadav was left with no other option but to put the tender on hold. Such meddling even cuts at the roots of the very principle of free global trade and genuine competition. Pawan Hans had taken the decision to opt for Eurocopter on the basis of its technical committee’s report. Now no one should doubt who will finally take the cake.

In the case of the telecom sector, the US pressure have been so blunt and naked. Even the government spokesmen did not make any attempt to hide the fact that the whole set of frantic decisions to dismember the country’s premier telecom giants were taken under foreign dictates. Everything is being justified in the name of giving “right signals to the foreign investors.” In private, the PMO men admit that all efforts to persuade the foreign interests to allow a little more time for the telecom announcement were not entertained. And thus the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs was hurriedly called to endorse the US demands hours before Vajpayee’s US visit.

US telecom giants have been pressuring the government of India for allowing them grab the bulk of the international telephone calls facility from VSNL. A government contract with the VSNL allows it ISD monopoly up to April, 2004. Yielding to the US pressure, the Cabinet has now decided to terminate the agreement with VSNL two years in advance — the time needed by the US giants to get ready for the great kill. A few days back, the Vajpayee government had announced the corporatisation of the Department of Telecom. It had also allowed 100 per cent foreign investment in areas like voice mail, internet and laying of dark telecom fibre. In August, the government had announced the opening up of domestic long distance telecom traffic to private parties. All this is considered lucrative fields for US firms who are confident of removing the existing 49 per cent cap.

Professional services is another area where unrestricted foreign intrusion is allowed under intense pressure. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has sought restrictions on the foreign accounting firms and force them conform to the rule of level playing ground. But the foreigners come on lucrative terms through the FIPB, RBI and SIA route. What makes it more absurd has been the Vajpayee Government’s disinclination to insist on reciprocation, some thing which China and EU countries do. Countries like the USA still refuse to recognise Indian accountants who are in no way inferior to their counterparts abroad.

Unilateral surrender of interests, that too prior to the other side making any reciprocal gestures — call it ‘giving right signals’ or ‘proving our sincerity’ — is the weakest form of global negotiations with hardboiled business interests. Whatever may be the diplomatic achievements of Vajpayee’s US visit, our failures to strike the best bargain for best concession have been stark. Much of the investment agreement worth $6 billion has been in the process long before the visit. Their signing was a mere ceremonial formality.

Accords like the one for a $ 900 million loan from the US Exim bank may look like a largesse. In reality, this is only to help the Indian industry purchase American goods and services. True, the visit may have created a congenial atmosphere for trade and investment. But the Indian side cannot honestly feel satisfied on the question of tariff reduction on our products. It has been as high as 11 per cent on certain items. Hurdles still remain on Indian exports of drugs and agricultural products. Though some partial concessions have been made on the crucial issue of textile exports to the USA, the main issue of raising quota is yet to be satisfactorily settled.

It took years for the USA and China to approve the document on ‘permanent normal trade relations status’. Both sides argued as equals and not as some one keen to get the US patronage at any cost. Even without the PNTR, Chinese consumer goods have flooded the US markets. Described as the second most significant Senate decision after World War II, it came a day after Vajpayee’s visit. It is time for us to get rid of the notion that aggressive business and trade bargaining would lead to the rupture of friendship. This has been an old cold war concept China, Japan and a host of EU countries had entered into protracted trade war with the USA but none has spoiled their state-to-state relationship.

Last year, the USA retaliated against the French and European products after the WTO rulings on the banana and beef disputes. The former had asserted their right to get banana from their former colonies and imposed ban on hormone-treated US beef. But that did not spoil the ties. In fact, Washington has been apprehensive of the rising anti-US sentiments sweeping EU countries like France and moves for bringing together those dissatisfied with the ‘hyperpower. December last, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin visited Japan where the two sides agreed to work together to craft alternatives to the ‘US-imposed global standards.’

Even Canada, otherwise a solid US ally, seems to be cautiously lining up with France which is bent on playing up sentiments like widening inequalities, MNC domination and cultural homogenisation sweeping from Latin America to East Asia. France has been in the grip of an intense debate — which is percolating to other countries — in which terms like ‘Anglo-Saxon globalisation’, MNC totalitarianism’ and trade unilateralism of the USA are freely used. Theories like ‘Europeanisation can fight against the ill-effects of globalisation’ are gaining ground in the region. While the USA keeps a close watch on such sweeping protests, neither side has chosen to damage the friendship. We too have to learn lessons from such love-hate-relationship.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Prana is the basic unit of life. Rocks, trees, birds, man, God, everything is a manifestation of prana on different levels, on different understandings, on different integrations. The same prana moves and manifests as millions, as many, but the basic unit is one.

Yoga says that you are not only breathing air, you are also breathing prana. In fact, air is just a vehicle for prana, just a medium. You are not alive by breath. Breath is just like a horse and you have not looked at the rider yet. The rider is prana.

—Osho, Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol. VIII

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The two substances that lie at the base of the creation of this universe are Akasha (ether) and Prana. Pulsation of Prana in Akasha is the real cause of creation. Prana transcends both Mind and senses. That is why, in our scriptures, Prana is known as the elder brother of the Mind. In the sleeping state when the mind calms down, it is the Prana that continues functioning. Prana is present even when mind is absent in deep sleep.

—Bharatiya Yoga Sansthan, Asan and Yog Vigyan, Part II

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Prana or ki is that vital energy or life-force which keeps the body alive and healthy. In Greek is called pneuma, in Polynesian, mana and in Hebrew ruah, which means “breath of life”. The healer projects prana or vital energy or “the breath of life” to the patient; thereby healing him.

—Choa Kok Sui, the Ancient Science and Art of Healing, chapter I

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The Prana is related to mind and through mind to will and through will to the individual soul, and through this to the Supreme Being. If you know how to control the little waves of Prana working through the mind, then the secret of subjugating universal prana will be known to you.

—Swami Shivananda, The Science of Pranayama, chapter I

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May supra-normal faculties are opened for those who have mastered the art of pranayama. The body glows, the eyes radiate magnetic force, the gestures of the hand assume kingly command. Breath is life and the proper technique of drawing in breath, retaining it, absorbing its quintessence and exhaling its residue are fundamental to yogic training.

—Encyclopedia of The Unexplained: Magic, Occultism and Parapsychology: “Yoga”